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Category: Iconography

Fig 6: Doppelguldiner (presentation coin) of Emperor Maximilian I, 1509, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 26261.14. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Knights and destriers: representations and symbolism of the medieval warhorse in medieval art

The horse is a common figure in medieval art. This is especially the case within the context of military representations, among which one often finds the figure of the knight riding his noble steed. Indeed, the horse cannot be dissociated from knighthood, a new military form of nobility that arose in the eleventh century....

Mother Ape with Young Pursued by Hunters. Bestiary. Salisbury (?) (England). Second half of the 13th century. London, The British Library, Ms. Harley 4751, fol. 11r.

Apes in Medieval Art

Apes are the closest relatives of humans in the animal world. They look like us, yet they are completely different. The ambiguity between the form and behavior of apes over humans was the main reason why they were used as a mirror of positive and/or negative behavior in both literary and artistic representations...