International Woman’s Day

On International Women’s Day, we always like to remember Christine de Pizan, a pioneer for equality between men and women. After her father died and soon after her husband, the young woman had to take care of herself and her children.So she began to earn a living by writing, first as a copyist, then as

Simon Bening

Simon Bening, one of the greatest miniature painters in art history.Today we are showing a panel from the stone quadriptych of Simon Bening from Bruges (1483-1561), a picture cycle consisting of four wooden panels with 16 miniatures each, which tells the life of Christ. Simon Bening painted it around 1525-30. You can see the work

Chinese New Year

新年快樂 (xīnnián kuàilè) – Happy New Year!The Chinese Year of the Rat begins today.It is known that, especially at the turn of the year, there are many customs that should bring happiness for the coming year. During Chinese New Year, however, there are also things to avoid in order to prevent misfortune. Unfortunately, one of

Three Wise Men

The so-called “pointing gesture” is a very common and important element in medieval art. The depicted person in the illumination or sculpture points the unknowing observer to something, wanting to teach him about it. This gesture is particularly emphasized in the St. Albans-Psalter, a famous and lavishly equipped psalm book from the English Romanesque period

Bake Cookies Day

Today is “Bake Cookies Day”. However, we decided to bake pretzel! The pretzel was well known already in the Middle Ages. It is said that the oldest representation can be found in the “Hortus Deliciarum” of Abbess Herrad von Landsberg, c. 1160. From the period around 1330 we know, for example, the pretzel in the

The Day of Saint Barbara

Today, on December 4, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners, geologists, hawkers, bell founders, blacksmiths, masons, stonemasons, carpenters, roofers, electricians, architects, artillerymen, firemen, gravediggers, hatters, girls and prisoners. She is among the Fourteen Holy Helpers and helps against thunderstorms, fire, fever, plague and sudden death. According to an ancient

Alexander The Great

Conqueror Alexander the Great – the stories and legends about his life and his expit enjoyed a wide popularity in the Middle Ages. Today we show a scene from the “Histoire du bon roi Alexandre”, written around 1320: Alexander in a glass diving bell in the sea. Alexander wanted to explore the seabed and see

Heaven And Hell

Heaven and hell What happens after death? One of the most important themes of medieval piety was the idea of heaven and hell. We have a beautiful example in the Bedford Book of Hours, written around 1430 in France. It shows doomsday: Christ, the judge of the world, is enthroned on a globe, flanked by

The Grape Harvest

It’s time for the grape harvest – or the “vintage”, as it is also called. The winegrowers cut the ripe grapes from the vines – an activity that has been part of agriculture since medieval times. We have found a particularly beautiful example of this work in a border of our facsimile of the “Way

Het Koninklijke Psalter van Sainte Chapelle

Binnenkort leverbaar! Psalter zijn altijd al de rijkst verluchte manuscripten in de historie van de boekkunst geweest. Het Koninklijke Psalter, gedateerd 1230 en vermoedelijk vervaardigd voor Blanche van Castilië, de moeder van Koning Lodewijk de Heilige, is wat dat betreft zeker geen uitzondering. Deze codex is afkomstig uit een tijd waarin Parijs het belangrijkste centrum