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Dance in the Margins – Romance of Alexander (1)
The Romance of Alexander (Bodley 264) is a part historical, part fictional narrative about the life and adventures of Alexander the Great. This priceless manuscript is kept in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. We neither know who commissioned this manuscript nor the name of the original owner. The first seventy years of its existence are a… Read more
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Dance in the Margins – The Arthurian Legends
In the high Middle-Ages the demand for manuscripts no longer primarily focused on religious or devotional books. Where initially manuscripts were the domain of monasteries with monks working laboriously in a scriptorium, by the 14th century urban workshops were producing manuscripts and selling these commercially. Books became accessible to a much wider audience. Increasing urbanization,… Read more
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Dancers – Line-fillers and Extensions
Illuminated manuscripts were embellished with miniatures, decorated initials, marginalia and an infinite variety of borders. In 14th and early 15th century manuscripts, images of dance and music are mostly allocated to the outer margins, often in the form of a line-filler or as a vine-like extension originating from an initial. The folio below gives an… Read more
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Dancers – Bas-de-Page
Bas-de-page, you may recollect from my previous blog, is that area of the page under the written text; literally the bottom of the page. You may also have noticed the horizontal and vertical lines drawn on the pages of illuminated manuscripts; this process is called ruling. The scribe marked out a framework of lines, as… Read more
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Dancing Animals – Bas-de-Page
In illuminated manuscripts, especially from the 13th century onward the bas-de-page, that area under the text at the bottom of the page was embellished with a wide variety of images. The bas-en-page images were unframed and may or may not refer to the written text. They could be whimsical, satirical, mocking, mischievous, sexual or downright… Read more
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Dance Images – Book of Exodus
Biblical references to dance fall into two categories. On the one hand there is dance of joy, worship, and exaltation and on the other, dance which is depraved, sinful and must be denounced. In Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, both forms of dance occur. Miriam’s ecstatic dance is an example to all… Read more
14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne Adriaen van Ostade Albrecht Dürer Alma-Tadema art Arthurian Legends Bal des Ardents ballet Bergen School Bernard Picart Burgundian Court CoBrA Constant Cornelis Dusart Cornelis Massijs dance Dance/Dancers Dance around the Golden Calf dancers David Ryckaert III David Teniers the Younger David Vinckboons De Stijl Egg dance Else Berg Erhard Schön Flemish Art Frans Francken II Frans Huysmans George Hendrik Breitner Gertrud Leistikow Gillis Mostaert Hans Bol Hans Vredeman de Vries Harmen Meurs Henri Braakensiek Herman Bieling Hieronymus Bosch Hieronymus Francken the Younger illuminated manuscript Isaac Israels Isaac van Ostade Jacob Grimmer Jacob Savery I Jacobus van Looy Jan Brueghel the Elder Jan Mandijn & followers Jan Miense Molenaer Jan Sierhuis Jan Sluijters Jan Steen Jan Toorop Jean-Baptiste Vanmour Jean de Wavrin Jean Froissart Karel Appel Karel van Mander Kees Maks Kees van Dongen Leo Gestel Loyset Liédet Lucas van Valckenborch Maarten van Heemskerck Maastricht Hours Marius Bauer Marten van Cleve Mommie Schwarz Mondrian Paolo Fiammingo/Pauwels Franck Pieter Aertsen Pieter Balten/Peeter Baltens Pieter Bruegel the Elder Pieter Brueghel the Younger Pieter Codde Pieter de Bloot Pieter van der Borcht Pieter van der Heyden Piet Mondrian Piet van der Hem Romance of Alexander Roman de la Rose Rothschild Canticles Salome Sebald Beham Simon Bening Tango Theo van Doesburg Toer van Schayk Vilmos Huszár Vincent van Gogh Willem de Zwart
About me
As a young aspiring dancer I loved to ponder over the magnificent paintings created by Edgar Degas. How his ballerinas inspired me. The atmosphere of the Paris Opera, the beautiful tutus and the hard working dancers never failed to trigger my imagination. As the years past, I retained my love of dance, of Degas, of art, and developed an interest in knowing more about the cross fertilization between art and dance.
DANCE IMAGES IN THE ART OF THE NETHERLANDS 