On a whim I signed up to a two hour online session with The London Drawing Group using Medieval marginalia as drawing inspiration. Marginalia, aka grotesques or drollery, are the odd doodles in the edges of some medieval literature. Often very skillful and expressive, the drawing is sometimes a re-enforcing or subversive commentary on the text, sometimes just wild whimsy created for the amusement the artist or the reader.
The two pages shown here were the warm up exercises for the class. We started with quick copies of medieval originals. Then drawing hybrid animals made from mixing references the monks likely never saw, like a starnosed mole and an ayeaye. Finally, some modern versions of bunnies like those in the killer bunny trope all over medieval margins, and in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, more historically accurate than you might expect.
It was good to be reminded that I enjoy this kind of inky playtime. And now I’m wandering down various delightful online collections I’d forgotten about – eg The British Library’s didgitized manuscripts and the pre 16th century collections in the Public Domain Review .
A Little Art 