News | May 12, 2023

Play and Pastimes in Medieval Manuscripts at Getty

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Unknown French Initial C: The Massacre of the Innocents, about 1320-25 from Breviary Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment. Leaf trimmed.

Play and Pastimes in the Middle Ages explores lively images of play in medieval manuscripts drawn from the Getty Museum’s collection. The exhibition goes on view at the Getty Center from May 16 through August 6, 2023.

“People in the Middle Ages enjoyed a variety of forms of recreation, much as we do today,” said Timothy Potts, Maria Hummer-Tuttle and Robert Tuttle Director of the Getty Museum. “This exhibition invites audiences to look closely at a variety of manuscript illuminations that show how images of play and games provided meaning in the pages of medieval books.”

In the Middle Ages, games and entertainment created potent imaginative spaces where people could learn skills, experience romance, engage in competition, establish social hierarchies, or simply have fun. Manuscripts from the period are rich with images that reveal a love of entertainment and sport, providing tantalizing hints about the history of play and its role in everyday life. The objects in this exhibition, which date from around 1240 to 1570, depict activities ranging from children’s games to the knightly pastimes of courting and jousting.

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Unknown German, A Tournament Contest, about 1560-70 from Tournament Book. Tempera colors and gold and silver paint on paper bound between original pasteboard covered with original brown calf.

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Unknown Italian Combat with a Lance, about 1410 from The Flower of Battle. Tempera colors, gold leaf, silver leaf, and ink on parchment.

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Unknown French Chess Problems, late 1300s from Book of Chess Problems. Tempera colors and gold leaf on parchment.

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Unknown Flemish May Calendar Page, mid-1200s from Psalter. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment.

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Master of the Jardin de vertueuse consolation and assistant Flemish, active 3rd quarter of 15th century, The Competition in Sittacene, about 1470-75 from Book of the Deeds of Alexander the Great. Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, and ink on parchment.

“In the Middle Ages, like today, play could be light-hearted but also be solemn, subversive, or even dangerous,” said Nava Streiter, curator of the exhibition and former intern in the Department of Manuscripts at the Getty Museum. “It was a source of joy and creativity, but also a way for individuals and communities to test themselves and develop new bonds.”

The exhibition will be interactive, allowing audiences to connect with medieval games and pastimes by participating in family-friendly activities throughout the gallery. Prompts will encourage audiences to engage with medieval images that depict such pastimes as dancing, jousting, dressing up, and checkers. To complement the exhibition, Getty will host two free family festivals, Medieval Play, on June 11 and July 9.

Play and Pastimes in the Middle Ages is curated by Nava Streiter, a former graduate intern at the Getty Museum, with assistance from Elizabeth Morrison, senior curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum.