Exhibition CLOSING

THE BOOK OF MARVELS: WONDER AND FEAR IN THE MIDDLE AGES

JUNE 11–AUGUST 25, 2024

THE J. PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

India (detail), from Book of the Marvels of the World, about 1460–65, Master of the Geneva Boccaccio. Getty Museum, Ms. 124 (2022.15), fol. 5

This exhibition explores the text and images of the Book of the Marvels of the World, a manuscript made in the 1460s that weaves together tales of places both near and far. Told from the perspective of a medieval armchair traveler in northern France, the global locations are portrayed as bizarre, captivating, and sometimes dangerously different. Additional objects in the exhibition from the Getty’s permanent collection highlight how the overlapping sensations of wonder and fear helped create Western stereotypes of the “other” that still endure today. A complementary exhibition focusing on a second illuminated copy of the same text at the Morgan will open at the Morgan in the spring, and a publication will unite both exhibitions, The Book of Marvels: A Medieval Guide to the Globe.

This exhibition is presented in English and Spanish. Esta exhibición se presenta en inglés y en español.

For more information: https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/marvels/