Beatrice Kitzinger

My current larger project is titled, “Presence and History in Carolingian Illumination.” I explore how Christological narrative is handled in Carolingian book culture—primarily gospel books and sacramentaries—and how its representation shapes these major genres in turn. With the working group, Zwischen Präsenz und Evokation, I focus on the case of Paris, BnF, Ms. lat. 9386, an idiosyncratic gospel book produced in the late ninth century. Choices made for its illumination place the book in dialogue with both monumental programs and the treasury arts. I reflect on how such intermedial references position and characterize the manuscript, and, conversely, how location in a gospel book affects the way we read images that evoke the presence of various media.