The present paper shows how the illustrator of Koninklijke Bibliotheek van België, Ms. 10066-77 has built a striking relationship between text and image thanks to choices of which no other example is known in other Greek and Latin copies of the Physiologus, or even in bestiaries in the broad sense. This is why illustration, together with numerous identifying and explanatory captions, is almost a duplicate of the text insofar as it takes up the essence of the narrative elements, generally transposes into images significant metaphors and meaningful comparisons, and includes some characters whose expressive gestures constitute a real language in itself. In this way, the illustration acquires a special status that frees it from the text while at the same time enriching it. Beyond this, the transposition of the text is not mechanical and each of the two means of expression, text and picture, keeps its individual and concurrent identity, each in its own way, for the development of the moral or theological lesson. - [Abstract]

Language: French

DOI: 10.4000/rursuspicae.978