Locked under glass in the Hood Museum's Harrington Gallery is the power which ruled an entire continent -- a printed edict which millions of people would unquestionably obey.
Pope Innocent VI's "Papal Bull," is one of the centerpieces of the museum's "Books in Art/Art in Books" exhibition which celebrates the portrayal of books in art, as well as the art inherent in books themselves.
The exhibition was put together by Professor Joy Kenseth and the students in her Fall-term freshman seminar class, "Books in Art/Art in Books."
The assemblage of over 60 pieces emphasizes the importance of the printing press in the development of Europe, as well as some of the responses artists and thinkers of the day had to this sweeping societal change.
A tremendous range of materials can be found on display -- from Guercino's still life oil painting "Vanitas," to one of the first collections of Shakespeare's plays, which was printed in 1632.
One is immediately struck by the historical importance of these works -- beside the "Papal Bull," for example, lies Martin Luther's "Vom mizenbrauch der Messen," and a minuscule scroll containing the text of the Koran, dated at 1689.
Other monumental works such as Durer's tribute "Erastmus of Rotterdam," Robert Hooke's first illustrations of the microscope's power, "Micrographia," and pieces authored by some of the most influential rulers of the ages, James I, Charles V and Henry VIII.
The display in the Harrington Gallery is arranged like the frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican. Painted by Raphael, its walls represent the four branches of human knowledge: law, the arts, theology and philosophy.
The pieces on display are roughly organized into these four categories, with paintings, drawings, and individual pages mounted on the walls, and books set up in display cases on the floor.
"Raphael intended his frescos to make Segnatura into a temple of the human mind, a temple that Kenseth and her class hoped to recreate," wrote Christine Crabb, Hood Museum representative, in a press release.
The Harrington Gallery was dedicated in 1989, only to be used in conjunction with teaching programs at the college. No exhibition will ever occupy this space unless it can be used as a teaching tool.
To fulfill its purpose, many Dartmouth classes have, and will, engage in the study and discussion of the pieces as they specifically relate to their subject matter.
The seminar took on the task of curating the exhibition engaged in a myriad of preparations including choosing the pieces, determining their arrangements and writing the posted descriptions.
The seminar collected pieces from a variety of sources including the Hood's private collection, The Dartmouth College Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Fogg Art Museum and the Harvard University Art Museums.
The pieces will remain on display until March 9, and the majority will return to the Hood's storage facility indefinitely, where they will available for viewing by appointment only.
In the meantime, other campus venues are showcasing books in their displays -- "Legendary Books, Bookish Myths" is an exhibition which can be found in the Treasure Room Corridor of our own Baker Library, next to "What is a Book?" which lines the Main Corridor in Baker.
