Students trying to collect more than just class credits need look no further for inspiration than Robert Parsons, Grad '80. His collection of priceless illuminated manuscripts is currently on display at the Nasher Museum of Art as part of Sacred Beauty: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Collection of Robert J. Parsons.
Parsons was struck by the detailed beauty of these ornate manuscripts as a teenager and began his own collection soon after. The biblical illustrations are treasured not only for their age-those in Parsons' collection date from the 14th to 17th centuries-but also for their use of precious materials such as burnished gold and ground gemstones.
"I was stunned by [the manuscripts'] beauty. There's something so delicate about them, something so ethereal," he said. "They're such a perfect nexus of book and art.... As you see more, you realize how artistic the integration is, the expression, the delicacy and the stunning nature of it."
The avid collector's manuscript archive was not always so prized. It took many years of strategic investments, including trading in a number of lesser-valued works, to build his collection to the level of quality now on display at the Nasher. Most of Parsons' current pieces have in fact been attributed to specific artists, a rare and important marker of an illuminated manuscript's caliber.
"It's been a real work of love because it takes everything out of me to buy those things," he said. "If I were a rich man perhaps it would be different, but perhaps I wouldn't enjoy it as much."
Parsons' decades devoted to researching and tracking manuscripts have certainly paid off, judging by the exquisite and engrossing works showcased at the Nasher. The illustrations featured are particularly notable for their ability to render emotive, jewel-bright scenes in a scant number of square inches-the level of detail, along with the alluring shimmer of the golden ink, is so hypnotic that visitors will find themselves overstepping the Nasher's enforced one-foot barrier between viewer and artwork.
For example, the text-book sized "Christ and the Two Thieves" features a window-like portal onto a miniscule rendering of Jesus on the cross, surrounded by a crowd of diminutive yet clearly defined onlookers, while hundreds of individually-painted gold tiles glint in the background.
Parsons' collection of 16 pieces comprises the focal point of the larger exhibition of similarly themed and dated medieval art. The rest of Sacred Beauty, which includes larger paintings and statues, was intentionally curated to complement the detail-oriented quality of the manuscripts.
"I think it helps to counterbalance the intimacy of these pieces with our larger pieces," said Anne Schroder, the coordinating curator for the exhibition and the Nasher's curator of academic programs. "There are also a lot of thematic and stylistic connections between the pieces."
Duke students may enjoy visiting the exhibition, if not to satisfy an interest in the works themselves, then to relish the achievements of a fellow Duke graduate.
"It's like belonging to a club of the finest minds," Parsons said of art collecting. "And what more can a Duke student aspire to?"
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