f EXLIBR!S UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA^:
JOHN HENRY NASH LIBRARY
SAN FRANCISCO
PRESENTED TO THE
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
ROBERT GORDON SPROUL, PRESIDENT.
BY"
MR.ANDMRS.MILTON S.RAV
CECILY, VIRGINIA AND ROSALYN RAY
AND THE
RAY OIL BURNER (DMPANY
LITTLE BOOKS ON ART
GENERAL EDITOR: CYRIL DAVENPORT
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
LITTLE BOOKS ON ART
Demy IQmo
SUBJECTS
EARLY ENGLISH WATER-COLOUR. C. E. HUGHES
GREEK ART. H. B. WALTERS
THE ARTS OF JAPAN. E. DILLON
JEWELLERY. C. DAVENPORT
CHRIST IN ART. MRS. H. JENNER
OUR LADY IN ART. MRS. H. JENNER
CHRISTIAN SYMBOLISM. MRS. H. JENNER
ILLUMINATED MSS. J. W. BRADLEY
ENAMELS. MRS. NELSON DAWSON
BOOKPLATES. E. ALMACK
MINIATURES. C. DAVENPORT
ARTISTS
GEORGE ROMNEY. GEORGE PASTON
SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS. J. SIME
ALBRECHT DURER. L. JESSIE ALLEN
JOHN HOPPNER. H. P. K. SKIPTON
TURNER. FRANCES TYRRELL-GILL
WATTS. R. E. D. SKETCHLEY
BURN EJONES. MRS. F. DE LISLE
FREDERIC LEIGHTON. ALICE CORKRAN
VELASQUEZ. WILFRID WILBERFORCE and A. R. GILBERT
VANDYCK. M. G. SMALLWOOD
HOLBEIN. BEATRICE FORTESCUE
COROT. ETHEL BIRNSTINGL and MRS. A. POLLARD
MILLET. N. PEACOCK
CLAUDE. E. DILLON
GREUZE and BOUCHER. ELIZA F. POLLARD
RAPHAEL. A. R. DRYHURST
BOTTICELLI. MARY L. BONNOR
BENVENUTO CELLINI. R. H. HOBART CUST
CONSTABLE. H. W. TOMPKINS
RODIN. MURIEL CIOLKOWSKA
o
ENG. HOK^E, ETC., OF THE I4TH CENT.
Egert. MS. 2781, f. QT v.
ILLUMINATED
MANUSCRIPTS
BY
JOHN W. BRADLEY
WITH TWENTY-ONE ILLUSTRATIONS
SECOND EDITION
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published . . April 1905
Second Edition . . 1920
CONTENTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
What is meant by art? The art faculty How artists may be com-
paredThe aim of illumination Distinction between illumination
and miniature Definition of illumination t The first miniature
painter Origin of the term "miniature" Ovid's allusion to his
little book . . . . .
CHAPTER II
VELLUM AND OTHER MATERIALS
Difference between vellum and parchment Names of different pre-
parations The kinds of vellum most prized for illuminated books
The " parcheminerie " of the Abbey of Cluny Origin of the
term "parchment" Papyrus . ... 6
CHAPTER III
WRITING
Its different styles Origin of Western alphabets Various forms of
letters Capitals, uncials, etc. Texts used in Western Europe
Forms of ancient writings The roll, or volume The codex-
Tablets Diptychs, etc. The square book How different sizes of
books were produced . . . , n
CHAPTER IV
GREEK AND ROMAN ILLUMINATION
The first miniature painter The Vatican Vergils Methods of painting
Origin of Christian art The Vienna Genesis The Dioscoride*
The Byzantine Revival . . . ... 19
vi CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
The rebuilding of the city of Byzantium the beginning of Byzantine
art Justinian's fondness for building and splendour Description
of Paul the Silentiary Sumptuous garments The Gospel-book of
Hormisdas Characteristics of Byzantine work Comparative scar-
city of examples Rigidity of Byzantine rules of art Periods of
Byzantine art Examples Monotony and lifelessness of the style
page 24
CHAPTER VI
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
Early liturgical books reflect the ecclesiastical art of their time This
feature a continuous characteristic of illumination down to the
latest times Elements of Celtic ornament Gospels of St. Chad
Durham Gospels Contrast of Celtic and Byzantine St. Columba
Book of Kells Details of its decoration . . . 36
CHAPTER VII
CELTIC ILLUMINATION continued
The lona Gospels Contrast with Roman and Byzantine Details
Treatment of animal forms Colour schemes The Gospel-book of
St. Columbanus That of Mael Brith Mac Durnan The Lindis-
farne Gospels Cumdachs Other book-shrines . 44
CHAPTER VIII
SEMI-BARBARIC ILLUMINATION
Visigothic Merovingian Lombardic Extinction of classic art Splen-
did reign of Dagobert St. Eloy of Noyon The Library of Laon
Natural History of Isidore of Seville Elements of contemporary
art Details of ornament Symbolism Luxeuil and Monte Cassino
Sacramentary of Gellone "Prudentius" "Orosius" Value of
the Sacramentary of Gellone . , . 49
CHAPTER IX
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INITIAL
The initial and initial paragraph the main object of decoration in Celtic
illumination Study of the letter L as an example The I of "In
principio " and the B of " Beatus Vir" . . 56
CONTENTS vii
CHAPTER X
FIRST ENGLISH STYLES
Transition from lona to Lindisfarne Influence of Prankish art The
"Opus Anglicum" The Winchester school and its characteristics
Whence obtained Method of painting Examples Where found
and described ..... page 58
CHAPTER XI
CAROLINGIAN ILLUMINATION
Why so-called Works to be consulted The Library of St. Gall Rise
and progress of Carolingian art Account of various MSS. Feature
of the style Gospels of St. Sernin The Ada-CodexCentres of
production Other splendid examples The Alcuin Bible The Gos-
pel of St. Medard of Soissons . . . . 6a
CHAPTER XII
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION
Introductory Monasteries and their work from the sixth to the ninth
century The claustral schools Alcuin Warnefrid and Theodulf
Clerics and monastics The Golden Age of monasticism The
Order of St. Benedict Cistercian houses Other Orders Progress
of writing in Carolingian times Division of labour . , 71
CHAPTER XIII
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION continued
The copyist Gratuitous labour Last words of copyists Disputes
between Cluny and Citeaux The Abbey of Cluny : its grandeur
and influences Use of gold and purple vellum The more influen-
tial abbeys and their work in France, Germany, and the Nether-
lands . . . ... 78
CHAPTER XIV
OTHONIAN ILLUMINATION
Departure from Carolingian Bird and serpent Common use of dra-
contine forms in letter-ornament Influence of metal-work on the
forms of scroll-ornament The vine-stem and its developments
Introduction of Greek taste and fashion into Germany Cistercian
illumination The Othonian period Influence of women as patron-
esses and practitioners German princesses The Empress Adelheid
of Burgundy The Empress Theophano Henry II. and the Em-
press Cunegunda Bamberg Examples of Othonian art ; 84
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XV
FRANCONIAN ILLUMINATION
The later Saxon schools Bernward of Hildesheim Tuotilo and
Hartmut of St. Gallen Portrait of Henry II. in MS. 40 at Munich
Netherlandish and other work compared Alleged deterioration
of work under the Franconian Emperors not true Bad character
of the eleventh century as to art Example to the contrary page 93
CHAPTER XVI
ARTISTIC EDUCATION IN THE CLOISTER
The "Manual" Its discovery Its origin and contents Didron's
translation The "Compendium" of Theophilus Its contents
English version by Hendrie Benedictine and Cistercian illumina-
tion How they differ Character of monastic architects and
artists . . . . . ... 101
CHAPTER XVII
THE RISE OF GOTHIC ILLUMINATION
Germany the chief power in Europe in the twelfth century Rise of -
Italian influence The Emmeram MSS. Coronation of Henry II.
The Apocalypse The " Hortus Deliciarum" Romanesque
MS. of Henry the Lion The Niedermiinster Gospels Descrip-
tion of the MS. Rise of Gothic Uncertainty of its origin The
spirit of the age . . . . . . . 1 10
BOOK II
CHAPTER I
THE GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION
The Gothic spirit A " Zeitgeist" not the invention of a single artist
nor of a single country The thirteenth century the beginning of
the new style Contrast between North and South, between East
and West, marked in the character of artistic leaf-work Gradual
development of Gothic foliage The bud of the thirteenth century,
the leaf of the fourteenth, and the flower of the fifteenth The
Freemasons Illumination transferred from the monastery to the
lay workshop The Psalter of St. Louis Characteristics of French
Gothic illumination Rise of the miniature as a distinct feature
Guilds Lay artists . . . . . 123
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER II
RISE OF NATIONAL STYLES
The fourteenth century the true Golden Age of Gothic illumination
France the cradle of other national styles Netherlandish, Italian,
German, etc. Distinction of schools Difficulty of assigning the
provenance of MSS. The reason for it MS. in Fitzwilliam
Museum, Cambridge The Padua Missal Artists' names Whence
obtained ..... page 134.
CHAPTER III
FRENCH ILLUMINATION FROM THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY TO THE RENAISSANCE
Ivy- leaf and chequered backgrounds Occasional introduction of
plain burnished gold Reign of Charles VI. of France The Dukes
of Orleans, Berry, and Burgundy ; their prodigality and fine
taste for MSS. Christine de Pisan and her works Description of
her "Mutation of Fortune" in the Paris Library The "Roman
de la Rose" and "Cite des Dames" Details of the French style
of illumination Burgundian MSS , Harl. 4431 Roy. 15 E. 6
The Talbot Romances Gradual approach to Flemish on the one
hand and Italian on the other . . ... 139
CHAPTER IV
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION FROM THE TENTH TO THE
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Organisation of the monastic scriptoria Professional outsiders : lay
artists The whole sometimes the work of the same practitioner
The Winchester Abbeys of St. Swithun's and Hyde Their vicissi-
tudes St. Alban's Westminster Royal MS. 2 A 22 Description
of style The Tenison Psalter Features of this period The
Arundel Psalter Hunting and shooting scenes, and games-
Characteristic pictures, grotesques, and caricatures Queen Mary's
Psalter Rapid changes under Richard II. Royal MS. i E. 9
Their cause . . . . ... 149
CHAPTER V
THE SOURCES OF ENGLISH FIFTEENTH-CENTURY
ILLUMINATION
Attributed to the Netherlands Not altogether French The home of
Anne of Bohemia, Richard II. 'i q^een Court of Charles IV. at
x CONTENTS
Prag Bohemian Art John of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia
The Golden Bull of Charles IV. Marriage of Richard II. The
transformation of English work owing to this marriage and the
arrival of Bohemian artists in England Influence of Queen Anne
on English Art and Literature Depression caused by her death
Examination of Roy. MS. i E. g and 2 A. 18 The Grandi-
son Hours Other MSS. Introduction of Flemish work by
Edward IV. . . . . fage 16*
CHAPTER VI
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION
Barbaric character of Italian illumination in the twelfth century
Ravenna and Pavia the earliest centres of revival The " Exultet "
La Cava and Monte Cassino The writers of early Italian MSS.
not Italians In the early fourteenth century the art is French
Peculiarities of Italian foliages The Law Books Poems of Con-
venevole da Prato, the tutor of Petrarch Celebrated patrons
The Laon Boethius The Decretals, Institutes, etc. "Decretum
Gratiani," other collections and MSS. Statuts du Saint Esprit
Method of painting Don Silvestro The Rationale of Durandus
Nicolas of Bologna, etc. Triumphs of Petrarch Books at San
Marco, Florence The Brera Graduals at Milan Other Italian
collections Examples of different localities in the British Museum
Places where the best work was done Fine Neapolitan MS. in
the British Museum The white -vine style superseded by the
classical renaissance . . . . . 171
CHAPTER VII
GERMAN ILLUMINATION FROM THE THIRTEENTH
TO THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Frederick II., Stupor Mundi, and his MS. on hunting The Sicilian
school mainly Saracenic, but a mixture of Greek, Arabic, and
Latin tastes The Franconian Emperors at Bamberg Charles of
Anjou The House of Luxembourg at Prag MSS. in the Uni-
versity Library The Collegium Carolinum of the Emperor Charles
IV. MSS. at Vienna The Wenzel Bible The Welt-chronik of
Rudolf v. Ems at Stuttgard Wilhelm v. Oranse at Vienna The
Golden Bull Various schools Hildesheimer Prayer-book at Ber-
lin The Nuremberg school The Glockendons The Brethren of
the Pen . . . . 186
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER VIII
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION
What is meant by the Netherlands Early realism an study of nature
Combination of symbolism with imitation Anachronism in design
The value of the pictorial methods of the old illuminators The
oldest Netherlandish MS. Harlinda and Renilda The nunnery
at Maas-Eyck Description of the MS. Thomas a Kempis The
school of Zwolle Character of the work The use of green land-
scape backgrounds The Dukes of Burgundy Netherlandish art-
istsNo miniatures of the Van Eycks or Memling known to exist
Schools of Bruges, Ghent, Liege, etc. Brussels Library Splen-
did Netherlandish MSS. at Vienna Gerard David and the Gri-
mani Breviary British Museum "Romance of the Rose" " Isa-
bella " Breviary Grisailles . . . page 195
CHAPTER IX
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
Communication with Italy Renaissance not sudden Origin of the
schools of France and Burgundy Touraine and its art Fouquet
Brentano MSS. "Versailles Livy" Munich " Boccaccio," etc.
Perreal and Bourdichon "Hours of Anne of Brittany" Poyet
The school of Fontainebleau Stained glass Jean Cousin
Gouffier " Heures" British Museum Offices of Francis I. Dinte-
ville Offices Paris " Heures de Montmorency," " Heures de Dinte-
ville," etc. , . . . . . . 208-
CHAPTER X
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE ILLUMINATION
Late period of Spanish illumination Isidore of Seville Archives at
Madrid Barcelona Toledo Madrid Choir-books of the Escorial
Philip II. Illuminators of the choir-books The size and beauty
of the volumes Fray Andres de Leon and other artists Italian
influence Giovanni Battista Scorza of Genoa Antonio de Holanda,
well-known Portuguese miniaturist in sixteenth century His son
Francesco The choir -books at Belem French invasion Missal
of Gonsalvez Sandoval Genealogies Portuguese Genealogies in
British Museum The Stowe Missal of John III. . . . 226
xii CONTENTS
CHAPTER XI
ILLUMINATION SINCE THE INVENTION OF PRINTING
The invention of printing Its very slight affect on illuminating
Preference by rich patrons for written books Work produced in
various cities in the sixteenth century Examples in German,
Italian, and other cities, and in various public libraries up to the
present time ..... p&gc 239
MANUSCRIPTS THAT MAY BE CONSULTED . . 244
BIBLIOGRAPHY .... . . 277
INDEX . .286
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ENG. HORAE K ETC., OF THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY, SMALL 8vO. EG. 278 1, FOL. 91 V. Frontispiece
A vellum MS. of 190 folios. Profusely ornamented with
miniatures, initials, and borders of English work ; coarsely
executed, but interesting from their variety and originality.
PAGE
EVANG. GR^CA, SIXTH CENTURY , 32
EVANG. GR^ECA, NINTH CENTURY . . . 32
CARVED IVORY COVER, LATIN PSALTER OF MELISENDA,
TWELFTH CENTURY . . 35
CODEX AUREUS (GOLDEN GOSPELS OF ATHELSTAN),
< 835 . . 6 7
BIBLIA SACRA, TWELFTH CENTURY . 85
EVANGELIA (PARIS USE), C. 1275 1 33
PSALTERM. ET OFFICIA, FOURTEENTH CENTURY . . 142
HEURES, ETC., FOURTEENTH CENTURY . . . 142
PSALTERIUM CUM CANTICIS, A.D. 1240 . . . 153
EPISTRE AU ROY RICH. II., C. 1375 . . . 160
MISSALE (SARUM USE), FOURTEENTH CENTURY (LATE) l66
HORAE B. MAR. VIRGN., FIFTEENTH CENTURY (EARLY) 167
VEGETIUS, FOUR BOOKS OF KNIGHTHOOD (DE RE MILI-
TARl), FIFTEENTH CENTURY . . . 169
PSALTERIUM, C. 1470 . . . . . 169
xiii
xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
MISSALE, C. 1530 . . l82
KATHOLISCHES GEBETHBUCH, 1584 . . . 193
HORAE, FIFTEENTH CENTURY (LATE) . . . 2O$
VALERE MAXIME, TRAD. PAR SIMON DE HESDIN,
FIFTEENTH CENTURY (LATE) . . .213
OFFICM. B. MARIAE VIRGINIS, C. 1530 . . . 222
OFFICM. MORTUORM-, SIXTEENTH CENTURY (LATE) . 240
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
BOOK I
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
What is meant by art ? The art faculty How artists may be
compared The aim of illumination Distinction between
illumination and miniature Definition of illumination
The first miniature painter Origin of the term "miniature"
Ovid's allusion to his little book.
THE desire for decoration is probably as old
as the human race. Nature, of course, is
the source of beauty, and this natural beauty
affects something within us which has or is the
faculty of reproducing the cause of its emotion
in a material form. Whether the reproduction
be such as to appeal to the eye or the ear depends
on the cast of the faculty. In a mild or elemen-
tary form, probably both casts of faculty exist
in every animated creature, and especially in the
human being.
Art being the intelligent representation of that
quality of beauty which appeals to any particular
observer, whoever exercises the faculty of such
representation is an artist.
2 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Greatness or otherwise is simply the measure
of the faculty, for in Nature herself there is no
restriction. There is always enough of beauty in
Nature to fill the mightiest capacity of human
genius. Artists, therefore, are measured by com-
parison with each other in reference to the fraction
of art which they attempt to reproduce.
The art of illumination does not aim at more
than the gratification of those who take pleasure
in books. Its highest ambition is to make books
beautiful.
To some persons, perhaps, all ordinary books
are ugly and distasteful. Probably they are so
to the average schoolboy. Hence the laudable
endeavour among publishers of school-books to
make them attractive. The desire that books
should be made attractive is of great antiquity.
How far back in the world's history we should
have to go to get in front of it we cannot venture
to reckon. The methods of making books attrac-
tive are numerous and varied. That to which
we shall confine our attention is a rather special
one. Both its processes and its results are pecu-
liar. Mere pictures or pretty ornamental letters
in sweet colours and elegant drawing do not
constitute illumination, though they do form
essential contributions towards it; and, indeed,
in the sixteenth century the clever practitioners
who wished, in bright colours, to awaken up the
old wood-cuts used to call themselves illuminists,
and the old German books which taught how the
work should be done were called Illuminir bilcher.
Illuminists were not illuminators.
INTRODUCTORY 3
In the twelfth century when, as far as we know,
the word illuminator was first applied to one who
practised the art of book decoration, it meant one
who "lighted up" the page of the book with
bright colours and burnished gold.
These processes suggest the definition of the
art. Perfect illumination must contain both
colours and metals. To this extent it is in
perfect unison with the other mediaeval art of
heraldry ; it might almost be called a twin-
sister.
As an art it is much older than its name. We
find something very like it even among the ancient
Egyptians, for in the Louvre at Paris is a papyrus
containing paintings of funeral ceremonies, exe-
cuted in bright colours and touched in its high
lights with pencilled gold. But after this for
many centuries there remains no record of the
existence of any such art until just before the
Christian era. Then, indeed, we have mention
of a lady artist who painted a number of miniature
portraits for the great biographical work of the
learned Varro. We must carefully observe,
however, that there is a distinction between
illumination and mere miniature painting. Some-
times it is true that miniatures as e.g. those of
the early Byzantine artists, and afterwards those
of Western Europe were finished with touches of
gold to represent the lights. This brought them
into the category of illuminations, for while minia-
tures may be executed without the use of gold or
silver, illuminations may not. There are thou-
sands of miniatures that are not illuminations.
4 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
At the period when illuminating was at its best
the miniature, in its modern sense of a little
picture, was only just beginning to appear as a
noticeable feature, and the gold was as freely
applied to it as to the penmanship or the orna-
ment. But such is not the case with miniature
painting generally.
Lala of Cyzicus, the lady artist just referred to,
lived in the time of Augustus Caesar. She has
the honour of being the first miniaturist on record,
and is said to have produced excellent portraits
"in little," especially those of ladies, on both
vellum and ivory. Her own portrait, represent-
ing her engaged in painting a statuette, is still to
be seen among the precious frescoes preserved in
the museum at Naples.
The term " miniature," now applied to this class
of work, has been frequently explained. It is
derived from the Latin word minium^ or red
paint, two pigments being anciently known by
this name one the sulphide of mercury, now
known also as " vermilion," the other a lead oxide,
now called "red lead." It is the latter which is
generally understood as the minium of the illu-
minators, though both were used in manuscript
work. The red paint was employed to mark the
initial letters or sections of the MS. Its connec-
tion with portraiture and other pictorial subjects
on a small scale is entirely owing to its acci-
dental confusion by French writers with their
own word mignon^ and so with the Latin minus.
In classical times, among the Romans, the
"miniator" was simply a person who applied
INTRODUCTORY 5
the minium , and had nothing to do with pictures
or portraits at all, but with the writing 1 . That
the rubrication of titles, however, was somewhat
of a luxury may be gathered from the complaint
of Ovid when issuing the humble edition of his
verses from his lonely exile of Tomi :
" Parve (nee invideo) sine me liber ibis in urbem :
Hei mihi quo domino non licet ire tuo.
Nee te purpureo velent vaccinia succo
Non est conveniens luctibus ille color.
Nee titulus minio, nee cedro carta notetur
Candida nee nigra cornua fronte geras." *
Tristia, Cl. i, Eleg. I.
There are many allusions in these pathetic lines
which would bear annotation, but space forbids.
The one point is the use of minium.
1 " Go, little book, nor do I forbid, go without me into
that city where, alas ! I may enter never more. . . . Nor
shall whortleberries adorn thee with their crimson juice ;
that colour is not suitable for lamentations. Nor shall thy
title be marked with minium, nor thy leaf scented with
cedar-oil. Nor shalt thou bear horns of ivory or ebony
upon thy front."
CHAPTER II
VELLUM AND OTHER MATERIALS
Difference between vellum and parchment Names of different
preparations The kinds of vellum most prized for illumi-
nated books The " parcheminerie " of the Abbey of Cluny
Origin of the term " parchment " Papyrus.
AS vellum is constantly spoken of in connection
with illumination and illuminated books, it
becomes necessary to explain what it is, and why
it was used instead of paper.
We often find writers, when referring" to ancient
documents, making use of the words parchment
and vellum as if the terms were synonymous ;
but this is not strictly correct. It is true that
both are prepared from skins, but the skins are
different. They are similar, but not the same,
nor, indeed, are they interchangeable. In point
of fact, the skins of almost all the well-known
domestic animals, and even of fishes, have been
used for the purpose of making a material for
writing upon. Specifically among the skins so
prepared were the following : the ordinary lamb-
skin, called " aignellinus "*; that prepared from
stillborn lambs, called "virgin parchment."
From sheepskins was produced ordinary
"parchment," and also a sort of leather called
1 Strictly agnellinus.
6
VELLUM AND OTHER MATERIALS 7
M basane" or " cordovan." Vellum was produced
from calfskin ; that of the stillborn calf being
called " uterine vellum," and considered the finest
and thinnest. It is often spoken of in connection
with the exquisitely written Bibles of the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries as of the highest value.
Besides these were the prepared skins of oxen,
pigs, and asses ; but these were chiefly used for
bindings, though occasionally for leaves of ac-
count- and other books liable to rough usage.
Before the tenth century the vellum used for*
MSS. is highly polished, and very white and fine.
Afterwards it becomes thick and rough, especially
on the hair side. In the examination of certain
MSS. the distinction o hair side and smooth side
is of importance in counting the gatherings so as
to determine the completeness, or otherwise, of a
given volume. Towards the period of the Re-
naissance, however, the vellum gradually regains
its better qualities.
Thus it may be seen that the difference between
vellum and parchment is not a mere difference of
thickness ; for while, in general, vellum is stouter
than parchment, there is some vellum which is
thinner than some parchment. Not only are
they made from different kinds of skin, but the
vellum used for illuminated books was, and still
is, prepared with greater care than the parchment
used for ordinary school or college treatises, or
legal documents.
The fabrication of both parchment and vellum
in the Middle Ages was quite as important a
matter as that of paper at the present time, and
8 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
certain monastic establishments had a special
reputation for the excellence of their manufacture.
Thus the " parcheminerie," as it was called, of the
Abbey of Cluny, in France, was quite celebrated
in the twelfth century. One reason probably
for this celebrity was the fact that Cluny had
more than three hundred churches, colleges, and
monasteries amongst its dependencies, and there-
fore had ample opportunities for obtaining the best
materials and learning the best methods in use
throughout literary Christendom. As to the name
"vellum," it is directly referable to the familiar
Latin term for the hide or pelt of the sheep or
other animal, but specially applied, as we have
said, to that of the calf, the writing material thus
prepared being termed charta vitulina in French
velin y and in monastic Latin and English vellum.
The name " parchment " had quite a different
kind of origin. It is an old story, found in Pliny's
Natural History (bk. xiii. ch. 70), that the ancient
use or revival of the use of parchment was due to
the determination of King Eumenes II. of Mysia
or Pergamos to form a library which should rival
those of Alexandria, but that when he applied to
Egypt for papyrus, the writing materials then in
use, Ptolemy Epiphanes jealously refused to permit
its exportation. In this difficulty Eumenes, we
are told, had recourse to the preparation of sheep-
skins, and that from the place of its invention it
was called charta pergamena.
Pliny and his authority, however, were both
wrong in point of history. Eumenes, who
reigned from about 197 to 158 B.C., was not the
VELLUM AND OTHER MATERIALS 9
inventor, but the restorer of its use (see Herodo-
tus, v. 58). It was called in Greek fte^pava
(2 Tim. iv. 13).
We may mention, by the way, that neither
vellum nor parchment are by any means the oldest
materials known. Far older, and more gener-
ally used in Italy, Greece, and Egypt, was the
material which has given us the name of our
commonest writing* material of to-day, viz. paper.
The name of this older material was papyrus (Gr.
7ra7rv/oo? and x^/ 3T7 / s )- As a writing" material it was
known in Egypt from remote antiquity. It was
plentiful in Rome in the time of the Caesars, and
it continued, both in Grecian and Roman Egypt,
to be the ordinary material employed down to
the middle of the tenth century of our era. In
Europe, too, it continued in common use long-
after vellum had been adopted for books, though
more especially for letters and accounts. St.
Jerome mentions vellum as an alternative material
in case papyrus should fail (Ep. vii.), and St.
Augustine (Ep. xv.) apologises for using vellum
instead of papyrus. 1 Papyrus was also used in
the early Middle Ages. Examples, mack up into
book-form i.e. in leaves, with sometimes a few
vellum leaves among them for stability are still
extant. Among such are some seven or eight
books in various European libraries, the best
known being the Homilies of St. Avitus at Paris,
the Antiquities of Josephus at Milan, and the
Isidore at St. Gall.
And in the Papal Chancery papyrus appears to
1 Thompson, Greek and Latin Palaeography, p. 33.
io ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
have been used down to a late date in preference
to vellum. 1
In France papyrus was in common use in the
sixth and seventh centuries. Merovingian docu-
ments dating from 625 to 692 are still preserved
in Paris.
1 Thompson, op. cit., p. 34; Aug. Molinier, Les Manu-
scrits, Prelim.; Lecoy de la Marche, Les MSS. et la
Miniature, p. 24.
CHAPTER III
WRITING
Its different styles Origin of Western alphabets Various forms
of letters Capitals, uncials, etc. Texts used in Western
Europe Forms of ancient writings The roll, or volume
The codex Tablets Diptychs, etc. The square book
How different sizes of books were produced.
SEEING that illumination grew originally out
of the decoration of the initial letters, our
next point to notice is the penmanship. The
alphabet which we now use is that formerly used
by the Romans, who borrowed it from the Greeks,
who in turn obtained it (or their modification of
it) from the Phoenicians, who, lastly it is said,
constructed it from that of the Egyptians. Of
course, in these repeated transfers the letters
themselves, as well as the order of them, under-
went considerable alterations. With these we
have here no concern. Our alphabet, i.e. the
Roman and its variations, is quite sufficient for
our story. In order to show as clearly as may
be the varieties of lettering and the progress of
penmanship from classical times to the revival of
the old Roman letters in the fifteenth century,
we offer the following synopsis, which classifies
and indicates the development of the different
hands used by writers and illuminators of MSS
ii
12 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
It is constructed on the information given in
Wailly's large work on Palaeography, and in
Dr. de Grey Birch's book on the Utrecht Psalter.
The former work affords excellent facsimiles,
which, together with those given in the plates
published by the Palaeographical Society, will
give the student the clearest possible ideas re-
specting these ancient handwritings.
Omitting the cursive or correspondence hand,
the letters used by the Romans were of four
kinds capitals (usually made angular to be cut
in stone), rustic, uncials, and minuscules.
The rounded capitals were intended to be used
in penwork. Uncials differ from capitals only in
the letters A, D, E, G, M, Q, T, V, for the sake
of ease in writing. It is said that this class of
letters was first called uncials from being made
an inch (iincia) high, but this is mere tradition ;
the word is first used on Jerome's preface to the
Book of Job. No uncials have ever been found
measuring more than five-eighths of an inch in
height.
For the assistance of such students as may
wish for examples we must refer to certain MSS.
and reproductions in which the foregoing hands
are exemplified.
CIRCA FOURTH CENTURY.
Capitals, yet not pure.
The Vatican Vergil, No. 3225, throughout (Birch, p. 14;
Silvestre's PaUographie universelle, pi. 74).
With regard to the relative antiquity of capitals and
uncials, M. de Wailly observes: "The titles in pure
WRITING 13
uncials, but less than the text itself, give an excellent
index to the highest antiquity. This is verified in MSS.
152, 2630, 107 of the Bibl. du Roi, etc. MSS. of the
seventh or eighth century, whether on uncial or demi-
uncial, or any other letter, are never constant in noting-
the title at the top of the page, or the kind of writing
will vary, or if uncials be constantly used, the titles will
not be smaller than the text. These variations become
still greater in the following centuries. The ornaments
which relieve the titles of each page commence about
the eighth century " (i. p. 49 C).
Capitals and Uncials.
The Homilies of St. Augustine (Silvestre, pi. 74).
Augustine Opera, Paris Lib., 11641 (Palseograph. Soc,,.
pi. 42, 43).
Rustic.
The Second Vatican Vergil, No. 3867 (Wailly, pi. 2\
called the " Codex Romanus."
SIXTH CENTURY.
Rustic and Uncial.
The Montamiata Bible (Birch, 35 ; Wailly, pi. 2, 4).
Rustic and Minuscule.
The Cambridge Gospels (Westwood, Palceograph. Sacra
Pictoria, pi. 45).
Uncials.
Gospels in Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5463.
Paris Lib. , Gregory of Tours (Silvestre, pi. 86).
Vienna Imp. Lib., Livy (Silvestre, pi. 75).
Brit. Mus., Harl. 1775 (Palaeograph. Soc., pi. 16).
SEVENTH CENTURY.
Uncials and Minuscule.
The St. Chad's Gospels in library of Lichfield Cathedral
(Palseograph. Soc., pi. 20, 21, 35).
14 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
NINTH CENTURY.
Capitals and Minuscules.
Paris Lib., Bible of Charles the Bald.
There is scarcely anything more difficult to
judge than the true age of square capital MSS.
or of pure uncials. Even the rustic capitals, like
the first Vatican Vergil, No. 3225, are extremely
rare. The letters in this MS. are about three-
sixteenths of an inch high.
TEXTS IN USE IN WESTERN EUROPE BEFORE
THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE.
Lombardic. The national hand of Italy.
Founded on the old Roman cursive, it does not
attain to any great beauty until the tenth or
eleventh century. Examples may be seen in
Palaeographical Society, pi. 95, and in the excel-
lent lithographs published by the monks of Monte
Cassino (Paleografia artistica di Monte Cassino,
Longobardo-Cassinese, tav. xxxiv., etc.). A very
fine example occurs in pi. xv., dated 1087-88. Its
characteristic letters are a, e, g, t.
Visigothic. The national hand of Spain. Also
founded on the old Roman cursive. It becomes
an established hand in the eighth century, and
lasts until the twelfth. Examples occur in Ewald
and Lcewe, Exempla Scriptures Visigoticce^ Heidel-
berg, 1883. It was at first very rude and illegible,
but afterwards became even handsome. A fine
example exists in the British Museum (Palaeo-
WRITING 15
graph. Soc., pi. 48). Its characteristic letters are
& *> t.
Merovingian. The national hand of France.
A hand made up chiefly of loops and angles in a
cramped, irregular way. Its derivation the same
as the preceding. In the seventh century it is all
but illegible. In the eighth it is much better,
and almost easy to read.
Celtic. The national hand of Ireland. It is
founded on the demi-uncial Roman, borrowed as
to type from MSS. taken to Ireland by mission-
aries. It is bold, clear, and often beautiful, lend-
ing itself to some of the most astonishing feats
of penmanship ever produced.
Such are the chief varieties of writing found in
the MSS. produced before the great revival of the
arts and learning which took place during the
reign of Charles the Great (Karl der Grosse),
known familiarly as Charlemagne.
Wattenbach (Schrift'wesen^ etc.) says that un-
cials date from the second century A.D. From
examples still extant of the fifth and following
centuries, it seems that while the Roman capitals
were not uncommon, in Celtic MSS. the form
generally adopted was the uncial. It was the
form also usually chosen for ornamentation or
imitation in those Visigothic, Merovingian, or
Lombardic MSS., which made such remarkable
use of fishes, birds, beasts, and plants for the
construction of initial letters and principal words,
of which we see so many examples in the elabo-
rately illustrated Catalogue of the library at Laon
1 6 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
by Ed. Fleury, and in that of Cambray, by
M. Durieux. Most of these pre-Carolingian
designs are barbarous in the extreme, dreadfully
clumsy in execution, but they evince considerable
ingenuity and a strong predilection for symbolism.
Before concluding this chapter perhaps some-
thing should be said concerning the shape of
books, though this is a matter somewhat outside
the scope of our proper subject. Yet, as the brief
digression will afford an opportunity for the
explanation of certain terms used in MSS., we
will avail ourselves of it.
The ancient form of writing upon skins and
papyrus was that of the roll. The Hebrew,
Arabic, or Greek terms for this do not concern us,
but its Latin name was volumen, ' ' something
rolled," and from this we obtain our word volume.
Such words as " explicit liber primus," etc., which
we often find in early MSS., refer to this roll-
form ; explicare in Latin meaning to unroll ;
hence, apropos of a chapter or book, to finish.
When transferred to the square form, or codex,
it simply .means, " here ends book first," etc.
The modern book shape first came into use
with the beginning of the Christian era under the
name of codex. Here it will be necessary to
explain that caudex, codex^ in Latin, meant a
block of wood, and had its humorous by-senses
among the Roman dramatists, as the word block
has among ourselves, such as blockhead. 1 So
caudicalis promncia was a jocular expression for
the occupation of wood-splitting.
1 Terence, Heautont., 5. i, 4.
WRITING 17
Whether the word had originally any connection
with cauda,) "a tail," is not here worth considering",
as, if so, it had long lost the connection ; and
when used to mean a book, had only the sense of
a board, or a number of boards from two up-
wards, fastened together by means of rings passed
through holes made in their edges.
Probably the first use was as plain smooth
boards only ; examples of such are still in exist-
ence. Then of boards thinly covered with, usually,
black wax. A pair of such tablets, wax-covered,
was a common form of a Roman pocket- or
memorandum-book. It was also used as a means
of conveying messages, the reply being returned
on the same tablets. The method was to write
on the wax with a fine-pointed instrument called
a style, the reverse end of which was flattened.
When the person to whom the message was sent
had read it, he (or she) simply flattened out the
writing, smoothed it level, and then wrote the
reply on the same wax. School-children did
their exercises on these tablets, housewives and
stewards kept their accounts on them, and on
them literary people jotted down their ideas as
they do now in their pocket-books. Extant
examples of these early books, or tablets, are
fairly numerous, and may be seen in most public
museums. A codex of two leaves was called a
diptych ; of three, a triptych, etc. The codex,
form was used for legal documents, wills, con-
veyances, and general correspondence. Hence
the Roman postman was called a tabellarius^ the
tablets containing correspondence being tied with
1 8 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
a thread or ribbon and sealed. This custom of
sending" letters on tablets survived for some
centuries after Augustan times. Wattenbach *
gives several interesting 1 instances of their medi-
aeval use. 1
Of course when the tablet gave place to the
codex of skin or paper, the papyrus was too brittle
and fragile for practical utility, and examples, as
we have seen, were very rare ; but vellum soon
became popular. We may mention, in passing,
that the papyrus roll gave us a word still in use
in diplomatics, the word protocol. The first sheet
of a papyrus roll was called the TrpwroKoAXov. It
usually contained the name of place and date of
manufacture of the papyrus, and was stamped or
marked with the name of the government officer
who had charge of the department.
In the vellum codex, though each leaf might
have only one fold, and thus technically be con-
sidered as a folio, the actual shape of it was
nearly square, hence its name of codex quadratus.
When other forms of books, such as octavo, duo-
decimo, etc., came into use, it was in consequence
of the increased number of foldings. The gather-
ings, originally quaternions or quires, became
different, and those who undertake to examine
MSS. with respect to their completeness have to
be familiar with the various methods. 2 This kind
of knowledge, however, though useful, is by no
means essential to the story of illumination.
1 Schriftwesen, 48.
2 Wattenbach, Schriftwesen ; Madan, Books in Manu-
script, etc.
CHAPTER IV
GREEK AND ROMAN ILLUMINATION
The first miniature painter The Vatican Vergils Methods of
painting Origin of Christian art The Vienna Genesis
The Dioscorides The Byzantine Revival.
TT has been already stated that the earliest re-
-L corded miniature painter was a lady named
Lala of Cyzicus in the days of Augustus Caesar,
days when Cyzicus was to Rome what Brussels is
to Paris, or Brighton to London. All her work,
as far as we know, has perished. It was por-
traiture on ivory, probably much the same as we
see in the miniature portraiture of the present day.
But this was not illumination. The kind of
painting employed in the two Vatican Vergils
was, however, something approaching it. These
two precious volumes contain relics of Pagan art,
but it is the very art which was the basis and
prototype of so-called Christian art of those
earliest examples found in the catacombs and in
the first liturgical books of Christian times.
The more ancient of the two Vergils referred
to, No. 3225, which Labarte (2nd ed. , ii. 158)
thinks to be a century older than the other,
Sir M. D. Wyatt considered as containing "some
of the best and most interesting specimens of
19
20 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ancient painting* which have come down to us.
The design is free and the colours applied with
good effect, the whole presenting classical art in
the period of decline, but before its final debase-
ment." Whereas in the second MS., No. 3867,
the style, though still classical, is greatly debased,
and probably, in addition to this, by no means
among the best work of its time. It is described
as rough, inaccurate, and harsh. The method is
of the kind called gouache, i.e. the colours are
applied thickly in successive couches or layers,
probably by means of white of egg diluted with
fig-tree sap, and finished in the high lights with
touches of gold (Palaeograph. Soc., pi. 114, 117).
This finishing with touches of gold brings the
work within the range of illumination. There is,
indeed, wanting the additional ornamentation of
the initial letter which would bring it fully into
the class of mediaeval work ; but, such as it is, it
may fairly claim to be suggestive of the future
art. Indeed, certain points in the MS. 3225
viz. that Zeus is always red and Venus fair,
that certain costumes and colours of drapery are
specially appropriated would lead to the sup-
position that even then there existed a code of
rules like those of the Byzantine Guide, and that
therefore the art owed its origin to the Greeks.
Between this MS. and the first known Christian
book work there may have been many that have
now perished, and which, had they remained,
would have marked the transition more gradually.
But even as they stand there is no appreciable
difference between the earliest monuments of
GREEK AND ROMAN ILLUMINATION 21
Christian art and those of the period which pre-
ceded them. Nor shall we find any break, any
distinct start on new principles. It is one con-
tinuous series of processes the gradual change
of methods growing out of experience alone not
owing to any change of religion or the adoption
of a new set of theological opinions. Of course
we shall find that for a very long time the pre-
ponderance of illuminated MSS. will be towards
liturgical works ; and we shall also find that
where the contents of the MS. are the same the
subjects taken for illustration are also selected
according to some fixed and well-known set of
rules. We shall see the explanation of this by-
and-by.
The first example of a Christian illuminated
MS. is one containing portions of the Book of
Genesis in Greek preserved in the Imperial
Library at Vienna. It is a mere fragment, only
twenty-six leaves of purple vellum that is, bear-
ing the imperial stain yet it contains eighty-eight
pictures. We call them miniatures, but we must
remember that by "miniator" a Roman bookseller
would not understand what we call a miniaturist;
and, as we have said, the word " illuminator" was
not then known.
This Vienna Genesis is not introduced among
illuminated books, therefore, because of its
miniatures pictures we prefer to call them but
because the text is nearly all written in gold and
silver letters. The pictures, according to the
Greek manner, are placed in little square frames.
They were executed, no doubt, by a professional
22 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
painter, not without technical skill and not
hampered by monastic restrictions. The symbol-
ism which underlies all early art is here shown in
the allegorical figures (such as we shall meet with
again in later Byzantine work), which are intro-
duced to interpret the scene. We see the same
thing in the catacombs. Being a relic of great
importance, this Genesis codex has been often
described and examples given of its pictures. Of
course, in a little manual like the present we
cannot pretend to exhibit the literature of our
subject. We can scarcely do more than refer
the reader to a single source. In this case
perhaps we cannot do better than send the in-
quirer to the Victoria and Albert Museum at
South Kensington.
If we select another MS. of this early period it
is the one which may be said to be the oldest
existing MS. in which the ornamentation is worthy
of as much notice as the pictures. We refer to
the Collection of Treatises by Greek physicians
on plants, fishing, the chase, and kindred matters
in the same library as the Genesis fragment. It
goes under the name of " Dioscorides," who was
one of the authors, and dates from the beginning
of the sixth century. The Genesis is a century
older. Engravings from the Dioscorides are given
in Labarte's Arts industriels, etc., pi. 78, and in
Louandre's Arts somptuaires, etc., i., pi. 2, 3.
Enough has been said on these earlier centuries
to show quite clearly the character of the art
known as Early Christian. It is simply a con-
tinuation of such art as had existed from classical
GREEK AND ROMAN ILLUMINATION 23
times, and had, in fact, passed from the Greeks,
who were artists, to the Romans, who were rarely
better than imitators. It is carried on to the
period when it again is nourished by Greek ideas
in the Later Empire, and once more attains dis-
tinction in the splendid revival of art under the
Emperor Justinian.
NOTE. Julius Capitolinus, in his Life of the exquisite
Emperor Maximin, junior, mentions that the emperor's
mother 1 made him a present of a copy of the poems of
Homer, written in golden letters on purple 2 vellum. This
is the earliest recorded instance of such a book in Christian
times. Its date would be about 235 A.D.
1 Quaedam parens sua. 2 Purpureos libros.
CHAPTER V
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
The rebuilding of the city of Byzantium the beginning of By-
zantine art Justinian's fondness for building and splendour
Description of Paul the Silentiary Sumptuous garments
The Gospel-book of Hormisdas Characteristics of Byzan-
tine work Comparative scarcity of examples Rigidity of
Byzantine rules of art Periods of Byzantine art Examples
Monotony and lifelessness of the style.
THE signal event which gave birth to mediae-
val illumination, or rather to the ideas which
were thereby concentrated upon the production
of magnificent books, was the rebuilding 1 of the
Imperial Palace and the Basilica of Constantine,
henceforward to be known as the Church of
Sancta Sophia, or the Divine Wisdom, at Byzan-
tium. The Emperor Justinian had been reigning
six years w r hen a terrific fire, caused by the con-
flicts between the various seditions, called Circus
factions, of the time, almost entirely destroyed
not only his own palace and the great Christian
church adjoining it, but the city of Constantinople
itself. So important a scheme of reconstruction
had probably never been forced upon a govern-
ment since the great fire in Rome under Nero.
Justinian, whose early training had been of the
most economical kind, and whose disposition
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION 25
seemed to be v rather inclined to parsimony than
extravagance, now came out in his true character.
For various reasons he had hitherto studiously
concealed his master-passion ; but this catastrophe
of the fire, which seemed at first so disastrous,
was really a stroke of fortune. It afforded the
hitherto frugal sovereign the chance he had long
waited for of spending without stint the hoarded
savings of his two miserly predecessors, and
gratifying his own tastes for magnificent archi-
tecture and splendour of apparel.
Not only Asia, with its wealth of gold and
gems, but all the known world capable of supply-
ing material for the reconstructions, were called
upon, and ivory, marbles, mosaics, lamps, censers,
candelabra, chalices, ciboria, crosses, furniture,
fittings, pictures in short, everything that his
own taste and the experience of four or five of
the ablest architects of the time could suggest
administered to the gorgeous, the unspeakable
splendour of the new edifices and their furniture.
Paul the Silentiary, an eye-witness of the whole
proceeding, has left a description in verse, and
the accurate Du Fresne in prose, which enable
us easily to trace how the Roman city of Con-
stantine became transformed into the semi-oriental
Byzantium of Justinian. During the two centuries
which had elapsed since the days of the first
Christian emperor many foreign luxuries had
found their way into the Eastern capital. Byzan-
tine jewellery and Byzantine silks were already
famous. The patterns on the latter were not
merely floral or geometrical, but four-footed
26 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
animals, birds, and scenes from outdoor sports
formed part of the embellishment, which, there-
fore, must have taken the place occupied in later
times by the tapestries of Arras and Fontaine-
bleau.
Hitherto the Byzantines had imported their
silks from Persia. After the rebuilding of the
Basilica, Justinian introduced silk-culture into
Greece. The garments ridiculed by Asterius,
Bishop of Amasia, in the fourth century, were
repeated in the sixth century. "When men,"
says he, " appear in the streets thus dressed,
the passers-by look at them as at painted walls.
Their clothes are pictures which little children
point out to one another. The saintlier sort wear
likenesses of Christ, the Marriage of Galilee . . .
and Lazarus raised from the dead."
On the robe of the Empress Theodora the
wife of Justinian, who is shown in one of the
mosaics of St. Vitale at Ravenna as presenting
rich gifts to that church there is embroidered
work along the border, showing the Adoration of
the Magi. Theodora pia was one among the many
roles played by that all-accomplished actress ; but
this seems to have been after her death. Like
Lucrezia Borgia, perhaps, she was better than
her reputation. With such surroundings liturgical
books could not have existed without sharing in
the universal luxury of enrichment. And, in point
of fact, we still have records of such books. While
Justinian reigned in Byzantium it happened that
Hormisdas, a native of Frosinone, was Pope of
Rome. He was a zealous eradicator of heresy
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION 27
(especially of the Eutychian and Manichaean), and
in recognition of his services in this direction the
Greek Emperor, with his thanks, sent him a great
Gospel-book richly decorated, no doubt, with those
splendid Eusebian canons and portraits of the
Evangelists, the like of which we see in the By-
zantine examples still preserved at Paris, in
London, and elsewhere. Plates of beaten gold,
studded with gems, formed the covers of the
Gospel-book of Hormisdas.
Nor was this sumptuous volume the only, or
even a rare, example of its kind. We read that
the art of book decoration had become a fashion-
able craze. No expense was spared in the search
for costly materials. Colours were imported from
India, Persia, and Spain, including vermilion and
ultramarine, while the renowned Byzantine gold
ink was manufactured from imported Indian gold.
Persian calligraphers had taught its use afresh to
the Byzantine scribes.
If, as we may believe, the first object of the
Roman miniatores was distinctness combined
with beauty, we may now believe that the object
of the Byzantine scribes was splendour. The
progress had been from mere " cheirography "
to calligraphy ; now it was from calligraphy to
chrysography and arguriography.
This employment of gold and silver inks may
be looked upon as the first step in the art of
illumination as practised in the Middle Ages.
And the preliminary to the use of metallic inks
was attention to the tint of the vellum. The
pioneers in this career of luxury no doubt had
28 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
observed that very white vellum fatigued the eye.
Hence, at first, they tinted or stained it with
saffron, on one side at least, sometimes on both.
Once begun, the tinting of the vellum extended
to other colours. For works of the highest rank
the favourite was a fine purple, the imperial
colour of the Roman and Greek emperors. For
chrysography, or gold-writing, the tint was nearly
what we call crimson. For arguriography, or
silver-writing, it became the bluish hue we call
grape-purple. On the cooled purples vermilion
ink was used instead of, or together with, the
gold or silver. As the usage began with the
Greeks, we may be sure that it came originally
from Asia.
The Emperor Nero, once having heard that an
Olympic Ode of Pindar in letters of gold was
laid up in one of the temples at Athens, desired
that certain verses of his own should be similarly
written and dedicated on the Altar of Jupiter
Capitolinus at Rome. This was an imperial
luxury several times repeated by other princes.
After the official establishment of Christianity
it became a common practice to have the greater
liturgical books executed in the same costly
fashion. And between the time of Constantine
and that of Basil the Macedonian many a burn-
ing homily was directed against the custom,
denounced as a sinful extravagance, which no
doubt it was, but in vain until the fashion had
worn itself out.
It might fairly be expected, this being the case,
that many examples of this kind of codex would
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION 29
still be in existence. But owing to war, fire,
robbery, and other misfortunes but very few
remain. One of the oldest and finest is the
so-called Codex Argenteus, or Silver-book, now
kept at Upsala, in Sweden, containing portions
of the Gospels of the Maesogothic Bishop Ulfilas.
Originally the effect of the stamped or burnished
silver on the rich purple of the vellum must have
been very splendid, but now the action of the air
has blackened it, as it has done in many other
instances where silver was used in illumination.
Even gold will gather tarnish, and in several such
MSS. has turned of a rusty red. Gold ink was
not invariably confined to tinted vellum ; it was
often used on the plain ground. The copy of the
Old Testament in Greek, presented by the high
priest Eleazar to King Ptolemy Philadelphus, was
a roll of fine white vellum, upon which the text
was written in letters of gold.
To enter upon the antiquities of Greek palaeo-
graphy would lead us too far from our track in
view of the brevity of our present survey. We
therefore with some reluctance turn from this
interesting topic to our more immediate subject.
We may remark, however, that the great majority
of Greek MSS. are written on vellum. In the
eleventh century are found instances of what is
called charta bombycina, or cotton-paper, appear-
ing more plentifully in the twelfth century, but
on the whole vellum is the chief material of By-
zantine illuminated books. Much has been said
about the want of life and total lack of variety
of treatment in this school of art. To a very
30 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
great extent the charge is just, yet it could
scarcely be otherwise. The one circumstance
which compelled Byzantine work to remain so
long as if cast in one unalterable mould, and
thus to differ so strangely from that of Western
artists, was due to the fact that in very early
Christian times the scribes and illuminators were
enrolled into a minutely organised corporation
originating primarily in monasticism, but by no
means confined to the monastic Orders. Lay
guilds existed, the regulations and methods of
which were rigid beyond modern belief, So that,
as a class, Byzantine art has acquired the reputa-
tion of a soulless adherence to mechanical rules
and precedents, depriving it of originality and
even of individuality, and therefore excluding the
remotest scintilla of artistic genius. Of the great
crowd of examples of ordinary work this may be
true, but it certainly is not true of the best, by
which it has the right to be judged, as we shall
see from the examples referred to by-and-by.
Certainly there is one invaluable particular in
which Greek MSS. are superior to those of the
West, Latin or otherwise. That is, they are
much more frequently signed with the names,
localities, and dates of the copyists and illu-
minators.
It will be some help towards our knowledge of
this school if we divide its existence into chrono-
logical sections or periods.
i. From prae-Christianity to the Age of Justinian,
i.e. down to the year 535. (Justinian reigned from
526 to 564.)
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION 31
This period marks the decadence of ancient art,
but carries with it the characteristics and methods
of the ancient Greek painters.
2. From the Age of Justinian to the Icono-
clastic paralysis of art under Leo III. the Isaurian,
i.e. 564 to 726. (Leo reigned from 717 to 741.)
During this period vast numbers of illuminated
liturgical books were destroyed for religious or
fanatical reasons, just as in our own Cromwellian
times numbers of Horce, Missals, etc., were de-
stroyed as papistical and superstitious.
This Edict of 726 did not absolutely put an end
to all art in MSS. It only had the effect of ex-
cluding images of God, Christ, and the saints,
as in Arabian and Persian MSS., leaving the artist
the free use of flowers, plants, and line ornament,
after the manner of the Mohammedan arabesques.
3. From Leo III. to the Empress Irene, who
restored the worship of images in part, i.e. from
741 to 785. (Irene ruled from 780 to 80 1.)
This was a period of stagnation, though by no
means of extinction of art.
4. From Irene to Basil I. the Macedonian, i.e.
from 80 1 to 867.
A half-century and more of rapid renaissance
to the most brilliant epoch of Byzantine art
since the time of Justinian, if not the zenith of
the school.
Basil I. was a great builder building, in fact,
was his ruling passion so that it may be said
that he took Justinian for his model both as a
ruler and as a patron of the arts. (He reigned
from 867 to 886.)
32 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
5. From Basil the Macedonian to the Fall of
Constantinople, i.e. from 886 to 1453.
Allowing" for a few flashes of expiring skill in
various reigns, this may be considered as a period
of gradual but certain decline to a state worse
than death, for though the monks of Greek and
Russian convents still kept up the execution of
MSS., it was only with the driest and most lifeless
adhesion to the Manual. This so-called art still
exists, but more like a magnetised corpse than a
living thing.
Examples of the first period are seldom met
with. We have one signal specimen in the
British Museum Add. MS. 5111, being two
leaves only of a Gospel-book, and containing
part of the Eusebian canons, or contents-tables
of the Four Gospels, etc. The work is attributed
to the time of Justinian himself. It is of the
kind already referred to as probably affording the
model of work to the early illuminators of France
and Ireland, and as being like the Gospel-book
of Hormisdas and those brought to England by
Augustine in 596. Another example of the same
Eusebian canons is found in Roy. MS. i E. vi.
Of the fourth period t.e. the ninth century
perhaps the most typical example is the Meno-
logium (a sort of compound of a calendar and
lives of the saints), now in the Vatican Library
(MS. Gr. 1613). This MS. shows that the re-
vival under Basil the Macedonian was a return
not to Roman, but to ancient Greek art, the facial
types being of the purest classical character.
In some of them we see the horizontal frown
uyLO cr r
*"- Cf ou ctAJup ex/
* 2
-p fittu
*&fv<pK
EVANG. GR^ECA
6TH CENT.
Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 5111, fol. 13
.LA.
EVANG. GR^CA
QTH CENT.
r#. Mus. numey MS. ig.fol. z v.
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION 33
of the Homeric heroes (o-vvo^pv? OSucrcrevs), and of
the Georgian and Armenian races shown in the
features of the Emperor Johannes Ducas. We
have, too, the large Hera-like eye with its mystic
gaze, which, in later Byzantine work, becomes
first a gaze of lofty indifference, as in the portraits
of the emperors and empresses, and lastly a stony
and expressionless stare ; still, if possible, more
stony and glaring when transferred to Celtic and
Carolingian Gospel-books. (See chapter on Caro-
lingian Illumination.)
Of this fourth period we might indeed point to
many examples. One must suffice. It is the
beautiful Greek Psalter, now at Paris (MS., p. 139),
containing lovely examples of antique design, in-
cluding remarkable personifications or allegorical
figures. In this MS. is one of the most graceful
personifications ever painted, that of Night, with
her veil of gauze studded with stars floating over-
head. The seven pictures from the Life of David
are among the best ever put into a MS. But
personification is carried to an extreme. Thus the
Red Sea, the Jordan, Rivers, Mountains, Night,
Dawn, etc., are all represented as persons. The
drawings are really beautiful and the illuminated
initials and general ornament in good taste.
For other examples the reader may consult the
British Museum Cat. of Addit. MSS., 1841-5,
p. 87; also Du Sommerard, Les Arts au May en-age y
torn, v., 1846, pp. 107, 162-8, and album, 2 e se"r
pi. xxix. , 8 e s6r. pi. xii.-xvi.
It is noticeable in these Byzantine pictures that
while the figure-painting is often really excellent,
34 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the design skilful, and the pose natural, the
landscape, trees, etc., are quite symbolic and
fanciful. The painters seem to have been utterly
ignorant of perspective. Buildings, too, without
any regard to relative proportion, are coloured
merely as parts of a colour scheme. They are
pink, pale green, yellow, violet, blue, just to
please the eye. That the painter had a system
of colour-harmony is plain, but he paid no regard
to the facts of city life, unless, indeed, it was the
practice of the mediaeval Byzantines to paint the
outside of their houses in this truly brilliant style.
Possibly they did so ; we have similar things in
Italy even nowadays.
No doubt the French illuminators of the thir-
teenth and fourteenth centuries drew from these
sources both their perspective and their architec-
tural colouring. As for ornamental illumination,
the principal method of decoration was a square
heading, 1 perhaps including a semicircular arch
sweeping over several arcades, the corners and
wall-space being occupied either with arabesque
patterns, showing them to be after the time of
Leo III., or with scrolls of line-ornament en-
riched with acanthus foliages. Under this the
scribe has placed his title.
Other examples have a square frame filled with
the latter kind of scrolls and foliages, leaving a
sort of open panel in the centre, in which is
placed a small scene of sacred history or perhaps
of country life. Sometimes the title, in golden
1 It has been thought to represent the Greek IT, and to
mean irtiXij, a gate or door.
CARVED IVORY COVER
I2TH CENT,
.fir//. JJ/wj. Egert. MS. IIJQ
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION 35
letters, is surrounded with medallions containing"
heads of Christ and the Virgin, apostles, and
saints. The peculiar interlacing bands of violet,
yellow, rose, blue, etc., which are still often seen
in Russian ornament, are also features of these
Byzantine MSS. ; but most of all is the lavish
use of gold. Perhaps the fact most to be re-
membered about these MSS. is that the painters
of them worked in a manner that was absolutely
fixed and rigid, the rules of which are laid down
in a manual called the Guide to Painting, a work
which has been translated by M. Didron.
So fixed and unalterable, indeed, is the manner
that there is absolutely no difference to indicate
relative antiquity between a MS. of the eleventh
century and one of the sixteenth or even later,
we might almost say, of the present day. In the
matter of saint-images this is strictly true.
CHAPTER VI
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
Early liturgical books reflect the ecclesiastical art of their time
This feature a continuous characteristic of illumination down
to the latest times Elements of Celtic ornament Gospels
of St. Chad Durham Gospels Contrast of Celtic and
Byzantine St. Columba Book of Kells Details of its
decoration.
IN the earlier centuries of Christianity, when
liturgical books were the chief occupation of
the illuminator, it will need little pointing out to
demonstrate that the page of the illuminated
manuscript, where it contained more than the mere
ornamental initial, was simply a mirror of the
architectural decoration of the church in which
it was intended to be used. Where the church
enrichments consist, as on the Byzantine basilicas,
of panellings, arcades, and tympana of gilded
sculpture in wood or stone, with figures of saints,
the pages of the Gospel-book bear similar designs.
Where, as in the Romanesque, they are rich in
mosaics, and fretted arcades interlacing each
other, so are the illuminated Lives of the Saints,
the Menologia, Psalters, and Gospel-books.
Where, as in the Gothic cathedrals of the West
of France, Germany, or Italy the stained
glass is the striking feature of the interior, se>
36
CELTIC ILLUMINATION 37
it is with the illumination; it is a " vitrail " a
glass-painting on vellum. On this latter point we
shall have more to say when we reach the period
of Gothic illumination.
Incidentally, also, the book reflects the minor
arts in vogue at the period of its execution.
Often in the illumination we may detect these
popular local industries. We see mosaic enamel-
ling, wood- and stone-carving, and lacquer-work,
and as we approach the Renaissance, even gem-
cutting and the delicate craft of the medallist. In
Venice and the Netherlands we have the local
taste for flower-culture ; in Germany we find
sculpture in wood and stone ; in France the
productions of the enameller and the goldsmith ;
until at length, in the full blaze of the Renais-
sance itself, we have in almost every land the
same varieties of enrichment practised according
to its own special style of work.
It has been said that the oldest Celtic illuminated
MSS. show no signs of classic, or even Byzantine,
influence, yet the plan or framework of the designs
makes use both of the cross and the arch, as used
in the earliest Byzantine examples. The details,
indeed, are quite different, and manifestly derived
from indigenous sources. It may be, therefore,
that the framework is merely a geometrical co-
incidence which could not well be avoided. The
fact that the basis of pure Irish ornament ts geo-
metrical, and developed out of the prehistoric and
barbarous art of the savages who preceded the
Celts in Ireland; such art as is used on the carved
shafts of spears, and oars, and staves of honour,
38 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and afterwards on stone crosses and metal-work,
may account for the similarity of ideas in orna-
ment developed by old Roman decorators in their
mosaic pavements, and may reconcile, in some
measure, the varied opinions of different writers
who have approached the subject from different
points of view. Westwood adhered to the theory
of its being purely indigenous. Fleury, on the
other hand, in his Catalogue of the MSS. in the
Library at Laon, asserts that we owe the knots
and interlacements to the influence of the painters,
sculptors, and mosaicists of Rome. " These inter-
lacings, cables, etc., there is no Gallo- Roman
monument which does not exhibit them, and,
only to cite local instances, the cord of four or
five strands is seen in the beautiful mosaics dis-
covered in profusion within the last five years
(1857-62) at Blanzy, at Bazoches, at Vailly, and
at Reims. It was from them that the Franks
borrowed their knots and twists and ribbons for
their belts and buckles, their rings and bracelets "
(pt. i., p. 8).
The elements, therefore, of book ornament, as
used by the Celtic penmen, are such as were
employed by the prehistoric and sporadic nations
in the textile art in plaiting and handweaving,
and afterwards transferred to that of metal-work.
Terminals of animal, bird, or serpent form after-
wards combine with the linear designs. The dog
and dragon are common, as may be seen in the
archaic vases produced by the Greeks before they
came under the influence of ideas from Western
Asia.
CELTIC ILLUMINATION 39
Among Celtic artists, as among those of later
times, the practice of working in various materials
was common to the same individual, and Dagaeus
(d. 586) may compare with Dunstan, Eloy, Tuotilo,
and others.
To apply these observations to the style of
illumination which now comes under our notice
it may be said that if we allow the cross and arch
to be copied from the Byzantine MSS. introduced
from abroad, the details are undoubtedly supplied
by the wickerwork and textile netting familiar to
the everyday life of the artist. Assisted by the
fertile imagination of bardic lore in snakes,
dragons, and other mythic monsters of heroic
verse, the illuminator produces a pencilled tapes-
try of textile fabric or flexile metal-work as
marvellous as it is unique. No amount of de-
scription can give a true idea of what Celtic
work is like ; it must be seen to be comprehended.
One glance at a facsimile of such a MS. as the
Book of Kells or the Lindisfarne Gospels, or
those of St. Chad at Lichfield, or wherever, as at
St. Gall, such work is to be met with, will super-
sede the most laboured attempt at description.
We must therefore at once refer the reader to the
facsimile. When that has been inspected, we
may proceed. In the first place it may be noted
that with these Occidental MSS. begins the im-
portance and development of the initial, which,
indeed, as regards the illumination of Western
Europe, is the very root of the matter. It is the
development of the initial letter first into the
bracket, then into the border, which forms the
40 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
great distinction of the " Art of Paris," as Dante
calls it, from that of Byzantium. The latter is
almost always of a squared or tabular design,
traced and painted on a ground of burnished
gold. The former exhausts itself first in fantastic
lacertine forms, twisted into the shapes of the
commencing letters or words of the writing, to
which the suggestion of some Byzantine MS.
perhaps occasionally adds a frame. Next come
birds, dogs, dragons, vine-stems, and spirals em-
bedded in couches of colour ; but, whatever its
character, always it is the letter that governs and
originates the ornament. Only at the very end
of its life, when the border has completely eclipsed
the initial, is the idea of origin forgotten. Then,
indeed, we find the border treillages of flower-
stem or leafwork starting from meaningless points
of the design, or scattered shapelessly at random.
When we meet with work of this sort, we need
no further proof that the real art is dead. We
have before us in such a performance a trade
production a mere object of commerce, valuable
so far as it is the result of labour, but not as a
work of art.
According to the Abbe" Geoghegan, 1 Christianity
was known to the people of Ireland in the fourth
century. The Greek Menology asserts that it
was carried thither by Simon Zelotes, but this is
contradicted by the Roman Breviary and the
Martyrologists. Simeon Metaphrastes attributes
it to St. Peter, Vincent of Beauvais to St. James.
Unreliable as these traditions may be taken
1 Hist, de rirlande.
CELTIC ILLUMINATION 41
singly, they nevertheless agree in placing the
conversion of Ireland at a very early date, pro-
bably, as Geoghegan says, in the fourth century.
It is certain that about the middle of the sixth
century an Irish prince of distinguished ancestry,
and himself a saint, led a band of missionaries
from Donegal to lona. It is curious to observe
that the event is almost contemporary with the
renovations of Justinian at Byzantium, and only a
short time before the founding of the famous
Abbey of Monte Cassino by St. Benedict. Be-
fore the existence of the Benedictine Order
there was a monastery at Durrow, in Ireland,
and in this monastery the aforesaid prince was
educated. His name was Columba. At least, so
he is called, but whether it be merely in allusion
to his mission "the Dove" or really a patro-
nymic, it is hard to say. He was the messenger of
peace to the natives of lona, and even the name
of the island seems to suggest an allusion to the
Old Testament missionary to the Ninevites, Jonah.
The Irish missionaries called the spot to which
they went /. columcille y "the cell of the Dove's
isle," or Columba's cell. It is usually spoken of
as the Monastery of lona. Columba went on
many other missions, but ultimately returned to
his beloved lona, where he died in 597, the year
after the arrival of Augustine at Canterbury.
His companions busied themselves with the
transcription of the Gospels for the use of new
converts, after the model of those they had seen
and used at Durrow. It is even traditionally
asserted that Columba himself took part in the
42 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
work, and transcribed both a Psalter and a
Gospel-book, moreover, that one of the lona
Gospel-books written by him is still in existence.
This MS., whether the work of St. Columba or
not, and probably it is not, is the earliest
known monument of Irish calligraphic art. It
is known as the Book of Kells, and there is
no doubt that it is the most amazing specimen
of penmanship ever seen. It is at once the
most ancient, the most perfect, and the most
precious example of Celtic art in existence.
It exhibits the striking peculiarities and fea-
tures of the style the band work knots and
interlacings, such as may be seen on the
stone crosses which mark the burial-places of
British and Irish chieftains. Witness, for in-
stance, the Carew, or the Nevern Cross, described
in the Journal of the Archaeological Institute, iii.
71, which might be taken to represent an initial
" I " wrought in stone. There is no foliage, no
plant form at all. It is not, therefore, derivable
from Romanesque, Byzantine, or Oriental orna-
ment. It is indigenous, if not to Ireland, at
least to those prehistoric Aryan tribes of which
the Irish were a branch. Its basis is the art of
weaving, and in some respects resembles the
matting of Polynesia much more closely that the
vine-stems of Sicily or the arabesques of Byzan-
tium. Spirals occur that bewilder the eye, yet
are so faultlessly perfect that only the magnifying-
glass brings out the incredible accuracy of the
drawing. Among them are mythological and
allegorical beasts, snakes, and lizards thought
CELTIC ILLUMINATION 43
to represent demons, like the gargoyles of Gothic
architecture in every conceivable attitude of
contortion and agony. There are also doves and
fishes, but the latter, being sacred emblems
together with the lamb, are seldom made gro-
tesque. It was a monkish legend that the devil
could take the shape of any bird or beast, except
those of the dove and the lamb.
CHAPTER VII
CELTIC ILLUMINATION continued
The lona Gospels Contrast with Roman and Byzantine De-
tails Treatment of animal forms Colour schemes The
Gospel-book of St. Columbanus That of Mael Brith Mac
Durnan The Lindisfarne Gospels Cumdachs Other book-
shrines.
WE have seen that in both Roman and Byzan-
tine MSS. the titles and beginnings of books
were merely distinguished by a lettering in red or
gold, rather smaller, in fact, than the ordinary
text, but rendered distinct by the means referred
to. The handwriting, too, is clear and legible,
whether capital, uncial, or minuscule.
In absolute contrast to all this the lona Gospels
have the first page completely covered with orna-
ment. On the next the letters are of an enormous
size, followed by a few words, not merely in
uncials > but in characters varying from half an
inch to two inches in height. The page opposite
to each Gospel is similarly filled with decoration,
separated into four compartments by an orna-
mented Greek cross. This may, of course, be
simply a geometrical device in no way connected
with Greece, but, taken in connection with other
features, we see in it an indication of contact with
44
CELTIC ILLUMINATION 45
Byzantine work and the side of illumination which
deals rather with the tabular enrichment of the
page than the development of the initial. Further,
the writing, though large, is not easily legible,
for it is involved, enclaved, and conjointed in a
manner sufficiently puzzling to those who see it
for the first time.
The plaiting and inlaying are certainly borrowed
from local usages, and the survival of the same
kind of interlaced plaiting in the Scottish tartans
is some evidence of the long familiarity of the
Celtic race with the art of weaving. When we
remember that some of the early illuminators
were also workers in metals, we can understand
that penmen like Dagaeus, Dunstan, and Eloy had
designs at their command producible by either
method. So we see, both in the MS. and in the
brooch and buckle, the same kind of design.
Among the earliest animals brought into this
Celtic work we find the dog and the dragon ; the
latter both wingless and winged, according to
convenience or requirement. The dog is so
common in some of the Celto-Lombardic MS., of
which examples still exist at Monte Cassino, as
almost to create a style ; while the dragon survives
to the latest period of Gothic art.
Whatever is introduced into a Celtic illumina-
tion is at once treated as a matter of ornament.
When the human figure appears it is remorselessly
subjected to the same rules as the rest of the
work ; the hair and beard are spiral coils, the
eyes, nostrils, and limbs are symmetrical flour-
ishes. Colour is quite regardless of natural
46 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
possibility. The hair and draperies are simply
patterned as compartments of green or blue, or
red or black, as may be required for the tout
ensemble; the face remains white. Lightened
tints are preferred to full colours, as pale yellow,
pink, lavender, and light green. A very ludicrous
device is made use of to denote the folds of the
drapery ; they are not darkened, there is no light
and shade in Celtic work, but are simply lines of
a strongly contrasting colour. The blue and red
appear to be opaque, and therefore mineral
colours ; the rest are thin and transparent.
Nothing can be more wayward than the colour-
ing of the symbolic beasts of the Gospels. In
the Evangeliary of St. Columbanus (not Columba,
but the founder of Luxeuil and Bobbio, who died
in 614) the Lion of St. Mark is an admirable
beast in a suit of green-and-red chain armour in
the form of mascles or lozenges. (See the illus-
tration in Westwood's Palceographia Sacra Pictoria
of a figure page from the Gospels of Mael Brith
Mac Durnan for a typical example.) 1
The only point that might argue the freedom
in Celtic work from Byzantine influence is the
absence of gold, but perhaps this was only
because the earlier Irish illuminators could not
obtain it ; we find it later on. In the Book of
Kells and the Lambeth Gospels there is no gold.
The former dates somewhere in the seventh cen-
tury, not the sixth, as sometimes stated ; the
latter, shortly before 927. In the Lindisfarne
1 See also an article by Westwood in Journ. Archceol.
vii. 17, on " Irish Miniatures."
CELTIC ILLUMINATION 47
Gospels (698-721) gold is used. In the Psalter
of Ricemarchus, now in Trinity College, Dublin,
are traces of silver. It is in connection with
these Irish MSS. that decorated and jewelled
cases, called cumdachs, make their appearance,
such as the one attached to the Gospels of St.
Moling in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
These book-shrines are almost exclusively an
Irish production. In other countries the idea was
to adorn the volume itself with a splendid and
costly binding, perhaps including gold, silver,
and gems. In Ireland the idea of sacredness was
carried out in another way. Instead of decora-
ting the covers of the book itself, it was held, as
in such a MS., for instance, as the Book of Durrow,
to be too venerable a relic to be meddled with,
and a box or case was made for it, on which they
spent all their artistic skill. Generally the case
is known as a cumdach ; but one kind, called the
cathach, was so closed that the book was com-
pletely concealed, and it was superstitiously
believed that if it were opened some terrible
calamity would overtake its possessors. Such
was the cathach of Tyrconnell. We must re-
member, however, that in this instance the keepers
were not men of book-learning, but hardy warriors
who carried the cathach into battle as a charm
and an incitement to victory.
Of similar shrines, which were made for
precious books by both the Greeks and Lom-
bards, the oldest and most famous is that made
for Theudelinde, wife of Agilulf, King of the
Lombards, and given by her, in 616, together
48 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
with the famous iron crown and other relics, to
the Cathedral of Monza, where they are still
to be seen.
The enrichment of the covers of books them-
selves, as distinct from the use of cases or shrines,
has been usual in almost all ages and styles of
decoration. When we come to speak of Caro-
lingian MSS. we shall find several remarkable
instances.
We must now pass on from this curiously
attractive theme of Celtic calligraphy to its con-
temporary styles of France, Germany, Spain,
and Italy, only remarking by the way that no
other style of its time had so marked an influence
on the local scriptoria into which it was intro-
duced as this same Celtic of Ireland. It is not
only traceable, but easily recognised all along
the Rhine, in Burgundy, the Swiss Cantons, and
Lombardy, until at length overwhelmed by the
general introduction of Romanesque or Byzan-
tine, which was restored and filtered through the
Exarchate and the Lombard schools during the
early days of the new Carolingian Empire.
CHAPTER VIII
SEMI-BARBARIC ILLUMINATION
Visigothic Merovingian Lombardic Extinction of classic art
Splendid reign of Dagobert St. Eloy of Noyon The
Library of Laon Natural History of Isidore of Seville
Elements of contemporary art Details of ornament Sym-
bolism Luxeuil and Monte Cassino Sacramentary of
Gellone "Prudentius" "Orosius" -Value of the Sacra-
mentary of Gellone.
TO reach the beginnings of these various de-
generate and illiterate attempts at book-work
we have only to watch the last expiring gleams of
classic art beneath the ruthless footsteps of the
barbarian invaders of the old Roman Empire.
In the sixth century the light of the old civilisa-
tion was fast fading away. Perhaps we may look
upon the so-called splendour of the reign of Dago-
bert in France as the spasmodic scintillations of
its latest moments of existence. The kingdom
of Dagobert, after 631, was almost an empire.
For the seven years preceding his death, in 638,
he ruled from the Elbe and the Saxon frontier to
that of Spain, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the
confines of Hungary. It was during his reign
that we read of the skill in metal -work of the
celebrated St. Eloy of Noyon, the rival of our
own St. Dunstan.
St. Eloy or Eligius (588-659) began his artistic
E 49
50 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
career as the pupil of Abbo, the goldsmith and
mint-master to Chlothaire II., and rose from the
rank of a goldsmith to that of Bishop of Noyon.
Among his handiwork were crowns, chalices, and
crosiers, and he is reputed to have made the chair
of bronze-gilt now in the National Library at
Paris, called the fauteuil of Dagobert, and many
other works, which disappeared either during the
wars of Louis XV. or those of the Revolution of
1789. He founded the Abbey of Solignac, near
Limoges, and it is not improbable that the repu-
tation of this city for metal-work and enamelling
may be dated from his foundation. With such
works as those of Eloy before them, it is difficult
to believe that the wretched and puerile attempts
at ornamental penmanship and illumination which
are shown at Laon and other places as the work
of this period can possibly represent the highest
efforts of the calligrapher. But we must re-
member that St. Eloy was an extraordinary genius
in his art, and that the bulk of the clergy, not to
mention ordinary workmen, were very ignorant
and ill-taught. Very few, indeed, were men who
could be considered cultured. Gregory of Tours,
the historian, and Venantius Fortunatus, the
hymn-writer, are among the few.
In the Library at Laon, M. Fleury describes a
MS. of the Natural History of Isidore of Seville,
which is looked upon as a work of reference both
as regards art and learning. It was at one time
a very popular book, being a Latin cyclopaedia,
dealing with the sciences and general knowledge
of the time ; yet the example referred to by
SEMI-BARBARIC ILLUMINATION 51
M. Fleury shows us only a crowd of initials
learnedly styled by the Benedictine authors and
others "ichthio-morphiques" and "ornithoeides,"
i.e. made up of fishes and birds, and about equal
in quality and finish to the efforts of a very
ordinary schoolboy.
These initials betray an utter decadence from
the beautiful uncials of the fifth and sixth
centuries, seen in the St. Germain's' Psalter, for
example, now in the National Library at Paris.
The colours are coarse and badly applied, and
even where brightest are utterly unrefined and
without taste.
Notwithstanding, however, the apparently total
eclipse or extinction of Roman art in Gaul, or, as
it must henceforth be called, France, it is claimed
by M. Fleury 1 that the interlacements which
constitute the principal feature of these earlier
Merovingian MSS. are derived from the remains
of Roman mosaics found profusely at Blanzy,
Bazoches, and Reims. This may be so, but
those mosaics would not account for the same
features in the Irish work, for the Romans never
reached Ireland as occupants or colonists.
Take another example from the Laon collection,
the History of Orosius. The first page is a type
of the species to which it belongs, and, moreover,
a good sample of the earliest efforts of all pictorial
art. An ordinary rectangular cross occupies the
centre of the page. The centre shows us the Lamb
of the Apocalypse and St. John. On the arms are
the beasts which typify the Evangelists their
1 See later.
52 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
emblems, as they are sometimes called. We
notice that they are all symbolic, and not intended
to be natural imitations of reality. The various
ani-mals scattered about the page are all symbolic
all have a mystical interpretation and raison
d'&tre. A border-frame, passing behind each ex-
tremity of the cross, contains a number of dog-like
animals, some plain, others spotted, while the
body of the cross itself is occupied with attempts
at foliage ornaments. In the left upper corner
are the letters "X P I," in the right "I H V,"
thick foliage springing from the "I" and "V"
and falling back over the monogram. In the
lower corners are two fishes and two doves, each
pair hanging to a penwork chain.
The emblem of John, on the upper extremity of
the cross, is an eagle-headed and winged man
holding a book; its opposite one of Lucas at foot
is a singularly conceived anthropoid and winged
ox, also with a book. On the left Marcus, whose
head is indescribable ; and on the right Matthew,
with human head, the rest of the figures being as
before. The eye in all the figures is a most
remarkable feature. Both in the pictures and the
initials of this MS. the outline has been drawn in
black ink, and the colours yellow, red, brown,
and green applied afterwards.
As the new masters of the West were not so
much interested in the artistic remains of the
mangled civilisation they were endeavouring to
destroy as in mastery and military success, it was
left for the monasteries and the church to see to
the welfare of books and monuments.
SEMI-BARBARIC ILLUMINATION 53
In the seventh century it was the monasteries
that saved almost all we know of the preceding-
centuries. During the turmoil of the period from
the fifth to the eighth century we find certain
quiet corners where learning and the arts still
breathed, grew, and dwelt in security. L6rins,
founded by St. Honoratus of Aries ; Luxeuil by
Columbanus, Bobbio his last retreat ; and, above
all, Monte Cassino, the great pattern of monasti-
cism, the Rule of whose founder was destined to
become the basis of all later Orders, were each of
them steadily labouring to rescue the civilisation
daily threatened by the ravage of war, and to
preserve it for the benefit of the ignorant hordes
who, because of their ignorance, now only aimed
at its entire destruction. We have seen how
these monks and clerics, with more goodwill than
ability, did their best to adorn the books which
came into their hands. It is a poor show, but
there is no better. It is absolutely our only
record of how civilisation managed to struggle
through the storm.
Let us, then, be thankful even for the Laon
" Orosius," for the Sacramentary of Gellone, and
the Mozarabic Liturgies of Puy. They are
among the links between ancient and mediaeval
art.
As already stated, the handwriting of Mero-
vingian MSS. is mainly an adaptation of the
Roman uncial, as it is in Irish and Lombardic, or,
we might say, everywhere else. Abbreviations
are still uncommon. Where minuscules are used,
the writing is not quite so legible as in the larger
54 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
hands, but we are not met by the singular diffi-
culties of some of the Lombardic texts.
A few solitary texts of the earliest time are in
capitals, such as the really handsome "Prudentius "
of the Paris National Library, where the entire
text of the great Christian poet is boldly inscribed
in the centre of a large white page of vellum, like
a series of separate inscriptions. The first few
words are " rubrished " in the antique manner.
The MS. is supposed to date previous to the year
527. A little later than this St. Columbanus
founded the monastery of Luxeuil, and later still,
viz. in 616, that of Bobbio.
If we turn to the Visigothic area, including the
South of France and the entire peninsula of Spain,
our first and typical example is the celebrated Sacra-
mentary of Gellone. This MS. dates, it is said,
from the eighth century. It is written through-
out in Visigothic uncials, though executed in the
South of France. Its ornamentation is frankly
barbaric. The colours used are yellow, red, and
green, The great initials are double lined, and
the interlinear space filled in with a flat tint of
colour and lines of red dots, as in the Book of
Kells occasionally follow the contours. Here, also,
are the fish- or bird-form letters as in the Laon
" Orosius." Now and then occurs a tiny scene
perhaps a fight between two grotesque brutes,
neither fish, nor fowl, nor beast known to the
naturalist, but a horrible compound of the worst
qualities of each. The human figure, when it
occurs, is childishly shapeless. But the design
and treatment, nevertheless, bear witness to a
SEMI-BARBARIC ILLUMINATION 55
lively imagination and considerable knowledge of
Christian symbolism. It is these mental qualities
which, in spite of the manifest absence of manual
skill, render the Gellone Evangeliary one of the
most precious monuments of its time. Of the
rest of the MSS. of this wretched period we will
say nothing.
" Non ragioniam di lor', ma guard' e passa."
We are glad to hurry on for another century or
so, remembering that the leading idea now is the
development of the initial letter.
CHAPTER IX
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INITIAL
The initial and initial paragraph the main object of decoration
in Celtic illumination Study of the letter L as an example
The I of " In principio " and the B of " Beatus Vir."
FROM the moment when the initial was placed
beneath the miniature the object of the whole
design was not to give prominence to the initial
but to the picture. Until then, that is, whilst the
initial remains above or beside or outside the
picture, it is the initial we must watch for style
and development. And therefore we seize on one
letter among those of the latter part of the eighth
century, because of the frequency of its occurrence
in the Gospel-book or Evangeliary, one of the
commonest books of the time. This the letter
L of " Liber Generationis," etc., the commencing
words of St. Matthew. This passage is always
made of importance, and on the initial and arrange-
ment of the words the artist expends his best
efforts.
Properly I should here display pictorially the
series of which 1 speak. It would certainly be
the quickest way of explaining the matter. But
as this is out of the question for many reasons,
and as the present little guide aims rather at
showing the way than marching through it, the
DEVELOPMENT OF THE INITIAL 57
reader must be content to take its advice about
where to look for examples which it cannot re-
produce.
Regarding the letter L as an index of time and
style, first we may take the Irish L of the Book
of Kells on p. 17, pt. i, of Miss Stokes 1 Early
Christian Art in Ireland. Note first the form of
the letter, then the way it is filled up with orna-
ment. Compare this, which dates from the seventh
century, with a similar L in the Ada-Codex in the
Town Library at Tr&ves, No. 22. A black and
white copy of this is given in taf. 6 of Lamprecht
Initial Ornamentik. This carries up the work
to the second half of the eighth century. Next,
say the L in the Town Archives at Cologne,
No. 147. This belongs to the second half of the
ninth century. The chief departure here is to-
wards the knotted band work which figures so
largely afterwards both in German and Italian
book ornament, the form is still unchanged. But
with the tenth century comes change of form as
well as of mode of filling, as for example taf. 19
of Lamprecht, in which there is a complete altera-
tion of treatment. The student may take for
similar comparison also the I of " In principio " of
St. John's Gospel, and the B of the first psalm
in the Psalter, and carry the comparison on to the
end of the fourteenth century, by referring to the
MSS. in the British Museum and other public
libraries, or in the numerous illustrated works
to be found in those collections.
CHAPTER X
FIRST ENGLISH STYLES
Transition from lona to Lindisfarne Influence of Frankish
art The "Opus Anglicum " The Winchester school and
its characteristics Whence obtained Method of painting
Examples Where found and described.
r I "HE succession of the school of lona shows
-* us in the first examples of English illumina-
tion the type exemplified in the Book of Kells,
modified, but not very much, by its transference
to Lindisfarne.
Whatever doubt may be felt as to the influence
of Byzantine or Romanesque models on pure Irish
work, such as the Book of Kells, there can be
none as regards the Lindisfarne Gospels. In the
first place we have gold both in the lettering and
ornament. This MS., known also as the Durham
Book (Brit. Mus., Nero D. iv.), was the work of
Abbat Eadfrith, of Lindisfarne. It has been often
described, as it is really a most precious example
of eighth-century art in this country. No other
MS. of its time is to be found in any continental
scriptorium to be compared with it. It is not a
collection of clumsy inartistic attempts at orna-
mental writing, but high-class, effective work,
which should be seen and studied by every
student of illumination.
FIRST ENGLISH STYLES 59
From its style of execution, its details of por-
traiture, and other features, it may be looked
upon as one of the earliest links between the two
extremes of Oriental and Occidental Art.
Another MS. in the British Museum (Vesp. A. i),
which combines the Roman method of painting* as
in the Vergils with the pen-work of these Anglo-
Celtic Gospel-books, may also repay careful exam-
ination.
It is very possible, that the celebrated scriptoria
of York and Jarrow may have been furnished with
both MSS. and copyists from Rome, yet there can
be little doubt that the intercourse with Durham
would be quite as active. Nor is it less probable
that similar intercourse would keep them en
rapport with Oxford, St. Alban's, Westminster,
Glastonbury, and other scriptoria^ so that in the
eighth century England stood with respect to art
second to no other country in the Christian world.
During the ninth century active intercourse
with the Frankish Empire enriched English
churches and religious houses, especially Win-
chester, with examples of Byzantine and Roman
models, which Charlemagne had introduced into
his own palatine schools. From such secondary
models as the Sacramentaries and Evangeliaries
executed at Tours, Soissons, Metz, and other
busy centres of production, English illuminators
succeeded in forming a distinctive style of their
own. In the French or, rather, Frankish MSS.,
while the richness of the gold and the beauty and
delicacy of the colouring are in themselves most
charming, and while certain features may in*
60 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
general be recognised as no doubt suggestive,
there is nothing which quite predicts the remark-
able treatment which characterises the English
work. " Opus Anglicum " was its distinctive
title. The term, indeed, was applied to all Eng-
lish artistic productions more or less embroidery
among the rest. The women of England, says
William of Poitiers, were famous for their needle-
work, the men excelled in metal-work and jewel-
lery. But it was the illuminated Service Books
that have perpetuated the term.
From the Lindisfarne Gospels to the Winches-
ter Benedictionals is a far cry but Art is long
and time is fleeting, hence many pages of inter-
vening description must be omitted. We may,
however, refer the reader to Westwood's Palceo-
graphia Sacra Pictoria^ the Palaeographical
Society's publications, and other works, for en-
lightenment on this period. On the Rouen and
Devonshire Benedictionals much interesting infor-
mation may be found in vol. 24 of the Archceo-
logia and in the recent volume of the Bradshaw
Society concerning them.
The work is peculiar ; and if we consider the
treatment of foliage apart from the colour, we
cannot but notice its similarity to the ivory
carving observable in the consular diptychs.
Ivory carving was then a popular artistic occupa-
tion. The foliage is graceful, the composition
well-balanced, and the colour mostly bright body
colour applied in the Greek manner. The fault of
the heads is that they are too small for the figure,
and of the draperies that the folds are overdone
FIRST ENGLISH STYLES 61
with too much fluttering detail. The gilding*
differs from the Byzantine in not being laid on the
vellum in the form of burnished leaf, but painted
on like the colours, not only in the figures but in
the frame-work and ornaments.
The British Museum contains several character-
istic examples, but, as has been said, the very finest
are those at Rouen and in the library of the Duke
of Devonshire.
Perhaps no genuine example exists earlier than
the Golden Charter of King Edgar of true Win-
chester illumination, executed forty years after
the accession of Athelstan, whose Coronation
Book (Brit. Mus., Tib. A. 2) is most probably
not English at all, but Carolingian of the finest
type. Many other scriptoria in England in the
tenth century were equally busy with Winchester,
but none could vie with the royal city in the pro-
duction of illuminated books.
CHAPTER XI
CAROLINGIAN ILLUMINATION
AVhy so-called Works to be consulted The Library of St.
Gall Rise and progress of Carolingian art Account of
various MSS. Features of the style Gospels of St. Sernin
The Ada-Codex Centres of production Other splendid
examples The Alcuin Bible The Gospel of St. Medard of
Soissons.
ONCE more crossing- the Channel let us now in-
quire what has been doing among the Franks
since the Gellone Sacramentary, especially in the
schools instituted by the Emperor Charles the
Great. Materials for this inquiry are most
abundant. One of the more important works
on the subject is the lucid monograph of Dr.
Rahn, of Zurich, on the Golden Psalter of
Folchard at St. Gall, which deals more or less
with the whole question of Carolingian art, while
M. Lop. Delisle's brochure on the Evangeliary
of St. Vaast of Arras gives us a copious account
of the Franco-Saxon branch of it. Apart, how-
ever, from these sources of information, we have
not a few original MSS. still extant, which, of
course, more vividly speak for themselves, and
only require pointing out to the student.
The clearest method of study being to take
things in the order of their creation, so in order
62
CAROLINGIAN ILLUMINATION 63
to understand the " character of savage grandeur
and naive originality " which has been attributed
to this style, it will be best to take up these MSS.
chronologically. At the same time, if anyone
merely wishes to know what the style is like at
its best, Dr. Rahn must be his guide, as the Golden
Psalter which he has selected for study is as
splendid an example as perhaps may be found in
the whole career of the art. We have noticed
how the Irish missionary-artists carried their
work to their continental settlements, how they
planted their schools in Burgundy, Switzerland,
and Lombardy. Of all their depositories, how-
ever, numerous as they are elsewhere, none is
richer in the relics of their work than the cele-
brated abbey which takes its name of St. Gall
from that disciple of St. Columbanus, who in 614
founded his little cell beside the Steinach, about
nine miles south of the Lake of Constance. Under
Charles Martel the cell had become a monastery,
which he endowed as a Benedictine abbey. In
830 was founded its magnificent library of MSS.
The library still exists, and at the present moment
gives shelf-room to 1,800 MSS. and more than
41,700 printed books. Besides this, another, called
the Town Library, founded in the sixteenth cen-
tury, and containing 500 MSS. and 60,400 printed
books, gives this upland, busy, modern manu-
facturing Swiss town no mean importance as a
centre of literary culture. Physically it is probably
the highest town in Europe, its street-level being
very nearly 2,200 feet above that of the sea. Its
libraries and museums are rich storehouses of
64 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
mediaeval treasures. The architect raves over its
monastic buildings ; the scholar and palaeographer
gloat over its books and MSS. In the libraries
of St. Gall are some of the masterpieces of Irish,
Saxon, and Carolingian art, and its great Bene-
dictine abbey under Grimald from 841, i.e. during
the later Carolingian period, possessed one of the
most active scriptoria in Europe. To begin with
the beginning, however, we must leave St. Gall,
and, passing by some less important MSS., go
back to the year 781 and the city of Toulouse.
In that year, and in the Abbey of St. Sernin
(Saturninus) in that city, was finished a wonderful
and truly splendid manuscript of the Gospels as
a present to the Emperor and his wife Hildegardis.
This is our first example. It now is to be seen in
the National Library, Paris (Nouv. acqu. Lat.
1203).
Next comes the Evangeliary of Abbat Angilbert
of Centula (now St. Riquier), near Abbeville,
Charlemagne's son-in-law. This MS., executed
about the year 793, is still preserved in the Town
Library of Abbeville. In the same rank, but some-
what finer in execution, comes a third Evangel-
iary, that of St. M6dard of Soissons, now in the
National Library, Paris (No. 8850, Lat.).
In these three MSS., reproductions from which
are to be found in various modern works on art,
the writing and ornamentation are the parts into
which the artist puts his best work, not the figure
drawing. Although in the St. Sernin MS. there
is, in the Christ-figure, a distinct attempt at
portraiture quite different from the coils and pen-
CAROLINGIAN ILLUMINATION 65
flourishes which make up the Gospel-figures in
the Irish and Merovingian MSS. Here the in-
spiration is clearly Greek, not Irish. The figure
is draped in green and violet seated on an
embroidered cushion before a low castellated wall.
The hair is light, and the chin beardless. The
design shows a decided likeness to the consular
ivory diptychs, and the painting follows the
Eastern methods. In the details of ornament
only are Irish features. Thus we trace in this
MS. the sources of Carolingian art. The MS.
being dated, is important as affording a means
of comparison with other undated work. It was
presented to St. Sernin on the occasion of the
visit of the Emperor and Empress with their son,
the amiable Louis "le Debonaire," 1 just after the
latter had been made King of Aquitaine. Godes-
chalk, the writer of it, on the last two leaves tells
us that it took him seven years to accomplish.
It is written throughout in gold and silver letters
on purple vellum, and is, moreover, ornamented
with borders, pictures, portraits, and panellings.
At first it was kept in a cumdach of silver, set
with precious stones, but that has disappeared.
The Golden Gospels of St. M^dard, like the
Centula MS., are similar, but betoken an advance
in both taste and execution. The figures are still
rude and deformed, but the artist shows a laud-
able desire, an ambition, in fact, to imitate the
work of better artists than himself. Nevertheless,
the calligraphy and borderwork are the best parts
of his performance. In this MS. the use of silver
1 Mod. Fr. "Debonnaire."
66 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
betrays a tendency to prodigality. In design, the
influence of the artists who built the new church
of San Vitale at Ravenna, a church which became
the model for the Abbey of St. Medard itself, is
quite manifest, yet perhaps need not be traced
further than Soissons or Pavia. In certain of the
illustrations, as, for instance, the " Fountain of
Life," there is at once a likeness and a variation as
compared with the same symbol in the Evangeliary
of St. Sernin. They are both too intricate to
describe, but of both it may be said that they
show an intimate acquaintance with early Christian
symbolism. The ivory carving and architecture
of Ravenna have evidently been known to the
director of these frames and backgrounds. In
the year which saw the completion of Godeschalk's
Gospels, Alcuin was at Parma, but when the St.
Medard's Gospels were written he was Abbot of
St. Martin's at Tours. It was the presence of
Alcuin at the Court of Charlemagne that accounts
for the prevalence of the Saxon character in the
new and beautiful handwriting we now call Caro-
lingian. It was the presence of Paul Warnefrid
that accounts for much of the classic and most of
the Lombardic features, both of the writing and
the illumination. Many other scholars assisted
these two in the various centres in which Alcuin
established branches of the palatine schools. The
intercourse with Italy and England was constant,
and led to the frequent interchange of books, and
community of methods and models. Another fine
MS. of the same period (c. 780) is the Golden
Ada-Codex of St. Mesmin or Maximin, of Troves.
OKTI v lectoeaH is AD
eos -iUje<fUiaevrrr..vo
eucnxocie cu) u\ i
CR \i e
>s AII peRRevn rs
CDONreaiobtien-ei
OiLucuLo n^Riia
CODEX AUREXS
(GOLDEN GOSPELS OF ATHELSTAN)
c. 835
Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 2788, foL 176
CAROLINGIAN ILLUMINATION 67
In 1794 this MS. was taken from Treves to Mainz ;
in 1815 it was transferred to Aix-le-Chapelle, and
is now back again at Treves. The externals of
the Ada-Codex are very costly, its binding" being a
late Gothic pendant to the cover of the Echternach
Evangeliary at Gotha. In the centre of the fore-
cover there is a magnificent topaz, 1 with several
imperial figures. Inside, the work is a handsome
example of the early Carolingian. 2 It contains
the four Gospels written by order of the " Mother
and Lady Ada," sister of Charles the Great,
Abbess of St. Mesmin. Next we have in the
British Museum another grand example of the
style as modified by English or Saxon influence.
Also the Zurich Bible, of the same date, executed
at Tours and the Bamberg Bible, said to be a copy
of the Alcuin Bible of the same school. Then follow
the Drogo Sacramentary, presented by the Em-
peror to his natural son Drogo, Archbishop of
Metz (826-855), perhaps illuminated at Metz, but
of the same school as those above mentioned.
In our own National Library, again, we have the
Athelstan Gospels (Harl. 2788), also in all prob-
ability executed at Metz. At Paris (Nat. Lib.,
Theol. Lat. 266) is the Evangeliary of Lothaire
a most beautiful example of gold-writing and
ornament. So we might enumerate a score of
splendid MSS., and classify them into their various
minor schools. But such is not our object. All
we want here is a general but clear idea of the
style as a whole.
1 Or sardonyx (Lamprecht says topaz.)
2 A photograph of the cover is sold by F. Linz of Troves.
68 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
To characterise it broadly by the names of its
most important elements we should call it a Lom-
bard-Saxon style the interlacing bands and knots
and other minor features and the main character
of the writing being" of Saxon origin, the classical
foliages and manner of painting the figures and
certain ideas of design Lombardic, strengthened by
direct contact with the sources of the latter style.
Whatever variations there may be, they can
generally be accounted for according to locality
and centre of production. We have instanced a
few examples of the earlier time as showing the
principal features of the style. Under the Emperor
Charles the Great's grandson, Charles the Bald,
Carolingian illumination reached its highest point
of excellence, and the MSS. executed for him or
his contemporaries accordingly give a correct idea
of what Carolingian illuminators considered as
good work. The chief centres were still Tours
and Metz the latter a branch of the former, but
gradually developing distinct features of its own ;
and among the productions of these schools there
still remain precious we might say priceless
examples, such as the Vivien Bible of the Paris
Library, so-called because presented by Count
Vivien, Abbat of St. Martin's of Tours, to
Charles the Bald in 850. l It contains a fine pic-
ture of the presentation with beardless figures. It
has also a number of exceedingly splendid initials
showing strong Byzantine influence capitals of
columns of classic origin and traces of Merovin-
gian in letter forms and ornamental details. It is
1 Plate in t. i of Louandre.
CAROLINGIAN ILLUMINATION 69
like the Evangeliary of Lothaire, already men-
tioned, a most sumptuous example rich in silver
and gold the latter having a grand portrait of
Lothaire seated on his throne. Both MSS. are
in the National Library at Paris, the Vivien,
No. i (Theol. Lat.), the Lothaire, No. 266. But the
one example to which we would call the reader's
attention, though among the earlier productions
of the period, as not only most readily accessible,
but most precious to the English student, is the
celebrated Alcuin Bible in the British Museum
(Add. MS. 10546). This venerable MS. is a copy
of the Vulgate revised by Alcuin himself, and
said to be exactly similar to the one at Bamberg.
Biblical revision was perhaps the most important
of his many literary occupations, and this volume
is reasonably believed to be the actual copy pre-
pared for presentation to Charlemagne under the
reviser's own superintendence, possibly, in part
at least, the w r ork of his own hand. It is a
large folio, finely written in a neat minuscule,
mainly Saxon hand, with uncial initials in two
columns. The miniatures, including their archi-
tectural details, are in the Roman manner, the
ornaments partly Byzantine, partly Celtic. The
great similarity of design between different manu-
scripts is strikingly exemplified by a comparison
of three borders from (a) the Evangeliary of St.
Vaast of Arras, fol. 28 v. (see Delisle) ; (b) the
Evangel, in National Library, Paris, anc. fds. Lat.
2 57 ( see Louandre), and Evangeliary No. 309
Bibl. de Cambrai (see Durieux).
Indeed, comparisons of this kind are very in-
70 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
structive frequently as suggestive of provenance,
as each working centre would have its own set of
models and designs. Of course, comparison of
the MSS. themselves is out of the question, but
the comparisons can often be effected by the
student's having Louandre, Durieux, Fleury,
Labarte, etc., by his side during the examination
of any given period. The limits of our little book
forbid our speaking of other examples of this
splendid style, but we cannot conclude without
noticing that in the opinion of M. Ferdinand
Denis, the Golden Gospels of St. Medard of
Soissons is the most beautiful Carolingian MSS.
extant.
CHAPTER XII
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION
Introductory Monasteries and their work from the sixth to
the ninth century The claustral schools Alcuin
Warnefrid and Theodulf Clerics and monastics The
Golden Age of monasticism The Order of St. Benedict
Cistercian houses Other Orders Progress of writing in
Carolingian times Division of labour.
IN the sixth century the monasteries, such as
they were, necessarily kept themselves very
quiet and unobtrusive. They were situated usually
in out-of-the-way corners, solitudes apart from
civilisation, or, at least, apart from the busy
haunts of men. In the eighth century there is
a marked difference. The Capitular of Aix-la-
Chapelle, of 789, required that minor schools
should be attached to all monasteries and cathedral
churches without exception, and that children of
all ranks, both noble and servile r , should be received
into them. Also that the larger monasteries
should open major schools in which the seven
sciences of mathematics, astronomy, arithmetic,
music, rhetoric, dialectics, and geography, were
to be taught and this in two ways. There were
to be two sorts of schools interior or claustral,
intended for monastics only, and exterior or
canonical^ intended for secular students. These
72 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
schools were under separate scholastics or
masters, and lay students were received in the
exterior schools as freely and fully as in the public
schools of the present time. Mabillon 1 gives a
list of some twenty-seven monastic and cathedral
schools, by no means confined to great or wealthy
cities, but well distributed throughout the Empire.
In the time of Charlemagne those most in
repute were Tours, St. Gall, Fulda, Reims, and
Hirsfeld.
We have given the names of Alcuin and Paul
Warnefrid as the chief promoters of the Caro-
lingian Revival, but we should not omit that of
Theodulf, of Orleans, the indefatigable school
inspector of the time. He it was who assisted
the artistic side of the movement by his ingenious
contrivances as a writer and illustrator of school
books. Undoubtedly it was from his suggestions
that we so often find in mediaeval scientific treatises
of the driest kind those graphic and wonderful
tabulations and edifices, labelled and turreted,
which make Aristotle, Priscian, and Marcianus
Capella, not only comprehensible, but attractive.
Theodulf composed in simple and easy Latin
verse somewhat after the style of the Propria
qucemaribus of our own childhood the description
of a supposed tree of science, which he had drawn
and painted, on the trunk and branches of which
w r ere the figures and names of the seven liberal
arts. At the foot sat Grammar the basis of all
learning holding on her hand a lengthy rod
(ominous for the tender student). On the right
1 Praefat. in iv. Saecul. 184.
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION 73
Rhetoric stretched forth her hand. On the left
was Dialectic. Philosophy sat on the summit ;
the rest being disposed according to their relative
importance. The whole was explained in the
Carmina de septem artibus, in which the bishop,
who was one of the famous poets of the age,
strove in flowery language to render these dry-
as-dust studies acceptable to the youthful under-
standing. Theodulf was a great scholar, and
assisted Alcuin in the revision of the Bible, one
copy of which he himself had written whilst still
Abbat of Fleury, about 790. At the beginning of
this Bible is a poem in golden letters on purple,
and a preface in prose, also in golden letters, giving
a synopsis of the several books. The text differs
somewhat from the Alcuin Bible, as it is that of
Jerome before Alcuin's revision. This MS. is
now at Paris. Another Bible executed to the
order of Theodulf is now in the Town Library at
Puy.
It seems incredible, after the efforts made by
Charlemagne and his ministers for the main-
tenance of learning and the arts, that there should
ever be any risk of a return to barbarism, but it
is a fact that the dissolution of the Empire proved
in certain localities the suspension of prosperity.
Fortunately the monastics especially the Bene-
dictines and the canons of the cathedrals still
kept up the practice of copying books ; but almost
all the South of France, Languedoc, and Provence,
always conservative, remained more or less
illiterate. They produced poets and jongleurs,
but seldom artists or scholars. And even in the
74 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
North, where the capitular schools were most
flourishing as Paris, Reims, and Chartres the
general tendency was towards relapse. In High
Germany it 1 was even worse. In spite of all
efforts of the clergy by the extension of secular
schools, the laity preferred the excitement of
chase and camp to the quiet humdrum of the
schoolroom. Religion seemed to be regarded
rather as a profession than a principle, quite right
in its place, i.e. the Church and the monastery,
but unsuited for active life. The wealthy land-
owners, therefore, did not cease to endow religious
houses or to build churches, but they left book-
learning to the clerics. Accordingly the clerics
and the monastics flourished exceedingly.
From the beginning of the tenth century to the
beginning of the thirteenth was the Golden Age of
monasticism. The Order of St. Benedict scattered
its foundations thickly over France and Western
Germany, while its reformed colonies of Cluny,
Citeaux, Clairvaux, and the Chartreuse again
spread their settlements in all directions. Thus
we find Cluny established in 910, Grammont in
1076, the Chartreuse in 1080, Citeaux in 1098,
Savigny in 1105, Tiron in 1109, Austin Canons in
1038, Premonstrants in 1120, Crutched Friars in
1169. In England, from noo, scarcely a year
passed by without the establishment of some fresh
foundation. During the thirty-five years of the
reign of Henry I. more than 150 religious houses
were founded. And even during the disastrous
reign of Stephen, in less than twenty years, no
fewer than 100 bouses of various Orders were
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION 75
established. The twelfth century in England was
especially the age of monasteries.
It is true that not very much in the way of
original literature, except theological treatises, can
be assigned to the three centuries referred to, but
the unwearied labours of the copyist and illumina-
tor did much to preserve the works which previous
centuries had created. Of course, in so long a
period changes were many and great. So great,
indeed, that between a MS. of 850 and another of
1 200 scarcely is there a common feature.
From 850 to 1000 in France the Carolingian
minuscule, from the first so clear and beautiful,
remained with scarce a stroke of alteration. But
immediately after the opening of the eleventh
century a series of rapid changes set in, and by
the beginning of the twelfth a new hand, perfectly
clear and regular, but quite different from the
Carolingian, had been formed, which lasted until
it was superseded by the Gothic, while a system
of contractions adopted because of the scarcity of
parchment creates a fresh need for study apart
from the peculiarities of personal habits. Side
by side, too, with this there grows up a non-
professional hand the so-called cursive or run-
ning hand of the ordinary writer in many cases,
especially in deeds and other brief compositions,
all but utterly illegible, except to the professional
palaeographer. Occasionally these autographs are
of the highest importance and intensely interesting,
as, for instance, when in an English MS. we come
across a note in the handwriting of Ordericus
(Vitalis) or Matthew Paris.
76 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
From 900 to 1200 the vast majority of MSS.,
illuminated and otherwise, were the work of
monastics. Every house of any note had its
room set apart for writing. The larger monas-
teries sometimes utilised the cloisters of the
churches themselves, in recesses of which they
had desks or tables placed for the copyist.
Usually, however, they had a large common
room called the scriptorium, where either the
copyist and illuminator worked separately and
each on his own account, or where a number of
copyists awaited with pen and parchment the
dictation by one of the fraternity of some work
of which a number of copies had to be made.
*' No admittance except on business" was the
rule of this chamber. There, under the direction
of the armarius, the expert writers did their
work.
Sometimes a single monk executed the book
from first to last by himself. He prepared the
vellum, ruled it with the fine metal point, copied
the text, painted the illuminations, put on the
gilding, and even added the binding. Generally,
however, the labour was divided one monk
scraped and polished the parchment ; another
ruled it ; another wrote the text, leaving spaces
for initials and miniatures ; another put in the
initials and did the gilding and flourishing with
borders, etc. ; and another painted the miniatures.
This in the monasteries was done in the case of
large and important MSS., and afterwards, when
illuminating became a lay-craft, subdivision of
labour was the common practice. Binding was
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION 77
usually done in a special apartment, and by one
specially skilled therein.
The scriptorium was looked upon as a sort of
sacred place, and the work of copying often con-
sidered as a labour of piety and love entered
upon with devout prayer, and solemnly blessed
by the superior, especially in cases where the
books to be written were Bibles, or connected
with the services of the house, the Lives of the
Saints, or Treatises on Theology.
Very frivolous or absurd indeed are sometimes
the inducements to copyists to do gratuitous work
of this kind, such as that every letter transcribed
paid for one sin of the copyist, and it is said that
a certain monk a heavy sinner only owed his
salvation to the fact that the number of letters in
a Bible which he copied exceeded by a single unit
the sum total of his sins.
CHAPTER XIII
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION continued
The copyists Gratuitous labour Last words of copyists
Disputes between Cluny and Citeaux The Abbey of
Cluny : its grandeur and influences Use of gold and
purple vellum The more influential abbeys and their work
in France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
OF course, only really expert calligraphers were
employed on great and important works.
In the monastery all such labour was gratuitous,
that is, the copyist received no pecuniary remun-
eration, only his food and lodging. Yet even this
had to be provided for. Hence the frequent
requests for donations from the laity.
To give a volume to a monastery did not always
mean actually to present the book, but to stand
the expense of its production in the monastery
itself. In the case of specially distinguished pen-
men, their entertainment in a monastery was
sometimes an expensive business. It was only
in later times, however, when lay-artists were
invited to reside in the monastery to do their
work that money was paid for their services.
Very often we find notices at the end of volumes
that " So-and-so" had ordered the book to be
written and illumiaited at his expense, and an
78
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION 79
invocation for the gratitude of the reader and
remembrance in his prayers is added, sometimes
with the date to the very hour when the book was
finished.
The copyist's last words after his task was
completed are often very full of weariness some-
times pious, sometimes hankering* after fleshly
lusts, occasionally quite too dreadful to repeat.
" May Christ recompense for ever him who caused
this book to be written." At the end of a Life of
St. Sebastian : " Illustrious martyr, remember the
monk Gondacus who in this slender volume has
included the story of thy glorious miracles. May
thy merits assist me to penetrate the heavenly
kingdom, and may thy holy prayers aid me as
they have aided so many others who have owed
to them the ineffable enjoyments both of body and
soul." Wailly quotes the following : " Dextram
scriptoris benedicat mater honoris" ("May the
mother of honour bless the writer's right hand").
A very common ending is " Qui scripsit scribat
semper cum Domino vivat " (" He who wrote, let
him write ; may he ever live with the Lord ").
Another: " Explicit expliceat. Bibere scriptor
eat" ("It is finished. Let it be finished, and let
the writer go out for a drink "). Another ending
is " Vinum scriptori reddatur de meliori " ("Let
wine of the best be given to the writer''). And
again : " Vinum reddatur scriptori, non teneatur "
{" Let wine be given to the writer ; let it not be
withheld "). Here is the recompense wished for
by a French monk: " Detur pro pend scriptori
pulcra puella " ("Let a pretty girl be given to
8o ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the writer for his pains," or "as a penance ").
The monks enjoyed puns, as "bibere," a com-
mon pun on " vivere." One writer groans thus :
" Scribere qui nescit, nullum putat esse laborem "
(" Whoso knows not how to write, thinks it is no
trouble ").
As time goes on, after the tenth century, it is
noticeable that the more beautiful a manuscript
becomes in its writing the less accurate becomes
its Latinity. And so the monks who once were
noted for learning, gradually lose their grip on
Latin. The manuscripts executed in Benedictine
abbeys became inaccurate almost illiterate.
Faults of ignorance of words ; misrendering of
proper names ; blundering in the inept introduc-
tion of marginal notes and confounding such notes
with the text, showing that the heart of the
copyist was not in his work nor his head capable
of performing it. His hand is simply a machine,
which when it goes wrong does so without re-
morse and without shame. So in the greater
houses, men were appointed whose sole business
was to supervise the copyists in fact, to supply
the brains, while the scribe furnished the manipu-
lation of the pen. Even they, however, did not
always succeed to perfection, as very few of them
were too well furnished with scholarship. There
were not many Alcuins or Theodulfs in the
twelfth century. What they did usually keep free
from serious error were the books used in their
own services. It was the aim, particularly among
the Cistercian houses, to have their liturgical texts
absolutely without fault. In respect of illumina-
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION 81
tion, there was a great quarrel between the Abbey
of Citeaux and that of Cluny. The great Abbey
of Clugny (or Cluny) in ancient Burgundy was
founded in 910, and in the course of a century or
so obtained a degree of splendour, influence, and
prosperity unrivalled by any other mediaeval
foundation. It possessed enormous wealth and
covered Western Europe with its affiliated settle-
ments. Under Peter the Venerable, when the
controversy began, it was the chief monastic
centre of the Christian world. The words of
Pope Urban II., when addressing the community,
were : " Ye are the light of the world."
The grand Basilica at Cluny was completed in
1131, and, until the erection of St. Peter's at
Rome, was the largest church in Christendom,
and even then was only ten feet shorter than the
Roman edifice. The building is a masterpiece of
architectural beauty and massiveness, being with
its narthex added by Abbat Roland de Hainaut,
no less in length than 555 feet. The splendour of
the church, its gorgeous tombs and mausoleums,
its huge coronals for lights of brass, silver, and
gold the grand candelabrum before the altar,
with its settings of crystal and beryl the mural
painting of the cupola, and the general luxury and
magnificence of the whole constituted an unpar-
donable sin in the eyes of the stern and self-deny-
ing Cistercians. Hence arose long disputes
between the abbats of the two houses about tithes
and other matters. Among the other matters
were included questions of candlesticks and bind-
ings and gildings of books. The two houses
82 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
were long at variance on the right definition of
luxury in living, and this variance may to this
day be observed in their separate and distinct
styles, both of architecture and the ornamentation
of books. The use of gold was still continued in
the older Benedictine abbeys, but was long for-
bidden in the Cistercian, almost all the ornament
of the latter being confined to pen-drawing and
the use of coloured inks. The employment of
gold for the text of manuscripts so common in the
ninth century became rare in the eleventh. Only
here and there do we hear of such volumes.
Where the gold lettering still lingers, it is confined
to the first page or two, and the same may be said
of the purple vellum. A certain monk, Ad&mar,
who died at Jerusalem in 1034, wrote a Life of
St. Martial of Limoges entirely in letters of gold ;
but it was quite an exceptional volume. Another
example occurs in an Evangeliary, which was
probably a copy of a ninth-century model, as at
first glance it might be assigned to that age, but
on closer examination it is found that in one of
the borders is a medallion bearing the name of
the Emperor Otho, showing that it cannot be later
than the latter part of the tenth century. It is
now in the National Library at Paris.
Before speaking of Othonian illumination it
may be well to refer to that of the Netherlands in
these earlier centuries.
The most ancient writings known in this district
were charters and other documents, and the pious
effusion of the occupants of the monasteries, such
as St. Amand, Lobbes, Stavelot, etc.
MONASTIC ILLUMINATION 83
It was the revival of art and literature under
Charlemagne that was the beginning of artistic
calligraphy, then followed the production of books
outside the monasteries, classical authors, chron-
icles, and mirrors of various sciences. In the
eleventh century we find monastic books and
others of which the ornamentation is sometimes
even splendid, such as Psalters, Evangeliaries,
Bibles, and Missals, glowing with gold and colours.
Already the Abbeys of Stavelot and Liege were
high-class centres of production. St. Martin's
of Tournay had a famous scriptorium also, noted
for the beauty of its writing and its grand initial
letters. Immediately following St. Martin's, the
Abbeys of Gembloux, St. Bavon at Ghent, and
others, produced or acquired MSS. of the most
sumptuous kind, and before the thirteenth century
the Netherlands had established quite a dis-
tinguished reputation.
In a later chapter we shall deal with the develop-
ment of its remarkable schools, whose work event-
ually took rank, not only among the most artistic,
but the most prolific in Europe.
CHAPTER XIV
OTHONIAN ILLUMINATION
Departure from Carolingian Bird and serpent Common use
of dracontine forms in letter-ornament Influence of metal-
work on the forms of scroll-ornament The vine-stem and its
developments Introduction of Greek taste and fashion into
Germany Cistercian illumination The Othonian period
Influence of women as patronesses and practitioners German
princesses The Empress Adelheid of Burgundy The
Empress Theophano Henry II. and the Empress Cune-
gunda Bamberg Examples of Othonian art.
"DERHAPS the first departure towards a new
JT style arising out of the elements of Caro-
lingian illumination is in the combination of the
bird and serpent used for letter forms and con-
tinued into coils of vine-stem and foliage in com-
bination with golden panelled frames or pilasters.
The monsters thus produced seem to be a revival
of the dracontine forms of the semi-barbarous
Celtic and early Prankish arts. But the difference
in elegance and refinement of drawing and beauty
of colouring is very great indeed. Other animal
forms are also made use of, nor is the human
figure altogether absent. Sometimes entire letters
are made up of the latter in various attitudes.
Little scenes illustrative of the subject which the
84
mffa v.ctn fa: T-'rf fsiV i^fo mn fth mf!<il-
vi:!.'?rnctu .' iv.r.tj'.inr. ftar.Cftns>*ianrUtr
B1BLIA SACRA
i2TH CENT. (LATE)
zA Mies. Ilarl. MS. 2-99, fol. iSj v.
OTHONIAN ILLUMINATION 85
initial commences are often placed within it, as,
for instance, in the B of the first psalm. 1
Many twelfth-century initials look like designs
in metal-work placed on the panelled grounds of
coloured enamels. But the rapid development of
the vine-stem coils out of the stemless foliages
of the Carolingian and Winchester styles is one
of the wonders of the early German revival
after the accession of the Emperor Otho I. A
still greater improvement takes place after the
marriage of his son Otho II. to the Princess
Theophano, daughter of Romanus II., attribut-
able, no doubt, to a fresh accession of artistic
enthusiasm from the home of the new Empress.
In point of elegance of design, beauty of curve,
adaptation of every part to its share in the com-
position, nothing could be finer than the initial
letters of the Othonian period of illumination.
The year 963 introduced Greek fashions and Greek
artists into Germany, the results of which are at
once traceable in the increased splendour of
monastic illumination in that country. The details
of Greek ornament become the fillings of the
frames and panels of the large initials.
The Cistercian illuminators, or rather calli-
graphers, while they constantly repudiate the
golden splendour and monstrous follies of their
rivals, absolutely excel in this same ornamental
draughtsmanship. What, for example, could be
finer than the pen-drawing of the great Arnstein
1 A characteristic Othonian Evangeliary of the eleventh
century, executed at the Abbey of Stavelot, may be seen in
the Royal Library at Brussels.
86 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Bible in the British Museum (Harl. 2800)? The
ornament is mostly in a red ink, with flat-coloured
blue, green, or yellow backgrounds, but it is
not to be surpassed. No, the interlacements and
coils, foliages and panels of the twelfth century
are absolutely among the finest examples of orna-
mental lettering ever conceived. Illuminating
seemed at this epoch to be more and more closely
following the details of contemporary architecture,
and so paving the way to the next great variety
of the art, which is looked upon by some writers
as the real beginning of mediaeval illumination.
It must be admitted, however, that the excel-
lence limits itself to the ornament. The human
figure is wretchedly incorrect even barbarous.
It may be asked why is this? How is it that
while the decorative portion of an illuminated
book is beautiful in the highest degree, both in
line and colour, and yet occasionally the artist
seems not to have the remotest idea of the true
shape of hands and feet or any part of the human
body? Of course the usual explanation offered
is that monastic education did not permit the
study of the nude, and hence the monkish ignor-
ance of figure drawing. But that is scarcely an
excuse for the monstrous hands and feet and ex-
aggerated facial expression of the miniatures.
The Italian monk Angelico, in spite of his
monastic limitations, succeeded in a most grace-
ful rendering of the figure, and a charming deli-
cacy in the forms of the hands. As in some
instances the artist does reach a fair standard, it
must be admitted that where he does not is
OTHONIAN ILLUMINATION 87
owing to actual inability in himself and not in his
system. The three emperors who give the name
of Othonian to the period immediately succeeding
the Carolingian ruled Germany, and had much
to do with the ruling of Italy, from 936, when
Otho I., called the Great, succeeded Henry the
Fowler about five years before the death of Athel-
stan, whose sister Eadgyth l was Otho's first
wife. His mother Mathilda was the patroness of
the cloister-schools for women, working in them
personally. She herself taught her servants and
maids the art of reading. Her daughter Mathilda,
the famous Abbess of Quedlinburg, in 969 per-
suaded the Abbat Wittikind of Corvey to write
the History of the Saxon Kings, Henry her
father, and Otho her brother (now in the Royal
Library at Dresden). Hazecha, the Treasury-
mistress of Quedlinburg, also employed the
monks of Corvey, with whose beautiful initial
drawing she was greatly pleased, to illuminate her
own Life of St. Christopher. The beautiful but
imperious Princess Hedwig, another of Otho's
sisters, read Virgil with Ekkehard of St. Gall,
and taught the child Burchard Greek, while
Otho's niece Gerberga, Abbess of Gandersheim,
was the instructress of the celebrated Hrosvita,
" the oldest German poetess." And this reminds
us that at this time the women-cloisters of
Germany and the Netherlands were among the
most active centres of learning and book-produc-
tion. The great monument of feminine erudition
1 The chroniclers are rather confused as to the name of
this Princess.
88 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and artistic skill, called the " Hortus Deliciarum,"
was of a somewhat later time, but other examples
still exist, among them the beautiful Niedermiinster
Gospels of the Abbess Uota, now at Munich. A
wood-cut by Albert Diirer prefixed to the first
edition of Hrosvita's works (Niirnberg, 1501)
represents the nun Hrosvita kneeling before the
Emperor and beside the Archbishop Wilhelm of
Mainz presenting her book. 1 As to the literary
labours of Hrosvita, this is not the place to dis-
cuss them. She is simply an incidental figure in
our view of the brilliant Court of the Othos. A
MS. of her works 500 years after her death was
found among the dust of the cloister-library at
St. Emmeram of Regensburg by Conrad Celtis,
and, as we have seen, printed for the first time
in 1501. Thus she stands out as an illustration
of the fact often alluded to, of the importance of
feminine foundations in the monastic scheme.
Her picturesque story of the romantic adven-
tures of Adelheid of Burgundy, her marriage in
947 to King Lothaire of Italy, her widowhood
and perils, her misfortunes and eventual marriage
to the Emperor Otho, reads more like a chapter
from the Morte d? Arthur or the Arabian Nights
than a veracious history of real people. The
Empress Adelheid was, indeed, a remarkable
woman, and the nun of Gandersheim is full of
her praises. In her younger days she had been
a zealous patron and protectress of the Abbey of
1 It is thought, however, by some that the figure behind
is that of the Abbess not the Archbishop. See Diirer Soc.
Portfolio for 1900.
OTHONIAN ILLUMINATION 89
Cluny, which stood on her native land of Bur-
gundy, and her sympathies remained always with
the religious houses. In this respect, indeed, she
was a worthy successor of the pious Mathilda and
her daughters.. She died in her seventy-first year
in her Abbey of Selz in Elsass, leaving a memory
rich in benefits to the monastics, especially those
of Cluny, and venerated as the patroness of
many an illuminated volume of poems or theology,
not to mention the liturgical books executed at
her expense for use in her various foundations.
The tenth century seems to have been an age of
illustrious women. No sooner do we leave the
story of Adelheid than we enter upon that of the
young wife of Otho II., the Empress Theophano,
daughter of the Greek Emperor, Romanus II.
When little more than a child she was married
to the son of Adelheid, he himself being in his
twentieth year in the year 972, and in the city of
Rome. The young Greek Princess who had been
reared amid the luxury and splendour of the
Eastern capital at once became the fashion the
manners of her Byzantine household became those
of her Roman court, and were transplanted to her
German home at Bamberg. Artists, limners,
copyists, musicians, scholars, formed part of her
retinue, and at once the German Court became
the rival of those of England, Byzantium, Cor-
dova, and Rome.
It was, indeed, a Renaissance, an awakening
in literature, art, and social life. Nor did its glory
fade until eclipsed by the succeeding rivalries of
France and Italy. Theophano survived her hus-
90 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
band, who died in 983, and proved herself a
capable Regent during the infancy of her son
Otho III. She, however, did not live to see his
early death, nor indeed to see that of the aged
Adelheid, who survived her eight years, and died
in the same year (999) as Otho's aunt, Matilda,
Abbess of Quedlinburg.
The death of Otho III. in 1002 did not affect
materially the steady advance of monastic art.
Bamberg, St. Gall, Corvey, Luxeuil, Bobbio,
Monte Cassino continued their accustomed labours.
Under the Capetian Kings the French founda-
tions maintained the reputations they had won
during the Carolingian times, while others were
added from time to time throughout the Rhineland,
Limousin, and the South of France, where the
Romanesque or Byzantine tastes had not yet
penetrated, and whose work therefore remained
distinct from that of Italy and the German
Empire.
Henry II. and the Empress Cunigunda made
Bamberg the great centre of German art, and
it is to Bamberg, St. Gall, Luxeuil, Monte
Cassino, and Magdeburg that we have to look
for the finest productions of the eleventh century.
Among the earlier works of the Othonian period
we may mention the famous Gospel-book executed
for the minister of Otho II., Egbert, Archbishop of
Tr&ves, and known as the Codex Egberti. It was
written in 980 at Reichenau on the Lake of Con-
stance (or Bodensee, as it is locally known) by
two monks, Kerald and Heribert, whose dwarfish
figures appear beneath that of the archbishop on
OTHONIAN ILLUMINATION 91
the frontispiece. It contains fifty-seven illumina-
tions and several folios of violet parchment with
golden ornaments and lettering-. But its pictures
are rather remarkable, mostly the figures are too
short and the limbs and extremities badly drawn,,
but in some of the statelier personages the error
is reversed and they are too tall this seems to be
owing to Greek influence, while the Byzantine taste
shows itself in the treatment of the border-foliages.
Beasts are unnatural demons and swine are alike*
both in form and colour (Pub. Lib., Treves).
An Evangeliary, formerly in the Cathedral
Treasury at Bamberg, but now in the Royal
Library at Munich (Cimel. 58), is a good example
of the kind of work that at first glance appears
to be actually Carolingian both in the figures*
attitudes, and treatment of drapery, but which on
closer examination proves to be really due to the
reign of Otho II. In this MS. the beginning of
St. Matthew contains four medallions two of
Henry I. (the Fowler), one of Otho I., his son*
and another of his grandson, Otho II. (Nat. Lib.*
Paris, Lat. 8851).
A still more notable MS. is kept in the Munich
Library (Cimel. 58), containing a two-paged picture
of tributary cities bringing gifts to the Emperor
Otho III. In the painting in this MS., notwith-
standing the exaggerated solemnity of expression,
the faces are well drawn and the features carefully
modelled. The painting is in the Greek manner*
as is also the general character of the draperies.
The small, ill-drawn feet are by no means com-
parable with the heads.
92 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
The Imperial crown is square, like those of the
Magi in the Bremen MS. now in the Library of
Brussels, or like that of Baldwin as Emperor of
Constantinople. In the several enthronements
which occur among the Imperial miniatures at
Munich there are important and significant
differences which might not be noticed unless
pointed out.
The changes in the shape and treatment of the
orb, for instance, mean more than a mere advance
in enrichment, or an improvement in artistic skill.
The difference indicates a change in political
usage. In the miniature of Charles it does not
occur at all ; in that of Otho III. it is a mere
symbol ; in that of Henry II. it is the actual
emblem of sovereignty presented by the Pope to
the Emperor, to be held by^the latter in token of
his investiture.
It was Selden's opinion that the orb, surmounted
by the cross, never appears in western art until
the time of Henry II. Thus it is here one of the
many seemingly insignificant details which, in
the miniature art of the Middle Ages, contribute
to the elucidation of History.
CHAPTER XV
FRANCONIAN ILLUMINATION
The later Saxon schools Bernward of Hildesheim Tuotilo
and Hartmut of St. Gallen Portrait of Henry II. in MS. 40
at Munich Netherlandish and other work compared
Alleged deterioration of work under the Franconian
Emperors not true Bad character of the eleventh century
as to art Example to the contrary.
MS. just referred to (Munich, CimeL 58)
J- brings us most probably to the time of the
third Otho, but it is really with his father's
marriage to the Princess Theophano that the
great revival in the arts began, and the names of
St. Bruno of Cologne and Augsburg, Gerbert>
Bernward of Hildesheim, Tuotilo, Salomon,
Hartmut, Folchard, and Sintramn of St. Gallen,
are, as it were, points of light and centres of
expanding circles of artistic skill. Bruno and
Gerbert are too well known to need any further
remark. Bernward of Hildesheim, made bishop
there in 992 by Theophano, and tutor to her son
Otho III., " excelled no less in the mechanical
than in the liberal arts. He was an excellent
penman, a good painter, and as a household
manager was unequalled." Such is Tangmar's
tribute to his pupil's character. He was, indeed,
93
94 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
an enthusiast in painting, mosaic, and metal-work,
and used to collect all the objects of art he could
lay hands on, to form a museum or studio for the
instruction of a class of art students and work-
men. The collection was formed mainly out of
the numerous presents brought to the young
Emperor from foreign, and especially Greek and
Oriental, princes, and contained many examples
of beautiful metal-work and Greek illumination.
His own Cathedral of Hildesheim was supplied
with jewelled service-books, in part at least the
work of his own hand. The chalices and incense-
burners and the massive golden corona or cande-
labrum of the cathedral were also the productions
of his own workshops. The mural paintings,
too, were executed by himself. His handiwork,
so lovingly described by his old schoolmaster
Tangmar, may still be seen in Hildesheim, where
visitors to that quaint old Saxon city are told
that the bronze gates of the cathedral and the
jew r elled crucifix were placed there by the vener-
able bishop himself in 1015, while in the cathedral-
close rises a column adorned with bronze reliefs
from the Life of Christ, authoritatively declared
to be the work of his own hands let us say they
came out of his own workshops, in the year 1022,
nearly a thousand years ago. St. Bernward was
canonised by Celestine III. in 1194. His sarco-
phagus is in the crypt of the Basilica of St.
Michael at Hildesheim. Of Tuotilo, the pupil of
Moengall (or Marcellus), it is said that he was
physically almost a giant ; just the man, says his
biographer, that you would choose for a wrestler.
FRANCONIAN ILLUMINATION 95
He was a good speaker, had a fine musical voice,
was a capital carver in wood, and an accomplished
illuminator. Like most of the earlier monks of
St. Gallen, he was a clever musician, equally skilful
with the trumpet and the harp. And the charm
about it all was that he was always cheerful and
in excellent spirits, and in consequence a general
favourite. Nor is this all. Besides being teacher
of music in the upper school to the sons of the
nobility, he was classical tutor, and coultf preach
both in Latin and Greek. His chief accomplish-
ments, however, were music and painting, and on
these his reputation mainly rests. He composed
songs, which, like an Irish bard, he sang to the
harp the popular instrument of this Irish founda-
tion. Being thus multifariously accomplished (he
was, by the way, an excellent boxer), he was much
in request, and by the permission of his abbot
travelled to distant places. One of his celebrated
sculptures was the image of the Blessed Virgin
for the cathedral at Metz, said to be quite a
masterpiece. Nay, he was even a mathematician
and astronomer, and constructed an astrolabe or
orrery, which showed the courses of the planets.
This allusion to the astrolabe reminds us that
it was Abbat Hartmut of St. Gallen, who was also
an accomplished illuminator, who constructed a
large map of the world one of the extremely
few that until that time the world had ever seen.
St. Gallen and its artists, however, must not be
permitted to monopolise our attention too long.
The reader must for the rest refer to Dr. Rahn
and the writers whom he quotes. Sometimes it
96 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
is said that the illuminations of the eleventh cen-
tury are proofs of the rapid decline of art, and
to demonstrate the fact that they are frankly
hideous, some writers bring forward instances
such as the miniatures of a Missal, especially a
Crucifixion, said to be at Paris, 1 and a MS. at
Berlin said to have been executed in the earlier
days of the Franconian dynasty (1034-1125) con-
taining another Crucifixion, which, though not
quite so horrible as the one just referred to, is
sufficiently bad. These miniatures are irredeem-
ably barbaric and not in any sense typical of the
age. Such examples, in fact, can be found in any
age and in any country. Were they really repre-
sentative of the best art of the time, there might
be an excuse for their reproduction, but they are
not, and therefore no reliance can be placed on
their evidence.
In the miniatures of MSS. executed for the
Othos and Henrys of the early Saxon dynasty the
worst they can be charged with, as compared
with the periods before and after them, is slavish
imitation. The portrait of Henry II. (Saint
Henry, husband of Cunegunda) in MS. 40 at
Munich is by no means barbaric it is more Greek
than anything else but it is down to the smallest
element of composition a direct imitation of the
similar portrait of Charles the Bald in the
Emmeram Gospels. It is not a copy, for there
is a significant difference in the attitudes of the
emperors. Henry holds a sceptre in his right
hand and an orb in his left, like Otho III. in the
1 Le Livre, etc., par M. P. Louisy, Paris, 1886, 8, p. 79.
FRANCON1AN ILLUMINATION 97
miniature already described, whereas Charles is
empty handed. Then both on the Emperor's
head and on the smaller figures the crowns are
different the panelling of the Imperial canopy is
different, and, of course, there is a different in-
scription. Lastly, it may be said that some of the
differences are improvements. Another change is
characteristic Charles was beardless, Henry has
a pointed beard.
It is true this is an example belonging to the
very brightest years of the Othonian revival. But
to pass over other Saxon MSS., there are extant
examples from Evroul (when Roger de Warenne,
son of the great Earl of Surrey, practised as a
scribe and illuminator on his retirement to that
monastery), St. Martin's of Tournay, St. Amand,
Benedictbeuern,Lobbes, and Weissobrunn could all
boast accomplished calligraphers. The last estab-
lishment produced the celebrated Diemudis, who,
though a woman, was distinguished by a most
extraordinary activity and skill.
Nor are these all that could be named, for by
no means least among them we may quote Monte
Cassino, many of whose elegant productions have
been published by the present occupants of the
monastery. Then the Greek miniaturists of the
eleventh century are once more to the front. The
famous Slav Evangeliary of Ostromir (1056-67)
shows us a MS. probably executed for a governor of
Novgorod, which contains by no means despicable
work, whether in the figures of the evangelists or
the ornamental borders. Of course, in Greek
MSS. we know pretty well what to expect ; fairly
98 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
good ornament, rich details of embroidery, etc.,
wilfulness of colour in architecture, mannerism in
the attitudes and faces, but good, clever technic
and bright gold.
Lastly, there is the celebrated Evangeliary given
to San Benedetto of Mantua by the Countess
Matilda now in the Vatican, enriched with little
miniatures from the Life of the Virgin, which
Lanzi declares surpass everything else he ever
saw of the same period.
The Poitevin MS. at Poitiers, a biographical
compilation of saints in honour of St. Radegonde,
though nothing wonderful, is worth recording as
a transitional example just before the close of the
century. As an example of the latter part of a
continual deterioration, it should be worse than
anything preceding. Yet it is not so. It is cer-
tainly heavy and rather dull, and the drawing far
from excellent, but it is also, on the other hand,
far from "frankly horrible." In introducing
examples of other schools into this chapter the
writer's object has solely been to vindicate the
illuminators of the eleventh century from the
sweeping charge sometimes made against them
of absolute deterioration. Of the school directly
under our notice, the charge is certainly not true,
and the wretched stuff cited in support of it can
only be looked upon as accidental salvages of no
artistic value whatever.
In proof that the book-work of the eleventh
century was not all worthless, we may refer to
just one example. It is a MS. consisting of but a
few fragments executed at Luxeuil under Abbat
FRANCONIAN ILLUMINATION 99
Gerard II. The remains are such as to cause
regret for the loss of the rest. On one page
Christ is shown seated on a rich sella covered with
an embroidered cushion in the manner of the
consular diptychs. He is clothed in a pale yellow
tunic, over which is worn a purple pallium with a
white border. He is beardless, and his brown
hair is kept close to the head and neck, and falls
over the shoulders. The feet are nude and by no
means ill - drawn. Surrounding the head is a
cruciform nimbus enclosed in a circle both cross
and circle being pale green, the latter outlined
with red. The chief fault of the head is the
excessive length of the nose and the wide stare
of the eyes. The right arm is raised somewhat
as in the St. Sernin Evangeliary, but with the
palm outwards, and much superior in drawing.
The whole figure is painted on, or at least sur-
rounded by, a golden background so far indicat-
ing the Byzantine origin of the design. It is
enclosed in a cusped aureola formed of several
coloured bands of green, violet, and rose. This
shows German taste. Eight circlets or medallions
surround this figure of Christ, four of which con-
tain the symbols of the evangelists ; the other
four Isaiah, Daniel, Ezechiel, and Jeremiah. All
hold portions of the band which connects them,
and on which appears a series of inscriptions in
Latin. These consist of passages from the Vul-
gate.
The whole picture is placed in a square frame
consisting of bands of various colours and gold
outlined in red. The inner ground is chiefly blue,
loo ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and the names of the prophets and evangelists
are painted on it in white Roman capitals. Taken
altogether it is a very splendid page, but even
this is surpassed in gorgeous richness of orna-
ment by the miniature of St. Mark. And the
borders of other pages in this Luxeuil fragment
are full of ornament, giving the impression that
the work was imitated from that of the goldsmith
and enameller. The figures and symbols of the
evangelists in these early Gospel texts are fully
explained after St. Jerome by Alcuin, whose re-
vision of the Vulgate forms the text of the Dur-
ham Book already referred to.
The " Manual" shortly to be mentioned differs
somewhat in its explanation of these symbols.
The curious combination called the "Tetra
morph " is a compound of the four attributes
or symbols into a single figure, to signify that
the four evangelists give only one gospel, and
ought not to be separated. It occurs frequently
in Greek, but only seldom in Latin or Western
iconography. 1
1 On this figure see Annales Archtologiques, torn. 8,
p. ,206, etc.
CHAPTER XVI
ARTISTIC EDUCATION IN THE CLOISTER
The " Manual" Its discovery Its origin and contents
Didron's translation The "Compendium" of Theophilus
Its contents English version by Hendrie Benedictine
and Cistercian illumination How they differ Character of
monastic architects and artists.
A BOUT the twelfth century comes forward the
CX mention of a certain manual minutely detail-
ing" every process of painting", and laying 1 down
rules for the due composition and arrangement of
every subject to be represented in the sacred
history and other books connected with divine
service. How long such a manual had been in
use is unknown, but it is thought that something
of the kind must have existed from the time,
at least, of Justinian, perhaps earlier. The
manual here referred to was found by M. Didron
at Sphigmenou, on Mt. Athos. This little
monastery is said to have been founded by
the Empress Pulcheria, sister of the Emperor
Theodosius the Younger. She died in the year
453. Theodosius, it may be remembered, was
himself an admirable penman and illuminator,
so much so as to have acquired the cognomen of
Kalligraphos.
102 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
The monastery is built in a narrow valley by
the seaside, between three little hills, and as it
were "squeezed" in, and hence its name (in
Greek o-^ty/xevos), which describes its situation
exactly. It is occupied by about thirty unusually
neat and orderly monks, who are justly proud of
the few relics and curiosities which they exhibit
to visitors. It was at Sphigmenou that Curzon
saw the piece of ancient jewellery set with diamonds
and a Russian or Bulgarian MS. of the Gospels.
The book which M. Didron found there is the
copy of an older MS. which, it is said, was copied
by Dionysius, one of the monks, from the works
of the once celebrated master, Manuel Panselinos
of Thessalonica, who was the Giotto of the Byzan-
tine school and flourished in the twelfth century.
If by works the monk meant literary, it is most
likely that it was the transcript of a still older
document. If by works Dionysius meant paint-
ings, it is a manual of his practice. One of his
pupils, in order to propagate the art of painting
which he had learnt at Thessalonica, writes down
the series of subjects to be taken from the Bible,
so as to epitomise the divine scheme of salvation,
and describes the manner in which the events of
the Old Testament, and the miracles and parables
of the New, ought to-be represented. He men-
tions the scrolls and inscriptions (such as we
noticed in the Gospels of Luxeuil) belonging to
each of the prophets and evangelists, with the
names and characteristics of the principal saints
in the order of the menologium or martyrology,
and then goes on to direct how the subjects
ARTISTIC EDUCATION 103
should be arranged on the walls and cupolas of
the churches.
The Manual of Dionysius is an abstract of this
wide scheme, but is still very comprehensive.
The copy of it seen by Didron was one belonging
to a monk of Sphigmenou named Joasaph, who
was himself a painter. It was " loaded with
notes added by himself and his master, which in
course of time would be incorporated, according
to immemorial custom, in the text." In this way,
indeed, the Manual has grown to what it is at
present. A transcript of it may probably be
found in every monastery belonging to the Greek
Church. Another monk named Macarios, also a
painter, had a fine copy of it laid open in his
atelier, and his pupils read from it in turn, whilst
the rest painted according to its directions. For
the scheme itself we must refer the reader to the
second volume of Didron's Christian Iconography r ,
p. 193. Unfortunately the transcriber did not
think it of sufficient importance or relevancy to
copy the first part, as being purely technical and
dealing merely with the art of painting. The
scheme, therefore, only contains the part relating
expressly to iconography. It is to be regretted,
too, that this part also has been in^ some places
considerably abridged, &s dealing with Greek art
and martyrology more copiously than, it was
thought by the translator, would be interesting to
English reade^ There are numerous good and
reliable introductory works dealing with early
Christ/an art, besides the greater treatises to
which the student who wants to pursue this line
104 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of research shall be directed later on. But there
is another of these original manuals to which we
must call attention, as especially dealing* with the
practice of monastic artists in the twelfth and
following centuries.
The one to which we now refer is quite distinct
from the Greek Manual which we just mentioned,
and by way of contrast may be called the Latin
Manual as being originally composed in that
language. Moreover, as the Greek Manual formed
the guide and vade mecum of all the painters of
the Greek Church, so this Latin one became the
indispensable monitor in all Latin foundations.
Its origin was German, and said to be the compila-
tion of a Benedictine monk who is variously spoken
of as Rutgerius, Rugerius, Rotkerius, etc., and
assigned by different editors and critics to either
the eleventh, twelfth, or thirteenth centuries.
Probably we shall not be far wrong in placing
him about the middle of the twelfth. The treatise
is known as Diversarum Artium Schedula, and
the compiler of it calls himself simply Theophihis
presbiterhumilis, which, of course, records nothing
but his personal modesty.
It was at first attributed to Tuotilo of St. Gallen.
This opinion was p>*<- forward by Lessing, but it
had no foundation whax^ver beyond the fact of
Tuotilo's well-known versatiHty. 1 Besides, Tuotilo
lived in the ninth century. But really the ques-
tion of attributions does not concern us here. It
1 Tuotilo was renowned throughout all Gfc* man y as
painter, architect, preacher, professor, musician, ca lli-
grapher, Latinist, Hellenist, sculptor, and astronomer.
ARTISTIC EDUCATION 105
matters little who he was outside the Treatise,
and certainly we shall not discuss the question
further. It is with the Treatise that we are con-
cerned. We shall simply call the author Theo-
philus, and his work the Compendium. Let us
turn to it at once.
The Compendium, which is thus known to con-
tain the working methods of all the monastic
illuminators, mosaicists, glass painters, enamellers,
and so forth, throughout Germany, Lombardy,
and France, consists of three books, containing
altogether one hundred and ninety-five chapters
of definite and special instructions in artistic
matters. Book I., comprising forty chapters,
treats of the preparation, mixture, and use of
colours for wall-painting, panel, and parchment,
i.e. for the decoration of churches, furniture, and
books. It contains some most curious and valu-
able instructions for the employment of gold,
silver, and other metals in the decoration of
MSS. ; how it should be applied ; whether in leaf
or as an ink ; how raised and burnished, down to
the minutest details of practice ; how colours are
to be tempered (i.e. mixed) ; what media or tem-
perings are best for each colour, according to
the surface to which it is to be applied. Such is
the Compendium. We need not, therefore, won-
der at its popularity and the estimation in which
it was held.
Thirty-one chapters on glass, glass painting,
enamelling, etc., form a second book, and the
third and last book contains some hundred and
twenty-four chapters on gold and silver work
io6 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the art of the goldsmith in cups, chalices, vases,
candelabra, shrines, and so on. It is the first
book that is of most interest to us, and had we
space we would have liked to quote from its
pages. But as it is we can only refer the reader
to the work itself. It is to be met with in various
forms and editions. First, we recommend the
English translation by Robert Hendrie. The
oldest MS. of the work is one of the twelfth
century in the Library at Wolfenbiittel. The next
is in the Imperial Library at Vienna. Fragments
of other copies exist in several other public
libraries, but the completest copy known is that
in the Harl. 1 Collection of the British Museum
used by Hendrie as the basis of his translation
(8, 1847).
It was, as we have said, in the eleventh and
twelfth centuries especially that the great abbeys
were founded. And it cannot be too clearly stated
that the principal abbatial churches those most
splendid monuments of architecture whose struc-
ture and dimensions are still the admiration of
the most cultured critics, and in which all the
rules of art were so marvellously applied were
the work of simple monks. The great Church of
St. Benignus at Dijon (so often spoken of by
writers on Burgundian art) was built in 1001,
under Abbat William, assisted by a young monk
named Hunaldus. The period between 1031 and
1060 saw the creation of the grand abbatial
Church of St. Remi at Reims. In the words of
the Comte de Montalembert : " From the very
1 Harl. MS. 3915.
ARTISTIC EDUCATION 107
beginning of the Monastic Orders St. Benedict
had provided in his Rule that there should be
artists in the monasteries. He had imposed on
the exercise of their art only one condition
humility." Hence it is that all we know of the
author of the Compendium from himself is
" humilis presbiter Theophilus." For the same
reason Tuotilo and Folchard and Sintramn and the
rest are never anxious to put their names upon
their work. For the same reason the occurrence
of an artist's name in a monastic MS. is quite
exceptional and unexpected. The foresight of
St. Benedict "was accomplished and his law
faithfully fulfilled." The Benedictine monasteries
soon possessed not only libraries but ateliers,
where architecture, painting, mosaic, sculpture,
metal-chasing, calligraphy, ivory carving, gem-
setting, book-binding, and all the branches of
ornamentation were studied and practised with
equal care and success, without interfering in the
least with the exact and austere discipline of the
foundation. The teaching of these various arts
formed an essential part of monastic education.
"The greatest and most saintly abbeys were pre-
cisely those most renowned for their zeal in the
culture of Art. St. Gallen in Germany, Monte
Cassino in Italy, Cluny in France, were for
centuries the mother-cities of Christian Art."
And after the establishment of the reformed
colony at Citeaux, the Cistercian Order became
the one above all others which has left the most
perfect edifices, and if the Cistercian illumination
may not claim the splendour of some contemporary
108 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
examples, it often excels them in soundness of
design and severe correctness of execution.
In saying that all this kind of work was exe-
cuted by monks, we are speaking literally. The
monks were not only the architects, but also the
masons, and even the hodmen of their edifices.
Nor were the superiors in this respect different
from their humble followers. Whilst ordinary
monks were often the architects-in-chief of the
constructions, the abbats voluntarily accepted
the role of labourers. During the building of
the Abbey of Bee, in 1033, tne founder and first
abbat, grand-seigneur though he was, worked
as a common mason's labourer, carrying on his
back the lime, sand, and stones necessary for
the builder. This was Herluin. Another Norman
noble, Hugh, Abbat of Selby in Yorkshire, when,
in 1096, he rebuilt in stone the whole of that
important monastery, putting on the labourer's
blouse, mixed with the other masons and shared
their labours. Monks, illustrious by birth, dis-
tinguished themselves by sharing the most menial
occupations. It is related of Roger de Warenne
that when he retired to Evroul, he took up quite
a serious role of this kind in cleaning the shoes
of the brethren, and performing other offices
which a mere cottager would have probably con-
sidered degrading.
Occasionally in our school histories we come
across the mention of a man like Dunstan, of
whom it is related as a wonderful thing that he
was at the same time a metal worker, architect,
and calligrapher ; but monastic biographies
ARTISTIC EDUCATION 109
abound in such instances. We have already
quoted several. "The same man was frequently,'*
says Montalembert, "architect, goldsmith, bell-
founder, miniaturist, musician, calligrapher, organ
builder, without ceasing to be theologian, preacher,
litterateur, sometimes even bishop, or intimate
counsellor of princes. 1
1 "L'Art et les Moines," Ann. ArMologiques^ t. vi. p. 121,,
etc.
CHAPTER XVII
THE RISE OF GOTHIC ILLUMINATION
Germany the chief power in Europe in the twelfth century
Rise of Italian influence The Emmeram MSS. Corona-
tion of Henry II. The Apocalypse The " Hortus Deli-
ciarum " Romanesque MS. of Henry the Lion The
Niedermiinster Gospels Description of the MS. Rise of
Gothic Uncertainty of its origin The spirit of the age.
T N the chapter on Othonian art we saw how the
* ornamentation of books was drawn away from
the great French centres, and began to take a
new departure from the various leading cities of
Germany, such as Bamberg, which the Othos had
made their capital. Whilst the decline, which
was the inevitable consequence of a personal
government like that of Charlemagne, took
place in France, it was but natural that the new
artistic movement at Bamberg should become the
fashion, and Germany predominant in art, as
she was in politics. In the twelfth century the
German Empire was the principal power in
Europe. France, Italy, England, and Spain
were all more or less secondary. Italy, however,
was already on the alert. She was initiating
certain movements in social life that must soon
withdraw the cultivation of all the arts from the
control of the monasteries. At the same time
no
GOTHIC ILLUMINATION in
the love of learning and personal accomplish-
ments of the second and third Othos and (St.)
Henry II. soon prepared the Imperial Court to
become as brilliant as classical scholarship and
artistic skill of the highest class could make it.
The wave of Byzantine influence which had
passed over Germany by the time of Henry II.
had immensely benefited the Germans. We
notice it especially in the miniatures of the
Gospel-books. The technic is much more mas-
terly, the painting really methodical in soundly
worked body-colour with a delicate sense of
harmony, and showing no longer that coarse
handling and slovenliness of execution that
marks some of the Carolingian miniatures. In
the figure a sense of proportion has been gained,
the tendency, perhaps, being rather to excessive
tallness, as compared with the thick-set propor-
tions of the Carolingian work. Again, expression
is improved the faces are more intellectual not
beautiful but strong, and quite superior to the
utterly expressionless faces of the Carolingian
type.
Take, for example, that fine Missal now at
Munich (Cimel. 60 Lat. 4456), in which St.
Henry, who is bearded, receives his crown from
a bearded Christ, his arms being upheld by two
bishops, Ulrich of Augsburg and Emmeram of
Regensburg, the two great saints of Bavaria.
We know these to be the personages represented,
because two inscriptions tell us so. To the
one supporting the King's right hand : " Huius
VODALRICVS cor regis signet et actus." To
112 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the other: " EMMERANVS ei faveat solamine
dulci." The Christ is seated on a rainbow within
a cusped aureola or " amande " of several bands
of different colours, on the central one being in-
scribed in a mixture of Greek and Latin characters
one of the new fashions brought in by the
Greek revival :
" Clemens XPE tuo longum da vivere XPIC to :
Ut tibi devotus non perdat temporis usus."
Some writers have thought this to be a picture
of the Emperor's apotheosis, and that the crown
is that of Life or Immortality; but such is cer-
tainly not the import of the above verses.
" O gentle Christ give to thy Christ long to live
That devoted to Thee he may not lose the use of time."
Besides, two angels on either side Christ pre-
cipitately bestow on the Emperor the spear and
sword of a temporal sovereignty. Round the
Emperor are the words : " Ecce coronatur divinitus
atque beatur. Rex pius Heinricus proavorum
stirp(e) polosus," all which can scarcely refer to
anything but his German Empire.
The expression, " give to thy Christ," is an
allusion to the Hebrew usage of calling the king
the " anointed " or the " Christ."
Besides the interest possessed by this MS. as
a monument of the art of its own time, it has
a special value resting in the fact that its illumina-
tions were copied from the famous Emmeram
Golden Gospels of Charles the Bald, written by
Linthard and Berenger, and sent as a present to
Regensburg. Another illumination in it, represent-
GOTHIC ILLUMINATION 113
ing the enthronement of the Emperor, is extremely
interesting as showing how the later artist renders
the work of the earlier one. The general com-
position is precisely the same, the lower figures
in the same attitudes and bearing the same in-
signia. But in the details of costume, and in the
significant position of the Emperor, there are
alterations. In the miniature of the Emmeram
Gospels the two angels above are simply winged
messengers of the usual biblical type ; in the
Missal they are cloaked and crowned and bear
horns in their hands. In the older MS. the two
crowned figures with horns on either side wear
simple mural crowns ; in the later one they are
regal like those of the Emperor. The details also
of the canopies are different. But the remarkable
difference is that while Charles the Bald is beard-
less and bears nothing in his hands, merely sitting
as if . addressing an assembly, Henry II. holds
in his right hand a sceptre and in his left an orb
and cross. Here is a distinctly new feature with
a meaning. Here are the symbols of authority
in the Emperor's own hands, and not merely in
those of his attendants. 1 These two MSS. are
worthy of careful study.
In another Missal in the library at Bamberg is
a miniature of the Emperor presenting the book
to the Virgin. In the great Evangeliary presented
by the Emperor Henry II. to the Cathedral of
Bamberg there is a grand picture of the Emperor
and his consort the famous saint Cunegunda being
crowned by Christ, with SS. Peter and Paul stand-
1 See p. 92.
H4 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ing at the sides. Here also, as in the Carolingian
MS. already mentioned, are the nations bringing
tribute, but not in the same order. Here Germany
stands upright between two figures of Gaul and
Rome, while six others appear simply as busts
(Munich, Cimel. 60. 4456).
The twelfth century was clearly much given to
symbolism and allegory, as shown in apocalyptic
commentaries and similar works. A very remark-
able "Apocalypse" is that in the library of the
Marquis d'Astorga. The latter is remarkably rich
in pictures, which have been described by M. A.
Bachelin of Paris. The drawing in these pictures
reminds one of the bas-reliefs of the campaigns
of Hadrian and Trajan and other work of the
early Roman centuries. One hundred and ten
miniatures of uncommon interest constitute the
illustrations, many of which are perfect curiosities
of symbolism, depicting not only the four figures
of the evangelists, but the mysteries of the seals
and vials, serpents, beasts, etc., on yellow, red,
green, blue, and brown backgrounds. The drap-
eries in some of the miniatures show Byzantine
teaching, but with the grandiose style of the early
Roman times. The MS. it might be compared
with of the twelfth century is the " Hortus De-
liciarum " of the Abbess Herrade. This latter
MS., which unfortunately was burnt with many*
other treasures during the siege of Strassburg by
the Germans in 1870, was a veritable treasury of
mediaeval customs, furniture, and costumes, illus-
trating* a medley of encyclopaedic information for
the use of the nuns and secular students of the
GOTHIC ILLUMINATION 115
Abbey of Hohenburg in Alsace. The good abbess
called her book a " Garden of Delights."
It is known that it dated from 1159, as that
date and also the date of 1 175 occurred in its pages.
We do not know whether the authoress was also
the illuminatrix, but at any rate she directed the
illumination. Their style is of the same type as
that of the Apocalypse just spoken of, somewhat
monumental as figures of the Liberal Arts, alle-
gorical figures of the virtues and vices, and the
syrens as symbols of sensual temptation. There
was a figure of the Church riding- upon a beast
with the four heads of the evangel-symbols the
sun and moon in chariots as in the classical myth-
ology, and scenes of warfare, marriage festivities,
banquets, everything indeed depicting the life of
contemporary persons. 1 The drawing and treat-
ment generally is of no very skilful kind the
colouring bright and in body-colour. Draperies
as usual much folded and fluttering, and the heads
generally of the calm expression of the later French
school, but the action sometimes very spirited.
The title began thus : " Incipit hortus delici-
arum, in quo collectis floribus scripturarum assidue
jucundetur turmula adolescentularum." In the
Rhytmus came the lines :
" Salve cohors virginum
Hohenburgensium
Albens quasi lilium
Amans del filium
1 For a copious and exhaustive account of the " Hortus,"
see " Het Gildeboek," Utrecht, 1877, v. i. Also Engel-
hardt, Herrad v. H., etc., 8, with atlas of twelve plates,
1818.
ji6 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Herrat devotissima
Tua fidelissima
Mater et ancillula
Cantat tibi cantica
Sic et liber utilis
Tibi delectabilis
Et non cesses volvere
Hanc in tuo pectore."
In the Netherlands, which mostly at this time
lay within the boundary of Lotharingia or Lor-
raine, the style of illumination was much the same
as in other German districts. Gospel-books and
Psalters, however, exhibit features somewhat akin
to English work.
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries the con-
tinental methods prevail in more solid painting
and less pen-work.
Of the twelfth-century work of Germany ex-
amples are exceedingly numerous, stretching over
every province from West to East, as Westphalia,
the Palatinate, Burgundy, Switzerland and Bavaria,
extending even into Bohemia. An Evangeliary in
the University Library at Prag agrees altogether
with those of Germany.
Towards the middle of the twelfth century, with
the accession of the House of Hohenstauffen
(1138, etc.), arose a new style, since called Roman-
esque, of which many examples are to be found
in various libraries. It is not very easy to select
the most typical examples, but one good and
typical MS. is found in a Gospel-book at Carls-
ruhe, which contains some capital miniatures of
this most thoroughly German style.
GOTHIC ILLUMINATION 117
Under Frederick Barbarossa, as under the Carol-
ing 1 Emperors and the Othos, we may note a wave
of new life, especially in Saxony. A contrast as
regards artistic ability to the " Hortus Deliciarum "
is the Gospel-book executed for Henry the Lion
at the convent of Helmershausen, once in the
Cathedral Library at Prag, and bought by King
George of Hanover. 1 In the page of the Eusebian
Canons we see features which take us across the
plains of Lombardy to the doors of S. Michele of
Pavia, and to the churches of Venice. The columns
rest on crouching animals. Allegorical figures
are introduced striving with each other as in the
later Gothic illuminations. A half-nude figure of
Faith vanquishes the champion of Paganism.
On the dedication page sits the Madonna with
SS. John Baptist and Bartholomew, and below
them the patron saints of Brunswick, Blaize, and
Egidius leading forth the Duke and his wife,
Mathilda. It may indeed be called a splendid
book. Among the rest of the pictures, some of
them within richly decorated borders, occurs
the usual representation of the Duke and his
Duchess receiving crowns. The figures are well
drawn, even elegant, the draperies good, and the
colouring skilful.
One of the many characteristic MSS. of this
period to be seen in continental libraries is the
"Mater Verborum " of the monk Conrad, of
Scheyern in Bavaria, a noted scribe, illuminator,
goldsmith, and grammarian. The subject is one
1 See F. Culemann in Neue hannov. Zeitung, 1861,
Nos. 22-4.
ii8 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
that scarcely gives promise of lending itself to
pictorial illustration, but after the successful
attempts of Theodulf we may be prepared for
anything in the way of diagram and symbol.
Imagine a dictionary in which not only actual
objects are pictorially represented, but also
abstract terms. Music, philosophy, virtues and
vices illustrated by historical instances sacred
subjects treated in the manner of the glass
painters which is so commonly found in German
and French work of this period.
Of twelfth-century illumination in general it
may be said that it shows a marked effort towards
true artistic design and subtle beauty of linear
outline. Some of the noblest curve-drawing,
with rich and massive grouping of foliages, is
to be found in the ornamental initials and digni-
fied border designs presented on the later ex-
amples of the century, and it is very interesting
to observe the rapid pace at which the climax
is reached in mere calligraphic ornament after the
opening of the Gothic period. Initials become
smaller but exquisitely drawn, and reasonable
expression takes the place of the senseless stare
or grotesque exaggeration of attitude and feature
w r hich detract from the artistic value of all pre-
ceding efforts. To conclude our list of German
illuminations of purely monastic production, we
will bring forward one more example of women's
work, which whether as regards its curious illus-
trations of symbolism, or its richly foliaged geo-
metrical backgrounds and borders, is one of the
most interesting MSS. in any collection. It is the
GOTHIC ILLUMINATION 119
Evangeliary of the Abbess Uota, or perhaps,
rather, Tuota of Niedermiinster, a lady of the
House of the Counts of Falckenstein (1177-80);
or of Utta, abbess from 1009 to 1012, but more
probably the former. Another, Tutta, ruled the
abbey from 920 to 934, and still another 1239-
42. This precious MS., which Cahier has very
fully described as the " Manuscrit du Nieder-
muenster de Ratisbonne," is now in the Royal
Library at Munich (Cimel. 35). Some writers,
in speaking of it, have classed it among the MSS.
of the eleventh century, but it is too refined and
too well done for that period, and, indeed, that it
belongs to the latter part of the twelfth is almost
proved from the work itself. Perhaps it was the
profusion of inscriptions or legends placed all
over the miniatures that .gave the idea of its
belonging to the eleventh century. In this
respect the MS. certainly resembles the Evan-
geliary of Luxeuil already described. The minia-
ture of the Crucifixion is very remarkable.
Besides the figure of Christ showing a return to
the primitive Syriac idea, 1 instead of the figures
as usual of Mary and John, here are given
allegorical figures of Life and Death. (Cf. Fest.
in exaltatione s~ce crucis. Ad Laudes, i4th
Sept.). Perhaps the best commentary on these
old figures is the " Biblia Pauperum," as it is
commonly called, or as it should be called, the
Bible of the poor preachers. It also has the old
allegories and inscriptions rendered into later
forms.
1 Cf. the Rabula MS. at Vienna.
120 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
As for the texts or inscriptions, they would
require a commentary to themselves not to
speak of translations and remarks upon the
calligraphy. One of these remarkable minia-
tures may be described, as it depicts the presenta-
tion of the volume to the Madonna. Our Lady
in the centre of the design is seated on a Byzan-
tine sedile with the infant Jesus on her knees.
She is crowned, and has the nimbus, and appears
as if intended to represent the glory of the
Church. Her hand is raised as in the act of
teaching. Christ, also, has the nimbus, but with
the cross upon it, and raises his hand in the atti-
tude of benediction. In the tympanum of the
semicircle over the Madonna, written in letters
of gold on purple, surrounded by the word
" Sancta " in ordinary ink, is the monogram of
Maria, having a small sun and moon above it,
and other inscriptions, partly Latin, partly Greek.
Below the Madonna, on the left, stands the
abbess, her knees slightly bent, holding up her
book, and clothed in the costume of her Order,
but coloured, no doubt, simply for artistic reasons.
Thus she wears a blue veil and a claret-coloured
robe. In the reversed semicircle before her is
another monogram, Uota or Tuota, a name
which perhaps may be translated Uta, Utta, Ida,
etc. It has been said already who she is likely
to have been. It does not follow, of course, that
she herself wrote or illuminated the book she
is presenting, but judging from similar instances,
as e.g. Herrade of Landsberg and Hrosvita of
Gandersheim, she may have done so.
GOTHIC ILLUMINATION 121
Still the work looks technically too masterly for
anyone not a trained artist to have done. In the
corners are small quadretti, containing busts of
the four cardinal virtues : Prudence, Justice,
Temperance, and Fortitude ; and in circlets in
the centre of each border are Faith, Hope, and
Charity, the latter twice, at top and bottom. A
number of extraordinary beasts fill up little niches
in the design, which may possibly be also symboli-
cal, but possibly also nothing but artistic fancies.
The other miniatures we must pass over. Never-
theless those representing the four evangelists are
worth examination ; l the ornamentation being
especially rich and elaborate. Let us now turn
our attention to a new element a new spirit we
might term it which was manifesting itself in
Italy and France. We cannot too strongly insist
upon the fact that whatever appears in illumina-
tion has appeared first in architecture and its
auxilliary arts. Now we have to see how this fact
begins to change almost entirely the character of
the ornamentation of books. During the latter
part of the twelfth century, when precisely we
cannot say, nor where, a new form of architecture
began to show itself. This new style, laying aside
both the classic cornice and the Romanesque arch,
makes use of a new vertical principle of construc-
tion, called in French the ogive or arch, composed
of two sections only, instead of the whole semi-
circle. By some fatality, of which no exact
explanation can be given, English writers have
1 For more about them, see Cahier, Melanges d'Archfa~
logie, etc.
122 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
given this new style the name of Gothic. Scores
of cathedrals throughout Europe are called
Gothic cathedrals, whereas in all probability, if
we exclude Sweden, there is only one really
Gothic building in the world, that is the Tomb
of Theodoric at Ravenna, and none of the so-
called Gothic cathedrals are in the least like it.
As to the invention itself, it has been claimed by
almost every nationality in Europe. There can
be no doubt that accidentally, or otherwise, the
pointed arch had been used often enough without
any idea of its adoption as a principle of con-
struction even in ancient buildings. The famous
gate at Myccene is one instance. This is not the
place to discuss the question, so we let it pass.
We could point out long and elaborate arguments
intended to prove that it originated in England
that it originated in France -in Germany. 1
Possibly they may all be right in a sense, for
most probably the origin was not in any par-
ticular locality, but in the religious spirit of the
time. It was a general revival of the Church
itself that was its cause. If any special locality
has more reason on its side than another, it is
probably France, but as we say, that is not an
essential point. It must suffice us here that it
arose, and that by the end of the twelfth century
it was a fact. And the remarkable part about it
is that it was by the influence of lay artists and
especially of the freemasons that it became the
accepted architecture of Christendom.
1 Not to mention theories, which are endless.
BOOK II
CHAPTER I
THE GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION
The Gothic spirit A " Zeitgeist" not the invention of a single
artist nor of a single country The thirteenth century the
beginning of the new style Contrast between North and
South, between East and West, marked in the character of
artistic leaf-work Gradual development of Gothic foliage
The bud of the thirteenth century, the leaf of the fourteenth,
and the flower of the fifteenth The Freemasons Illumina-
tion transferred from the monastery to the lay workshop
The Psalter of St. Louis Characteristics of French Gothic
illumination Rise of the miniature as a distinct feature
Guilds Lay artists.
WE have now reached the parting of the
ways. The study of Nature is fast super-
seding" the dogmas of the monastic code, and
what some writers have characterised as the
hieratic is giving way to the naturalistic treatment
of art. Like the pointed architecture itself, it is
an outcome of the spirit of the age. Exactly
when it begins we cannot say. As in the physical
sciences, our limits are necessarily somewhat
arbitrary to suit our convenience in classification.
We take the beginning of the thirteenth century
as a convenient dividing line between old and new.
We accept it as the boundary between the artistic
124 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
sway of the East and South and that of the
West and North between the lifeless fetters of
prescription and the living freedom of invention.
The contrast between the two is very strongly
marked. The soft and curling foliages of the
sunny South are for a season giving way to the
hard and thorny leafage of the wintry North. It
would seem as if pointed architecture began with
the hard and frozen winter of its existence, and if
it had been the plan or design of one individual
we might have accepted this peculiarity as part of
the scheme, and all that followed as a natural
consequence and development. But it is curious
that as a system worked out by many minds
pointed architecture should thus begin. First
come thorns and cusps and lanceolate forms with-
out foliage. Then, not perfect leaves, but buds.
In due time the bud opens, at first into the profile
coil, and by-and-by into the full-spread leaf.
Then comes the flower, and finally the fruit.
After that, rottenness and decay. It is curious
that this should actually take place through a
course of centuries. That it should be reflected
in book illumination is simply the usual order of
things the fact has been frequently observed,
and as it is curious, we call attention to it. But,
as we have said, the great change itself was
brought about by the influence of lay artists, and
chiefly by the freemasons.
Who and what the freemasons were everybody
is supposed to know, but on inquiry we find very
few people indeed know anything definite about
them. Of course we do not refer to the friendly
GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION 125
societies or social guilds that now bear the name,
but to the mediaeval builders. " Everybody
knows," says Batissier, 1 "that the study of the
sciences and of literature and the practice of the
various branches of art took refuge in the
monasteries during the irruptions of the bar-
barians and the strife of international war. In
those retreats, not only painting, sculpture, en-
graving on metals, and mosaic, but also archi-
tecture were cultivated. If the question arose
about building a church, it was nearly always an
ecclesiastic who furnished the plan and monks
who carried out the works under his direction.
The brethren in travelling from convent to con-
vent naturally exercised a reciprocal influence
over each other. We conceive, then, that the
abbeys of any given Order would put in vogue
the same style, and that the art would be modified
under certain points of view, in the same manner
in each country.
"It is certain, moreover, that outside the
cloisters there were also troops of workmen not
monastics, who laboured under the direction of
the latter.
"Masons were associated among them in the
same way as other trade corporations. It was
the same with these corporations in the South
as with the communes the d&bris of the Roman
organisation ; they took refuge in the Church,
and had arrived at a condition of public life and
independence, when order was established be-
tween the commune, the Seignory, and the Church.
1 Hist, de VArt Monumental, p. 466, Paris, 1845, 1. 8.
126 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
"During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
'these corporations were organised into recognised
fraternities having their own statutes, but there
is abundant evidence of their having a much
earlier existence.
"A great number of masons were trained in
Italy, and came from Lombardy, which in the
tenth century even was an active centre of
civilisation. Italy had its corporations of masons
called maestri comaccini, enjoying exclusive privi-
leges, who, having passed the different degrees of
apprenticeship, became * accepted' 1 masons, and
had the right of exercising their profession wher-
ever they might be. The sovereigns of different
countries granted them special privileges, and
the popes protected them in all Catholic countries
where they might travel. Thus the lodges grew
and prospered. The Greek artists who had fled
from Constantinople during the various Iconoclast
' persecutions had got themselves enrolled in the
ranks of the freemasons, and taught their fellow-
masons their Byzantine methods.
" Speedily these corporations spread through
France, England, and Germany, where they were
employed almost exclusively by the religious
Orders, in building their churches and conventual
buildings."
While, therefore, the general plan and rules of
construction were common to all members of the
fraternity, the details were almost entirely left,
under regulations, to the individual taste of
certain members of each band of workmen, who,
1 German " ang-enommen."
GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION 127
being" all qualified artists, were quite capable of
putting" in execution, and with masterly skill, any
such minutiae of ornament as might be left to
their discretion. 1 Local illuminators would thus
speedily get hold of every novelty, and the page
of the Psalter or Bible would become, as a
French writer has explained it, a mtrail sur velin.
If not indeed exclusively following* the stained
glass, they copied the mural decorations, and so
we find the backgrounds of the miniatures,
whether fitted into the initials or placed separately
in framed mouldings, faithfully reproducing the
imbrications, carrelages, panellings, and diapers
of these mural enrichments.
To select an example of Gothic illumination
which shall exemplify the earliest features of the
1 Governor Pownall (" Observations on the Origin and
Progress of Gothic Architecture, and on the Corporation
of Freemasons," Archceologia, 1788, vol. 9, pp. 110-126)
was of opinion that "the Collegium or Corporation of
Freemasons, were the first formers of Gothic architecture
into a regular and scientific order by applying the models
and proportions of timber framework to building in stone,"
and that this method "came into use and application about
the close of the twelfth or commencement of the thirteenth
century."
See also Gould (R. F.), History of Freemasonry, vol. i.
p. 259, note. "Without going so far as to agree with
Governor Pownall that the Freemasons invented Gothic, it
may be reasonably contended that without them it could not
have been brought to perfection, and without Gothic they
would not have stood in the peculiar and prominent position
that they did, that there was mutual indebtedness, and
while without Freemasons there would have been no
Gothic . . . without Gothic the Freemasons would have
formed but a very ordinary community of trades unionists."
128 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
pointed style is not an easy matter, notwithstand-
ing the number of thirteenth-century MSS. which
still exist in public collections. In the National
Library at Paris are several such MSS. One that
decidedly marks the change from the German
work hitherto in vogue is the Psalter of St. Louis
(Nat. Lib., Paris., Lat. 10525), which contains
nearly eighty small, delicately executed miniatures.
It was completed about 1250. Its noticeable fea-
tures are a vastly improved dexterity in draughts-
manship, which displays a refined certainty of
touch, enabling the artist to express his intention
with unhesitating freedom. The drawing thus
produced in outline is filled in with flat tints of
body-colour, without gradation or any attempt at
brush-work shading. Whatever finishing in this
respect might be thought necessary was added
with the pen. Nothing could show more clearly
that it is simply and frankly imitative of stained
glass. As in the glass the black outline is left
for definition. No colour is used on hands or
faces except a slight touch of red on the cheeks
and lips. The prevailing colours are rich blue
and bright scarlet. Perhaps the illuminator would
have been better advised had he neglected some
of the harder features of this kind of work. Not
considering that the limits of the glass painter
did not apply to his vellum, he fettered himself
unnecessarily, and instead of a picture he has only
succeeded in producing a surface enamel, or a
mere reticulation of surface-patterns. This very
defect has by some writers been held up to
admiration as the true perfection of all illumina-
GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION 129
tion. Its flatness was applauded because it had
to be shut up in a book, and was therefore the
only appropriate way of making a picture for such
a purpose. But whoever would dream that
because a picture, painted in due perspective and
proper light and shade, was to be shut up in a
book that the figures represented in relief would
actually be crushed. Such reasoning is most
puerile. The supposed parallel case of a carpet
or hearth-rug representing groups of flowers even
if the latter ever did deceive the domestic cat
does not in the least affect the most childish con-
ception of a picture in a book. We see it in a
scene in light and shade, we enjoy and admire its
reliefs, but at the same time we know it is a
picture, and that it is quite flat. The two tests of
knowledge never interfere with each other. To
suppose they do is to suppose a case of imbecility
that even a lunatic must laugh to scorn. So far,
therefore, we think the illuminator mistaken in
slavishly copying the limitations of the glass-
painter. It is no very great knowledge of nature
that is shown in these drawings. There is a good
example of the method of study followed by
thirteenth-century artists in the sketch-book of a
French mason named Villars de Honnecourt,
still kept in the National Library at Paris. 1 In
this book the artist has made drawings, as he says,
from the life some are views, others drawings
of objects of art ; one represents a lion of the
mediaeval heraldic type, yet the artist assures us
1 It has been published as the Album of V. de H., Paris,
1858.
130 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
it is from the life. But there is no real accuracy,
everything is done with reference to some canon.
It is, however, quite free from the Byzantine in-
fluence, though by no means free from a certain tinc-
ture of symbolism. The nude is rarely attempted,
but when it is it is certainly less ugly than in Caro-
lingian and Romanesque. To return to the Psalter
the style of the figures is rather graceful, atti-
tudes are gentle and modest, though the incli-
nation of head and body are such as to suggest
a sort of undulatory movement in walking that
is scarcely natural. The forms are slender, and
the limbs occasionally beyond the owner's control
sometimes even deformed. The feet are small
and weak now and then over-twisted. The hands
more delicate than formerly, especially when open.
Faces are gently oval and sometimes expressive.
Sometimes the "histories " are placed in initial
letters, the grounds of which, when not of bur-
nished gold, consist of imitations of mural carre-
lages, chequers, etc., or rich enamelled patterns
imitative of engraved traceries on metal. In other
cases they are placed in frame-mouldings, con-
sisting of a bar or beading of gold supporting
an inner bar of coloured and polished wood or
enamel work the polish being represented by a
fine line of white along the centre. For illustra-
tions of this precious volume the reader may refer
to Labarte, Hist, des Arts industriels, album,
pi. 92 (Paris, 1864).
Now that the monasteries had ceased to be the
exclusive nurseries of art and literature, the
t-nasters of the different arts and crafts usually
GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION 131
belonged to the middle classes of the towns,
where at first each art or craft had its own
fraternity, and as the idea of trade-association
grew, the crafts most nearly related would form
a guild or corporation. All who joined these
corporations bound themselves to work only as
the ruler of the guild permitted. Nor were out-
siders allowed to compete with them in their own
branches, so exclusive was the protection of the
guild.
Each confraternity had its altar in some particular
church, whose patron saint became the protector
of the guild. And indeed the constitution of the
guild included even political rights and obligations
military service among the rest, like other feudal
institutions. Each town had its own special cor-
porations, which thus led to the formation of
separate schools of art ; while travelling appren-
ticeships gave the opportunity to all of acquiring
knowledge not accessible at home. Members
were accustomed to travel and to attach them-
selves to the service of various princes, receiving
appointments as " varlets " or " escripvains " or
" enlumineurs," which sometimes obliged them
to resign their membership. Occasionally they
became political agents and even ambassadors.
It will be remembered that, some pages back,
we noticed the fact that in Western illumination
generally the design of the page depended upon
the initial letter, or that at least the initial was
the principal object of it. In the thirteenth cen-
tury, although the initial had very much diminished
in size, the same principle still prevailed. The
132 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
letter itself was formed of some fabulous long-
necked and long-tailed animal or bird, mostly a
dragon as conceived by the mediaeval artist. The
head framed more or less on that of the mastiff
or lion, or both ; the legs of a bird of prey ; the
body and tail of a serpent ; wings of heraldic
construction to suit the form of the letter. While
the body of this unspeakable beast formed the
body of the letter, the tail was indefinitely ex-
tended to sweep down the margin of the text and
round the base of it, so as to form a border,
while not unfrequently slender branches would
spring from it to form coils here and there ending
in a kind of flower-bud, the extremity of the tail
forming a similar coil. Very soon, however, the
animal form was abandoned, and the letter made
simply as a decorated initial or capital. If pos-
sible, one of its limbs was made to sweep up and
down the * ' margin " and along the bottom or top
as before. Where the interior is not occupied by
a " history," we find coiled stems ending in profile
leaves or buds.
At the same time the text has diminished in
size, sometimes down to dimensions no greater
than those of an ordinary printed book of to-day,
but often beautiful and regular as the clearest
printing. Such a book is the Bible written by a
certain William of Devon, now in the British
Museum (Roy. MS. i D. i). A description of
this beautiful MS. may be seen in Bibliographica,
vol. i. p. 394, written by Sir E. M. Thompson.
Here, though the writing is that of an Englishman,
the style is completely French.
EVANGELIA (^PARTS USE)
C. 1275
Brit. Mns. Add. MS. 1-341, fol. 120 v.
GOLDEN AGE OF ILLUMINATION 133
Another MS. deserving of study is a richly
illuminated Bible now in the Burney Collection of
our National Library (No. 3). Another, which,
owing to its being recommended for study by the
late John Ruskin, was once known as the Ruskin
Book, is Add. MS. 17341, which contains many
fine initials with border and bracket foliages
similar to those of the Evangeliary of the Sainte
Chapelle, now in the National Library, Paris
(MS. Lat. 17326). Both the MSS. show the con-
temporary peculiarity of presenting Bible charac-
ters, excepting divine personages, apostles, and
evangelists in ordinary local costume. Paris, of
course, is the city where most, and perhaps the
best, of these MSS. are preserved ; but those
named above, in London, are also among the
finest known examples.
CHAPTER II
RISE OF NATIONAL STYLES
The fourteenth century the true Golden Age of Gothic illumina-
tion France the cradle of other national styles Nether-
landish, Italian, German, etc. Distinction of schools
Difficulty of assigning the provenance of MSS. The reason
for it MS. in Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge The Padua
Missal Artists' names Whence obtained.
CHOUGH the thirteenth century is the epoch
JL of the Gothic renaissance, it is the fourteenth
to which really belongs the title of the Golden
Age. The style of work remains precisely the
same, only it grows. It changes from the bud to
the leaf. It casts off the severity and much of the
restraint of its earlier character. To the grace
of youth it adds beauty, the beauty of adolescence.
To fourteenth-century illumination we can give
no higher praise than that it is beautiful. Not,
indeed, because of its deliberate limitations, but
in spite of them. For after ages have taught us
that if in pure ornament and resplendent decora-
tive completeness the pages of the fourteenth
century cannot be surpassed, in miniature histori-
ation it must take a second place. The skilled
illuminators of the later schools are the masters
of the mere picture. For surely no judge of art
RISE OF NATIONAL STYLES 135
could possibly assert that the miniatures of the
Grunani Breviary or of the Brera Graduals as
miniatures are inferior to those of the Psalter of
St. Louis, the Berry Bible, or the Prayer-book
of Margaret of Bavaria. Yet these are typical
MSS. of the highest rank. Hence we say that
while the illumination of the Golden Age of the
art was beautiful, it was not absolutely perfect.
It is not to be taken by modern students as the
only possible model or basis simply because it
was the best of its kind. There is no such
despotism in art. To those who think it the only
possible form of book decoration, let it be so by
all means, but we may as well hope to clothe our
soldiers in chain or plate armour, and send the
elite of our nobility on another crusade to Jeru-
salem, or satisfy our universities with the quod
libets and quiddities of the trimum and quadrivium^
as hope to make popular to the England of the
twentieth century the artistic tastes of the four-
teenth. We indulge in no such dreams. If we
are to have illuminated books, our own age must
invent them. The illuminators of the Bibles,
Romances, Mirrors, and Chronicles of the four-
teenth century no doubt did their best, and we
honour and praise them for it. We think their
work among the loveliest gratifications of the
eye that can be imagined. But the eye is very
catholic it has immense capacities for enjoyment.
The window of the soul opens on illimitable pros-
pects, and if the soul be satisfied for the time,
it is not necessarily repleted for ever. Golden
ages are cyclical, and it may be that the glory of
136 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the books of the future shall surpass all the glories
of the past.
By 1350 France had absorbed all the antece-
dent varieties of illumination. From France,
therefore, spring all the succeeding styles now
considered national.
And as is most natural, these styles develop by
proximity the nearest to French being Nether-
landish. The next, as a result of immediate
intercourse, Italian. Then German, Spanish, and
the rest, as intercourse gave opportunity. It is
not always an easy matter to say offhand whether
a MS. is French or Flemish. In the earlier days
it is not easy to say whether it be French or
English, or even whether French or Italian. But
the distinctness comes later on.
In the fifteenth century the Italian, German,
French, and English are quite distinct varieties.
Towards the sixteenth the Netherlandish is quite
as distinct. But the styles of Spain, Bohemia,
Hungary, Poland, though possessing features
which identify them to an experienced eye, are
to the ordinary spectator merely sub-varieties of
Netherlandish, Italian, or German.
With regard to the distinctions of schools or
local centres within the same country, the evi-
dence of probable origin has to be corroborated
by historic fact. It is not safe without further
proof than that afforded by general features to
affirm that this or that MS. was executed at
Paris, Dijon, Amiens, or Limoges in France ; or
at Ghent, Bruges, or elsewhere in Flanders ; or
whether a MS. be Rhenish or Saxon, Bavarian
RISE OF NATIONAL STYLES 137
or Westphalian, in Germany ; Bolognese, Floren-
tine, Siennese, Milanese, or Neapolitan in Italy ;
or executed at Westminster, St. Albans, Exeter,
or elsewhere in England. Nevertheless the
special characteristics of all these schools are
quite distinguishable. In the attempt to dis-
tinguish them, although the diagnosis may be
perfectly accurate, the actual facts may be other-
wise accounted for. Hence the danger to which
even the experienced connoisseur is liable. For
example, certain MSS. are written in a fine
Bolognese hand, which it is proved were actually
executed in Flanders ; others that one would feel
sure were Netherlandish, were illuminated in
Spain. Some very fine typical Flemish minia-
tures were painted in Italy ; certain Florentine
miniatures were the work of artists residing in
Rome. Milanese illumination is quite distinguish-
able from Neapolitan, and Venetian from both,
yet the school is not proof of the provenance.
Illuminators, like other craftsmen, travelled
from city to city, and princes employed men, who
resided in their patrons' palaces, who yet had
learned their art many leagues away. How often
we find the names of artists with the words Dalle-
magna, il Tedesco, le Poitevin, Veronese, Franco,
Crovata, etc., employed in Italian houses, indicat-
ing the place of their nativity. So that even when
we know every feature of the work we have
much to learn ere we can say with truth that
it was executed in such and such a city. We
must take into account details which are liable
to escape the ordinary observer, such as quality
138 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of vellum or paper, choice of pigments, mode of
application, and other particulars quite distinct
from style of ornament or varieties of form in
foliage. In the Fitzwilliam Library at Cam-
bridge is an Italian MS., the characteristics of
whose ornamentation are unequivocally French,
but whose mode of treatment shows not only that
it is Italian but that it is Milanese, but whether
executed in Milan or not is more than anyone can
affirm. In the British Museum is a magnificent
service-book called the Padua Missal, but the
probability is that the Paduan artist who painted
its splendid pages, painted them at Venice. That
it was executed for Sta. Justina, at Padua, is no
proof that the work was done in that city.
In monastic times we have seen why the artist
rarely signed his name. After the thirteenth ,
century the lay artist had no such scruples, and
hence we often find particulars of origin and pur-
pose which explain all we wish to know. But if
the MSS. themselves do not contain the particu-
lars, very often the account-books of cathedrals
and other establishments for which the books
were illuminated, give the details of price and
purpose, and add the names of the artists. The
household expense books, guild books, municipal
records, and the journals of the painters them-
selves are fertile sources of information. And
if we seek with sufficient diligence these will
probably be the means by which it may eventual/
be found.
CHAPTER III
FRENCH ILLUMINATION FROM THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY TO THE RENAISSANCE
Ivy-leaf and chequered backgrounds Occasional introduction*
of plain burnished gold Reign of Charles VI. of France
The Dukes of Orleans, Berry, and Burgundy; their prodigality
and fine taste for MSS. Christine de Pisan and her works
Description of her " Mutation of Fortune " in the Paris
Library The " Roman de la Rose" and "Cite des Dames"
Details of the French style of illumination Burgundian*
MSS., Had. 4431 Roy. 15 E. 6 The Talbot Romances
Gradual approach to Flemish on the one hand and Italian
on the other.
IN addition to the expanding ivy leaf which,
forms the chief feature of fourteenth-century
book-ornament, we find the miniaturist as a further
improvement adding delicate colour in the faces.
Also that instead of the invariable lozenging or
diapering of the background he occasionally makes
a background of plain burnished gold. And as if
to prove that his predecessors were really hampered
with the restrictions imposed by their imitations of
painted glass, he begins to try his best to paint
up his miniatures into real pictures with high,
lights on draperies and shading upon the folds.
A certain amount of flatness, however, still remains,,
but it scarcely seems to have been the intention
or aim of the painter. There is a similar flatness;
140 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
In the work of all the early schools of painting,
which had no reference whatever to the destina-
tion of the picture. See, for instance, the Origny
Treasure Book in the Print Room at Berlin
<MS. 38), and the Life of St. Denis in the
National Library at Paris (Nos. 2090-2), both
MSS. dating somewhere about 1315. The drapery
shading in the latter MS. is no longer the work
of the pen, but brush-work in proper colour.
The Westreenen Missal in the Museum at the
Hague, which dates about 1365, though not a
French MS., is an example of the fact that by
the middle of the century the tradition of pen-
work outline and flat-colouring had become pretty
nearly obsolete.
The reign of the afflicted Charles VI. of France,
disastrous in the extreme to the material welfare
of his own subjects, full of untold misery to the
poor, and of oppression to the growing community
of artisans and traders, was nevertheless, as re-
gards literature and the arts, a period of progress
and even splendour. The King's incapacity, by
affording his uncles and brothers opportunities for
fingering the revenues during the self-appointed
and irresponsible regencies, enabled them to gratify
their magnificent tastes in the purchasing of costly
furniture and the ordering of splendid books.
Louis of Orleans, usually credited with the worst
of this prodigality, was by no means singular in
his conduct. His uncle, the Duke of Berry, while
daily earning the execrations of the tax-payers by
iiis unscrupulous employment of the public money,
was constantly enriching his library, and both he
FRENCH ILLUMINATION 141
and his brothers and nephews were in the habit of
sending 1 priceless volumes, illuminated by the best
artists, as wedding and birthday gifts, to each
other, or their wives or acquaintances. We talk,
and justly, of the fine taste and noble love of
literature of Jean de Berry. His contemporaries,
at least those beneath his own rank, looked upon
him as a tyrant and plunderer. His disastrous-
administration of Languedoc was described as
" one long fte where the excess of expenditure
was rivalled only by the excess of scandal." If"
the marmousets could have hanged him they would*
In default they hanged his treasurer.
All this maladministration was very wrong, but
we cannot afford to burn the MSS. in consequence,
for the Bible, the " Grandes Heures," and other
books once possessed by the wicked Duke, are
among the most precious relics of any age. Add
to them the beautiful volumes of poetry and
romance composing the contemporary literature
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and we
have treasures that we dare not relinquish.
By the beginning of the fifteenth century pure
French illumination was losing its own character-
istics and acquiring others. In the North, in
Flanders and Brabant, Franche-Comt6 and the
Burgundian Dukedom generally, it was becoming^
that peculiar kind of French which had received
the name of Burgundian. It can scarcely be said
to be Flemish enough to rank as Netherlandish,,
yet neither can it stand side by side with " French
of Paris."
Let us look at a few examples. There is the
142 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Book of Offices in the Library of St. Genevieve at
Paris (Bibl. Lat. 66), also the St. Augustine in the
same library. Also a small crowd of volumes in
the Royal Library at Brussels, another in the
National Library at Paris. One of the richest
examples known is the " Psalter of the Convent
of Salem," in the University Library at Heidel-
berg. Other grand MSS. are the two volumes of
the "Mutation de Fortune" of Christine de
Pisan and the " Cite" des Dames" of the same
authoress. The volume of her poems, etc., in
the British Museum, is a marvellously fine work
(Harl. 4431). The greater part of this volume
Is in the earlier or "Berry" style, i.e. the fine pen-
sprays of ivy leaf of burnished gold. But the
first grand border is altogether transitional, con-
sisting of the pen-sprays of golden ivy leaf alter-
nating with sprays of natural flowers. This
innovation, it has been said, was due to the
school of van Eyck, but as no proof is forth-
coming that J. van Eyck ever worked on illumi-
nating we may be content to say that it arose
about 1413, and that probably it came from
Bruges. It is the beginning of the Burgundian
style. But the ornamental leafage is different
from ordinary Brugeois, inasmuch as it is
** pearled" along the central veins, and is not
symmetrical. The pearling is perhaps a sug-
gestion from glass painting. It was very early
adapted in German foliage work. On the first
fly-leaf are several signatures, including the name
and device of Louis Gruthuse : " Plus est en vous
Gruthuse." The miniatures still remain French
"Dune (atgur fti }p i t aO:
nits r agitcmu s tr m
jcpl. Copter quco ttux
jpiam uc&ftm^ o5m
ttartclws.erqmtcfa
amscrtwifttmatDS
I'SALTERM. ET OFFIC1A
I4TII CENT.
Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. iStf, fol. i
HEURES, ETC.
I4TH CENT.
Brit. Mtts. Harl. MS. 2952, fol. 21
FRENCH ILLUMINATION 143
with mostly panelled backgrounds, some with
landscape. It is evidently a transitional docu-
ment.
The works of Christine de Pisan, the popular
one may fairly say fashionable authoress, were
perhaps among" the best known and most widely
read while Caxton was setting up his press at
Westminster, as she was among the most welcome
guests at the Courts of Charles VI. and Philip of
Burgundy. She was the daughter of a dis-
tinguished Venetian savant, Thomas de Pisan,
who had come at the invitation of Charles le
Sage to Paris as " Astrologue du Roi." At the
age of fifteen Christine, who was as beautiful as
she was accomplished, became the wife of a
Picard gentleman named Estienne Castel. Two
years afterwards the death of the King brought
trouble upon her father, and with it sickness and
despondency. Then followed sorrow upon sorrow.
Whilst she was herself still burdened with the
cares of early motherhood her father died, and
within nine years from her marriage the sudden
death from contagion, of her husband, to whom
she was most fondly attached, left her a widow
with two little children dependent upon her, and
with only what she herself could earn as a means
of livelihood. She was not yet twenty-six years
old. To assuage her misery she betook herself
to study and the composition of essays and poetry.
Her works speedily brought her the recognition
of distinguished personages ; her children were
provided for, and she herself soon acquired both
fortune and reputation. Charles VI. allowed her a
144 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
pension, and she composed for his Queen, Isabella
of Bavaria, several important treatises. Among*
her numerous compositions were " Les cens
Histoires de Troyes " in verse, " Le Chemin de
longue estude," "La Mutacion de Fortune," and
a Life of Charles V., the latter composed at the
request of Philip the Good of Burgundy. But
the work which sets off her wit and learning" to
the best advantage was an allegorical essay on
Womanhood, which she called " Le Tr6sor de la
Cite* des Dames." Altogether her works include
fifteen books and about sixty smaller writings,
which she dedicated to the King and Queen of
France, the Dukes of Burgundy and Orleans, and
the princesses and princes of the Court.
One beautifully illuminated copy of the Mutation
of Fortune in two volumes is a curious example
of its title, for one volume of it is in the National
Library at Paris (fonds fr. 603) and the other in
the Royal Library at Munich. In the former we
have her portrait. In a blue gown she sits at
her writing-desk busy at her work. On her head
is the muslin-draped and high-peaked "hennin,"
Beside her a table covered with a green cloth
and laden with crimson and violet-bound books
and an inkstand. Her chair has a high back,
and the floor is of the usual kind seen in illumina-
tions ; that is, as if composed of a parquetry of
coloured woodwork or of tiles of various kinds of
marble. On the sill of the Gothic-latticed window,
through which we catch a glimpse of the blue
sky, stands a vase of flowers. Not perhaps an
ideal lady's boudoir, but still an apartment of
FRENCH ILLUMINATION 145
taste, and an altogether charming little picture.
In the second miniature of the Munich volume
Christine is standing in a chamber in the same
costume as above described. The pictures on the
walls are a fortress, a watchman, two knights,
a prince with crown and sceptre, seated on his
throne, surrounded by courtiers ; a duel ; and a
martyr having his head struck off. Just such
mediaeval subjects as we may expect in a fifteenth-
century mansion.
In a copy of the " Cite" des Dames " at Munich
is another portrait of Christine. The book is an
Apology for the feminine sex, and it is well
thought out. It appears that the conversation of
the time was not always free from rather severe
sarcasm concerning the ladies. We learn from
Du Verdier that the continuator of the Romance
of the Rose narrowly escaped most condign chas-
tisement from some of the insulted sex at the
French Court for the base insinuations in his
poem against the character of women. Christine
herself heartily disapproved of the Romance of
the Rose, and wrote a sharp criticism upon it.
Her "Cite* des Dames" is an elaborate confuta-
tion of the opinion that women are naturally more
immoral and less capable of noble studies or high
intellectual attainments than men. In her intro-
duction she says: " I reflected why men are so
unanimous in attributing wickedness to women.
I examined my own life and those of other women
to learn why we should be worse than men, since
we also were created by God. I was sitting
ashamed with bowed head and eyes blinded with
146 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
tears, resting 1 my chin on my hands in my elbow-
chair, when a dazzling beam of Light flashed
before me, which came not from the sun, for it
was late in the evening. I glanced up and saw
standing before me three female figures wearing
crowns of gold, and with radiant countenances.
I crossed myself, whereupon one of the three
addressed me. * Fear not, dear daughter, for
we will counsel and help thee. The aphorisms of
the Philosophers are not Articles of Faith, but
simply the mists of error and self-deception." 1
The three ladies or goddesses are Fame, Prudence,
and Justice, and they command Christine under
the supervision of Reason (or Commonsense) to
build a city for the noblest and best of her own
sex. So the city was begun, and the elect, alle-
gorically, let into it. In varied ranks following
one another came goddesses and saintly women,
Christian and heathen women among them walks
as leader the Queen of the Amazons. " Queen "
Ceres, who taught the art and practice of agri-
culture. Queen Isis, who first led mankind to
the cultivation of plants. Arachne, who invented
the arts of dyeing, weaving, flax-growing, and
spinning. Damphile, who discovered how to
breed silkworms. Queen Tomyris, who van-
quished Cyrus. The noble Sulpicia, who shared
her husband's exile, and many others, among
whom may be seen Dame Sarah, the wife of
Abraham, Penelope, Ruth, and the Saints Kathar-
ine, Margaret, Lucia, and Dorothea. In the first
miniature on the left sits Christine with a coif
upon her head and a great book on her lap ; on
FRENCH ILLUMINATION 147
her left hand is the plan of her new city, while
opposite stand the three ladies already spoken of
as her advisers, furnished with building tools and
giving her their advice. On the right she ap-
pears again in elegant costume with hewn stones
and a trowel assisted by two workmen who are
busily at work. Before her is an unfinished wall
and several completed towers. In two other
miniatures the gradual progress and entire com-
pletion of the city are shown, and in the fore-
ground of each Christine and her three patron-
esses as before. Other examples deserving of
extended notice are the Shrewsbury Romances
(Roy. 15 E. 6) and Augustine, Cite" de Dieu (Roy.
14 D. i), two great folios, the former most inter-
esting for its miniatures the latter as a fair
example of the rougher kind of Lille work, bold
in design, good drawing. The choice of colours
includes marone, blue, green, and gold. The
ornaments, as usual, consist of sprays of ivy leaf
and grounds filled in with treillages of natural
flowers, among which are the daisy, viola tri-
color, thistle, cornbottle, and wild stock. Fruits
and vegetables also, as grapes, field peas, and
strawberries. The miniatures include a few
rather coarse grisailles.
A little volume (Harl. 2936) contains exquisitely
drawn Brugeois scrolls in monochrome on grounds
of the same colour or plain gold or black.
Lastly we may mention " Les Heures de la Dame
de Saluces," otherwise called the " Yemeniz
Hours," in the British Museum (Add. 27967), a
large octavo, as an example of transitional
148 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Burgundian. Here the secondary borders have
mostly the penwork ivy leaf with Brugeois corners
and with strawberries, etc., in the midst of the
sprays. Among the foliages grotesque figures
frequently appear. The principal pages, how-
ever, are more like Harl. 4431, yet without
the ivy-leaf tendrils. The miniatures are still
Gothic, but richer and deeper in colour than
ordinary French work. It would appear that
two different artists were employed one de-
cidedly French, the other Netherlandish, and of
a more individual character, still with French
accessories. Every page has a border of some
kind. Among the flowers the thistle is peculiar
in having a golden cup next the down. The
work generally resembles, in some parts, 4431
Harl. ; in others, and perhaps more strongly,
15 E. 6. The colours are chiefly blue, scarlet,
rose-pink, green, and gold.
We have now pretty nearly worked our way
into Flemish illumination. The after-history of
French as developed through the influence of Italy
on the schools of Paris and Tours must have a
chapter to itself.
CHAPTER IV
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION FROM THE TENTH TO THE
FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Organisation of the Monastic scriptoria Professional outsiders :
lay artists The whole sometimes the work of the same
practitioner The Winchester Abbeys of St. Swithun's and
Hyde Their vicissitudes St. Alban's Westminster
Royal MS. 2 A. 22 Description of style The Tenison
Psalter Features of this period The Arundel Psalter
Hunting and shooting scenes, and games Characteristic
pictures, grotesques, and caricatures Queen Mary's Psalter
Rapid changes under Richard II. Royal MS. I E. 9
Their cause.
IN a former chapter we left our native schools
of illumination at work on such MSS. as the
Devonshire and Rouen Benedictionals, and with
the reputation of being* the best schools of the
kind in Christendom. Mention also is made else-
where in dealing" with monastic art of the usages
of the scriptoria. Such usages, of course, could
only obtain in houses where scribes themselves
were to be had. Hence we should discover, were
it not otherwise known, that writing and illumina-
tion, even in the monastic age, were not confined
absolutely to the cloister.
With respect to the secular scribes, who some-
times worked in the monastery, sometimes at
their own homes, in those days when the monas-
ISO ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
tic orders still did most of the book-production,
there were three classes of specialists. These were
the Librarii or ordinary copyists ; the Notarii or
law-scribes, whose business lay in copying deeds,
charters, and such-like instruments, and taking*
notes in the courts ; and Paginators or Illiimina-
tores. It sometimes happened, as we have said,
that in some monastery or other, no monastic was
found qualified to undertake any of these duties.
It then fell to the prior or abbat to seek the
assistance of professional outsiders. The paging
and rubrication, putting in initials in the spaces
left by the common scribe, and, if needed, the
addition of pictures or marginal drawings and
ornaments, caricatures, heraldic illustrations, etc.,
were the proper work of the illuminator, but it
often happened that the same man had to do the
whole work from the commencement to the finish.
The Chronicon Trudonense tells us: "Graduale
unum propria manu formavit, purgavit, pinxit,
sulcabit, scripsit, illuminavit, musiceque notavit
syllabatim." Several of our old English chroni-
cles, of which the MSS. exist in the British
Museum and elsewhere, seem to be of this
description.
Reference has been made to the scriptoria at
Winchester, i.e. at St. Swithun's and the New
Minster. It is the latter foundation which is
usually referred to in speaking of Winchester
work. The Monastery of the Holy Trinity or
the New Minster was founded in the first year of
his reign by King Edward, son of Alfred, no
doubt in obedience to his father's wish, if not
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION 151
absolutely in the terms of his will. Its first
charter is dated 900 (for 901) and the second in
903. In the latter document the abbey is spoken
of as dedicated to the Holy Trinity, the Blessed
Virgin Mary, and to St. Peter, and is amply
endowed under the Augustinian Rule. In 965,
not without trouble and resistance, it was con-
verted into a Benedictine abbey. In 968 Ethelgar,
who had been trained at Glastonbury and Abing-
don, became abbat, and from this time the New
Minster became famous for both discipline and
the production of MSS. As we walk along the
High Street of Winchester now we find the story
in moss-grown stones or other memorials how,
among other methods, William the Norman
punished the monks for their English warlike
proclivities by walling them up nearly close to
their church with the walls of his royal palace.
In the old time, when the two monasteries stood
side by side St. Swithun's is close behind the
New Minster " so closely packed together," says
the old chronicler, 1 "were the two communities
of St. Swithun and St. Peter that between the
foundation of their respective buildings there was
barely room for a man to pass along. The choral
service of one monastery conflicted with that of
the other, so that both were spoiled, and the
ringing of their bells together produced a horrid
discord." The result of this was, first the above-
mentioned hemming in of the younger establish-
ment and eventually its migration to another site
in Hyde Meadow. Here while the monastic
1 Dugdale, Monasticon.
152 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
buildings suffered much through fires and other
disasters, the Rule remained until 1538, when it
was surrendered into the King's hands, and the
abbat, prior, and nineteen monks, the last survivors
of this once-famous foundation, were pensioned.
The scriptorium at St. Alban's, to which the
fame of book production in the Middle Ages very
largely reverted, was not founded until nearly
three centuries after the foundation of that abbey.
The library began with twenty-eight notable
volumes, and eight Psalters, a book of collects,
another of epistles, and Evangelia legenda per
annum, two Gospel-books bound in gold and silver
and set with gems, together with other necessary
volumes for ordinary use. Almost every succeed-
ing abbat contributed something to the library
shelves. Geoffrey, the sixteenth abbat, a Norman
who once had a school at Dunstable, and who was
both a popular and liberal ruler, enriched the library
with a Missal bound in gold, another incompar-
ably illuminated and beautifully written, and also
a Psalter richly illuminated, a Benedictional, and
others. His successor, Ralph Gubiun, also gave
a number of MSS. Robert de Gosham, the next
abbat, gave "very many" books, which he had
caused to be written and sumptuously bound for
the purpose. And Abbat Simon, who followed in
1 166, created the office of historiographer to the
abbey, repaired and enlarged the scriptorium, and
kept two or three of the cleverest writers con-
stantly employed in transcription, and ordained
that for the future every abbat should main-
tain at least one suitable and capable scribe.
PSALTERIUM CUM CANTICIS
A.D. 1240
Brit. Mus. Roy. MS. 2, A. xxii,foL 14
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION 153
Among the many choice MSS. added by Abbat
Simon was a beautiful copy of the Bible specially
written with the greatest care and exactness. In
addition he presented the library with all his own
precious collection. Another liberal benefactor
was John de Cell, a man of vast learning in
grammar and poetry, and also a practitioner in
medicine. Being unfit for household management,
he committed the secular affairs of the abbey to
his prior Reymund, by whose zeal many noble
and valuable books were transcribed for the
library. And so grew in magnitude and im-
portance the great collection which supplied
Roger of Wendover and Matthew Paris with
materials for their famous histories. St. Alban's,
indeed, was at one period perhaps the most noted
of all the English centres of book production.
To dilate on other centres, such as Westminster,
Exeter, Worcester, Norwich, or York, would lead
us too far afield for a mere handbook like the
present. Enough has been said to give a good
idea of what our English abbats and priors were
in the habit of doing for art and letters.
Since 980 a considerable quantity of transcrip-
tion and illumination must have been produced,
notwithstanding disquiet, turbulence, and war.
At Westminster the traditions of illumination
seem to have followed the methods of the earlier
Winchester school. But in the twelfth century
English work shows, on the whole, a greater
likeness to the contemporary work of Germany.
Of Westminster work an example occurs among
the Royal MSS. (2 A. 22). The subject is the
154 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Psalter, and the text is the handsome style of
penmanship known as English Gothic of the latter
part of the twelfth century. It would appear from
the frequent occurrence of this particular service-
book that it held the place of the later Book of
Hours, and so we may expect a great similarity
among different copies, both in the selection of
the illustrations and their mode of treatment. It
was usual in all such volumes to prefix to the text
a series of subjects from the Old and New Testa-
ments and the Lives of the Saints. Here we have
them from the Life of the Virgin and from the
Life of David, by no means unworthy samples of
the school. One represents the Virgin and Child
seated on a seat of the Germano-Byzantine type
beneath an arch and within a square frame-border.
The border seems first to have been flatly painted
in two colours, pale blue and pale red ochre, and
on this a foliage scroll of recurring forms in a
bold dull red outline finely relieved with white.
This is more or less repeated as the form of border
to the other illuminations. Outside the whole is
a characteristic slender frame of bright green in
two tints. The arch overhead has two bands of
vermilion, with white edge-reliefs and a central
band of blue, again in two tints, with pairs of
black cross-bars every half-inch or so resting on
the capitals of the two pillars which form the
sides of the scene. These pillars have each a
green abacus at the top of each capital and
scarlet bead below. Each pillar is of dappled
red, marble-like porphyry, with plinths of scarlet
and blue. Tiers of differently coloured steps
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION 155
separated by bands of scarlet, green, etc., form
the seat. The Virgin wears the hood, cape, and
robe of the Benedictine nun, but coloured grey,,
chocolate, and blue respectively. An under gar-
ment of pale amber completes her dress. The
infant wears an amber tunic, wrapped in a scarlet
robe. A very common embroidery of the drapery
consists of little stars or triads of white studs.
This also is a characteristic of German and early
Netherlandish illumination. There is a rich gold*
brocade border to the blue robe of the Virgin. Both
mother and child have round nimbuses, the former
in plain circular bands of russet and orange, the:
latter consisting of bands of pale blue surmounted!
by a scarlet cross. Two lumps of green glass or
metal hang from the arch. The background is a
plate of gold. The flesh tones are livid, being of
a pale greenish ochre tint. One other of the
illuminations of this exceedingly interesting MS..
may be mentioned, viz. the David playing his
harp. He also wears three garments a tunic of
white shaded with pale blue, then another of
lavender or lilac and having rich brocaded?
borders, and, lastly, a pallium or robe of pale
chocolate lined with ermine ; orange-coloured
hose. The throne, like the previous one, is of
several colours slate-blue, green, orange, and*
white, with a buff cushion. Here is a back to*
the throne of a deep blue, with a background, as
before, of bright flat gold. The white moulding
is shaded with pale green, with bluish slate
corners. The outer border is of the pale red
ochre or pink, so common in later work in contrast
156 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
with deep blue. An outer frame or edging of
green completes the page. The harp is not gilded,
but of a drab hue, with two quatrefoil studs or
orifices in the frame, relieved as usual with fine
edges of white. Compare this MS. with one in
the Library at Lambeth.
The English illumination of the thirteenth cen-
tury is so like that of France that it is often
difficult to determine its real nationality. There
is occasionally some feature which we know from
other sources to be English, or some circumstance
in the history of the MS. which fixes its origin,
as, for example, in the Additional MS. 24686,
known as the Tenison Psalter. Sir E. M. Thomp-
son also describes this MS. in the Bibliographica,
i. 397. But it was previously described at some
length by Sir Edward Bond in the Fine Arts
Quarterly Review. The Psalter, which has had
a somewhat eventful history, is one of the best
examples of English thirteenth-century illumina-
tion. At least, this may be said of the early
portion of it, for while it is illuminated through-
out, only the first gathering is in the earlier
manner. The peculiar value to the student lies
in the fact that although quite in the same style
as contemporary French work, it is the work of
an English illuminator. The colouring, however,
is not confined, as in somewhat earlier examples,
to blue and dull pale rose or paled red ochre and
gold. It gives us scarlet, crimson-lake, green,
and brown, besides the blue and pink and bright
gold which suggests some German influences.
The line fillings are somewhat peculiar as
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION 157
having silver tracery, on the blue, side by side
with golden tracery on the crimson. The full ivy
leaf appears in the long branch work of the
borders, and some of the initials still retain the
bird or dragon forms in their construction. The
compound bar- frame, gold and traceried colour
side by side, is however already taking the place
of the mere sweeping tail or branch. But perhaps
the best indication of English design is the pre-
sence of a number of grotesque animals, with
birds and occasional humorous scenes disposed,
not in framed miniatures, but simply among the
stems and coils of the foliage. This is a form
of illustration much appreciated by English illu-
minators at all times, though it appears also in
much continental work. Among other English
MSS. which display this taste we may point out
Arund. 83, which among many other treatises
and curious compositions, such as the " Turris.
Sapientiae " and a valuable calendar, in which are
notes on the Arundels of Wemme, contains a
psalter with anthems, etc., and hence is known as
the Arundel Psalter. Its date is probably between
1330 and 1380.
The drolleries are very funny, and the other
illuminations very instructive and curious. Some
of them contain really good pen-drawing refined,
expressive, and graceful, but above all typical of
English draughtsmanship. In a little scene of
the adoration of the Magi (folio 125) the kings
are costumed like our Henry III., as we find him
'n sculpture, wall paintings, etc. Over a very
expressive picture of the three living and the
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
three dead occur the lines, each over a figure :
" Ich am afert Lo wet ich se Methinketh hit beth
deueles thre. Ich wes welfair Such scheltou be
For godes loue be wer by me" (folio 128). l The
three living in this illumination are three fashion-
able ladies no doubt princesses, for they wear
crowns. Generally they are men, as at Lutter-
worth in the sculptures over the door, and in
the famous fresco of Gozzoli at Pisa. The subject
occurs sometimes in Books of Hours.
Many MSS. of this period and later have
hunting scenes, shooting practice, and games.
In MS. 264, Misc., Bodl. Lib., Oxford, there are
such scenes, one being a game at " Blind Man's
Buff," or as literally here " Hoodman Blind," for
the latter actually wear a hood drawn down over
his head and shoulders, and three girls are having
a fine game with him. The goldfinch or linnet
looking on from the border seems to enjoy the
fun. Another fine source of similar things is the
Louterell Psalter in the British Museum. In
this also are some richly diapered backgrounds
and exquisite border bands. This MS. dates
about 1340. But the gem of English fourteenth-
century illuminatign is the Royal MS. (2 C. 7)
called Queen Mary's Psalter, not as being painted
for her, since it had been painted nearly two
centuries before she ever saw it. But in the
year (?) 1553, being about to be sent abroad, it was
1 " I am afraid. Lo, what I see
Methinketh it be devils three.
I was well fair. Such shalt thou be.
For love of God beware by me."
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION 159
stopped by a customs officer and presented to
Queen Mary Tudor. It is bound in what appears
to be the binding put on it by the Queen
i.e. crimson velvet embroidered on each cover
with a large pomegranate, and having gilt corner
protections and (once upon a time) golden clasps.
The clasps are gone, but the plates remain
riveted on the covers, engraven with the Tudor
badges. The MS. contains 320 large octavo
leaves, the first fifty-six being taken up with
illuminated illustrations of biblical history from
the Creation to the death of Solomon. These
pictures are arranged in pairs one over the other,
and to each one is given a description in French,
taken sometimes from the canonical text, some-
times from an apocryphal one. The drawings are
really exquisite, they are so fine, so delicately yet
so cleverly sketched. They are not coloured in
full body-colours, but just suggestively, the
draperies being washed over in thin tints, the
folds well defined, but lightly shaded. Next
after these subjects follows the Psalter with
miniatures of New Testament scenes and figures
of saints accompanied with most beautiful initials
and ornaments, illuminated by a thoroughly prac-
tised hand, for the artist of this volume was by
no means a novice at his work. A good example
of it is given in Bibliographic a, pi. 7 [23], which
forms the frontispiece to vol. i., and one or two
outlines in the folio catalogue of the Arundel MSS.
Arund. MS. 84 is also a good example of
thirteenth-century illumination to a rather un-
promising subject, being a Latin translation of
160 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Euclid from the Arabic by Athelard of Bath.
It is illustrated with diagrams.
Speaking- of fourteenth -century illumination
brings us to notice a very striking change which
takes place in the reign of Richard II. in the
character of English illumination. In the British
Museum (Roy. 20 B. 6) is a MS. entitled an
Epistle to Richard II., written, it is said, in Paris,
in which the illuminations and foliages are purely
French, but which are the type of all the English
work of the same date. Take, for example, the
MS. already spoken of (Roy. 2 A. 22), produced in
the scriptorium at Westminster Abbey. Compare
with it a Bible written for the use of Salisbury,
and dated 1254. Then add the Tenison Psalter,
the Arundel Psalter, illuminated 1310-20. If
these MSS. be compared, however, with LanscL
451, or Roy. i E. 9, the least accustomed eye
must notice the entire and almost startling change
in the luxuriance and character of the flowers and
foliages which constitute the initial and border
decorations. It is not merely a development.
There are additional features, but that these
features are added, as usual, from France, is
contradicted by reference to Roy. 20 B. 6, men-
tioned above. The new features are not French.
The question is, where did they come from ?
EPISTRE AU ROY RICH. 2
C- ^375
Brit. Mus. Roy. MS. 20 B. vt, fol. I
CHAPTER V
THE SOURCES OF ENGLISH FIFTEENTH-CENTURY
ILLUMINATION
Attributed to the Netherlands Not altogether French The
home of Anne of Bohemia, Richard II. 's queen Court of
Charles IV. at Prag Bohemian Art John of Luxembourg r
King of Bohemia The Golden Bull of Charles IV.
Marriage of Richard II. The transformation of English
work owing to this marriage and the arrival of Bohemian
artists in England Influence of Queen Anne on English
Art and Literature Depression caused by her death
Examination of Roy. MS. i E. 9, and 2 A. 18 The
Grandison Hours Other MSS. Introduction of Flemish
work by Edward IV.
IT has been suggested by a high authority that
the immediate sources of the third period of
English illumination were Netherlandish, but
probable as this seems at first sight, there is
another explanation which seems to the present
writer to be a better one. As already pointed out,
the influence on English work before 1377, not-
withstanding political conditions, are distinctly
French. After this date, though the artistic
relation with France is not broken off, yet long
before 1390 we find this new influence which is
not French, and for which we have no special
evidence that it is Netherlandish. If we go, how-
ever, a little farther afield, we shall find it. In
the new work is a softer kind of foliage and a
M 161
1 62 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
greater variety of sweet colour, and both these
characteristics are found in a school of illumina-
tion that was being formed under the auspices
of the Emperor Charles IV. at Prag in Bohemia.
The artists in that capital who executed the
famous Golden Bull and commenced the grand
Wenzel Bible were a select band of Frenchmen
and Italians ; the combined result of whose
designs and labours was this very mixture of
Gothic ivy leaf and thorn with the softer Othonian
and Roman foliages and a new scheme of colour.
Charles IV., son of that famous John of Luxem-
bourg, the blind king of Bohemia, who perished
at Crcy, was himself King of Bohemia as well
as Emperor, and a man of brilliant personal ac-
complishments and cultivated tastes in literature
and art.
Becoming Emperor the very next year after his
succession to the throne of Bohemia, he fixed his
residence at Prag, where he began the building of
the new city, and founded a university on the
model of that of Paris, where he had studied, and
whence he had married his first wife, Blanche,
daughter of Charles, Count of Valois. His uni-
versity soon attracted some thousands of students,
and with them no small crowd of literary men
and artists, both from France and Italy. The
great fact, however, to remember about Charles
IV. is the Golden Bull, the masterly scheme by
which all matters concerning the election to the
Empire were in future to be settled. All the Con-
stitutions were written in a book called, from the
bulla or seal of gold which was appended to it,
SOURCES OF ILLUMINATION 163
the Golden Bull, of which the text was drawn up
either at Metz or Nuremberg in 1356, and many
copies distributed throughout the Empire. It is
further affirmed that the absolute original is at
Frankfort. But the splendid copy made by order
of the Emperor Wenzel in 1400 is still preserved
in the Imperial Library at Vienna. And as it is an
example of the style of illumination practised in
Prag during the reign of Charles IV., we may call
. it Bohemian. It is true that the foliages are a
little more luxuriant in this Wenzel-book than in
the earliest examples of the style seen in England,
but the twenty years which had elapsed would
easily account for this difference. As compared,
however, with either French or Netherlandish,
the new English style shows a much greater
similarity to the work then being done in Lower
Bavaria. In these soft curling foliages and the
fresh carnations of the flesh-tints of the Prag and
Nuremberg illuminators we may trace the actual
source of the remarkable transformation seen
in English illumination after the marriage of
Richard II.
Charles IV. was four times married. His
successor, Wenzel, whose ghastly dissipations
can only be regarded as the terrible proofs of
insanity, was the child of his third wife. His
fourth wife, the beautiful daughter of the Duke
of Pomerania and Stettin, had four children, of
whom Sigismund, the eldest, afterwards succeeded
Wenzel as emperor, and Anne, the third, came to
England as the wife of Richard II. The magnifi-
cence of her equipage and the crowd of persons
164 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
who formed her retinue are noticed by con-
temporary writers, and the effect upon English
manners was instantaneous. Her beauty, sweet-
ness of manners, and culture rendered her at once
not merely the idol of her husband, who, says
Walsingham, " could scarcely bear her to be out
of his sight," but universally beloved by all the
English nation.
To her the first English writer on heraldry,
John of Guildford dedicated his book, and the
artists who came with her from her luxurious
home at Prag would naturally become the leaders
of taste in their adopted country. After a while,
indeed, the numbers of countrymen of the Queen
were looked upon as the cause of extortions
practised on the English people in order to supply
the money lavished on these foreigners. More
than once is this grievance referred to. In an old
MS. in the Harley Library (2261), containing a
fifteenth -century translation of Higden's Poly-
chronicon, these foreigners are made responsible
for at least one fashionable extravagance : " Anne
qwene of Ynglonde dyede in this year (1393) at
Schene the vii th day of the monethe of Janius, on the
day of Pentecoste : the dethe of whom the Kynge
sorowede insomoche that he causede the maner
there to be pullede downe, & wolde not comme in
eny place by oon yere folowynge where sche hade
be, the churche excepte ; whiche was beryede in
the churche of Westmonastery, in the feste of
seynte Anne nexte folowynge, with grete honoure
& solennite. That qwene Anne purchased of the
pope that the feste of Seynte Anne scholde be
SOURCES OF ILLUMINATION 165
solenniysed in Ynglonde* The dethe of this qwene
Anne induced grete hevynesse to noble men & to
commune peple also, for sche causede noo lytelle
profite to the realme. But mony abusions comme
from Boemia into Englonde with this qwene, and
specially schoone with longe pykes, insomoche
that they cowthe not go untylle that thei were
tyede to theire legges, usenge that tyme cheynes
of silvyr at the pykes of theire schoone. "
It is a fact that the Bohemian manner of illumi-
nation, with its three-lobed and vari-coloured
foliages, became the fashion in every English
centre of illumination. In the preceding remarks
we have endeavoured to account for it. That the
same style went from Prag to Nuremberg may
be only the natural result of its being carried in
the marriage and retinue of the Princess Margaret,
Anne's half-sister, who became the wife of the
Burggrave John.
Quite a similar MS. to those executed in the
reign of Richard II. in England and those of
Bohemia is the Wilhelm van Oransse of Wolfram
v. Eschenbach, now in the Imperial Library at
Vienna. A similar, but inferior, work exists in
the Prayer-book written by Josse de Weronar
in the British Museum (Add. 15690). The English
foliages never show quite all the varieties of
colour seen in the continental examples, but the
golden diapers and pounced gold patterns are
quite as elaborate. See this work, however, in
Arundel 83. It appears also in the mural paint-
ings of the end of the fourteenth and beginning
of the fifteenth centuries. No doubt the English
166 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
art of the fourteenth century is of French origin
so mainly is that of Bohemia for Charles IV.
was brought up at the Court of France. Further
than this, we think we are justified in tracing the
new elements in Bohemian to Italy, and those in
English to Bohemia. The most striking proof is
not only the foliages, but the change from the
long, colourless faces of French miniatures to the
plump and ruddy countenances seen, for example,
in the Lancastrian MSS. in the Record Office and
in Harl. JO26 1 of the British Museum. Of course,
this suggestion of source is not put forward as a
dead certainty, but it affords this probability that
as the style suddenly arose during the lifetime of
Anne of Bohemia and she was the acknowledged
leader of fashion so her tastes in respect of
illuminated books and heraldic decoration would
become those of her new subjects. Let us examine
this fifteenth-century English work, and for this
purpose let us take the great illuminated Bible
in the Royal Library, i E. 9. It is an enormous
folio, and rather unwieldly, but a most interesting
example of the new style. Its initials are large,
richly illuminated in gold and attractive colours.
It has well-executed histories within the initials,
and boldly designed border frames, elegantly
adorned with foliages and conventional or idealised
flowers. Perhaps the most noticeable feature is
the beautiful, decorative foliage work in the limbs
of the letters itself a South German peculiarity
then the alternation of colours without interrupt-
ing the design, the profusion of foliage modelling
1 The Lovell Psalter.
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an fiim fins tots ftiu^ ^ux $
irirria i
ID iliitd.
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ft* mm m/ilr cani
visitor in
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MISSAI.E (SARUM USE)
i4TH CENT. (LATE)
Brit. Mus. Harl. /-'.S'. 2785, fol. ig.f. v.
ftm flint oila na.
3B omitttat 'romiite'tt wt$t warn
|; laltjfi me far^jpf nain tuam 3^> m^
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i&toite ante oiuiite m iffiflim
-***&** *
HOK.-E B. MAR. Vila, IS.
i5TH CENT. (EARLY)
SOURCES OF ILLUMINATION 167
in the backgrounds of the letter panels outside
the historiations. The next thing is the bold use
of minium side by side even with pure rose-petal
colour, pale bright cerulean blue, and bright gold.
Lastly, the immense variety of leaf-forms, based
on the three, five, and seven-lobed groupings of
the typical form. The coil and spiral are freely
used as the groundwork, and the colours alter-
nated as the coils or spirals change from front to
back of the leaf.
Backgrounds of miniature histories are treated
as in the Bohemian MSS. Wilhelm v. Oransse,
for example that is, with fine golden tracery-
patterns on deep, rich colours. The figure-paint-
ing is vastly improved the features now being
actually painted and modelled as in modern
portrait painting, not merely indicated by pen
strokes. The flesh-tints as previously noticed are
bright and ruddy. The principal colours used on
the foliages are blue, crimson, of various depths,
and bright vermilion, with occasional admission
of bright green and paled red ochre. Very similar
to i E. 9 is Harl. 1892, and among other MSS.
that may be studied with this one is 2 A. 18 a
book of Offices, very sweetly illuminated, and full
of typical examples of treatment both of architec-
tural design and treillages of foliage.
The Gothic pilasters are filled with the same
kind of coiling and spiral leaves and ribbons that
are used in i E. 9 and Harl. 1892, the back-
grounds of the miniatures enriched with fine gold
patterns. The furniture and costumes indicate
the later years of the reign of Richard II., being
1 68 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
similar to those shown in the miniatures of Harl.
I 3 I 9> which relates the story of Richard's mis-
fortunes. A few miniatures of saints accompany
the prayers to them. One of the saints is
peculiar, being the Prior of Bridlington, perhaps
the " Robertus scriba " who copied certain theo-
logical treatises for the library, and who lived
in the time of Stephen or Henry II.
In the beautiful initial D is the figure of a lady
praying, the first few words of the prayer being
written on a floating ribbon above her head. A
fine panelling of black and gold forms the back-
ground. The lady's costume is that of the end
of the fourteenth century, her head-dress being
somewhat lower than that worn in the time of
Isabella of Bavaria ; in other respects she recalls
the figure of Christine de Pisan in Harl. 4431
one of the fine MSS. of the French school. As
the psalter or offices was once the property of the
Grandison family, as is shown by the numerous
entries respecting them in the calendar, no doubt
this lady was the first owner of the MS., and
probably the same as shown in the beautiful
miniature of the Annunciation previously given.
Many charming initials follow this one, and
brightly coloured bracket treillages and borders
are given in profusion, introducing every variety
of coloured ideal leaf- form known to the art of
the time. It seems probable from its style and
the costumes that the MS. was executed for the
Lady Margaret, widow of Thomas, the last Lord
Grandison, who died in 1376, and given to her by
Sir John Tuddenham, her second husband. A
VEGETIUS FOUR BOOKS OF KNIGHTHOOD
(DE KE MILITARI)
I5TH CENT.
Brit. MHS. Roy. MS. iS A. xii, f. I
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coulintit gnmu rnirtauiinniflifla fnam.
Jmn$ ntnftrflif unhitie fnrrto
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PSALTERIUM
c. 1470
Brit. Mils. Harl. MS. ijig, foL 73 &
SOURCES OF ILLUMINATION 169
better model for the modern illuminator could not
easily be found. Other examples may be briefly
enumerated, in 2 B. 8, 2 B. 10, 2 B. i, 2 B. 12 and
13, 18 A. 12, 18 C. 26, Harl. 1719, 1892, etc. The
Psalter 2 B. 8 has the good fortune to be dated,
and its purpose and other particulars clearly set
forth in a statement at the beginning of* the
volume. The gist of this is that it was composed
at the instance of the Lady Joan Princess of
Wales, mother of Richard II., and that it was
executed by Brother John Somour (Seymour), a
Franciscan, in 1380. Thus the illumination of it
would probably be done about the time of the
young Queen's arrival in England. The Princess
Joan died July 8th, 1385. The work corresponds
with this date. The Grandison Psalter is per-
haps somewhat later than Roy. 2 B. i, and the
rest are later still.
One rather fine example is seen in Arund. MS.
109, a folio called the Melreth Missal, because
given by William Melreth, Alderman of London,
to the church of St. Lawrence, Old Jewry. He
died in 1446.
For topographical miniature a good example
occurs in Roy. 16 F. 2, which contains a grand
view of London, including the Tower, but this
MS. is probably not of genuine English produc-
tion. Nor is Roy. 19 C. 8, though a very interest-
ing example as regards costume and local usages.
The genuine English work of which Arund. 109
is a type has received the name of Lancastrian,
as falling to the reigns of the three Lancastrian
kings Henry IV., V., and VI.
1 70 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
In the reign of Edward IV. we meet with the
introduction of Flemish illumination, which
gradually supersedes the native style, and by
the time of Henry VII. the latter has almost
disappeared. Its final extinction, however, was
left for the sixteenth century, when either Flemish
or Italian renaissance work entirely took its place.
By the time of Queen Elizabeth English illumina-
tion was a thing of the past.
CHAPTER VI
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION
Barbaric character of Italian illumination in the twelfth century
Ravenna and Pavia the earliest centres of revival The
"Exultet" La Cava and Monte Cassino The writers of
early Italian MSS. not Italians In the early fourteenth cen-
tury the art is French Peculiarities of Italian foliages The
Law Books Poems of Convenevole da Prato, the tutor of
Petrarch Celebrated patrons The Laon Boethius The
Decretals, Institutes, etc. " Decretum Gratiani," other
collections and MSS. Statuts du Saint-Esprit Method of
painting Don Silvestro The Rationale of Durandus
Nicolas of Bologna, etc. Triumphs of Petrarch Books at
San Marco, Florence The Brera Graduals at Milan Other
Italian collections Examples of different localities in the
British Museum Places where the best work was done
Fine Neapolitan MSS. in the British Museum The white-
vine style superseded by the classical renaissance.
/CONSIDERING the position occupied by the
>-* Roman Empire as the civiliser of Europe, it
is not a little curious and somewhat surprising to
find that in the twelfth century, when German
and French artists were doing- such good and
even admirable work, that of Italy was almost
barbaric. A MS. in the Vatican (4922) is shown
as a proof of this. It is not an obscure sort of
book that might have been written by a merely
devout but untrained monk for his own use, but a
171
172 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
work of importance executed for no less a person-
age than the celebrated Countess Matilda. The
scribe was Donizo, a monk of the Benedictine
Abbey of Canossa. It is of the early or prae-
Carolingian type, rather inclined to Byzantine,
but with the big hands and aimless expression
of all semi-barbaric work. Yet it has a certain
delicacy and carefulness. In Rome itself during
the ninth century barbarism was at its very lowest
point. Only the sea-port towns had any notion
of what was being done in other places. Painting
was practised, it is true, so was mosaic, but the
worst of Oriental carpets would be a masterpiece
of elegance beside anything done in Italy. What-
ever gleams of artistic intelligence appear, they
certainly emanated from Ravenna or Pavia. But
as there were no wealthy and peaceful courts, no
indolent, high-bred, luxurious courtiers during
that dark and troublous period, miniature or
illumination had no call for existence. In the
twelfth century book-illustration consisted simply
of pen-sketching of the most elementary kind.
The Lombards alone produced anything like
illumination. A sort of roll containing pictures
of the various scenes of the Old and New Testa-
ments which represented the leading doctrines of
the Church, and which used to hang over the
pulpit as the preacher discoursed upon them, is
the only representative of the time. Such a roll
was called an "Exultet" from its first word,
which is the beginning of the line " Exultet jam
Angelica turba caelorum " of the hymn for the
benediction of the paschal wax tapers on Easter
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 173
Eve. Several of these " Exultets " are still kept
in the Cathedral at Pisa, and in the Barberini
and Minerva Libraries in Rome. 1 Of course the
pictures are upside down to the reader, so as to
be right for the congregation.
Very little progress was made, as we may
imagine, until after the great revival movement
begun by Cimabue, Giotto, and their contempo-
raries, about the middle of the thirteenth century.
But before taking up any inquiry into Italian
work generally we must not omit reference to the
remarkable MSS. produced at La Cava and
Monte Cassino during the Franco - Lombard
period. Some idea has already been furnished
in dealing with Celtic MSS. and the foundations
begun by Columbanus and his scholars. Indeed,
the general character of these Lombard MSS. is
seen in the Franco-Celtic. The distinguishing
feature, if there be one, is the frequent recur-
rence among the interlacements of the white dog*
The La Cava Library, which was one of the
finest in Italy, has been transferred to Naples.
Monte Cassino still continues and maintains not
only a library but a printing press, from which
the learned fathers have issued at least one great
work on the subject of Cassinese palaeography.
Of all the prae-Carolingian hands, Lombardic or
Lombardesque was certainly the most peculiar,,
and is perhaps the most difficult to read. One
evidence of this is the diversity of opinion on the
true reading of certain proper names in the
1 See one in British Mus., Add. MS. 30337, and descrip-
tion of it injourn. of the Archceol. Assoc. y vol. 34, p. 321.
174 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
original MS. containing the oldest text of Tacitus
which happens to be a Lombard MS. The charac-
ters and other examples of the eleventh to the thir-
teenth century that have been published at Monte
Cassino, however, fully illustrate the peculiarities of
the handwriting, and give besides several splendid
examples of calligraphy. 1
One of the earliest illuminated Italian MS.
which bears a date is a Volume of Letters of
St. Bernard, now in the Library of Laon. It is
very seldom that the earlier scribes and illumina-
tors who produced Italian MSS. or worked in
Italy were Italians. They were usually foreigners
and mostly Frenchmen, and the art was looked
upon at the beginning of the fourteenth century
as a French art. This very decided example of
Italian work is already different from the French
work of the same period. The profile foliages
have already acquired that peculiar trick of sudden
change and reversion of curve, showing the other
side of a leaf with change of colour, which is a
marked characteristic of all fourteenth-century
Italian illumination. For examples of it, the
Bolognese Law Books, Decretals, and such-like,
afford frequent illustration. Before leaving this
first-quoted MS., we may say that it points to
France rather than to Germany or Lombardy for
its general form of design, but the foliages are
quite of another kind. Another Laon MS. (352)
shows the same treatment of foliage, but in effect
1 The La Cava MSS. have been described by P. Gillaume
tn an essay published at Naples, 1877, and those of Monte
Cassino by A. Caravita, Monte Cassino, 1860-71.
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 175
more like what may be considered as the typical
Italian style seen in the famous Avignon Bible of
the anti-pope, Clement VII. (Robert of Geneva),
which dates between 1378 and I394. 1
A further example still more powerful in expres-
sion and skilful in manipulation is seen in a copy
of the Poems of Convenevole da Prato, in the
British Museum (Roy. 6 E. 9), executed for
King Robert of Naples, a patron of Giotto
(1276-1337), which, in comparison with the Laon
Letters of St. Bernard of about the same date,
is even still more Italian.
Cardinal Stefaneschi, another of Giotto 's patrons,
was also a promoter of illumination. His Missal,
now at Rome in the archives of the Canons of St.
Peter's, is a fine example of this style. It dates
from 1327 to 1343. The MS. of Boethius at Laon
is another. But one of the most masterly, whether
as to design or manipulation, is a law book in the
Library at Laon (No. 382). This grand folio con-
tains " Glossa loannis Andreae in Clementinas"
"The Gloss or Explanation of Joannes Andreas
on the Clementines."
By the way, as illuminated law books, civil and
canonical, form so large a section of Italian MSS.,
it may be well in this place to warn the reader
against random explanations sometimes offered
in sale catalogues concerning these books, their
authors and commentators. For instance, this
commentator Joannes Andreas was not, as we
have seen it confidently stated (as if it were part
1 See Humphreys, Ilium. Books of the Middle, Ages,
pi. 16; and Silvestre, PaUographie Universelle, pi. 117.
1 76 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of the actual contemporary title of the MS.),
Bishop of Aleria (Episcopus Aleriersis), but a
jurist of Bologna. The bishop lived a century or
so after the jurist^ who had completed his long
career as professor of law at Bologna extending
over forty-five years before the bishop was born.
His chief works are Commentaries on the Clemen-
tines (printed in folio at Mayence 1471, and again
at Dijon in 1575), and Commentaries on Five Books
of the Decretals (printed in folio at Mayence in
1455, and at Venice in 1581). While on this topic of
Italian law MSS., it may be useful to state clearly
what they are. By way of contrast to the Corpus
Juris Canonici, or Body of Canon Law, the subject
of books dealing with the so-called Decretals, the
other branch, including the Institutes Digest and
Novelise of Justinian, was entitled Corpus Juris
Civilis.
The Decretals, then, which we so often meet
with in public libraries under various names, are
the canons which mainly constitute the Canon
Law. Strictly speaking they are the papal episto-
lary decrees (decreta), said to have existed from
very early times. In the ninth century a collection
of them was formed, or manufactured, in the name
of the celebrated Isidore of Seville. But with the
donation of Constantine to Pope Sylvester and
many others in the later compilation of Gratian,
these are usually looked upon as spurious and
false. The great and authorised collection was
completed by a simple Benedictine monk of St.
Felix, in Bologna, a native of Chiusi, the ancient
Clusium, in Tuscany, a man so learned in the law
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 177
as to have earned the title of "Magister." This
is the work often richly illuminated which goes
by the name of the " Decretum Gratiani." 1 When
glancing over the lovely initials and beautiful
foliages or resplendent ornaments, we are apt to
overlook the work itself which is truly monu-
mental ; being a summary of the papal epistolary
decrees, the synodal canons of 150 councils,
selections from various regal codes, extracts from
the Fathers, and comments of Schoolmen ; all
methodically arranged and digested so as to
facilitate its use as a manual for the schools. It
is said to have occupied the compiler incessantly
for twenty-five years. Immediately on its com-
pletion m 1151 it was at once authorised by the
Pope Eugenius III. as the only text-book to be used
in the public schools, and to govern the decrees
of the Ecclesiastical Courts. Hence its celebrity.
Its transcripts are very numerous, and it has been
often printed. As to the Sext and Clementines
they are merely additional commentaries on supple-
mentary collections of decrees. Thus a new col-
lection authorised by Boniface VIII. is called the
sext y i.e. the sixth book of the Decretals. The
Clementines were the constitutions of Clement V.
Other collections such as that of John XXII. are
called Extravagantes.
The most ancient MSS. of the Decretals bear
the title of Concordantia discordantium Canonum (a
" concordance of discordant decrees ") ; afterwards
The Book of Decrees ; lastly, The Decretals. It
was considered, however,- by some, jurists and
1 See Add. 15274, British Museum.
i;8 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
others, to be not so much a concordance of dis
cordant canons as a subjugation of the ancient
canons to the decrees of the Papacy, and as
already stated, many of its decrees were found
to be false and fictitious. Nevertheless, it is by
no means an uncommon volume among* the illumi-
nators. Let us now return to the Laon example
one of four or five of the species in that collec-
tion. The scene where the author is presenting
his work to the pope we now know them both
is quite a painting. Except for the defect that
kneeling figures are somewhat mis-shapen or ill-
proportioned in the lower limbs, the work is quite
comparable with contemporary mural painting,
both for composition and colour. It i almost
modern. It is quite realistic. In costume, ex-
pression, easy and appropriate attitude, it has
quite outrun French illumination altogether.
Another dated MS. (1332) in the same Library
(No. 357), " Rubrics of the Decretals," is a most
amusing example of the universal taste for irony
and satire in the initial figures and corner effigies.
A much-lauded MS. among these fourteenth-
century examples is one that has been carefully
and expensively reproduced by the late Cte.
Horace de Viel-Castel, namely, the " Statuts de
1'Ordre du Saint-Esprit au Droit D^sir ou du
Nceud," an order instituted at Naples in 1352 by
Louis I. d'Anjou (called Louis of Taranto), King
of Jerusalem, Naples, and Sicily, cousin and hus-
band of Queen Joanna of Naples. The style of
the illumination is precisely the same as those just
mentioned belonging to Laon, and as several
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 179
MSS. in the British Museum. Its stem and
foliage ornament is very brightly coloured in fine
green, scarlet, rose, ultramarine, and gold. The
miniatures which occasionally contain evident
attempts at portraiture, are painted in the manner
of the school of Cimabue and the earlier Italian
painters, more particularly that of Simone Memmi.
It is substantially the Byzantine manner, but
improved and enlivened by attention to natural
attitude and expression. The greenish under-
painting of the flesh-tints is often noticeable.
The decorative portions are very skilful and
elaborate, as well as extremely neat and symmetri-
cal ; the gold profuse and brilliant. Indeed, the
whole production may be studied as a typical
example of its time. The text, though good, is
not so beautiful as the Bolognese hand usually
found in Italian MSS. of the following century.
But perhaps this should add to its value as a
proof of its being absolutely contemporaneous
with the foundation of the Order, and therefore
of its being the identical MS. ordered by the
magnificent founder, Louis of Taranto, second
husband of the too-celebrated Joanna of Naples.
Their marriage took place in the August of 1346,
and on the 27th of May, 1352, being Whitsun Day,
they were crowned. In memory of this happy
event, Joanna founded the Church of the Virgin,
Louis instituted the Order of the Holy Spirit, or
of the Knot, the symbols of which appear fre-
quently in the illumination of the MS. It was
named in honour of the Day of Pentecost
" L'Ordre de la Chevalerie du Saint-Esprit." The
i8o ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
phrase " au droit ddsir " had reference to the
circumstances preceding the marriage. The knot
was worn in token of the " perfect amity " of the
members of the Order. 1
Other works of the fourteenth century are
enthusiastically praised by Italian writers, as, e.g.,
those of Don Silvestro, a Camaldolese monk, who
flourished at the same time as the illuminator of
this MS. of Louis of Taranto, and who worked
on the great choir books of the Monastery " deg-
li angeli," in Florence, so loudly commended by
Vasari and others who had seen them. They
have long been broken up and dispersed, and it
is not improbable that cuttings from them were
among those bought by Ottley, Rogers, and other
amateurs. A fragment of an Antiphonary of
Nocturnal Services, now in the Laurentian Library
at Florence, finished in 1370, shows the style of
work to be of the kind just described. Other
great choir books of the earlier period are pre-
served in the Academy at Pisa. But the number
of MSS. to which reference might be made is
legion. Those of this date are chiefly civil law
books ; next to these come the canon law, and
divinity. Among the intermediate class are the
copies of the Rationale of Durandus, one of these
being in the British Museum (Add. 31032). Now
and then a fine Missal, like the " Stefaneschi," or
the Munich Missal of 1374, which may be referred
to as being one of the models of the school of
Prag. On the whole, perhaps, the law books are
1 See reproduction, published at Paris by Englemann
and Graf in 1853, 1. fol.
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 181
more numerous than liturgical ones, and are
referable generally to Bologna or Padua. The
name of Nicholaus of Bologna occurs more than
once in these books. A book of offices of the
Virgin, by Nicholaus, is now at Kremsmunster,
and a New Testament, dated 1328, in the Vatican.
Tommaso di Modena, another distinguished Italian
illuminator, also had much to do with altering the
style of the artists who worked for Charles IV. at
Prag. Some of his work, or work presumed to
be his, is still to be seen in the Bohemian capital.
Next to these Bolognese MSS. we may place
those of Florence copies of the Divina Corn-
media and the Triumphs and Sonnets of Petrarch,
which, with historians and copies or translations
of the classics, chiefly occupied the illuminators
of Florence and Siena, with one notable excep-
tion. Whoever has visited any of the North
Italian cities cannot fail to have noticed and
admired the magnificent choir-books still to be
seen in the cathedrals and cathedral libraries.
At Siena the Piccolomini service-books are truly
splendid ; those in San Marco, the Riccardi, the
Laurentian, and other collections in Florence, are
no less admirable. Verona's best work is chiefly
elsewhere, at Florence, Siena, etc. At Milan the
Brera Graduals each of them a man's load to
carry are simply gorgeous in the lavish richness
of their letters, miniatures, and decorations.
Venice, again, has another grand collection of
MSS. of the highest class in her Attavantes and
Gerard Davids ; Rome, in a crowd t)f princely
libraries, has multitudes literally multitudes of
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 183
Those at Verona were the guests of the great
Ghibelline leader, Can della Scala, and his im-
mediate successors. Those at Naples, in the
time of Alphonso the Magnanimous, and especially
of his son, Ferdinand I., were maintained solely
for the augmentation and embellishment of the
Royal Library. 1 A list of seventeen copyists^
including the famous names of Antonio Sinibaldo,
Giovanni, Rinaldo,Mennio, and Hippolito Lunensis,
and of fourteen or fifteen illuminators, all of dis-
tinguished ability, is given by Signor Riccio from
the archives of the city. The splendid work they
achieved may still occasionally be met with. In
the British Museum (Add. 21120) there is a
beautiful copy of the Ethics of Aristotle, with
very peculiar initials and ornaments ; and in the
National Library, at Paris, many other very fine
examples of Neapolitan work. Of the hand-
writing of Mennius we have a fine example in
Add. 11912, which is a quarto copy of Lucretius^
written on 160 leaves of vellum. Fol. i has a
grand border on a gold ground, with a miniature
containing a handsome initial E suspended over
the author's head, who is seated at a desk writ-
ing. The first three lines of the text are in
Roman capitals, alternately gold and blue. The
illumination is of a transitional character, inclin-
ing rather towards the candelabra style of the
Milanese and Neapolitan Renaissance theHeures
d'Aragon, executed for Frederick III., show a
similar taste for candelabra, etc. On the other
1 Riccio, C. W., Cenno Storico deU Accademia Alfonsincu.
Naples, 1865.
1 84 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
hand, the initials are of the older white stem
type, with coloured grounds. The writing is a
small and very neat Roman minuscule, and dates
probably about 1485, or between 1480 and 1490.
The penmanship of Hippolito Lunensis appears
in Ficino's Translation of Plato ; also in the
British Museum, Harl. 3481, and in Add.
The H cures d'Aragon referred to above are
a rich example of the Neapolitan Renaissance
preserved in the National Library at Paris.
Writers on Italian miniatures are very numerous,
and a good deal of interesting information about
Italian MSS. may be found in M. Delisle's
Cabinet des MSS., etc.
There is one style of Italian illumination made
very popular by the illuminators of the works of
Petrarch, many of which are found in various
libraries. That is the one called the vine-stem
style. It consists of gracefully coiled stems,
usually left uncoloured or softly tinted with yellow,
and bearing here and there peculiar ornamental
flowerets, while the grounds are picked out with
various colours, on which are fine white triads of
dots or traceries in delicate white or golden
tendrils. A later variety of this style makes the
stems of some pale but bright tint, and the
grounds of deep colour. The vine-stem style
seems to have prevailed throughout the whole of
Italy just previous to the classic revival brought
about by the Medici in throwing open their
museums of sculptures, coins, and other antiqui-
ties. and by the liberal patronage of the new
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION 185
classic work by Matthias Corvinus, King- of Hun-
gary, and the Dukes of Urbino. After 1500 the
vine-stem style seems to have gradually died out,
and thenceforward only varieties of the revived
antique became the fashion.
To the Italian Renaissance we shall revert in a
later chapter.
CHAPTER VII
GERMAN ILLUMINATION FROM THE THIRTEENTH TO
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
Frederick II., Stupor Mundi, and his MS. on hunting The
Sicilian school mainly Saracenic, but a mixture of Greek,
Arabic, and Latin tastes The Franconian Emperors at
Bamberg Charles of Anjou The House of Luxembourg at
Prag MSS. in the University Library The Collegium
Carolinum of the Emperor Charles IV. MSS. at Vienna
The Wenzel Bible The Welt-chronik of Rudolf v. Ems at
Stuttgard Wilhelm v. Oranse at Vienna The Golden
Bull Various schools Hildesheimer Prayer-book at
Berlin The Nuremberg school The Glockendons The
Brethren of the Pen.
IN a former chapter we brought up the story
of German illumination to the time of the
Hohenstaufen emperors. We may now make a
new start with Frederick II., the eccentric, resolute,
intractable, accomplished Stupor Mundi (1210-
50). Not only was he a patron and encouraged
art, but also an author. The work which he
composed is still extant, and is preserved in the
Vatican Library under the title De arle venandi
cum avibus. Paintings of birds and hunting
scenes embellish its pages. The art is not specially
^igh class, and though in courtesy it may be
called German, seeing that he was the German
GERMAN ILLUMINATION 187
Emperor, and in some respects is like the Imperial
MSS. of the Saxon period, in point of fact it is
Italian or Sicilian. 1 This Sicilian school is
peculiar, and exhibits very slight traits of relation-
ship with the rest of Italy. After the Arab con-
quest of the island in 827, whilst new ideas were
imported, still the old Greek cities kept their
ancient traditions and methods in art, especially
in those branches we term industrial, and just
as both Greek and Arabic tongues existed as
vernaculars beside the Latin, so the arts and
industries bore the features of three artistic
tastes.
The silk-weaving of the Greek craftsmen was
embellished with the designs of embroidery from
Damascus, and these were mingled with patterns
in which the foliages of Carolingian and German
origin are distinctly traceable. Examples of the
kind of manufacture here referred to may be seen
in the robes of the Emperor Henry II., still pre-
served in the Cathedral Treasury at Bamberg.
Also the coronation mantle of St. Stephen of
Hungary, husband of Henry's sister Gisela
originally a closed casula covering the body, but
now an open cloak richly embroidered with figures
of prophets, animals, and foliages, and even por-
traits of the King and Queen. It has sometimes
been thought, from the inscription on its border,
that, like the Bayeux tapestries of Queen Matilda,
the needlework was from the Queen's own hand ;
1 (Bibl. Vatican, Palatina, No. 1071). Notice in Kobell,
Kunstv. Miniaturen^ p. 44.
1 88 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
but no doubt both these attributions are mis-
taken. 1 Still more Saracenic in taste are the
mantle and alb now in the Imperial Treasury at
Vienna, of the twelfth century, and executed at
Palermo. Sicilian in some respects is inter-
mediate between Italian and German, hence we
deem this a proper place to speak of it, and
rather as a transient phase than a style, for it
perished with the Hohenstauffen dynasty.
The cruel tyranny of the cold-blooded despot,
remembered, but execrated, in Sicily as Charles of
Anjou, extinguished the last scintilla of native art,
and when the Italian revival of the thirteenth
century took place, it was confined entirely to the
North, except when such patrons as Robert or
Ferdinand or Alfonso encouraged Tuscan artists
by inviting them to Naples. Palermo was no
longer of importance, though a capital, and Sicily
existed merely as a portion of the kingdom of
Naples.
Let us pass, then, to the great German capital.
Changes here, too, have taken place. It is not
Bamberg but Prag, for the Imperial crown has
passed from the House of Suabia through the
Hapsburgs to that of Luxembourg, and among its
territories is the picturesque old city with its
historic bridge and gate-towers, a Slavonic not a
German city in its origin. The ten German circles
of Suabia and Franconia, Westphalia, Bohemia, and
the rest did not as yet exist they were the later
* See description in Bock, Die Kleinodien des heiligen
Romisches P#*chs y pi. 17.
GERMAN ILLUMINATION 189
creation of Maximilian ; the Fatherland consisted
of some two or three hundred dukedoms, counts,
marquisates, and lordships, all absolute sovereign-
ties, but all pledged to support the Holy Roman
Empire. Very thinly, perhaps, but still the
Imperial sceptre meant a real supremacy, and in
the hands of such emperors as Henry of Luxem-
bourg, a supremacy maintained with real and be-
coming dignity.
Prag, as we have said, is in a Slavonic country,
and one sometimes hostile to the Empire. It was
the capital of Bohemia. In 1310 its King was
John, the restless son of the new Emperor Henry
VII. of Luxembourg. Hence we find it at the
moment we begin the study of its art a nominally
German city. Shortly before this time were pro-
duced several examples of German work ; as, for
instance, the " Minnelieder," with more than a
hundred miniatures of hunting scenes and similar
outdoor amusements, which are useful as studies
of costume, but otherwise of little interest. But
it is not until 1312 the new King being then, for
the sake of acquiring the crown, though only, it
is said, thirteen years of age, already the husband
of the Princess Elizabeth, the late King's second
daughter, yet neither a favourite with his wife
nor with her father's people that the Abbess of
St. George's in Prag, the Princess Cunigunda,
composed a Passionale, richly illustrated with
interesting miniatures. The saints, histories, and
allegories are painted in tender water-colours, the
architectural details being in Gothic taste. It is
still preserved in the University Library at Prag,
igo ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
No. xiv., A. 17.* The Emperor Charles IV., son
ot the valorous but impracticable John (born
1316, died 1378), and who has already been
spoken of in connection with English illumination,
was the founder of the Bohemian school, or,
rather, of the school of Prag. Owing probably
his fine tastes and many accomplishments rather
to his mother than his father, he devoted himself
to art and literature, inviting painters and
scholars from other countries to reside in the
Bohemian capital. For the Collegium Carolinum,
of which he was the founder, he caused many
noble volumes to be executed, and among the
vast treasures and curiosities of his celebrated
Schloss Karlstein was a fine collection of illu-
minated MSS. In the Museum at Prag and other
local libraries are still kept some relics of his
library. The " Liber Viaticus " of Bishop John
of Newmarkt the " Orationale " of Bishop
Arnestus (under French influence) the " Pontifi-
cale of Bishop Albert von Sternberg " (in the
library of the Praemonstrant Monastery of Stra-
how) the Missal of Archbishop Ozko von Wlas-
chim (library of the Metropolitan Chapter in Prag)
the Evangeliary of Canon John von Troppau
(Johannes de Oppavia), written and illuminated at
Brunn, in Moravia, now in the Imperial Library
at Vienna. All these illuminated MSS. are
examples of the great variety of styles in which
the Bohemian colony produced their work under
1 Wocel, Mittheil. der CentraL-Commiss. , v., 1860, p. 75,
with illustrations.
GERMAN ILLUMINATION 191
the auspices of their liberal patron, yet not with-
out peculiarities which mark the individuality of
the artist. Thus while the Orationale of Arnestus
is almost French, the Passionale of Cunegunda is
entirely free from French influence. For costumes
the Welt-chronik of Rudolf von Ems, 1350-85,
and now in the Royal Private Library at Stutt-
gard, is almost an encyclopaedia. Similar is the
"Legenda Aurea" of 1362 in the Public Library at
Munich (Cod. Germ. 6). A very interesting MS.
with miniatures of costumes and curious usages
is the " Bellifortis " of Conrad Kyeser (Gottingen,
Public Library, Philos., No. 63). The Evan-
geliary of Troppau is most beautifully written ;
its text is a model of elegant and perfect penman-
ship ; its ornaments distinctly Bohemian. Three
or four Prag MSS. executed for Charles's son
Wenzel (1378-1409) are, it may be said, typical.
Of these the grandest, though incomplete, is the
illuminated Bible, called the Wenzel Bible, exe-
cuted by order of Martin Rotlow for presentation
to the Emperor. The choice of illustrations in
this singular performance are rather more than
on a par with the woodcuts of the great English
Bible of Cranmer. The " Wilhelm von Oranse "
of 1387, now in the Ambras Museum at Vienna
(No. 7), affords splendid examples of the fine
embroidered and richly coloured backgrounds we
so often see towards 1400 in English MSS., and
the Golden Bull of Charles IV., also in the
Imperial Library at Vienna (j. c. 338), has the
softly curling foliages variously coloured, which
form the characteristic difference between the
192 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
French and English illumination of the fifteenth
century.
Another rich example of German as distinct
from French or Italian work of this period is the
grand Salzburg Missal now at Munich (Lat.
15710). When we reach the fifteenth century
German illumination begins to grow gaudy,
especially in the revived taste for parti-coloured
border-frames, in which green and scarlet are
often to be seen. The Kuttenberg Gradual at
Vienna (Imp. Lib., 15501) is of the Bohemian type.
Now and then a MS. will show the influence of
Westphalian treatment of foliage and, again,
of the school of Cologne or Nuremberg or Augs-
burg. These all differ, whilst still keeping an
unmistakable German character. The Hildes-
heimer Prayer-book at Berlin points to Cologne.
The Frankendorfer Evangeliary at Nuremberg is
characteristic of that city. The Choir-book of
St. Ulrich and Afra in their abbey at Augsburg
is typical of its locality. The Missal of Sbinco,
Archbishop of Prag, inclines to Nuremberg rather
than Prag (Imp. Lib., Vienna, No. 1844). It
is eighty years earlier than the Augsburg and
Hildesheim MSS. Passing actively onwards, we
find illumination still in vogue in the sixteenth
century, notwithstanding that Germany was the
cradle of the printing press.
In fact, it seems to wax more and more sump-
tuous the books more profusely ornamented than
ever. The Missal and Prayer-book of Albert of
Brandenburg, Archbishop of Mainz, once at
Aschaffenburg, executed about 1524 are among the
KATHOLISCHES GEBETHBUCH
1584
Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 17525, fol, 155
GERMAN ILLUMINATION 193
finest productions of the illuminator's art. While
perhaps we may complain that design has given
way to profusion and the border flowers and
insects a contemporary characteristic of Nether-
landish art also are neither more nor less than
portraiture applied to flowers, fruits, and the
insect world. The larger miniatures are modern
paintings, including portraits, differing in nothing
but dimensions from the works of the greatest
masters of the schools of painting. In ignorance
of the strict rules of the gilds, some writers have
gone so far as to say that miniatures also such
as these were the work of the Van Eycks, the
Memlings, and the Lucas van Leydens of our
public galleries. This particular MS. was the
work of a famous Nuremberg miniaturist, one
of a distinguished family of artists Nicolas
Glockendon.
A very similar, but perhaps still richer, MS., is
the Prayer-book of William of Bavaria, still kept
in the Imperial Library at Vienna (No. 1880),
painted by Albert Glockendon. It is one of the
most exquisite volumes possibly to be met with.
A Prayer-book in the British Museum (Add.
17525), though far inferior, may give some idea
of the sumptuous character of the Glockendon
work.
The first Archbishop of Prag, Arnestus or Ernest
von Pardubitz, was an industrious collector of
MSS. and employed many scribes. Another of
the famous patrons in Prag was Gerhard Groot,
who employed one of the best penmen to copy
St. John Chrysostom's Commentary on St. Matthew*
194 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
In 1383 he founded at Deventer the famous House
of the Brothers of the Common Life, who made
a business of transcribing books ; and, indeed,
so profitably, that, for instance, Ian van Enkhuisen
of Zwolle received five hundred golden gulden for
a Bible. On account of the goose-quill which the
brothers wore in their hats, they were familiarly
known as the Brethren of the Pen. 1
- 1 Wattenbach, Schriftwesen im Mittelalter, p. 264.
CHAPTER VIII
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION
What is meant by the Netherlands Early realism and study
of nature Combination of symbolism with imitation
Anachronism in design The value of the pictorial methods
of the old illuminators The oldest Netherlandish MS.
Harlinda and Renilda The nunnery at Maas-Eyck De-
scription of the MS. Thomas a Kempis The school of
Zwolle Character of the work The use of green landscape
backgrounds The Dukes of Burgundy Netherlandish
artists No miniatures of the Van Eycks or Memling known
to exist Schools of Bruges, Ghent, Liege, etc. Brussels
Library Splendid Netherlandish MSS. at Vienna Gerard
David and the Grimani Breviary British Museum
" Romance of the Rose " " Isabella " Breviary Grisailles.
IN speaking of the Netherlands we have to
bear in mind that some portions of what are
now called the Netherlands were once parts of
Germany, while others were parts of France. In
the thirteenth century Netherlandish art was
simply a variety either of Northern German or
Northern French. The earlier schools of Flanders
and Hainaut, and perhaps of Brabant, belong
rather to France, while Holland, Limburg, Luxem-
bourg, and the Rhine districts were more inclined
towards Germany. But as soon as the schools of
Ghent and Bruges and other Burgundian centres
began to assert their claims, it was speedily
apparent that they had an individuality of their
195
196 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
own. In no country had the study of nature a
more direct influence on the character of illumina-
tion. The allegorical method which so long had
characterised both French and German art was
promptly abandoned, and direct realism both in
figure and landscape became the prevailing
characteristic. Symbolism, it is true, remained in
the representation of cities and other generalities
of pictorial composition, but the details were in
all cases direct imitations of contemporary facts.
Half a dozen soldiers or houses might indicate an
army or a city, and even some particular army or
city named in the text, but the individual soldiers,
though representing the army of Alexander or
Roland, would wear the equipment or armour of
the artist's military acquaintances, or his over-
lord's own company. The city, whether Ghent or
Bagdad, would consist of the same sort of houses
peaked and parapeted, the same towers and
pinnacles that the illuminator saw before him in
his daily walks. His conception of a scene from
Scripture history would probably be framed more
or less upon the traditions of the schools trans-
mitted from the Sphigmenou Manual or the
master's portfolio of " schemes," but while a
prophet, an angel, or a divinity would wear ideal
raiment, Abraham and Pharaoh would be arrayed
in the costume of a contemporary burgomaster,
and an almost contemporary French king. In
one memorable instance, we are told, so realistic
was the scene that Isaac was about to be des-
patched with a horse-pistol ; and in another, repre-
senting the birth of Cain, Adam was bringing to
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION 197
the French tester bedside a supply of hot water
from the kitchen boiler in a copper saucepan.
This kind of anachronism, it is true, is to some
degree chargeable on all early work ; we see it
among the early Italian painters no less frequently
perhaps, but mostly accompanied with so much
of allegory or imagination that we scarcely notice
it, or if we do, we wink at it as part of the times
of ignorance. It is really a mark of over-haste
to be truthful, or at least to be understood, and
at the worst it is no more than the natural
rebound from the evil constraint of the old Byzan-
tine tyranny over scheme and costume and inven-
tion. It is often truly diverting in its very
insouciance. But its priceless value to us and
here the same remark applies to all styles of
pictorial art before the fifteenth century is the
ocular record of dress, architecture, implements of
peace and war, incidents of daily life, etc., for
which no Encyclopaedia Britannica of verbal
explanation could ever be more than the poorest
makeshift. As we say, this same happy ana-
chronism is common to other schools of illumina-
tion, and we cannot fail to notice it from Byzan-
tium to Britain, but it is the intense realism of the
Netherlands that forces it upon us so strongly
that we are bound to speak of it.
The oldest notice of illuminated work in the
Netherlands is in a Benedictine chronicle of the
ninth century, where mention is made of two
ladies, daughters of the Lord of Denain, named
Harlinda and Renilda, 1 who were educated in the
1 Or Relinda.
ip8 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
convent of Valenciennes. " In 714 they left their
native province to found a monastery on the
banks of the Maas among the meadows of
Alden and Maas-Eyck. They there consecrated
their lives to the praise of God and the transcrip-
tion of books, adorning them with precious
pictures/' 1 About the year 1730 an Evangeliary
of great age was discovered in the sacristy of
the church by the Benedictine antiquary, Edmond
Mart&ne, which on good ground has been attri-
buted to the two sisters. The MS. is still in
existence, and was exhibited in Brussels in 1880.
It is a small folio, and contains a great number of
miniatures in the Carolingian or, perhaps more
strictly, Franco-Saxon manner. On the first leaf
is a Romanesque colonnade of arches surmounted
by a larger one. Under the smaller arches are
the figures of saints, demons, and monsters, and
in the tympanum scrolls of foliage and birds.
Between the columns are the reference numbers
to the chapters.
The evangelist portraits are dignified and
saintly, recalling the earliest work of the Byzan-
tine school and that of the catacombs. Dra-
peries and other details are heavy, dull, and ill
drawn. In short, the work is of the same class
as the early Carolingian. The blue, red, green,
and gold of the borders, etc., have all kept their
brilliancy. 2 It is somewhat curious that the Van
Eycks, the founders of Flemish painting, were
1 Bradley, Diet, of Miniaturists, ii. 87.
2 See Messager des Sciences, etc., no, 1858, and
Deshaines, L Art Chretien en Flandre, 34 (Douai, 1860, 8).
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION 199
natives of this little town then, doubtless, pretty
and rural, now a busy place of breweries, oil-
factories, tanneries, and other fragrant nuisances.
Some miles further northward lie Deventer and
Zwolle and Kempen, the land of the Brothers of
the Pen, and of the immortal Thomas a Kempis.
There is a style of calligraphic ornament deriving
its origin from these Northern Hollandish founda-
tions such as Zwolle, which is confined almost en-
tirely to the painting of the initial letters and the
decorating of the borders with flourished scrolls of
pen-work very neatly drawn and terminating in
equally neat but extremely fanciful flowers finely
painted. It seems to have been brought at some
time from the neighbourhood of Milan, where a
similar kind of initial and exceedingly neat pen*
manship also is found in the choir books. Many
South German choir books are similarly orna-
mented, so that it is not easy to say at once
where the work was done. The Dutch illumina-
tors, however, may usually be recognised by the
Netherlandish character of the miniatures com-
bined with neat and sometimes rigidly careful
penmanship in the scrolls and tendrils and a
hardness in the outline of the flowers. Sometimes;
the large initials are entirely produced by the pen,
the labyrinthine patterns in blue or vermilion
being filled in with circlets, loops, and other
designs with infinite patience and excellent effect*
Some of the border scrolls are exceedingly pretty,
and the borders differ from Flemish in mixing
natural flowers painted in thin water-colours with
the more conventional flowers painted with a
200 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
different medium, not in the later Flemish manner
where the flowers are frankly direct imitations of
nature, and painted in the same medium as the
rest of the illumination.
After the Maas-Eyck Evangeliary the work of
these northern foundations may well reckon either
with the French or German schools until the
fifteenth century. Where otherwise they are not
distinguishable, the Netherlandish miniatures are
usually such as prefer plain burnished gold back-
grounds to diapered ones, or have a plain deep
blue paled towards the horizon, and lastly replace
the background by a natural, or what was in-
tended to be a natural, landscape. As a test
between French or German influence generally,
the use of green shows the latter, that of blue
the former. Not that this was any aesthetic point
of difference in taste, but somehow the Germans
had the green paint when the French had not,
and so they used it. It is an open question
whether Flanders or Italy first introduced the
landscape background, but Flemish artists were
so numerous, so ubiquitous, that we can hardly
say where they were not at work in France,
Italy, or Spain. Plenty of so-called Spanish
illumination is really the work of Flemish crafts-
men. This was largely owing to the political
conditions of the times. The Dukes of Burgundy
and the Austrian Archdukes both ruled over
Flemish municipalities, and employed the gild-
men as their household " enlumineurs." And, of
course, the success of the Van Eycks, Rogier
van der Weide (de la Pasture), Derrick Bonts,
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION 201
and Hans Memling, stirred up the spirit of rivalry
among the illuminators. They all worked in the
same minutely, careful manner, and one could
almost take a corporal oath on the identity of
illuminations and panels which are really the work
of different artists. Even yet the illuminations of
the Grimani Breviary are attributed in part to
Hans Memling and no wonder ! Only the best
qualified judges can distinguish them. It is
known that Gerard David of Oudewater, in
Holland, a master painter, belonged also to the
gild of miniaturists. But no miniatures are
known to be from the hands of either Ian, or
Hubert, or Marguerite van Eyck, or Hans
Memling. The supposed identifications are
merely guesses. But while this is so there is
still no lack of illuminators, not to mention the
illustrious few who were employed by the brothers
of Charles V., King of France ; and when we come
to the days of his grandson, Philip of Burgundy
(1419-67), we might name quite a crowd of
distinguished illuminators. From 1422 to 1425
Ian van Eyck was " varlet de chamber" to Duke
John of Bavaria, first bishop of Lige, and Regent
of Luxembourg, Holland, and Brabant. In 1425
he passed into the service of Philip. He died in
1440. In court service there were besides, Jean
de Bruges, David Aubert, Jean Mielot, Jean
Wanguelin, Loyset Lyeder, and others connected
more or less closely with the Maas valley and the
province of Limburg. This valley seems to have
been the cradle of Netherlandish miniature art.
It is from this neighbourhood that Paris was
202 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
supplied with craftsmen in the days of the brilliant
if reckless administration of the uncles of Philip
the Good. There were schools of illuminating
artists in Maestricht and Li6ge, and within a very
brief period the style of the Netherlander surpassed
that of all competitors for facility, clearness, and
realism. A marked feature in this mastery is the
free use of architectural and sculptural design.
All Gothic draperies are in some degree sculp-
turesque, and in miniatures we find sculpture to
be the ruling principle. Perhaps it was the
practice of uniting the crafts of painter and
" imagier " in one person that fostered this
peculiarity. But certain it is that Netherlandish
illumination, in its border foliages, after the taste
for the larger vine and acanthus leaf had super-
seded the ivy, the drawing is studiously sculp-
turesque. Many of the Gantois borders are like
undercut wood carvings. Even as to colour we
find either the gilded wood brown or the stone
grey, quite as frequently as gayer colours, and
much more so than any natural green. The
after-fashion for grisailles or camaieu gris has
reference probably rather to stained glass than to
carving. Before the fifteenth century we do not
often meet with individual illuminators bv name,
but in the Limburg Chronicle under 1380 is this
entry: " There was at this time in Cologne a
celebrated painter (he was probably a native of
Herle in Limburg), the like of whom was not in
the whole of Christendom," and more to his
praise. His name was Wilhelm. In the municipal
expense book, under 1370-90, page 12, is written,
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION 205
" To Master Wilhelm for painting the Oath Book,
9 marks." The Oath Book still exists, but un-
fortunately the miniature has been cut out. 1
Of course, it may be expected that some of the
best examples of Netherlandish illumination are
to be found in the Royal Library at Brussels.
The Bibliotheque de Bourgogne, as it is called,,
contains, indeed, a great number of them. Some,
of course, may be classed as Burgundian. There
are, for instance, the grand "Chroniques de
Hainaut " in three immense folio volumes, written
from 1446 to 1449 (Nos. 9242-4). Also Jean Man-
seFs " Fleur des Histoires " in three grand folios
(Nos. 9231-3), written about 1475. The frontis-
piece to the " Chroniques " shows the Duke Philip
with his son the Count of Charolais receiving the
work from the author, perhaps the best illumina-
tion in all three volumes.
Another (9245), the Book of the Seven Sages of
Rome, is an example of the last quarter of the
fourteenth century. Still another (9246), the His-
tory of St. Graal, or of the Round Table, is dated
1480. A Missal and Pontifical (9216, 9217) shows
miniatures dating about 1475.
But other public libraries also possess admirable
examples. The Imperial Library at Vienna pos-
sesses a most masterly production in the frag-
ments of a folio Chronicle of Jerusalem (No.
2533), in which both figures and architectural
details are most delicately and minutely finished,
so that the miniatures form a most valuable
treasury of costumes, armour, and architecture,
1 Woltmann, Hist, of Painting, Eng-. transl., i. p. 412.
204 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
correctly drawn and exquisitely painted. The
figure of Baldwin, King of Jerusalem, shows the
pointed toes which Anne of Bohemia is said to
have introduced into England. At Vienna, also,
is the richly illuminated History of GeYard de
Roussillon in French (No. 2549). At Paris we find
the " Champion des Dames" (No. 12476). Round
the first miniature in this MS. are splendidly
emblazoned the armorials of the various countries
and cities of his dominions Burgundy, Brabant,
Flanders, Franche-Comte, Holland, Namur, Lower
Lorraine, Luxembourg, Artois, Hainaut, Zealand,
Friesland, Malines, and Salins. On either side
-are scenes from the story, and beneath a sym-
bolical crown is the motto of Philip's grandfather,
Philip le Hardi, aultre n'aray. The same motto
appears in the Chronicle of Jerusalem at Vienna,
and on the velvet of the dais of Isabella of
Portugal, Philip's third consort.
It may be interesting to note, as a means of
distinguishing these Burgundian princes or their
MSS., that the arms of Philip II. the Good differ
from those of his father, during the latter's life-
time, by having in chief a label of three points,
and from those of his grandfather, Philip the
Bold, by having an inescutcheon of pretence on the
centre of the arms of Margaret de Maele, first
-assumed by his father, John the Fearless, that is,
**or, a lion rpt. sa ; for Flanders. " As we have just
said, many of the MSS. claimed as Netherlandish
may be classed as Burgundian. The difference lies
mainly in the miniatures. Where the latter are
manifestly French with the mixed Brugeois bor-
HOR.E
ISTH CENT. (LATE)
Brit. Mies. Ada. MS. 17280. fol. 21
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION 205
ders, they may pass as Burgundian ; but with
similar borders yet distinguishably Netherlandish^,
that is, broad-nosed, square-jawed, and excited
faces as compared with the finer features and placid
expression of the French artists, the work may
still be Burgundian, but it will be also Nether-
landish. The individuality of Netherlandish
illumination above every other quality establishes
its identity. Look at the expression of the on-
lookers in a Crucifixion, or a Christ before Pilate,,
or a Stoning of St. Stephen the diabolical
ferocity, the fiendish earnestness, the downright
intentional ugliness put on some of the characters
are in direct contrast to the sweet indifference,
the calm complaisance, and blank unconcern of
a crowd as shown in similar scenes by French
illuminators.
We have seen something of the earlier kind of
Netherlandish MSS. in those already referred to
It now remains to take a rapid glance at a few
of the later ones, and here the difficulty is that
of selection.
In 1484 Gerard David appears on the list of
illuminators of Bruges, 1 and it appears that he,
and not Hans Memling, was the painter of those
marvellous miniatures in the Grimani Breviary at
Venice usually attributed to the latter, and there-
fore may be considered as one of the founders of
the school of Bruges, or at least of the later style
that may be referred to the Grimani Breviary
as its most perfect example. Executed in much
1 Cf. his "Judgement of Cambyses" in the museum at
Bruges.
206 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the same manner is a Book of Offices in the
British Museum, containing* portraits of Philip
the Fair and his wife, the unhappy Juana la Loca,
on and daughter-in-law of the Emperor Maxi-
milian. Similar, again, are the " Offices of the
Elector, Albert of Brandenburg," possibly the
work of the same artists who produced the Gri-
mani Breviary. There are also some fragments in
a guard-book in the British Museum (Add. 24098),
which may compare with any of the preceding ex-
amples. But perhaps to many book-lovers no better
specimen of the highest class of Netherlandish
art could be more welcome or more interesting
than the celebrated copy of the " Roman de la
Rose," also in our great national collection (Harl.
4425). This justly famous MS. is a real master-
piece in every department, whether we consider
the expression in its miniatures or the consum-
mate technical skill displayed in the drawing and
colour of the borders. These secondary embellish-
ments consist of fruit, flowers, birds, beetles,
and butterflies. But, of course, the great interest
of this book lies in its miniatures, scenes from the
poet's allegory, and in the little statuesque figures
of the various characters in the poem.
Two marvellous little volumes there are in the
National Museum at Munich (861-2) which are
surely unapproachable. One of the borders in
86 1 consists of the eyes of peacock feathers so
absolutely perfect that we can only wonder at its
rainbow hues and pearly sheen of colour. Some-
thing similar to it exists in a fragment (No. 4461)
in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South
NETHERLANDISH ILLUMINATION 207
Kensington. The "Isabella Breviary" of the
British Museum (Add. 18851) ought not to pass un-
mentioned, but space forbids us to add more on this
inexhaustible topic. There is, however, the class
of work alluded to early in the chapter, and in that
on French work, which must be at least mentioned.
We refer to what the Italians call chiaroscuro
and the French grisaille; i.e. painting executed in
tones of grey, in which the lights are given in
white or gold and the backgrounds in rich blue.
Occasionally the draperies and ornaments also
are touched with gold, and the flesh tints as in
life. Grisaille is not limited to Netherlandish
illuminations. We find it both in French and
Italian, but perhaps it is among the Netherlandish
books we meet with it most frequently. Several
examples are to be seen in the Royal Library at
Brussels, and there is at least one in the British
Museum (Add. 24189).
CHAPTER IX
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE
Communication with Italy Renaissance not sudden Origin
of the schools of France and Burgundy Touraine and its
art Fouquet Brentano MSS. "Versailles" Livy Munich
' * Boccaccio," etc. Perreal and Bourdichon ' ' Hours of Anne
of Brittany" Poyet The school of Fontainebleau Stained
glass Jean Cousin Gouffier "Heures" British Museum
Offices of Francis I. Dinteville Offices Paris " Heures
de Montmorency," " Heures de Dinteville," etc.
WHEN the new ideas derived from the Italian
revival first reached France, it would be
difficult to say. There must have been communi-
cation with Italy going* on the whole time that
Cimabue and Giotto, Memmi and the rest were
astonishing their fellow-citizens with their divine
performances. The roads from Lyons, Poictiers,
Dijon, and Paris were well known, and frequently
trodden by both artists and merchants as well as
by soldiers. The Renaissance, therefore, was no
sudden convulsion. Perhaps a very careful ex-
amination of some of our Burgundian MSS.
might reveal the presence of notions derived
from Italian travel, for it is in the details of
ornament that we find the traces of a new move-
ment, and when the great change of style is
clearly noticeable it is when the habits of society
themselves have been remodelled, and when the
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 209
once strange and foreign element has become
a familiar guest.
In the fixing of schools and centres much is
owing, of course, to the residential choice of
princes, on whose patronage depends the very
existence of art. This explains the schools of
Bruges and Dijon, of Paris and Tours, for while
the earlier dukes of Burgundy and the earlier
kings of France had lived at Bruges and Paris,
the later dukes had preferred Dijon, and Louis
XL, Charles VIII. , and Louis XII. lived mostly
at Tours. So that while Dijon became the new
centre of Burgundian illumination, Tours became
to the new movement from Italy what Paris had
been at the commencement of the Gothic period.
Tours, in fact, became the centre of the Renais-
sance. The influence of Dijon was on the wane,
Burgundy itself was going down. Michel Cou-
lombe, the great Breton sculptor, who had been
trained at Dijon, left it for Tours, and probably
illuminators and other artists followed his ex-
ample. As we know from examples, the Burgun-
dian art of Dijon had the Flemish stamp
strongly marked the Flemish artists had a way
of making strong impressions.
Tours, on the other hand, had had an entirely
different training. The artists of Touraine had
no shadow of Flemish influence in their practice.
Their sculptures, enamels, colour-scheme were of
another bias. Their stamp came from Italy, and
if not so deep as that of Flanders or Dijon, it was
equally inevitable and more permanent.
The first name that we meet with among the
210 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
illuminators of Touraine who are expressly con-
nected with the Renaissance is that of Jean
Fouquet. Of his origin or training- nothing seems
to be known, but he was born probably about
1415. He must have acquired distinction even as
a youth, for some twenty-five years afterwards
(1440-3) he was invited to Rome to paint the
portrait of Pope Eugenius IV., and he stayed in
Italy until 1447. On his return to France he was
made valet de chambre and painter to Charles VII.
at Tours, and continued in the same office under
Louis XI. It was part of the business of the
paintre du roy to design and provide decorations
and costumes, banners and devices for all state
ceremonies, and this became Fouquet's duty at
the funeral of Charles VII., and when Louis
instituted the Order of St. Michel in 1470, and
the , last trace of him as an artist occurs about
1477. His sons, Louis and Francis, were both
painters, and, like himself, worked much at the
illumination of books. It is curious that this
great master one of the greatest miniaturists
of any school, and one of the founders of the
French school of painting became entirely for-
gotten until the discovery of some fragments of
a Book of Hours painted for Estienne Chevalier,
the King's treasurer.
Forty miniatures of the most masterly descrip-
tion came into the hands of M. Louis Brentano-
Laroche, of Frankfort-on-the-Maine. Their un-
common excellence led to a most diligent search
for information respecting the artist, which re-
sulted in the unearthing of many other examples
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 211
of his unequalled pencil. We now know of a
dozen most precious examples. Besides the
Brentano miniatures, two other fragments of the
same Book of Hours have been found, and
several large and important MSS. Among these
we may name the " Antiquities of the Jews," by
Josephus, in the National Library at Paris (MSS.
Des. 6891), and a Book of Hours, executed for
Marie de C16ve, widow of Charles Duke of
Orleans, in 1472. Attributed to him are the
"Versailles" Livy (Nat. Lib., Paris, 6907); the
"Sorbonne" Livy (fds. de Sorb. 297). A Livy
in the public library at Tours also passes under
his name, and the famous " Boccaccio " of
Estienne Chevalier at Munich, containing ninety
miniatures, is also confidently assigned to him.
Other MSS. that are imputed to him are probably
the work of his sons or scholars.
The Paris Josephus is generally considered his
masterpiece. The volume (which contains only
the first fourteen books) is in folio, written most
beautifully in two columns, and is adorned with
miniatures, vignettes, and initials, but much
of its interest lies in the note at the end, placed
there by Robortet, secretary to the Due de Bour-
bon : " En ce liure a douze ystoires les troys
premieres de I'enlumineur du due lehan de Berry,
et les neuf de la main du bon paintre et enlumin-
eur du roy Loys XI e lehan Foucquet, natif de
Tours." And we gather from another note that
the book had been entrusted to Fouquet for com-
pletion by Jacques d'Armagnac due de Nemours.
A further note informs us that the book belonged
212 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
to the Due de Bourbon. It seems to have been
one of the rich presents made by the Due de Berry
to Jacques de Nemours. The first three minia-
tures are by the illuminator of the Due de Berry,
and this artist was probably Andrieu Beauneveu,
though other illuminators did work for him, as
Jacques de Hesdin and Pol de Limburg. The
fourth miniature is by Fouquet, and represents a
battle ; the rest to the seventh are either not his
best work or else the work of his pupils, but the
seventh on folio 135 gives us a good idea of
Fouquet at his best. It represents David receiv-
ing with his crown the news of the death of Saul.
The eighth, ninth, and tenth are very fine, but the
eleventh M. Paulin Paris (MSS. du Roy) thinks
the most beautiful of all. Its subject is the
clemency of Cyrus towards the captive Jews in
Babylon. 1 Of the other MSS. space forbids us
reluctantly to forego description.
The characteristics of the school of Tours as
seen in the work of the greatest of its expositors
is (i) The clearly marked influence of Italy and
the antique. (2) A masterly understanding of
French landscape (see fine instances of this under-
standing also in "Trdsor des Histoires," now in
the British Museum, Cott., Aug. 5). (3) A
complete freedom from Gothic influence and from
the domination of the school of Bruges. The
colours for which Fouquet seems to have a
preference are, first, a clear orange- vermilion,
1 See Mrs. Mark Pattison s (Lady Dilke) The Renaissance
in France, i. 273, etc. ; Bradley, Diet, of Miniaturists, art.
" Fouquet, " i. 346.
VALERE MAXIME, TRAD. PAR SIMON DE HESDIN
iSTH CENT. (LATE)
Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 4375, fol. 68
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 213
supported by golden brown and gold, clear blue
and green, lemon-yellow ; and then, as a contrast,
grey of various tones in walls and buildings, soft
landscape greens, and aerial tints of distance and
sky. Perhaps the technical skill of Fouquet has
never been surpassed. It is so perfect that some
have tried to explain it by supposing that he was
trained in a Flemish studio. His sons and pupils
continued his methods, and thus while Paris
remains under the influence of Flemish masters,
Tours was carrying forward a quite different type
of traditions.
The Valerius Maximus (Harl. 4374) of the
British Museum will give an idea of the later
Paris school. Its date is about the end of the
fifteenth century.
We ought not in this place to forget the
influence brought into French art through the
marriage of the murdered Duke of Orleans
with Valentina of Milan, not only directly through
books and artists, but by the hereditary trans-
mission of that love of art and beautiful things
for which Valentina and her family were well
known. It was in art, letters, and books that the
widowed princess sought such consolation as was
possible. 1 In her best days she had united in
herself a seductive grace of carriage, beauty of
person, and dignity of rank, which made her the
ornament of the French Court. She was almost
the only one about the unfortunate Charles VI.
who could influence him in his moments of mental
1 She assumed as her impresa the chantepleure, with the
sorrowful motto : " Plus ne m'est rien : rien ne m'est plus."
214 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
aberration. Coming from the luxury of the most
splendid court in Italy, she brought into France
the most refined taste in matters connected with
the arts. The inventory of her jewels at the
time of her marriage includes three Books of
Hours, three German MSS., and a volume called
Mandavilla. Like her husband she was an em-
ployer both of copyists and illuminators, and
before her death had collected at her Castle of
Blois a very fine collection of beautiful books.
Her son Charles, the poet, inherited her tastes,
and added to her collections. We are not sur-
prised, therefore, to find her grandson Louis,
afterwards Louis XII., supporting the great
artistic movement which he and his Queen Anne
of Brittany helped so effectually to identify with
the Court of France.
About the time that we hear the last of Fouquet
we have the earliest notices of another illuminator
who plays an important part in the illuminations
executed for Anne of Brittany, the noble and
gifted Queen of France, and wife, first of
Charles VIII. and then of his successor, Louis XI L
In 1472 Jean Perre*al is entrusted with the glass
paintings of the Carmelite church at Tours.
Lemaire, in his Legende des Vdnitiens, calls him a
second Zeuxis or Apelles. During the reigns of
Charles VIII. and Louis XII. he is the chief artist
of the time. In 1491, and perhaps earlier, he is
engaged in the usual duties of a valet de chambre,
i.e. designing and preparing the requisite devises,
arms, and banners for public functions. In 1502
he went to Italv. In 1509 his name occurs in
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 215
connection with that of Jean Bourdichon, of whom
we shall hear more when we come to the work
done for the Queen. In 1523 in the household of
Francis I. he is still valet de chambre. Twenty-
four years previously it was as valet de chambre
that he prepared the decorations for Louis XI I. 's
entry into Lyons. On the death of Anne of
Brittany also he performed similar duties, and
again on that of Louis XII. He even came to
England in 1514, sent by Louis XII., to superin
tend the trousseau of Mary Tudor, "pour aider
a dresser le diet appareil a la mode de France,"
previous to her wedding journey to Paris. 1 Four
months afterwards he was summoned to direct
the funeral obsequies of Louis himself. No illumi-
nated work can be really identified as the work of
Perrt^al, but Mrs. Patteson (Lady Dilke) strongly
urges the probability that he painted the Bible
Historiee of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,
bequeathed by General Oglethorpe. 2 She con-
siders it quite the sort of work that would grow
out of that of Fouquet, and dwells upon the
fact of his official duties as valet de chambre
giving him just that minute facility in the decora-
tion of armour and furniture in the miniatures
which the MS. displays. Whether this be so or
not, it is certain that the Bible Historide is a fine
example of the school of Tours.
Another court painter and valet de chambre to
Louis XI. and his successors was Jean Bour-
dichon, an artist born at Tours in 1457, and there-
3 See Vespas, b. 2 (Brit. Mus.).
2 See her Renaissance of Art in France, i. 303.
216 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
fore as a youth probably one of the scholars in
the atelier of Jean Fouquet. He is first noticed
in the accounts in or about 1478: "A Jehan
Bourdichon, paintre, la somme de vingt liures dix
sept solz ung denier tournois pour avoir paint le
tabernacle fait pour la chapelle du Plessis du
Pare, de fin or et d'azur." 1 Later on, after
naming 1 the painting* of a statute of St. Martin,
for which he received twenty golden crowns, is a
note of his painting a MS., which we translate:
"To the said Bourdichon for having had written
a book in parchment named the Papalist the
same illuminated in gold and azure and made in
the same 19 rich histories (miniatures) and for
getting it bound and covered, thirty crowns of
gold. For this by virtue of the said order of the
King and by quittance of the abovenamed written
the 5 th April One thousand four hundred and
eighty (milcccciiii") after Easter, here rendered
the sum of ^19 i. 8."
Another quittance shows him to have been
employed on the decorations of the chateau of
Plessis les Tours. We may easily see how it is
that these artists, when they came to illuminate
the books entrusted to them, had such special
knowledge of embroideries and decoration of
armour when we read in the accounts how they
were constantly employed in designing dresses
for weddings, tournaments, and funeral obsequies,
and making "patterns for the dress and equip-
ment of war."
A notice in 1508 tells us that Anne of Brittany
1 Comptes de 1'Hotel de Louis XL, 1478-81.
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 217
made an order of payment to Bourdichon of 7*050
livres tournois for having 1 " richly and sumptuously
historiated and illuminated a great Book of Hours
for our use and service to which he has given and
employed much time, and also on behalf of other
services which he has rendered hitherto." This
refers to the celebrated " Hours of Anne of
Brittany," now in the National Library at Paris.
This volume, peerless of its kind, has been re-
produced in colour lithography by Curmer of
Paris the result, however, is disappointing from
the flat and faded look of the prints as compared
with the brilliancy of the original pages. The MS.
is an invaluable monument of French Renais-
sance illumination. It is French of Touraine
rather than of Paris, yet bearing traces in its
flowers and fruit borders of Flemish modes of
ornament. It has also reminiscences of Italian
painting. But the French neatness and restraint
from over-decoration have kept it in a manner
unique. It has not quite the softness of Italian,
and is far from the intensity of Flemish. Indeed,
its fault, if it be faulty, is in its want of force.
With the exception of Anne's own portrait given
with her patrons, St. Anne, St. Helena, and St.
Ursula. The Queen's gown is of brown gold
brocade trimmed with dark brown fur. Her hair
is brown, like the fur. She wears a necklace of
gems set in gold. On her head is a black hood
edged with gold and jewels, beneath which and
next her face is a border of crimped white muslin,
She has brown eyes and finely pencilled eyebrows.
As to nose and mouth, she and the two younger
21 8 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
saints are pretty much alike. With the allowance
of blue for black, St. Anne wears the dress of a
Benedictine abbess. A dark crimson cloth covers
a table before which the Queen is kneeling,
and on which lies open a finely illuminated
Service-book. The Calendar which follows this
portrait is for each month enclosed in a margin
of ornament. To the outer margin of every other
page of the book is placed a broad tablet or
pilaster containing flowers, fruits, insects, etc.,
from five to six inches high, each having the
Latin name of the plant, etc., at top in red, and
the French one in red or blue at the bottom.
These names may have been put in later. It must
be admitted that the fruits, flowers, and insects
are painted with the greatest care and neatness,
though sometimes a little assisted by the imagina-
tion of the painter. The text and initials are rather
heavy and commonplace. Now and then a border
surrounds the text completely, where flowers or
fruits are scattered somewhat recklessly at times,
but usually with good design over a ground of
plain gold, on which the branches, etc., cast
heavy shadows. This part of the design is cer-
tainly Flemish. Where "histories" occur the
border is a plain brown gilt frame within a black
border. Undoubtedly the " Hours of Anne of
Brittany " is a very precious volume. The figure
subjects are of various degrees of excellence.
The four evangelists are vivid, and recall the por-
traits of Ghirlandaio, and it is to Italy also that
the illuminator is indebted for his architectural
and sculptural details. Yet Bourdichon is in-
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 219
ferior to Fouquet in colouring, as the latter is to
the Italians in design and composition. Perhaps
he is most successful in his flowers and insects.
" Nothing," said Muntz, "is less like the elegant
foliages of Ghirlandaio and Attavante, and nothing
is more worthy of being put in comparison with
them." 1
An illuminator of the name of Jehan Poyet is
said to have assisted in the " Hours," thus while
Bourdichon painted the miniatures, Poyet put
in the flowers and fruit, etc. ; but this share of
work is by some believed to belong to a smaller
Book of Hours executed for the Queen. Flowers
and fruit are said to have been Poyet's speciality,
and it is quite possible that he may have had the
painting of the borders of the "Grandes Heures,'*
while Bourdichon did the rest. The writer of the
MS. was another native of Tours, named Jehan.
Riveron. During the reign of Francis I. the
school of Tours was removed to Paris because
the Court had settled there. Louis XII. had died
in the Hotel des Tournelles, and Francis, though
full of plans for plaisances elsewhere, lived mostly
in Paris. Fontainebleau is the dream of the near
future. II Rosso, the Italian architect, painter,
poet, and musician, was busy there amid a crowd
of other artists from Florence and Rome the
refuse of a once brilliant sodality. It was the
frivolous, pretty, graceful side of Italian art that
came northward in that great migration the
graver and more dignified elements were left
behind. To see what Italian art became in
1 La Renaissance en Italic, e/c., 547-8.
220 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
France, we have only to enter the Grand Gallery
at Fontainebleau, and we see it at its best in archi-
tecture, sculpture, and painting*. And we cannot
help admiring* it, for it is amazingly beautiful.
Yet it is not Italian the Italian of the Medici and
Farnese palaces. II Rosso was neither a Michel-
angelo nor a Carracci ; but he set a fashion. He
changed the face of art for France. Nor was it in
painting and sculpture only. The Italian passion
for devises, anagrams, emblems, and mottoes
became the rage in Paris. It first came in with
the return of Charles VIII. from his Neapolitan
campaign. Louis XII. adopted the hedgehog or
porcupine, with the motto " Cominus et eminus."
His Queen Claude's motto was "Candida candidis."
The Princess Marguerite's emblem was a mari-
gold or heliotrope ; others assigned her the daisy.
Her motto: " Non inferiora secutus." The well-
known emblem of Francis was a salamander
why, is a mystery with the motto, " Nutrisco et
extinguo." All this entered into the taste of the
illuminator, and elegant cartouche frames prob-
ably of Dutch origin, as we see in the old map-
books of Ortelius Cluverius and Bleau, imported
by Ortelius and his friends into Italy, and made
use of by Clovio, and thence transferred to France
were made into border-frames for miniatures,
varied with altar-forms, doorways, and other
fanciful frameworks from the new architecture
decorated with flowers, ribbons, panels, mottoes.
Another new thing, too, no doubt afforded plenty
of suggestion to the illuminator. This was stained
glass. Jean Cousin was in his glory in glass-
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 221
painting ; Robert Pinagrier also. But it was
Cousin who adopted the new Italian ideas, and
whose works were models for the illuminator. In
the backgrounds and details of his glass-paintings
at Sens, Fleurigny, Paris, and elsewhere, we may
trace his progress ; and an excellent model, too,
was Jean Cousin. He has other claims to remem-
brance in sculpture, engraving, authorship, but
it is as the glass-painter that his influence is seea
in illumination. Indeed, Mr. A. F. Didot strongly
urged the probability that Cousin was himself the
illuminator of the splendid Breviary or Hours of
Claude Gouffier. 1 The drawing is in his best
manner, the frame-border of caryatides in camaieu
is of a richness of ornamentation in keeping with
the rest of the volume. The arms and motto of
Gouffier are painted in it. It is objected that
Cousin's name does not appear in the Gouffier
account-books, while those of other artists are
given. But only a portion of the accounts is
extant Cousin may, perhaps, only have designed
the book, and the other miniaturists carried
out his designs. At any rate, the accounts give
us the names of three miniaturists which we may
here record Jean Lemaire, of Paris (1555),,
Charles Jourdain, and Geoffrey Ballin (1359).
These "enlumineurs" are stated to have decorated;
two Books of Hours for Gouffier's wedding. As a
good example of the style employed in the decora-
tion of title-pages, we may quote the chimney-
piece of the Chateau d'Anet, executed for Diane
de Poitiers, where a sculptured, marble frame
1 Now belonging- to M. le Vicomte de Tanze\
222 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
surrounds a painted landscape. Many of the
books of the time of Francis I. and Henry II. are
ornamented in this style.
In the British Museum are several fine MSS.
illustrative of this period of French illumination,
viz. Add. 18853, 18854, and 18855. These three
MSS. formed part of the purchase which included
the Bedford Offices. 18853 is a Book of Offices
executed apparently for Francis I. In some of the
borders is a large F with the Cordeliere of the
third Order of St. Francis and a rayed crown,
and on folio 97 v. a large monogram consisting
of the letter F, with two crossed sceptres and
palm branches, surmounted by the crown-royal
of France.
Nothing is known of the history of the MS.
from 1547 to 1723, when it was in possession of
the Regent Philippe d'Orleans. Possibly it had
remained as an heirloom in the family. Philippe
gave it to his natural son the Abbe Rothelin, a
great lover of rare books and a noted collector,
at whose death it was bought by Gaignat, another
collector, who sold it to the Due de la Valli&re,
and so, step by step, it came at length to Sir John
Tobin, of Liverpool, and thence to the British
Museum.
The partly sculpturesque character of the
border-frames are of the kind just referred to,
with festoons and garlands of flowers, and drapery,
monograms, and emblems in full rich colours ;
the architecture and other ornaments sometimes
finished with pencillings of gold. The miniatures
are of excellent design and colour, finely modelled,
HI ifi dommus cuftodtmt ciui
tatem:fcuttra vigiUt cjm cufto
JB<anum dlvobisantelucem
furgete^futqitepoftcp federitis
cjui manducatis panem dolo
Hum dedertt dilettis fuis foT
num.etcehereditasdomini fi
In metccs ftudusventris ( B5ai
HICU t fagitte in manu potttis
ita ftlit excunbrum JHfiBttBBi
BicatusvircjUiiwipleuitdefiolt
rium fuurn exipfis non confu
detuc cum Loquetutmimicis
"lotu patti ft f ilio.M^ptv
1 icut etat in ptincipio, fcJi
lE^ti omnes cjui timet,Bs
[domtnum: aui atnbulat
OFFICM. R. MARINE VIRGINIS
c. 153
Brit. Mtts. Add. MS. 18833, fo?- 52
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 223
and quite in the manner of the paintings of
Fontainebleau. The text is a combination of
Jarry-like Roman with italic. It may be compared
with 18854, similar in some respects, but the
smaller miniatures and the frames look more like
the older school of Tours. This MS. is also a
Book of Offices, and was written for Francois de
Dinteville, Bishop of Auxerre, in 1525, as appears
from an inscription in gold letters on fol. 26 v.
Some of the border-frames are drawn in sepia,
others in red-brown or burnt siena, and highly
finished with gold. The writing is a small Roman
hand. On the whole it is richer in illustration
than 18853, but not so perfect in drawing, yet it
is a very fine MS. Sometimes it has a border like
those in the " Hours of Anne of Brittany." On
fol. 26 v. is a curious border of twisted ribbons
covered with mottoes, such as "Virtutis fortuna
comes," " Ingrates servire nephas," etc.
Some of the tiny miniatures of the saints in the
Memories are very charmingly painted : St. Mary
Magdalene, for instance, on fol. 147 v. The pillar
architecture of some of the borders, with pendant
festoons of flowers, is also very handsome.
18855, folio, is a Book of Offices written in a
Gothic text. The miniatures are large full-page
paintings within architectural frames or porches,
with coloured pillars or pilasters with panels of
rich blue, covered with golden traceries, bronze
gold pendants at side, occasional borders as in
the " Hours of Anne of Brittany." The work is of
the older school of Tours, but loaded with orna-
mental details from North Italian pilaster-work.
224 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Among the best miniatures are the Nativity
(34 v.), the Adoration of the Magi (42 v.), and the
Bathsheba. The last perhaps a little too open a
scene for a lady's bathroom, but placed within a
most gorgeous architectural window or doorway
(fol. 62 v). Compare also Harl. 5925, No. 574, for
a title-page of French Renaissance style from a
printed book, which suggests Venice as the source
of the style of 18853.
In the National Library at Paris are, of course,
a number of this class of MSS., such as the
Offices (MS. Lat. 10563), " Officium Beatae Mariae
Virginis ad usum Romanor " (1531), or the ex-
quisitely painted " Heures de Henry 2 d " (fds. Lat.
1429), or the magnificent " Epistres d'Ovide " of
Louisa of Savoy (fds. fr. 875), and others.
By no means of less importance we may cite
the beautiful volume belonging to the late Comte
d'Haussonville, now in the Musee Cond6 at
Chantilly, called the " Heures du Conn^table Anne
de Montmorency," and the " Heures de Dinteville"
(MS. Lat. 10558), the decoration of which is quite
on a par with the " Heures de Montmorency/' or
those of Henry II., also the Psalter of Claude
Gouffier( Arsenal Lib., 5095), containing the Psalms
of Marot.
It is scarcely worth while to carry the subject
further. What is done later than Francis II. does
not grow finer or better : it only becomes more
overloaded with ornament, too much gold, too
much richness. Even foliages are often variegated
like pearls, or change gradually from colour to
colour on the same sweep of acanthus as in a
THE FRENCH RENAISSANCE 225
MS. in the British Museum attributed to Pierre
Mignard (" Sol Gallicus," Add. 23745). Compare
also the " Heures de Louis XIV." Now and
then an exceptional work, like that of D'Eau-
bonne at Rouen, belongs to no particular school.
CHAPTER X
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE ILLUMINATION
Late period of Spanish illumination Isidore of Seville
Archives at Madrid Barcelona Toledo Madrid Choir-
books of the Escorial Philip II. Illuminators of the choir-
books The size and beauty of the volumes Fray Andres
de Leon and other artists Italian influence Giovanni
Battista Scorza of Genoa Antonio de Holanda, well-known
Portuguese miniaturist in sixteenth century His son
Francesco The choir-books at Belem French invasion
Missal of Gon9alvez Sandoval Genealogies Portuguese
Genealogies in British Museum The Stowe Missal of
John III.
SINCE all the best and best-known work of
Spanish or Portuguese illuminators was
executed in the sixteenth century, and is mani-
festly a reflection with peculiar mannerisms of
either Flemish or Italian illumination of the same
period, it may seem almost superfluous to devote
a separate chapter to the subject. Yet there is a
goodly list of both Spanish and Portuguese artists
who practised the art of illumination.
So early as the time of Isidore of Seville we
find notices of libraries, copyists, and the like
(see book iv. of his Encyclopaedia), and an able
writer of the last century, Don Jos6 Maria de
Eguren, published a work on the MS. rarities of
Spain. 1 The most important of the miniatures in
1 Memoria de los Codices notables conservados en los
archivos ecleseasticos de Espana, Madrid, 1859, L, 8.
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 227
the famous Codex Vigilano are also reproduced
in "El Museo Espafiol de antiguedades," most
interesting respecting the calligraphy and minia-
ture art of the eleventh century.
One of the earliest instances of royal patronage
bestowed on painting in Spain is a document in
the Royal Library at Madrid, containing the ex-
penses of King Sanchez IV. in 1291-2. Thus
"to Rodrigo Esteban, painter of the king for
many paintings done by the king's orders in the
bishop's palace 100 golden maravedis." Again, in
the archives at Barcelona we find that Juan Cesilles,
painter of history, was engaged i6th March, 1382,
to paint the " History of the twelve apostles
for the grand altar of the Church at Rens for
330 florins." In 1339 one Gonzalez Ferran had
some reputation both as a wood engraver and a
painter. He was probably a miniaturist. In
1340-81, Garcia Martinez, a Spanish illuminator,
worked at Avignon. A copy of the Decretals,
dated 1381, in the Cathedral Library of Seville
is by his hand.
In the fifteenth century we have many notices
of painters, especially in Toledo, whither the taste
was in all likelihood brought from Naples after
the conquest of that kingdom by Alphonso V.
of Aragon in 1441.
It has been observed by those familiar with
native Spanish art that its chief characteristic is
that it is gloomy. This may be so, but it is not
fairly chargeable to the artists but to the tyranny
of the Spanish Inquisidor, who laid the embargo
on the illuminator that he should not follow the
228 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
wicked gaiety of the Italians, nor the sometimes
too realistic veracity of the Flemings. This
accounts usually for backgrounds of black where
the Fleming would have had rich colour or gold,
for the prevalence of black in the draperies and
for the sombre tone in general of Spanish painting.
It is not always in evidence, as may be seen in
many of the miniatures of the famous choir-books
in the Escorial. The sombre period began under
Ferdinand the Catholic, and it has left its mark
on the schools of the fifteenth century. The six-
teenth began a new era, and under Philip II.
several, both Netherlandish and Italian, miniatur-
ists were invited to assist in the production of the
enormous choir-books ordered by the King for
San Lorenzo of the Escorial, between 1572 and
1589. The volumes are bound in wooden boards
covered with leather, stamped and bossed with
ornaments of gilded bronze. It is said that 5,500
Ibs. of bronze and 40 Ibs. of pure gold were
used in the bindings. The actual dimensions of
the volumes are 115 by 84 centimetres. Every
volume has at least seventy folios, and every folio
is splendidly illuminated, thus affording more
than 30,000 pages covered with richly ornamented
initials, miniatures, and borders. The illuminators
and copyists of these choir-books were Cristobal
Ramirez, who planned the work, fixed the size and
other details of the volumes and the character of
the handwriting, Fray Andre's de Leon, Fray
Julian de Fuente del Saz, Ambrosio Salazar,
Fray Martin de Palencia, Francisco Hernandez,
Pedro Salavarte, and Pedro Gomez. Ramirez was
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 229
engaged at the Escorial from 1566 to 1572. In the
latter year he presented a Breviary with musical
notation to the King, and was then engaged for
the great undertaking mentioned above.
Andr6s Cristobal was also an illuminator of
note at Seville, where he worked from 1555 to
1559. Andres de Leon worked at the Escorial
from 1568, and is especially mentioned by Los
Santos in his well-known description of the monas-
tery of San Lorenzo: "Son de gran numero y
excelencia las iluminaciones que tienen de mano
nuestro Fray Andres de Leon, que fue otro Don
Julio en el Arte." 1 The allusion is to the cele-
brated Don Giulio Clovio, then in the height of
his fame in Italy. Fray Julian received similar
praise for a capitolario for the principal festivals
of the year, especially for the grand dimensions
of the miniatures, the like of which the writer
says had never been seen before, either in Spain
or Italy. Andres de Leon died at the Escorial in
1580. Salazar continued working on them till
they were completed, and in 1590 went to Toledo,
where he finished two Missals for the Cathe-
dral, which had been begun by the famous
Juan Martinez de los Corrales. He was still
engaged on similar work until his death in 1604.
Two other illuminators, Esteban and Julian de
Salazar, were working at the Escorial in 1585.
Bermudez 2 mentions Fray Martin de Palencia as
having executed a volume in a fine handwriting
1 Fr. Francisco de los Santos, Description breve del
Monasterio de S. Lorenzo el Real del Escorial) 24.
2 DiccionariOf iv. 24.
230 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and with beautiful miniatures for the monastery
of Saso. Thus we see there were numerous
miniaturists in Spain in the latest years of the
existence of the art that had been imported chiefly
from Italy.
After most of these great choir -books had
been finished there were still others in progress.
In 1583 Giovanni Battista Scorza of Genoa,
who is celebrated in the " Galleria " of the
Cavaliero Marini, was invited by the King to
take part in his great choir-book scheme.
Scorza was then thirty-six years of age, and
in the height of his reputation as a painter
of small animals and insects. After a little time
he returned to Genoa, where he lived to be ninety
years old. He had a brother, Sinibaldo, who
was equally skilful in miniature, and especially
in scenes from history. The Scorzas were pupils
of Luca Cambiaso. It may be noticed that all
this work in miniature, although so late in its
own history, is accomplished before the greatest
names in Spanish painting are known. Josefo
Ribera was born in 1588 ; Zurbaran in 1598 ;
Velasquez in 1599 ; Alonzo Cano in 1601 ; Murillo
in 1617. This, in a sense, is the natural course
of things, as, generally, illumination has preceded
the other kinds of painting.
With regard to Portugal, very little is recorded
that does not in some way connect itself with
Spain. So we find that Antonio and Francesco de
Holanda, seemingly of Netherlandish origin, are
mentioned in relation to the books illuminated for
the Royal Monastery of Thomar ; Francesco also
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 231
worked for the monastery of Belem. Francesco
de Holanda was a great admirer and imitator of
Clovio, but he always insisted that his father
Antonio was the inventor of the method of
"stippling," as the finishing with minute points of
colour is technically called, which was brought to
such perfection by Clovio and his scholars and
imitators.
Taken altogether, the work of the Spanish
illuminators at the Escorial and those of Toledo
and Seville is really the same, with just the varia-
tions we might expect from pupils and imitators,
as that of their masters in Genoa, Rome, Venice,
or Bruges. Examples of it may be seen occasion-
ally in diplomas, such as are found in the British
Museum and other public libraries, as, e.g. Claud.
B. x. Lansd. 189, Add. 12214, 18191, 27231, etc.
In 1572, the same year in which Luiz de
Camoens published his Lusiades, an accom-
plished calligrapher, Miguel Barata, published
an elaborate treatise on his own art, then in high
repute.
In the fourteenth century the Cancioniero of
Don Pedro Affonso Ct. de Barcellos affords an
example of the calligraphy (for which Spain and
Portugal have always been famous) and illumina-
tion which is precious for the student. It is still
in existence in the Palace of Ajuda. Its date is
1320-40. And there are MSS. in the Torre do
Tombo of Lisbon that are richly illuminated.
Again, in Seville there is the u juego de las
Tablas," executed under Alphonso the Wise in
1283, with its Gothic arcades and ornaments.
232 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
M. Joaquin de Vasconcellas has made a study of
this MS. The miniatures of the Torre do Tombo
of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries are
mostly of the French school.
About 1428-33 was executed a splendid MS.
entitled "Leal Conselheiro," which is attributed
to a famous miniaturist in his time named Vasco.
It is, however, simply a monument of penman-
ship, as it contains no miniatures. The MS. has
been edited by L'Abb6 Roquete in 1842. The
Portuguese MSS. of the fifteenth century betray
a decided Flemish influence, as well they may, for
probably the producers of them were Flemings.
Constant intercourse with the Court of Burgundy
had something to do with this.
The " Chronica do descobrimento e conquista
de Guin6," now at Torre do Tombo, is clearly a
Flemish work. It was begun about 1440, and
finished in 1453. The portrait of the Enfante
Don Henrique, called the Navigator, is set in a
border evidently by a pupil or imitator of J. Van
Eyck. The calligraphy of the MS. is most
beautiful. This influence of the Netherlands on
Portuguese art is, indeed, confirmed by the
political diplomatic relations of the fifteenth cen-
tury, and is of some importance in the history of
art. We shall refer again to this matter when
dealing with another MS.
Among all the calligraphic monuments of
Portugal it is claimed that the most splendid
is the "Bible of the Hieronymites." (See Re-
vista universal Lisbonense, 1848, pp. 24-8.) This
work, it is said, was a present from the Court of
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 233
Rome to Emanuel, successor of John II., in re-
membrance of the homage made to the Holy See,
of the first gold brought from the Indies, but the
story is very doubtful. The King, in bequeathing
the seven volumes to the convent of Belem, says
nothing about such an origin. They are mani-
festly in great part the work of foreign artists.
One well-known miniaturist, Antonio de Holanda,
the father of the better-known Francesco, took
part in the work, and having a good conceit of
his own abilities (we shall probably hear of him
again), reserved an entire volume to himself in
order to give proof of them. The seven volumes
which then were covered with crimson velvet and
silver bosses and enamels, are now simply bound
in red morocco. In the middle of each cover are the
arms of Emanuel King of Portugal. Vols. v. and
vii. have those of Dona Isabel, his Spanish wife.
The initials and ornaments show that the art of
Italy is freely mixed with that of Portugal. In-
deed, from the signatures in the volumes it is
seen that the work of the penman was Italian ;
vol. i. being written at Ferrara by Sigismundo de
Sigismundis, the well-known Italian calligrapher,
in 1495. The second volume, also finished in
1495, bears the name of Alessandro Verazzano,
another famous copyist, who wrote several of the
volumes illuminated by Attavante. Vol. iii. is
dated 1496, and is unsigned. The next three
volumes are also without signature. Vol. vii.
is the work of Antonio de Holanda, who from his
name appears to have been of Dutch descent.
His work is certainly excellent, and renders this
234 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
volume a very precious monument of the art of
Portugal. He was the official herald of the King,
and he and his son Francesco gave their whole
time to the practice of illumination. His son's
Memoirs give a most interesting account of his
travels and intercourse with Giulio Clovio and the
other Italian artists whom he met with in Rome. 1
For some years the Hieronymite Bible was in
Paris, having been brought thither by Marshal
Junot, where it remained unnoticed for several
years. Being called for by the Portuguese
Government, Louis XVIII. paid 50,000 francs to
the family of Junot, and restored it to the
monastery of Belem. A splendidly illuminated
atlas by an illuminator and cartographer named
Fernando Vas Dourado was published in the year
of his death, 1571.
As an important example of what we may
fairly call native art, we will now briefly refer to
the celebrated Missal of Estevam Gongalvez Neto,
one of the productions of the busy second half of
the sixteenth century. The clever amateur who
achieved this beautiful series of paintings, for
paintings they are, in addition to the writing and
other ornamentation of the MS., was descended
from a noble family of Serem, in the parish of
Macinhata, forty-three leagues from Lisbon. He
became Canon of Viseu, and during his leisure,
after this appointment, executed the Pontifical
Missal which bears his name. It is dedicated to
Don Jos& Manuel, of the House of Tancos, Bishop
of Viseu, afterwards of Coimbra, and lastly Arch-
1 See my Life of Clovio.
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 235
bishop of Lisbon. This prelate gave the book to
the Church of Viseu. The original MS. was
afterwards in the library of the Convent of Jesus,,
and is now in the Academy of Sciences at Lisbon.
Stephen Gonsalvez died July 2Qth, 1627. The
Missal is signed : " Steph. Glz. Abbas Sereicencis
fac. 1610." It has been very well reproduced in
colours by Macia, of Paris.
The " Genealogies of the House of Sandoval,'*
written and painted in Lisbon in 1612, is now in
Paris. It is called " Genealogia universal de la
Nobilissima casa de Sandoval Ramo del Generoso
tronco de los soberanos Reyes de Castilla y Leon.
Por Don Melchior de Teves del Conseio Real de
Castilla del Rey Do Philippe III."
At the foot of the page is written " Eduardus
Caldiera Vlisspone scripsit, Anno Dm MDCXII.'*"
This magnificent MS., which measures forty-six by
thirty centimetres, is numbered in the Catalogue
of the National Library as 10015. A grand frontis-
piece, formed of two columns of the Composite
Order, occupies the first page, representing a king
in royal robes and crown arresting the wheel of
Fortune. Two lions accompany the scene, and
the motto of the picture is "Virtute duce non
comite Fortuna." Page 2 contains the various
escutcheons of the family of the Count of Lerma>
for whom the book was written. It contains a
great number of portraits. A final instance of
the influence, or rather the inroad, of Flemish art
in Portugal in the fifteenth century may be shown
in the MS. called the Portuguese Genealogies in
the British Museum.
236 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
The work consists of eleven large folio sheets
separately mounted and measuring eighteen by
ten inches. It commences with a prologue,
with the arms of Portugal supported by two
savages, having clubs and shields. Outside the
inner frame are three scenes : (i) wild animals in
combat ; (2) a sea-nymph being rescued ; (3) a
fight among sylvan savages. Next comes a
series of portraits painted in the most finished and
life-like style, beginning with Dom Garcia F del
rey Abarca and Dona Constancia on a fruitful tree
with foliage, fruits, and birds, a cat, and other
things. The tree is an oak, beside it are apple
and cherry trees. On the oak are green acorns.
The birds are very beautiful, the cat simply per-
fect. These details recall the highly finished and
lovely work of Georg Hoefnagle on the great
Missal at Vienna. Gothic brown-gold architec-
ture and three battle scenes complete the page.
Then follow the genealogical tables, and more
portraits, the whole showing the most patient and
careful work. Letters on the borders of the robes
recall the same kind of ornament in the Grimani
Breviary at Venice. No one has been able to
explain these curious inscriptions. In the Grimani
Breviary they were thought to be either Croatian
or merely ornament. Here they cannot well mean
anything but decoration. The portraits are fanci-
ful but interesting mementoes of the period, and
include several personages noted in history.
The last MS. to be mentioned in this hasty
sketch is one in the British Museum (Stowe 597).
It is a " Missale Romanum," and is said to have
SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE 237
been illuminated for John III. in 1557. It was
once the property of the Abbe* Garnier, chaplain
for near thirty years, of the French factory at
Lisbon. The binding is red morocco, and once
had silver clasps.
It commences with a large mirror-like ovaf
tablet, containing the title, set between two
pillars of pink-veined marble with bronze-gold
capitals and bases. The tablet is crimson with
a violet-slate frame moulding of egg and dart
pattern. At foot are two Roman legionaries, one
seated as supporting the tablet, on each side.
On folio 3 is the index in a rose-wood panel and
pale green frame. The peculiar forms of the
frames and the scroll- work on them are of the
fantastic kind, differing from Italian, which is
characteristic both of Spanish and Portuguese
ornament. The chief colours are a bright emerald
green and blue, with ochre, gold, and crimson.
The initials are still more fantastic partly human,
partly plant or fish-form, sometimes sculptured
ornament and plant-forms combined but all so
sweetly painted and so delicately finished as to be
most attractive. The text is a fine and elegant
Roman minuscule interspersed with italic.
Here and there are exquisite little drawings of
ecclesiastical utensils, etc., but the everlasting
variety among the quaint and fanciful initials
provides an unwearying fund of interest. Tiny
birds of the loveliest plumage sit among and
beneath the limbs of the letters, or elegant scrolls
of pencilled gold cover the little coloured panels
on which the plain gold Roman initials are placed.
238 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Some of the larger initials are very finely executed,
and contain full-length figures of saints, bishops,
or queens. One lovely initial B has a graceful
girl simply clad in blue tunic and pale yellow
skirt with a silken coil of pale rose forming the
upper loop of the letter, the lower being formed
of the curved body of a green dragon. Her left
hand lifts the silk-work, her right, hanging by her
side, holds a little golden pitcher. The whole is
painted on a panel of bright gold. Another (L)
shows a peasant rushing laughingly, with a hare
slung over his shoulder, past the figure of a
guardian terminus of bronze. But the Missal
should be seen to be properly understood, for
though in a general way it has a look of Italian
influence, its originality is beyond question.
CHAPTER XI
ILLUMINATION SINCE THE INVENTION OF
PRINTING
The invention of printing Its very slight effect on illuminating
Preference by rich patrons for written books Work pro-
duced in various cities in the sixteenth century Examples
in German, Italian, and other cities, and in various public
libraries up to the present time.
THE art of printing, as the reading world has
been frequently informed, was invented in
the fifteenth century, and undoubtedly had, to a
considerable extent, a destructive effect upon the
craft of professional copyists. But in the fif-
teenth century the art of the writer and that of
the illuminator had long been separate professions.
There was no particular reason, therefore, why
the invention of printing should interfere with
the illuminator. As a matter of fact, it made little
difference. Nor, indeed, did printing entirely put
a stop to the professional career of the scribe.
It was prophesied, before practical experience
of facts proved the contrary, that the invention
of the railway engine would abolish the horse.
The printing-press did not abolish the penman,
but it certainly spoiled his trade. We have seen
in the course of the preceding chapters that it
did not spoil the trade of the illuminator. Nor
was it quite owing to the fact that many printed
240 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
books were so adorned as to appear like illumi-
nated MSS. More than one wealthy patron abso-
lutely declined to have anything to do with printed
books. The matter was too vulgar and too cheap.
The last Duke of Urbino was a prince of this
lofty way of thinking, and scarcely a court in
Europe but continued to have MSS. produced as
if no such thing as the printing-press were known.
How they were multiplied in Spain and France we
have seen in detail. We will now proceed to take
a farewell look at the German and Italian libraries,
in order to see how the illustrious presses of
Mainz, Strassburg, Augsburg, Koln, Munich,
Vienna, Venice, Milan, Florence, and Rome affected
the ateliers of the great schools of illumination
established in most of these cities. What do we
find ? In point of fact, some of the richest, most
magnificent books ever produced by the illuminator,
not only whilst the press was still a novelty, but
long after it had become perfectly familiar to
everybody. For several of the cities aforesaid we
have the means of proof: thus for Mainz, at the
end of the superb copy of the Mazarine Bible, now
at Paris, is the following inscription : " Iste liber
illuminatus, legatus and completus est f henricum
Cremer vicariu ecclesie collegiate Sancti Stephani
Moguntini sub anno dm Melesimo quatring
entesimo quinquagesimo Sexto, festo assumptiois
gloriose Virginis Marie. Deo gratias alleluya. " This
was in 1456, the year before the first press was
set up. In 1524 we have two most splendidly
illuminated MSS. a Missal and a Prayer-book
executed by order of Albert of Brandenburg,
\
Hwrtn
mnrprita
,ft
i] n f nti wt en o n i rlivi
jtruninnrtnttiaiiD(rotflHla|lrp P
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)Sltti^.TDflSp^O)W !
rtdf^rAii^^iimi!
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inotvinuir roinjwttfvrthq
OFFICM. 1VIORTUOKUM.
i6TH CENT. (EARLY)
/. 183
INVENTION OF PRINTING 241
Archbishop of Mainz. Two richer examples of
the German Renaissance cannot easily be imagined.
We cannot dilate upon them. We may, however,
truly say that together with very many other ex-
amples of illuminated work, both in manuscripts
and printed books, they show the art of the illu-
minator to be no less splendid or elaborate after
the invention of printing than it was before.
On the last page of the Missal is written : " Ich
Niklas Glockendon zu Nurenberg hab dieses Bhuch
illuminiert ond vollent im jar 1524."
The Prayer-book is similarly adorned with minia-
tures and brightly coloured borders. On the cover
is a copy of the Archbishop's portrait, painted
by Diirer, and on folio i is written by the
Archbishop himself: "Anno domini MDXXXI
completum est presens opus, Sabbato post ' Invo-
cavit.' Albertus Cardinalis moguntinus manu
propria scripsit."
Other Glockendon books exist in other libraries.
Then there is the Beham Prayer-book at Aschaf-
fenburg and a Bible in the library at Wolfen-
biittel in two thick 4 volumes a work well
worth examination. At Nuremberg is the Service-
book executed by Conrad Frankendorffer, of
Nuremberg, in 1498.
In the British Museum is the fine German MS.
the Splendor Solis, a sixteenth century MS.
(Harl. 3469).
In the National Library at Paris is the Prayer-
book of William of Baden (10567-8) executed
at Strassburg by Frederic Brentel in 1647.
Augsburg was producing illuminated Service-
242 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
books ten years after Giinther Zainer had set up
the press in that city.
Munich, also, with the Penitential Psalms, etc.,
by Hans Mielich. Vienna, too, can show a mag-
nificent Missal by Georg Hoefnagel, bearing the
dates 1582 to 1590. Venice is represented in the
work of Benedetto Bordone and the Ducali.
Florence in the splendid Missals, etc., of Atta-
vante and his contemporaries.
Milan shows the gorgeous Graduals of the
Brera belonging to the sixteenth century and the
Sforziadas of London and Paris. So we might
pass from city to city almost all over Western
Europe. The great Spanish choir-books were
almost all produced under Philip II. Several
Papal Service-books are represented in the
fifteenth- and sixteenth-century examples of the
scrap-book 21412 of the British Museum; and the
works of Clovio, the most noted of Italian illu-
minators, all belong to the sixteenth century.
These instances are amply sufficient to prove
that in every city in Europe where printing was in
full practice the art of the illuminator continued to
flourish until the progress of modern inventions
and various processes, added to the general
cheapening of books, led to its disuse. Its present
application seems to be almost solely to diplomas
and testimonials, and in point of quality, usually
as poor and spiritless as the incapacity of most of
its professors can make it.
There seems, however, no reason why the artis-
tic skill and elaborate methods of reproduction
of the present day should not produce magnificent
INVENTION OF PRINTING 243
books indeed the " Imitation " of Thomas a
Kempis, and other continental examples prove
that this is amply possible.
The next few years will probably show that
readers are still desirous of possessing beautiful
books, and that artists are still found capable of
producing them.
244 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
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256 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Remarks.
Contains 24 fine minia-
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By Jacquemartde Hes-
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and Pol de Limbourg.
Considered the finest
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Fine miniatures cos-
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Curiousminiatures, por-
traits of Henry VI., etc.
Richly illuminated.
Contains French, En-
glish, and Nether-
landish work.
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French work.
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Remarks.
Beautiful penmanshi
and ornaments.
Fine diapered bacl
grounds, costume
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In 5 fol. vols. Splendi
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Duke of Austria. I
luminated in late
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any grotesque fig-
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrahams, N. C. L. Description des MSS. frangaises du
Moyen Age de la Bibliotheque Royale de Copenhague. 4to.
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Alt, H. Die Heiligenbilder oder die bildende Kunst u.
die Theologie. 8vo. Berlin, 1845.
Astle, Thomas. The Origin and Progress of Writing.
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Barrois, J. Bibliotheque Protypographique ou librairies
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Bastard, Augf. Librairie de Jean de France due de Berry
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Beissel, Stephan. Des heiligen Bermvard Evangelien-
buch im Dome zu Hildesheim. Mit Hdschr. des 10 and
ii Jahrh., etc. Third edition. 26 photo-lithographs (12x9).
Hildesheim, 1894.
Beissel, Stephan. Vaticanische Miniaturen. Folio. Frei-
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Birch, W. de G. History ', Art, and Paleography of the
MS. commonly styled the Utrecht Psalter. 8vo. 3 facsimile
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Birch, W. de G., and Jenner, H. Early Drawings and
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Biscionii, A. M. Catal. bibL Medico-Laurentiana. Folio.
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278 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Bradley, J. W. Life and Works of G. G. Clovio, Minia-
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Bradley, J. W. Dictionary of Miniaturists, Calligraphers,
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Bradley, J. W. Venetian Ducali, in Bibliographica, II.
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Bucher, B. Geschichte des Technischen Kiinste, etc., 9
vol. i. Miniatur, etc. 8vo. Stuttgart, 1875.
Cahier and Martin. Nouveaux Melanges d'Archdologie,
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Campori, G. Gli artisti Italiani, etc., nelle Stati Estensl.
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Caravita, A. / codici e le Arti a Monte Cassino. 8vo.
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Carta, F. Codici, corali e libri a stampa miniati della
Biblioteca nazionale di Milano. Folio. Roma, 1895. With
25 phototype facsimiles.
Chassant, Alph. PaUographie des chartes et des MSS.
du lie au if* Siecle. 8vo. Paris, 1867, and companion vols.
Curmer, L. Les Evangiles des Dimanches et F&tes.
Large 8vo. Paris, 1864. Many facsimiles in gold and
colours from illuminated MSS.
Delisle, L. Me'ni. sur I'Ecole calligraphique de Tours au
IX* Siecle. Paris, 1885. 5 heliograv.
Delisle, L. L' Evangfliaire d 'Arras et la Calligraphie
Franco -Saxonne du neuvieme Siecle. 4to. Paris, 1888.
Large heliogravure facsimiles.
Delaunay (I'Abbe' H.). Le livre d'Heures de la reine
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Delia Valle, G. Lettere Senese, Sopra le Belle Arti.
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Delisle, L. Le cabinet des manuscrits de la bibliotheque
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Denis, Ferd. Histoire de I'ornementation des manuscrits.
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Deshaines, C. Histoire de VArt dans la Flandre, d'Artois,
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Dibdin, T. F. The Bibliographical Decameron. 3 vols.
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Didron (edit.). Annales Arche'ologiques. Periodical 4to.
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Dorange, A. Cat. descr. et raisonne" des manuscr. de la
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Durieux, A. Les Artistes Cambre"siens du IX* a XIXc
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Du Sommerard, Andr. Les Arts du Moyen-age. 6 vols.
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Gabelentz, H. von der. Zur Geschichte der oberdeutschen
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Strassburg, 1899. 12 phototypes.
Gamier, J. Catalogue descriptif et raisonnd des MSS. de
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Gualandi, M. A. Memorie originate Italiane risguardante
le Belle Arti. 8vo. Bologna, 1840-45.
Hardy, Sir Thomas D. The Athanasian Creed in Con-
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Hendrie, R. Encyclopedia of the Arts of the Middle
Ages by the monk Theophilus. Translated, with notes.
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Husenbeth, F. C. Emblems of Saints by which they are
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Jack, J. J. Viele Alphabete und ganze Scriftmuster vom
<8, bis zum 16, Jahrh. aus den Handschr. der offentl. Bibl.
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MSS. in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. (Fine photo-
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Jorand, J. B. J. Grammatographie du neuvieme siecle.
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Kirchoff, Albr. Handschr if tenhdndler des Mittelalters.
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T 2
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1865.
Publications of the Palceographical Society of London.
Folio. Vol. vii., etc. Very useful.
Quaritch, B. Examples of the Art of Book-illumination
during the Middle Ages. 4to. London, 1899. Fine
facsimiles in g-old and colours.
Raczynski, A. (Cte.). Les arts en Portugal. 8vo. Paris,
1846.
Rahn, J. R. Das Psalterium Aureum v. Sanct Gallen.
Folio. St. Gallen, 1878. n chromolithogr. in colours and
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 283
Sacken, Ed. Frh. von. Die Ambraser Samtnlung. 8vo.
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Sakcinski, J. K. Leben des Giulio Clovio. 8vo. Agram,
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Sakcinski, J. K. Slovnik umjetnah Jugoslav enskih*
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book cover, and facsimiles of illumination and writing-.
Schonemann. 100 Merk-wiirdigkeiten des Herzoglichen
Biblioth. zu Wolfenbilttel. 8vo. Hannover, 1849.
Schultz, A. Deutsches Leben in ijttn und i$ten Jahrh.
2 vols. Large 8vo. Wien, 1892. (Contains many fac-
similes in g~old and colours, from German and Bohemian
MSS.)
Serapeum. Zeitschrift fur Bibliothekens Wissenschaft.
8vo. Leipzig 1 . Vol. vii.
Seroux D'Agfin court, J. Historic de VArt par les
Monuments. Folio. 3 vols. Paris, 1823. London, 1847.
Engravings.
Shaw, H. The Art of Illuminating as Practised in the
Middle Ages. Second edition. 4to. London, 1845. Plates.
Shaw, H. Alphabets, Numerals, and Devices of the
Middle Ages. Folio. London, W. Pickering-, 1845. Many
plates, some in gx>ld and colours.
Silvestre, J. B. PaUographie universelle. 4 vols. Folio.
Paris, 1841. 600 plates. (Plates very g-ood.)
Smet, J. J. de. Quelques recherches sur nos anciens en-
lumineurs, etc. In Bulletin de I'Academie de Belgique,
t. xiv., pt. 2, p. 78, and Bullet, du Bibliophile Beige, t. Hi.,
p. 376, t. iv., p. 176.
Stoke"s, Mr Early Christian Art in Ireland. i2mo.
284 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
London, 1887. Woodcuts. (Victoria and Albert M. Hand-
book.)
Swarzenski, G. Die Regensburger Buchmalerei des X.
und XI. Jahrhunderts. Large Svo. Leipzig-, 1901. 35
phototypes.
Tambroni, G. Cennino Cennini : Trattato delta Pittura.
Svo. Roma, 1821. Later edition (Milanesi), Firenze, 1859.
(Contains many practical directions and recipes.)
Thompson, Sir Edward M. English Illuminated MSS.
In Bibliographica^ vol. i. pp. 129, 385, etc. Large Svo.
London, 1895.
Venturi, Ad. La tniniatura ferrarese nel secolo XV., etc.
Folio. Roma, 1899. 4 chromolithographs and 7 photo-
types. In Le Gallerie Nazionah Italiane. Vol. iv., 187.
Viel-Castel, Cte. Horace de. Statuts de VOrdre du
Saint- Espr it f etc. MS. du 14? Siecle avec une notice sur
la peinture des MSS. Large folio. Paris, 1853. 17 very
fine facsimiles in gold and colours.
Vogelsang, W. Hollandische Miniaturen des spdteren
Mittelalters. Large Svo. Strassburg, 1899. Many photo-
type facsimiles.
Wailly, J. N. de. Ele'mens de PaUographie. 2 thick vols.
4to. Paris, 1838. Many plates of writing, seals, etc.
Wallther, J. L. Lexicon diplomaticum. Folio. 1751-
Many examples of writings.
Waagen, G. F. On the Importance of MSS. with
Miniatures in the History of Art. Svo. Philobiblon
Society. Vol. i. London, 1854.
Waagen, G. F. Die Vornehmsten Kiinstler in Wien.
Svo. Wien, 1866. (MSS. in Imperial Library, etc., in
Vienna. )
Warner, G. F. Miniatures and Borders from the Hours
BIBLIOGRAPHY 285
of Bona Sforza, Duchess of Milan. Small 4to. London,
1894. 65 sepia facsimiles.
Warner, G. F. Illuminated MSS. in the British Museum
4to. London, 1899, etc. Many coloured facsimiles.
Wattenbach, W. Das Schriftivesen im Mittelalter. 8vo.
Leipzig-, 1871.
Westwood, J. O. Palceographia Sacra Pictoria. 4to.
London, 1845. 50 facsimile plates, mostly in colours and
gold.
Westwood, J. O. Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-
Saxon and Irish MSS. Folio. Oxford, 1868. Many fine
facsimiles in colours.
Wyatt, M. D., and Tymms. The Art of Illuminating.
Large 8vo. London, 1860. Many facsimiles in gold and
colours.
INDEX
Ada-Codex at Treves, 57, 67
Alcuin and his coadjutors, 72
Andreas Joannes, 175
Anglo-Celtic illumination, 59
Anne of Bohemia, 163
of Brittany, 214
her portrait, 217
Antonio and Francisco de
Holanda, 231
Arundel Psalter, 157
Athelstan Gospels, 67
Avignon Bible, 175
Bamberg Bible, 69
Bedford Offices, 222
Beham Prayer-book at Aschaf-
fenburg, 241
Benedictionals, 149
Bernward, St., of Hildesheim,
93
Berry MSS., 141
Bible of Charles the Bald, 68
Bibliography, 277-285
Bobbio, an Irish foundation of
Columbanus, 53
Boccaccio at Munich, by Fou-
quet, 211
Bohemian illumination, 163
- MSS. at Prag, 190
Book-form, its antiquity, 9
Bourdichon, Jean, 215, etc.
Brentel, F., and the Prayer-
book of William of Baden
at Paris, 241
Brera Graduals at Milan, 181
Brothers of the Common Life,
194
Bruno, St., of Cologne, 93
Byzantine illumination, 24
its subdivisions, 31
Byzantium, rebuilding of by
Justinian, 26
Cambiaso, Luca, of Genoa, 230
Carolingian illumination, 62
Celtic illumination, 36
Charles IV., the Emperor, 163
"Chateau d'Anet" and its
style, 221
Choir-book of Sts. Ulrich and
Afra at Augsburg, 192
Christine de Pisan and her
works, 142-147
Chronicle of Jerusalem at
Vienna, 203
Cistercian foundations, 74
Cluny and Citeaux, 81
Codex, what, 17
Collegium Carolinum at Prag,
190
286
INDEX
287
Colour-scheme of Fouquet, 212
Compendium of Theophilus,
104, 105
Convenevole da Prato, poems
of, 175
Cunegunda, the Empress, 90
her Passionale, 189
Debonnaire, Louis le, 65
Decretals, the, what they
were, 176, etc.
Decretum Gratiani, 177
Delisle, M. L., on Franco-
Saxon illumination, 63
Dinteville Hours, 223
Dioscorides at Vienna, 22
Drolleries and grotesques, 157
Durandus, Rationale of, 180
Dutch illumination, its charac-
teristics, 199
Emmeram Gospels, the, 112
English illumination, 149-153
Escorial choir-books, 228
"Explicits" of monastic
MSS., 79
Exultet roll, what, 172
Famous abbeys for bookwork,
78
First English styles, 59
Flemish illuminators, 201
Fouquet, Jean, and the school
of Touraine, 210, etc.
Franconian illumination, 93
Frankendorfer Evangeliary at
Nuremberg, 192
Frederick II., "Stupor Mun-
di," his work on hawking,
1 86
Freemasons, who they were,
125-127
French illumination, 139
Renaissance illumination,
208-225
its gradual development,
208
Gerard David of Oudewater,
201, 205
German colouring (early), 154
illumination, 186-194
Glass-painting, 128
Glockendon, A., and his vvork^
193
N. , at Nuremberg, 241
Gold and silver writing, etc. , 27
Golden ageof illumination, 123
Gothic architecture, its origin,,
121
illumination, I IO
Grandison Psalter, 169
Greek and Roman illumina-
tion, 19
Grimani Breviary, 205-206
Grisaille^ 207
Guilds (or gilds), 131
Handwritings, classification of,.
13
Hartmut, Abbot of St. Gallen,
95.
Hendrie, R., translator of
" Theophilus," 106
Henry II. , the Emperor, 90
VII. of Luxembourg, the
the Emperor, 189
Herrade von Landsberg, the
abbess, 114, 120
Hildesheimer Prayer-book at
Berlin, 192
Hoefnagel, G., and the Missal
of Archduke Ferdinand at
Vienna 242
288 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
"" Hortus Deliciarum," its
style, 114, 115
Hours of Anne of Brittany, 217
of Claude Gouffier, 221
of Francis I., 222
of Frederick III. of Aragon,
183
of Henry II. at Paris, 224
of Marie de Cleve at Paris,
211
Hrosvita, poetess and copyist,
87,88
Illuminating, antiquity of, 3
Illumination defined, 3
not spoiled by the invention
of printing, 239
since the invention of
printing, 239-243
Initial, development of, 56
Irish art, 40
Isabella Breviary (Brit. Mus.),
207
Italian copyists, 183
illumination, 171-185
libraries, 182
Kells, the Book of, 57
Lala of Cyzicus, a lady, the
first miniaturist on record,
4
Lancastrian illumination, 166
Landscape background, origin
of, 200
Lombardic illumination, 173
writing, 14
Lothaire, Evangeliary of, 69
Louis of Taranto and his Order
of the Holy Spirit, 178
XII., 215, etc.
Louise of Savoy and her MSS. ,
224
Louterell Psalter, 158
Luxeuil founded by Colum-
banus, 53
Maas-Eyck Evangeliary, 198
Mazarine Bible, 240
Manual of Dionysius, a Greek
text-book, 100
Manuscripts referred to, 244-
276
"Mater Verborum" of Con-
rad of Scheyern, 117
Mathilda, the Empress, pat-
roness of copyists, 87
Matilda, the Countess, 98, 172
Medard, St., of Soissons,
Gospels of, the finest
Carolingian MS. known,
70
Melreth Missal, 169
Merovingian writing, 14
Miniature, the term explained,
4
Missal of Albert of Branden-
burg, 192
of Estevam Gon9alvez
Neto, 234
and Prayer-book of Albert
of Brandenburg, 240
Monastic illumination, 7^83
scriptoria, 149
Monte Cassino and La Cava,
173
Munich Library and a notable
MS., 91-2
Missal of Henry II., ill
National styles of illumina-
tion, 134-138
INDEX
289
Netherlandish illumination,
195
its characteristics, 196
foliage ornament, its rela-
tion to wood-carving, 202
New Minster, Winchester, 150
Nicholaus of Bologna and
his work at Prag, 181
NiedermiinsterMS. at Munich,
119
Othonian illumination, 84-92
Papyrus, 8
late use of, 10
Parchment, origin of term, 8
Paris Josephus, Fouquet's mas-
terpiece, 211
Passionale of Cunigunda, 189
Perreal, Jean, 214
Portuguese Genealogies (Brit.
Mus.), 236
MSS., 233
Poyet, Jean, 219
Prayer-book of William of
Bavaria at Vienna, 193
Psalters. See Arundel, etc.
Pulcheria, the Empress, 101
Queen Mary's Psalter, 158
Rahn, Dr., on Carolingian
illumination, 62
Romance of Gerard de Rous-
sillon at Vienna, 204
Royal Library at Brussels and
its treasures, 203
mottoes, 220
Ruskin Book, the, 133
Sacramentary of Gellone, 53~~
55
Salzburg Missal at Munich,
192
Sandoval Genealogies, 235
Saracenic taste in Sicily, 188
School of Fontainebleau, 220
of Zwolle, 199
Schools of Bruges, Dij on, Paris,..
and Tours, 209
of Maestricht and Liege,
202
Scorza, G. B., of Genoa, 230
Scriptoria, 76
Semi-barbaric illumination, 49
Sicilian illumination, 187
Silvestro, Don, 180
Similarity of English and
French illumination in the
thirteenth century, 156
Sintramn of St. Gallen, 93
"Sol Gallicus" (Brit. Mus.),
225
Sources of English fifteenth-
century illumination, 161
Spanish and Portuguese illu-
mination, 226-238
illuminators, 227, etc.
"Splendor Solis " (Brit. Mus.),.
241
St. Alban's scriptorium, 152
St. Gallen, monastery of,.
founded, 63
St. Swithun's, Winchester, 151
Stefaneschi, Cardinal, patron
of Giotto, 173
Stowe Missal, 236
its colour - scheme and
ornamentation, 237-8
Stvle no proof of provenance-
of MSS., 137
Tenison Psalter, 156
290 ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Theophano, the Empress, 89
Torre do Tombo at Lisbon
and its MSS., 231
<l Tresor des Histoires" (Brit.
Mus.), 212
Tuotilo, 39, 93. 94, 104
Vaast, St., of Arras, Evan-
getiary, 69
Valentina of Milan, Duchess
of Orleans, 213
Valerius Maximus (Brit. Mus.),
213
Vatican MSS., 20
Vellum, etc., 6
Venetian "Ducali," 242
Versailles Livy, etc., at Paris
(Fouquet), 211
Vienna Genesis, 21
Vine-stem style of illumination,
184
I Visigothic writing, 14
| Volume, origin of term, 16
Wattenbach on writing quoted,
IS, 17, 18
I Wenzel Bible, 191
Wilhelm v. Oransse, 165, 167
Winchester work, earliest ex-
ample of, 6 1
Writing, its antiquity, 1 1
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