This major international loan exhibition highlights one of the greatest chapters in the history of French art and the development of France as a nation. For more than 200 years—from about 1250 to about 1500—monarchs and nobles employed the finest artists of the day to paint the heroic tales of bygone eras on the pages of lavish manuscripts. These illustrations helped the French understand their present and plan their future by celebrating an epic past.

In these manuscripts, the past came alive before the eyes of medieval French readers through images of the legendary deeds and adventures of figures such as Hector of Troy, Alexander the Great, Emperor Charlemagne, and even the Virgin Mary. These dramatic depictions of moral dilemmas, valiant battles, and chivalrous derring-do illuminate the broader conception of history in the Middle Ages, which often encompassed material that is now considered myth, propaganda, or outright invention. The exhibition has been organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum and has its sole presentation in Los Angeles. The Museum is also grateful for the generous support of MaryLou Boone (in honor of Bob and Lois Erburu), Jeffrey P. Cunard (in honor of Gerald and Lori Cunard), James E. and Elizabeth J. Ferrell, Mel Seiden (in honor of Bob and Lois Erburu), and Mr. and Mrs. L. von Hoffmann. Introductory Video

Curator Elizabeth Morrison introduces the exhibition.

Banner image: The Performance of a Crusade Play at King Charles V's Feast (detail), Master of the Coronation of Charles VI, Paris, about 1375–80. From Great Chronicles of France (Grandes chroniques de France). Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. Ms. fr. 2813, fol. 473v



Image above, right: Jean de Vaudetar Presenting a Book to King Charles V (detail), Jean Bondol, Paris, 1372. From Historical Bible (Bible Historiale; original sources in Latin). Peter Comestor, author; Guyart des Moulins, translator. Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum, The Hague. Ms. 10 B 23, fol. 2



