Using a magnifying glass (or a high-resolution digital image), I copied down Bocksay’s Latin, researched passages to find their source, hunted through books of abbreviations, and came out with a working translation of the text. Though some prayers in medieval manuscripts are common, such as the Lord’s Prayer that appears in folio 118, often texts had minor variations in spelling, or word changes from standardized versions of the material. I was tasked with transcribing the Latin prayers on folios 89 and 118 and translating them into English.
Psalm 117 sits in a diamond in folio 89 a complicated symmetrical maze and a tiny circular pattern comprise folio 118, equipped with Canticles, Psalms, and the Lord’s Prayer. Bocksay not only displays impressive handwriting techniques on both pages, but also places his text in striking geometric patterns. (Folio 118 is on view from December 18 to February 10 then the book’s pages are turned to show folio 89 through the close of the exhibition on April 7.)Įach page depicts several different types of handwriting, and each text section draws mainly from a Christian source, including the Bible, segments from the book of hours (known as the “medieval bestseller”), or other common prayers. I transcribed and translated two different folios (pages), 89 and 118, which are included in the Artful Words exhibition. As an extra flourish, he wrote samples in a few different languages, including Latin. Bocksay penned the calligraphic samples to display just how many styles he had mastered, and perhaps more importantly, to prove that his art was not becoming obsolete as a result of printing. The book was made by Georg Bocksay around 1562 as a commission for the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, and nearly thirty years later, Joris Hoefnagel gorgeously illuminated the pages. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program About Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta Watercolors, gold and silver paint, and ink on parchment, 6 9/16 × 4 7/8 in. Insects, Basil Thyme, and Land Snails in Model Book of Calligraphy ( Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta), calligraphy 1561–62, illumination added 1591–96, Joris Hoefnagel, illuminator Georg Bocskay, scribe. In anticipation of this exhibition, the Manuscripts Department gave me the opportunity (and challenge) to translate sections of the remarkable Model Book of Calligraphy (Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta), one of the greatest examples of calligraphic art in European history. The exhibition Artful Words: Calligraphy in Illuminated Manuscripts, on view at the Getty Center December 18, 2018–April 7, 2019, features exceptional examples of calligraphic arts produced across the Mediterranean world from about 800 to 1600. Yet, when the name Zachariah appears as a result of figuring out the Z, you know that determination has paid off. Intense focus, common sense, and patience are needed. Often abbreviated words pin the sentence together, and sometimes that word is nearly impossible to read. Entire letters or syllables could be abbreviated with scribal shorthand, chopping off half a word. U’s meld into i’s, which meld into m’s, which meld into n’s, and sometimes, as in the case of the elusive Z, it’s hard to figure out what is actually going on. One of the hardest-and most rewarding-aspects of transcribing and translating handwritten medieval Latin texts is not the actual translating: it’s deciphering the individual letters written down by scribes. It took fully three hours for me to realize that this letter was an uppercase Z. I used magnifying glasses to zoom in on the letter to find any hidden clues shapes that might lead me in a better direction. I consulted dictionaries to determine potential Latin words that might shed light on the myriad possibilities for this letterform. One letter of a Latin text on a page of sixteenth-century parchment captivated my attention for three hours. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program Butterfly, Marine Mollusk, and Pear (detail) in Model Book of Calligraphy ( Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta), calligraphy 1561–62, illumination added 1591–96, Joris Hoefnagel, illuminator Georg Bocskay, scribe.
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