ROYAL: Illuminated Manuscripts of the Kings and Queens of England

1757年，国王乔治二世向新成立的大英博物馆赠送了大约1950年的皇家图书馆手稿。从那时起，这些手稿一直作为一个不同的收藏品保留在一起：皇家。皇家保存着中世纪和文艺复兴时期的英格兰国王和王后的图书馆，并在有照明的手稿中包括他们拥有的大多数幸存的中世纪绘画。因此，它的重要性怎么强调都不为过。然而，值得注意的是，对皇家照明手稿的研究很少，从未作为一个群体呈现给学术界或更广泛的公众。大英图书馆自1973年成立以来一直是皇家藏品的所在地，它计划通过与伦敦大学考陶尔德艺术学院合作，于2011年10月至2012年3月在伦敦大英图书馆举办一场大型的照明皇家手稿展览，以改变这种情况。为了实现这一点，将开展关于这些手稿的研究项目，在补充层面上回答研究问题。该项目团队将由两位国际公认的插图手稿专家领导：大英图书馆西方手稿负责人斯科特·麦肯德里克博士和伦敦大学考陶尔德艺术学院的约翰·洛登教授。他们将得到一名博士后学者的协助，为这名学者提供发展她或他的专业知识和事业的机会，并发展中世纪和文艺复兴时期的艺术、历史和向不同受众展示手稿的专业知识。这个团队的经验和专业知识所产生的学术研究将使皇家手稿能够以新的和创造性的方式呈现和背景。为了在大英图书馆与英国国内外的高等教育专家和同行馆长之间建立进一步的合作关系，该项目将由一个国际顾问委员会监督，并将包括在项目结束时举行的关于藏品的国际会议。大约400份具有中世纪或文艺复兴时期重大装饰的皇家图书馆照明手稿将逐一进行审查，以研究其赞助、艺术家、抄写员、模型和功能。这一分析的结果将使人们能够提出和回答主题问题，并选择大约150份展览手稿。然后，展览将围绕这些主题问题进行组织。这些主题可能包括以下方面的研究：英国君主插图手稿集的形成和发展；图画叙事在爱德华四世下令的照明白话历史中的作用；修道院解散后修道院照明手稿的功能变化；以及图书馆照明手稿的使用和所有者接受的方式。该项目将在伦敦的一个展览上以创新的方式解释和展示中世纪和文艺复兴时期的皇家手稿绘画，并将伴随着一份插图齐全的展览目录。这项研究还将通过在线虚拟展览和在线介绍性“参观”向国际观众免费传播，向普通观众解释皇家文稿收藏的方方面面。此外，为了响应更广泛的学术界的需求并提供长期的研究利益，所有400份手稿的信息将作为《图书馆》免费图文并茂的手稿目录(CIM)的一部分在网上提供。通过CIM和其他在线资源提供的研究将允许学者和公众制定自己的进一步研究问题，促进积极学习。

In 1757 King George II presented the approximately 1950 manuscripts of the royal library to the newly founded British Museum. Since that time, the manuscripts have remained together as a distinct collection: ROYAL. Royal preserves the medieval and Renaissance library of the kings and queens of England, and includes within the illuminated manuscripts most surviving medieval paintings owned by them. Hence its importance can hardly be overstated. Yet remarkably, the Royal illuminated manuscripts have been little researched, and have never been presented to a scholarly or wider public as a group. The British Library, home of the Royal collection since its creation in 1973, plans to change this situation by working collaboratively with the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, to present in October 2011-March 2012 a major exhibition of illuminated Royal manuscripts at the British Library in London. To make this possible a research project on these manuscripts will be undertaken, responding to research questions at complementary levels. The project team will be led by two internationally-recognised experts in illuminated manuscripts: Dr Scot McKendrick, Head of Western Manuscripts at the British Library, and Professor John Lowden of the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. They will be assisted by a postdoctoral scholar, providing opportunities for this scholar to develop her or his expertise and career, and to develop expertise in medieval and Renaissance art, history, and presenting manuscripts to a range of audiences. The scholarly research resulting from the experience and expertise of this team will allow the Royal manuscripts to be presented and contextualised in new and creative ways. To build further collaborative relationships between the British Library and higher education experts and fellow curators within the United Kingdom and internationally, the project will be overseen by an international advisory board, and will include an international conference on the collection to be held at the end of the project.Each of the approximately 400 illuminated manuscripts in Royal with significant medieval or Renaissance decoration will be examined individually, to research its patronage, artist, scribe, models and function. The results of this analysis will allow thematic questions to be formulated and answered, and the approximately 150 exhibition manuscripts to be chosen. The exhibition will then be structured around these thematic questions. These themes are likely to include studies in the formation and development of the collection of illustrated manuscripts by English monarchs, the role of pictorial narrative in illuminated vernacular histories ordered by Edward IV, the change in function of monastic illuminated manuscripts after the dissolution of the monasteries, and the way in which illuminated manuscripts in the library were used and received by their owners. The project will interpret and present medieval and Renaissance painting in Royal manuscripts in an innovative way in an exhibition in London, which will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated exhibition catalogue. The research will also be disseminated freely to an international audience through an online virtual exhibition and online introductory 'tours' for a general audience explaining aspects of the Royal collection of illuminated manuscripts. In addition, in order to respond to the needs of the wider scholarly community and provide long-term research benefits, the information on all 400 manuscripts will be made available online as part of the BL's free, illustrated Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts (CIM). The research made available through the CIM and the other online resources will allow scholars and the general public to formulate their own further research questions, promoting active learning.