Illuminating the end of time : the Getty Apocalypse manuscript by Morgan, Nigel J - 2012

Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2012. Hardcover. VG. Black cloth covers, gold lettering on spine. Pictorial DJ. 87 pp, 85 unnumbered leaves of plates : facsimiles (some color). "The visionary nature of the Apocalypse -- the Biblical book of Revelation -- along with its detailed descriptions of the end of the world have long made it ideal for illustration. Illuminated texts of the Apocalypse were particularly popular in thirteenth-century England, and the copy in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, with its lively narrative miniatures, stands as a testament to the artistic heights achieved during that period. In this richly illustrated book, all eighty-two of the manuscript's images are reproduced in color for the first time. They are accompanied by a full commentary. A general introduction to the history of thirteenth-century English illustrated Apocalypse manuscripts is followed by a succinct study of the artistic context of the Getty's manuscript, as well as a consideration of its style and date. The rest of the commentary is devoted to a stylistic and iconographic analysis of the manuscript's images; there is also a complete translation of the text."-- Contents as follows: The Commentary: History and context of illustrated Apocalypses in thirteenth-century England -- The Getty Apocalypse and the Westminister group -- Codicological description -- The illustrations and texts of the Getty Apocalypse -- The facsimile.