Name:

Two unknowns: Observe carefully and explain what seems to be happening in these folios, using the visual information available to relate to what you have learned about Middle Byzantine manuscript illumination. What are the various problems posed to and tasks to be accomplished by the artist (who may well be the planner, too)?

WHAT I LOOKED FOR ON THIS QUIZ:

• Recognition of the type of book involved (Gospels were the most frequently created type of book in the Middle Byzantine period) in both slides
• Identification of the narrative scene (Nativity and related images) and of the author-portrait of the Evangelist on the verso (left-hand) folio shown and relation to the opening of the Gospel text on the facing recto page, with its elaborate decorative headpiece, so that the left-hand slide shows us the opening of one of the four Gospels
• Awareness of the way in which the decoration of the headpiece in the left slide emulates decorative patterns and techniques found in cloisonne enamel work.
• Connecting of the layout of the folio in the right slide with content (the cross is a decorative device frequently used for Gospels, with their fourfold composition as well as the fact that each Gospel recounts the story of the Crucifixion)
• Recognition that the design/decorative value of the cross layout in the work on the right (slide) overrides other concerns (ease of reading, not "wasting" any parchment)
• Understanding, based on explanation in Lowden text, that the speaking gestures of the four figures represented in the open corners of the page refers to them speaking out what is contained in the text
• Understanding that here with these two slides we have two of many different approaches during the Middle Byzantine period to the task of how to decorate a Gospel book

For a good example of how two of your peers handled this quiz, click here.