Papers by Krysta Black-Mazumdar
The scholarly history of the León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Is... more The scholarly history of the León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2] is predominantly concerned with the pictorial antecedents from which the manuscript was believed to have derived. Retaining a purportedly ancient format of illustration ultimately derived from scrolls, the Bible of 960's system of illumination has inspired investigation into its diverse Latin and Byzantine sources. While the search for pictorial sources is a significant aspect of iconographic inquiry, and as such is a useful methodology for examining the visual repertoire available to a given scriptorium, it is in some cases unable to satisfactorily document the character of the manuscript. This dissertation attempts to deploy an alternative methodology in which the pictorial program, rather than iconographic particularities, is the primary subject of examination. By considering the Bible of 960's miniatures as elements within a larger program of illustration, this s...
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The León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2] is a signifi... more The León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2] is a significant artifact of Mozarabic artistic production in tenth-century Iberia. The manuscript’s density of illustration and its connection to one of the century’s most revered scribes, Florentius of Valeránica, would seem to solidify its place within the canon of Spanish medieval art. The manuscript begins with a scribal misunderstanding. The subject of the manuscript’s first full-page illustration, the Christ in Majesty—ubiquitous in contemporary continental Gospel illustration—appears haphazardly rendered. Idiosyncratic details within the illustration, or errors, have led scholars to emphasize the provincial and even primitive character of the painting and the manuscript itself. Upon closer evaluation, the misunderstanding is not that of the scribe but of the scholar. The errors are in fact important iconographic details that are fully synchronous with medieval Christian belief and situate the manuscript and its illustrations within a particular liturgical milieu. The scribe’s creative deployment of uncommon iconographic features creates meaning in both the Christ in Majesty and the manuscript as a whole.
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Ars Orientalis 42, Oct 2012
The León Bible of 960 (León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2) is the most ... more The León Bible of 960 (León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2) is the most densely illustrated Bible of the first millennium to survive. Penned and decorated at the monastery of Valeránica in Burgos, the Bible stands as a significant, albeit understudied, monument of early medieval art. Although executed at a time contemporaneous to the zenith of Umayyad power in Córdoba, scholars have paid relatively little attention to the role of Islamic art and culture in its production apart from the occasional allusion to the transmission of decorative motifs or discrete studies of individual illustrations and their relationship to conflict on the frontier between al-Andalus and the Christian kingdoms of the northern Iberian Peninsula. This paper provides a reconsideration of the role of Umayyad art and culture in the making of the León Bible of 960, taking into account both the issue of visual correspondence and the tenth-century frontier context of the manuscript’s production. By examining not only aspects of the codex that may suggest a connection with Umayyad luxury arts, such as the Dream of Nebuchadnezzar (f. 319v), but also the possibility that the Bible’s program of illustration conveys meanings other than those that correspond directly to the biblical text, this paper seeks alternative methodologies for considering the Islamic role in non-Islamic production. By moving beyond problematic notions of “influence” and a reliance on direct formal correspondence to demonstrate impact, one can further nuance the study of this monument of medieval Iberian art.
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Conference Presentations by Krysta Black-Mazumdar
The León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2] is a signifi... more The León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2] is a significant artifact of Mozarabic artistic production in tenth-century Iberia. The manuscript’s density of illustration and its connection to one of the century’s most revered scribes, Florentius of Valeránica, would seem to solidify its place within the canon of Spanish medieval art. The manuscript begins with a scribal misunderstanding. The subject of the manuscript’s first full-page illustration, the Christ in Majesty—ubiquitous in contemporary continental Gospel illustration—appears haphazardly rendered. Idiosyncratic details within the illustration, or errors, have led scholars to emphasize the provincial and even primitive character of the painting and the manuscript itself. Upon closer evaluation, the misunderstanding is not that of the scribe but of the scholar. The errors are in fact important iconographic details that are fully synchronous with medieval Christian belief and situate the manuscript and its illustrations within a particular liturgical milieu. The scribe’s creative deployment of uncommon iconographic features creates meaning in both the Christ in Majesty and the manuscript as a whole.
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Doctoral Dissertation by Krysta Black-Mazumdar
The scholarly history of the León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Is... more The scholarly history of the León Bible of 960 [León, Archivo Capitular, Real Colegiata de San Isidoro, MS 2] is predominantly concerned with the pictorial antecedents from which the manuscript was believed to have derived. Retaining a purportedly ancient format of illustration ultimately derived from scrolls, the Bible of 960's system of illumination has inspired investigation into its diverse Latin and Byzantine sources. While the search for pictorial sources is a significant aspect of iconographic inquiry, and as such is a useful methodology for examining the visual repertoire available to a given scriptorium, it is in some cases unable to satisfactorily document the character of the manuscript. This dissertation attempts to deploy an alternative methodology in which the pictorial program, rather than iconographic particularities, is the primary subject of examination. By considering the Bible of 960's miniatures as elements within a larger program of illustration, this study suggests that rather than serving as predominantly literal visual analogues to the biblical text, the illustrations, particularly those of Exodus and Kings were chosen to correspond, at least in part, to a more cohesive exegetical significance related to both the Mozarabic liturgy and popular exegesis, such as Beatus of Liébana's Commentarius in Apocalypsin. In examining the relationship between the Bible of 960's program of illustration and the exegetical and liturgical traditions available to its scribes, especially those related to the Easter season, I hope to reinvigorate the scholarly conversation regarding early peninsular Bible illustration, its relationship to other genres of manuscript illumination, and the potential connections to contemporary liturgical practice. Using the Bible of 960's program of illustration, I also examine how the manuscript may have stood as a deluxe production at the intersection between sacred and secular interests.
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Papers by Krysta Black-Mazumdar
Conference Presentations by Krysta Black-Mazumdar
Doctoral Dissertation by Krysta Black-Mazumdar