Illuminating Objects
dal 21/5/2013 al 28/7/2013
Segnalato da
21/5/2013
Illuminating Objects
The Courtauld Institute of Art, London
German Miniature Picture Bibles Come Under the Spotlight. Produced by two sisters in the late 17th century, Johanna Christina Kusel drew the designs and Maria Magdalena engraved them.
The third display in the Illuminating Objects programme at The Courtauld Gallery
focuses on the German miniature picture Bibles, Dess Alten Testaments Mittler: Dess
Neuen Testaments Mittler. Produced by two sisters from Augsburg in the late 17th
century, Johanna Christina (or Christiana) Küsel (also known as Kuslin) drew the
designs and Maria Magdalena engraved them. Most 17th century 'thumb' bibles were
for children but the Küsel books, with their intricate engravings, were most likely
for use in private devotion. The research has been undertaken by Josephine Neil,
who is taking her PhD in Theology and the Arts at King's College London. This is
probably the first time that the miniature Bible picture books, acquired by Thomas
Gambier Parry near Nuremberg in 1851, have ever been on public display.
The sisters belonged to a family of printmakers:
their grandfather was Matthaeus Merian, whose most famous engravings were for a
history of the Bible published in Frankfurt in 1625, the Icones Biblicae.
Christiana and Magdalena based their engravings on their grandfather's compositions,
adapting them to suit the scale and purpose of their miniature books.
An increasing emphasis on private devotion and personal piety in German-speaking
countries during the 17th century encouraged the production of engraved cycles. As
stress was laid on individual piety as a way of drawing Christians closer to God, so
the demands for books and images for private devotion grew but artists had to work
with the religious constraints imposed by the Reformation. The theological context
of the miniature picture Bibles stems from Luther's teaching, still prevalent in
Augsburg more than a hundred years after his death in 1546. The Küsel sisters
demonstrate the divide between the sinful exploits and human failings of the Old
Testament and the promise of redemption inherent in the New.
For further information and images, please contact:
Sue Bond Public Relations
Tel. +44 (0)1359 271085, E-mail. info@suebond.co.uk
Opening: 1 May 2013
The Cortaud Gallery
Somerset House - Strand, London
Hours: Daily 10am – 6pm (last admission 5.30pm)
Admission: Adult: £6; Senior Citizen: £5; Part-Time Student: £5; International Student: £5
Disabled (carer free): £5; NADFAS Member: £5 and £3 all day Mondays