MINIATURIST, French
(active 1410s in Paris)

Plays by Terence

1410-15
Manuscript (MS Arsenal 664)
Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal, Paris

This celebrated manuscript contains the plays by Terence. Classical Latin plays by Seneca, Plautus and Terence were read during the Middle Ages, but the tradition of performance was lost. The miniature from the frontispiece of the French manuscript shows how the Middle Ages imagined classical drama. Within an amphitheatre masked actors mime the action, while 'Calliopius' reads the script from a booth labeled 'scena'. The audience, 'Popolus Romanus' is at the back. In the foreground Terence is being presented with - or presenting - a book.




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