Pages: 91-104 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.55086/sp23591104 

The article presents the results of research on miniatures of manuscripts and engravings of printed books of the 13th —16th centuries — important pictorial sources on material culture, including costume and household items related to the life of a child, as well as their games, toys and dolls. The medieval miniatures have been massively studied by students of historic costumes, seldom toys, while this article addresses the miniatures and engravings as the most important pictorial source on the Middle Ages and early Modern times. References are provided to specific images from books and their digitized copies and some replicas.
The identified sources show that the book illustration of the studied period is able to provide what is necessary for understanding how medieval children grew up and developed, how they were dressed, slept, what and how they played. Gospel stories about Jesus Christ’s infancy were most important in this matter. Among the secular subjects, quite informative are illustrations with the births of princely children and the lives of historical figures, known and anonymous characters of miniatures and engravings. 

Keywords: miniatures from manuscripts, pictorial sources, Middle Ages, Renaissance, history of costume, toys, dolls, book illustration

Information about author:

Anna Zhabreva (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences. The Russian Academy of Sciences Library (BAN). Birzhevaya Liniya St., 1, 199034, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-1246-9485