ILLUSTRATED CALENDARS IN LATE MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS: FUNCTION, TRADITION, ICONOGRAPHY (ON THE EXAMPLE OF MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE RUSSIAN STATE LIBRARY)

Abstract

The image in a medieval illuminated manuscript owns its specific location, determined by its function in the book. The calendar becomes a traditional place for illustration both in liturgical books and in books intended for personal devotion. The tradition of illustrating calendars dates back to the times of antiquity, and by the era of the Late Middle Ages it has already done a very long way, during which some themes, motifs, and methods of illustration undergo significant changes or completely disappear, several of them were replaced by new ones, while others remain for long times. The main direction in the development of calendar images is the transformation of ancient personifications into scenes, showing certain seasonal works or activities that characterize a month, in the form of human actions. The composition and order of such images in different manuscripts may vary: the choice of scenes of “labors” may depend on the regional characteristics of agriculture, the iconographic program of the pattern, and the personal wishes of the owner of the book. The function of these images in the book, as well as their artistic features, are directly related to the function and purpose of the book itself: for example, in a liturgical manuscript, scenes of labors of the months, as well as images of zodiac signs, can act as visual designations of specific months. and in books of hours that have gone a long way from a prayer book for lay people to a valuable collectible, they can become a true illustration and will be considered as a work of art. All these aspects are demonstrated by three French late medieval manuscripts in the collection of the manuscript department of the Russian State Library.