After Paradise: creation, transgression and fall in a 13th century English bestiary (Oxford, St. Johns College MS 61)

Author(s)

Muriel Araujo Lima Garcia

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD)
• Defense date: 2020-12-18

Examining board members

Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira; Rafael Afonso Gonçalves; Terezinha Oliveira; Maria Eurydice de Barros Ribeiro

• Advisor: Maria Cristina Correia Leandro Pereira

Abstract

Many of the bestiaries copied in England during the 12th and 13th centuries are richly illustrated manuscripts; however, there are few studies that deal specifically with the images in these books. This research aims to analyse how the images in Oxford, St. John\'s College MS 61 articulate the subjects of creation, transgression and fall of humankind, especially the miniatures at the beginning and end of the book (regarding the creation cycle and the fire stones). This bestiary belonged to the Benedictine priory of the Holy Trinity in York and was produced around 1210-30, and has an original ex-libris in its last folio, which is extremely rare in bestiaries. I consider that the images in this book do not play a merely illustrative or mnemonic role, as they rarely reference the textual moralisations and exegeses. The main objective of this research is to analyse the manuscript\'s images and their roles taking into consideration the peculiarities of figurative production and its fundamental differences to text. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 16/18434-5 - Omnibus Animantibus: the logic(s) of image(s) in Oxford, st. John's college MS 61
• Grantee: Muriel Araujo Lima Garcia
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate