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Shortly after the Arab conquest, on the eve of the Carolingian era, a monk from Santo Toribio monastery by the name of Beatus wrote certain Commentaries on the Apocalypse that deeply affected all Europe. The copies made over the centuries, illustrated with expressive miniatures, are known today as “Beatus”.
The magnificent Facundus Beatus (Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, Vitr. 14-2), completed in the year 1047, is perhaps the finest example of the millenarist sentiment of this period. Commissioned by royalty, no expense was spared in its manufacture. Its lavish images marked the start of one of the most prodigious iconographic traditions of the entire history of western art.
This book features every single miniature from the codex together with the respective Revelation excerpt and a commentary by the leading expert in this field, Prof. Joaquín Yarza.
Joaquín González Echegaray provides the historical context, delving into the doctrinal setting of Beatus’s Christian Spain with particular emphasis on his Europeanism, whilst Manuel Sánchez Mariana provides an introduction to the text of the Commentaries on the Apocalypse and the series of codices it gave rise to, as well as an in-depth analysis of the Facundus Beatus.
This is, in short, the most thorough study ever of that Beatus manuscript, illustrated with all its miniatures. |
