Imagining the miraculous
Subtitle: miraculous images of the Virgin Mary in French illuminated manuscripts, ca. 1250-ca. 1450
By: Anna Russakoff
Contributors: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
Series: Text, image, context : studies in medieval manuscript illumination -- 7; Studies and texts -- 215; Text, image, context -- 7.; Studies and texts (Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies) -- 215.
Publisher: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Language: eng
Number of pages: 194
ISBN-13: 9780888442154; 9781771103961
Copyright date: 2019
Subjects: Art; French Illumination of books and manuscripts; Medieval Illumination of books and manuscripts; Themes, motives; Devotion to; Medieval Manuscripts; Christian art and symbolism; Christianity and art; History; Miracles in art; Criticism and interpretation; Medieval; Devotion; Miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Description: "This is not a book about miraculous images of the Virgin Mary, but rather about their representations in French illuminated manuscripts from ca. 1250 to ca. 1450. Illustrations such as these point to the ubiquity of local miraculous Marian images in devotional practices from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century in French-speaking regions. This book examines in systematic fashion a large quantity of images, mostly unpublished, from the various types of texts devoted to Marian miracles. It then analyzes the depiction of their materiality and the animated miracles they perform, and traces their evolution from the earliest narratives of Marian miracles written in Old French through to the Burgundian court of the late Middle Ages."--

This is not a book about miraculous images of the Virgin Mary (be they icons, sculptures, altarpieces, or reliquaries) but about their representations in French illuminated manuscripts from ca. 1250 to ca. 1450. Most of these depictions of the Virgin Mary cannot be identified even tangentially with particular surviving images (such as the Virgins of Rocamadour, Soissons, Chartres, and Laon). Rather, these illustrations point to the ubiquity of local miraculous Marian images in devotional practices from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century in French-speaking regions. This book analyzes depictions of material images and the animated miracles they perform, and traces their evolution from the earliest narratives of Marian miracles written in Old French to texts and images produced at the Burgundian court of the late Middle Ages.
Notes: Expanded version of the author's thesis (doctoral)--New York University, Institute of Fine Arts, 2006.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-187) and index.

Issued also in electronic format.
Table of contents: title: Miracles of the Virgin Mary, Marian images, and their contexts; title: Miraculous Marian images in Gautier de Coinci's Les Miracles de Nostre Dame; title: The power of visuality: miracles of the Virgin in La Vie des Pères; title: A visual encyclopedia with miraculous Marian images: Jean de Vignay's Miroir historial; title: Exceptional fourteenth-century creations: miraculous Marian images in the Ci nous dit and the Miracles de Nostre Dame par personnages; title: Illusionism enters the picture: Jean Miélot's Version of the Miracles de Nostre Dame; title: Appendix 1: Three miracles by Gautier de Coinci; title: Appendix 2: Principal manuscripts.