Corybantes, The companions of Cybele

Artist Studio of Maître François French

Place of OriginFrance (probably Paris)

Dateabout 1470

DimensionsOverall: 4 1/4 x 3 3/16 in. (10.8 x 8.1 cm)

MediumVellum

ClassificationManuscripts

Object number

1954.74

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition Historyon display in Cloister Feb thru July 2014Label TextMaître (Master) François painted images for La Cité de Dieu (The City of God), a French translation of the Latin work by St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430), which compared an “earthly” city to a “heavenly” city (a metaphor for the Catholic Church). One of the illuminated miniatures Maître François painted for the book depicted the Greek moon goddess Cybele and her followers, the Corybantes. This fragment showing the same subject also likely came from Maître François’s workshop (probably painted by apprentices in the master’s style). Cybele was associated with the cycle of death and resurrection and with the wildness within humanity and the natural world. The Corybantes were eunuch priests who venerated Cybele with bizarre rites that included rapturous dancing to wild music. Note the lower edge of this fragment marked “coribates” (a misspelling of the French “coribantes”). The celebrants are depicted in contemporary 15th-century clothing. Their eyes, head positions, and particularly the pointing finger draw attention to the banner, which proclaims the revelers’ love of the moon.