The Workshop System

Medieval art was produced in workshops, not by lone geniuses. A master designed the composition, senior apprentices painted key figures, and juniors filled backgrounds and mixed pigments. Signing individual works was rare — the workshop's reputation mattered more than individual credit.

Marginal illustrations — tiny drawings in manuscript borders — show knights fighting snails, rabbits jousting, and monks behaving badly. These drolleries reveal a culture far more irreverent and playful than the solemn image medieval art usually projects.