Manuscript

Walters Art Museum, Ms. W.199
(L'Image du monde)

Codicology

Produced: France?, 1489
Current Location: Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Manuscript Type: Encyclopedia
Language: French
Folios: 136
Author: Goissun de Metz
Illustrated: No
Media: Parchment
Dimensions: Height: 27.9 cm Width: 21.3 cm
Sample page - Walters Art Museum MS W.199
Folio 42r

Description

L'Image du monde, an encyclopedia by Gossuin de Metz in French prose. The animal descriptions are in the section on the regions and geography of the world; none are illustrated.

The manuscript provides descriptions of the seven liberal arts along with astronomical theories, especially about the earth, the creatures that inhabit it, and its movements within the universe. Each one of the liberal arts is illustrated with a small miniature in grisaille, and extraordinary geometric astronomical diagrams recur throughout the book. The importance of W.199 is both textual and pictorial. Illuminated by followers of Willem Vrelant, active in Bruges 1454-1481, the manuscript reveals affinity of format and content with a 1464 copy of the Mirror of the World made in Bruges (London, British Library, Royal 19 A.IX). - {Walters catalog]

Additional Descriptions

Additional description

Editions and Facsimiles

Digital facsimiles

Walters Art Museum`