Rare Book School invites you to a free public talk by James H. Marrow, on “Iconographic Disjunction in the Ruskin Psalter/Hours: A Flemish Illuminated Manuscript of ca. 1470–80,” at 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday 23 July, in UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Auditorium. A reception will follow at Rare Book School (Shannon Library, Room 230). RSVPs to attend in person are not required.
This year, for the first time, RBS also will offer an option to attend a livestream of the in-person lecture via Zoom. Register for the link at tinyurl.com/RBS-Marrow.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸:
Illustrated by a cycle of nine historiated initials of scenes from the Old Testament, which function typologically as prefigurations of events from the life of Christ, and by ten full-page miniatures of events from Salvation History, the Ruskin Psalter/Hours appears at first glance to be a sophisticated example of Flemish manuscript illumination from the turn of the third to the fourth quarters of the fifteenth century. On closer examination, the cycles of illumination are not correctly synchronized. In this lecture, James H. Marrow will discuss the iconographic “slippage” or disjunction found in the cycles of illustration of the Ruskin Psalter/Hours and propose a novel explanation for the striking anomalies in what otherwise appears to be a refined and deluxe manuscript of the period. Marrow suggests that the example of the Ruskin Hours can be viewed against the backdrop of the growing production of relatively high-end illuminated manuscripts at this time, qualified in this case by the exigencies of an atypical commission.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿:
James H. Marrow is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Princeton University and Honorary Keeper of illuminated Manuscripts (former Acting Keeper) at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (UK). He has published widely on northern European art of the late Middle Ages, with special attention to questions of meaning in works of religious art, and on manuscript illumination in the Low Countries, Germany, and France.
For further details about this and other events in Rare Book School's 2025 Lecture Series, visit rarebookschool.org/programs/lectures/.
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