The Bad But Not Very Bad Place

[malsperanza]

Was at the Getty Museum in LA last week, and saw there a wonderful show of Flemish medieval illuminated manuscripts. Sounds dry and academic, but in fact these things are gorgeous beyond belief.

And in a few cases veryveryfunny.

The Getty has a Burgundian illuminated book called The Visions of Tondal. It's an early medieval tale of an Irish knight, Tondal, who passes out at dinner (one too many butts of malmsey, perhaps?) and has a vision of Hell and Heaven. It belongs to the medieval literary tradition of visionary journeys to the Underworld (Dante's is the most famous. They are connected to Arthurian Quest stories.) Text by one Frater Marcus, illustrations by the redoubtable Simon Marmion, c. 1483. Hilarious.

I mean, how can you beat a book with an episode called "The Beast that Eats Unchaste Priests and Nuns"? Get back, Joss Whedon.

Here is the little nekked soul of Tondal being led by his guardian angel across a tightrope spanning the Valley of the Perversely Proud and Presumptuous.

But the two best scenes are The Bad But Not Very Bad Suffer Temporary Torments (due to a mistranslation from the Latin, they are stuck in a wall; and isn't that angel smirking just a little too much?) and The Good But Not Very Good Are Nourished by a Fountain.

They seem a little glum. (I suppose The Good And VeryVeryGood get nourished by something a little tastier.) Here's the whole page, showing the exquisite floral borders and ornamentation. So pretty.

I am in love with poor Tondal. Why do these things always happen to the Irish knights? --The Voyage of St. Brendan, not to mention St. Patrick's Purgatory and the Snakes. Ah well, he's better off Irish. In Latin his name is Tnugdal, poor fellow.

Comments

[ex-mahoney365.livejournal.com]

The Bad But Not Very Bad. Hilarious. This whole post is hilarious. I really think those medieval types had a wacky sense of humor.

It seems appropriate for such bizarrities to be happening to a medieval Irish fellow; at least, it reminds me of the Irish monks who illuminated serious manuscripts with gorgeous borders etc and inserted little drawings of things like a couple of mice putting the whammy on a cat because all that serious stuff got a bit boring....

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think it's the very same tradition: also nuns coupling with monkeys and the like. Great stuff.

[conversant.livejournal.com]

I needed this today! My favorite illustration is of "the Glory of Virgins and the Nine Orders of Angels" in which we see the two tourists (Tondal and his guide) and an unembellished Gothic wall. Kind of a lonely place, neh? I think we are to imagine that the precious sainted ones are cloistered behind that wall and that we can neither see nor corrupt them. (Compare this with the situation of the Good But Not Very Good, whom we see in the distance through an arch -- we could aspire to join those folks, and they might see us and sneak out of their garden if they aren't as really good as they're cracked up to be.)

I do get the deal with the grass: Tondal stands in an arid place and looks in to the GBNVG's very green garden, and again at the wall of the GOVATNOOA, the grass gets greener and better groomed as it approaches the wall. I conclude that inside, they frolic about rolling Easter eggs on a putting green. Give me the fountain of the GBNVG any day, 'cause really, who wants to be so good that they lock you up in a cloister?

I love the medievals. How do you pronounce Tnugdal, anyway? It sounds Orcish to me.

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

You're very good at reading these images. I was so in love with Tondal that I bought a veryveryscholarly collection of essays about it. One of the essays goes on at length about Simon's use of the wall as an iconographic motif etc. etc. Agree re putting green: the Not Very Good don't get all the way into Celestial Heaven; they have to stay in Terrestrial Paradise, which is the jolly place where all of Bosch's more bizarre characters dwell (strawberries with legs, tiny people with butterfly wings etc.)--Garden of Earthly Delights, apparently includes nourishing fountain. Maybe it's lemonade, if not ambrosia.

No idea how Tnugdal is pronounced. Sounds like someone with adenoids clearing his throat.

[(Anonymous)]

An un-useful comment left to say that I will see you at 12:15 at A's on 7th today and am bringing BDG. :D

Cassie

[malsperanza.livejournal.com]

Roger wilco

[miss-warren.livejournal.com]

That is my very favourite type of humour.

LMAO!

[(Anonymous)]

Hello, I stumbled on your LJ via the HP fandom (what else?) and could not resist commenting. Haven't laughed this much in ages. "The Valley of the Perversely Proud and Presumptious" really broke me up.