
The Medieval Flower Book
Celia Fisher(Author)
The British Library Publishing Division
Published on 4. February 2013
Book
Paperback/Softback
128 pages
978-0-7123-5894-1 (ISBN)
Description
In this charming book Celia Fisher explores the beautiful flower illustration in medieval herbals and manuscripts, illustrating around 140 different flowers and plants in glorious full colour. Many of the illustrations come from herbals, in which plants began to be depicted with realism by artists in the 14th century. But in the 15th century a different kind of flower illustration emerged in the margins of illuminated manuscripts. From around 1480 flowers became the dominant feature of the decorative borders of Books of Hours created in the southern Netherlands. The wonderfully innovative style showed the flowers as if they had been plucked from their stems and scattered onto the page where they cast little trompe l'oeil shadows as if they were indeed three-dimensional. Flower lovers and those interested in medieval art and history will find this richly illustrated book informative, entertaining and, above all, a joy to behold.
Reviews / Votes
'Gardeners, plant lovers, fans of herbs and herbals, and book history enthusiasts will particularly appreciate [this book]' Huntia, 2009More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
British Library Publishing
Illustrations
140 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 220 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-7123-5894-1 (9780712358941)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Celia Fisher gained her MA and PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art, where she studied flowers in fifteenth-century paintings and manuscripts. She lectures and writes widely on the history of plants and gardens in art. Her previous publications include Flowers and Fruit (National Gallery, 1998), The Medieval Flower Book (British Library, 2007) and Flowers of the Renaissance (Frances Lincoln, 2011).