ABSTRACT
Students in a graduate seminar on medieval iconography conducted in-depth comparative analyzes or close semiotic readings of a range of miniatures from fourteenth-century manuscripts of the French literary bastion, the Roman de la Rose. Focusing on Jean de Meun’ s continuation of the work (1269–78) begun by its first author, Guillaume de Lorris (1236), students concentrated specifically on the varied representation of the allegory Lady Nature in a select series of manuscripts to think through the process of conducting large-scale comparative and detailed analyzes of manuscript miniatures in the digital realm, where the interpretive act could be steered by the user’s decisions. This experience offered insights on tools and methods that would allow the humanities student and scholar of visual content to create an effective connection between primary sources and the research process.
