By providing accurate identifications and digital access to our findings, the aim of this project is to more fully understand the contents of the Mira calligraphiae monumenta and to encourage further research on the manuscript. Many questions remain about it, including several unidentified species and source texts possibly reflecting the Holy Roman Emperor’s collections of prints, books, and naturalia (specimens of natural objects such as shells, insects, plants, and animals).

Through this project, identifications of the specimens in the manuscript and images of their real-world counterparts are now made available to the public. The findings have been published in two documents:

The first, titled “A Re-evaluation of the Flora and Fauna of the Mira calligraphiae monumenta,” is a chart identifying the flora and fauna represented by Joris Hoefnagel. Images of his illuminations are placed next to their verified scientific names and present-day photographs of each item, so viewers can compare the actual appearance of each item with Hoefnagel’s depiction. This document also tracks identified source texts when known.

The second document, “Transcriptions of the Mira calligraphiae monumenta,” contains transcriptions of Georg Bocskay’s highly decorative calligraphic text in legible Roman, Greek, and Hebrew letters.

Acquired by the Getty Museum in 1986, the Mira calligraphiae monumenta (Model Book of Calligraphy) is the product of the combined mastery of calligrapher Georg Bocskay and illuminator Joris Hoefnagel. From 1561 to 1562, Bocskay, a court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, created the Model Book of Calligraphy in Vienna to demonstrate his mastery in the art of calligraphy. Throughout the manuscript, Bocskay used different styles, languages, and alphabets to emphasize the aesthetic qualities of the letters.

Thirty years later, in 1591, Emperor Rudolph II, Ferdinand’s grandson, commissioned Joris Hoefnagel to illuminate Bocskay’s pages. The artist added plants, animals, and insects to nearly every page, and also composed a guide for constructing the letters of the alphabet, which can be found at the end of the manuscript.

Hoefnagel’s detailed illuminations may reflect the contents of Rudolph II’s palace gardens and Wunderkammer – a cabinet of curiosities filled with naturalia and unusual objects. One could say that the Mira calligraphiae monumenta is itself a Wunderkammer. Hoefnagel’s interest in painting objects of nature contributed to the development of the still life genre in the Netherlands.

Elizabeth Morrisson, Senior Curator, Department of Manuscripts
Brooklyn Bush, former Getty Marrow Undergraduate Intern, Department of Manuscripts, 2023
Lee Hendrix, former Senior Curator, Department of Drawings, retired 2016
Reed O’Mara, Graduate Intern, Department of Manuscripts, 2024–25
Lucia Palmerini, Graduate Intern, Museum Communications & Public Affairs, 2024–25

External Collaborators

John F. Burton, author of The Oxford Book of Insects
A.J. de Winter
Irina Lebedeva, The World Calligraphy Museum
Carla S. Oldenburger-Ebbers, Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen
Thea Vignau-Wilberg, Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen
D.O. Wijnands, Botanische Tuinen Wageningen
K.W. Robert Zwart, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History