Herrad von Landsberg ( von Hohenbourg)

(fl 1160-70; d Hohenbourg, Alsace, 25 July 1195). German writer and ?illuminator. She was Abbess (1167-95) of the convent of Ste Odile in Hohenbourg. She is best known for writing (c. 1175-95) a complex pictoral encyclopedia in Latin called the HORTUS DELICIARUM (Garden of delights), a compendium of medieval learning intend for the women in her convent. This encyclopedic work covered biblical, moral and theological material. It was accompanied by hundred miniatures that depicted biblical scenes, allegorical figures and gardening hints, as well as a portrait of Herrad with the nuns of Hohenbourg. Refering to herself metaphorically as a bee, she described the book in the following way: "I drew from many flowers of sacred and philosophic writing this book... and have put it together to the praise of Christ and the Church, and to your enjoyment". The original manuscrit was destroyed by fire at the municipal library of Strasbourg during the city's bombardment in 1870, but there survive notes and line drawing copies of the illustrations made by scholars in the 19th century before its destruction. Since there is a close relationship between text and image, it has been seggested that Herrad participated directy in the illustration; however, this is by no means certain. Manuscripts that emphasized the illustrations were unusual at the time, and the Hortus deliciarum, along with Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias (1140s), was considered innovative in the 12th century. Harrad was an active teacher and a model figure in her community of women. The Hortus deliciarum is considered to have influenced the Alsace school of painting.

.

http://www4.artnet.com/librayry/03/0378/T037828.asp  , que reproduz The Grove Dictionary of Art ,

Macmillan Publishers Limited, 2000.
Podem consultar também:
- Landsberg, Hortus Deliciarum (garden of Delights), 1975.
.
- G. Games, Allegories et Symbols dans l'Hortus Deliciarum, 1997.
- R. Green, Herrad of Hohenbourg: Hortus Deliciarum, London, 1979.

.

-

.

.

.