The Queen of Sheba before Solomon
(Costume of 15th century.)
Fac-simile of a miniature from the Breviary of the Cardinal Grimani,attributed to Memling. Bibl. of S. Marc, Venice. (From a copy in thepossession of M. Ambroise Firmin-Didot.)
The King inclines his sceptre towards the Queen indicating hisappreciation of her person and her gifts; five ladies attend the Queen andfive of the King's courtiers stand on his right hand.
Manners, Customs, and Dress During the Middle Ages, and During theRenaissance Period.
By Paul Lacroix
(Bibliophile Jacob),
Curator of the Imperial Library of the Arsenal, Paris.
Illustrated with
Nineteen Chromolithographic Prints by F. Kellerhoven
and upwards of
Four Hundred Engravings on Wood.
Preface.
he several successive editions of "The Arts of the Middle Ages and Periodof the Renaissance" sufficiently testify to its appreciation by thepublic. The object of that work was to introduce the reader to a branch oflearning to which access had hitherto appeared only permitted to thescientific. That attempt, which was a bold one, succeeded too well not toinduce us to push our researches further. In fact, art alone cannotacquaint us entirely with an epoch. "The arts, considered in theirgenerality, are the true expressions of society. They tell us its tastes,its ideas, and its character." We thus spoke in the preface to our firstwork, and we find nothing to modify in this opinion. Art must be thefaithful expression of a society, since it represents it by its works asit has created them--undeniable witnesses of its spirit and manners forfuture generations. But it must be acknowledged that art is only theconsequence of the ideas which it expresses; it is the fruit ofcivilisation, not its origin. To understand the Middle Ages and theRenaissance, it is necessary to go back to the source of its art, and toknow the life of our fathers; these are two inseparable things, whichentwine one another, and become complete one by the other.
The Manners and Customs of the Middle Ages:--this subject is of thegreatest interest, not only to the man of science, but to the man of theworld also. In it, too, "we retrace not only one single period, but twoperiods quite distinct one from the other." In the first, the public andprivate customs offer a curious mixture of barbarism and civilisation. Wefind barbarian, Roman, and Christian customs and character in presence ofeach other, mixed up in the same society, and very often in the sameindividuals. Everywhere the most adverse and opposite tendencies displaythemselves. What an ardent struggle during that long period! and how full,too, of emotion is its picture! Society tends to reconstitute itself inevery aspect. She wants to create, so to say, from every side, property,authority, justice, &c., &c., in a word, everything which can establishthe basis of public life; and this new order of things must be establishedby means of the element