Slow Looking
The primary object of this exhibit is Topographica Hibernica. This object is a page from a manuscript by Gerard of Wales. The manuscript originates from London, England and contains two columns of script written in Latin. This exhibit will particularly be focusing on an image depicted on the bottom left of the page. This image depicts a priest who encounters two werewolves. It shows a werewolf on the left standing on its hind legs with another werewolf on the right who appears to be lying on a rock. In between these two wolves stands a priest who looks to be feeding the werewolf lying on the rock. The priest is pictured wearing a brown robe and a pale green/yellow garment. The page is in good condition with only slight signs of wear visible on it. There are some dark spots concentrated in the bottom right corner of the page.
According to the British Library, this image depicts a scene from an Irish legend where a lost priest comes across two werewolves (The British Library). One of the werewolves spoke to the priest, asking him to perform a rite on his dying wife (The British Library). This manuscript page is the main object of this exhibit because of the way the werewolves are depicted in the image on the bottom half of the page. The werewolves in this image are depicted and described similarly to the way in which Bisclavret is depicted int Marie’s poem. The wolves in this image and in the story that accompany it behave strikingly like humans, similar to Bisclavret.
One of the secondary objects that will be featured in this exhibit is from Roman d'Alexandre en Prose, imperfect at the end. The medieval image from the 14th century depicts alexander battling a monster on the top half of the page and him battling Cynocephali—men with dog heads—on the bottom half of the page (The British Library). For this assignment, I will be paying attention to the image depicted on the bottom half of the page. The image of a half dog, half man beast signifies how a werewolf, particularly the werewolf in Bisclavret, straddles the boundary between human and monster.
The next secondary object in this exhibit is from Divina Commedia. The image comes from a page of a manuscript by Dante Alighieri (The British Library). It shows a lion, leopard and wolf attacking people. There are seven people illustrated on the manuscript, each of them wearing bright coloured robes. The image is drawn using vibrant colours. The manuscript page shows a vision of Dante’s hell in which he is viciously attacked by three wild animals (The British Library). The lion is meant to symbolise pride while the wolf symbolises greed and the leopard represents lust. On the right side, the image shows Dante with Virgil who wears a bright red robe (The British Library). This image is included in this exhibit to demonstrate how vicious creatures should act and to contrast this with Bisclavrets behaviour. Bisclavret behaves in a way that is the complete opposite of the animals shown in this image. Instead of viciously attacking people, like a monster is expected to do, he interacts with them in a peaceful and civilized manner. This image, therefore, further demonstrates how different Bisclavret is from other animals and monsters.