The Illustrated Beatus: Introduction

Around the year 776, the monk Beatus of the monastery of Santo Toribio compiled a commentary on the Apocalypse from the extensive library of patristic exegetical literature. This is the first publication to provide a thorough historical context for the origin and evolution of the tradition of Apocalypse imagery. Offering a Corpus of nearly 2000 illustrations, the five volumes of The Illustrated Beatus will show the complete Apocalypse cycle of thirty-two medieval manuscripts and fragments from the ninth to the thirteenth century. Volume I, the introductory text, deals with Beatus' biography and the questions surrounding his text and sources. Various hypotheses about the compilation, function, and development of the illustration cycles are discussed in detail, and the relevant problems and solutions proposed are also elucidated. Including tables, and an appendix of all the inscriptions accompanying the illustrations, a complete bibliography, and exhaustive indexes, these beautiful volumes capture the artistic creativity of the Spanish people.