Professor Emmerson’s New Book Receives CAA Meiss Grant

Richard Emmerson’s forthcoming book, Apocalypse Illuminated: The Visual Exegesis of Revelation in Medieval Illustrated Manuscripts, received one of seven Millard Meiss Publication Fund grants for Fall 2016. Offered by the College Art Association, the grant is made to Pennsylvania State University Press, which will publish the book next year.

The book studies illustrated Apocalypse manuscripts created over seven centuries, from Carolingian manuscripts made in the early eighth century to a lavish manuscript made for the Duke of Savoy in the late fifteenth century. Emmerson argues that the miniatures in these manuscripts not only illustrate the Book of Revelation, but also interpret the biblical text and its accompanying Latin and vernacular commentaries. The book will include 100 illustrations, which will be supported by the Meiss grant of $4,000.

Emmerson is a former chair of the Department of Art History. He has also served as the Executive Director of the Medieval Academy of America and editor of its journal, Speculum and now serves as a co-editor of Studies in Iconography. Before retiring in Tallahassee, he was Dean of Liberal Arts at Manhattan College. He now teaches a course a semester for Art History, including a lecture course on The End of the World in the Arts as well as graduate seminars on Medieval Illustrated Manuscripts and on Medieval London. A Fellow of the Medieval Academy, in 2009 Emmerson received the Academy’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Medieval Studies. Apocalypse Illuminated will be his seventh book.