Discovering gold and gemstone treasures no longer requires a fairy-tale adventure to exotic locales.
A trip to the Getty Center’s Medieval Treasures exhibit is as far as students need to go to admire decorative and lavish works of gold, silver, and ivory from the Early Christian and Byzantine era through the late Medieval period.
While the exhibition may not feature the exact kinds of mythical treasure troves dreamed of in storybooks, the historical treasures on display at the Getty will awe even the least historically inclined visitor.
The sculptures, paintings, tapestries and armor on display come from the Cleveland Museum of Art, home of one of the most encyclopedic art collections in the United States. As the Cleveland Museum undergoes remodeling, Medieval Treasures has left Ohio for display at the Getty.
Organized by time period, each section of the exhibit features a variety of secular and religious art. In the Early Byzantine art, an Egyptian tapestry featuring one of the first images of the Virgin Mary, called “Icon of the Virgin and Child,” proves especially compelling to view. Though chunks of the tapestry are visibly missing, the colors remain vibrant, and viewers can see an attempt at perspective and depth in the depiction of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus. The tapestry’s survival seems a rare treasure in and of itself.
A collection of objects from the Guelph Treasure, one of the most important church treasures from medieval Germany, is also mesmerizing. With intricate patterns engraved in real gold, the relics featured are glittering testimonies to the lavishness of the royal medieval lifestyle.
The manuscripts and armor on display also give visitors insight into medieval culture. The manuscripts, composed of old parchment and colorful ink lettering, look like giant storybooks; tales of princesses and dragons seem like more appropriate content for their pages rather than the biblical and historical stories the manuscripts actually illustrate. The medieval armor is similarly well-preserved, and viewers can almost feel the heaviness of the iron helmets and shields on display.
While background on the historical significance of many of the religious statues would have been appreciated, a medieval history buff would most likely understand the importance of all the imagery depicted in the displays. The methods through which all of the pieces were preserved also would have been interesting to read about, but there was little information in the exhibit about how each piece was attained or preserved.
Nonetheless, this fails to detract from the ability to appreciate the museum’s lavish spread of treasures.
For an escapist adventure, the Getty’s Medieval Treasures exhibit features the kind of works that will take visitors to a world far removed from that flanking the 405 Freeway.
““ Jenae Cohn
E-mail Cohn at jcohn@media.ucla.edu.