Speakers
Conferencistas convidados · Ponentes
Anna D. Russakoff, American University of Paris
Mobile Fables: Cross-Cultural Animals and their Representations in the Kalila wa Dimna A Latin version of the book of animal fables Kalila wa Dimna, translated by Raymond de Béziers in 1313 (Paris, BnF lat. 8504), is best-known for its connections to the French royal court. The manuscript opens with a famous image that represents the last four direct Capetian Kings, with Philippe le Bel depicted in the center. However, the manuscript is lavishly illustrated, containing 157 miniatures in total, and the animals depicted in the rest of the book have largely escaped art historical attention. The collection of fables that follows originated in India; and the text was subsequently translated into Arabic, Syrian, Persian, Hebrew and Spanish. This is one of only two surviving manuscripts of the Latin version by Raymond, and it is the only copy that is illustrated. The colophon of this manuscript indicates that it was translated into Latin from the Spanish version, probably the one that was commissioned for Alphonso X El Sabio in the 13th century. The probable Castilian source manuscript is preserved in El Escorial (MS x-III-4). In this case, Spain played a crucial role in transmitting these animal fables, which were and continue to be of immense popularity in the Islamic world, to northern Europe. Since the Parisian illuminator(s) presumably did not have access to any of the Islamic manuscripts and the Castilian manuscript is unillustrated, how did the brand-new iconography develop in both places? How did the Parisian artist(s) deal with the fact that the animals’ characteristics are often portrayed quite differently in the Kalila wa Dimna than in the more local Bestiary tradition and other fables that were better known in the West? Relationships between images and texts will be closely analyzed from several key fables to underscore the complex interactions and borders not only between humans and animals, but also between cultures |