• Masaccio, St. Paul, 1426
• Lippo Memmi, St. Paul, c. 1330
• Bernardo Daddi, Saint Paul and a Group of Worshippers, 1333

A miniature from the French translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus's landmark 13th-century encyclopedia De proprietatibus rerum (Livre des propriétés des choses), illuminated in Paris around 1447.

Miniatures depicting the damned and demons writhing in hellfire from Le Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur (The Book of the Vineyard of our Lord), an apocalyptic French manuscript produced for the Carthusians, c. 1450–1470 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 134, fols. 87r, 90v, 105v).

The Picture Book of Madame Marie, created in northern France in the late 13th century (c. 1285–1290), preserved in Paris at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Français / Nouvelles acquisitions françaises 16251 (NAF 16251), fol. 84v.

Years ago I bought this German predella fragment depicting St. Maurice. It is in super rough condition, but I thought it was a cool example of African representation in late medieval art.

​Gregory IX informs the Archbishop of Nidaros that the custom in Norway of baptizing children in beer due to a shortage of water cannot be considered baptism according to Gospel teaching.

From Marini's copy of the original register in the Vatican Archives.

(Greg. IX. year XV. ep. 111).

July 8, 1241. Lateran.

​Gregory, Bishop, etc.

To [Sigurd], Archbishop of Nidaros.

​Since, as we have learned from your report, it sometimes happens that due to a scarcity of water the infants of your land are baptized in beer, we reply to you by the tenor of this letter: since, according to Gospel teaching, they must be reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, those who are baptized in beer must not be considered validly baptized.

​Given at the Lateran, the eighth Ides of July, in the fifteenth year.

Art: Pope Gregory IX. from medieval manuscript: Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg, M III 97, 122rb, ca. 1270)

Leeds City Museum

Worksop Bestiary, England c. 1185

NY, The Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.81, fol. 10v

Attention all artists and creators!

The first Medieval Monday Market will take place on Monday from 00:00 to 23:59 UTC. Please remember that you must include the MMM flyer in your post, and place the links to your portfolios only in the first comment. Posts that do not follow these rules will be deleted.

Thank you for understanding!

P. S. Art: Jan van Horst – Market Scene (Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest) (1569)

Unknown author. Maybe 15th century

The author is unknown.

This illuminated border miniature from the Flemish Spinola Hours (Ms. Ludwig IX 18, fol. 245v), produced around 1510–1520 by the workshop of the Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian and currently held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, depicts an anthropomorphic marten (or ermine) dressed in a pink robe and wielding a club while riding a leopard, serving as a late medieval moral allegorical marginalia representing the sin of Anger.

Painted by Master Theodoric, court painter to Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, this panel depicting St. Catherine of Alexandria (c. 1360–1364, 115 × 86.9 cm) originally adorned the north-east window niche of the Chapel of the Holy Rood at Karlštejn Castle and is now held in the National Gallery Prague; clad in a gold-patterned blue robe, she holds her martyr attributes—a wheel and sword—honoring a saint particularly venerated by Charles IV after his pivotal victory near San Felice Castle on her feast day in 1332.

Painted by Cosmè Tura, court painter for the House of Este in Ferrara, Italy. This panel was originally part of a decorative cycle of nine Muses commissioned for the studiolo at the Palazzo Belfiore. Although chronologically (for art historian) belonging to the Early Renaissance, the painting heavily relies on late medieval and Gothic visual traditions. This is especially noticeable in the sharp, angular folds of the drapery, the rigid posture, and the highly stylized proportions. Currently held at the National Gallery, London.

This 12th-century arm holds a bone fragment of an unknown saint and is decorated using the r/Champleve enamel technique on copper and gilt bronze. Originally, the relic was completely sealed inside the wooden core, but in the 15th century, a large crystal was cut into the sleeve so the faithful could physically look at the bone rather than just venerate a closed box. It’s a classic example of Mosan art from the Meuse valley (today in Belgium and northeastern France), currently housed at the Kimbell Art Museum in Texas.

Researchers found particles of lapis lazuli pigment embedded in the dental calculus of a woman buried at a medieval religious community in Germany.

The woman lived during the 11th or early 12th century. Lapis lazuli was an imported luxury material, and its blue pigment was used in high-status illuminated manuscripts. Microscopic analysis identified the blue particles within mineralized plaque on her teeth.

The strongest interpretation is that she worked with the pigment, possibly while painting manuscripts or preparing materials. One proposed route is repeated contact between a brush and the mouth while forming a fine point. Other explanations are possible, including pigment preparation or devotional use, so the evidence should not be inflated into certainty about her exact job.

It still matters. Many medieval manuscripts were unsigned, and the labor of women in religious communities can be difficult to recover from written records. The pigment supplied physical evidence that a woman at this site had repeated, direct exposure to one of the period's most valuable artistic materials.

Lapis lazuli moved through long-distance trade from sources in Central Asia before becoming ultramarine pigment in Europe. The same blue stone used in beads, seals, carvings, and jewelry also became a material for sacred images and written culture.

In this case, the historical record was not found in a signature, but preserved in dental plaque.

Sources: Anita Radini et al., "Medieval Women's Early Involvement in Manuscript Production Suggested by Lapis Lazuli Identification in Dental Calculus," Science Advances, January 9, 2019; Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, research release, January 2019.

Sextus Pacitus, De medicina ex animalibus, England or France, ca. 1190

BL, Sloane 1975, fol. 80v

Danse macabre : ou l'Empire de la Mort, sur tous les états de la vie humaine (Dance of Death: or the Empire of Death over all conditions of human life).

Hand-illuminated incunabula, Paris, ca. 1491–1492.

Preserved at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF).

Isopod. British Library, Harley MS 3244, c. 1236-1250, folio 64r

Macrocosm and microcosm in a 13th-century illumination from the Liber Divinorum Operum. A human figure at the center of the celestial spheres, bridging divine creation and medieval philosophy.