Letter writing and picture reading: medieval textuality and the Bestiaire d'Amour

Abstract

Images (painture) serve the eye and words (parole) the ear. And the way to reach the house of memory both through images and words is clear because memory, the guardian of that treasure which man acquires through his own wit, renders things of the past as if they were present. And one arrives here by image and word. For when one sees an illustrated story (histoire painte), whether about Troy or something else, one sees the actions of brave men which were in the past as if they were present.

The same thing with words. For when one reads a story (romans), one listens to the adventures as if one saw them happening in the present.¹