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The Silos Beatus: Apocalypse in Color

Navarro, Nicole
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Abstract
This thesis is based on the idea that human responses to color are historically and culturally specific thus affecting understanding. Analyzing illuminations depicting scenes from the book of Revelation in the Silos Beatus, with a specific focus on illustrations of the Tetramorph, the manuscript will be analyzed for color and patterns. Blunt and at times harsh in appearance the hues in the Silos Beatus represent the clashing of the local Mozarabic style and the international style of the Romanesque which creates a unique visual effect. The illuminations and color of the Silos Beatus are unlike those of other Beatus manuscripts and encourages the viewer to question what impact this had on the medieval viewer. After providing a brief introduction to the manuscript, the author of the text and the Silos Beatus fits into the larger traditions of the Beatus’ manuscripts, the thesis will continue with an explanation of what the Tetramorph is, its apocalyptic connections as well as an iconographic analysis of the Tetramorph illustrations. Color patterns, if present, will be addressed and contextualization of color and pattern will follow. In order to place color in its historical context, the texts of Isidore of Seville, and modern scholars John Gage, Elizabeth Boleman and Michel Pastoureau will be consulted. Furthermore, similarities between the Silos Beatus and the Facundus Beatus, the manuscript thought to be the exemplar for Silos, will be addressed for overlap in color usage. Through analyzing these colors, it will become increasingly clear how a manuscript as rich in color as the Silos Beatus could affect the perception and apocalyptic symbolism to the medieval viewer.
Description
Thesis (B.A. in Art History, Minor in Entrepreneurship)--John Cabot University, Fall 2018.
Date
2018
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Keywords
Bible Revelation, Illumination of books and manuscripts Medieval
Citation
Navarro, Nicole. "The Silos Beatus: Apocalypse in Color". BA Thesis, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy. 2018.
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