|
Herrad von Landsberg [von Hohenbourg]
( fl 1160–70; d Hohenbourg, Alsace, 25 July 1195). German writer and ?illuminator. She was Abbess (1167–95) of the convent of Ste Odile in Hohenbourg. She is best known for writing (c. 1175–95) a complex pictorial encyclopedia in Latin called the HORTUS DELICIARUM (‘Garden of delights’), a compendium of medieval learning intended for the women in her convent. This encyclopedic work covered biblical, moral and theological material. It was accompanied by several hundred miniatures that depicted biblical scenes, allegorical figures (see ALLEGORY, fig. 2) and gardening hints, as well as a portrait of Herrad with the nuns of Hohenbourg. Referring to herself metaphorically as a bee, she described the book in the following way: ‘I drew from many flowers of sacred and philosophic writing this book...and have put it together to the praise of Christ and the Church, and to your enjoyment’. The original manuscript was destroyed by fire at the municipal library of Strasbourg during the city’s bombardment in 1870, but there survive notes and line drawing copies of the illustrations made by scholars in the 19th century before its destruction. Since there is a close relationship between text and image, it has been suggested that Herrad participated directly in the illustration; however, this is by no means certain. Manuscripts that emphasized the illustrations were unusual at the time, and the Hortus deliciarum, along with Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias (1140s), was considered innovative in the 12th century. Herrad was an active teacher and was a model figure in her community of women. The Hortus deliciarum is considered to have influenced the Alsace school of painting.
|
|
There are more than 45,000 articles in The Grove Dictionary of Art.
To access the rest of this article, including the bibliography, subscribe to
www.groveart.com.
To find out more about this subject, click on a related article below and
subscribe to www.groveart.com
|
