|
| HOME | SUMMA | PRAYERS | FATHERS | CLASSICS | CONTACT |
| CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| CATHOLIC SAINTS INDEX | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
| CATHOLIC DICTIONARY | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z |
Illuminated Manuscripts
I. ORIGIN A large number of manuscripts are covered with painted ornaments which may be presented under several forms:
All these ornaments are called "eluminures", illuminations, or miniatures, a world used since the end of the sixteenth century. At first the "miniator" was charged with tracing in red minium the titles and initials. Despite its limitations, the art of illumination is one of the most charming ever invented; it exacts the same qualifications and produced almost as powerful effects as painting; it even calls for a delicacy of touch all its own. And whereas most of the paintings of the Middle Ages have perished, these little works form an almost uninterrupted series which afford us a clear idea of the chief schools of painting of each epoch and each region. Finally, in the history of art the r=93le of illuminated manuscripts was considerable; by treating in their works scenes of sacred history the manuscript painters inspired other artists, painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, ivory workers, etc.; it is especially in miniature that the ebb and flow of artistic styles during the Middle Ages may be detected. In the Orient must be sought the origin of this art, as well as that of the manuscripts themselves. The most ancient examples are found on Egyptian papyri, where in the midst of the texts, and not separated from it, portraits are painted, most frequently in profile, according to the Egyptian method. After having drawn the outline in black in the artist filled in the drawing in colours. The art seems to have been also cultivated by the Greek artists of Alexandria. The papyrus containing the poems of Timotheus (fourth century B.C.) found at Abousir, has a long-legged bird in the body of the text as a mark of division. A fragment of a romance on a papyrus (Paris, Bib. Nat., supp. Gr. 1294; first century A.D.) displays a text broken by groups of miniatures: men and women in bluish-gray or pink costumes stand out in relief from the background of the papyrus itself. Latin writers show us that the miniature was introduced into Rome as early as the first century B.C. (Pliny, "Hist. Nat.", XXV, 8). Martial (XIV, 1865) mentions a portrait of Virgil painted on a parchment manuscript, and Varro collected seven hundred such portraits of illustrious men. (The portraits of the Evangelists in medieval manuscripts result from this tradition.) None of these works remains and the only traces of the illuminations of antiquity are found in the following manuscripts of the fourth and fifth centuries:
II. EASTERN MINIATURES
Egypt The tradition of miniatures on papyrus was preserved till the Christian era. On a Berlin papyrus (Emperor Frederick Museum) we find a picture of Christ curing a demoniac. In the Goleniscev collection there are sixteen leaves of a universal Coptic chronicle on papyrus, dated 392 and decorated with miniatures in a very barbarous style, intended as illustrations of the text. In the margin are seen successively the months (women crowned with flowers), the provinces of Asia (fortified gateways), the prophets, the kings of Rome, Lydia, Macedonia, Roman emperors, and perhaps the Patriarch Tehophilus presiding at the destruction of the Serapeum. The author was a native monk and a complete stranger to Hellenic art.
Syria and Mesopotamia The existence of Persian manuscripts on parchment very rich in miniatures, is proved by allusions of St. Augustine (Adv. Faustum, XIII, 6, 18). As early as the fifth century schools of miniaturists were formed in the Christian convents of Syria and Mesopotamia which drew some of their inspiration from Greek art (draped figures), but relied mainly on the ornamental traditions of the ancient Orient. The masterpiece of this school is the Syriac Evangeliary written in 586 at the Monastery of Zagba (Mesopotamia) by the monk Rabula (since the fifteenth century in the Laurentian Library, Florence). The miniatures are real pictures with a decorative frame formed of zigzags, curves, rainbows, etc. The Gospel canons are set in arcades ornamented with flowers and birds. The scene of the Crucifixion is treated with an abundance of detail which is very rare at this period. The works of the Syro-Mesopotamian School seem to have missed the meaning of the Hellenic figures (figures in flowing draperies) of which they retained the tradition. On a Syriac evangeliary in the Borgian Museum (MSS. Syr., 14, f, k.) men and animals are painted in unreal colours and are bordered with black lines which give to the illuminations the appearance of cloisonné enamels. The work, which is dated 1546, seems to have been inspired by an older model.
Armenia The Armenian School of illuminating also belongs to Syria. It is represented by the evangeliary of Etschmiadzin (tenth century), the miniatures of which are derived from a sixth-century model; the evangeliary of Queen Mlke (Venice, Monastery of the Mechitarists, dated 902), and the evangeliary of Tübingen, dated 1113. In all these works the richness of the framework and the hieratic character of the human face are noteworthy.
Muslim Art All the above characteristics carried to extremes are found in the Muslim schools of miniatures (Arabic, Turkish, and Persian manuscripts); the oldest date only from the thirteenth century. Together with copies of the Koran, admirably illuminated with purely geometrical figures radiating symmetrically around a central motif like the design of a carpet, there is found especially in Persia, a fruitful school of painters which did not fear to depict the human face. Nothing is more picturesque than the varied scenes intended to illustrate the books of chronicles, legends, etc. Besides fantastic scenes ("Apocalypse of Mohomet", Paris, Bib. Nat., supp. Turk., 190) are found contemporary reproductions of scenes from real life which take us into the streets of Bagdad in the thirteenth century or permit us to follow an army or a caravan on the march ("Maqâmât" of Hariri, Bib. Nat., Paris, supp. Arab., 1618). Eastern artists, whether Christian or Muslim, frequently portray their subjects on backgrounds of gold; in Persian manuscripts, however, are found attempts at landscape backgrounds, several of which betray a Chinese influence.
III. BYZANTINE MINIATURES The history of Byzantine miniatures is yet to be written; it is impossible at present to determine its origin or to study its development. It seems more and more evident that Byzantine art, far from being an original creation, is no more than a prolonged survival of the Hellenic-oriental art of the fourth to the sixth centuries. The Greek monks charged with the illumination of manuscripts never ceased to copy models, following the fashion and the occupation of the time, these models sometimes varies; hence Byzantine art has undergone a development more apparent than real. Under present conditions, without seeking to determine the schools, we must be content to indicate the principal groups of manuscripts.
Fifth and Sixth Centuries Several of the Biblical manuscripts in gold letters on purple parchment have been rightly compared with one another, viz. the Genesis of the Imperial Library of Vienna, the Evangeliarium of Rossano, and the fragment of the Gospel of St. Matthew discovered at Sinope (since 1900 in the Bib. Nat., Paris). In these three manuscripts the painting has an anecdotic character; it is intended to illustrate the text, and sometimes two periods of a scene are represented in a picture. Both the evangelaries show a bearded face of Christ, majestic and severe, which already suggests the "Pantocrator" of church cupolas. From the same period date two works which appear to be the transcription on parchment of an original on papyrus; one is the Roll of Josue in the Vatican Library, which displays a series of miniatures, eleven yards long, relating to the history of Josue; the other is the manuscript of the voyage of Cosmas Indicopleustes (Vatican), a monk of Sinai; in this, together with symbolic representations of various parts of the world, are many scenes and personages of the Bible, painted opposite the text, with the manuscript itself as background. Very different is the illustration of medical manuscripts such as the "Dioscorides" of Vienna, executed about the year 500, for Juliana, daughter of Placidia. Heron are found real pictures copied from ancient originals (portraits of physicians and of Juliana).
Eighth to Eleventh Century The Iconoclastic crisis was fatal to illumination and painted manuscripts were either mutilated or destroyed. An attempt was made to substitute for religious representations a purely ornamental art. Probably to this school belongs an evangeliary of Paris (Bib. Nat., Gr. 63), in which the motifs of decoration are borrowed from flora and fauna. The triumph of images in the eleventh century was also the triumph of religious miniature painting, which together with calligraphy underwent great development in the scriptorium of Studion. One of the books illustrated by preference by the monks was the Psalter, of which the paintings comprise two elements: the scenes of the history of David, and the symbolic allusions to the life of Christ contained in the Psalms. There are to be distinguished (1) the aristocratic psalter, represented by the Psalter of Paris (Gr. 139); the miniatures extend over the whole page within a rich border, and appear to be the reproduction from an ancient original of the third-fourth century; some pictures, such as that of David tending his flocks, have a quite Pompeian freshness. Antique influence makes itself felt by a large number of allegories personified and draped in Hellenic costumes; (2) the monastic and theological psalter in which the miniatures placed in the margin follow the text step by step. The Chloudov Psalter of Moscow (ninth cent.), those of Vatopedi (tenth cent.), the Vatican (Barberini Library: dated 1059), etc. are the principal specimens of this class. Some miniatures of the Chloudov Psalter represent episodes of the Iconoclastic conflict. Another manuscript often illustrated at this period was the "Menologion", which contained sometimes besides the liturgical calendar, and abbreviation of the lives of the saints for each day. The most celebrated is that of the Vatican, decorated for Basil II (976-1025) by seven artists who left their names attached to each miniature. A great variety of colours relieved a rather extreme monotony of inspiration; everywhere are found the same architectural backgrounds, the same sufferings in the midst of the same landscapes. The beautiful manuscript of the "Homilies" of Gregory of Nazienzus (Paris, Bib. Nat., Gr. 510: end of ninth century) was composed for Basil II; it is unfortunately damaged but it presents a remarkable series of the most varied pictures (portraits of St. Gregory of Nazienzus and of Basil I; sessions of Councils; Biblical scenes, etc.). This period was decidedly the golden age of Byzantine illumination. The manuscripts, even those which lack pictures, have at least ornamented initial letters, which in the earlier examples are very simple, but in course of time became surrounded with foliage, in the midst of which animals or small figures disported themselves. (These initials, however, never attained the same dimensions as in Western manuscripts.).
Twelfth Century The lofty traditions of Byzantine miniature painting were upheld until the fall of Constantinople in 1204. A group of the Octateuch (Smyrna, Athos, Vatican and Seraglio libraries) seems to have the same origin. The artists were chiefly concerned with illustrating the text, following it step by step; some of the scenes are spirited and picturesque, but the inspiration seems derived from ancient models (such as the Roll of Josue). The specimen at the Seraglio was composed for Prince Isaac, some of Alexius I Comnenus. A manuscript whose picture exercised great influence on Byzantine art is that of the "Homilies on the Virgin", by James, a monk of Coxynobaphos (Vatical 1162; Paris, 1208). The initials are remarkable for richness, and the paintings develop all the events of the life of the Blessed Virgin until the birth of Christ (cf. the mosaics in the narthex of the Kahrié-Djami at Constantinople).
Thirteenth to Fifteenth Century The studios of miniature paintings for a long time felt the effects of the catastrophe of 1204, and after the thirteenth century the monks ceased to illuminate luxuriously liturgical manuscripts. One of the manuscripts most characteristic of this period is that of the "Chronicle" of Skylitzes (Madrid, National Library, thirteenth century). The colours are clear in tone and very fresh, but the artist having no ancient model before him and left to his own resources, has executed veritable bons-hommes, which nevertheless charm by the vivacity of their movements and their picturesque attitudes. The imitation of antiquity however was not abandoned, as is shown by the portraits of Dosiades and of Theocritus (Cod. Paris, Gr. 28- 32) composed in the fourteenth century, but probably copied from Alexandrian originals of the third and fourth centuries. lastly attention is called to certain fourteenth-century manuscripts of Western or even Italian inspiration (Cod. Paris, Gr. 135; dated 1362; on this manuscript, written by a scribe of John V Cantacuzenus, there is a Gothic monster, a knight with buckler ornamented with fleur-de-lis, etc.). In the Slavic countries, the illuminated manuscripts of the Bulgarian, Russian or Serbian monasteries belong to the Byzantine school, but have also been directly influenced by the Orient, especially by Syria. Some Russian manuscripts were illuminated in the sixteenth century (e.g. the Book of the Tsars, 1535-53). Scandinavian influences appear in Russian manuscripts (monsters and interlacings of initials); and one of the most remarkable monuments of Slavic miniature painting is the Servian Psalter of Munich, in which the paintings are executed by an impressionistic artist, who uses contrasting colours instead of pen designs.
IV. WESTERN MINIATURES The evolution of miniature painting in the Occident was quite different; the imitation of ancient models was never as complete as in the Orient, and as in all other arts, the time came when the illuminator of manuscripts abandoned tradition and attempted to copy nature. In the Occident even more than in the Orient, it is possible to follow a real development of illuminated books.
Sixth to Eighth Century Until the Carolingian epoch the sole original school of illumination is to be sought in the Irish monasteries, or in those founded on the Continent by Irish monks. The works of the Irish school are characterized by wonderful decorative sense, far removed from naturalism. Nothing is more graceful than the large initials formed by ribbons ornamented with interlacings, in the midst of which are sometimes human heads or animals. Some borders decorated with spirals, rose-work, and interlacings recall, by their display of fancy, pages of the illuminated Korans. Indeed there are in Irish art elements which are frankly Oriental, and the geometrical and symmetrical aspect of the human form in Irish manuscripts may be compared to what we find on certain Coptic monuments, buildings, or bas-reliefs. In Ireland as in the Orient, ancient ornamentation finds little place; foliage is entirely absent from this decoration, which consists almost exclusively of geometrical elements. The kinship of these motifs with those found on the barbaric jewels or the stone sculptures of Ireland is evident. Among the most celebrated works of this school may be cited: the "Book of Kells" (Trinity College, Dublin), the transcription of which is ascribed to St. Columba, but which in reality belongs to the seventh century; the "Evangeliarum of Durham", belonging to the Diocese of Lindisfarne (British Museum, Cotton MSS., Nero D. IV), copied in honour of St. Cuthbert by Bishop Eadfrith (6980721), bound by Bishop =92thilwald, and ornamented with precious stones by the monk Billfrith, is also of great value. Although copied in an English monastery it possesses all the characteristics of Irish art; large initials decorated with interlacings and without foliage, the predominance of simple colours (violet, green, yellow, red) absence of gold and silver, portraits of the evangelists similar to those on Byzantine manuscripts. Beginning with the sixth century this art of illumination was brought by Irish monks, not only to England but also to the Continent, where the monasteries of Luxeuil, Würzburg, St. Gall, and Bobbio became centres of Irish art. As specimens of this expansion may be cited: the "Evangeliarium of St. Willibrord" (d. 730), Apostle of the Frisians (Cod. Paris, supp. Lat. 693), of which the initials resemble those of the manuscript of Durham; the "Evangeliarum of Maeseyck" (Belgium) eighth century; the manuscript of the Bible called Codex Bigotianus (Cod. Paris; Lat. 281 and 298), the work of the Abbey of Fécamp, eighth century; the so-called St. Cainim manuscript (now with the Franciscans of Dublin, but originating in Italy), in reality of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Several manuscripts of St. Gall contain miniatures of this school, but showing foreign influence. In the rest of Europe, among the Visigoths, the Franks, and the Burgundians, there were schools of calligraphy similar to those of Ireland, with more marked traces of ancient art (absence of interlacings which were replaced by garlands, sturdy foliage, etc.). As an example may be mentioned the initial of the Burgundian papyri of Geneva, sixth century (Homilies of St. Avitus). A celebrated Bible, the ornamentation of which remains a problem, must be considered apart. This is the famous manuscript of St. Gatien at Tours, stolen by Libri about 1846, and returned to the Paris Bibliothèque Nationale in 1888, after having figured in the Ashburnham collection. This Pentateuch, written in seventh-century uncials, is adorned with large full-page miniatures framed in red bands and presenting a number of scenes arranged on different margins, but without symmetry. What is striking about the manuscript is its aim at picturesqueness and movement, and the wholly Oriental character of the design and especially of the costumes of the personages (the women wear the tall head-dress and veil of the bas- reliefs of Palmyra) and of the architectural backgrounds (bulbous cupolas alternating with pedimented buildings). The arrangement of the scenes recalls certain fourteenth-century Persian manuscripts. In this instance we have to do perhaps with the reproduction of a cycle of miniatures conceived in the East to illustrate the Vulgate of St. Jerome.
Ninth and Tenth Centuries The Carolingian period was as decisive for the illumination of manuscripts as for other arts. Thanks to the initiative of Charlemagne and his chief assistants, Alcuin, Theodulfus, etc., schools of miniature painting were formed in the principal monasteries of the empire, and our libraries possess a large number of their works. The elements which compose this art were most varied; the influence of Irish and Anglo-Saxon illuminations is unquestionable, and to it was due the partiality for large initials which until the fifteenth century were one of the favourite ornaments of Western manuscripts. Carolingian art was not exclusively Irish, and in the manuscripts of this period are found traces of ancient art and Oriental influences (evangeliary canons, symbolical motifs such as the fountain of life, etc.). With the assistance of these manuscripts a whole iconographical cycle may be formed, encyclopedic in character, in which side by side with religious history occur figures from the profane sciences (liberal arts, calendars, zodiacs, virtues and vices, etc.). Ornamentation is more luxurious, the colours are more vigorous and decided in tone, silver and gold have not been spared and there is even a return to manuscripts in gold letters on a purple ground. Many of these Bibles, Psalters, or Evangeliaries were composed for sovereigns, whose portraits were presented on the first page in all their royal apparel; they are often surrounded by allegorical figures borrowed from antiquity. Beside these full-page paintings we find above all in these manuscripts beautiful initials of extraordinary variety; Irish interlacings alone or combined with antique foliage, purely zoomorphic initials, etc. The principal manuscripts of this period are: the Evangeliary of Godescalc, made for Charlemagne, 781-83 (Paris), text in gold letters on purple ground with a decorative framework which is different on each page; Bibles of Theodulf, Bishop of Orléans (Paris and Le Puy); Evangeliary of Charlemagne (Vienna); Bibles of Alcuin (Zurich, Bamberg, Vallicella, Tours); Bibles of Charles the Bald (Paris); Sacramentary of Drogo (Paris); Sacramentary of Gellone (Paris), has initials uniquely formed with fishes or birds; Evangeliary of Lothaire (Paris); Bible of St. Martial of Limoges (Paris, tenth cent.); Evangeliary of Cividale (Friuli); Codex Egberti (Trier), presented to Egbert, Archbishop of Trier, by two monks of Reichenau in 980. To the same school belong the manuscripts composed in the German monasteries for the Ottos. Moreover, Irish or Anglo-Saxon art also produced remarkable monuments, among which may be mentioned the Psalter of Utrecht (tenth cent.), the Psalters of Winchester (British Museum), and the Benedictionaries of Jumièges (Rouen).
Tenth to Twelfth Century At the beginning of the eleventh century the fictitious unity in the artistic and intellectual sphere established by Charlemagne gave way to the diversity of the provincial schools, but if the boundaries of these schools may almost be traced when there is question of architecture, the task is more difficult in the study of miniatures; researches in this field have scarcely commenced. The illuminated manuscripts of this period were made in the monastic studios. As a general thing the writers were at once painters and calligraphers, such as Guillaume de St. Evroult, "Scriptor et librorum illuminator" (Ord. Vital., III, 7). Sometimes however the two professions were distinct; the manuscript of Peter Lombard (Valenciennes, 178) bears the inscription "Segharus me scripsit" and on the frontispiece "Sawalo me fecit". Sawalo, a monk of St. Amand, is the illuminator and his name is found elsewhere. This period is marked by the extraordinary development of large initials while the full-page miniatures disappeared. Illustrations on several scales are still found in the margin. These initials of the Romantic period follow the traditions of Carolingian illumination, but they are even more complex and the human figure assumes an increasingly important place. Some of them are full-length portraits of prophets or apostles; in others complete scenes (battles, besieged cities, etc.) are developed in the midst of pillars. The great difference between this and the Carolingian period lies in the appearance of naturalism and of anachronism (prophets with pointed shoes, etc.). Lastly there are many points of resemblance between the development of miniature painting and that of other arts of design. The short and badly drawn figures were succeeded, at the end of the twelfth century, by more slender portraits which resemble the elongated statues of Chartres. Such is the character of the ornamental school which produced innumerable works in France, Germany, Northern Italy, Spain, and the Two Sicilies. (Here it is difficult to trace the boundary between Western miniature painting and the Byzantine which made its influence felt in the workrooms of Monte Cassino and especially in the beautiful paintings of the rolls containing the text of the "Exultet" of Holy Saturday.) Also worthy of mention is an attempt of the Cistercians to infuse more simplicity into illuminating. A model manuscript had been composed at Cîteaux, in which gold and painting were replaced by a calligraphic decoration in perfect taste. There is an intimate relation between this severe elegance and Cistercian architecture.
Thirteenth Century In the thirteenth century illumination, like calligraphy, ceased to be the specialty of the monasteries. In France and about the University of Paris appeared the lay illuminators. The taste for illuminated manuscripts spread more and more, and important studios of illuminators arose, the heads of which often furnished sketches of miniatures to be executed. On the other hand the illuminations took a more and more important place at the expense of the text. The artists were no longer satisfied with ornamented initials, but in a series of medallions arranged like those decorating the stained glass windows they developed whole cycles of sacred or profane history. There were then composed "Picture Bibles" made up of a continuous series of miniatures (Bible of Sir Thomas Philipps), or "Sermon Bibles", veritable illustrated theological summaries, giving for each verse of Scripture the literal, symbolical, and moral interpretations. This immense work, which must have contained 5000 figures, has not reached us complete. A manuscript in 3 vols. of a Sermon Bible is divided between the Bodleian Library, the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, and the British Museum. The Psalter of Ingeburg (Musée Condé at Chantilly) and that of Sts. Louis and Blanche of Castile (Arsenal Library) belong by their ornamentation to the monastic art of the twelfth century. On the other hand new tendencies appear in the works of the second half of the thirteenth century, e.g. the Evangeliarium of the Sainte-Chapelle (Bib. Nat.), the two Psalters of St. Louis (Paris, Bib. Nat., and collection of H. Y. Thompson), the works of profane literature (chansons de geste, etc.). Gothic ornamentation with its wealth of rose and quatrefoil decoration, gables, pinnacles, and foliage often forms the framework for these vignettes. The gold backgrounds are almost always covered with designs, sometimes in relief. Instead of foliage and fantastic animals the human figure holds the predominant place. In miniature painting as in the sculpture of the thirteenth century may be observed the progress of realism and the exact observation of the living model. These beautiful miniatures of the Books of Hours revive for us with their still admirable colours the costumes of the contemporaries of St. Louis and Philip the Fair. Such is the style which henceforth dominates French miniature painting and which speedily spread throughout Europe, especially England.
Early Fourteenth Century This period is represented chiefly by the Parisian illuminator Jean Pucelle, whose name has been discovered on several manuscripts.) One of the most beautiful of his works is the Breviary of Belleville (Bib. Nat., Lat. 10483-84), executed in collaboration with Mahiet Ancelet and J. Chevrier. The new school was remarkable for its borders, formed of wonderful garlands of interlaced foliage and flowers, no longer conventional as formerly, but copied from nature. Between the border and the text were represented scenes of everyday life, sometimes of a humorous character, for example a piper playing for dancing peasants, or animals, birds, monkeys, butterflies, dragonflies intermingled, with the foliage, as on the sculptured panels of the cathedrals of the same period. Traces of Italian inspiration appear in the architecture, which is of a mixed Gothic character. Among the works of this school the "Book of the Miracles of Our Lady" (Seminary of Soissons) is one of the most exquisite. During the same period the English miniaturists produced remarkable works such as "Queen Mary's Psalter" (Brit. Mus.), which belonged to Mary Tudor but which dates from the beginning of the fourteenth century. It contains first more than two hundred scenes from the Old Testament bordered with a simple framework of foliage. The figures are graceful and elegant. Then come scenes from the life of Christ executed on gold backgrounds with much greater richness in the midst of innumerable scenes of the chase, tourneys, games, grotesque subjects. The East Anglian abbeys (Norfolk, Suffolk) produced magnificent psalters during the same period (Psalter of Peterborough at Brussels; Psalter of Robert of Ormesby at Oxford) which belong to the same school. In Germany the miniaturists had long been imitating Byzantine art; beginning with the fourteenth century they also imitate French models. In Austria at the monastery of St. Florian is found the most ancient example of the Biblia Pauperum, executed about 1300 according to the same method as the Sermon Bibles. The taste for miniatures was so keen at this period that they even went so far as to illuminate some important characters. A copy of the house rules of the kings of Majorca shows each of the officials in the exercise of his functions (reproduced in "Acta SS. Bolland.", June, I; cf. list given by Delaborde in "Centenaire de la Société des Antiquaires de France", 93).
Late Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Century It was in the second half of the fifteenth century that the art of miniature painting was most profoundly changed. It may even be said that the illuminators of this period were to a certain extent the precursors of modern painting. This new transformation seems to have been largely the work of the powerful "Ghildes" of the Flemish masters, versatile artists, many of them skilled like André Beauneveu in painting, sculpture and architecture, and obliged by stress of competition to leave their own country in order to offer their services to the lovers of beautiful manuscripts. They are found scattered throughout Europe, and some went even to Italy. André Beauneveu became (1393-1397) the chief of the artists in the employ of Jean Duke of Berry. He made a Psalter (Bib. Nat., Paris) in which figures of prophets, and Apostles alternated in quiet tones. It was at this time that manuscripts began to be painted in grisaille. The gold backgrounds were replaced by designs in colours, then by real landscapes. In this respect the "Très Riches Heures" of the Duke of Berry (Chantilly, Musée Condé), which have been attributed to Pol de Limbourg, mark a veritable revolution (beginning of the fifteenth century). In the pictures of the different months are represented all the châteaux of the prince in the midst of surprisingly true landscapes. Long before the Van Eycks, Pol de Limbourg was acquainted with aerial perspective. In his works are found the effects of snow, of starry nights, of dazzling summer lights, the grey tones of autumn, all of which were new in art. Persons were treated with the same love of truth. Physiognomies copied from nature without disguise of any defect, intensity of look (never was religious sentiment expressed with such power), minute truthfulness as to costumes and details of furnishing, such were the characteristics of this art. Having arrived at this perfection miniature painting ceased to be a merely decorative art and was confounded with painting on a large scale. The anachronism of costumes belonging to the fifteenth century, whether they have to do with characters from Terence or scenes from the Gospels, is not one of the least charms of these beautiful works. Similar are the other manuscripts of Jean de Berry, the "Grandes Heures", ascribed to Jacquemart de Hesdin, the "Très Belles Heures" (Brussels) by the same artist, the "Dukes' Terence" (Paris), which first belonged to the Duke Guyenne. The "Heures de Turin" (destroyed by the fire of 1904), made for William IV, Count of Holland, belong to the same school. About 1450 we can distinguish the Flemish-Burgundian school (works executed for the Dukes of Burgundy) from the French school, whose chief representative is Jean Fouquet of Tours (1415-80). Flemish and Italian influences are confused in his works: "Jewish Antiquities" (Paris); "Books of Hours" of Etienne Chevalier (Chantilly); "Grands Chroniques de France" (Paris), etc. After him Jean Bourdichon, who about 1508 decorated the "Hours" of Anne of Brittany (Paris), may be considered the last representative of the great school of miniature painting. The progress of wood-engraving was as fatal to it, as was that of printing to calligraphy. Until modern times Books of Hours, works of heraldry, etc. have continued to be illuminated, but these miniatures do not possess a single personal quality. SILVESTRE, Paléographie universelle (Paris, 1839-41), 400; MIDDLETON, Illuminated Manuscripts in Classical and Mediæval Times (Cambridge, 1892); Reproductions from illuminated manuscripts of the British Museum (London, 1899-1908); BRADLEY, A Dictionary of Miniaturists, Illumination, Calligraphers and Copyists (London, 1887); LECOY DE LA MARCHE, Les manuscrits et la miniature (Paris, s. d.); LABITTE, Les manuscrits et l'art de les orner (Paris, 1893); MARTIN, Les peintres de manuscrits et la miniatures en France (Paris, 1910); NIEDLING, Bücher ornamentik (Weimar, 1888); ZORNIUS, Historia Bibliorum pictorum (Leipzig, 1743); BEISSEL, Geschichte der Evangelienbücher in der ersten Hälfte des Mittelalters (Freiburg im Br., 1906); DE NOLHAC, Le Virgile du Vatican et ses peintures (Paris, 1897); MAI, Iliadis fragmenta... cum picturis (Milan, 1819); STRZYGOWSKI, Eine Alexandrinische Weltchronik (Vienna, 1905); IDEM, Das Etschmiadzin Evangeliar (Vienna, 1891); IDEM, Kleinarmenische Miniaturmaleres im Ver=94ffentlichungen der Universitatsbibliothek zu Tübingen, I; MIGEON, Manuel d'art Musulman, II (Paris, 1907), 6-60; BLOCHET, Les écoles de peinture en Perse in Rev. Archéolog. (July, 1905); KONDAKOFF, Histoire de l'art byzantin d'après les miniatures (Fr. tr., Paris, 1886- 91); OMONT, Miniatures des manuscrits dreca de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, 1902); MILLET, Histoire de l'art, I, III (Paris, 1906-09); RITTER AND WICKHOFF, Die Wiener Genesis (Vienna, 1895); HASELOFF, Codex purpureus Rossanensis (Leipzig, 1898); OMONT, Peintures de l'Evangile de St. Mathieu (die Sinope): Monuments Pict., VII (1901); EBERSOLT, Miniatures byzantines de Berlin in Revue Archéolog. (July, 1905); Codices e Vaticani Selecti... VIII, Il Menologio di Basilio, II (Turin, 1907); OUSPENSKY, Le manuscrit de l'Octateque du Sérail in Bulletin de l'Institut Archéol. russe de Constantinople, XII (1907); STRZYGOWSKI, Die miniaturen des serbischen Psalters (Vienna, 1906); GILBERT, Fac-similies of national manuscripts of Ireland (London, 1874-1884); WESTWOOD, Fac-similes of the miniatures and ornaments of Anglo-Saxon and Irish manuscripts (London, 1868); UNGER, La miniature irandaise in Rev. Celtique (1870); The Lindisfarne and Rushworth Gospels (SURTEES SOCIETY 48, 1865); DE BASTARD, Peintures et ornaments des manuscrits (Paris, 1868, incomplete); LEITSCHUH, Gesch. der Karolingischen Malerei (Berlin, 1894); MENZEL, Die Trierer Ada-Handschrift (Leipzig, 1889); DE BASTARD, Peintures de la Bible de Charles le Chauve (Paris, 1883); BR=90HIER, La Bible historiée de Clermont in Etudes archéol. (Clermont, 1910); VITZTHUM, Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei (Leipzig, 1907); DELISLE, Fac-similes de livres copiés et enluminés pour le roi Charles V (Paris, 1903); DE LASTEYRIE, Les miniatures d'André Beauneveu et de Jacquemart de Hesdin in Monuments pict., III; DURRIEU, Heures de Turin (Paris, 1902); Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (Paris, 1904); REINACH, Miniatures des Grandes Chroniques de Philippe le Bon in Monuments pict., XI; DE LABORDE, Les Manuscrits =85 peinture de la Cité de Dieu (Paris, 1910); OMONT, Reproduction réduite des manuscrits et miniatures de la Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris, s.d.), contains Psalter of St. Louis, Book of Hours of Anne of Brittany, Grande Chroniques de France of Jean Fouquet, etc. LOUIS BRÉHIER |
Copyright ©1999-2023 Wildfire Fellowship, Inc all rights reserved