As it happens, lately I have been staying in a place with lots of cats. I do not consider myself as a cat person (I do not have my own cat), but I must admit, those cats are intriguing creatures. Especially when there is, let’s say, eight of them. As…
One of my favourite manuscripts is so called Taymouth Hours, dating back to the second quarter of the 14th century (British Library,Yates Thompson MS 13). Its name comes from Taymouth Castle in Scotland, where the manuscript was kept in the Early-Modern times (and also, it contains notes in Scots dialect…
Some time ago I have written about “a butt song from Hell”, noted on backside of one of the damned in Hell, in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights (post available HERE). Today I decided to get back to the musical motif in reference to… buttocks. As it happens, there…
Every year around New Year’s Eve in my social media certain late-medieval miniatures goes viral: they depict a young man who most likely drank too much alcohol. However popular the depiction may be, most of people sharing and forwarding this image have no idea where it comes from. It is…
Book of Hours of Catherine de Clèves (van Kleef) is the most richly decorated 15th c. Netherlandish book of prayers. It was created in Utrecht after 1434 and is in The Morgan Library & Museum (MS M.917/945). I have previously written about its miniatures decorating Monday prayers for the Purgatory…