The artist who painted the initials in this #Renaissance Italian manuscript (@subugoe Cod. MS philol. 116) painted this A upside down so that it now looks like a V. An A was added in the margin as a correction. Did the artist work upside-down, and if so, why?
Pre-modern books are great records of human error and therefore of historic working practices.
@litteracarolina@subugoe@medievodons@histodons@historikerinnen
I guess, the pages were only much later bound into a book? Then, he might have worked upside down. For a right-handed artist, the hand wouldn't lie on the ink of the text but next to the parchment. Thus, the risk of leaving stains on the text is minimized... 🤔
Today in Writing History May 22, 1967: Writer and activist Langston Hughes died. Hughes was a leader of the Harlem Renaissance and one of the early pioneers of Jazz Poetry. During the Civil Rights Movement, from 1942-1962, he wrote a weekly column for the black-owned Chicago Defender. His poetry and fiction depicted the lives and struggles of working-class African Americans. Much of his writing dealt with racism and black pride. Like many black artists and intellectuals of his era, he was attracted to communism as an alternative to the racism and segregation of America. He travelled to the Soviet Union and many of his poems were published in the CPUSA newspaper. He also participated in the movement to free the Scottsboro Boys and supported the Republican cause in Spain. He opposed the U.S. entering World War II and he signed a statement in support of Stalin’s purges.
"an impressive achievement, covers a wide range..strongly recommended."- Paul Joannides, Cambridge U
"...beautifully shot, illuminating on the painter’s relationships w/ contemporary artists, his studio & on his relations with clients." - Jane Stevenson, SRF, U of Oxford
Another excellent review of RAPHAEL: A PORTRAIT: “Sheds essential light on one of history’s greatest artists. Meticulously researched while there’s much to enjoy for even the dilettante..a thing of splendour"
Details: https://ideasroadshow.com/raphael/
Seeing Dante’s Commedia in Print from the Renaissance to Today
"An intensely envisioned journey through the three realms of the Christian afterlife (Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise), Dante’s poem, written in the early 1300s, was the subject of vivid illustrations from its earliest circulation and, when book making transitioned into the new medium of print in the late 1400s, Dante’s poem became the source of inspiration for new visual traditions."
"Despite their seemingly factual nature, Renaissance maps are considered significant art objects. How can we best read them to understand more about this period?"