I have finished several new web pages for my small but growing online collection of writings concerning mediaeval art and religion.
The largest and most important of these new web pages concerns the Biblia pauperum and the Speculum humanae salvationis, two of the most important books of the late Middle Ages. These books are indispensable for interpreting the typological juxtapositions in late mediaeval art. The web page includes a description of the books and their significance by my favorite art historian Emile Mâle, and all of the typological pages from a representative example of each book. My hope is that these will not only aid students of mediaeval art, but also inspire contemporary sacred artists to use them as a reference for typology in their own work; they would thus serve the same purpose in the iconoclasm of modernity as they served in the theological poverty of the waning Middle Ages. I put a good deal of time and effort into this project; please take a look and help direct attention to it.
[http://danielmitsui.tripod.com/aaaaa/speculum.html]
I have also transcribed portions of two seminal texts on sacred art. First, the Treatise on Divers Arts by Theophilus the Priest, written in the early 12th century. Second, the Hermeneia of Dionysius of Fourna, an iconographic manual compiled by an 18th century Athonite monk. These books contain specific instructions on the creation of sacred art; I have merely excerpted some introductions and prayers that give a general theology of sacred art.
[http://danielmitsui.tripod.com/aaaaa/theophilus.html]
[http://danielmitsui.tripod.com/aaaaa/hermeneia.html]
And in a more humorous vein, I have created a page containing the complete text of Hucbald of St. Amand's Ecloga de Calvis or In Praise of Bald Men, a 136-line Latin poem written about AD 900. Every word in the poem begins with the letter C.
[http://danielmitsui.tripod.com/aaaaa/calvis.html]
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Please also explore, if you have not already, the other webpages I have created recently:
Emile Mâle ~ General Characteristics of Mediæval Iconography
Emile Mâle ~ The Death of Mediæval Art
Emile Mâle ~ Ars moriendi (The Art of Dying)
A.W.N. Pugin ~ On Chancel Screens and Rood Lofts
William Durandus ~ The Sacred Vestments (Book III of the Rationale divinorum officiorum)
More will be added as time allows.