Special Collections

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Pioneers to the Past: American Archaeologists in the Middle East, 1919–1920

Pioneers to the Past tells the dramatic story of American archaeologist and Oriental Institute founder James Henry Breasted’s daring expedition to the Middle East in the years following World War I. Using Breasted’s own letters and photos, as well as equipment and artifacts from his expedition, the exhibit provides a revealing snapshot of the birth of American archaeology amid the turmoil and competing interests that gave rise to the modern Middle East. In following Breasted’s early adventures, including his dealings with such luminaries as T.E. Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and King Faisel, the exhibit also charts the progress of American archaeology in the region, and the changing attitudes and concerns that have affected the discipline since Breasted’s day.

The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry

This exhibit showcases the brilliantly illuminated pages of the early-15th-century Belles Heures (“Beautiful Hours”) manuscript, a medieval prayer book crafted by the Dutch Limbourg Brothers for their wealthy French patron, Jean de France. The illustrated leaves of this small but sumptuous Book of Prayers are being temporarily unbound for conservation and display, allowing visitors an unprecedented opportunity to examine all 172 of the book’s magnificent illustrations of scenes from the Gospels and the lives of the saints, including this colorful portrayal of The Flight into Egypt. While such prayer books were widely used for daily Christian devotion, they were also commissioned and crafted to be masterpieces of medieval European art.

Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Altarpieces of Medieval Spain

This exhibit highlights extraordinary works of religious art—including paneled altarpieces, illuminated manuscripts and ceramic tiles—that were crafted by both Jews and Christians during the tumultuous two centuries of conflict leading up to the Expulsion of the Jews in 1492. Despite the tension between the two faiths, the art of late medieval Spain shows surprising cooperation among Jewish and Christian artists, who often worked side by side in the same workshops. In the Christian altarpiece panel Christ Among the Doctors, for example, Jewish worshipers are shown with open prayer books inscribed in correct Hebrew, an indication that at least one of the panel’s artists was very probably Jewish. Through such panels, this exhibit showcases this coupling of faith and art and, in the process, details the lives and hardships of Spain’s Jewish and converted populations during the period.