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Jean Howard McDuffie
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THE CONNOISSEUR'S LIBRARY
GENERAL EDITOR: CYRIL DAVENPORT
ILLUMINATED
MANUSCRIPTS
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ILLUMINATED
MANUSCRIPTS
BY
J. A. HERBERT
Connoisseurs
NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
LONDON: METHUEN & CO. LTD.
1911
TO
SIR GEORGE WARNER
MAGISTRO DISCIPULUS
PREFACE
IN the following pages an attempt is made to sketch
the history of the illumination of vellum manu-
scripts, from classical times down to the decay and
virtual disuse of the art which resulted inevitably, though
not immediately, from the introduction of printing ; de-
scribing the main characteristics of each of the most
important periods and schools, and following the develop-
ment of the successive styles so far as existing materials
allow. These materials, for some sections abundant
almost to excess, are for others scanty, and sometimes
fail altogether ; so that it is no easy task to make them
tell an orderly, consecutive, and well-proportioned story.
The question of proportion is always a difficult one for
the author of a compendium ; and I must admit that
exception might be taken to my allotting so much more
space to a few Classical and Early Christian manuscripts
than to the vast bulk of French fifteenth century work.
My defence is that the student of illumination, for whose
guidance this book is intended, is sure to be already
familiar with examples of the later work, and to need
little more than a few hints as to what is best in it ; so
that a much greater degree of compression is permissible
and desirable here than in discussing the earlier manu-
scripts, which are rare, little known, and difficult of
access, yet have vital significance as marking stages in
the development of the art. The references in the foot-
notes, and the classified bibliography and index of manu-
Vll
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
scripts at the end, will, it is hoped, be of service to the
reader who wishes to carry his studies further.
My thanks are due to the late Sir T. Brooke, Mr.
H. Yates Thompson, and the Rev. E. S. Dewick, for the
plate from Mr. Bewick's edition of the Metz Pontifical.
I have also to thank Mr. Thompson for giving me
repeated access to his splendid collection, and for leave
to reproduce a page from his Hours of Jeanne de
Navarre. The plate from Kraus's edition of the Codex
Egberti is given by kind permission of Messrs. Herder,
the publishers ; those from the Codex Rossanensis and
Codex Gertrudianus, by kind permission of my friend
Dr. A. Haseloff. For the plate from the Peterborough
Psalter I have to thank the President and Fellows of the
Society of Antiquaries ; for those from the "Tres Riches
Heures" and the "Quarante Fouquet," M. Gustave
Macon, Conservateur-adjoint of the Muse"e Conde". I
am further indebted to many other possessors or custo-
dians of manuscripts, notably to M. Omont at Paris, Mr.
Madan at Oxford, Mr. Palmer at S. Kensington, and
Pere van den Gheyn at Brussels. Finally, I wish to
record my gratitude to three friends who have laid me
under specially great obligations: Miss Evelyn Underhill,
my colleague Mr. G. F. Hill, and, above all, my depart-
mental chief, Sir George Warner, Keeper of MSS. in
the British Museum. The extent of my debt to the
last-named, indeed, is but faintly suggested on the
dedication-page and in the footnotes.
J. A. HERBERT
i June, 1911
V1I1
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE, ... ... vii
LIST OF PLATES, xi
CHAPTER I. THE ILLUMINATION OF CLASSICAL
MANUSCRIPTS, i
II. EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION TO
THE END OF THE SlXTH CENTURY, 14
III. BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION, . . 36
IV. CELTIC ILLUMINATION, ... 66
V. THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE, . 88
VI. OUTLINE-DRAWINGS OF THE NINTH,
TENTH, AND ELEVENTH CEN-
TURIES, ESPECIALLY IN ENGLAND, IO6
VII. ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO A.D. 1200, 122
,, VIII. GERMAN, FRENCH, AND FLEMISH
ILLUMINATION, A.D. 900-1200, . 143
IX. ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300, 160
X. ENGLISH ILLUMINATION IN THE
THIRTEENTH CENTURY, . .174
XI. FRENCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN
ILLUMINATION IN THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY, 192
XII. ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE, 209
IX
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
PAGE
CHAPTER XIII. ENGLISH ILLUMINATION IN THE
FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH
CENTURIES, .... 220
,, XIV. FRENCH ILLUMINATION IN THE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY, . 236
XV. ITALIAN ILLUMINATION IN THE
FOURTEENTH CENTURY, . 255
XVI. FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER
1400, . . 265
,, XVII. THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE, . 286
XVIII. FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER
1300, 306
NOTE ON THE VARIOUS KINDS OF LlTURGICAL
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS, .... 324
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY, 331
INDEX I MANUSCRIPTS, 341
II SCRIBES AND ILLUMINATORS, . . 346
III GENERAL, 347
LIST OF PLATES
I. Breviary of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy.
French, 1404-19. Brit. Mus., Harl. 2897 . Frontispiece
TO FACE PAGE
II. Virgil. IVth cent. (?). Rome, Vatican, Cod. 3225. [From
Codices e Vaticanis selecti, vol. i, 1899] .... 6
III. Gospels (Codex Rossanensis). Vlth cent Rossano
Cathedral. [From Haseloff, Codex purpureus Rossa-
nensis, 1898] 25
IV. Gospels. Byzantine, Xlth cent. Brit. Mus., Burney 19 37
V. Simeon Metaphrastes. Xl-XIIth cent. Brit. Mus., Add.
11870 52
VI. Psalter of Melissenda, Queen of Jerusalem. Byzantine,
1131-44. Brit. Mus., Egerton 1139 60
VII. Gospels (Book of Kells). Irish, VII I-IXth cent. Dublin,
Trin. Coll. [From Abbott, Celtic Ornaments from the
Book of Kells, 1895] 66
VIII. Lindisfarne Gospels (Durham Book). Circa 700. Brit.
Mus., Nero D.'w 74
IX. Gospels (" Codex Aureus "). Carolingian, circa 800.
Brit. Mus., Harl. 2788 90
X. Gospel-book of S. Medard's Abbey, Soissons. Early
IXth cent. Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 8850 ... 94
XI. Alcuin Bible. Carolingian, IXth cent. Brit. Mus., Add.
10546 96
XII. Utrecht Psalter. IXth cent. Utrecht University. [From
Pal. Soc. Autotype Facsimile, 1874] IJ O
XIII. Liber Vitae of Newminster, Winchester. Early Xlth
cent. Brit. Mus., Stowe 944 1 1 8
XIV. Psalter. English, Xlth cent. Brit. Mus., Tib. C. vi .120
XV. Grimbald Gospels. Winchester, Xlth cent. Brit. Mus.,
Add. 34890 132
XVI. Bible. English, XI Ith cent. Winchester Chapter Library 138
XVII. Life of St. Guthlac. English, late XI Ith cent. Brit.
Mus., Harley Roll Y. 6 140
xi
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
XXIV.
XXV.
XXVI.
XXVIL
XXVIII.
XXIX.
XXX.
XXXI.
XXXII.
XXXIII.
XXXIV.
XXXV.
XXXVI.
XXXVII.
XXXVIII.
xii
TO FACE PACK
Codex Egberti. 977-93. Trier, Stadtbibliothek.
[From Kraus, Die Miniaturen des Cod. Egberti, 1884] 148
Psalter of Egbert, Archbishop of Trier, 977-93.
Cividale, Codex Gertrudianus. [From Haseloff, Der
Psalter Erzbischof Egberts, 1901] . . . . 152
Exultet Roll. Italian, XI Ith cent. Brit. Mus., Add.
30337 166
Psalter. English, early XI I Ith cent. Brit. Mus.,
Roy. i D. x 176
Psalter of Robert de Lindesey, Abbot of Peter-
borough, 1220-2. Society of Antiquaries, MS. 59
Bible. English, XI I Ith cent. Brit. Mus., Roy. I D. i
Psalter of Prince Alphonso (Tenison Psalter). English,
1284. Brit. Mus., Add. 24686 ....
Psalter. French, XI I Ith cent. Brit. Mus., Add. 17868
Gospel-Lectionary. Paris, late XI I Ith cent. Brit.
Mus., Add. 17341
Surgical treatise by Roger of Parma. French, XI I Ith
cent. Brit. Mus., Sloane 1977 ....
Somme le Roi. French, circa 1300. Brit. Mus.,
Add. 28162
Psalter. Flemish, XI I Ith cent. Brit. Mus. Roy., 28. iii
Apocalypse. English, late XI I Ith cent. Oxford,
Bodl. Douce 180
Psalter. English, early XlVth cent. Brit. Mus.,
Roy. 2 B. vii .
(Same)
Psalter. East Anglian, early XlVth cent. Brit.
Mus., Arundel %$
Cuttings from a Missal. English, late XlVth cent.
Brit. Mus., Add. 29704
Metz Pontifical. 1302-16. Library of H.Y.Thompson,
Esq. (formerly of Sir T. Brooke, Bart.). [From
Dewick, Metz Pontifical, 1902] ....
Horae of Jeanne de Navarre. French, circa 1336-48.
Library of H. Y. Thompson, Esq. [From H. Y.
Thompson, Hours of Joan II, Queen of Navarre,
1899] - -
S. Augustine, De Civitate Dei. French, late XlVth
cent. Brit. Mus., Add. 15245 ....
Horae. Flemish, circa 1300. Brit. Mus., Stowe 17 .
1 80
184
190
196
198
200
202
204
216
220
222
226
232
238
244
246
254
LIST OF PLATES
TO FACE PAGS
XXXIX. Niccolo di Ser Sozzo, 1334-6. Siena, Archivio di
Stato, Caleffo dell' Assunta 258
XL. " Tres Riches Heures" of Jean, Due de Berry, d. 1416.
By Paul de Limbourg and his brothers. Chantilly,
Musee Conde ........ 272
XLI. Bedford Hours. French, circa 1423. Brit. Mus., Add.
18850 .... 274
XLI I. Horae of E. Chevalier, by Jean Fouquet, mid. XVth
cent. Chantilly, Musee Conde. [From Gruyer, Les
Quar ante Fouquet, 1897] 280
XLIII. Horae, School of J. Fouquet. French, arm 1470. Brit.
Mus., Egerton 2045 282
XLIV. Leaf from Choir-book. Sienese, early XVth cent. Brit.
Mus., Add. 35254 C 288
XLV. Scotus, Quaestiones in Sententias. Italian, 1458-94.
Brit. Mus., Add. 15273 290
XLVI. Liberale da Verona. Circa 1475. Siena, Libreria Piccolo-
mini. Gradual 298
XLVII. Sforza Book of Hours. Milanese, circa 1490. Brit.
Mus., Add. 34294. [From Warner, Sforza Book, 1894] 300
XLVIII. (Same) 302
XLIX. Mandeville's Travels. Flemish, early XVth cent. Brit.
Mus., Add. 24189 308
L. Prayer-book. Flemish, circa 1492. Brit. Mus., Add.
25698 ... .316
LI. Horae ("Golf Book"). Flemish, early XVIth cent. Brit.
Mus., Add. 24098 322
Xlll
CORRIGENDA
Plate VII. For Vllth cent, read VHI-IXth cent.
Plate XXXV. For Sir T. Brooke, Bart., read H. Y. Thompson, Esq.
Plate L. For Book of Hours read Prayer-book.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
CHAPTER I
THE ILLUMINATION OF CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
THE opening chapter of a complete history of
illuminated manuscripts, in the widest sense of
the term, ought no doubt to be devoted to
Egyptian papyri. Many of these were richly adorned
with coloured illustrations ; and specimens of this art A
survive dating back to the fifteenth century B.C., such as X
the famous Book of the Dead made for Ani, now in the
British Museum. But the present work is less ambitious :
only illuminations on vellum come within its scope, and
only such of these, for the most part, as are of European
origin. In one respect, however, we must extend the
definition of illuminated manuscripts. Strictly speak-
ing, the term is only applicable to manuscripts which
are illustrated or ornamented in colours ; some writers
would even restrict it to those in which the precious
metals too are used which are "lit up" by gold or silver
foil. But paintings and outline-drawings are so inti-
mately connected (at all events, as applied to the
embellishment of vellum manuscripts) that the latter
can hardly be excluded from an attempt to describe the
development of the illuminator's art.
Tradition assigns the invention of vellum to Eu-
menes II, king of Pergamum, B.C. 197-158, though the
skins of animals, more or less specially prepared as
writing material, had undoubtedly been used in Egypt
long before his time. But the earliest definite reference
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
to an illuminated manuscript on vellum occurs in
Martial's Epigrams, written towards the end of the first
century of the Christian era. Among other inscriptions
for gifts of various kinds is one for a Virgil on vellum,
having a portrait of the poet for a frontispiece (xiv. 186) :
Vergilius in membranis
Quam brevis inmensum cepit membrana Maronem !
Ipsius et vultus prima tabella gerit.
This gift-book has not survived to our days. It is
interesting, however, to find that one of the few extant
remains of classical book-illustration is a Virgil 1 con-
taining the poet's portrait ; not indeed on the first page,
but on more than one of those which follow.
The distich just quoted proves that the art of
miniature was practised in Martial's time. No speci-
mens survive, however, which can be assigned to an
earlier date than the fourth century ; in fact, only three
illuminated manuscripts of the classical period are now
known to exist the two Virgils in the Vatican and the
Iliad at Milan. These are precious both for their rarity,
and also as an indication of the style of much work
which has now vanished ; for the Iliad and the smaller
Virgil show by the fully developed manner of their paint-
ings that they are less the casual beginnings, than the
last products, of an art. It seems unlikely, however,
that this art had ever attained great proportions or
enjoyed general popularity. No doubt there were many
classical illuminated manuscripts (as there were many
manuscripts of all kinds) which have perished, both
separately and in the wholesale destruction of great
libraries such as those of Alexandria, Constantinople,
and Rome. But we may fairly assume that no greater
proportion of these were destroyed than of other kinds
Indeed, books with paintings, being always more costl
than plainly written copies, would be guarded more
1 Cod. Vat. lat. 3867.
CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
carefully, and we might therefore expect more of them
to survive, relatively to the total number executed. The
Ambrosian Iliad, for instance, was preserved purely for
the sake of its pictures, all the plain leaves having long
ago disappeared. But we find that whilst numerous
codices of classical texts exist, in a more or less complete
state, written in the fourth and fifth centuries, if not
earlier, only the three above mentioned show any trace
of illumination.
It may seem strange that the masterpieces of Greek
and Roman literature, with their wealth of material,
and with the numerous models afforded by paintings and
sculptures of the best periods of Greek art, should not
have produced a large and influential school of book-
illustration. But illumination is an art which appeals
chiefly to the class of mind that enjoys detailed beauty,
small refinements, exquisite finish. The genius of Roman
art was quite other than this. It was an art of display,
which expressed itself chiefly in statuary, architecture,
mural paintings ; the ornamentation of great surfaces of
the house and street. It raised triumphal arches and
splendid tombs, but did not trouble itself much about
the enrichment of books for private pleasure. The
illuminated Homer or Virgil was always the fancy of
an individual, never the necessity of the library.
One sort of book, however the Calendar seems to
have been illustrated with paintings from a very early
period, if we may accept the available evidence, which
is rather of a second-hand kind, coming mainly, in fact,
from a seventeenth century copy of a ninth century
manuscript, which is supposed in its turn to have been
copied from a fourth century original, now lost. This
copy, now in the Barberini Library at Rome, 1 was made
for that accurate and unprejudiced antiquary Peiresc,
who showed a patience and common sense, in his deal-
1 Published by J. Strzygowski, Die Calenderbilder des Chronograph* n vom
Jahre 354, Berlin, 1888 (Jahrbuch des k. deutschen archaol. Instituts, Erganz-
ungsheft i.).
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ings with antiquity, far beyond the average of his own,
or even of a later, day. It bears many evidences of
authenticity, as well as some indication of the copyist's
desire to " improve upon " his original. In a word, we
have fairly good reason for believing the fourth century
original to have been illustrated, and that in much the
same way as the later copies, so far as the subjects are
concerned ; but it would be rash to draw any inference
from the existing pictures as to the style of execution, or
even the details of composition, of the lost archetype. 1
The work in question is generally known as the
Calendar of the Sons of Constantine, and its date is
fixed, by the " Natales Caesarum " and other chrono-
logical notes, at the year 354 A.D. It purports to have
been executed, probably at Rome, by Furius Dionysius
Filocalus for a patron named Valentine. The drawings
with which it is illustrated represent the cities of Rome,
Alexandria, Constantinople, and Trier, personified in true
classic fashion as female figures Trier as an Amazon
leading a captive barbarian ; the planets, the sun and
moon, the months, the signs of the zodiac. There are
also portraits of Constantius II and Constantius Gallus
Caesar. The figures of the months are specially interest-
ing as the forerunners of the delightful Calendar-pictures
prefixed to the Psalters and Books of Hours of the
Middle Ages. They are generally nude or half-draped
youths, and symbolize, more or less directly, the occupa-
tions proper to the various seasons. Thus March is a
shepherd-boy, pointing upwards to a swallow ; October,
with a basket of fruit, is taking a hare from a trap. These
1 The danger is well exemplified by a thirteenth century copy (Paris, Bibl.
Nat., nouv. acq. lat. 1359) of an eleventh century chronicle of the abbey of
S. Martin des Champs (Brit. Mus., Add. 11662). The miniatures in the copy
correspond exactly with the drawings in the original as to subject and position in
the text ; but there the resemblance ceases. The later illustrator, with the sound
artistic instinct which characterized his time, made no pretence of imitating the
crude designs of his predecessor. See M. Prou in the Revue de I'arf chrttien,
1890, pp. 122-8. On the other hand, some of the drawings in Harl. 603
(eleventh century), are almost exact reproductions of those in the ninth century
Utrecht Psalter.
CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
month-pictures exist, not only in the copies made for
Peiresc, but also in a fifteenth century MS. at Vienna,
from which Strzygowski has published five (Jan-
uary, April to July) to make good the deficiencies of
the Barberini MS. The Vienna pictures are rectangular,
without any ornamental framing ; but those in Peiresc's
copy are placed in decorated frames, with a pediment sur-
mounted by a lunette addition, decorated with debased
classical patterns, such as the Greek scroll, cable, egg-and-
dog-tooth, very carelessly executed. Unless these are
the tasteful addition of the ninth century copyist a not
improbable hypothesis we have here the only evidence
that classical illuminators ornamented, as well as illus-
trated, their books. The miniatures in the classical texts
which we shall next consider are pictorial only ; it is
not until the sixth century that we meet with other in-
stances of the use of decorative borders and conventional
ornament.
Of the three classical manuscripts to which we have
already referred, by far the best is the smaller of the two
Virgils in the Vatican. 1 Its pictures are not all of equal
merit, but the best are painted in so mature a manner,
with so dexterous a technique, as to make one feel very
sure that we have in them the only surviving work of
a large and developed school of illumination. It has
been very carefully studied by M. Pierre de Nolhac, 2 and
published in photographic facsimile by the authorities of
the Vatican Library. 3 In its present fragmentary state
it consists of seventy-five leaves, containing parts of the
Georgics and of the Aeneid ; about one-fifth or one-sixth,
perhaps, of the original manuscript. Nothing is known
of its history until the fifteenth century, when it was at
Naples, in the possession of Gioviano Pontano. In trac-
1 Cod. Vat. lat. 3225, sometimes called "Schedae Vaticanae," but more
generally known as "the Vatican Virgil"; the larger and artistically inferior
Virgil, Cod. Vat. lat. 3867, being styled " Codex Romanus."
2 In Notices et Extraits, xxxv., pt. ii., 1897, pp. 683-791.
3 frogmen fa et Picturae Vergiiiana Codicis Vaticani 3225, Rome, 1899 (vol. i.
of Codices e Vaticanis sekcti phototypice expressi}.
ing its subsequent adventures, M. de Nolhac has shown
that it must have been seen by Raphael, who was in-
spired by more than one of its designs. The text is
written throughout by one hand, in rustic capitals, a kind
of script notoriously difficult to date with any confidence.
The best judges concur, however, in assigning it on
palaeographical grounds to the fourth century ; and the
fine execution of the earlier miniatures, the really classical
pose and style of the figures, point to this rather than to
a later date, when the artistic decadence consequent on
the barbarian invasions was far advanced.
The book has now fifty miniatures, six occupying the
full page, the remainder from half to two-thirds of a page.
Each is enclosed in a rectangular frame of red, black, and
white bands, the red decorated with gilt lozenges. There
are nine illustrations of the Georgics, and forty-one of the
Aeneid. In these paintings M. de Nolhac finds the work
of three separate artists, of the same school and period,
but of very different degrees of merit. To the best of the
three (A) he assigns the Georgics series, pictures 1-9 ; to
the worst (B), pictures 10-25 ; the remainder he gives to a
third artist (C), inferior to A, but better than B. Sig.
Venturi 1 agrees in attributing the first nine pictures to A,
but would also credit him with thirteen of the C series
(26-32, 40-4, 46) ; and he is disposed to assign seven of
the B series (11, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24) and three of the
C series (35, 38, 45) to a fourth artist. It would be
presumptuous to attempt to judge between these two
distinguished critics. Provisionally, however, M. de
Nolhac's hypothesis may be accepted as at least highly
probable.
The illustrator of the Georgics 2 was evidently a painter
of great skill and taste. His pastoral pictures show
something of that sense of the idyllic in country life
which is peculiar to the cultured dweller in cities. His
figures, too, are well posed, graceful, in good proportion ;
the animals natural and full of movement. The freedom
1 Storia del? Arte Italiana, i., 1901, pp. 312-26. 2 See plate ii.
6
PLATE II
VIRGIL. IViH CENT O)
ROMK, VATICAN, COP. 3225
CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
and sense of space in these little pictures are truly artistic.
They are painted with the direct touch of a person accus-
tomed to work in a ductile medium. The colours are
thick ; many of the miniatures have suffered through
this, the thickest layers having flaked off. There is no
trace of preliminary outline-drawing. The soft handling
of the draperies is very different from the crisp, hard
manner of the Byzantine painters. The artist, too, is
something of a naturalist. Not content with telling a
story, he also composes a credible scene. His back-
grounds have recess, his trees are not mere symbols ; he
even has some idea of perspective, both aerial and linear.
As for his personages, slight and graceful in type, they
seem to stand midway between the wall-paintings of
Pompeii and those late-classical mosaics of Ravenna
(Tomb of Galla Placidia and Baptistery of the Orthodox),
which show a suppleness and sense of movement not
yet crushed by the formalism and part-spiritual, part-
decorative aims of Byzantine art.
Many of these excellences, however, belong to the
individual artist, not to his school. The first sixteen of
the Aeneid illustrations, be they by one hand or two,
show a sad falling-off. Good modelling and composition
vanish, so does delicacy in sense of colour. The artist
(assuming him to be but one in any case, the main
characteristics are the same throughout) illustrates his
subject, often with a certain vigour, but does not make a
picture out of it. Often he loses all sense of proportion,
tiny buildings being combined with figures twice their
height. There is no hint of perspective ; the painting in
general is coarse and careless, and the attempts at facial
expression merely grotesque. Perhaps the seven minia-
tures assigned by Sig. Venturi to a different hand are a
trifle worse than some of the others ; but all are bad,
especially when compared with the charming pictures
which precede them.
A marked improvement begins with Picture 26, and
is sustained, more or less completely, to the end of the
7
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
volume. The modelling and colouring become decidedly
better ; and in some of the pictures, such as the Death
of Dido (27), there is a distinct effort to represent emotion.
Individual figures and buildings are well done, but the
artist lacks the power of successful combination. The
miniature of Latinus receiving the Trojan envoys (41),
however, is a really charming picture. The late-classical
temple in the forest is painted with great delicacy, while
the contrast between the cold, severe architecture and the
deeps of the woods has not only been felt, but is communi-
cated to the spectator.
The colour throughout the manuscript is deep, rich,
and harmonious ; and the first and third hands show
considerable understanding of gradation, e.g. in the
Boat-race scene (28), where the sea gradually changes
from a dark tint in the foreground to pale green in the
distance. The high lights of draperies and accessories
are touched with gold. The flesh-tints are always brick-
red, and recall (says M. de Nolhac) those of the Pompeian
wall-paintings. Foliage is a dark green, in parts nearly
black ; but the second artist, in his careless hurry, some-
times uses blue. Otherwise, all three painters seem to
have practically used the same paint-box, only distributing
their tints with varying degrees of skill.
After the Vatican Virgil it seems natural to mention
the fragments of the Iliad, now in the Ambrosian Library
at Milan; 1 for the two manuscripts have much in common.
The Iliad fragments consist of fifty-two separate leaves
of vellum, containing fifty-eight miniatures, all the full
width of the page, but of various heights. These are
mostly on only one side of the leaf, the other side having
portions of the text, in uncial writing of the fifth
century ; and it is evident that the book in its original
state was a complete Iliad, profusely illustrated, com-
1 Homeri Iliadis pictae fragmenta Ambrosiana phototypice edita, with preface
by A. M. Ceriani, Milan, 1905. See too Pal. Soc., i. 39, 40, 50, 51. The
engravings published by Mai in 1819 and 1835 are not exact enough to be satis-
factory for study, but his descriptions (which Ceriani reprints) are invaluable.
8
CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
prising (according to Ceriani's estimate) 386 leaves with
about 240 miniatures. What survives has evidently
been preserved solely for its artistic interest : not only
have the leaves been cut down as far as possible with-
out encroaching on the pictures, but the text on the
verso pages was covered, until Mai's time, with a paper
backing, which was apparently put there as early as the
thirteenth century.
Most of the miniatures are so stained and worn that
it is difficult to judge of their original appearance. A
largeness and freedom of manner, however, are evident,
suggestive rather of mural painting than of illumination.
Fine juxtaposition of mass is aimed at, rather than
subtlety of line. It seems not improbable that the
designs may have been copied from frescoes or other
large paintings of the Augustan age, since lost. The
style of the best is certainly Graeco-Roman, but the
work is most unequal, some of the compositions being
full of dignity, whilst others, weak, scattered, and lack-
ing in proportion, seem to proceed from a different and
very inferior school. Here, perhaps, antique models
failed the artist. Many childish devices appear, such as
making the slain in battle-pieces only half the size of
the living, and the ridiculous perhaps only symbolic
representation of Troy as a tiny walled space containing
half a dozen soldiers. On the other hand, there are
many charming single figures, especially Thetis, the
winged Night, Apollo with his garland, sprig, and lyre,
and the river-god Scamander ; some of the battle-scenes,
too, are full of life and vigour. There does not seem
to be, even in the best pictures, anything like the fine
artistic feeling and finished execution of the best minia-
tures in the Vatican Virgil ; but the average merit of
the book is perhaps higher. The pictures are enclosed
in plain banded frames of red and blue. The favourite
tints are white, blue, green, and purple, with a pre-
ponderance of red ; no gold is used, its place being taken
by a bright yellow. Some of the outlines are in pale
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ink ; two of the pictures have landscape backgrounds,
in the rest the backgrounds are plain. The coloured
nimbi worn by the gods Zeus purple, Aphrodite green,
the others blue are not without interest for the student
of Christian iconography.
From these two books, which retain in an enfeebled
form something of the grand and gracious manner of
Graeco-Roman art, how great is the drop to our third and
last classical manuscript ! This is the larger illustrated
Virgil 1 of the Vatican Library, numbered Cod. Vat.
lat. 3867 and called the " Codex Romanus." Thanks
to similarity of subject, age, and place, it has been per-
sistently confused, even by those who should know
better, with the probably older and certainly infinitely
superior Cod. Vat. lat. 3225 described above the
Vatican Virgil par excellence. The Codex Romanus is
a large, coarsely executed manuscript, whose exceeding
ugliness has even caused some critics to suggest that it
was decorated as a sort of artistic joke for the amuse-
ment of a Roman schoolboy ! As the text, however, is
as debased as the illustration, it would seem that its
imperfections are the result of ignorance, not of a
strained sense of humour. Expert opinion is divided
as to its age: the form of writing rustic capitals
of an early type has led the editors of the Palaeo-
fraphical Society 3 to assign it provisionally to the
rst half of the fourth century, or possibly the closing
years of the third ; while other critics, judging by the
corruptness of the text and the crudeness of the paint-
ings, would relegate it to the sixth century or even later.
The Vatican editors review the rival opinions carefully
in their learned preface ; their own judgment is that the
manuscript is not later than the sixth century, nor earlier
than the end of the fourth. The book certainly seems
to belong to a period when the classical style had become
1 Picturae . . . Cod. Vat. 3867, Rome, 1902 (vol. ii. of Codices e Vaticanis
sclecti phototypict expressi).
2 Series i., pi. 113-14, and introd. p. vii.
10
CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
a dead tradition, not a living force. This is strikingly
apparent when one compares the feeble portraits of
Virgil, which occur on three of the earlier pages, with
their indubitable though distant prototype, the superb
mosaic-portrait of Virgil sitting between Clio and
Melpomene, recently found at Susa and published by
the Fondation Eugene Piot. 1 But the shortcomings of
the manuscript may perhaps be indications, not of late
date, but of provincial origin. Inscriptions at the begin-
ning and end show that in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries it belonged to the abbey of S. Denis near
Paris ; and its editors suggest that it may possibly have
been there from the eighth century onwards. In that
case it might be presumed, without gross improbability,
to represent a praiseworthy effort on the part of a Gaulish
scribe and artist for the delectation of some wealthy
patron ; and to have visited Italy for the first time when
it made its way, between 1455 and 1475, into the
Papal Library.
Unlike its more comely neighbour and the Milan Iliad,
the Codex Romanus is nearly complete ; it consists of
309 leaves of very fine vellum, containing nearly the
whole of the Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid. There are
nineteen miniatures, many of them full-page, all of the
full width of the text, mostly enclosed in rough banded
borders of red and gold. The first seven (including the
three portraits of the poet) illustrate the Eclogues, the
next two the Georgics, and the last ten the Aeneid. The
drawing is rough throughout, and the colouring harsh.
The Virgil-portrait, which is twice repeated with practic-
ally no variation, and some of the scenes in the Aeneid
were doubtless copied as well as the painter could
from classical models. These were not necessarily minia-
tures ; the patron's house may well have been adorned,
like that at Susa, with a series of mosaics illustrating the
Aeneid. In the rest, where the painter probably had
nothing but his own imagination to guide him, the
1 Man. et Mlm.) iv, 1897, pi. xx, pp. 233-44.
II
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
designs are childish, grotesque, and monotonous, par-
ticularly in the pastoral pictures. It is perhaps worth
noting that the nimbus here occurs, not only as in the
Ambrosian Iliad as an attribute of the gods in council,
but also on the heads of Aeneas and others when sitting
in state, whether for consultation or feasting.
On the whole, the Codex Romanus is of little use
for the study of classical illuminations ; and its chance
survival has done injustice to their memory. It is on
the Ambrosian Iliad and the Vatican Virgil that our ideas
of Roman miniature must be based ; and perhaps also on
a further series of books which, though not dating from
such early times, seem to have preserved the ancient
traditions with great fidelity. These are the illustrated
copies of the Comedies of Terence, many of which have
survived to us from the ninth and later centuries ; l they
seem to have enjoyed a great and unique popularity
during the Dark Ages, and indeed right down to the
twelfth century. Though differing considerably in age,
they are much alike in style. A more or less fixed tradi-
tion for their illustration had evidently been early set up,
probably in classical times ; and since there are few more
absolute despots than an established iconography, this
tradition was never disobeyed.
By far the best of these manuscripts is No. 3868 in the
Vatican Library. It is of the ninth century ; and its
finely painted miniatures have been said to make nearly
all other illuminated copies of the Latin classics look
squalid in comparison. 2 Of the remainder, perhaps the
Paris MS. 7899, also ninth century, deserves the lead-
ing place. The Ambrosian MS. H. 75 inf., tenth century,
is imperfect ; it is copiously illustrated with rough but
very expressive outline-drawings, tinted in blue and
brown, of figures the dramatis personae of the plays
1 Terentius. Cod. Ambros. H, 75 inf. phototypice editus, ed. Bethe, Leyden,
1903 (vol. viii of De Vries, Codices Graeci ct Latini); with ninety one reproduc-
tions from other Terence MSS. and printed books.
2 Ibid., col. 10.
12
CLASSICAL MANUSCRIPTS
sometimes with suggestions of a building, but with no
attempt at background or illusion. Complete manu-
scripts usually have a portrait of Terence at the beginning,
supported by two actors in comic masks. After this
come the Comedies, with numerous sketches of the male
and female performers gesticulating and pointing at one
another in violent and apparently angry conversation.
The men are nearly always masked ; the ladies have
streaming hair, and their attitudes and expressions are
full of excitement. At the beginning of each play is
a sketch of the faces of the characters, arranged in tiers,
often looking out from the front of a theatre, but some-
times simply enclosed in a rectangular frame.
With the Terence codices our meagre supply of clas-
sical manuscripts comes to an end. There is an Iliad 1 in
S. Mark's Library at Venice, of the tenth or eleventh
century, but its few marginal drawings and full-page
pictures are aesthetically negligible. The same may be
said of the drawings of constellations which occur in
manuscripts of Cicero's Aratea. An Aeneid was illu-
minated in 1198 by the monk Giovanni Alighieri, in gold
and colours, and was preserved down to 1782 in the
Carmelites' library at Ferrara; 2 but this was probably an
isolated exception. The medieval Church, mother of the
medieval arts, turned the art of the miniaturist to more
pious uses than the illustration of pagan texts. Not until
the fourteenth century was far advanced does the supply
of illuminated classics recommence. Then, and still
more in the following century, when the Renaissance had
brought Greek and Latin literature into fashion again, we
get a superb series of illustrated codices by Italian and
French artists ; but these, being classical only in subject,
will be best treated along with other works of their school
and date.
1 Homeri Ilias cum scholiis Cod. Ven. A, Marcianus 454, ed. D. Comparetti,
Leyden, 1901 (De Vries, Codd. Gr. et Lat., vol. vi).
2 See Brit. Mus., Add. MS. 22347, ff. 69, ^b ; J. W. Bradley, Did. of
Miniaturists ) i, 1887, p. 22.
13
CHAPTER II
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION TO THE
END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY
WHEN in A.D. 330 the seat of Imperial govern-
ment was removed from Rome to Byzantium,
the centre of intellectual and artistic activity
also moved eastwards. By this time the long-decadent
Graeco-Roman art, the pagan world from which it had
come, were almost dead. New influences were gradually
making themselves felt : influences which finally devel-
oped, on their aesthetic side, into that which we call the
Byzantine manner.
Battles have long raged about the question as to
whence this new style drew its chief inspiration : whether
from Syria or Alexandria, Byzantium or Rome. All, it
would seem, contributed something towards it. This,
however, is not the place for detailed discussion of ques-
tions which belong to the general history of art ; the
reader who wishes to grapple with the " Byzantine
question" must study the writings of those who have
devoted themselves to it. 1 Here, we are concerned with
the evolution of style only in so far as it affects the art of
illumination, which is seen, in the period which we are
considering, " standing between two worlds " : taking
something from the past as the early Christians took
the symbols of the Catacombs but re-making the ele-
1 For a concise summary of most of the contesting theories see F. X. Kraus,
Gtschichte der christlichcn Kunst y i (Freiburg i. B., 1896), pp. 538-50. But the
literature has grown considerably in recent years ; for fuller and more up-to-date
treatment see M. Gabriel Millet's chapter on "L'art byzantin" in A. Michel's
Histoire de I* Art, i, pt. i (Paris, 1905), pp. 127-301, with an extensive bibliography
at the end.
14
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
ments derived from that past in the light of a new
inspiration.
The new style, which resulted from the conflicting in-
fluences and eclectic culture of the early Byzantine Empire,
is found fully developed in the mosaics of the sixth cen-
tury. In illumination, if we judge as we must from
surviving manuscripts, the process of assimilation was a
slower one. Book-illustration lagged behind the other
arts ; and at the time when the great mosaics of Ravenna
were being produced it showed, alongside the character-
istics which link it with those works, strange barbarisms
and survivals of dead tradition. The manuscripts which
remain to us, however, are so few in number and so
diverse in manner, and so little is known of their birth-
place or their date, that the task of tracing their evolution
is extremely difficult ; the attempt to pronounce with any
certainty upon the tendencies which they represent, practi-
cally a hopeless one.
It would be misleading to give the name Byzantine to
these manuscripts of the transition period, for that peculiar
and well-defined manner which is known as the Byzantine
style is not yet developed in them. They show us an art
which was in a fluid and transitional state, old memories
and new ideas existing side by side. In some, the decay
of the classical manner is still far more apparent than the
new influence; in none has the new influence really " found
itself " and attained the proportions of a style. Produced
apparently in various parts of Europe and Western Asia,
written mostly in Greek and under ecclesiastical influences,
they are best described, perhaps, by the general name of
Early Christian; since the new aesthetic ideals which
they begin to exhibit, if not wholly to be attributed to the
definite triumph of the Christian religion, at any rate
developed side by side with it.
It is notorious that the early Church adapted, so far
as she could, the elements of pagan symbolism to Christian
use. The paintings of the Catacombs prove this suffi-
ciently, and their testimony is confirmed by the manuscripts
15
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of the Early Christian period. This free adaptation of
classical art is conspicuous in the first of the manuscripts
which we have here to consider, so far as we can judge
from its present much-damaged condition. This is the
Quedlinburg Itala MS., 1 which consists of five leaves from
a copy of the " Itala," or Old Latin version of the Bible,
written on vellum in fourth or early fifth century uncials.
In the seventeenth century the manuscript appears to
have been at Quedlinburg, in Prussian Saxony, and to have
fallen there into the hands of a bookbinder who thought
it just good enough to use for lining-up the covers of his
books. At all events, these five leaves were found there
two in 1865, two in 1869, one in 1887 in the bindings
of seventeenth century municipal and ecclesiastical records.
The last leaf contains text only ; the other four, now in
the Royal Library at Berlin, have one side filled with
text (parts of the books of Samuel and Kings), and the
other with illustrative miniatures, usually four to a page,
in compartments formed by broad red bands. It has
been suggested that one of the Saxon emperors may have
brought the manuscript from Italy and given it to the
monastery at Quedlinburg ; but this is merely a conjec-
ture. Certainly the pictures show close affinities with
those in the Vatican Virgil, especially with those which
M. de Nolhac assigns to the third hand ; there is the
same use of gold for heightening effects in dress and
other accessories, the same antique conception of the
human figure. The paintings are in thick body-colour,
much of which has now disappeared, leaving the pre-
liminary outlines bare (note the departure from the pure
brush-work of the Virgil) ; but enough remains to give
us some idea of the bright colouring and forcible model-
ling of these pictures in their original state. There are
already traces of the method of treating the face with
sharp high lights upon the forehead, which afterwards
became a mark of the Byzantine school. The peeling of
1 Die Quedlinburger Itala-miniaturen der k. Bibl. in Berlin, ed. Victor
Schultze, Munich, 1898.
16
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
the colours has revealed a curious feature in the shape of
instructions to the artist, written in cursive script across
the field of the pictures.
Classical methods still survive in the next great relic
of Early Christian illumination, the Cotton Genesis. Pre-
sented to Henry VIII by two Greek bishops who, we are
told, had brought it from Philippi, it was given by Queen
Elizabeth to her Greek teacher, Sir John Fortescue, and
by him again to Sir Robert Cotton. In 1618 Cotton
lent it to Peiresc to collate its text ; and that enthusiastic,
if somewhat unscrupulous, antiquary made various pre-
texts for keeping it until he had had many of the pictures
copied. He intended to have had them all engraved,
but the project fell through, Cotton insisting at last on
the return of the manuscript ; and only two of the copies
are extant. 1 This is much to be regretted ; for the fire
at Ashburnham House, in 1731, which wrought such havoc
in the Cottonian Library, left only a mass of charred
fragments to represent this once beautiful and precious
volume. Some of these went astray, and are now in the
Baptist College at Bristol ; the rest, 150 pieces in all,
have been inlaid in paper leaves, and are preserved in
the British Museum. 2
In its original state the manuscript contained the
Septuagint version of Genesis, in uncial writing of the
fifth or sixth century, illustrated with about 250 minia-
tures. None of these have survived completely ; but
the best-preserved fragments suggest strongly that the
illumination of the book was a last bright flicker on the
part of the expiring classical school. In many respects
it reminds one of the best miniatures of the Vatican
Virgil and of the Ambrosian Iliad. It shows traces of
that suavity and grace which art, in her new and severely
dogmatic mood, was soon to lose. On one or two of the
1 Paris, Bibl. Nat., fr. 9350, ff. 31, 32, published with Peiresc's letters by
H. Omont, Facsimiles des Miniatures des MSS. grecs, 1902. The second one may
be compared with its now mutilated original, Otho B. vi, f. 18.
2 Otho B. vi. See Cat. Anc. MSS., i, p. 20, pi. 8.
2 17
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
pages finely designed figures, finished with deep rich
colour and much use of fine gold lines, still remain to
show us what these pictures must have been in their
glory. That of Lot receiving the Angels (f. 260), one of
the best of these fragments, has still its delicate back-
ground of undulating country, the distant lake seen blue
between the hills ; all treated with a greater care and
naturalism than we shall find in the manuscripts of the
definitely formed Byzantine school. The angels, beauti-
ful figures in rich draperies which combine the old
fashions of Rome with the new ones of Byzantium in
an interesting way, are painted with a high degree of
finish. There is nothing barbarous here, though perhaps
the thick dark outline, which surrounds the figures and
indicates the details of the faces, is a decline from the
softer modelling of the artist of the Georgics in Vat. 3225.
Another charming fragment is f. 24, Hagar and the
Angel. Not much more than suggestions of the angel's
figure remain, but the left-hand portion of the picture is
complete, showing Hagar seated on a boulder beside the
well, with the wilderness stretching white beyond her to
the horizon ; modelling, drapery, and landscape are again
excellent. The faces too are often treated with masterly
skill, e.g. Eve on f. 3b, or Abraham's followers on f. 19,
especially one seen three-quarter face, with exquisite
features and eyes full of live expression. In some of
the miniatures, as, for instance, Abraham and the Angels
(f. 25), there is a trace of a more formal manner, stiff and
hieratic, with severe modelling, which, coupled with the
unclassical costumes, has been claimed as evidence of
Byzantine origin. Other critics find traces of barbaric
influence in the manuscript, e.g. Kraus, 1 who finds this
in the "bearded heads," though as a matter of fact most
of them are beardless ! But any general imputation of
barbarism is emphatically contradicted by the assured
and graceful drawing still to be found in many of the
1 Op. at., i, p. 459.
18
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
fragments, by the careful harmony of the colours, and by
the indescribable but obviously classical trend of the
whole work.
The miniatures which now remain are all enclosed in
plain banded borders of red, black, and white or pale
ye low ; they are of the same width as the text, and are
placed sometimes above it, sometimes below, occasionally
two on a page, with or without a few lines of text between.
Thus in general arrangement, as well as in the absence of
conventional ornament, the manuscript agrees with the
Vatican Virgil. The composition of the subjects at
least, of such as can still be traced has been studied in
detail by Dr. J. J. Tikkanen, 1 who points out that the
designs recur in later representations of scenes from
Genesis, notably in the series of mosaics which adorn the
atrio of S. Mark's at Venice.
Court life at Byzantium, as we know, was characterized
by pomp and ostentatious splendour of all kinds. Among
other ways, the prevalent taste for luxury found expres-
sion in the production of sumptuous manuscripts, written
in gold or silver uncials upon purple vellum, " burdens
rather than books," as S. Jerome called them about the
end of the fourth century, in a well-known passage of his
Preface to Job. To this class, though to a somewhat
later time, belong the next three manuscripts on our list :
the Vienna Genesis, and the Rossano and Sinope Gospels.
A still closer bond unites them, for their mutual resem-
blances are so striking as to leave little room for hesita-
tion in referring all three to the same period and locality.
The period is in all probability the first half of the sixth
century. The locality is more doubtful perhaps Byzan-
tium itself, perhaps Syria, perhaps Asia Minor ; Sig.
Mufioz, their most recent critic of authority, decides for
the last. 2
1 Archivio Storico dell' Arte, i, 1888-9, PP- 2I2 > 2 57> 34^; republished in
German, in an expanded form and with many additional illustrations, in Ada
Societatis Sdentiarum Fennicae, xvii (Helsingfors, 1891), p. 205.
2 A. Munoz, // Codice Purpureo di Rossano e il Frammento Sinopense, Rome,
1907, p. 27 ; but see A. Haseloff in L'Arte, 1907, p. 471.
19
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Nothing is known of the history of the Vienna
Genesis 1 before its entry, between 1609 and 1670, into
the Imperial Library at Vienna, where it is now preserved
under the denomination Cod. Theol. graec. 31 ; nothing,
that is, beyond an inference that it had previously been
in Italy. 2 It consists of twenty-four leaves of vellum,
stained in the dull and unpleasant purple so fashionable
in the Dark Ages, and containing forty-eight miniatures,
one on each page. The text, which fills the upper part of
the page, is in silver uncials. It is not a complete copy
of the Book of Genesis ; apart from lacunae due to the
loss of leaves, large portions are omitted in fact, the
scribe seems only to have aimed at supplying a con-
tinuous narrative to explain the illustrations. Evidently
this was a sumptuous Bible picture-book, probably one
of a large class which vanished either in consequence of
the iconoclastic controversy, or during the innumerable
"alarums and excursions" of the time. When we re-
member that, in Constantinople alone, the Senate House
and the great church of S. Sophia, with all their treasures
of sacred and profane art, had been twice burnt down
before the end of the sixth century ; when we think of
the wholesale destruction of sacred images and pictures
doubtless including pictured books by the Iconoclasts,
which began in 725 under Leo the I saurian, and con-
tinued for over a century ; the sacking of Constantinople
in 1204, and its capture by the Turks in 1453, it is not
difficult to understand why so few manuscripts dating from
early Byzantine times remain to us. The rest have gone
the way of other " missing links," to the confusion of the
systematic historian.
The Vienna Genesis, therefore, may be taken as the
1 Die Wiener Genesis, ed. Wilhelm Ritter von Hartel and Franz Wickhoff,
1895 ; forming a Beilage to vols. xv and xvi of the Vienna Jahrbuch der
kunsthist. Sammlungen. See too Kondakoff, Hist, de ? Art byzantin> i, 1886,
pp. 78-91.
2 So Hartel, p. 99. Kraus says (i, 454) that it was acquired by " Angelo "
Busbecke in Constantinople, about 1562, for the Imperial Library, evidently con-
fusing it with the Dioscorides. See Busbecq's Life and Letters ; 1881, i, 417.
2O
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
sole representative of a once numerous family of books.
It is in fine preservation, and has long been one of the
most celebrated of Early Christian manuscripts. Com-
pared with the Cotton Genesis and the Quedlinburg Itala,
redolent as they are of classical sentiment and tradition,
its art seems crude and barbarous. But one cannot help
being struck by one outstanding characteristic the extra-
ordinary vivacity which the artist has given to his scenes.
In spite of drawing which is rough and faulty, often
grotesque, and of colouring which is sometimes inhar-
monious enough to suggest complete carelessness of
aesthetic possibilities, these little pictures live. They do
not charm, but they arrest the attention. They display
a positive genius for the direct telling of a story. Never
was artist more "literary" than the illustrator of this
book. The telling of Bible history, not the production of
beauty, was his aim ; but his stiff little figures, with their
coarsely marked features and often absurd proportions,
have the fascination which belongs to all fresh and active
things.
Another characteristic of the Vienna Genesis is the
persistent use of the "continuous" treatment, i.e. the
representation in one picture, without any division, of
successive scenes or moments in a narrative. This
method, which became popular with all the arts in the
Middle Ages, was already known in classical times ;
indeed, the reliefs of Trajan's column afford the most
perfect example of its use. It occurs once in the Vatican
Virgil, viz. in the Laocoon scene ; but this is the first
manuscript in which its capabilities are thoroughly ex-
ploited. In other respects the book is more conservative.
We find in it many survivals from classical art, notably
that old pagan device which took so strong a hold upon
the Christian imagination the personification of natural
things. In the picture of Rebecca at the Well, the
spring, besides being represented naturalistically, also
appears as a half-draped nymph of distinctly classical
type, pouring water from her urn ; recalling the personifi-
21
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
cation of Jordan in the famous fifth century mosaic of
the Baptism of Christ, in the Baptistery at Ravenna. 1
Many details of costume and ceremonial in these
miniatures have been recognized as Byzantine ; but the
dignity of the fully developed Byzantine style is not even
remotely suggested. The work is that of artists pos-
sessed of lively visual imagination but insufficient
technical skill. The characters are personified success-
fully, and the types are well preserved, so that Joseph,
Jacob, and other individuals are instantly recognizable in
all the scenes where they appear. We see the stories
briskly acted, as it were, by rather ridiculous marionettes.
Backgrounds are introduced, for the most part, only to
the extent required for the comprehension of the subject ;
but in the last twelve miniatures, and a few of the others,
an attempt is made to heighten the pictorial effect by
painting in a background, usually of greyish blue. The
rest are painted direct on the purple vellum, sometimes
within a plain red rectangular frame. Many are in two
compartments, one above the other, but with no division
except a strip of colour to represent the ground of the
upper picture.
The Codex Rossanensis 2 is a book of very different
character, though its superficial resemblances to the
Vienna Genesis point to its being of much the same
date and provenance. There is a change in the painter's
standpoint, and tendencies begin to appear which after-
wards became characteristic of Greek artists. It was
unknown to the outer world until 1879, when a lucky
chance revealed it to the eminent theologians Drs.
Harnack and von Gebhardt. Rossano, in whose cathe-
dral it is preserved, is an ancient city of Calabria, which
1 Venturi, Storia dell' Arte ital., i, pp. 127, 284; Diehl, Ravenne, 1903,
PP- Si 37, 40-
2 O. von Gebhardt and A. Harnack, Evangeliorum Codex graecus purpureus
Rossanensis, Leipzig, 1880. The miniatures were first published photographically
by A. Haseloff, Codex purpureus Rossanensis, Berlin, 1898; afterwards, in colour,
by A. Munoz, // Codice Purpureo di Rossano e il Frammento Sinopense, Rome,
1907.
22
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
long maintained its Byzantine character. The Greek rite
and language were used in its church down to the
fifteenth century ; and as late as the middle of the
eighteenth the Gospel on Palm Sunday was read in
Greek. Hence the survival of a Greek service-book is
not very surprising. There is no tradition as to how the
manuscript came there ; perhaps, as has been suggested,
it was the gift of an Emperor, or of a Patriarch of
Constantinople. Its Eastern origin is clear, not only
from the style and iconography of the pictures, but also
from the remarkable agreement of its text with that of
the fragment found a few years ago at Sinope, 1 and with
that of the dismembered codex known to Biblical students
as N, which was almost certainly written either at Con-
stantinople or in Asia Minor. 2
Nearly half the Codex Rossanensis is wanting, prob-
ably through fire, of which there are traces on some of
the surviving pages ; but luckily no damage has been
done to the illuminated pages which remain. Of these
there are fifteen, viz. twelve miniatures representing
scenes from the life and parables of our Lord, a decora-
tive frontispiece to the Tables of Canons, an ornamental
border framing the first page of the Epistle from Euse-
bius to Carpianus, and a miniature of S. Mark. All but
the last are at the beginning of the volume, which con-
tains nearly the whole of the first two Gospels in Greek ;
the portrait of S. Mark is prefixed to his Gospel. When
complete, the manuscript no doubt contained the four
Gospels, with portraits of all the Evangelists, and with a
longer series, probably, than now exists at the beginning.
The Eusebian Canons must have followed the Epistle
to Carpianus ; and it is likely, as we shall see later, that
they were enclosed in ornamental arcades. All the leaves
are of purple vellum, and the text is in silver uncials,
except the opening lines of each Gospel, which are in gold.
1 See H. Omont in Notices et Extraits, xxxvi, pt. ii, 1901, p. 608.
2 See H. S. Cronin, Codex purpureus Petropolitanus (Texts and Studies^
vol. v, No. 4, Cambridge, 1899), pp. xv, xli, xliii.
23
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Of the twelve miniatures at the beginning, one is in
two compartments, filling the whole page : in the upper,
Christ before Pilate ; in the lower, Judas returning
the thirty pieces and hanging himself. The next
page is entirely filled with the "Christ or Barabbas"
scene. But in the other ten pages the miniature occupies
the upper half only, the lower half being filled with a
singular device, by which the eye is "brought to the
picture," and which marks the introduction of that elabo-
rate symbolism so congenial to the Byzantine tempera-
ment. This is the presence below each picture of four
half-length figures of Old Testament prophets and types
of Christ, who stand in tribunes inscribed with appropriate
texts, and point upwards, each with his right hand, to
the fulfilment of their prophecies. All have the nimbus.
David appears most frequently, sometimes thrice on one
page ; he and Solomon are represented alike, with fair
hair and short brown beards, and are distinguished by
their crowns. The others are Moses, Isaiah, Sirach, and
seven of the minor prophets ; they are depicted indiffer-
ently, so far as individual discrimination goes, with one
or other of three or four well-defined types of face.
Hosea, for instance, has on one page a smooth, youthful
face, which elsewhere does duty for Moses ; on another,
he is an old man with white hair and beard. But this
apparent carelessness in no way diminishes the symbolic
effect : they are important, not as persons, but as heralds
of the Messiah, and their high office is to proclaim His
presence, and to point out the mystical significance of
His acts.
The choice of subjects too is in some respects un-
usual, and is instinct with the same theological spirit.
Some of the compositions are, of course, those common to
nearly all pictorial treatments of the life of Christ, e.g.
the raising of Lazarus, the entry into Jerusalem, the Last
Supper, Gethsemane, Christ before Pilate. Other sub-
jects in the book, however, are less familiar. The fine
dramatic episode of the choice between Christ and
24
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
Barabbas, here specially noticeable for the supernatural
character given to Christ, soon dropped out of the tra-
ditional series. When in later times it became usual to
represent the Crucifixion, no doubt the earlier scenes of
the Passion were condensed. Two parables also are re-
markable for their unusual treatment, viz. those of the
wise and foolish virgins and of the good Samaritan. In
the first, we see in the centre a closed door, barring the
five foolish virgins out from Paradise, within which
Christ stands, accompanied by the five wise virgins, who
wear white cloaks and hold aloft their lamps, which have
rather the appearance of flaming torches. The river of
Eden, with its four heads, appears in the foreground, and
in the background is a suggestion of a wooded park. In
the second, the good Samaritan is represented by Christ
Himself, three distinct phases in the story being in one
undivided miniature the only unequivocal instance of
" continuous " treatment in the book. Christ, assisted by
an angel, tends the wounded man, who lies prostrate on
the ground ; the second and third scenes are combined
in true " continuous " method,- our Lord being depicted
as at the same time leading a mule on which the
wounded man is seated, and giving money to the inn-
keeper.
But perhaps the most arresting pages in the whole
book are the two which follow the miniature of the Last
Supper and of Christ washing the disciples' feet. Under
the form of the distribution of bread and wine to the
apostles, they symbolize the mystical institution of the
Mass. 1 The communicants approach in procession ; the
foremost, who is in the act of partaking, bows low and
bends the knee, while the others stand or advance with
devout expectancy expressed in every gesture. Christ,
here the priest rather than the Redeemer, makes the
initiate a participant in His own sacrifice. In this, as
in the figures of the prophets, the theological spirit of
Byzantine art clearly declares itself. In the distribution
1 See plate iii.
25
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of bread, Christ is at the extreme left-hand side of the
picture, and the communicants approach from right to
left ; but this arrangement is reversed in the picture
of Christ giving the cup. This circumstance has led
Sig. Munoz to argue, with much force, that the com-
position of the two miniatures must have been derived
from a design which combined both scenes in a single
picture. The Eastern Church possesses many such
representations of the " Double Communion " in mosaic,
though none of those now extant can be dated earlier
than the eleventh century. 1 They have in the centre an
altar, at each end of which is a figure of Christ as priest,
sometimes accompanied by an angel as deacon, giving
the sacred elements to the apostles, who advance in
procession from right and left.
It is interesting, again, to find that at this early date
the iconography of some of the principal scenes in the
life of Christ had already become settled. Here we
recognize the same arrangement of the personages, the
same way of telling the story, that occurs again and
again, almost without variation, in liturgical manuscripts
of the Middle Ages. In the Raising of Lazarus, for
instance, one of the spectators covers his nose with his
cloak as the corpse issues from the grave a touch of
realism which wandered down the centuries, and appears,
to give only a couple of instances, in Giotto's fresco in
the Arena at Padua, 2 and in a fourteenth century East
Anglian Psalter in the British Museum. 3 In the Entry
to Jerusalem, again, the main outlines of composition
are exactly the same as in almost any medieval minia-
ture of the subject : the advance of Christ from left to
right ; the multitude carrying palm-branches, or spreading
garments for the ass to tread upon ; the spectators who
climb trees to get a better view all these are found in
1 See P. Perdrizet and L. Chesnay in Fond. E. Piot, Man. et Mem. t x,
pp. 123-44, pi. xii.
2 See No. 24 of the woodcuts published by the Arundel Society, 1855.
3 Arund. 83, f. i24b.
26
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
the Codex Rossanensis, and persisted unchanged down
to the time of the Italian Renaissance.
The minuter details, however, of the miniatures in
this manuscript have been shown conclusively by
Dr. Haseloff and Sig. Munoz to prove its affinity to
the monuments of Eastern Christendom, as distinct
from Western ; e.g. Lazarus stands upright at the
mouth of a cave, instead of rising from a recumbent
posture in a coffin ; and in the Entry into Jerusalem
Christ sits sideways, facing the spectator, whereas in
Western art He sits astride. Mention has already been
made of the resemblance to the Vienna Genesis, which
shows itself mainly in the facial types and in details of
architecture and costume ; also it must be said in the
painter's lack of knowledge how to suggest a picture
in three dimensions. There is little perspective, no
atmosphere, no background, except in the Gethsemane
scene, where the purple rocks of the foreground fade
into inky darkness in the distance, with a blue and star-
spangled sky above, and in some slight touches in the
Parable of the Virgins. But the miniatures show a
decided advance on the art of the Vienna Genesis.
They are quiet in manner, with a sense of arrested
movement very different from the brisk action of that
work. A great dignity marks the conception of the
characters, especially that of Christ, whose figure some-
times (as in the Trial before Pilate, and still more in
the Choice between Christ and Barabbas) does actually
suggest a spiritual presence. Here He is no more the
beardless young god of the earliest Christian art, the
so-called sarcophagus type ; but a mature man with dark
hair and beard, dressed in a deep blue robe and gold
mantle, and wearing a gold nimbus on which the out-
lines of a cross patee are traced in double lines in a
rather unusual way. Even in such animated scenes as
the Entry into Jerusalem, the artist has succeeded in
giving to His face and figure a grave, serene, and most
impressive majesty. We are made conscious, through-
27
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
out, that weighty things are happening in a solemn and
inevitable way ; and mere technical shortcomings are
atoned for by sincerity and depth of feeling.
The two ornamental pages, though slight in them-
selves, deserve notice as early examples perhaps the
earliest extant of purely decorative illumination. In
the frontispiece to the canon-tables the title is enclosed
within two concentric circles, the space between which is
filled (except for medallion half-length portraits of the
Evangelists, arranged symmetrically) with overlapping
discs of various colours. Only the first page remains of
the Epistle to Carpianus. The text is surrounded by a
rectangular frame of gold, bounded by black lines and
having pink rosettes, flowering plants in natural colours,
black doves with white wings, and ducks of varied
plumage painted upon it at regular intervals so as to
form a symmetrical scheme. A similar interest attaches
to the full-page miniature of S. Mark, who sits in a sort
of basket-work arm-chair, his implements on a table beside
him, and writes his Gospel on a roll spread over his knees,
at the dictation of a nun-like woman who stands over
him, and who has been interpreted as a personification of
Divine Wisdom. She does not appear in later miniatures;
in Western art her place is taken by the Evangelist's
emblem. The architectural setting too is of an unusual
type : a semicircular shell-pediment, coloured blue, pink,
and gold in strips radiating fan-wise from the centre, and
flanked by sharp-pointed gables terminating in gold discs,
rests on an entablature supported by two pillars. In its
composition generally, however, as well as in many of the
actual details, this miniature may be regarded as the
prototype of the long series of Byzantine, Celtic, and
Carol ingian Evangelist-portraits, which usually formed
the chief adornment of manuscripts of the Gospels.
For twenty years the Codex Rossanensis was the only
known representative of its class. But a second came to
light in April, 1900, when the National Library in Paris
acquired a precious fragment, which a French officer had
28
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
discovered a few months before in the Greek colony of
Sinope, on the northern coast of Asia Minor. 1 It is now
numbered Suppl. gr. 1286, but is better known as the
Codex Sinopensis. It consists of forty-three leaves of
purple vellum, containing about a third of S. Matthew's
Gospel in Greek, written throughout in gold uncials
(unique in this respect among Greek Gospel-books), with
five miniatures. The text, which M. Omont published in
1 90 1, 2 is of the same recension as the Codex Rossanensis ;
the date is in all probability nearly the same ; and the
miniatures in the two manuscripts are closely allied. 3
Another leaf, which must have been in its proper place
(between ff. 2 1 and 22) as recently as the end of the eigh-
teenth century, is in the Gymnasium at Mariupol, near
the Sea of Azov.
The miniatures in the Codex Sinopensis do not fill
the whole page, but only the lower margin, coming below
the text which they illustrate. Hence, they are on a
smaller scale than those of the Rossano book ; their
execution is much cruder, less finished and dignified,
suggesting an earlier phase in the development of the
school. There are two prophets, instead of four, to each
miniature ; and instead of being ranged below the picture
and pointing to it with uplifted arm and hand, in the
emphatic manner of the Codex Rossanensis, they stand
one on each side, their tribunes bounding the picture and
somewhat dwarfing it, and themselves looking down on
it and timidly extending two fingers ; a much weaker
conception. The subjects are the death of S. John the
Baptist, the two miracles of feeding the multitude (the
first badly mutilated), Christ healing the two blind men,
and cursing the barren fig-tree. The figures are painted
directly on the purple vellum, as in the Codex Rossa-
1 First announced by M. H. Omont in the Comptes rendues of the Acad.
des inscr. et belles-lettres, 1900, p. 215.
2 Not. et Extr., xxxvi, ii, pp. 599-675.
J The four complete ones of Cod. Sinop. have been reproduced in Not. et
Extr. as above, and (in colours) in Fond. E. Piot, Mon. et M<!m. t vii, 1901, pi.
xvi-xix ; all five in Omont, Facsimiles, pi. A, B, and in Mufioz, op. tit., pi. A, B.
29
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
nensis, but with still less attempt at background or per-
spective ; not even the ground beneath their feet is in-
dicated, except in the third picture, where the people sit
in tiers on the grass. The anatomy and proportions are
poor, the heads being usually too large for the stunted
bodies and limbs. As in the Codex Rossanensis, Christ
is represented with dark hair and beard, but the majestic
calm and dignity so noticeable there are lacking ; and the
compositions are altogether more vivacious, less static.
On the other hand, the artist has sometimes succeeded
admirably with the faces, which are on the whole less
ceremonial and more instinct with human life and indi-
viduality than those of the principal characters in the
other manuscript, e.g. the expression of gentle benevo-
lence with which Christ regards the two blind men, the
fine thoughtful face of Moses in the third miniature, or
the wild unkempt hermit who stands for Habakkuk in
the fifth. The prophets here too are nimbed ; David
appears four times, always wearing a crown with a double
row of pearls ; Moses thrice, with a different . face each
time ; Isaiah, Habakkuk, and Daniel once each, the last
a beardless youth wearing a high cap adorned with
pearls.
The ornamental pages of the Codex Rossanensis are
paralleled by fragments of two other Greek Gospel-books
of the sixth or early seventh century, one in the British
Museum, 1 the other in the Imperial Library at Vienna. 2
The former consists of two imperfect leaves of vellum,
gilded on both sides, and containing parts of the Epistle
to Carpianus and of the Eusebian Canons. The Epistle
is framed in a depressed arch, the Canon-tables in round-
arched arcades ; columns, pediment, and arches profusely
decorated with geometrical patterns and other conven-
1 Add. 5111, ff. 10, ii. See Cat. Anc. MSS., i, p. 21, pi. n. Two pages
were reproduced by Haseloff, Cod, purp. Ross.^ pp. 44, 45 ; and all four, in colour,
by H. Shaw, Illuminated Ornaments, 1833.
2 No. 847, ff. 1-6 ; described and reproduced, partly in colour, by F. Wick-
hoff in the Vienna fahrbuch, xiv, 1893, pp. 196-213.
30
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
tional ornament, especially floral scroll-work ; with
medallion-heads of saints, mostly of similar type to those
in the Rossano title-page ; and with birds, fishes, and
flowers. The colours, among which blue and carmine
predominate, are wonderfully fresh and well preserved,
and stand out brightly against the gold ground which,
though faded, still serves to suggest the pristine splendour
of the manuscript. Especially noteworthy is the natural-
ism, both in colour and form, of a plant which springs
from the capital of one of the columns on the first page :
stalk, leaves, buds, and full-blown flower with deep
crimson petals, all have the appearance of being faithfully
copied from nature.
The Vienna fragment contains the Eusebian Canons,
with frontispiece, and a title-page for the four Gospels.
It is bound up at the beginning of a Latin manuscript
(Rufinus) of about the same age, which has an almost
identical frontispiece. The design in both is rigidly sym-
metrical ; it consists of a cross enclosed by two concentric
circles, and standing on a sort of Y-shaped device which
spreads out at the foot, below the circles, into two wavy
lines ; each of these ends in a leaf, and has a flowering plant
growing out of it. In the Greek page, the wavy lines
also support two peacocks facing one another ; the Latin
has instead two birds of less determinate species (Prof.
Wickhoff confidently calls them doves) just below the
arms of the cross. This close agreement is of great
interest, though not so helpful as it would be if the
provenance of the two manuscripts were known. The
Canon-tables are in arcades, usually round-arched, but
with a gable top in one place ; the arches and shafts of
columns are covered with ornamental patterns, including
cable, zigzag, and strapwork, and on one page are birds
pecking at fruit. The title-page has a double banded
frame covered similarly with decoration, but produces
a less pleasing effect.
Our next manuscript is of Asiatic origin, but its con-
nection with European art is too unmistakable and vital
31
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
for us to ignore it. Among its many points of interest
is a welcome feature all too rare in these early manu-
scripts, and not so frequent as might be wished among
those of later date in the shape of an inscription
telling us when, where, and by whom it was written. It
is a copy of the four Gospels in Syriac, written in 586
by Rabula the Calligrapher in the monastery of S. John
at Zagba, in Mesopotamia, and now preserved in the
Laurentian Library at Florence. 1 Like the two Greek
fragments which we have just noticed, and like almost all
later Greek manuscripts of the Gospels, it contains the
Eusebian Canons in decorated arcades. It has also
seven full-page miniatures of surpassing interest for the
history of Christian art, especially the four at the end of
the book, which represent the Crucifixion, the Ascension,
Pentecost, and Christ enthroned in a sanctuary. The
Crucifixion appears here for the first time in illumination,
and there are few extant examples of its treatment, in any
form of art, which can be assigned with any confidence
to an earlier date. As in many of the oldest represen-
tations of the subject, Christ wears a long sleeveless tunic
(colobium), whilst the two thieves are draped in loin-
cloths only. Above the arms of the cross are the sun
and moon, emblems of mourning nature which recur
again and again, e.g. in an English Psalter of the thirteenth
century. 2 Longinus pierces the Saviour's right side with
a lance, while a soldier stands on the other side holding
up the sponge filled with vinegar. At the foot of the
cross sit three soldiers dividing the raiment. The Virgin
and S. John, and the three Maries, form the extreme left
and right groups of the picture. Its special importance
1 Fully described in the Catalogues of S. E. Assemani, 1742, p. i, and
A. M. Biscioni, 1752, i, p. 44. Both have woodcuts of the twenty-six illuminated
pages, which are also engraved by R. Garrucci, Storia della Arte Cristiana, iii,
1876, taw. 128-40. For photographic reproductions see Venturi, i, pp. 162, 163,
and C. Diehl, fusftnien, 1901, pi. iv, v, p. 500. Doubts have been raised as to the
authenticity of the inscription, but may be disregarded in view of Ceriani's note in
Studia Biblica, ii, 1890, p. 251.
2 See pi. xxii.
32
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUMINATION
is iconographical rather than artistic, but from the latter
point of view too it has just claims to consideration.
There is a sketchiness and lack of finish about this minia-
ture, as about all the illuminations in the volume ; but the
work is always wonderfully effective and expressive, and
at times succeeds in conveying the idea of spiritual beauty
and grandeur. In the Pentecost scene, for instance, there
is great dignity in the figure of the Virgin, who stands in
the central foreground with the apostles grouped about
her, a composition which is repeated down to the end of the
fifteenth century. The arcades are decorated with zigzag,
check, meander, and other patterns, and peacocks and
other birds appear on many of the pages, usually stand-
ing on the arches. On the margins outside the arcading
is a series of small paintings of scenes from the Gospel-
history. Among these is the Annunciation, in the divided
form familiar to students of medieval Italian art : the
angel in the left-hand margin, the Virgin in the right.
Another very interesting scene recalls the " Double Com-
munion " of the Codex Rossanensis, but the treatment is
very different and far less solemn and impressive : Christ
holds the cup in His left hand, while with the right He
gives bread to one of the apostles, behind whom the other
ten stand clustered. On the same page is the Entry into
Jerusalem, much more compressed than in the Rossano
book, but agreeing closely with it. A comparison of the
two manuscripts has indeed led some critics to claim
a Syrian origin for the Codex Rossanensis. But on the
other hand it has been suggested that the Rabula Codex
was copied from a Greek original a suggestion to which
the blundered inscription " Loginos " in Greek uncials,
over the head of Longinus, seems to lend some support.
Whatever may be the truth as to these theories, there can
be no doubt that Byzantine and Western art owed much
to Syrian influence.
This has been brought out clearly if perhaps with
something of the pardonable exaggeration of a pioneer
by Dr. Strzygowski, especially in his valuable monograph
3 33
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
on the Etschmiadzin Gospel-book. 1 This is a tenth cen-
tury copy of the Gospels in Armenian, bound up with
two sets of illuminated pages in which he recognizes,
largely from their resemblance to the Rabula-book, the
work of Syrian painters of the sixth century. The same
details of ornament decorated arcades, peacocks, ducks,
foliage, etc. occur in both manuscripts, besides many of
the same compositions. The most interesting feature,
perhaps, is a sanctuary with a convex dome, not unlike a
Chinese pagoda, surmounted by cross and orb and sup-
ported by Corinthian columns. This appears in a
somewhat modified form in the Rabula-book, 2 and is
repeated, with striking exactness, in the " Fountain of
Life" pictures of the Carolingian Gospel-books of the
ninth century ; 8 a conclusive proof of the indebtedness of
Carolingian to Eastern art.
The famous Vienna Dioscorides 4 is probably of earlier
date than any but the first two of the manuscripts already
mentioned in this chapter. Belonging as it does, how-
ever, to an entirely different class, it is best considered
separately. The six full-page miniatures at the beginning
form a link between the decaying Graeco- Roman art and
the later Byzantine school ; while the numerous and
exquisite coloured drawings of plants and animals, with
which the text is illustrated, make this manuscript the
common ancestor of all the illuminated herbals and
bestiaries of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. In
this respect too it connects classical with medieval art ;
for Pliny 5 tells us that it was the custom for Greek
medical writers to illustrate their works with paintings
1 Das Etsckmiadzin-Evangdiar. Bcitragc zur Geschichte der armenischcn,
ravennatischtn und syro-dgyptischen Kunst, Vienna, 1891 (Byzant. Denkmdlcr, i).
2 Garrucci, tav. 129.
3 See pi. x.
* Published in complete facsimile, with introduction by A. von Premerstein
and others, as torn, x (pts. i and ii) of De Vries, Codd. Gr. et Lat., 1906. Shorter
notices abound ; the most useful is that by E. Diez, " Die Miniaturen des Wiener
Dioskurides," in Byz. Denkm., iii, 1903, pp. 1-69.
5 Nat. Hist., xxv, 4.
34
EARLY CHRISTIAN ILLUSTRATION
of herbs. Since he goes on to complain of their general
inadequacy, the Dioscorides probably represents the high-
water mark of this branch of illumination, most of its
successors falling far short of it in delicacy of execution.
The six miniatures at the beginning are all badly rubbed,
and the first (a peacock with outspread tail) is mutilated
in addition. The second and third are of famous physi-
cians in groups of seven, including Chiron the Centaur ;
the fourth illustrates the fable of the mandrake uprooted
at the cost of a dog's life, and the fifth Dioscorides writing
the description of the mandrake while an artist paints it,
a lady personifying Discovery in both pictures. All these
four are enclosed in banded frames, ornamented with
wreaths, quatrefoils, lozenges, and scroll-work. The sixth
is the dedication-page, 1 and shows the manuscript to have
been executed for the Princess Juliana Anicia, probably
in 512, on the occasion of her founding a church at
Honoratae, a suburb of Constantinople ; but at any rate
before her death in 52y-8. 2 It is a portrait of Juliana,
enthroned between Prudence and Magnanimity in the
central panel formed by two interlacing squares inscribed
in a circle. The geometrical framework is adorned with
cable-pattern, and in the interstices charming little putti
play with emblems of the various arts patronized by the
Princess. The composition of the group is exactly that
of contemporary consular diptychs, 3 but the framing
rather recalls mosaic ornament of an earlier period.
Thus the transitional condition of art at the time is well
exemplified by this manuscript, which forms as it were a
symbolic link between the Classical and Byzantine styles.
1 Often reproduced, e.g. in Kraus, i, p. 429; Venturi, i, p. 141. A splendid
reproduction in colours accompanies Dr. A. von Premerstein's valuable article in
the Vienna Jahrbuch^ xxiv, pp. 105-24.
2 See the facsimile ed., introd., cols. 7-9.
8 Cf. Venturi, i, p. 367.
35
CHAPTER III
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
PRACTICALLY no Greek illuminated manuscripts
of the seventh and eighth centuries have survived,
and they do not begin to be plentiful until the
closing years of the ninth : a lacuna largely due, no doubt,
to the Iconoclastic controversy, which raged from 725 to
842, and which, though mainly concerned with paintings
on a larger scale, must have been unfavourable to the
preservation and production of works of art of all kinds.
There is an evident continuity of tradition, however, be-
tween the Early Christian illuminations and those of the
later, more definitely formed Byzantine school. Many of
these later manuscripts were written and illuminated in
Italy, especially in Southern Italy, where Greek influence
persisted long after the decay of the Empire had become
far advanced ; many too were doubtless produced in the
cities and monasteries of Western Asia, until the Turkish
invasion swept away their civilization. But it is convenient
and appropriate to group them all together under the name
Byzantine, for a certain well-marked and easily recog-
nizable manner is common to all; and this manner,
whencesoever it primarily drew its chief inspiration,
certainly flourished conspicuously in and about Byzantium
itself, under the patronage of the Imperial court. The
leading principles of Byzantine illumination became fixed,
it would seem, about the end of the ninth century, in the
time of Basil the Macedonian ; it reached its highest per-
fection in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and then fell
gradually into decadence until at last, lifeless in conception
and coarse and weak in execution, it no longer deserved
the name of art.
36
PLATE IV
GOSPELS. BYZANTINE, X!TH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. BURNEY 19
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
What, then, are the characteristics of this school, as
we find them exhibited in the manuscripts of its great
period? It has long been the custom to identify
Byzantinism with formalism in art : with stately decora-
tion rather than life, with the presentation of idea rather
than of action. We know it as the conserving force which
kept intact for centuries the traditional composition of
sacred themes ; we see its last descendants in the icons
of the Greek Church, which still interpret the truths of
eternity to the twentieth century in the artistic language
of the tenth. This static, traditional, symbolic quality,
however, only represents one of the main influences
which went to the making of Byzantine art at its prime,
though it happens to be the one which has survived to the
present day, and which has become familiar to the casual
tourist in the mosaics of Ravenna and other places. In
the Greek illuminations of the ninth century we find
not one but three styles or ideals, and endless combin-
ations and permutations of these three, struggling for
mastery.
The first of these, and perhaps the strongest, is the
static or conservative ideal. This sets before it the re-
presentation of arrested action, not violent movement ;
aims at dignity, not energy. The Codex Rossanensis
already hints at the beginning of this style, which at its
best possessed a power of rendering spiritual values, of
translating supernatural or natural majesty into terms of
colour and line, which no other artistic system has ever
approached. The main purpose of this art was theological,
dogmatic, liturgical ; profoundly anti-realistic, it preferred
the solemn presentation of mysteries to the picturing of
events. It achieved its purpose by a deliberate sub-
ordination of naturalism to idea. Its personages are
symbols of something greater than themselves ; their
formal outlines, their carefully folded draperies, enhance
like the vestments of priests the hieratic effect. In fact,
there is a close parallel between Byzantine art of this
kind and those formal liturgies and grave ceremonies
37
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
which succeed by their very stateliness and remoteness
from actuality in raising the mind to a plane of rapture
and awe.
There can be little doubt that Byzantine illumination
of this type was largely influenced by the contemporary
art of mosaic. Many of its miniatures are but mosaics in
little, and reproduce the usual accessories of such mosaics
as are still to be seen in churches of the Byzantine style,
just as Western illuminators of the thirteenth and four-
teenth centuries copied the sculptured decorations of
Gothic architecture. To the influence of mosaic may
probably be traced the stiffness of the forms, the majestic
pose of the figures, perhaps too the depth and richness of
the colouring.
The second stream of influence, however, owes nothing
to contemporary architecture or the style of decoration
evolved in connection with it. Its origins are classical ;
and we find it in the ninth century existing side by side
with the hieratic style, as in the early Italian Renaissance
the pointed and classical styles dwelt together. It
is evident that under Basil the Macedonian and his
successors, after the long puritanic period of the Icono-
clasts, beauty came into fashion again, and artists were
called upon to satisfy the aesthetic cravings, as well as the
religious instincts, of their clients. The masterpieces of
classical art, of which many then existed that have since
perished, were pressed into the service as models. Some
miniatures, especially of the tenth century, are so imbued
with the classical spirit that they have been held to be
copies of lost originals dating back to the earliest periods
of Christian art. But it is more probable that sugges-
tions were adopted, or groups or single figures copied,
from pagan paintings or sculptures of still greater an-
tiquity. Whatever be the truth on this point, classical
influence, at any rate, is evident and strongly marked ;
and that not only in such devices as the personification
of qualities (e.g. Strength, Repentance, and so on), or of
rivers, mountains, and towns, but also in the treatment of
38
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
individual figures and groups, and occasionally in the
composition of a whole picture, as in the famous repre-
sentation of David as Orpheus.
Finally, that lively and primitive manner, full of brisk
movement and vividly depicted action, so noticeable in
the Vienna Genesis, survived along with the Neo-Classical
style and that remote and impassive dignity which de-
scends from the Codex Rossanensis and the Ravenna
mosaics. Many of the best manuscripts of the tenth and
eleventh centuries show this manner in a high degree,
sometimes actually in conjunction with the static style.
In the representation of a martyrdom, for instance, the
executioners are often animated figures, going about their
horrid work with the utmost vigour, while the saint a
symbol of divine patience rather than the portrait of a
living man seems wrapped in another atmosphere than
that of his persecutors.
The Vatican Library possesses a copy of Ptolemy's
Tables, 1 written in 814, and adorned with representations
of the sun, moon, months, hours, and signs of the zodiac,
painted on blue or gold grounds ; apparently carrying on
the tradition of the Calendar of Filocalus, which has
been noticed in chapter i. Astronomical and geographical
personifications also appear in the Christian Topography
of Cosmas Indicopleustes, composed about 547-9 on
Mount Sinai, where its author, a native of Alexandria,
had settled as a monk after a life of travel had earned
him his surname. This work must have been illustrated
from the first, as Dr. Strzygowski points out, 2 the text
abounding in references to the diagrams and other illus-
trations. The best known, and probably the oldest, of
1 Cod. Vat. gr. 1291. See P. de Nolhac in Gazette Archlol^ 1887, p. 233,
and La Bibliothique de Fulvio Orsini, 1887, P- 68; A. Riegl, Die mittelalt.
Kalenderillustration, in Mitthtihingen d, Inst. f. oest. Geschichtsforschung, x, 1889,
p. 70.
2 Der Bilderkreis des gr. Physiologus, des Kosmas Indikopleustes und Oktateuch>
nach Hss. dtr Bibl. zu Smyrna, 1899 (Krumbacher's Byzant Archiv. Hef, tz),
P- 54-
39
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the existing copies is the one preserved in the Vatican. 1
It has been assigned by some critics to the seventh, or
even to the sixth, century ; but we think it safer to accept
the verdict of the editors of the New Palaeographical
Society, who place it in the ninth century. Its minia-
tures, like those of most Byzantine manuscripts, are
much disfigured through the colours flaking off ; but it is
evident, from what remains, that in finish and technique
a great advance has been made on the Codex Rossa-
nensis. Most of the subjects are Biblical, and the treat-
ment is generally formal and anti-realistic, an effect which
is heightened by the entire lack of background, giving
the figures a disconnected appearance. The heads are in
many cases too big for the bodies ; and that excessive
pleating of the draperies, which became a foible of Byzan-
tine painters, is already noticeable. Isolated figures, how-
ever, are rich in solemn charm, such as the Madonna who
stands with Christ, S. John the Baptist, Zacharias, and
Elizabeth, in one of the full-page miniatures. In others,
again, animation is portrayed with some success, as in
the picture of the Babylonians amazed at the backward
motion of the sun.
One of the best and most valuable documents for the
study of Byzantine illumination of the ninth century is
the Paris copy of the Sermons of S. Gregory Nazianzen, 2
a large volume with forty-six full-page miniatures, ap-
parently executed for the Emperor Basil I (867-886),
whose portrait, standing between the prophet Elijah and
the archangel Gabriel, fills one of the pages, and whose
patron S. Basil also figures prominently. Another page
represents the Empress Eudocia with her two young
sons Leo and Alexander; her eldest son, Constantine,
who died in 880, is ignored, so the manuscript may be
dated 880-6. Three distinct styles, all characteristic of
1 Le miniature della topografia cristiana di Cosma Indicopkustc, Cod. Vat. gr.
699, ed. C. Stornajolo, 1908 (Codd. e Vat. selecti, vol. x). See too EArte, 1909,
pp. 160-2; New Pal. Soc. y pi. 24; Venturi, i, pp. 153-7; Diehl, Jttstinien,
pi. iii, pp. 265, 401, 411.
2 Bibl. Nat., gr. 510. See Omont, Facsimiles, pp. 10-31, pi. xv-lx.
40
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
Byzantine illumination, are shown in the miniatures.
First we have the archaic manner which recalls the
Vienna Genesis : animated compositions in the " con-
tinuous " method, but quite lacking all sense of beauty ;
the figures are short, stiff, and awkward, with absurdly
big heads and protruding eyes, and the attempts to
render facial expression are generally grotesque. The
miniatures painted in this manner are mostly on a com-
paratively small scale ; several scenes on one page, either
in separate panels or in a continuous series without
division. The history of Jonah, for instance, is treated
altogether in the continuous method, the whole story
being crowded into one picture ; that of Joseph combines
both methods, the page being divided into five compart-
ments, each of which contains several scenes ; while a
third page is in twelve compartments, each illustrating
the martyrdom of an apostle. The other subjects are
mostly Biblical ; they include a picture of the Crucifixion
with Christ in a long sleeveless tunic, and adhering in
many other respects to the primitive type of the Rabula
manuscript.
The second manner concerns itself solely with orna-
mental effect, and tends to stiff magnificence. In it we
have the stately, bejewelled, highly decorative pages
which recall the most gorgeous of the Byzantine
mosaics. It is most noticeable in the portraits of Basil
and Eudocia, already mentioned, and in the impressive
figure of S. Helena, who stands, vested as empress, with
three other saints in a splendid full-page miniature of an
angel proclaiming the Redemption. This style was evi-
dently considered the right thing for imperial portraits.
We find it so used in many later manuscripts, e.g. for the
portraits of Alexius Comnenus (Emperor 1081-1118) in
a Vatican manuscript, 1 and for those of Nicephorus
Botaniates (Emperor 1078-81) in the Paris manuscript
of the Homilies of S. John Chrysostom ; 2 in one of the
1 No. 666, see Venturi, ii, pp. 462, 476.
2 Bibl. Nat., Coislin 79 ; Omont, pi. bci-lxiv.
41
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
latter, representing Nicephorus with his chief officials, it
is exaggerated into grotesquely wooden formalism. It is
sometimes spoken of as "debased Byzantine"; but it
certainly co-existed with the best manner of Byzantine
painting, and was probably recognized as expressing
perhaps with a touch of satire the quintessence of
courtly ceremony. In the Gregory Nazianzen, for in-
stance, it is found side by side with miniatures in which
the prevailing influence is classical. Of these last, the
most celebrated is the Vision of Ezekiel ; they are not
yet frankly Graeco-Roman, like many later miniatures
(especially of the tenth and eleventh centuries), but com-
bine the tightly clinging Byzantine draperies with the
freer pose of classically conceived figures.
When we reach the tenth century, however, we find
that the transitional phase represented by the Gregory
Nazianzen has passed. The Paris Psalter, 1 with its
allied manuscripts, and the Vatican Joshua Roll 2 are
absolutely pagan in their art, if Christian in their sub-
ject. In fact, many of the compositions of the Joshua
Roll are so full of the classical spirit that one is tempted
to regard it as a production of the third or fourth century.
But the Greek text which accompanies the drawings is
written in minuscules of the tenth century; 3 and the
drawings themselves are more nearly akin to miniatures
of that period of classical renaissance than to any actually
existing ones of earlier date, so we hesitate to accept the
theory that a tenth century scribe, having found the
pictured roll, proceeded to fill in the text. Another
hypothesis, put forward by some critics of this much-
disputed work, is that the pictures are a faithful copy
from a much earlier original. It must be admitted that
1 Bibl. Nat., gr. 139; Omont, pi. i-xiv.
2 Cod. Vat. Pal. gr. 431 ; published photographically, partly in colour, by
the Vatican authorities, // rotulo di Giosite, Hoepli, Milan, 1905. See too
Pal. Soc., i, 1 08.
3 It is true that some of the figures have titles written against them in
capitals; but this feature also occurs in such manuscripts as Pans 139 and
Vat. Reg. gr. i, both of the tenth century.
' 42
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
this view derives some support from the fact that gaps
are left in the text, as though the scribe had sometimes
been unable to read his original. This fact, however,
only tends to prove that an earlier series of illustrations
existed, having the same subjects as those in the Joshua
Roll. It does not at all necessarily follow that the treat-
ment was the same ; and indeed it is difficult to believe
that a mere servile copyist could have produced these
spirited groups of soldiers, these charming and spon-
taneous personifications of cities, rivers, and mountains.
On the other hand, it seems likely enough that the actual
compositions, in their main outlines, were taken from
earlier designs. It has been pointed out that many of
the subjects are found in the fifth century mosaics of
S. Maria Maggiore ;* and we have seen in the Cotton
Genesis an example of an illustrated Biblical codex
dating back to the same period. The artist, then, may
have had before his eyes an earlier set of illustrations,
though it is highly improbable that he contented himself
with copying them.
The history of the Joshua Roll is not known farther
back than 1571, when it appears in a list of the manu-
scripts owned by Ulrich Fugger ; but there are some
accounts on the back, in Greek, written in the thirteenth
century, showing that it was then in Greek hands. Its
form is unusual, and it is not easy to see precisely for
what purpose it was intended perhaps as designs for
a series of mural paintings. It is now in fifteen separate
membranes, placed between the leaves of a large album ;
but until 1902 these membranes were glued together,
end to end, and formed one long roll of vellum, thirty-
two feet by about one foot originally much longer, for
it is clearly imperfect both at beginning and end. The
back was left blank, and the front covered with drawings
of the deeds of Joshua, forming a continuous series
throughout the length of the roll, with abridged extracts
from the Greek text of the book of Joshua, explaining
1 See Venturi, i, 380.
43
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the several scenes, written in short columns below
them. The outlines are drawn in brown ink, and some
parts have been lightly tinted. Critics have doubted
whether this incomplete colouring is not the work of a
later hand ; but if the drawings were meant to serve as
models for mural paintings, the artist may well have
thought it enough to indicate the respective colours of
the various objects : armour blue, draperies brown, and
so on. But whatever may be the true solution of the
problems which confront the student of the Joshua Roll,
no one could refuse to consider it a masterpiece. The
drawings are broad in treatment, correct as to anatomy,
and full of movement. In such scenes as the carrying
of the Ark of the Covenant, or others in which crowds
of soldiers are represented, depth as well as linear ex-
tension is suggested. The figures have unity with their
surroundings, and the artist evidently aimed at pro-
ducing an illusionist picture, not merely at representing
an event. The influence of classical art is everywhere
strikingly apparent ; nowhere more so than in the
personifications of cities, some of which are extremely
beautiful, especially the graceful goddesses who repre-
sent Ai and Jericho. The whole composition has been
compared, not unjustly, to the series of reliefs on
Trajan's column.
The Paris Psalter, Bibl. Nat. gr. 139, is one of the
most beautiful of Byzantine manuscripts. Acquired in
Constantinople by a French ambassador in the sixteenth
century, it had probably belonged to the Imperial Library.
The text is in minuscules of the tenth century ; and the
fourteen full-page miniatures are doubtless of the same
date, though M. Omont has shown that the fourteen
leaves which contain them (each on a verso page, with
the recto blank) are independent of the quires of text,
and might possibly, therefore, have been inserted later. 1
The first of these is the famous picture of David with
the harp, inspired by Melody ; a design which seems to
p. 5
44
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
have become justly popular from the moment of its pro-
duction. It appears again and again in later manu-
scripts, slavishly copied by hands of varied degrees of
incompetence. 1 In all of them the main features of the
composition are reproduced, and some repeat every
detail : Melody sitting at David's right hand, with her
hand on his shoulder ; Echo, as a nymph peeping round
a pillar in the corner ; the reclining figure in the fore-
ground who represents Bethlehem ; even the individual
animals which have been charmed to stillness by the
music. But the Paris miniature is far superior to the
others in freedom, grace, and proportion ; and we can
hardly be wrong in regarding it as their archetype. Its
very excellence makes us doubtful about accepting the
view that it is a copy of a lost antique representation of
Orpheus. That the artist had much of the classical
spirit is very plain ; the central group, for instance, may
be compared with a Pompeian painting of the death of
Adonis. 2 But Byzantine miniatures of the tenth century
abound in evidence of a classical renaissance ; and the
miniature in question, while doubtless owing its original
idea to some Graeco-Roman picture of Orpheus taming
the beasts, seems likely, from its free handling and easy
grace, to have been the work of a brilliant artist who
had absorbed the spirit of his model, rather than an
exact copy made by a patient craftsman. Copies are
nearly always tight and laboured qualities not to be
detected in this work.
Many of the other miniatures of the Paris Psalter,
though perhaps not so beautiful as that of David and
Melody, show the same classical influence, and rise to a
high artistic level. Especially good are David slaying
the Lion, with a beautiful Diana-like personification of
Strength coming to his assistance ; and Isaiah receiving
inspiration, standing between the figures of Dawn and
1 See Venturi, ii, fig. 306-11. To these may be added Brit. Mus., Add.
36928, f. 44b, late eleventh century.
- Museo BorbonicO) ix, pi. 37.
45
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Night. Dawn is a boy holding up a torch ; the more
poetically conceived Night is a regal-looking woman, her
torch drooping and half-extinguished, and a scarf thrown
like a cloud above her head. The effect is somewhat
marred by the figure of Isaiah, whose draperies cling
tightly in the manner already noted as characteristic of
Byzantine painting. Two other fine pages are Nathan
rebuking David, with Penitence standing near ; and the
Prayer of Hezekiah. A third page, David in imperial
garb, standing between Wisdom and Prophecy, combines
classic grace and dignity with the more rigid symmetry
of a late-Roman consular diptych.
The remaining eight miniatures are probably the work
of an inferior hand ; they are akin to the Biblical scenes
in the Gregory Nazianzen, and show little or no trace of
classical influence, except in a few isolated figures, such
as the personification of Meekness in the Anointing of
David, or the charming nymph representing Boastfulness,
who flees in dismay from the side of Goliath. We have
in them crowded compositions, filled with vigorous but
undignified and often ill-proportioned figures the heads
usually too big, and the legs too short. In the colouring
too there is a noticeable falling off. Some of the scenes,
however, are interesting on other than purely aesthetic
grounds, e.g. the Crowning of David, who stands on a
shield upheld by soldiers, illustrating the picturesque
coronation ceremony of the Byzantine Emperors. 1
The Paris Psalter is the best, as well as probably the
earliest, extant example of what has been called the " aris-
tocratic" group of Psalters, in contradistinction to the
" monastic-theological " group, in which there are no full-
page miniatures, but only marginal illustrations. 2 Other
members of the group are No. 54 in the Ambrosiana, and
two Mount Athos MSS., Vatopedi 609 and Pantocrator
49, of the tenth and eleventh centuries. 8 A small volume
1 See Bury, Later Roman Empire, ii, 70.
2 Tikkanen, Die Psalttrillustration im Mittelalter, 1895, etc.
3 Michel, i, i, 221-5.
46
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
recently acquired by the British Museum 1 belongs to the
same class ; it was executed about the end of the eleventh
century, and contains eight full-page miniatures, mostly of
subjects represented in the Paris manuscript. The colours
have flaked off badly, so that some of the pictures are
scarcely recognizable ; but enough remains of the " David
and Melody" composition and others to show that, although
painted with much delicacy, they are lacking in ease and
freedom. One feature worth noting is the magenta priming
which appears where the gold background has peeled away;
in most Byzantine manuscripts the gold leaf and pigments
seem to have been laid directly on the vellum without any
preliminary ground, though some twelfth century and later
manuscripts show traces of red priming below the gold. 2 A
much more stately volume is the Vatican Psalter, Cod.
Vat. Pal. gr. 381, but of later date (twelfth to thirteenth
century) and with only four miniatures, 3 each filling the
whole page. Three of these are plainly derived from the
Paris Psalter, with which they agree in practically every
detail of composition, though far inferior in execution ;
these are David and Melody, David standing between
Wisdom and Prophecy, and Moses receiving the law on
Mount Sinai. The fourth miniature repeats this last sub-
ject, differently treated, and perhaps represents the renewal
of the tables ; it was no doubt copied from some illus-
trated Biblical manuscript, but the subject seems to have
been comparatively rare.
With these Psalters must be classed a fine Bible in
the Vatican, Cod. Vat. Reg. gr. i. This, a votive offering
in honour of the Virgin, was given by Leo the Patrician,
a high official of the Imperial palace ; and so is probably
a fair sample of the best work of the court miniaturists of
the time, i.e. the first half of the tenth century. Leo's
gift comprised the whole Bible, in two volumes ; but only
1 Add. 36928.
2 e.g. Brit. Mus., Add. 35030; also 19352, noticed below.
3 Collczione. Paleografica Vaticana, L Miniature della Bibbia Cod. Vat. JReg.
gr. i e del Salterio Cod. Vat. Pal. gr. 381, Milan, 1905.
47
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
vol. i remains, containing the text from Genesis to Psalms,
with eighteen full-page miniatures, which have been pub-
lished in the same volume with the four from the Psalter
just mentioned. Two of these are identical in composition
with miniatures in the Paris Psalter, viz. Moses on Mount
Sinai and Samuel anointing David. A third, the Coro-
nation of Solomon, differs only in names and minor details
from the Coronation of David in the Paris manuscript.
Other pages correspond equally closely with those of the
Paris Gregory Nazianzen ; while in style, as in probable
date, the painting stands midway between that of the two
Paris books more finished than the Gregory, rougher
than the Psalter.
The Neo-classical wave was spent by the end of the
tenth century. Illuminations of later date show little
trace of its influence, apart from direct imitations of older
manuscripts, as in the Psalters already mentioned or in
the Octateuch MSS. Of these there are five extant, of
the eleventh and twelfth centuries : two in the Vatican, 1
one at Smyrna, 2 one on Mount Athos, 3 and one in the
Seraglio at Constantinople. 4 They contain the first
eight books of the Bible, in Greek, illustrated with a
great abundance of small miniatures. Their artistic
merit is not particularly great in this respect one of the
latest, the Vatican MS. 746, is decidedly the best; but
they are of interest from their extraordinarily close agree-
ment with one another, not only in the choice of subjects,
but in the mode of treatment down to the minutest details
of iconography. Moreover, it is obvious that the illus-
trations of the book of Joshua must have been derived
from the Joshua Roll, or at least from a common ancestor.
1 Gr. 746 and 747. Many of the miniatures are published in the introduction
to II rotulo di Giosue, 1905.
2 Strzygowski, Bilderkreis, pp. 113-26, pi. xxxi-xl.
3 Vatopedi 515, described by H. Brockhaus, Die Kunst in den Athos-Klostcrn,
Leipzig, 1891, pp. 212-17.
4 For reproductions, see Album to vol. xii of the Bulletin de F Institut Archlol.
Russe a Constantinople ; 1907, which also contains many of the Smyrna and
Vatopedi miniatures.
48
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
Just the same groups occur, in the same antique garb,
though not handled in the same masterly way ; the same
personifications of cities, but with faint relics only of the
delicate grace and charm of the original. One of these
has by mistake been put in the picture following that to
which it properly belonged ; proving clearly that the
archetype must have been a continuous series of paint-
ings, whether the Vatican Joshua Roll or a lost one of
similar design. 1
Of the " monastic-theological " family of Psalters, i.e.
those with only marginal illustrations, the earliest extant
specimens date from the end of the ninth century. 2 The
British Museum possesses a very fine example, 3 written
in 1066 by the arch-priest Theodore of Caesarea for
Michael, Abbot of the Studium monastery at Constanti-
nople. Almost every one of its 208 leaves has the
margins filled with paintings, for the most part executed
with great delicacy. There are no backgrounds ; the
figures, with such few accessories as were indispensable
for the representation of the scenes depicted, are painted
direct on the plain vellum page, and so have at the first
glance a quaint appearance of standing or walking upon
nothing. .The pigments have flaked away in many places ;
and an inspection of the places where this has happened
discloses two interesting facts. In the first place, it is
clear that the gold leaf was laid on a red priming, but
where colours were used there is no trace of any pre-
liminary preparation of the vellum surface. Secondly,
outlines were drawn with the pen, very lightly, apparently
in watered ink, before the colours were laid on ; except
where precise definition of form was not wanted, as in
the case of watercourses, which are represented by broad
wavy lines of blue. The figures, which are, of course, on
1 Strzygowski, p. 120.
z Tikkanen, i, pp. n seq. For the one on Mount Athos, Pantocrator 61,
see Brockhaus, pp. 177-83, pi. 17-20.
8 Add. 19352. See Pal, Soc., i, 53; F. G. Kenyon, Facsimiles of Biblical
MSS,, 190, pi. vii; G. F. Warner, Reproductions from Illuminated MSS., ser.
ii, 1907, pi. 2, 3.
4 49
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
a small scale, dainty rather than majestic, are on the
whole admirably drawn, graceful, and well proportioned ;
and the varied scenes are vividly portrayed, despite the
lack of background. The animated style predominates,
but not to the exclusion of the statuesque, which is often
used for single figures, e.g. for David standing, with
hands uplifted in adoration, before an icon of the
Saviour a subject which recurs on page after page.
The colouring is subdued for the most part, one of the
prevailing tints being an almost leaden blue ; but the
pages are brightened up with touches of gold in the
draperies, and with copious use of red, and the general
effect is pleasing and harmonious.
The chief value of the Theodore Psalter, however,
lies in the wealth and variety of its illustrations, rather
than its purely artistic interest. The painter was not
hampered in his choice of subjects by a sense of con-
gruity. To illustrate the text was his purpose, whether
by naively literal or elaborately symbolical methods. For
instance, Ps. xi. 2 is represented by three wicked men
shooting arrows with malicious vigour at the upright in
heart (f. lob) ; Ps. xii. 3, by an angel standing on the
boaster's chest and snipping off " the tongue that speak-
eth proud things" (f. nb); Ps. Ixxviii. 25, by an angel
giving a cake to an old man (f. 102); Ps. cxxvii. i, by
workmen with ladder, pulleys, etc., building a house
(f. 170) ; and so on. Pictorial renderings of a less elemen-
tary kind are given to such passages as Ps. xxxix. 6,
where we see porters and mule laden with money-bags,
which the young heir is emptying at a girl's feet (f. 47).
Ps. Ixxviii, cv, and cvi are accompanied by pictures of
the plagues of Egypt and the wanderings of the Israelites
(ff. 99b-io4b, 14^-44) ; and other scenes from the Old
Testament appear, not only like these in direct illustra-
tion of the text, but allusively, as when the translation
of Elijah is used to illustrate Ps. xlii. 6, or Job on the
dunghill for Ps. cxiii. 7 (ff. 5ib, 154). As in the Vatican
Bible, Reg. gr. i, and the Paris Psalter, gr. 139, we
so
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
have a coronation scene : opposite Ps. xxi. 3 stands
Hezekiah, robed like a Byzantine Emperor, on a shield
upborne by soldiers, while an angel reaching down from
heaven sets "a crown of pure gold on his head" (f. 21).
Pictures from the life of David are naturally to be found
throughout the volume ; including two charming pages
at the end of the Psalms (ff. iSqb, 190) which are filled
with a consecutive series, Christ sending down an angel
to David as he plays the flute among his flocks, David's
colloquy with the angel, and finally his being anointed
by Samuel.
The "monastic-theological" character of the book
comes out in the scenes from the New Testament, the lives
of saints and the history of the Eastern Church, which
form a very large part of its illumination. The prophetic
element in the Psalter is emphasized here, especially in
pictures of the Gospel-story, where David often appears
at one side pointing, as in the Codex Rossanensis, to the
fulfilment of his prophecy. Many of the subjects are
repeated in different parts of the book, with striking
variations in the treatment a fact which shows that the
Byzantine rule of unchanging iconography had its ex-
ceptions. For instance, there are miniatures of the
Crucifixion on ff. 8jb, 96, ij2b. In the second of these
Christ wears a loin-cloth, in the two others the colobium;
in the first and second Longinus with his spear is on the
left, but the right-hand side has in the first the soldier
with the hyssop, in the second the Virgin and S. John ;
in the third, the only figures besides Christ are the
Virgin and S. John, standing on the right and left re-
spectively, and bending over His feet. On f. 152 is a
representation of the Double Communion, inferior in
impressive solemnity and depth of feeling to the Codex
Rossanensis, but interesting because of the figures of
David and Melchizedek, who stand as witnesses on either
side. The Iconoclastic Controversy is graphically de-
picted on f. 2yb : the Patriarch Nicephorus and his
friend Theodore, abbot of the Studium, are shown
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
supporting an icon, and again protesting before the
Emperor Leo, while his myrmidons are busy destroying
the sacred images. The book shows no hint of the
earlier classical revival, except in the somewhat grotesque
personifications of rivers as men with urns, and of the
winds as men blowing trumpets, and a representation of
the Sun-god in his chariot on f. 6ib, opposite Ps. 1. i.
Some of the illustrations of the Theodore Psalter were
drawn from the lives of saints ; for these the icono-
graphy had already become settled, probably soon after
the completion of the great work of Simeon Metaphrastes,
who flourished under Constantine Porphyrogenitus
(912-58) and collected and amplified the lives of the
early Christian saints. A Menology, abridged from
his voluminous compilation, was made for Basil II
(976-1025), and is now in the Vatican Library j 1 or rather,
all that remains of it, viz. the portion for the half-year
from September to February. It is a stately volume of
215 leaves, containing a miniature on each page, with the
artist's name inscribed against it on the margin. Eight
artists were employed, including two (Michael and
Simeon) who are surnamed " of Blachernae " ; so the
manuscript was probably executed at Constantinople by
the leading court miniaturists. It is certainly one of the
finest surviving examples of its kind. There is not
much width of range, the saints being usually depicted
either in the orans attitude, standing rigidly with uplifted
hands, or else while undergoing martyrdom ; and despite
the beauty of much of the painting, an effect of monotony
is produced by the endless series of nuns and bishops
standing before arcaded parapets or flanked by hills of
impossible symmetry even the livelier movements of
the executioners tend to become stereotyped. All the
1 Cod. Vat. gr. 1613. The text, with Latin translation and with engravings
of the miniatures, was published by Card. A. Albani, Menologium Graecorum,
Urbino, 1727 ; and the whole manuscript has since been reproduced, II Menologio
di Basilio //, Turin, 1907 (vol. viii of Codd. e Vat, selecti). See too Beissel, Vat.
Min., 1893, pi. xvi, New Pal. Soc., pi. 4, and Al Sommo Pont. Leone XIII
omaggio giubilare della Bibl. Vat., 1888, pi. i (in colour).
52
PLATE V
T3LVJUUUT Trap JL
,' "l
t frjy n.1 (JLCU rt I
SIMEON METAPHRASTES. XI-XIlxH CENT.
BKIT. MUS. ADI). 11870
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
miniatures have gold backgrounds, and a strong family
likeness altogether, so that it is difficult to recognize the
individual characteristics of the several painters ; Panto-
leon, Michael the Little, and Simeon of Blachernae seem,
however, to have been decidedly the best artists the
others were perhaps only painstaking and highly trained
imitators. One of the most beautiful miniatures in the
book is Simeon of Blachernae's painting of the Nativity. 1
The whole scene is in the open air, as it usually is in
Byzantine art. In the centre lies the Babe in the manger,
at the mouth of a cavern half-way up a hill. Mary sits
on the rocks beside His head, Joseph below her to the
left : and the centre of the foreground shows the Babe
being washed in a bath which stands in a flowery
meadow. At the top of the hill are two angels, and a
third on the right-hand slope proclaims the glad tidings
to an aged shepherd. The composition is symmetrical,
but not to excess ; and the whole picture is full of grace
and charm. The Adoration of the Magi, which follows
on the next page, is also by Simeon ; it too has great
merit, especially in the figures of Mary and the Child,
and of the angel who leads the Magi into their presence ;
but it is marred by the grotesque costume of the foremost
Mage, who crouches impossibly while still advancing with
his gift. Another fine miniature, 2 by Pantoleon, repre-
sents the miracle of S. Michael and the hermit Archippus
a subject which we meet again in the Metaphrastes of
the British Museum.
Landscape backgrounds figure largely in the Vatican
Menology, treated according to the peculiar traditions of
Byzantine painters and their successors the early Italian
masters. The development of these traditions, from their
first germs in Pompeian wall-paintings down to their last
survival in the works of such painters as Benozzo
Gozzoli and Filippo Lippi, has been traced by W. Kallab
1 Menologio, p. 271 ; but Beissel's plate is more pleasing.
2 Afenologio, p. 17.
53
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
in an interesting and copiously illustrated monograph ; l
and we need not do more than mention the subject very
briefly here. The most striking feature in Byzantine
landscape is the curiously conventional treatment of hills,
which are represented as truncated cones with smooth,
level table-tops, and with steep, symmetrical and abso-
lutely smooth and arid slopes, often interrupted at regular
intervals by ledges of the same evenness as the summits.
Lower down are crags and boulders of similar form, like
the stumps of neatly sawn-off tree-trunks. There is a far-
away resemblance to some basaltic formations, such as
Fingal's Cave or the Giant's Causeway, but the treatment
is essentially non-naturalistic ; it had become traditional
before the end of the tenth century, and it persisted, in
the Eastern Empire and Italy, till well on in the fifteenth.
Many of the compositions of the Vatican Menology
are reproduced, on a smaller scale but with almost equal
delicacy and finish, in a copy of the Lives of Saints for
September, from Metaphrastes, executed about the end of
the eleventh century or beginning of the twelfth. 2 At the
head of each legend is a miniature, richly framed in
ornament. One of these (f. 60) represents the Archangel
Michael turning aside a torrent from the church and
dwelling-place of the devout hermit Archippus. 3 This
was plainly inspired by Pantoleon's painting in the
Menology ; the subject seems to have been a popular one
it occurs on f. 125 of the Theodore Psalter. Another
subject, S. John in his old age dictating the Gospel to his
youthful disciple S. Prochorus (f. iQyb), occurs frequently
in Greek Gospel-books, as we shall see presently. Six of
the other headpieces contain scenes from the saints' lives
and passions, in series of four or five small medallions.
The remaining fourteen have single miniatures, like the
two already mentioned. Seven of them represent martyr-
1 " Die toscanische Landschaftsmalerei im xiv und XY Jahrhundert," in the
Vienna Jahrbuch> xxi, 1900, pp. 1-90.
2 Brit. Mus., Add. 11870.
3 PL v.
54
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
doms ; in the other seven the saints stand upright, some-
times in the regular orans pose, sometimes holding a small
cross in the right hand. 1 The backgrounds are in reddish
gold ; the figures, painted in body-colour and highly
finished, are long and slender, the faces dignified and
pensive in expression, the draperies carefully shaded and
arranged in fine folds. This is Byzantine work of a high
order; rich and harmonious in colour, conceived in the
solemn and ceremonial manner proper to the school.
The saints, both male and female, are of ascetic type,
with emaciated frames, contrasting strongly with the
vigorous muscularity of their executioners. Apart from
the figures, the treatment is conventional, as in the
Vatican Menology. The artist places his martyrdoms
among impossible hills, his saintly nuns and confessors
before arcades and porticoes devoid of perspective, and
prettily but improbably coloured in red, blue or green.
The Metaphrastes is the first of the manuscripts
which we have been considering to show in a perfect
form the characteristic conventional ornament of the By-
zantine school. This ornament, in the best examples of
great richness and beauty, irresistibly reminds every one
who sees it for the first time of some Oriental pattern-
work, and especially of Persian carpets or enamels. It is
generally used at the beginning of a book or chapter,
sometimes forming a framework or pendant to a minia-
ture, as here, 8 but more often alone, the miniature (if any)
being on a separate page within a plain banded frame, as
in most of the Gospel-books. The form is square or
oblong, sometimes with short depending borders. The
decoration consists of a repeat-pattern of geometrical
elements circles, lozenges, and quatrefoils together
with strictly conventionalized flower and leaf ornaments.
Sometimes the design is so close as to seem a mere
floriated network ; sometimes it has a rich border, and
a more open pattern within. The ground is gold ; the
1 See Warner, Reproductions ; i, r, for one of the latter class.
2 PI. v.
55
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
pattern is in the deep blue of Persian enamel, with myrtle-
green and a little red. In later work pink, light blue,
mauve, and other secondary shades are introduced ; but
as a general rule the better the example the nearer it
keeps to the original blue-and-green effect. The whole
is relieved with minute touches of white, which become
coarse and heavy as the style deteriorates. A really good
piece of this ornament is like nothing so much as a fine
Persian praying-rug on a small scale ; and it seems likely
that the idea may have been borrowed from the Arabs,
whose civilization was more or less in touch with that of
Byzantium from the seventh century onwards. But it
must be admitted that a scheme of decoration, out of
which that now in question might conceivably have been
evolved, appears at a still earlier date in Byzantine archi-
tecture, e.g. in the altar-screen and capitals at the church
of San Vitale, Ravenna. 1 Obscure though the origin and
early development of this headpiece may be, its succes-
sive stages of decadence may easily be seen from the
long series of Gospel-books to be considered presently.
Byzantine miniature was at its prime in the tenth
century the age of the Joshua Roll and the Paris
Psalter ; but the next two centuries produced many
manuscripts of great beauty and interest. Among these
may be mentioned the Vatican Homilies of the monk
Jacobus (Cod. Vat. gr. 1162, nth cent.), a perfect ex-
ample of the Byzantine conventual manner, and of addi-
tional interest because its exquisitely finished, if formal,
groups of saints and angels can be compared with the
laboriously careful, but greatly inferior, copies in a
twelfth century manuscript at Paris (Bibl. Nat., gr.
I2o8). 2 Another fine manuscript of the eleventh century
is the Scala Paradisi of John Climacus in the Vatican
1 See Venturi, i, fig. 76-8, 82 ; C. Ricci, Jtavenna, 1902, pp. 35-7, 40, 41.
But a Moslem derivation is more probable. See the illustrations to F. Sarre's
article on "Makam Ali am Euphrat " in the Berlin Jahrbuch^ xxix, 1908,
pp. 63-76.
2 Beissel, Vat. Afin., pi. 15 ; Venturi, ii, pp 468-75, fig. 329-41.
56
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
(gr. 394), 1 setting forth the toilsome ascent of the spiritual
ladder by means of allegorical miniatures and drawings,
delicately executed in a manner somewhat resembling
that of the Metaphrastes. Other copies of this treatise
are extant, with independent but inferior illustrations. 2
The so-called Melissenda Psalter in the British
Museum 3 exemplifies the strange mingling of East and
West brought about by the Crusades. Unlike the other
manuscripts considered in this chapter, it is written in
Latin, and its small, finely formed minuscules bespeak a
Prankish scribe of no mean skill. The Calendar-orna-
ments too, consisting of the signs of the zodiac painted
on gold grounds in small medallions, are Western in
character ; and so are the elaborate decorative initials at
the beginning and principal divisions of the Psalter.
But the miniatures, while purely Byzantine in icono-
graphy, are curiously un-Byzantine in colouring. The
book is generally supposed to have been executed for
Melissenda, eldest daughter of Baldwin II, king of
Jerusalem, and of the Armenian princess Emorfia, his
queen. Melissenda was married in 1129 to Fulk of
Anjou, and was crowned with him on Baldwin's death in
1131. Throughout Fulk's reign she took an active part
in the government, and for some years after his death in
1144 she held the regency for their young son, Baldwin
III ; she died at Jerusalem in 1161. Her name does not
appear anywhere in the book, but the Calendar records
the deaths of her parents (but not that of Fulk) and the
capture of Jerusalem by the Crusaders (July 15, 1099),
and the prayers contain many phrases which tend to
show that the book was written in the Holy City. More-
over, its sumptuous appearance, in binding enriched
with beautiful ivory carvings and studded with turquoises
1 Beissel, pi. 14; Venturi ii, pp. 478-85, fig. 343-4; Pal. Soc., i, 155.
2 See Tikkanen in Ada Societatis Stientiarum Fennicac, xix, 1893, No. 2.
3 Eg. 1139. See New Pal. Soc., pi. 140; Warner, Reproductions > iii, 6. All
the illuminations have been reproduced in colour, but not satisfactorily, by A.
Du Sommerard, Les Arts au MoyenAge, 1838-46, Album, ser. 8, pi. 12-16.
57
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and rubies, makes it fully worthy of a royal patron. So
we will not dispute its traditional association with Queen
Melissenda's name ; but it contains some phrases which
suggest that it was intended, not for her own use, but for
presentation to some lady in a religious house perhaps
her youngest sister Iveta, a nun at S. Anne's, afterwards
Abbess of the nunnery of S. Lazarus at Bethany, which
was founded and richly endowed by Melissenda herself. 1
The book contains twenty-four full-page miniatures of
the life of Christ at the beginning, and nine half-page
miniatures of saints towards the end, all on gold grounds.
The latter series is plainly the work of the Western
(probably French) artist who painted the zodiac-medal-
lions in the Calendar. He has faithfully copied the stiff
and formal designs of a Byzantine menology of traditional
type, but has completely altered the effect by the use of
brighter, less sombre colours, by greater freedom and
naturalism in flesh-tints and draperies, and above all by
his delicate and skilful treatment of the faces, imparting
to them an animation, in some cases even a touch of
coquetry, quite alien to the spirit of Byzantine hagio-
graphical art.
The scenes from the life of Christ are painted in a
very different manner ; they are by an artist whose signa-
ture, " Basilius me fecit," appears in uncial lettering on
the last of the series. The name is Greek, and the com-
positions agree exactly with the established Byzantine
traditions ; but the attenuated, ill-modelled figures with
impossibly long necks, the sullen, peevish faces, and
especially the rich but unpleasantly vivid and unhar-
monized colouring, mark the presence of some other
influence. If one compares these paintings with the
corresponding scenes in a typical Byzantine manuscript
of the same period, such as Harl. 1810, one is struck by
the difference in treatment almost as much as by the
similarity in design. The deep ultramarine of the Melis-
senda book looks rich and warm beside the leaden blue of
1 See R. Rohricht, Geschichtt des Kont^reichs Jerusalem, 1898, p. 228.
58
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
the Harleian MS., but its effect is constantly marred by
the juxtaposition of ill-matched shades of crimson, green,
and most discordant note of all a harsh magenta. The
local colours are often quite arbitrary, e.g. in the picture
of the Magi following their angel-guide the ground is
magenta, and the hair and beard of one Mage are, like
his horse, of a pale bluish green a colour which also
does duty for the ass ridden by Christ in the Entry
into Jerusalem. The artist exaggerates the hard, dry
manner which was one of the worst faults of the later
Byzantine school ; his scenes seem as if cut out against
the gold background, without a hint of perspective. Little
attempt is made to vary the types, or to depict facial
expression ; and the draperies are so treated as to give
the effect of some hard substance, striped with fine lines,
rather than of folded stuffs. The proportions are often
absurd, as in the Raising of Lazarus, where the kneeling
sisters and the men removing the sepulchre door, though
all in the foreground, are mere pygmies ; or in the Entry
into Jerusalem, where the figure of Christ is dwarfed by
the tall disciples the ass too is of diminutive size, and is
grotesquely represented as walking on air high above the
ground.
Despite these shortcomings, however, the Melissenda
book has much beauty, besides a well-nigh unique interest
as a monument of one of the most picturesque episodes
in the Middle Ages. Its pages glow as brightly now as
when they were first painted, with none of the flaking-off
that disfigures so many Byzantine miniatures. The
pictures of the life of Christ form an unusually complete
series, of great value for the study of iconographical
details. Here, for instance, the Baptism-scene, unlike
that in the contemporary Harl. 1810 (f. 95), still preserves
the personification of Jordan, but shrunk to puny dimen-
sions. The Harrowing of Hell 1 is represented in the
symmetrical form long established in Byzantine tradition :
Christ in the centre, beneath His feet the broken doors of
1 PL vi.
59
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the tomb ; in the left hand He holds a cross, with the
right He raises Adam from the grave ; Eve stands behind
Adam, waiting her turn ; on the right-hand side of the
picture, balancing Adam and Eve, is a group of patriarchs
headed by David and Solomon ; two angels hover above
Christ, to right and left, bearing standards inscribed "SSS"
(Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus). This last detail seems to be
rare ; but the main outlines of composition stamp the
miniature as one of a large family, other members of
which are in Harl. 1810 (f. 2o6b) 1 and a Gospel-book
dated 1128-9 in the Vatican. 2 The Ascension is repre-
sented by a still more symmetrical composition : 3 Christ
enthroned, within a circular mandorla, is borne heaven-
wards by four angels ; below, the central figure is the
Virgin, and on each side of her stands an angel addressing
a group of disciples. Again an almost exact counterpart,
as regards design, is to be found in Harl. 1810 (f. I35b).*
As a rule, the decoration of Greek Gospel-books is
restricted to portraits of the Evangelists and head-
pieces prefixed to the Gospels, sometimes with arcades
for the Eusebian canons and ornamental initials. The
two manuscripts, which we have mentioned in discussing
the Melissenda book, are exceptional in containing some
additional miniatures. Besides the four Evangelist-
portraits and a painting 5 of Christ blessing the Em-
perors Alexius and John Comnenus, the Vatican MS.,
Urbino-Vat. gr. 2, which was executed in 1128-9, appar-
ently for John Comnenus, has four full-page miniatures,
one before each Gospel, viz. the Nativity, Baptism,
Birth of S. John the Baptist, 6 and Harrowing of Hell.
There is far greater wealth of illustration in the Harleian
MS. 1810, also of the twelfth century. Inserted in the
1 Reproduced, with other illustrations of the subject, by G. McN. Rushforth
in Papers of the British School at Rome^ i, 1902, pp. 114-19.
' 2 Cod. Urbino-Vat. gr. 2, f. 26ob, reproduced in New Pal Soc., pi. 106.
3 Warner, Reproductions ; iii, 6.
4 Ibid., i, 2.
5 Venturi, ii, fig. 342.
6 Beissel, Vat. Mtn., pi. 14.
60
PLATE VI
PSALTER OF MELISSENDA, QUEEN OF JERUSALEM. BYZANTINE, 1I3M4
BRIT. MUS. HOKRTON 1139
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
text at varying intervals are sixteen miniatures of the life
of Christ, each occupying about three-quarters of the
page. All the subjects are represented in the Melissenda
book, and for the most part by nearly identical designs.
But the book now under consideration is thoroughly
typical of Byzantine work of the time ; and its minia-
tures, so far as their condition enables one to judge, are
marked by the subdued colouring, dignified gestures,
and gentle, pensive faces which characterize the school.
One of the finest is the Annunciation (f. 142), large
in manner and freely handled. Finer still is the Incre-
dulity of Thomas (f. 26 ib), a very charming composition
in blue and gold, and fraught with an intensity of
spiritual emotion that recalls the Codex Rossanensis.
Christ stands in the centre, between two groups of
apostles. His face is beautiful, His figure majestic and
well drawn, though emaciated ; and the gestures and
faces of the apostles express awe-struck, ecstatic wonder
and reverence.
After the twelfth century the history of Byzantine
miniature is one of rapid decadence. Having provided
a starting-point for the Italian school, which continued
its tradition with great success through the thirteenth
and fourteenth centuries, it ceased to exist as an aesthetic
power. That instinct for decorative fitness and for the
solemn effects proper to religious art, which had been its
distinguishing characteristic, died away ; and nothing
remained but those outward mannerisms which had
always been the least satisfactory features of the style.
Signs of decay had begun to show themselves, especially
in the sense for harmonious colouring, before the end
of the twelfth century ; and the downward movement
was no doubt accelerated by the disasters which befell
the Eastern Empire about this time, culminating in the
Latin conquest of Constantinople in 1204.
Before we pass on to the Western schools, a word
must be said about the portraits of the Evangelists,
which form the chief decoration of a very large number
61
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of copies of the Greek Gospels, ranging in date from the
tenth century to the fourteenth. The series must have
begun much earlier, as is evidenced by the portrait of
S. Mark in the sixth century Codex Rossanensis, and by
the four portraits in the Lindisfarne Gospels (circ. 700),
which were plainly copied from Italo-Byzantine arche-
types. But in this class, as in Byzantine illumination
generally, the gap between the sixth century and the
tenth has to be bridged over by inference and conjecture.
One safe inference is that the symbolical figure of Divine
Wisdom, which we saw in the Rossano book, was dis-
carded during this dark period it was felt, perhaps,
to savour too much of pagan art. The absence of the
four emblems constitutes a more complex problem.
From a very early period the Christian Church had
regarded the " four living creatures" of Ezekiel i. 5, the
"four beasts" of the Apocalypse iv. 6, as symbols of
the four Evangelists certainly before the time of S.
Jerome. When and where they were first introduced
into Christian art is still undetermined ; but in Western
miniatures they appear almost invariably from the seventh
century onwards, whereas in Byzantine they are practi-
cally unknown. Their first appearance among the Greek
Gospel-books in the British Museum is in Add. 11838,
written in I326; 1 among those in the Vatican, we are
told, they do not occur at all. It is difficult to account
for their absence in the paintings of a school so devoted
to symbolic imagery as that of Byzantium ; and one is
tempted to suggest that their use in art was a Latin
invention, which did not become known to Greek-speaking
Christendom until a comparatively late date. Certainly
one of the oldest surviving instances of their occurrence
is in the mosaics of the Baptistery of S. Giovanni in
Fonte at Naples, circ. A.D. 400 ; and it is an interesting
coincidence, to say the least, that the Durham Book
(written at Lindisfarne circ. 700), which seems to have
been copied from a Neapolitan archetype, contains pages
1 New Pal. Sac., pi. 130.
62
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
on which portraits of the Evangelists inscribed in Greek
(" O agios M attheus," etc.) are combined with the em-
blems, the latter inscribed in Latin (" imago hominis,"
etc.). 1
After this digression, let us return to the Byzantine
type, which is amply represented in Eastern monastic
libraries, as well as in the Vatican, 2 the Imperial Library
at Vienna, 8 the British Museum, and other great European
collections of manuscripts. In point of artistic excel-
lence the highest level, as with Byzantine miniatures in
general, is reached in the tenth and eleventh centuries,
and from the closing years of the twelfth century the
deterioration becomes rapid and complete. As to the
broad outlines of composition there is a conservatism
verging on monotony, though the details vary in a way
calculated at once to delight and perplex the archae-
ologist and that not only from one manuscript to another,
but from page to page within the same volume. The
ground is almost invariably gold but occasionally blue,
as in a twelfth century MS. in the British Museum. 4 In
some cases the backgrounds are more or less filled with
buildings, in others they are quite plain. Landscape is
restricted to one subject, S. John dictating to S. Pro-
chorus, and is of the peculiar character already described.
The Evangelists are always at work on their respective
Gospels ; the first three seated, and engaged in the actual
writing, usually with an exemplar on a stand to copy
from. For S. John two different compositions were
recognized. In one, as we have seen in the Metaphrastes,
he stands dictating to S. Prochorus, and at the same time
looking heavenward for inspiration, which is symbolized
by a hand issuing from part of a disc ; this device also
appears in the other type, where he sits alone writing.
The cast of countenance is usually grave, thoughtful,
1 For a fuller discussion of this question see Burlington Mag., xiii, 162.
" Beissel, Vat. Min., pp. 16-19, pi. ix-xi.
3 Jarhbuch, xxi, pi. i-v.
* Add. 4949.
63
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ascetic, especially in the earlier manuscripts, with bulging,
wrinkled forehead and prominent chin. A good example
is the portrait of S. Mark 1 in Burney 19, a manuscript
of the eleventh century, formerly in the Escurial Library.
S. Matthew is always an old man, with white hair and
beard. S. Mark is much younger, dark haired, some-
times of a strikingly Semitic type, e.g. in Add. 4949 and
22740, both of the twelfth century. S. Luke is a young
man in his prime, fair, with good features of Greek type,
and slight pointed beard ; sometimes tonsured, as in
Burney 19, Add. 4949, and Burney 20 (dated 1285). In
Add. 22736, dated 1179, both he and S. John have almost
girlish faces. But the latter is generally depicted as an
old man, with long white beard and bald head, the fore-
head very large and dome-shaped. The accessories are,
as we have said, of great interest for the student of
archaeology, but too full of fanciful variations to afford
him very secure data. For instance, the exemplar is of
scroll or codex form according to the painter's fancy for
the moment ; and the form of the transcript varies equally
but quite independently. In this connection we may note
that in Burney 20 S. Matthew is copying or translating
from a roll inscribed in Arabic evidence of a current
tradition, at all events, as to the original language of his
Gospel. The table by the Evangelist's side is often
covered with a complete outfit of writing implements :
inkstand, knife, scissors, compasses, sponge, 'etc. The
devices for adjusting the book-rest ; the patterns of chair,
table, and other pieces of furniture ; the hanging lamp
suspended over S. Luke's table in Add. 28815 (tenth
century) these are a few of the many points worth
notice.
Enough has been said as to the headpiece decoration,
which adorns the beginning of each Gospel in these
manuscripts. But there is another feature which must
not be ignored, viz. the initial-ornament, in which some
of the earlier manuscripts are rich. One of the best in
1 PL iv.
6 4
BYZANTINE ILLUMINATION
this respect is Arundel 547, an Evangelistarium or
Gospel-lectionary, written in Slavonic uncials early in
the tenth century. Its initials are of the type usually
called Lombardic, and abound in variety and humour :
fishes, birds, human limbs, human trunks without limbs,
pitchers these and many other objects are combined in
all sorts of fantastic ways. It is worth remarking that
similar initials occur in an Evangelistarium l written at
Capua in 991 by a Sicilian monk, and in a copy of the
Gospels 2 written in 1023, probably in Southern Italy;
but they are also found in manuscripts of the tenth and
eleventh centuries on Mount Sinai, 3 and are probably of
Eastern origin.
To conclude this chapter, we cannot refrain (even at
the risk of irrelevance) from mentioning a copy of the
Greek Gospels* written at Rome in 1478 for Cardinal
Francesco Gonzaga by a Cretan priest named John. The
illuminations are unmistakably the work of an Italian
artist ; but while his miniatures of the Evangelists, and
the charming headpieces which he has prefixed (following
the Byzantine custom) to the Gospels, are thoroughly
Italian in style, the single figures and small groups
painted on some of the margins recall such manuscripts
as the Theodore Psalter, and were plainly copied from
Byzantine models.
1 Cod. "tat. gr. 2138. See Pal. Soc., ii, 87.
2 Milan, Bibl. Ambros. B. 56 Sup. See Pal. Soc., i, 130.
3 Munoz, L'art byzantin a f exposition de Grotto) f crrata t 1906, fig. 56.
4 Brit. Mus., Harl. 5790.
CHAPTER IV
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
HAVING sketched the development and subse-
quent decay of Byzantine illumination, we now
turn from the extreme east to the extreme west
of Europe, and follow, so far as existing materials will
allow us, the history of a counter-movement which took
its rise in the Irish monasteries at an early period
possibly even before the end of the fifth century ; and
which, spreading thence to Great Britain and the Conti-
nent, combined with Byzantine and other influences to
form the decorative system which obtained in Europe from
the ninth century to the twelfth.
The great characteristic of Celtic illumination is a
complete disregard for realism and an impassioned under-
standing of conventional ornament. It is, indeed, by the
use that it makes of decorative elements that the exact
limitations of the school are fixed. The Classical style
was entirely, the Byzantine mainly, pictorial ; the Celtic
is purely ornamental. In its disposition of lines and
masses, its dexterous manipulation of a few forms and
colours to form patterns of endless variety, it has never
been surpassed. Another marked feature of the school
is the adaptation of decorative motives which belong
primarily and properly to work in three dimensions to
the allied, yet essentially distinct, arts of basketry, metal-
work, and sculpture. Some purists object to this as a
blemish ; but we find it difficult to accept their strictures
when feasting our eyes on the exquisite beauty of some of
the pages in such books as those of Kells, Lindisfarne, or
Lichfield.
The art of writing was probably introduced into Ireland,
as a concomitant of Christianity, early in the fifth century;
66
PLATE VII
GOSPELS fBOOK OF KELLSJ. IRISH, VIIrH CENT
DUBLIN, TRIN. COLL.
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
and the fervour with which the faith was embraced in the
"Isle of Saints" led to the foundation of monasteries
innumerable, in which the copying of the Gospels and of
service-books was diligently practised, for use at home
and on missionary enterprises. A distinctive Irish cal-
ligraphy was soon evolved, which preserved most of its
characteristics almost unchanged down to the decay of
writing as an art a conservatism fruitful in perplexities
for the palaeographer, and so adding to the difficulties of
the would-be historian of Irish illumination. At first,
probably, the scribes contented themselves with making
unadorned copies of the texts. The archetypes brought
over from the Continent by S. Patrick and his companions
were very likely devoid of ornament ; this would account
for the absence of any trace of foreign influence in Irish
book-decoration. No illuminated manuscripts of the
Celtic school exist to which an earlier date than the seventh
century can safely be assigned ; but its first beginnings
must be put a good deal earlier, for by this time we find
already a fully developed and elaborate system of decora-
tion, together with a very high degree of technical skill.
Before we come to notice individual manuscripts in
detail, a few words must be said about the elements of
ornamental design by which the school is characterized.
These were formerly claimed as of Irish invention, but
are now recognized as belonging (for the most part, at
any rate) to the common stock of primitive art. They are
roughly divisible into a few groups, and these again may
be classified as arising from either geometrical or organic
forms. The following list, though perhaps incomplete,
contains the most frequent patterns :
A. GEOMETRICAL
1. Ribbons: plaited, knotted, or used as frames to enclose
ornament. These, with the spirals, really form the
foundation of the Celtic decorative system.
2. Thread-like lines plaited or knotted ; a more delicate
and intricate variety of i.
67
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
3. Spirals, including the divergent spiral, or trumpet-
pattern.
4. The triquetra, or three-spoked wheel pattern.
5. Dots, generally red, arranged in patterns, or outlining
letters and frames.
6. Step-patterns of zigzag lines.
7. Tessellated patterns : tartans, lozenges, checks, key-
patterns.
8. Network patterns*of fine lines on a contrasting ground.
B. ORGANIC FORMS
1. The chief animal-designs are the so-called " lacertines,"
i.e. birds, dragons, serpents, hounds, etc., " stretched
out lengthwise in a disagreeable manner," to quote
Dr. Keller's graphic phrase. 1 These are plaited and
twined together with a wonderful dexterity ; their
tongues and tails being prolonged into ribbons, and
knotted or woven into a compact space-filling decora-
tion. Like the spirals and ribbon-work, they are
among the most distinctive features of Celtic illu-
mination.
2. In the Book of Kells and other Irish manuscripts, use
is made of the human figure for grotesques, corner-
pieces, and terminals. It is always treated in a
purely conventional manner, the hair and limbs often
being prolonged into plaits, spirals, or ribbon-like
edges for letters and frames.
3. Grotesque animals other than lacertines are sometimes,
but sparingly, introduced.
4. Plant-forms occur, but rarely. The chief is the sham-
rock, much used in the Book of Kells and one or two
other manuscripts. There are also a few examples of
the vine ; but on the whole, Celtic ornament cannot
be said to have derived many of its patterns from
vegetable life.
1 See his article on Irish MSS. in Swiss libraries in Mittheil. der Ant.
Gcsellsch. in Zurich, vii, Heft 3, 1851, pp. 61-97 '> translated by W. Reeves in the
Ulster Journal of Archaeology, viii, 1860, pp. 210-30, 291-308.
68
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
In the disposition of this mass of decoration, the Irish
monks showed themselves to be great artists as well as
expert craftsmen. They used their ornament in three
ways. First, as rich frames enclosing full-page figure-
subjects. Secondly, to enrich the opening pages of the
Gospels, or other specially important parts of the text.
Thirdly, for the complete pages of conventional decoration,
often full of their peculiar symbolism, and usually having
as foundation an elaborate cruciform design, which were
generally prefixed to the Gospels and Psalms. In each
case, the fundamental plan was much the same. Frames,
capitals, or decorative pages were cut into variously shaped
panels by flat ribbons, sometimes plaited at the corners,
or bent to receive knotted and lacertine terminals. These
panels were then filled with all-over patterns of one of the
elements above described, so disposed as to give at once
an impression of great variety and perfect harmony. In
the best Irish manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells,
every panel turns out on examination to be different, even
plaits and knots being slightly varied. Nor did the
artists rest content with the labour of producing their
great cruciform and strap-work designs ; they also made
their pages of script splendid by the huge plaited initials,
ending often in swans' heads, eagles, or human grotesques,
and by the wealth of dotted work, spirals, and lacertines
which filled the ground between and about the lines of
text. The draughtsmanship is extraordinary, the most
intricate enlacements and spirals, and the delicate open-
work patterns which recall " drawn thread " work, being
faultlessly executed in firm and accurate outline. The
pattern thus made was then coloured, always in small
detached patches, like champleve' enamel-work. There
are no washes, broad masses, blendings of tone ; every-
thing is flat and definite. The range of colours was not
large ; often only red and yellow are used, in addition to
the lustrous black ink. In manuscripts of greater im-
portance green, violet, and brown are added ; and
finally, in a few books, blue, the rarest and most
69
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
beautiful of the colours which the Irish painter had at
his disposal.
It only remains to mention the figure-subjects, usually
portraits of the Evangelists, occasionally a few scriptural
scenes also, which the Celtic illuminators unfortunately
felt it necessary to introduce into their works. Their
genius, as has already been said, was for pattern-weaving,
space-filling, symmetry ; their world was a flat one, their
art two-dimensional. The result of applying these pecu-
liarities to the human figure may be imagined. Man, as
seen by the Celtic artist, is a purely geometrical animal.
His hair is a series of parallel lines or neatly fitted
curves; his eyes, two discs set symmetrically in almond-
shaped frames ; his nose, an interesting polygonal
device. His dress, cut up into arbitrary compart-
ments, his straight toes and fingers, and his doll-
like stare, complete an ensemble which may be suc-
cessful as a decorative pattern, but has no relation to
real life.
There is a good deal of uncertainty as to the dates of
most of the extant examples of early Celtic illumination ;
fixed points are few, experts' judgments are many and
various. So the order adopted in the following notes of
individual manuscripts cannot claim finality as a precise
chronological arrangement. A fixed point of great value
is supplied by the Durham Book, which was written
(according to a tradition recorded in the tenth century and
accepted without dispute) at Lindisfarne, in Northumber-
land, between 687 and 721. The monastery at Lindis-
farne had been founded by S. Aidan, from lona, early
in the seventh century; and the fully developed style
and technical perfection of the purely Celtic work
(i.e. all the decorative ornament) in this book compel
us to assign the beginnings of Irish illumination
to a much earlier period. But no actual specimens
exist, probably, of greater antiquity than the seventh
century. B^ana
One of the'earliest, by common consent, is the Book of
70
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
Durrow, 1 a copy of the Latin Gospels now in the library
of Trinity College, Dublin. It formerly belonged to
Durrow monastery, in King's County, founded by S.
Columba about A.D. 553, and was believed to have been
the handiwork of the saint himself, on the strength of a
colophon in which the scribe names himself Columba and
claims to have written the whole book in twelve days.
But the manifest impossibility of such a feat of rapid
calligraphy has led to the conclusion that this colophon
was copied from the archetype, doubtless a hastily written
and unadorned codex. King Flann had a cumdach or
shrine (now lost) made to enclose the volume, between the
years 879 and 916, when it was already regarded as a
precious relic ; and we shall probably not be far wrong in
assigning it to the seventh century. The ornament con-
sists of five full pages of decorative design (one at the
beginning, and one prefixed to each Gospel), another page
with the four Evangelistic emblems, four more represent-
ing each of the Evangelists by his emblem, and elaborate
initials at the beginning of each of the Gospels. The draw-
ings of the emblems are crude, conventional, grotesque,
especially on the page which contains all four. 2 In fact,
the most noteworthy point about them is the winglessness
of the man, lion, and calf suggesting an early date. The
decorative work, on the other hand, is well planned and
firmly executed ; it lacks the extreme delicacy and rich
variety which we find in a few of the later manuscripts,
but it is far from ineffective. The chief defects are a
tendency to overcrowd the page by filling up all available
spaces with close-set strap-work or tartan patterns of
lozenges or squares, and a monotonous effect produced by
1 J. O. Westwood, Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-Saxon
and Irish MSS., 1868, pp. 20-5, pi. 4-7; National MSS. of Ireland, ed. J. T.
Gilbert, i, 1874, pp. viii-ix, pi. 5, 6; J. A. Bruun, Celtic Illuminated MSS., 1897,
PP- 45~7i pi. i, 2 ; S. F. H. Robinson, Celtic Illuminative Art, 1908, pp. xix-xxi,
pi. 1-4.
2 Reproduced by Westwood, Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria, 1 843-5, at en( ^ f
Irish Biblical MSS. All the other illuminated pages are given in colours in his
Facsimiles.
71
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the exact symmetry of the design and by the too frequent
repetition on one page of the same device without any
variation. For instance, the page facing the beginning
of S. Mark's Gospel is filled with fifteen circles in rows
of three, connected by lozenges of trellis-work and filled
with interlaced ribbons, all exactly alike except the central
circle. Another page is given up almost entirely to
spirals ; another to rows of lacertines biting each other.
Perhaps the finest page is that of which the centre is
occupied by a sort of patriarchal cross surrounded with an
elaborate pattern of interlaced ribbons ; the borders filled
with interlaced circles and strap-work. The ground of
the decorative pages is usually black, that of the emblem
pages the plain vellum. The colours used are few : red,
yellow, and green predominate, brown also occurs, and
rarely purple. Red dots are freely used, both for framing
coloured ornament and for the groundwork of panels on
which the letters are set.
There is not much to be said about the Book of
Dimma, 1 another Gospel-book at Dublin (Trin. Coll.),
written by one Dimma Mac Nathi, who is supposed to
have lived in the first half of the seventh century.
Besides the initial ornament, which is much slighter than
in the Durrow Book, it contains four full-page minia-
tures, representing the first three Evangelists and the
emblem of the fourth, drawn in outline on the vellum
ground, and flatly coloured in segments, enclosed within
frames filled with the usual plait and coil patterns with
zigzags, lozenges, and simple tessellated work. The
execution is poor, the general effect mean and barbaric
perhaps indicative of an early date.
Celtic illumination must have developed rapidly during
the seventh century, for its close witnessed the production
of one of the two most perfect existing specimens of the
school ; and that, too, not in Ireland itself, but in the
1 Nat. MSS. Irel., i, pp. xii-xiii, pi. 18, 19. Westwood, Facsimiles, p. 83,
Pal. Sac. Plct. t Irish Bibl. MSS., pi. ii, i ; Bruun, pp. 60-1.
72
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
north of England. This is the famous Durham Book, 1
or Lindisfarne Gospels, a copy of the Gospels written
by Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne (698-721), in honour
of S. Cuthbert (d. 687) ; such at any rate is the tradition
recorded by Aldred, who added an interlinear translation
in the tenth century. Aldred goes on to credit Ethilwald
with the binding and Billfrith with the ornamental metal-
work of the outer cover, and finally names himself as
translator, without saying a \vord as to the illuminations ;
so we may conclude that they were done by Eadfrith or
under his supervision. Strictly speaking, therefore, the
manuscript should be relegated to the Hiberno-Saxon
class at the end of this chapter ; but it seems better to
discuss it here, in view of its great importance as a point
de rep&re in the history of Celtic illumination. Its deco-
ration consists of five cruciform pages, four portraits of
the Evangelists, six pages of text, and sixteen pages
of arcades enclosing the Eusebian Canons ; besides a
great wealth of initial ornament throughout the volume.
Of the cruciform pages one is at the beginning of the
volume, and one prefixed to each Gospel. The most
perfect is that before S. Matthew ; it consists of a cross
of ornate and unusual design, enclosed in a rectangular
frame and completely filled and surrounded with intricate
interlacing and other decorative patterns. The general
scheme in the others is the same, but only that which
precedes S. John's Gospel approaches it in beauty ; the
other three are more rectilinear in design, and produce a
much less pleasing and interesting effect. The first page
of each of the Gospels and of S. Jerome's Epistle to
Damasus is profusely decorated, and so is the page be-
ginning with the words: "Christi autem generatio"
(Matt. i. 1 8). Perhaps the finest of these text-pages is
1 Brit. Mus., Nero D. iv. For descriptions and partial reproductions see
Warner, Illuminated MSS., pl. i, 2, and Reproductions, iii, i, 2 ; Cat. Atu. MSS. t
ii, pp. 15-18, pi. 8-1 1 ; Pal. Soc., i, 3-6, 22 ; Sir E. M. Thompson, Eng. III. MSS.,
l %95> PP- 4-iOj pl- ij Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 33-9, pi. 12, 13; Robinson,
pp. xxii-xxiv, pl. 5-10; Bruun, pp. 48-60, pl. 3.
73
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
that on which S. Luke's Gospel begins. 1 The general
plan is the same in all : the text enclosed in a frame-
border filled with interlaced work, spirals, long-necked
birds, and other devices, and having the initial letter itself
for the left-hand side ; the initial, and usually the next
few letters, of large size and ornamental design and filled
with decoration like the border; the remainder of the
text smaller and less elaborate, but adorned with touches
of colour and surrounded with patterns of red dots.
These eleven pages form the principal part of the purely
Celtic illumination in the book. For varied intricacy of
design they are surpassed only by the Book of Kells ;
and the softness and harmony of the colours, the skilful
and delicate contrasts of blue, red, green, yellow, and
purple, brought out the more effectively by touches of
black in the spaces between the patterns, are unsurpassed
by any other manuscript of the school. The text is a
beautiful example of half-uncial writing, in ink whose
lustrous blackness is perfectly preserved, and is enriched
throughout with coloured initials of characteristically
Celtic style : spirals, lacertines, interlacings, with plenti-
ful use of red dots. The ornamentation of the Eusebian
Canons is comparatively slight ; but the delicately tinted
arcades, with pillars and arches alternately filled with
ornithines, or lacertines, and plaits, charm by their perfec-
tion of execution, if they do not astonish by their fertility
of design.
All these are purely Celtic, though Celtic of a more
advanced kind than we have yet seen. But when we
come to the four full-page portraits of the Evangelists,
the only examples of figure-drawing in the book, we
break at once with the Irish tradition, though its flat and
conventional technique is still apparent. These minia-
tures are thoroughly Byzantine in design : the seated
scribes, drawn in profile, with cushion, desk, and foot-
stool, one with the ceremonial curtain at his side, are
obviously descended from the same stock as the portraits
1 PI. viii.
74
LINDISFARNE GOSPELS, CIRCA 700
BRIT. MUS. NERO D IV
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
in the Greek Gospel-books described in chapter iii. The
relationship is proved, indeed, beyond a doubt by the
inscriptions in a sort of Latinized Greek, " O agios
Mattheus," "O agius Marcus," etc. But the addition
of the evangelistic emblems, inscribed in Latin (" imago
hominis," etc.), shows that the descent from a Greek
archetype was not immediate ;* and it is most probable
that these portraits were inspired by Italo-Byzantine
originals contained in the Neapolitan manuscript from
which the text was presumably copied. The ground in
these pages is a pale violet; there is no conventional
ornament, except a little knot-work at the corners a
marked contrast to the luxuriant decoration by which the
Celtic illumination is characterized. In each of them
the Evangelist sits writing, with his emblem, winged,
above his head ; but S. Matthew's emblem also appears
in the form of a man holding a book, 2 low down on the
right-hand side of the miniature, almost hidden by a
curtain.
The Gospels of S. Chad, 3 in the cathedral library
at Lichfield, may probably be assigned to the beginning
of the eighth century. This manuscript is to all appear-
ance of purely Irish workmanship. The first owner of
whom any record survives was one Cingal, who in the
ninth century sold it in exchange for a horse ; it was
afterwards dedicated to S. Teilo, the patron saint of
Llandaff, but found its way to S. Chad's Church at
Lichfield, apparently before the end of the tenth century.
Several leaves are missing, and those which remain have
suffered badly through damp, especially as regards the
colours. There is a full page of ornamental text at
1 See above, p. 62.
2 Westwood's interpretation of this figure as representing the Holy Ghost has
been generally accepted hitherto ; but his position in the picture, looking up with
reverence to the saint, makes it improbable, and comparison with the correspond-
ing miniature in the S. Gall MS. 1395 (Keller, pi. vii, Ulster Journ. of Arch., viii,
p. 302) leaves little room for doubt that the Northumbrian artist has duplicated
the emblem. He has been followed by the illuminator of the Copenhagen Gospels
(Westwood, Facsimiles > pi. 41).
3 Pal.Soc., i, 20, 21, 35; Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 56-8, pi. 23.
75
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the beginning of each Gospel, and another at the words
" Christi autem generatio " ; also portraits of SS. Mark
and Luke, and a leaf prefixed to S. Luke's Gospel, having
the Evangelistic symbols in outline on one side, and
a rich cruciform design of ribbons and lacertines on the
other. This last page, by far the most beautiful in
the book, has the same form of central cross as the first
of the cruciform pages in the Durham Book ; while the
decorative scheme with which the panels are filled,
though somewhat inferior in delicacy and variety, is not
unlike that of the splendid S. Matthew page in the same
volume. The finest of the text-pages is that with the
words " Christi autem generatio," a superb example
of Celtic illumination ; the prevailing ornaments here
are the triquetra, spirals, and interlaced long-necked
birds. But when we look at the two portraits we are
confronted with the limitations of the Celtic artist,
and have to recognize how really barbaric his outlook
was, when once he turned from traditional ornament
to actual life. The drawing of the figure touches the
limit of grotesque hideousness : the body, composed of
a series of bulging curves ; the hair, divided into neatly
fitting segments and coloured red, yellow, and purple ;
the huge head, with its staring eyes and impossible nose
all combine to form a reductio ad absurdum of the
Irish manner.
We come now to the Book of Kells, 1 justly celebrated
as the supreme masterpiece of Celtic illumination.
Formerly assigned to the seventh century or even earlier,
it is now regarded by the best critics as a production of
the eighth or early ninth century. This view is partly
based on textual considerations, the volume containing
the four Gospels in a mixture of the Hieronymian and
Old-Latin versions resembling that found in the Gospels
1 Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 25-33, pi. 8-n ; Nat. MSS. Ire/., i, pp. ix-xii,
pi. 7-17; Robinson, pp. xxv-xxx, pi. 11-51; Pal Soc., i, 55-8, 88-9; T. K.
Abbott, Celtic Ornaments from the Book of Kells, 1895, with fifty plates; Bruun,
pp. 77-81, pi. 7-9; M. Stokes, Early Christian Art in Ireland, 1887, pp. 9-17.
7 6
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
of MacRegol (early ninth century) ; partly on artistic, for
the profusion, variety, and perfection of its decoration
undoubtedly point rather to the maturity than the primi-
tive ages of Celtic art. It was probably executed in the
Columban monastery of Kells, in Meath, where it re-
mained, certainly from the beginning of the eleventh
century, down to the dissolution of that abbey in 1541 ;
it afterwards belonged to Archbishop Ussher, and is now
prized as the greatest treasure in the library of Trinity
College, Dublin, having come there with the rest of his
books in 1661. Conjecture has identified it with a codex
shown to Giraldus Cambrensis at Kildare, towards the
end of the twelfth century, whose illuminations he de-
scribes in a remarkable passage 1 of enthusiastic appreci-
ation ; they were said, he tells us, to have been produced
under the direction of an angel at the prayers of S.
Bridget. But perhaps it is more natural to suppose that
this was another example of a class now represented only
by the Book of Kells.
More fully decorated than any other extant manu-
script of its school, the Book of Kells forms a sort of
compendium of Irish art : possessing besides arcaded
Canon-tables, portraits of Evangelists, numerous decora-
tive pages and magnificent initials full-page miniatures
of the Temptation of Christ, His seizure by the Jews,
and the Madonna and Child, which are unique in the
history of Celtic painting. Historically interesting, how-
ever, these pages possess all the artistic vices of their
school. The Madonna and Child, surrounded by four
small angels with censers, and placed in an elaborately
ornamented frame, seems like a caricature of some early
Byzantine painting. It is solemn, but inept. Nothing
could be less lifelike or more hideous than this Infant
Christ, not even the large-headed, stony-eyed Madonna.
But the beautifully jewelled wings of the angels, the soft
bright colours, the woven patterns of the accessories, the
clever space-filling, nearly succeed in turning what is
1 Topographia Hibernica, ii, 38-9 (Opera, v, 123).
77
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
really an ugly picture into an interesting, even pleasing
design. Better in every way is the miniature of the
seizure of Christ. Here the artist, in spite of crude
drawing and bad anatomy, has actually managed to con-
vey the idea of unresistant suffering on the one hand,
of malicious energy on the other.
But perhaps the best things in all three pictures are
the figures of angels with wings outspread, which also
appear with beautiful effect on many of the pages of
lettering. Poor as to facial expression, they yet suggest
something of mysterious dignity by the great sweep of
those straight and jewelled pinions, which give majesty
even to the slightly grotesque symbols of the Evangelists,
thrice represented 1 between the arms of the mystical
cross. These winged figures have a look which is
magical, remote, profoundly un-European, reminiscent,
indeed, of the deities of ancient Assyrian or Egyptian
art. This feature of the Book of Kells and its congeners,
together with the peculiar flamingo-like character of the
lacertine birds, has led some writers to claim for Irish art
an Egyptian inspiration. 2 In support of this claim it
has been remarked that the earliest Irish monasteries
were built on the same plan as those of the Egyptian
hermits ; and a piece of direct evidence is adduced from
the Leabhar Breac, which mentions, among other foreign
ecclesiastics buried in Ireland, " Septem monachos
Aegyptios qui jacent in Disert-Ulidh." It has even been
maintained that the conversion of Ireland was due to
Coptic missionaries ; but this cannot be regarded as any-
thing more than conjecture. It is clear, however, that
Irish ornament, whatever its origin, is not in its entirety
a native product. Its plaits and knots are European in
their distribution, and seem always to occur at a certain
stage of primitive art. Its spirals are found on British
shields of the second century (not to mention Cretan
decoration of a much earlier period) ; its key and tessel-
1 One of these representations is our pi. vii.
2 See Keller, pp. 74, 79-81 (Reeves's translation, pp. 225, 229-30).
78
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
lated patterns seem relics of classic design. It is in
execution and combination, not in invention, that the
Irish illuminator excels.
In the ornament pages of the Book of Kells, and
especially in the great designs of mingled lettering and
decoration prefixed to each Gospel, his taste and dexterity
are seen at their best. S. Matthew alone has six such
pages, culminating in the superb illumination of the
monogram " XPI," on which, as Miss Stokes has well said,
" is lavished, with all the fervent devotion of the Irish
scribe, every variety of design to be found in Celtic art,
so that the name which is the epitome of his faith is also
the epitome of his country's art."
But the Book of Kells is unique ; not even the
Durham Book can be compared with it for richness and
variety, and no other extant manuscript of the school is
worthy to be mentioned in the same breath. The style
was here being used by a supreme artist ; its usual
interpreter was only a respectable craftsman at best. Of
the remaining Irish manuscripts, perhaps the most im-
portant is the Gospels of Mac Regol, 1 in the Bodleian
Library at Oxford, sometimes called the Rushworth
Gospels from its donor, John Rushworth the historian.
Its scribe, Mac Regol, has been identified with an Abbot
of Birr, in Queen's County, who died in 820 ; and though
this identification cannot be regarded as certain, it
probably indicates the date of the manuscript correctly.
The decoration is rich, but coarsely and unevenly
executed; it consists of an elaborate page of lettering at
the beginning of each Gospel, and portraits of SS. Mark,
Luke, and John in highly decorated frames. The chief
colours are brick-red and yellow, but green and dull
purple are also used. There is no blue or pale violet.
Most of the ornament is made up of plaits, spirals,
lacertines, and open reticulated patterns. The strange
women's faces seen on some pages of the Book of Kells
1 Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 53-6, pi. 16 ; Nat. MSS. IreL, p. xiii, pi. 22-4 ;
PaL Soc.) i, 90, 91.
79
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
appear again, as well as the semi-human lacertines, their
hair prolonged into plaits and spirals. The symbols
of the Evangelists, which stand above their portraits, are
covered with bright-coloured tartans, recalling the Book
of Durrow. The Evangelists themselves are, as usual,
quite conventional in drawing. Drapery is represented
by a series of rather turbulent diagonal stripes, faces are
flat and geometrical, perspective does not exist. Still,
the book is of great value as representing, presumably,
the average work of the period when Celtic art reached its
culminating point in the Book of Kells. It is, at any
rate, immeasurably superior, both in taste and execution,
to most of its successors.
One of the best of these is the Gospel-book at
Lambeth, 1 written for (or perhaps by) Maelbrigte Mac
Durnan, who was Abbot of Armagh and Raphoe, and
afterwards of lona, and who died in 927. It is a small
volume, written in minuscules, and adorned with four
full-page portraits of the Evangelists and a cruciform
page containing their emblems, as well as decorative text-
pages at the beginning of each Gospel and at the words
"Christi autem generatio." The colouring is on the
whole delicate and pleasing, including bright red, a
beautiful violet, two shades of green, and buff ; and the
ornamental work is rich and varied. But the figure-
drawing is impossible, and the drapery still more so,
appearing in a series of strange curvilinear folds. The
four emblems are exceedingly weird, drawn in fantastic
shapes, only just distinguishable by their heads, and
coloured on the patchy, enamel-like system so often found
in Celtic painting. An unpleasing peculiarity of the
manuscript is the use of a heavy white body-colour for
the faces, hands, and other parts of the figure, which are
usually only drawn in outline on the vellum. The artist's
passion for symbolism has led him to provide S. Luke
1 S. W. Kershaw, Art Treasures of the Lambeth Library, 1873, PP- 2 7~9 '>
Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 68-72, pi. 22, and in Archaeol. Journ,, vii, 1850,
pp. 17-25; Nat. MSS. IreL, p. xvii, pi. 30, 31 ; Bruun, pp. 65-7, pi. 4-6.
80
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
with cloven hoofs ; but it is hard to see why he should
have treated S. Matthew 1 in the same way.
In the library of Trinity College, Dublin, are two
manuscripts closely allied to the Gospels of Mac Durnan,
although tradition assigns them to much earlier dates.
These are the Book of Armagh, 2 written (there seems
reason for supposing) in 807, and the Book of Mulling, 8
whose scribe has been identified with S. Mulling or
Moling, Bishop of Ferns in Leinster, who died in 697.
The former has only pen-and-ink work, but was evidently
meant to be fully illuminated. The Evangelistic emblems,
which appear all four on one page, between the arms of a
cross, as well as singly, resemble those of the Lambeth
book in having four wings each, but are much better
drawn, less conventional, and more life-like, especially
the prancing lion and the eagle with its talons embedded
in a fish. The Book of Mulling has full-page miniatures
of three of the Evangelists, standing upright with a book
in the left hand ; the pose of the figures, the absurd folds
of drapery, the dead-white faces, the frame-borders filled
with lacertines and other ornaments, all strongly resemble
the portrait-pages in the Lambeth book. The colouring,
however, is less delicate and more restricted in range so
restricted, indeed, that the artist has found it necessary to
paint the hair blue, as well as the eyes !
Two more Irish manuscripts of the ninth or tenth
century are just worth mentioning, as showing the depth
of barbarism into which Irish illumination quickly re-
lapsed. One of these is a Psalter in the British Museum; 4
damaged by fire, but not to such an extent as to mask
the childish absurdity of its two drawings David over-
throwing Goliath, and David playing the harp or the
poverty of design in its interlaced borders and initials.
1 This curious feature also occurs in the Book of Kells. See Abbott, pi. 33.
2 Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 80-2 ; Nat. MSS. Ire!., pp. xiv-xvii, pi. 25-9.
3 Westwood, p. 93 ; Nat. MSS. Ire!., p. xiii, pi. 20, 21.
4 Vitell. F. xi. See Cat. Anc. MSS. t ii, p. 13; Westwood, Facsimiles, p. 85,
pl- 5 r > fig- 5 6, and in Archaeol. Journ., vii, pp. 23-5.
6 8l
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
The other manuscript, also a Psalter, is in the library of
S. John's College, Cambridge. 1 It has three full-page
miniatures, all extremely crude and barbaric : two are of
the victories of David ; the third is surely the most
grotesque representation of the Crucifixion ever per-
petrated in Christian art. Among other peculiarities are
the intertwining folds of Christ's draperies (the figure is
completely clothed, even to boots and stockings, the
latter red), the armless angels with hands emerging
directly from their bodies, and the ridiculous little figures
of Longinus and the soldier.
Illumination continued to be practised in Ireland
down to the thirteenth century, an ugly if pathetic
memorial of its glorious past. There are drawings of
the Evangelistic symbols in two twelfth century Gospel-
books in the British Museum, viz. Harl. 1802 and 1023 ;
those in the former, which was written by Maelbrigt hua
Maeluanaigh at Armagh in 1138, being especially feeble
and ugly. 2 But the decorations were for the most part
restricted to interlaced and zoomorphic initials and
borders ; and these became stereotyped in design, coarse
in execution, unpleasing in colour. 8
But we must go beyond Ireland, beyond the British
Isles, to give anything like a complete sketch, however
brief, of Celtic illumination. As early as the sixth
century a stream of Irish missionaries began to pour
forth, who carried Christianity, and with it their own
peculiar form of Christian art, into Great Britain and
many parts of the Continent, notably Switzerland, South
Germany, and Northern Italy; and the monasteries which
they founded grew rich in manuscripts written and illu-
minated in the Irish manner. Not many of these have
survived ; and those that have are mostly it must be
1 MS. C. 9. See Westwood, Facsimiles, p. 84, pi. 30, and Pal. Sac. Pict.,
No. 18; Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of Illuminated MSS. t 1908,
No. 3, pi. ii.
2 Nat. MSS. Ire!., pp. xx, xxii, pi. 40-2, 45 ; Pa!. Soc., i, 212.
3 e.g. see Brit. Mus., Galba A. v and Add. 36929, two thirteenth century
Psalters.
82
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
confessed rather curious than beautiful. This is em-
phatically the case with the Book of Deer, a tenth
century copy of the Gospels which belonged to the mon-
astic settlement founded by S. Columba at Deer, in
Aberdeenshire, and which is now in the Cambridge
University Library. 1 The drawings of the Evangelists,
which are repeated again and again on every available
space throughout the volume, are merely childish ; and
their absurdity is not counterbalanced by any exceptional
merit in the initial and border ornaments, which, though
based on better models and more correctly drawn, do not
rise above the simplest forms of plait, meander, and
tessellated patterns. Celtic art in Wales reached a higher
level, if we may judge by the Psalter executed by Rice-
march, Bishop of S. David's, in the latter part of the
eleventh century. This manuscript, now in the library
of Trinity College, Dublin, 2 has no miniatures, but its
three ornamental text-pages, though not comparable to
the best \vork of the school, still show some sense of
decorative effect in their interlaced lacertine borders and
zoomorphic initials.
Among the continental monasteries of Irish origin,
two of the most famous are that founded by S. Columban
at Bobbio, in Piedmont, and his disciple S. Gall's founda-
tion in Switzerland. In these and the rest a great number
of Celtic manuscripts accumulated : partly, no doubt,
through donations from the parent church or from Irish
pilgrims who visited these houses on their way to or from
Rome ; but mainly through the industry of the inmates,
working under the direction of Irish calligraphers who
had brought with them a knowledge, more or less perfect,
of the principles of Celtic art. The Bobbio manuscripts
have been dispersed ; but the Irish influence in them
would seem, judging by the few remnants now preserved
in Turin, Milan, and Munich, to have yielded to that of
1 Ii. vi. 32. The decorated pages are all reproduced in the Spalding Club
edition, 1869. See too Pal, Soc., i, 210, 211.
2 Westwood, Facsimiles, p. 87 ; Bruun, p. 82, pi. 10.
33
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the local Lombardic and Italo-Byzantine schools, except
for a few elements of ornament, especially plait and knot
work and tessellated patterns.
The primitive traditions were maintained more closely
at S. Gall, 2 contending influences being doubtless weaker
there than in the Italian settlement. The famous Gospel-
book (No. 51), which was probably written in the mon-
astery about the end of the eighth or beginning of the
ninth century, is actually nearer in style to the Books of
Durrow, Lichfield, and Kells than many manuscripts of
undoubtedly Irish execution. Its beautiful cruciform page
contains panels filled with lacertines, and frame-compart-
ments filled with plaits, spirals, and lozenges, all very
perfectly drawn and delicately coloured. Blue, black,
pale yellow, and red are the chief tints ; no silver or gold.
In the portraits of the Evangelists, each surmounted by his
emblem as in the Durham Book, we find the rudimentary
figure-drawing of the Mac Regol book and its successors ;
but these pages too are redeemed by the excellence of the
frame-borders, filled with lacertines, interlacings, spirals,
and other devices. The extraordinary miniature of the
Crucifixion is decidedly more dignified, less grotesque,
than that in the Cambridge Psalter: but there is an
obvious kinship between them, and Westwood's remark
on this picture and that of Christ in glory is not much
too strong : " More barbarous designs could scarcely be
conceived." This book is much the finest example of
Celtic illumination preserved at S. Gall ; but the others
show the same faithful adherence to Irish traditions.
These traditions were firmly established in the north
of England by the end of the seventh century, as is proved
by the Lindisfarne Gospels. They appear very plainly
1 See F. Carta, Atlante paleografico-artistico, 1899, pi. 10, 15; C. Cipolla,
Codici Bobbiesi, 1907, pi. 39-41; Pal. Soc., i, 121; L. von Kobell, Kunstvolle
Miniaturen, p. 22, pi. 12, 13.
2 See Keller's article, mentioned on p. 68 above ; Westwood, Facsimiles, pp.
62-8, pi. 26-8. Copies of many of the miniatures and ornaments in these manu-
scripts were made for the Record Commissioners in 1833, and are now in the
Public Record Office (Record Commission Transcripts, ser. iii, No. 156).
84
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
in two eighth century manuscripts, probably executed in
the same district, and now in the Durham Cathedral
Library. One of these 1 is an imperfect copy of the
Gospels, having a splendid " In principio " page not
unlike that of the Lindisfarne book, besides many fine
initials ; it also contains a full-page miniature of the
Crucifixion, whose damaged condition is the less to be
regretted since it is of the ungainly type represented in
the Cambridge and S. Gall books evidently the received
Irish treatment of this subject. The other manuscript, 8
ascribed by tradition to the hand of Bede (but probably
of somewhat later date), contains the commentary of
Cassiodorus on the Psalms. It has two full-page minia-
tures, showing David as harpist and warrior respectively ;
the figures are rigid and rudely drawn, as usual, and the
ornament of the enclosing borders, though richly varied
(including lacertines, interlacings, and step-patterns), is
less fine in execution than the decorative work in the
Gospel-book. A still further decline is visible in the
Prayer-book of Bishop Aethelwald of Lindisfarne, now
in the Cambridge University Library, 3 with its quaint
drawings of the Evangelists and their emblems.
But the Celtic spirit had by this time made its way
southwards to Canterbury, where it was confronted with
a rival influence introduced from Rome by Augustine and
his missionaries. The result was a curious fusion of the
two manners, a combination of classical composition with
Celtic ornament, which is strikingly exemplified in the
Psalter of S. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. 4 This
manuscript, executed about the same time as the Lindis-
farne Gospels, has initials which are already nearer to
Franco-Saxon than to pure Celtic work. The body of
1 A. ii. 17. See Westwood, p. 48; New Pal. Soc., pi. 30.
2 B. ii. 30. See Westwood, p. 77, pi. 17, 18; Pal. Soc., i, 164.
8 LI. i. 10. Westwood, p. 43, pi. 24.
4 Brit. Mus., Vesp. A. i. Westwood, pp. 10-14, pi. 35 Pal Soc., i, 18, 19;
Cat. Anc. MSS., ii, pp. 8-n, pi. 12-155 Thompson, Eng. Ilium. MSS., pp.
10-13, pi. 2 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 3.
85
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
these letters is black, with coloured terminals plaited
together and surrounded by red dots. The plaits, how-
ever, are more open, less minute than in Irish illumination;
the panels of lacertines have vanished, so has much of
the spiral work. In their place we have a plentiful use
of gold, a metal never found in Irish manuscripts, and
very sparingly applied to the Lindisfarne Gospels. This,
with the great black letters, produces an effect of sombre
magnificence, very different from the gay yet austere
delicacy of the best Irish initial-work, though distinctly
traceable to its influence.
But when we come to the figure-composition, we see
a style which has nothing at all to do with Celtic illumi-
nation, but is plainly the attempt of the native artist
to copy a late-classical painting, which he may well have
found in one of the books brought from Italy by Augus-
tine. 1 Before Psalm xxvi, a full-page miniature shows
David the Harpist enthroned, playing in concert with
four other musicians, while two boys dance before him,
a scribe standing on either side of the throne. Here all
is painted in thick body-colour, faces and draperies are
modelled and gradated, with green shadows on the flesh
and white high-lights. The figures, though badly pro-
portioned, are no mere geometrical shapes, but have life
and movement ; perspective is attempted, though in some-
what rudimentary fashion. The picture, in short, if not
beautiful, aims at expressing actuality, and belongs to an
altogether different order of things from the flat and con-
ventional absurdities which passed as figure-compositions
in purely Celtic manuscripts. Yet the arched frame
enclosing it is richly ornamented with trumpet-pattern
and interlacing, as well as with gilded rosettes and
lozenges ; so that the page presents an almost unique
combination of Roman and Irish elements, welded to-
gether by an English painter.
1 Sir G. Warner notes the interesting fact that a similar design occurs in a
tenth century Bobbio MS. ; the treatment is different, but again shows no hint of
Celtic influence.
86
CELTIC ILLUMINATION
Something of this fusion is still to be seen in a late
eighth century Gospel-book emanating from the same
abbey, 1 but with a marked weakening of the Celtic in-
fluence. The tables of Eusebian Canons are enclosed
in arcades, pillars and arches being profusely decorated
with medallions and compartments rilled with ornamental
devices ; but these include arabesque scrolls and many
other non-Celtic patterns, and perhaps the most distinct-
ive sign of Irish inspiration is to be seen in the plentiful
use of red dots, which had by now become a recognized
feature of English manuscripts, often forming the sole
attempt at embellishment.
1 Brit. Mus., Roy. i E. vi. Westwood, pp. 39-42, pi. 14, 15 ; Pal. Soc., i, 7;
Cat. Anc. AfSS., ii, pp. 20-2, pi. 17, 18 ; Warner, Reproductions, iii, 3.
CHAPTER V
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
WHEN Charlemagne became king of the Franks,
in A.D. 771, he found himself at the head of a
nation as inconspicuous artistically as it was
militantly important. The existing remains of Mero-
vingian, Lombardic, and Visigothic art, conveniently
classed by some German critics under the general heading
of " Wandering of the Nations style," can at best only be
described as quaint, while at worst they are unspeakably
hideous. They consist mainly, so far as the decoration
of manuscripts is concerned, of strange initial letters and
detached ornaments, based on fishes, birds, and dragons,
with cable and plait patterns borrowed, in all probability,
from Classical mosaics. These are generally drawn in
coarse coloured outline and flatly tinted in crude colours,
red, yellow, and green predominating. They are found
in the seventh and eighth century MSS. of France, Spain,
Germany, Lombardy, 1 the same patterns surviving in
continental Romanesque stone-carving down to the twelfth
century. Their strange, distorted shapes belong to a
different world from the sophisticated ornament of Classical
art ; they are the ancestors of the long series of grotesques
which became so constant and prominent a feature of
Gothic design. There is a strong family likeness between
these fantastic initials and those noted in chapter iii as
occurring in Greek Gospel-books of the tenth and eleventh
centuries a likeness probably due to a common Oriental
1 Many reproductions, especially from manuscripts now preserved in the
Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris, are given in the Comte de Bastard's monumental
Peintures et ornements des manuscrits, 1832-69. See too L. Delisle, Mtmoire sur
d'anciens sacramentaires, 1886 (Mem. de FAcad. des Inscr. et Belles-Lcttres^ xxxii, i).
88
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
ancestry. In the horse-shoe arches, which occasionally
appear on full pages of decoration, the influence of Moorish
architecture is apparent. Here and there too are found
pages filled with interlaced rings, lattice-work, and a few
simple geometrical devices, faintly reminiscent of the
least interesting pages in the Book of Durrow. This
suggestion of kinship with Celtic art is borne out in the
Gellone Sacramentary 1 by the symbolism which repre-
sents the first three Evangelists by their emblems, and
S. John by a very Egyptian-looking eagle-headed man.
This manuscript, however, is one of the latest productions
of the Merovingian school (if school be an applicable
word), and shows signs of its transitional character both
in script and illuminations. In its sole miniature, for
instance, of the Crucifixion (f. I43b), the figures of the
hovering angels, and of Christ clothed in a loin-cloth
reaching to the knee, suggest some early Italo-Byzantine
archetype in fresco or mosaic, and have nothing in
common with the barbarous design found in Celtic manu-
scripts. But whatever the precise source may have been
of individual elements in pre-Carolingian illumination, its
most salient characteristic is a bizarre, barbaric quality,
symptomatic of a low state of culture.
With the third quarter of the eighth century, however,
we enter on a new era. Charlemagne, when he was seized
with the idea of reviving the Roman Empire, desired an
imperialism which should be Latin in other things besides
greatness of dominion. His scheme included an intel-
lectual ascendency, and a transference of the faded glories
of Classical art, the ripening ones of Byzantine, to his own
capital and court. The name of Carolingian Renaissance
is given to the resulting efflorescence of learning and the
arts, which took place under his immediate influence.
His school is unique in this, that it owed its inception to
the personal encouragement of a prince, not to the genius
of individual artists. We notice, in fact, in Carolingian
1 Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 12048, ff. 42, 42b. For description of the MS. see
Delisle, p. 80.
8 9
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
manuscripts not so much greatness of technical achieve-
ment as a general magnificence of plan. Charlemagne
11 dreamed greatly"; his miniaturists, without a native
tradition to help them, carried out his ambitions as best
they might. Beginning at his capital of Aix-la-Chapelle,
the artistic revival radiated throughout the Western
Empire ; influenced Southern England, already feeling
the first stirrings of culture ; and, under Charles's suc-
cessors, determined the subsequent course of European
pre-Gothic art.
In the decoration of books this artistic revival was
essentially derivative and composite. Byzantine influence
is at once discernible, not only in the purple pages and
gold lettering of some of the most sumptuous manuscripts,
but also in the composition of the portraits of Evangelists
and other miniatures, and in the arcades enclosing the
Eusebian Canons. To account for this influence, it is not
necessary to lay much stress on the direct relations of
Charles with the court of Constantinople not even on
the fact that a Greek tutor was sent thence to instruct
his daughter, for some years betrothed to the Emperor
Constantine VI. Still less need we suppose that the
iconoclasm of Constantine's predecessors caused a great
influx of Greek painters into Charles's dominions ; the
resemblance of Frankish to Byzantine miniature is in
iconography rather than manner, the work of imitators
rather than pupils. It is to Rome and Ravenna, doubt-
less, not to Byzantium itself, that we must look for the
immediate source of this resemblance, as well as for that
of the Late Classical and Early Christian elements which
appear in Carolingian illumination. In 784 Charles
despoiled Ravenna of marbles and mosaics for the en-
richment of Aix-la-Chapelle ; and it may be supposed
that he did not return empty-handed from Rome, which
he had already visited thrice (in 774, 781, and 787) before
his coronation there as Emperor in 800. It is known,
in fact, that he brought back Roman singers, in his zeal
for bringing the Frankish liturgy into conformity with
90
PLATE IX
+CANON
TNOVOIOH
ECIMVJS
PROPRIET T .
GOSPELS f'CODEX AUREUS";. CAROLINGIAN, CIRCA 800
BRIT. MUS., HARL. 2788
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
that of Rome ; and we can hardly doubt that he brought
books too, and that some of these were illuminated.
The Syrian element in Carolingian illumination has
already been noticed in chapter ii, in connection with the
Rabula and Etschmiadzin Gospel-books. 1 There are
hints of it in some of the decorations of Merovingian
manuscripts, but it becomes more apparent in the suc-
ceeding period, especially in the pagoda-like dome which
figures in representations of the Fountain of Life, 2 and in
the frequent use of peacocks, pheasants, and other bird-
forms as ornament though the latter device might
conceivably have been borrowed from Early Christian
paintings.
Celtic influence too counted for much as to deco-
rative ornament, luckily, not figure-drawing. Prankish
artists made no attempt to reproduce the minute and
delicate intricacy of spiral, interlaced, and lacertine orna-
ment which is the glory of Celtic illumination. But some
of the simpler details were adopted, especially plait and
knot-work, and the use of birds' or beasts' heads as
terminals ; and in Gospel-books the decoration of the
initial-pages of script was closely copied. It is easy to
understand the presence of Anglo-Irish ornament, when
we consider the important part played by Alcuin in the
Carolingian revival of learning. Not that he can be
credited with a direct share in the artistic revival which
accompanied it, or even with the introduction of the neat
and well-defined script known as Caroline minuscule,
which superseded the unshapely, illegible Merovingian
hand ; but when he left York for Charles's court, in 782,
he must have taken with him, for use in the Palatine
school, or requisitioned afterwards, when engaged on the
revision of the Vulgate, manuscripts written and illu-
minated in Northumbria.
An elaborate and well nigh exhaustive study of Caro-
lingian illumination has been made by the late Dr.
1 Above, p. 33.
2 See pi. x.
91
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Janitschek, 1 who deduced from the extant manuscripts
the existence of several local schools, having each their
individual mannerisms. His classification is perhaps too
rigid in some respects, 2 but his comprehensive survey of
the materials makes his work an indispensable text-book
of the subject ; and the limits of the present book will
not admit of more than a brief summary of his conclusions,
with a few remarks on some of the most important
manuscripts. According to Janitschek, then, at least six
great schools of illumination flourished in the Prankish
dominions early in the ninth century, viz. (i) the
Palatine school, established in immediate connection with
Charles's court, and usually working at Aix-la-Chapelle ;
(2) the school of Tours, founded by Alcuin, who retired
from the court in 796 to become Abbot of S. Martin's ;
(3) Corbie, in Picardy, closely connected with the Tours
school ; (4) Metz ; but Aix-la-Chapelle seems a more likely
place of origin for the principal manuscripts assigned by
Janitschek to this school ; (5) Rheims, specially interest-
ing as the probable birthplace of the Utrecht Psalter
style, which counted for so much in English illumination ;
(6) the Franco-Saxon school, whose centre was perhaps
the great Abbey of S. Denis ; conspicuous for its use of
Celtic ornament.
To the first of these schools, the Schola Palatina,
Janitschek assigns three manuscripts only, viz. the
Gospel-book in the Schatzkammer at Vienna, said to have
been found on Charlemagne's knees when his tomb was
opened in A.D. 1000 ; the Gospels of Aix-la-Chapelle
Cathedral, and those of S. Victor-in-Santem, now in the
Brussels Library (No. 18723). The style of these three
books would scarcely be recognized by the casual critic as
essentially Carolingian. The Evangelist-portraits with
1 Die Trierer Ada-Handschrift, 1889 (Gesellschaft fur rheinische Geschichts-
kunde, Publikationen, No. 6), pp. 63-111.
2 Cf. the section on Carolingian miniature in A. Michel's Histoire de I' Art, i, i
( I 95)> PP- 328-78. The writer, P. Leprieur, disputes many of Janitschek's
views, especially as to the Metz school.
92
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
which they are illustrated are evidently derived from
some excellent Classical, perhaps Roman, original ; repro-
duced by artists who were thoroughly at home with their
model and yet were no servile copyists, as is evident from
the naturalistic manner and the grasp of values and the
meaning of form which characterize their work. These
paintings, in fact, show something of the true antique
tradition in the pose of the figure, easy yet dignified ; in
its harmonious relation to its background ; in the pro-
foundly studied fall of the draperies. The same tradition
is manifest, again, in the severe simplicity of the archi-
tectural decoration of the Canon-tables. It would seem,
therefore, that the Carolingian Renaissance was based at
the outset on all that was best in Classical art. 1
As we move away from Aix-la-Chapelle to the pro-
vincial schools, we find ourselves travelling farther and
farther away from this really beautiful restatement of the
antique idea. It is supposed that the Palatine school
produced its masterpieces during Charlemagne's reign,
between 795 and 814 ; and that they became, together
with the manuscripts imported by Charles and his coun-
sellors, the point of departure for the national manner.
This manner assumed its characteristic form in the
monastic scriptoria which were founded, or at any rate
encouraged, by the Emperor and his sons ; but in most
cases it came to its development, not in Charles's own
day, but in the later times of Louis the Pious and
Lothaire. Some writers have attributed this fact to the
rather iconoclastic position which Charles took up during
the great controversy ; but a more probable explanation
lies in the period of time which must necessarily elapse
before a newly established school is fit to undertake the
production of elaborately illuminated manuscripts.
It is, however, likely enough that Charles's views,
liberal as they were, did tend to restrict the number of
1 It must be noted, however, that Leprieur doubts whether these three manu-
scripts can be assigned to the Schola Palatina, or to so early a date as the lifetime
of Charlemagne. See Michel, i, i, 335-6.
93
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
subjects illustrated by the early Carolingian artists, and
also helped that turn for symbolism which strikes such
an unexpected note in the work of this otherwise prosaic
school. After the Evangelist-portraits and Canon-tables
(borrowed, as we have seen, from Greek Gospel-books),
the most characteristic subjects in Carolingian illumina-
tion are the Hand of God giving the benediction ; the
Fountain of Life, an odd compound of East and West,
with its Syrian pagoda-like temple, its peacocks and
drinking stags ; the Apocalyptic Adoration of the Lamb
by the Elders ; the Lamb with the chalice, symbolizing
the Mass ; and sometimes the Christ in Glory, of the
beardless catacomb-type. These are the subjects proper
to Gospel-books. The Alcuin-Bibles also illustrate
Genesis, and occasionally Exodus ; but never the life
of Christ. This comes in later, the cycle of permissible
subjects being gradually enlarged till, before the Ottonian
period is reached, almost every event and parable in the
Gospels has its authorized representation.
From the school attached to Charlemagne's court we
naturally turn first to Tours, where his friend and adviser
Alcuin spent the closing years of his life, from 796 to 804,
as abbot of S. Martin's. There is a special fitness too
in the fact that among the finest products of the Tours
school are copies of Alcuin's revision of the Vulgate,
though none of those extant, probably, were executed
during his lifetime. We have no reason for supposing
him to have concerned himself with pictorial illustration
of the Bible ; his great aim was to purge the text itself
of errors which had crept in through the carelessness or
ignorance of successive copyists. Indirectly, however, he
must have influenced the formation of the distinctive
Tours style, which is characterized in its conventional
ornament by a blending of Celtic with Classical elements,
through his importation of manuscripts from North-
umbria (where Hiberno-Saxon illumination had already
reached its prime) as well as from Italy. But it was
under his successors that the school of Tours rose into
94
PLATE X
GOSPEL BOOK OF S. MEDARD'S ABBEY, SOISSONS. EARLY IXxH CENT.
PARIS, BIBL. NAT., LAT. 8850
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
artistic prominence, attaining its greatest perfection
towards the middle of the ninth century.
The oldest surviving Alcuin-Bible that in the Zurich
Cantonal Library (Cod. i) is illuminated only with orna-
mental Canon-tables and initials. In these, weaving-
patterns of Celtic type predominate, but are mingled with
the palmette and acanthus, and Ravennate basket-
capitals appear in the arcades. The Bamberg and
London Bibles, however, show an increasing develop-
ment in the direction of pure illustration, and a simul-
taneous abandonment of Celtic design. Subjects from
the Old Testament are now represented, as well as
Apocalyptic pictures such as the sacramental Lamb. In
the Bamberg Bible (A. i. 5) further Classical designs are
found, in combination with the still prominent Celtic
motives ; and the miniatures of scenes from Genesis, in
long narrow compartments, show the beginnings of a
narrative art. This art is as yet very ugly and uncouth ;
but its compositions are obviously based on some Early
Christian series, whose excellence of conception and sense
of design are still visible, despite the barbarous ineptitude
of the copyist. Midway between this rather primitive
book and the finest work of the school, as exemplified in
the Vivian Bible and the Lothaire Gospels, stands the
Alcuin-Bible in the British Museum (Add. IO546). 1 This
great book, probably executed about 840, is decorated with
beautifully arcaded Canon-tables, in which the only relic
of Celtic influence is the edging of red dots about the
arches. It has also four full-page miniatures, prefixed
to Genesis, Exodus, and the Gospels, and at the end of
the volume. These are painted in a thick, gummy body-
colour, with strong and unpleasant flesh-tints, and an
entire want of harmony both in colour and composition.
There is some attempt at naturalistic modelling, but this
is almost nullified by the ill-proportioned, stunted figures
and the harsh, ugly faces with staring eyes. The Genesis
1 Fully described in Cat. Anc. JlfSS., ii, pp. 1-4, with two plates (42, 43).
95
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
pictures are evidently drawn from the same cycle as those
in the Bamberg Bible, but they show a decided improve-
ment in technique. Both these and the Exodus minia-
ture (Moses receiving the law from God, and delivering
it to the Israelites) are full of " vestigial relics " of Classi-
cal ancestry. The architecture of the Delivery of the
Law is of the basilica style, with a coffered roof borne on
Corinthian columns ; the draperies, as in Late Classical
illuminations, are much heightened with gold ; and
further evidence of Roman parentage is offered by the
backgrounds, which are softly striped with blue, violet,
and white a fashion directly borrowed from Classical
painting. Here, these backgrounds are used with excel-
lent effect ; but in the later work of the Carolingian illu-
minators the softness and airy gradations originally
aimed at were lost, and the final result was a crude
arrangement of hard contrasting bands of colour. In
this disagreeable form, the striped background survived
as a noticeable and persistent feature of the early German
style. All the miniatures in the volume, except that pre-
fixed to the Gospels (a full-page composition of Christ in
glory, seated on a globe and surrounded by the Evangel-
istic emblems and the four Major Prophets), are divided
into compartments by horizontal bands, as in the Bam-
berg Bible. The miniature at the end of the book,
illustrating Apoc. iv and v, is in two compartments. 1 In
the upper picture the sacramental Lamb and the Lion of
the tribe of Judah are seen approaching, from left and
right respectively, an altar on which the Book of Life
is lying; at the corners are the Evangelistic emblems,
holding each an open book. The lower represents God
unveiling Himself, seated on a throne and surrounded by
the four Apocalyptic beasts.
Closely related to the London Alcuin-Bible, though
artistically superior to it, is the Bible 2 given to Charles
1 PI. xi.
2 Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. i. See Bastard, Peintures de la Bible de Charles le
Chauve, 1883.
96
PLATE XI
ALCUIN BIBLE. CAROLINGIAN, IX CENT
BRIT. MUS., ADD. 10546
the Bald by Count Vivian, as secular Abbot (845-50)
of S. Martin's ; which, with the Gospel-book * made for
the Emperor Lothaire, probably about 840-3, represents
the finest achievement of the Tours school. The minia-
tures in the Vivian Bible include all the subjects depicted
in the London book, besides a series of scenes in S.
Jerome's life, another of the conversion of S. Paul, and
two full-page pictures : one representing David as harpist,
with soldiers and musicians grouped around him ; the
other, Count Vivian and his monks offering the book to
Charles the Bald. This last composition has its counter-
part in the Lothaire Gospels, in a full-page portrait of
the Emperor enthroned, with a soldier standing on each
side. In these, as in the other miniatures of both manu-
scripts, there is abundant evidence of indebtedness to
Late Classical art for composition and for individual
motives ; but the effect is marred by the stiff, awkwardly
posed and often badly proportioned figures, with hard
features and staring eyes ; by the swirling draperies,
foreshadowing the eccentricities of our own Winchester
school ; by the absence of perspective ; and by the over-
elaboration of ornament.
The best side of the style is certainly seen in the
luxuriant decoration of the Canon-tables, which in the
Vivian Bible and Lothaire Gospels is of singular beauty.
The slender columns have foliated capitals of a Ravennate
type ; a Roman lamp hangs from the keystone of each
arch ; in the spandrels and lunettes are classical devices
of drinking birds, centaurs, etc. Equally splendid are
the initials, of strap or ribbon work, with Romanesque
plant forms and monsters. In this decoration gold and
silver are much used, and with excellent effect. Magnifi-
cence of ornament was the side of their art which the
Tours illuminators really appreciated and understood.
It was in this that they secured their greatest successes,
not in their clumsy adaptation of Roman and Byzantine
figure-subjects to the purposes of their own time.
1 Bibl. Nat., lat. 266.
7 97
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
The so-called Corbie school, closely allied to that of
Tours and founded on it, came to its height about the
third quarter of the ninth century, when Tours had
already produced its best work. It is doubtful whether
the manuscripts assigned to this school were actually
executed at Corbie Abbey, near Amiens ; but there seems
good reason for localizing them at all events in the north-
east of France. Three of the most famous were executed
for Charles the Bald, viz. the Paris Psalter (Bibl. Nat.,
lat. 1152), written by Liuthard about 846-62 ; the Codex
Aureus of S. Emmeran, a Gospel-book in the Munich
Library (Cimel. 55), written in 870 by the same Liuthard
and his brother Berengarius ; and a small Prayer-book,
in the Schatzkammer at Munich, specially interesting as
the forerunner of the fourteenth and fifteenth century
Horae, and as containing what is perhaps the earliest
regular "pious founder" picture a two-page miniature
of Charles kneeling before the crucified Christ. To the
same group too is assigned the great Bible of the
monastery of S. Paul at Rome, which was probably
executed for Charles the Fat (Emperor 88 1 -8). The S.
Emmeran book may be taken as the finest work of the
school ; indeed, so splendid is the effect of its illumina-
tions that one is tempted to forgive the woodenness of
the figure-drawing and the disproportionate elaboration
of the frame-borders. Its most remarkable feature is the
quantity and variety of the ornamental work. Every page
is bordered, with Carolingian shell and wave patterns ;
plaits branching into foliated terminations ; meander, key,
and lozenge patterns ; bands of imitation jewel-work on
gold ; and various designs of thick white dotted work
upon a coloured ground. The draperies of the Evangelists
are even more crumpled and turbulent than in the Lothaire
Gospels ; and their heavy faces are strongly marked with
white lines, giving almost the appearance of mosaic.
The Bible of S. Paul's 1 is the most profusely
illuminated, probably, of all Carolingian manuscripts.
1 See Westwood, The Bible of the Monastery of St. Paul near jRome, 1876.
9 8
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
Besides a great wealth of miniatures illustrating Bible-
history, and of frame-borders to the text-pages (similar to
those in the S. Emmeran Gospels), it has huge ornamental
initials to the several books. The miniatures are unequal
in quality, and are clearly the work of more than one
hand. The best of them show distinct traces of kinship
with Byzantine miniatures of the ninth and tenth centuries,
and were doubtless based on models imported from Italy.
The resemblance is chiefly in the pose of the figures, and
in some of the facial types, especially Moses in the
Pentateuch scenes ; in fineness of finish, modelling, and
execution generally, the Western artist is immeasurably
inferior. Many of the compositions were evidently copied
from the Vivian Bible or its archetype, but the range of
subjects illustrated is much wider. Interesting as the
miniatures are, however, they are quite eclipsed in beauty
by the decorative work, which is really admirable,
particularly the delicate foliate terminations of the large
initials.
Next in antiquity to the school of Tours, and surpass-
ing it both in originality and productiveness, comes what
Janitschek has designated the school of Metz, while
admitting that the localization rests on inference and
conjecture rather than certain knowledge. The manu-
scripts which he groups together under this head are
beyond doubt closely related to one another, and it is
natural to suppose that they emanated from the same
school ; but there is much force in Leprieur's contention l
that this school was associated with the Imperial court
was the Schola Palatina, in short and the title " School
of Godescalc, or of the Ada Gospels," which he gives it,
has at any rate the advantage of safety. Wherever its
home may have been, this school produced, in the clos-
ing years of the eighth century and the first three decades
of the ninth, a splendid series of manuscripts, including
some of the finest examples of Carolingian art that have
survived to our days. Pre-eminent among these are
1 Michel, p. 336.
99
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
some magnificent Gospel-books of large size, written in
gold and profusely illuminated.
The earliest of these is the Godescalc book, 1 a Gospel-
lectionary, written for Charlemagne about 781-3 by a
monk named Godescalc. As might be expected from its
early date, it is the artless performance of an inexpert
painter who has an abundance of material to copy from,
but cannot assimilate or reproduce it. Modelling and
perspective are practically non-existent ; the colouring is
mostly pallid and weak ; the drapery folds, indicated by
heavy black lines, have little relation to actuality. These
faults are especially prominent in the portraits of the
Evangelists, which occupy the first four pages ; a distinct
improvement is visible in the " Majestas Domini " which
fills the next page, representing the enthroned Christ as
beardless, long-haired, almost feminine, wearing a nimbus
with jewelled cross, giving the benediction with the right
hand and holding a book in the left. The verso of this
leaf is devoted to the subject usually called the Fountain
of Life. The Syrian ancestry of this composition has
already been mentioned, and is plainly shown here, as in
the later and finer Soissons book, 2 by the strange portico
under which the fountain is placed, and the long-tailed
Oriental birds which hover about it, along with stags and
more homely birds. The border-ornament is compara-
tively slight, consisting of banded frames filled with
plait-work, step-pattern, and a few more of the designs
usually found in early Carolingian books. The text-
pages are stained purple an effort at splendour which
was fortunately not generally imitated by later artists of
the school.
About the year 800 three manuscripts were produced
so nearly related to one another that there is no room for
hesitation in grouping them together as representing the
school in its middle period. These are the Codex
Aureus in the British Museum (Harl. 2788), the Gospels
1 Paris, Bibl. Nat, Nouv. acq. lat. 1203 (anc. 1993).
2 PL x.
IOO
in the Abbeville Library (No. i), and the celebrated
Ada MS. in the Treves City Library (No. 22). The
Harleian Gospel-book 1 is one of the most magnificent
manuscripts remaining from the actual age of Charle-
magne. Written throughout in gold, in double columns,
every column is surrounded by a narrow illuminated
border. In the first part of the book these are of gold
also, patterned with plaited, tessellated, and key designs,
grotesque birds, etc. But after the first few quires they
begin to deteriorate ; red, green, and dull purple, or
bands of imitation marbling, take the place of the gold,
and the fineness of execution is lost. In the Canon-
tables too there is a change half-way through : the first
six are very richly decorated, the golden arches with
elaborate capitals and columns filled with plait and
scroll work contrasting effectively with the paintings of
birds and trees (often in monochrome, always in com-
paratively subdued colouring) which fill the spandrels.
The absence of silver, and the habit of outlining the
gold with a fine red line, give a particularly warm and
glowing effect to these splendid arcades. In the last five
tables much less gold is used, the pillars are of many-
coloured marble, and there is not so much elaboration
of ornament. By this change, however, monotony is
avoided, and the gorgeous effect of the first part is en-
hanced ; a curious variety is introduced, on one page,
in the form of spirally twisted pillars covered with human
figures in quaint attitudes. 2 Besides borders and Canon-
tables, this Codex Aureus has a decorated title-page, full-
page portraits of the Evangelists, and a magnificent text-
page at the beginning of each Gospel. The portraits
show a great advance on the primitive art of the Gode-
scalc book, though the S. John has decided affinity with
the Majestas Domini of the older manuscript. The
1 Fully described in Cat. Anc. MSS., ii, pp. 22-4, pi. 39-41. See too
Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 4, 5, and Reproductions^ iii, 4 ; Janitschek,
pp. 86-7, pi. 26-8; Kenyon, Biblical MSS., No. 13.
2 PI. ix.
101
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Evangelists are all of the young, beardless type which
henceforth became traditional a departure from the
bearded faces of the Godescalc book ; long-nosed, large-
eyed, with high arched brows ; solidly painted in body-
colour, with green shadows on the flesh and heavy streaks
of white for the high-lights. The anatomy is sometimes
at fault, e.g. in the impossible wrench by which S. Mark
is dipping his pen in the ink. But the faces have life and
expression, especially Matthew and Mark ; there are
distinct signs of modelling and perspective ; and the
draperies, though much folded, are treated with a con-
siderable measure of success. The compositions as a
whole are evidently derived from late Roman, rather than
Byzantine art. In the text-pages which face them, on the
other hand, the main idea is Celtic ; but this is profoundly
modified by the free use of gold, by the purple grounds,
by the abandonment of spirals, lacertines, and the most
intricate plaited and knotted designs, and by the introduc-
tion of new devices: the initial "Q" of S. Luke's Gospel,
for instance, encloses a picture of the Angel appearing to
Zacharias a form of illumination of which hints had
already appeared in some of the initials in the Gellone
Sacramentary, and which afterwards became an important
feature in the decorative scheme of the Gothic schools.
The Abbeville and Treves " Codices Aurei" resemble
the Harleian so closely that only a few words need be
added about them. The Evangelist types are practically
identical in all three manuscripts, though not in all cases
applied to the same Evangelist ; and the general plan
of decoration is alike in all three, but the sumptuous
illumination of the Canon-tables in the Harleian MS.
is not rivalled in the other two. The Abbeville MS.,
given by Charlemagne (according to tradition) to Angil-
bert, Abbot of S. Riquier from 790 to 814, has the
imposing but unpleasing peculiarity of being written on
purple. The Treves MS. is supposed to have been given
to S. Maximin's Monastery by Ada, a natural sister of
Charlemagne, about the beginning of the ninth century ;
102
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
though the simplest, it is perhaps, artistically, the finest
of the three.
The full development of the school is exemplified in
the Soissons Gospels, 1 a splendid Codex Aureus, one of
the most perfect of all extant memorials of Carolingian
illumination. Until 1790 it was preserved in S. Me-
dard's Abbey, Soissons, the gift (according to a highly
probable tradition) of Louis the Pious when he spent
Easter there in 827. Besides portraits of the Evan-
gelists, arcaded Canon-tables, and illuminated initial-
pages to the Gospels, it has two full-page miniatures :
the first, an allegorical picture of the Church in adoration,
is not found in any other Carolingian manuscript ; the
second represents the Fountain of Life, 2 and agrees in
conception with that in the Godescalc MS., but is ob-
viously taken, not from that barbarous work, but from
some well-composed and carefully drawn original. Com-
mon ancestry with the Godescalc MS. is suggested again
by the bearded S. Matthew, but the other Evangelists
correspond in type with those of the Harley, Abbeville,
and Ada Gospels. The book has altogether a strong
family likeness to these three, but shows a more advanced
tradition as well as finer individual taste and skill. It
resembles the first-named in having spiral shafts for some
of the pillars supporting the Canon-arches ; but its work
is more delicate and finished throughout, its colouring
is brighter and more pleasing, and its pages have less
tendency to become overloaded with gilding and decora-
tion. The figures too are much more vigorous and
lifelike, especially in the Biblical scenes introduced into
the spandrels and lunettes of the arches.
Since Janitschek has attributed these manuscripts
to a school of illuminators working at Metz, he naturally
groups with them the Sacramentary 3 of Drogo, Bishop
of Metz 826-55 J it nas however, little apparent con-
1 Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 8850.
2 PI. x.
3 Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 9428. See New Pal Soc., pi. 185-6.
103
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
nection with them. It contains no large miniatures ; but
their place is taken by an interesting series of large
illuminated initials, quite different in style from anything
to be seen in earlier Carolingian paintings. These initials
are based on a combination of strap-work and scroll-like
foliage, and many of them enclose delicately tinted draw-
ings of scriptural incidents, executed in a manner plainly
allied to that of the Rheims school, to be noticed pre-
sently. There are two Gospel-books at Paris, 1 whose
decoration is of similar character ; and these three are
the only manuscripts to which the title " School of Metz"
can safely be given. The Lothaire Psalter, recently be-
queathed by Sir Thomas Brooke to the British Museum, 2
is perhaps rightly classed by Janitschek with the Soissons
Gospels, as to place of origin ; it is later, however (after
840), and altogether inferior in artistic merit and preten-
sion, its chief point of interest being a full-page portrait
of the Emperor Lothaire.
Two smaller offshoots from the main stem of Prankish
illumination may be briefly mentioned. The school of
Rheims, as seen in the Ebbo Gospels at 6pernay (No.
1722) and the Blois Gospels at Paris (lat. 265), forms
a connecting link between the early Carolingian art of
what Janitschek calls the Palatine school and the pen-
drawings of the celebrated Utrecht Psalter. From this
point of view they will be discussed in the next chapter,
where the Utrecht Psalter and its descendants are con-
sidered. The fipernay book, executed at Hautvillers,
near Rheims, for Bishop Ebbo (816-35), is perhaps the
most characteristic work of this school ; but the Blois
book is of special importance because, by its strong
resemblance to the Gospels in the Vienna Schatzkammer,
it suggests the archetype from which the Rheims artists
procured their technique. This technique, in fact, with
its attempt towards natural yet violent action, its ex-
1 Bibl. Nat., lat. 9383, 9388.
2 Add. 37768. See Pal, S0f., i, 69, 70, 93-4 (then owned by Messrs. Ellis
and White).
104
THE CAROLINGIAN RENAISSANCE
traordinarily agitated sketchy line, its crumpled clinging
draperies, is what one might expect to result from the
efforts of an inexperienced painter to imitate the delicately
illusionist neo-classical art of the Palatine school. The
Canon-tables, placed under classical pediments, are a
departure from the Romanesque arcading usual in Caro-
lingian manuscripts. On one of them sit two little
carpenters, hammering nails into the cornice : a pleasant
variation from the usual peacocks or ducks, and an early
example of the illustration of contemporary crafts. Spiral
columns occur here too, as in the Harley and Soissons
Gospels.
The most salient characteristic of the Franco-Saxon
school, which has been associated specially with the abbey
of S. Denis, originally an Irish foundation, is the pre-
dominance of Celtic ornament, especially weaving and
spiral patterns. These are sometimes, as in the little
Gospel-book in the British Museum, 1 executed in true
Celtic fashion in white line on a black ground. The
curious looped corner-pieces, with swan-headed finials,
are another mark of this school. Figure-painting, where
it occurs, follows the usual Carolingian type, and shows
some affinity with the style of the Tours school. Among
the best examples of the school are the Gospel of Francois
II and the Second Bible of Charles the Bald, at the
Bibliotheque Nationale (lat. 257 and 2); and the Gospel-
lectionary of S. Vaast, at Arras (No. 1045).
1 Eg. 768. See Warner, Ilium. MSS.> pi. 6, and Reproductions, i, 18.
105
CHAPTER VI
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS OF THE NINTH, TENTH, AND
ELEVENTH CENTURIES, ESPECIALLY IN ENGLAND
WE have seen how the Celtic school, before it
began to decay in its own home, sent offshoots
eastward and southward, which deeply influ-
enced the subsequent course of European illumination ;
and now we notice a return current from the Continent,
bringing to England a new inspiration which though
not, strictly speaking, describable as illumination at all
became a determining factor in the development of early
English miniature. This new inspiration was the art of
freehand or outline illustration, which before its appear-
ance in England in the tenth century had already enjoyed
a century or more of life in Western Europe, and which
arose as so many of the best artistic inspirations have
arisen from the remains of Classical art. Though of
continental origin, it was in England that this art de-
veloped its highest powers. It flourished here for more
than two centuries, providing the Anglo-Saxon artist with
a medium exactly suited to his temperament. Alternately
the rival and assistant of the more orthodox illumination
in gold and colours, it fused with it to form the beautiful
eleventh century Winchester style, and bequeathed to the
later English schools an understanding of pure line which
profoundly affected their subsequent development.
The first sign of the new tendency, towards expression
by line rather than mass, is seen in the celebrated and much-
discussed manuscript called the Utrecht Psalter. This
book first appears in history about the year 1625, being
then in Sir Robert Cotton's library, where it bore the
1 06
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
press-mark "Claudius C. vii"; but it had already dis-
appeared from the Cottonian collection in 1674, and
nothing more is known of its adventures until 1718,
when it was presented to the University Library at
Utrecht, of which it is now one of the chief treasures.
It was seen there by Westwood, who first called public
attention to it in 1859.* The antique appearance of its
triple columns and its rustic-capital script misled him, on
his first cursory inspection, into giving it a much earlier
date than a later and more leisurely examination, by
himself and other experts, was found to warrant ; and
for many years a great battle raged as to whether it was
a relic of the fourth, ninth, or some intermediate century, 2
theologians who upheld the earlier date acclaiming it as
evidence in support of the authenticity of the Athanasian
Creed, which occurs in it (as in most medieval Psalters)
among the Canticles and other pieces which follow the
Psalms. In order to decide the controversy, the Utrecht
authorities in 1873 allowed the manuscript to be deposited
for a time in the British Museum, where it was examined
by the leading authorities in this country ; and all of
them, with the single exception of Sir T. D. Hardy (who
had already declared for the sixth century, and saw no
reason to change his opinion), agreed in assigning it to
the eighth or ninth century, with a preference for the
ninth. 3 This judgment was afterwards confirmed by the
best continental critics, and may now be accepted with
confidence, later researches having furnished additional
reasons in its support. One of its authors, Sir E. M.
Thompson, has had the further satisfaction of seeing his
obiter dictum, that " the MS. was probably written in the
1 Archaeological Journal, xvi, 245-7.
2 A full chronicle of the dispute may be seen in W. de G. Birch's The Utrecht
Psalter, 1876.
3 See The Utrecht Psalter. Reports addressed to the Trustees of the British
Museum on the Age of the MS., by E. A. Bond, E. M. Thompson, H. O. Coxe, and
others (including Westwood), with preface by A. P. Stanley, D.D., 1874. During
its stay in England the manuscript was photographed throughout for the Palaeo-
graphical Society, who published a complete Autotype Facsimile in 1874.
107
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
north-east of France," verified through the studies of
Count Paul Durrieu, 1 who has shown conclusively that
the illustrations must be classed with the productions of
the Rheims school of Carolingian illuminators.
The Utrecht Psalter is a small folio of ninety-one leaves,
and has 166 illustrative drawings. One of these occupies
the whole of the first page ; the others are of the full
width of the page and about one-third of its height, and
interrupt the three columns of text, sometimes coming
at the top of the page, sometimes at the bottom, some-
times midway. They are freely drawn with the pen in
dark brown ink, and left quite uncoloured. They are,
in fact, outline and often impressionist sketches of crowded
scenes containing an immense number of small restless
figures, with tiny heads thrust forward eagerly, hunched-up
shoulders, and long attenuated limbs ; set in a landscape
of crags, boulders, and rounded hillocks, with a few
feathery trees. Apart from a little shading here and
there, the work is done entirely by means of fine pen-
strokes, drawn apparently with extreme rapidity, and
producing a remarkable effect of lively, agitated, even
tempestuous movement ; the draperies flutter wildly, and
even the contours of the landscape have a wind-swept
appearance. Despite its sketchy character, the drawing
is firm and delicate, especially in the first part of the
book farther on the hand changes, and the work becomes
altogether inferior. There are no frames or suggestions
of pattern no attempts at a decorative result. We have
here the very opposite of Celtic ideals in art.
For many years after its discovery by Westwood, the
Utrecht Psalter was generally regarded as an early
specimen of the Anglo-Saxon school of outline-illustration
which flourished in the tenth and eleventh centuries, but
which has left no authentic remains of earlier date. M.
Durrieu's careful researches, however, have proved beyond
any reasonable doubt that the book must have emanated
from the same school as the Ebbo Gospels at Epernay,
1 L'Origine du manuscrit ctlibrc dit k Psautier d'Utrecht^ 1895.
1 08
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
which were executed, as we have seen, 1 at Hautvillers,
near Rheims, between 816 and 835. The eye is caught
at once, in the latter book, by the curious fluttering
draperies, the nervous rapid strokes from right to left,
which are such distinctive features of the Utrecht Psalter
drawings, and descend through it to the artists of Win-
chester and Canterbury. Further, in several miniatures
of the Ebbo Gospels figures and scenes occur which are
identical with those of the Utrecht Psalter ; and this at a
date when nothing of the kind is known to have existed
in England. Moreover, the knot-work initial B, in gold
and colours, at the beginning of Psalm i in the Utrecht
Psalter its one piece of illumination strictly so called
is of a form which M. Durrieu finds peculiar to the
Rheims school. It seems certain, therefore, that the art
of outline-illustration was born on Prankish soil, and
imported at a later date into the English schools.
The division of the page into three columns, and the
use of an archaic form of writing, make it almost certain
that the Utrecht Psalter is a copy of a much older codex ;
but there is far too much freedom about the drawings to
let us regard them as mere copies, although the archetype
may very probably have supplied the subjects. These,
like many of the miniatures in contemporary Greek
Psalters of the " monastic-theological " class, 8 are naively
literal illustrations of single passages in the Psalms. On
f. 8, for instance, 3 Psalm xiv (xv). i is illustrated by two
continuous scenes : in the first, a man is being invited to
enter the tabernacle, in the second he is resting on the
holy hill. The drawings at the foot of the page refer to
the next psalm, which follows overleaf an arrangement
which goes far towards proving that the artist took his
subjects from the archetype, not from the text before him.
1 Above, p. 104.
2 See above, p. 49. The subjects of the Utrecht Psalter drawings have been
described by A. Springer, " Die Psalterillustrationen im fruhen Mittelalter," in
Abhandlungen der phil.-hist. Classe der k. sacks. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, viii
(Leipzig, 1883), pp. 228-94.
109
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
It is evident, at any rate, that he was to some extent
inspired by designs in which Classical traditions still
survived. Over and over again the true antique flavour
is discernible : in the Three Maries at the Sepulchre on
f. 8, in the warriors on f. I3b, in the Bacchante crowned
with laurel on f. 82b. This method, moreover, of rough
outline-illustration is paralleled by the Terence manu-
scripts described in chapter i, which have much in common
with the Utrecht Psalter and its derivatives.
Either the Utrecht Psalter itself, or another Psalter
of the same type and resembling it very closely, must
soon have found its way to England : not only is its
influence apparent in the English outline-drawings of
the tenth and eleventh centuries, but three manuscripts
are still extant which were obviously derived, if not
directly copied, from it or one of its congeners. These
are Harl. 603 (early eleventh century) in the British
Museum, to be noticed farther on ; the Eadwin Psalter
(twelfth century, executed in the Canterbury Cathedral
priory) at Trinity College, Cambridge; 1 and the Tripartite
Psalter in the Bibl. Nat. at Paris (lat. 8846, formerly
Suppl. lat. 1194, thirteenth century). 2
In France too the style was practised contempo-
raneously, and on very similar lines to those taken by the
English schools. The miniatures, drawings, and histori-
ated initials of the Franco-Saxon Psalter at Boulogne, 3
for instance, are scarcely distinguishable from English
work of the time, and show how small a claim our so-
called native school has to originality. This book,
executed between 989 and 1008 at the abbey of S. Bertin
in S. Omer, is additionally interesting because it shows
the progressive and informal art of outline-drawing at
work upon compositions of the strictly conservative
1 M. R. James, Catalogue of Western MSS. in the Library of Trinity College,
Cambridge, \\, 1901, pp. 402-10.
2 H. O[mont], Psautitr illustre [1906].
3 Bibl. Municip., No. 20. See Pal. So:., i, 97 ; Westwood, Facsimiles,
pp. 104-7, pl. 37-9-
IIO
PLATR XII
MCHCJirf^OXIMOSUO
MALCM
KJOKJACCfflTADUJJL
K'tCH/M f T I Mk 1 A f> /I
UTRECHT PSALTER. IX CENT.
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
Byzantine type, and combined with decorative ornaments
of Carolingian design. It is richly illustrated, and in
more than one manner. There are drawings in outline,
tinted work, and red outlines on a pale blue ground ; all
quite "Anglo-Saxon" in feeling, and excellent proof if
proof were needed of the impossibility of dividing out
the various artistic styles of the early Middle Ages into
rigidly defined and mutually exclusive schools.
During the century following the appearance of the
Utrecht Psalter, outline-illustration was greatly developed
both here and on the Continent. Nor was its use re-
stricted to liturgical books ; it was applied, for instance,
to that favourite moral discourse of the Middle Ages, the
Psychomachia of Prudentius. 1 This work, an allegori-
cal poem on the conflict between vices and virtues, was
composed about the end of the fourth century, and its
cycle of illustrations, like that of the plays of Terence,
probably goes back to a very early period ; at all events,
it had assumed a fixed traditional form before the end of
the ninth century, and is now extant in a numerous series
of manuscripts, ranging in date from the ninth century to
the twelfth, but scarcely varying in composition. Two
excellent examples of these are now in the British
Museum. The larger, and probably the earlier (Add.
24199), seems to have been executed in Bury S. Edmund's
Abbey 2 about the end of the tenth century. Its best
illustrations (for many of the later ones are by an inferior
hand) are of the most charming type of line-drawing,
here developed far beyond the lively impressionism of
the Utrecht Psalter sketches. They are drawn in a thin
brown outline occasionally touched with pale colour ;
each occupies about half a page, the figures being from
two to three inches in height. These figures show con-
1 See R. Stettiner, Die illustrierten Prudentius-Hss., 1895, for descriptions of
the manuscripts ; for reproductions see his larger work with the same title, vol. i
(200 plates), 1905.
2 It belonged, at any rate, to the library there. See M. R. James, On the
Abbey of S. Edmund at Bury, 1895, p. 71. Sir E. M. Thompson, however, con-
siders it a continental production (Eng. Ilium. MSS., p. 19).
Ill
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
siderable power of dramatic presentation ; they are expres-
sive and vivacious, their much-pleated draperies are
elaborately finished. Here and there may be seen slight
traces of the Classical art from which this style of draw-
ing descends ; but in the main the work has the character-
istics of the now developing English school. The
Cottonian Prudentius (Cleop. C. viii) 1 is a very charming
little manuscript of the first half of the eleventh century;
undoubtedly of English origin, the illustrations having
descriptive titles in Anglo-Saxon as well as Latin. All
the subjects illustrated in Add. 24199 reappear, executed
with great firmness and delicacy in red and black, some-
times partly in green. There is practically no variation
in the compositions, but the smaller scale of the figures
and the greater severity of technique give this book a
very different air. Occasionally the artist does add some
new and charming touch ; as where he makes Humility,
her earthly task accomplished, spread great wings and fly
up gracefully to heaven. This is far more poetical
besides being more faithful to the text than the corre-
sponding design in Add. 24199, where Humility stands,
wingless, with hands uplifted; or in a third Museum MS.
(Titus D. xvi), where she climbs a steep flight of stairs
towards the sky. Such a picture as this, or the pretty
scene of Love laying down his bow and arrows, or the
series containing the gentle nun-like figure of Patience,
incline one to forgive the occasional lapses in proportion,
the exaggerated hands and feet, the fretful draperies,
which here, as in all Anglo-Saxon drawings, tend to
swamp the more classic attributes of dignity and repose.
The other Cottonian Prudentius, Titus D. xvi, was
executed at S. Alban's Abbey about noo. It is still
smaller than Cleop. C. viii, and contains fewer illustra-
tions. Though inferior in quality to the best work in the
two other copies, its drawings show the development that
was taking place in English art. The draperies are not
so over-pleated, nor do they flutter about so wantonly ;
1 Pal. Soc., i, 190.
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
the wrinkled hose and sleeves no longer appear. On the
other hand, though the fighting scenes are full of vigour,
there is none of the dainty charm which characterizes the
earlier books. The faces are mostly repellent, with long
hooked noses ; in fact, the artist has only slightly carica-
tured his usual types in the two devils which he intro-
duces (departing from tradition) into the picture of Luxury
feasting.
Outline-drawings of the occupations proper to the
several months are often found in the Calendars prefixed
to Psalters and other liturgical books. These Calendar-
pictures, to which we owe so much of our knowledge
of the daily life of the Middle Ages, may be regarded
as the far-off descendants of the somewhat dubious illus-
trations to the fourth century Calendar of Filocalus. *
They first appear in a Vatican MS. (Reg. 438) containing
the Martyrology of Wandalbert of Prtim, and probably
written in France or Western Germany about the begin-
ning of the tenth century. 2 In England, the earliest
examples are of the eleventh century ; and though their
manner is distinctively Anglo-Saxon, many of their
details suggest a Classical archetype.
The best-known instance of this is an eleventh
century Hymnal in the British Museum (Jul. A. vi),
which contains a complete set of these occupation-
pictures, drawn with extraordinary delicacy and minute-
ness in brown outline on the lower margins of the
Calendar-pages. The airy, dainty technique has some-
thing more of the Utrecht Psalter quality than is often
seen in English work of this time ; and the presence in
the Calendar of such saints as Germain, Denis, Philibert,
Bertin, Genevieve, and Lambert, along with Wilfrid and
Cuthbert, and the absence of most of the distinctive
South-English patrons, seem to suggest that it may have
1 See above, p. 3.
2 A. Riegl, "Die mittelalterliche Kalenderillustration," in MittheiL des
Instituts fur oesterr. Gtschicktsforsckung, x, 1889, pp. 1-74. There is an in-
teresting article by J. Fowler, in Archaeologia, xliv, 1873, pp. 137-224, on these
occupation-pictures in various forms of art.
8 113
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
been copied en bloc from a French original possibly in
a Northumbrian monastery. The draughtsmanship has
plenty of well-marked Anglo-Saxon peculiarities, in the
slender long-legged bending figures, the wind-blown
draperies, the lively action. But relics of a Classical
tradition are still traceable, notably in the April scene
of three patricians reclining on a lion-ended couch, whilst
a servant offers them wine and a Roman legionary stands
on guard. So too the May picture of shepherds with
their flocks has something in common with the pastoral
miniatures of the Vatican Virgil. January, with its plough-
ing scene, and October, with its hawking party, are more
medieval, and foreshadow the more elaborate Calendar-
paintings found in fifteenth century Horae and Breviaries.
Continental though its origin may have been, this
cycle of Calendar-illustrations had evidently become
naturalized in England by the eleventh century. The
whole series appears again in a collection of astronomical
and chronological treatises (Tib. B. v), contemporary
with Jul. A. vi, though differing widely from it in style,
this time drawn in thick outline and rather crudely painted
in colours. The scale is larger, the dainty nervous manner
is gone ; but the compositions are identical in every
detail, even to the lion-ended couch in the April scene,
the attitude of the hay-makers in June. As given in
these two manuscripts, the series is as follows :
January. Ploughing with four oxen ; sowing.
February. Pruning trees.
March. ' Breaking up the soil ; sowing.
April. Feasting in state.
May. Shepherds with their flocks.
June. 1 Felling trees.
July. 1 Hay harvest.
August. 1 Corn harvest.
1 So Jul. A. vi ; Tib. B. v. has the same compositions, but in different (and
obviously wrong) order, viz, June, Corn harvest ; July, Felling trees ; August, Hay
harvest.
114
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
September. Boar hunt.
October. Hawking.
November. Halloween fire.
December. Threshing and winnowing.
There is no a priori improbability in the supposition
that these designs are of continental origin. The copy-
ing of fine manuscripts illuminations as well as text
was a regular and important part of the work of a
medieval scriptorium ; and the havoc wrought by the
Danes all over England in the ninth century must have
left but few examples of native art to serve as models.
Hence recourse would naturally be had to manuscripts
imported from the Continent ; we have, in fact, direct
evidence of this in the Prudentius MSS., and in the
imitations of the Utrecht Psalter. Of the three existing
specimens of the latter class, the oldest is Harl. 603 in
the British Museum, written in Southern England
perhaps at S. Augustine's, Canterbury about the begin-
ning of the eleventh century. 1 As far as the composi-
tions are concerned, it is (except for a few pages near
the end) a copy of the Utrecht Psalter ; but its variations
in detail suggest a long series of successive copies in-
tervening between it and its archetype. By this time, as
we might expect, the Classical flavour of the original has
evaporated; and the Anglo-Saxon love of coloured line
has substituted blue, green, red, and sepia for the uni-
form brown ink of the original. The distribution of
colour is quite arbitrary, e.g. hair and foliage are some-
times coloured blue. The nervous technique of the
Utrecht Psalter has now vanished, and is replaced by
the firm outline of an artist who is at home with his
medium. Once, at the end of Psalm xxx (xxxi), where the
Utrecht Psalter has left a blank space, the illustrator
leaves his r61e of copyist, and produces a really beautiful
drawing (partly sketched in pencil only), in the pure
1 Thompson, Engl. Ilium. MSS., pp. 16-18, pi. 3 ; M. R. James, The Ancient
Libraries of Canterbury and Dover, 1903, pp. Ixxi, 532.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Anglo-Saxon manner of his own time, of a great angel
helping the Psalmist to climb a steep and rocky ascent,
while the devil tries to hold him back with a trident.
If, as seems probable, this scene is by the same artist
as the rest of the book, we must suppose him to have
adopted a deliberate archaism when working from the
traditional Psalter designs.
It was in the closing years of the tenth century that
Anglo-Saxon outline-drawing attained its greatest perfec-
tion ; above all, at Winchester, which maintained an
artistic primacy down to the end of the twelfth century.
One of the most beautiful examples of the style is a full-
page miniature of the Crucifixion, prefixed to a late tenth
century Psalter 1 which was probably written at Win-
chester. It is drawn in reddish brown and pale blue
outline ; and though it shows the characteristic faults
of the school in the bowed shoulders of the Virgin, in
the unduly large hands and feet of S. John, and in the
agitated draperies, yet for tenderness of feeling and purity
of line it has seldom been surpassed in any period. That
the tenth century draughtsman did not always reach
such a level is shown by the Leofric Missal, 2 now in the
Bodleian Library (No. 579). This very interesting little
book was given to Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, its first
bishop, about the middle of the eleventh century. It
is in two distinct parts : the first part, a Sacramentary,
is early tenth century Franco-Saxon work ; the second,
a Calendar with paschal tables, etc., was written in
England about 970, and includes three full-page minia-
tures in red, green, blue, and purple outline. These
represent a king, emblematic of Life, holding a lettered
scroll ; a particularly hideous figure of Death ; and two
almost charming, curly-headed, eagerly gesticulating
figures. The flimsy agitated draperies and long toes and
1 Brit. Mus., Harl. 2904. Thompson, p. 23, pi. 6 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS.,
pi. 7, and Reproductions ; ii, 4.
2 Westwood, Facsimiles, p. 99, pi. 33 ; The Leofric Missal, ed. F. E. Warren,
1883.
116
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
fingers are thoroughly characteristic; and these bright,
light pages, though not more than second-class of their
kind, are curiously attractive when contrasted with the
heavier and more ornate manner of the late-Carolingian
illumination in the same volume.
Passing on to the eleventh century, we find the Win-
chester school well to the fore with two manuscripts
executed at the royal foundation of Newminster, after-
wards Hyde Abbey, and now in the British Museum.
One of these (Tit. D. xxvii 1 ) is a very small volume,
written about 1012-20, partly by the monk Aelfwin, who
was afterwards abbot ; it contains the Offices of the Holy
Cross and Trinity, with two full-page drawings in tinted
outline. The first, a Crucifixion, is interesting for the
personifications of sun and moon. The second, a sym-
bolic representation of the Trinity, is in the best and
least exaggerated manner of eleventh century Anglo-
Saxon drawing: the faces are gentle and winning, the
arrangement of the figures is unusually skilful. The
Father and Son sit side by side, really dignified and
beautiful personifications ; beside them stands the Virgin,
the Dove settling on her crown, in her arms the Child,
symbolizing the human as distinct from the divine
character. All these are enclosed in a jewelled circle,
beneath which Satan, Judas, and Arius crouch in fetters
above the open jaws of hell.
Still finer is the Newminster Liber Vitae, or register
and martyrology (Stowe 944), 2 drawn up about 1016-20,
and prefaced by three pages of admirable drawings,
lightly and delicately sketched in brown ink, and touched
here and there with yellow, red, green, and blue. On the
first page are portraits of King Canute and his queen
Aelfgyfu, offering a large gold cross on the altar. They
are watched from below by the monks in their stalls ;
1 Pal. Soc., i, 60 ; W. de G. Birch, On Two Anglo-Saxon JlfSS., 1876 (Roy.
Soc. of Literature, Transactions, new series, xi, pt. iii).
2 Birch, Liber Vitae, Hampshire Record Soc., 1892; Pal. Soc., ii, 16, 17;
Warner, Reproductions, ii, 6.
117
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and two attendant angels hover above them, pointing
upwards to Christ, who appears within a mandorla,
between Our Lady and S. Peter, the patrons of the
abbey. All this is disposed with great skill on the narrow
upright page. Having done justice to the munificence
of the reigning monarch, the artist now turns to matters
of wider import, and depicts on the next two pages 1 the
final rewards of good and evil. The first and second
compartments of this design represent S. Peter receiving
the blessed at the gate of heaven, and rescuing a soul
by main force from the clutches of the devil ; the third
shows an angel locking up the damned in hell. All the
naive beauties of the developed English style are fore-
shadowed in this drawing : in the courteous empressement
with which S. Peter welcomes the elect ; in the gentle,
piteous appeal with which the poor little soul in jeopardy
looks up to him ; in the simple and joyous expressions
of the tonsured saints.
A third example of Winchester work is the so-called
Caedmon MS. in the Bodleian, 2 which was perhaps
executed for Abbot Aelfwin at Newminster about 1035.
It contains a series of Anglo-Saxon poems, treating
of the fall of Satan, the Creation, and various incidents
of early Bible history, and thus resembling Caedmon's
work in subject at any rate. These are copiously illus-
trated with outline-drawings, mostly in brown ink, the
rest in red, green, or black. The illustrations to the first
part are full of action, but show little sense of proportion
or design. Some of the large draped figures are finely
conceived ; some, as the delicious angel who stands on
tiptoe at the gate of Eden, have the ingenuous fascination
of Winchester art at its best. All attempts to represent
1 Plate xiii shows the right-hand page, which contains the principal part of
the design. On the left-hand page are only, in the first compartment, two groups
of saints and martyrs led by angels towards the gate of heaven \ in the second,
two nimbed spectators of the contest.
2 Junius n, described, with facsimiles of the drawings, in ArchaeoZogia, vol.
xxiv, 1832, pp. 329-40. See too Westwood, Facsimiles, p. in; Pal. Soc., ii,
14,15-
III
PLATE XIII
LIBER VITAE OF NEWMINSTER, WINCHESTER. EARLY Xlrn CENT.
BRIT. MtJS. STOWE 944
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
the nude are of course disastrous: Adam and Eve only
become endurable when the Fall has driven them to
adopt the wrinkled draperies which leave room for all
the cunning convolutions of the Anglo-Saxon line. After
the Flood the style of illustration changes. The figures
are more slender, but of better proportions ; the draperies
flutter more violently, having at times an almost ragged
effect.
Early English outline-drawing is seen at its best in
these three delightful books ; soon after their production
the delicacy of the style began to decline. About the
middle of the eleventh century the custom of strengthen-
ing and enhancing the ink outlines with a narrow band
of colour had crept in, to destroy the purity of line and
crispness of effect once characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon
technique ; and we find the art of outline-illustration
becoming confused with the essentially distinct one of
illumination in gold and colours. A good example of the
work of this period is to be seen in a glossed Psalter at
the British Museum (Tib. C. vi), which has at the be-
ginning a series of scriptural scenes, 1 each occupying the
full page, drawn with a fine hard black line and re-
outlined in bright colours. The firmness and delicacy
of line are still excellent, though somewhat obscured
by the tinting. But the faces are monotonous, flat, ex-
pressionless, with small staring eyes, the attitudes often
ungainly, the anatomy impossible ; and the proportions
vary absurdly, single figures (e.g. the Christ in the Har-
rowing of Hell, or the angel in the Maries at the Tomb)
by their vast size and free technique suggesting mural
rather than book decoration. Farther on in the volume
are a few miniatures elaborately painted in body-colour,
besides pages framed in coloured rod-and-leaf borders
of the style usually associated with Winchester, and fully
illuminated initials.
A still better instance of the mingling of linear and
1 See pi. xiv for the last of the series, Michael contending with the dragon.
Another (Christ before Pilate) is in Pal. Soc., i, 98.
119
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
surface art is the Cottonian MS. 1 of Aelfric's paraphrase
of the Pentateuch and Joshua, written in the eleventh
century, and profusely illustrated with coloured drawings
which, never attempting either beauty or naturalism,
often show a considerable, if grotesque, dramatic force.
All have the plain vellum page for background no
suggestion of landscape or atmosphere. About half have
been left in various stages of incompleteness : in some
cases the blank spaces have not even been touched ; in
others the draperies have been roughly blocked in with
a first coat of thick colour, and the figures sketched in
outline, often without features. Of the remainder, which
were evidently regarded as finished, the majority are
painted in body-colour, the folds of the draperies shaded
and heightened with white, the faces covered with a
shiny pigment ; but some have been treated according to
the draughtsman's ideals, carefully outlined in various
light colours, without modelling or chiaroscuro. The
types of figures and the methods of composition hardly
vary throughout the book, so this divergence in technique
cannot well be set down to difference of date or place.
Winchester doubtless held the leading position during
this period, in outline-drawing as in painting ; but both
arts were also practised successfully, though with less
originality, at Canterbury. In Harl. 603 we have seen
what is perhaps (though by no means certainly) an
example of the work of S. Augustine's abbey ; there is
better evidence for assigning to the cathedral priory a set
of Easter tables 2 written about 1058, and adorned with
one long narrow illustration, running like a frieze across
the tops of two opposite pages. This is drawn in black
outline, and touched with green and red ; it represents
Christ in glory giving a roll of instructions for finding
Easter to an angel, who delivers it to Abbot Pachomius
and his monks. With its short sketchy strokes, nervous
1 Claud. B. iv. See Pal. Soc. t i, 71, 72 ; Thompson, pp. 25-6, pi. 8 ; Kenyon,
Biblical MSS., No. 21.
2 Brit. Mus., Calig. A. xv, ff. 120-43. See Pal. Soc., i, 145.
1 2O
PLATE XIV
PSALTER. ENGLISH, X!TH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. TIB. C VI.
OUTLINE-DRAWINGS
impressionist manner, and vivid sense of life, it shows
very strongly the influence of the Utrecht Psalter style,
no longer dominant at Winchester. This is only to be
expected, when we remember that about a hundred years
later that famous manuscript was copied in the same
monastery, where it was probably deposited on its arrival
in this country. The antique flavour, however, has
vanished. Pachomius and his monks, who hurry venire
a terre to meet the angel, have already the placidly
benevolent, almost babyish expressions so often seen in
English monastic types.
With the Norman Conquest a new influence came
into English art ; it ended the Anglo-Saxon school, but
far from killing the art of outline-drawing, it transformed
and beautified it. The exquisite illustrations of the
Guthlac Roll in the twelfth century, the Matthew Paris
drawings in the thirteenth, and the delicate tinted draw-
*ngs of Queen Mary's Psalter at the beginning of the
fourteenth century will serve to show how great a con-
tribution this method of freehand illustration, imported
(it would seem) towards the end of the ninth century,
preserved and perfected during the tenth and eleventh
centuries, made to the final development of book decora-
tion in England.
121
CHAPTER VII
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO A.D. 1200
A the beginning of the eighth century English
illumination was dominated, as we saw in chapter
iv, by the influence of two schools, divergent,
even antagonistic, in their aims : the Celtic, coming from
Ireland by way of lona and Lindisfarne, and the Late
Roman or debased Classical, imported into Southern
England through the mission of S. Augustine. In the
Canterbury Psalter (Vesp. A. i) these two influences
appear in juxtaposition rather than fusion ; and the
ravages of the Danes have left us no means of judging
whether such a fusion actually took place, or what the
resultant style was like. Most probably the art of illu-
mination perished altogether in those troublous times,
except for the somewhat perfunctory decoration of initial
letters. We know that King Alfred did much for the
revival of learning; and the New Minster which he
founded in his capital of Winchester became at a later
date with the neighbouring Old Minster, S. Swithin's
cathedral priory the home of English illumination.
But the lost art required time to reassert itself ; and there
is no evidence that anything was effected in this direction
during Alfred's own reign. Lack of tradition and of
good models must have made the initial stages slow and
difficult ; and it is not surprising that no specimens of
the new school of Anglo-Saxon miniature exist which
can be assigned to an earlier date than the reign of
Alfred's grandson, Athelstan (925-40).
The manuscript commonly known as King Athelstan's
Psalter l is a composite little volume : the nucleus was
1 Brit. Mus., Galba A. xviii. See Westwood's Facsimiles, pp. 96-8, pi. 32 ;
Cat. Anc. MSS., ii, p. 12, pi. 28.
122
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
written on the Continent in the ninth century, but many
additions were made in England towards the middle of
the tenth century, including a Calendar decorated with
roughly coloured drawings of the zodiacal signs and of
saints, enclosed in circular or rectangular frames, and also
three full-page miniatures drawn in heavy black outline
and painted in rather pale colours. The first two represent
Christ in glory, surrounded by choirs of angels, prophets,
and saints ; unusual and interesting compositions, doubt-
less copied from some foreign original, probably on a
much larger scale. The third represents the Ascension ;
and the manuscript once contained a fourth, of the
Nativity, 1 now bound up in the Bodleian MS., Rawlinson
B. 484. The ground of the second miniature is black, and
there is more finish altogether about it than in the other
two, which are painted on the plain vellum ; but in all
three, as in the Calendar decorations, there is a rude,
inchoate appearance, as of an untrained copyist striving
laboriously to reproduce the model set before him ; there
is no gradation or perspective, the faces are expressionless,
the heads and hands much too big, the drapery lines too
heavy and uniform, both in the black pen-strokes and in
the curves of white paint. In short, this book represents
the beginning of a movement to replace the lost art of
Hiberno-Saxon illumination by a new style, founded on
continental models, and shows the defects natural to work
of this character. No evidence is forthcoming to support
the tradition which makes Athelstan the patron for whom
these paintings were done, but it is highly probable that
the book in its original state was given to him, con-
sidering his connection with Charles the Simple, Otto
the Great, and other continental potentates through the
marriages of his sisters ; and the decorations subsequently
added, crude and tentative as they are, may be taken as
representing the best work of which English artists were
at that time capable.
1 Reproduced by Westwood, who was the first to recognize its connection
with Galba A. xviii.
123
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Progress from this point was rapid, and the latter half
of the tenth century finds the Winchester school at its
zenith. The general decline of the monasteries which,
joined with the Danish wars, had put an end to artistic
production for the time being, was abruptly checked by
the reforms introduced under S. Dunstan. His exile in
956-7 had given him an opportunity of studying the
Benedictine rule at Ghent, and its subsequent introduction
into most of the English monasteries was undoubtedly
due to his influence, though he did not take an active
part himself in the movement, which was carried on
chiefly by S. Oswald, Bishop of Worcester, and S. Aethel-
wold, Bishop of Winchester. The appointment of the
latter indeed, in 963, marks an epoch alike in the monastic
and artistic history of England. He had already, as
Abbot of Abingdon, sent to Fleury for instruction in the
rule of S. Benedict, and begun to enforce its observance
in his abbey ; and he signalized his promotion to Win-
chester by expelling the secular clerks from both Old and
New Minsters, and bringing monks from Abingdon to
fill their places. The reform thus instituted spread by
degrees to all parts of the country. Its introduction
synchronized with a great advance in the art of illumina-
tion, an advance in which Winchester led the way ; and
the two movements are assuredly related more closely
than by a mere coincidence in time. Foreign influence
is plainly discernible in the new style of book decoration,
both in the composition of miniatures and in the elements
of ornament; and Sir G. Warner's suggestion 1 that Fleury
supplied this influence, as well as a stricter ideal of
monastic life, seems highly probable.
Tne accession of King Edgar in 959, followed as it
was by his selection of Dunstan for chief adviser and for
Archbishop of Canterbury, was no doubt an important
contributory cause of the development of the new style,
which first appears in his foundation charter granted to
1 Ilium. MSS., p. iv.
124
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
New Minster in 966.* This document, written through-
out in gold, is in book form, and has for frontispiece, on a
pale purple ground, a votive picture of the king, between
the Virgin and S. Peter, offering his charter to Christ,
who appears above in a mandorla supported by four
graceful angels. These are disposed with a regard for
space-composition not always seen in the work of the
Winchester school. King Edgar's angular attitude, his
wrinkled sleeves and hose, the Virgin's folded head-dress,
the pleated draperies, all exactly reproduce the technique
of Anglo-Saxon outline-drawing. But the heavy paint-
ing and lavish use of gold take away the sense of airy
impressionism which constitutes the special charm of that
style. The drapery folds are now indicated by alternate
lines of white and of dark local colour. Limbs and
features are still defined by heavy lines, but there is
a good attempt at modelling, and the faces are by no
means void of life and expression ; in fact, the advance
on the crude paintings of King Athelstan's Psalter is
enormous. The surrounding frame, of two gold rods
entwined with blue, green, buff, and dull red foliage, may
be pointed out as an excellent example of the character-
istic Winchester ornament in its first stage. It is prob-
ably based on the border decoration found in later
Carolingian manuscripts such as the Bible of S. Paul's,
and is indirectly derived from Classical leaf-mouldings.
Its pedigree appears more clearly in some of the later
manuscripts, where the border consists of a repeat-pattern
of small crisp leaves strictly confined in panels or between
straps and rods, except at the corners, where the foliage
breaks out from these bounds, twining itself about the
confining rods and corner-pieces, and sprouting freely in
all directions. In the page now under consideration
there are no corner-pieces, and the foliage projects
beyond the framing rods the whole way round.
The next example of Winchester work is beyond all
1 Brit. Mus., Vesp. A. viii. See Westwood, Facsimiles, pp. 130-2, pi. 47;
Pal. Soc., i, 46-7 ; Warner, Reproductions, i, 4.
125
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
question the masterpiece of the school. This is the
magnificent Benedictional of S. Aethelwold in the Duke
of Devonshire's library, 1 written by Godeman, a monk at
Winchester, for Aethelwold, about 975-80, and enriched
with thirty full-page miniatures and thirteen pages of
text enclosed in arches or rectangular borders, besides
some other illuminated pages now lost. That the artist
understood the use of pen or pencil far better than that
of paintbrush is strikingly apparent. The colouring of
the miniatures is for the most part inharmonious and
unpleasing : a harsh vivid green, ill matched with dull
shades of purple, mauve, and other secondary tints all
painted in thick body-colour, and broken and modelled
with white. The general effect, however, is brightened
by a plentiful use of gold. The treatment of the faces
shows little advance on the Athelstan Psalter : they are
mostly painted a sort of pinkish brick-red, heavily over-
laid with streaks of white. In the borders a richer effect
is aimed at, gold and bright colours predominating ; and
the result is generally successful. The draughtsmanship
is excellent throughout, firm and clear, and already
giving promise of the delicacy which, as we saw in the
last chapter, characterized English, and particularly
Winchester, drawing in the eleventh century ; this is
shown very plainly in the last miniature in the book,
which has only been coloured in part, the rest being
drawn in red outline. Many of the compositions are
evidently derived, directly or indirectly, from Italo-
Byzantine archetypes : in the miniature of the Baptism,
for instance, the river-god of Jordan appears with his
urn, as in the mosaics of the Ravenna Baptistery an
unexpected bit of paganism to light upon in an English
book of King Edward the Martyr's time. Some of the
miniatures are set in arches or under pediments, flanked
with Oriental-looking buildings ; but the majority are
1 The Benedictional of St. Aethelwold, ed. G. F. Warner and H. A. Wilson,
Roxburghe Club, 1910. See too Archaeologia, xxiv, pp. 1-117; Westwood, pp.
132-5, pi. 45; Pal. Soc., i, 142-4; Burlington F.A. Club, No. n, pi. 17.
126
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
enclosed in rectangular borders of typical Winchester
style : frames of gold panelled or entwined with acanthus
leaves, with sprays of foliage at the corners and centres
of the sides.
Contemporary with this Benedictional is the Harleian
Psalter (2904), whose beautiful drawing of the Crucifixion
was mentioned in the last chapter. It also contains large
initials for Psalms i (Beatus vir), ci (Domine exaudi), and
cix (Dixit Dominus), finely illuminated in gold and
colours. In all three the plan is the same : a gold frame
divided into panels filled with leaf-moulding, dogs' heads
with open jaws, plait-work terminals to the upright part
of the frame, the body of the letter filled with inter-
twining scrolls of foliage. The " B " is specially interest-
ing as representing the model on which the initial letter
of English Psalters was based for the next three cen-
turies.
In the companion volume to S. Aethelwold's book,
the so-called Benedictional of Archbishop Robert, 1 now
in the Public Library at Rouen, the peculiarities of the
Winchester style are still further developed. This manu-
script, which was probably given to his cathedral by
Robert of Normandy, Archbishop of Rouen 990-1037,
seems to have been written at Newminster for the use of
Aethelgar, sometime Abbot, who became Bishop of Selsey
in 980, Archbishop of Canterbury (in succession to
Dunstan) in 988, and died in 990. Its decoration is
comparatively meagre, consisting only (in its present
state) of three full-page miniatures and five pages of text
surrounded with borders in gold and colours. The com-
positions are practically identical with those of the corre-
sponding pictures in the Benedictional of Aethelwold,
but there are signs of advance in the pose and propor-
tions of the figures and in the treatment of the faces ;
1 Ed. H. A. Wilson, Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1903. See too Archaeologia,
xxiv, pp. 118-36; Westwood, p. 139. Besides episcopal benedictions at Mass,
it contains a collection of pontifical offices, including the rite of consecration of
the Anglo-Saxon kings ; so it should strictly be called a Pontifical.
127
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the border ornament is of the same type as in the earlier
book.
The Rouen Library possesses another volume of the
same class in the Missal of Robert of Jumieges. 1 This
manuscript, executed at Winchester, probably at New-
minster, about the beginning of the eleventh century,
was given by Robert of Jumieges, when Bishop of
London (1044-51), to the abbey at Jumieges, of which
he had formerly been abbot. It contains thirteen full-
page miniatures, enclosed in arches or rectangular frames
of the regular Winchester type, besides three elaborately
bordered pages at the beginning of the Canon of the
Mass. The art, however, is decidedly inferior to that of
the two Benedictionals. Many of the figures are so thin
as to be almost grotesque ; and the ornamental frames
and arches tend to overload the page and to detract from,
instead of enhancing, the effectiveness of the picture
enclosed. In the Crucifixion page, particularly, the com-
paratively small and insignificant figure-composition is
completely overweighted by the magnificent but inappro-
priate luxuriance of the surrounding border. It would
seem, in fact, as though this initial phase of the Winches-
ter school had already reached its prime before the end
of the tenth century, and had at once (as so often happens)
begun to decay.
The excellence and shortcomings of Newminster work
at this period are well shown, again, in the Gospels of
Trinity College, Cambridge, 2 written apparently by the
same scribe as the Missal just mentioned, and decorated
with great magnificence. The pages devoted to the
Eusebian Canons are specially splendid, with their gilded
columns and round, triangular or trefoil arches, having
angels, saints, peacocks, dragons, etc., in the tympana and
spandrels, as in Carolingian manuscripts of the ninth
century. Each Gospel has a full-page miniature of the
Evangelist and an elaborate initial page of text, and there
1 Ed. H. A. Wilson, Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1896 ; Westwood, pp. 156-8, pi. 40.
2 B. 10. 4. See Westwood, p. 140, pi. 42 ; New Pal. Soc., pi. u, 12.
128
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
is also a miniature of Christ in glory ; all these enclosed
in rectangular borders, profusely foliated, and mostly
decorated with medallion busts of saints and with orna-
mental corner-pieces. Gold is lavishly used, and the
range of colours is wide, especially in the decorative
frames, which are almost exaggeratedly luxuriant, giving
the book a rich, even gorgeous effect. But a less attrac-
tive side is shown in the crumpled, fluttering draperies,
so unsuited to the thick opaque medium used by the
Winchester painters, in the large ill-drawn hands and
feet, in the inept attempt at full-face portraiture.
By the end of the tenth century the art of illumina-
tion had begun to revive in other places besides Winches-
ter, though the Wessex capital continued to hold the
leading place. As examples of work done elsewhere, we
may mention three manuscripts, now in the British
Museum, which there is good reason for associating with
Christ Church, Canterbury. The first of these is the
recently acquired Bosworth Psalter, 1 written late in the
tenth century, perhaps during the archiepiscopate of
Dunstan (959-88), who is said to have been a skilled
painter himself, 2 and who doubtless encouraged the deco-
ration, as well as the transcription and study, of books.
There are no miniatures in the Bosworth Psalter, but the
large initials of Psalms i, li, and ci, filled with interlaced
foliage and adorned with dragons, lions' heads, etc., are
very spirited and successful, and are interesting as being
among the earliest examples of English initial-ornament
of this type. The second manuscript, Arundel I55, 3 is
also a Psalter, and appears to have been written at Christ
Church between 1012 and 1023. Like the tenth century
Harleian Psalter, No. 2904, it combines outline with fully
illuminated work. The tables which follow the Calendar
1 Add. 37517. See New Pal. Soc., pi. 163-4; Warner, Reproductions ; iii, 5;
F. A. Gasquet and E. Bishop, The Bosworth Psalter , 1908.
2 Two miniatures purporting to be by him are extant, viz. Bodl. 578, f. i, at
Oxford, and Claud. A. iii, f. 8, in the British Museum. See Westwood, pp. 125,
126, pi. 50.
8 Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 10.
9 129
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
are set in arcades outlined in red, the tympana of the last
two (ff. 90, 10) containing partially tinted outline scenes
of Pachomius and his monks, closely allied to those
described at the end of chapter vi as occurring in Calig.
A. xv, a manuscript probably emanating from the neigh-
bouring abbey of S. Augustine. On f. 133, again, is a
representation of S. Benedict giving his rule to monks,
partly coloured and partly left in outline. The principal
feature of the book, however, is the illuminated initial
and border decoration of Psalms i, li, and ci, especially
the first, which has a frame of gold bands enclosing and
surrounded by foliage, with gold quatrefoils at the corners,
and an initial " B " obviously modelled, like the border,
on Winchester work of the tenth century. The " D" of
Psalm ci is interesting as an early example, in English art,
of the historiated initial ; enclosing a crude representa-
tion of David beheading Goliath.
The third manuscript, 1 a copy of the Latin Gospels,
early eleventh century, is also decorated in the Win-
chester style ; but it contains an inserted copy of King
Canute's charter to Christ Church, Canterbury, so the
natural presumption is that it was executed in the latter
place. Its illuminated pages (the first of each Gospel)
have, indeed, a heavy, almost sombre, magnificence very
different from the brightness and freedom of the best
productions of the Newminster artists. The gold bands
are very broad, the foliage is close-set and monotonous,
and the general effect of the colouring is dull, a brownish
tone prevailing. Here again is a historiated initial, the
" Q" of S. Luke's Gospel being filled with a miniature of
Christ in glory.
Another Gospel-book of about the same date, also
in the British Museum (Harl. 76), deserves mention for
the excellence and variety of the arcades which enclose
the Eusebian Canons. These pages, richly gilt and
brightly coloured, are very effective, with angels, saints,
lions, dragons, etc., filling the spandrels and tympana.
1 Roy. i D. ix. See Warner, Reproductions, i, 6.
130
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
The manuscript belonged to Bury S. Edmund's, and was
perhaps painted there ; it has obvious kinship with the
Missal of Robert of Jumieges, but it may be that this
only illustrates the widespread influence of the Win-
chester school.
At the beginning of the eleventh century that school,
as exemplified by the Missal of Robert of Jumi&ges, was
already showing signs of deterioration. The downward
tendency, however, was speedily checked : in the Grim-
bald Gospels, 1 written at Newminster early in the century,
we have a charming example of the next phase in the
development of the style. The portraits of seated Evan-
gelists, looking up to their emblems for inspiration,
preserve in their composition some faint suggestion of
Byzantine or Carolingian archetypes ; but the slender
boyish figures and crumpled robes have not much in
common with the Greek austerity or Teutonic solidity
of these remote ancestors. The streaky backgrounds of
earlier Winchester miniatures are abandoned in favour
of the plain vellum, and the features are drawn in outline
only. But the elaborate frames do all that is necessary
towards richness of decoration ; especially those which
surround the portrait of S. John 2 and the first words
of his Gospel, which are an interesting departure from
the usual type of Winchester ornament. These frames
are built up of silver panels, with gold circles at the
corners and centres. The three topmost circles on
the miniature page contain each a representation of
Christ in glory, and are supported by exquisitely drawn
angels, whose outlines are quaintly contrived to suggest
the foliate ornament of the conventional border. Four
of the other circles contain groups of adoring saints ;
in that beneath the Evangelist's feet two angels offer up
the souls of the departed in a cloth. The panels are
filled with half-length figures of adoring kings. The
frame of the text-page is similarly constructed, but has
1 Brit. Mus., Add. 34890. See Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 9, and Reprod., i, 5.
2 PI. xv.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the Madonna and Child in the central medallion at the
top, the others containing angels and saints. The deli-
cacy of the drawing, particularly of the angels, which
are really charming, and the pleasing colour-scheme,
which is founded on blue and its derivatives and uses
silver (now tarnished, alas !) as well as gold for the height-
ening of effect, mark out the Grimbald Gospels as one
of the finest examples of eleventh century English work.
As the century advanced the Winchester illuminators
turned their attention to the decorative rather than the
illustrative side of their art to the development of initial
and border ornament rather than to improvement in
figure composition ; that is, if we may judge by a Psalter
in the British Museum, 1 written at Newminster about
1060. Like so many manuscripts of the time, it com-
bines outline-drawings with paintings in body-colour ;
the former style being represented by the signs of the
zodiac, excellently drawn in red outline to illustrate the
Calendar, and by a full-page Crucifixion in black outline,
tinted blue, green, and red. It is interesting to find that
the composition of the latter is practically identical with
that of the much smaller and rather earlier drawing in
the Newminster Office of the Holy Cross, 2 having Sol
and Luna above the arms of the cross, and also a rarer
feature, the Dextera Domini issuing from a cloud above
the head of Christ. The body-colour illuminations con-
sist of initials and borders to Psalms i, li, and ci, and a
full-page miniature of the Crucifixion opposite Psalm li.
This last, painted on the plain vellum ground, within an
illuminated frame-border, is of a most unusual type :
the emaciated, ill-drawn figure of Christ is flanked by
two stiff, mushroom-like trees, which stand in the posi-
tions usually assigned to the Virgin and S. John, below
the arms of the cross. The four borders show consider-
able variety in the details of design. That of Psalm ci
1 Arundel 60. See Westwood, p. 121, pi. 49; Thompson, p. 24, pi. 7;
Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. u,and Reprod., ii, 7, 8.
2 Tit. D. xxvii, noticed above, p. 117.
132
PI.ATR XV
GRIMBALD GOSPELS. WINCHESTER. X!TH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. ADD. 34890
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
adheres most closely to the traditional type, but is dis-
tinguished by a not unpleasing restraint, the tendency
to raggedness and over-luxuriance, noticeable in most
of its predecessors, being severely pruned away : the
framing bands are now reduced, on this as on the three
other pages, to narrow wands ; and the leaf-ornament,
now purely conventional, is entirely confined between
them except at the corners and centres. On the other
pages the foliage is rather of the scroll-like order, inter-
rupted at the corners, in the border surrounding the
Crucifixion, by medallions containing the emblems of
the Evangelists ; and a new feature appears in the borders
to Psalms i and li, the framing wands being bent
and intertwined. It is in initial ornament, however, that
the most significant progress has been made. The ideas
suggested by the tenth century illuminators are developed
to the utmost, and enriched by the introduction of new
elements : elaborately intertwined spiral scrolls of foliage
(almost recalling the intricacies of Celtic decoration) fill the
body of the letter, and human figures, dragons, and other
animal forms begin to appear. The " B " of Psalm i
combines this decorative wealth with a miniature of David
playing the harp. In short, the transition to the regular
Gothic system of initial ornament is already far advanced.
The manuscript has no silver or gold ; its colour-scheme
is on the whole soft and pleasing, the predominant tint
a subdued blue.
Before leaving the eleventh century, we must mention
a little book more interesting, perhaps, for its history
and associations than for its intrinsic merit as a work
of art, viz. the Gospel-book of S. Margaret of Scotland,
now in the Bodleian Library. 1 Mr. Falconer Madan 2
has set forth its romantic story in full : how it was turned
out as lumber from the shelves of a small parish library
in Suffolk, advertised for sale as a fourteenth century
1 Lat. Liturg. f. 5. See Pal. Soc., ii, 131, and the facsimile reproduction, ed.
W. Forbes-Leith, s.j., 1896.
2 Books in Manuscript, 1893, p. 107.
133
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
copy of the Gospels, and acquired for a trifling sum by
the Bodleian authorities, who at once recognized it as
English work of the eleventh century ; and how it was
subsequently identified through the discovery of some
Latin verses on a fly-leaf, narrating its miraculous re-
covery in an uninjured state, after being dropped into
a stream by the priest who was carrying it to a tryst
for the taking of an oath an incident recorded in the
life of S. Margaret, sister of Edgar Atheling and wife
of Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland. The piety of
this saintly queen, the civilizing power of her gentle life,
and the devotion which she inspired in her warlike,
illiterate husband, provide one of the most beautiful
episodes in early Scottish history ; and the book thus
happily recovered a second time has no merely casual
association with her, for her biographer tells us that
" she had always felt a particular attachment for it, more
so than for any of the others which she usually read."
She had doubtless brought it from England in 1067,
when she fled for refuge to Malcolm's court.
The portraits of the Evangelists, with which this
book of Gospel-lessons is decorated, are characteristic
of their period and country. Specially noticeable are the
inflated and swirling draperies, the predominance of pale
secondary colours, and the plain vellum backgrounds.
The emblems do not appear; the designs are of the
simplest character, and are framed in plain rectangular
bands of gold and pink, sometimes enclosing an arch
with buildings in the spandrels. The bearded type of
S. John is unusual ; and so, fortunately, is the extra-
ordinary figure of S. Luke sitting cross-legged on his
stool. The faces are rather expressionless, and on the
whole the art cannot be called better than second-class.
With the twelfth century English art enters upon
a period of experiment and transition. 1 Many things
combined to encourage the influx of new ideas and con-
1 There is an interesting and well-illustrated article on English twelfth century
illumination, by A. Haseloff, in Michel, ii, i, 309-20.
134
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
sequent readjustment of old traditions and standards.
The first shock of the Norman Conquest was well over,
and the Normanizing of English civilization, which had
begun in Edward the Confessor's time, was fairly com-
plete. The Crusades were beginning to bring westward
a fuller knowledge of Byzantine and Syrian art. In
architecture, the Romanesque was at its last and most
magnificent period, the Gothic was about to be born ;
and we find, as might be expected, some reflection of this
transitional phase in the minor art of illumination. The
parallel, indeed, is not complete ; but both arts alike
evolved in the course of the century the beginning of
the pure Gothic style.
Nearly all the best examples of English illumination
that have come down to us from the tenth and eleventh
centuries were produced at Winchester. But this ex-
clusive predominance now comes to an end, and in the
twelfth century we find well-established schools flourish-
ing at Durham, Westminster, Bury S. Edmund's, and
in many other places. At the very beginning of the
century, in fact, the last-named school is represented by
a series of thirty-two full-page miniatures of the life,
passion, and miracles of S. Edmund, prefixed to a copy,
apparently of slightly later date (fire. 1125-50), of the
text which they illustrate. 1 These pictures have plenty
of graphic force, but are destitute of charm. Particularly
repellent is the prevailing type of face, with long nose,
receding chin, and prominent eyes. There is no attempt
at realistic figure-drawing ; impossibly thin, flat-chested
bodies, supported by immensely long, attenuated legs,
suggest the human frame well enough for the artist's
purpose, which is to tell his story with unmistakable
clearness, and which (to do him justice) he never fails
to achieve. Gold is used, but sparingly, and is not raised
or burnished ; the colouring generally is somewhat harsh,
1 This very interesting manuscript is in Sir G. L. Holford's library. For
description and reproductions see New Pal. Soc., pi. 113-15 ; also Burl. F.A. Club,
No. 18, pi. 23.
135
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and the choice of tints quite arbitrary red, green or
violet horses being among the vagaries met with. In
the text are some excellent examples of the initial orna-
ment, the development of which formed one of the salient
characteristics of twelfth century illumination in England,
as well as in France, Germany, and the Low Countries.
The chief elements of this ornament are scrolls of foliage,
diversified with human, animal, and monstrous forms ;
later in the century the larger initials are often historiated,
but the purely decorative designs are also used right on
through the thirteenth century.
Closely related to the miniatures just mentioned are
twelve pages of Gospel pictures in compartments, prefixed
to a New Testament which formerly belonged to Bury
S. Edmund's and was doubtless written there, and which is
now in Pembroke College, Cambridge. 1 These are outline-
drawings, partly tinted, and are mostly on a much smaller
scale than the paintings in Sir G. L. Holford's book ; but
the resemblance, especially in the facial types, is so
striking as almost to suggest identity of hand. It is
evident, however, that these mannerisms were distinctive
of English painting generally at this period. They are
to be seen in a most sumptuously illuminated Psalter,
executed at S. Alban's during the time of Abbot Geoffrey
(1119-46), and now at S. Godehard's Church in Hilde-
sheim. 2 This splendid book has no less than forty-two
full-page miniatures, besides a great wealth of initial
ornament. The miniatures, which represent the Fall of
Man, David as musician, scenes from the life of Christ,
and SS. Martin and Alban, are framed in rectangular
borders of meander, leaf-moulding, and other patterns.
The initials are filled with figures, which are sometimes
merely fanciful, boys riding on monsters, etc., but more
often illustrate passages in the psalms to which they are
prefixed. There is great freedom and variety in the
1 No. 120. See M. R. James, Cat. of the MSS. at Pembroke Coll, 1905,
pp. 117-25 (two plates); Burl. F.A. Club, No. 23, pi. 28.
2 See Adolph Goldschmidt, Der Albani- Psalter in Hildesheim, 1895.
136
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
designs, and the proportions and modelling of the figure
are better than in the Life of S. Edmund, though still too
thin and long-limbed. The faces too have much more
individuality, but the unlovely types of the Holford and
Pembroke books have a tendency to predominate here too.
Henry of Blois, brother of King Stephen, and Bishop
of Winchester from 1129 to 1171, was a learned and
munificent prelate, a liberal patron of the arts ; and it is
to his encouragement, doubtless, that two fine examples
of Winchester illumination owe their existence. Both
were executed, apparently, at his cathedral priory during
his episcopate, and one of them still belongs to the Dean
and Chapter of Winchester, but the other passed soon
after its completion into the possession of the nuns at
Shaftesbury, and is now in the Cottonian collection at
the British Museum. 1 The latter, which is perhaps the
earlier of the two (probably written before 1161), contains
the Psalter in Latin and French, preceded by thirty-eight
full-page miniatures, painted on backgrounds of deep blue,
most of which has, however, been scraped or washed off,
presumably by some unscrupulous artist who had run
short of that pigment. The first twenty-seven and the
last nine represent scenes from the Bible ; between them
are two paintings, of the Assumption and Enthronement
of the Virgin, which, though apparently part of the
original volume, are in marked contrast with the rest,
being very beautiful examples of the early Italo-Byzantine
manner, both in design and colouring. Sir G. Warner
suggests that they were copied from Italian pictures
brought over by Bishop Henry, who is said to have
bought works of art during his visit to Rome in 1151-2;
if so, the copyist has caught the spirit of his original with
extraordinary success and one feels almost inclined to
suggest instead that the bishop must have imported
Italian artists too. The remaining miniatures in Nero
C. iv are characteristically English, and are curious and
1 Nero C. iv. See Pal. Soc., i, 124; Thompson, pp. 29-33, P^ 9 > Warner,
Ilium. MSS., pi. 12, and Reprod., iii, 7-9.
137
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
interesting rather than beautiful. The fluttering draperies
of the earlier Winchester style are now replaced by
garments which cling closely to the form. The pro-
portions of the body are rather bad ; but the hair and
faces, shaded with pale sepia, are very carefully treated.
Among the most effective miniatures are the Jesse-tree,
with its white curling tendrils ; the two angels with
spreading wings, setting up the cross on an altar ; and
the last of the series, an angel locking the door of the
Jaws of Death upon the damned, who are tortured in
various ways by sprightly, gargoyle-like fiends.
Much more stately is the second of these two Win-
chester books: a magnificent Bible, 1 in three great
volumes, decorated throughout with splendid historiated
initials in gold and colours, and with two full pages of
outline-drawings. Monumental Bibles were evidently
the fashion in the latter half of the twelfth century : of
those now extant, this is perhaps the finest ; another (to
be noticed presently) is now in the Bibliotheque de Ste.
Genevieve at Paris ; a third is Bishop Hugh Pudsey's
(1153-94), at Durham. The Winchester Bible is believed
to be the one which King Henry II borrowed from
S. Swithin's priory and then presented to his Carthusian
foundation at Witham, in 1173, but which was soon
afterwards restored by S. Hugh, then Prior of Witham,
to its rightful owners. Its miniatures have much in
common with those of Nero C. iv: the same clinging
draperies, the same grave, solemn faces. The art, how-
ever, is of a much higher quality : the figures are well
modelled and of good proportions, the grouping often
shows a fine instinct for composition, and there is alto-
gether a much more perfect finish. These differences
unquestionably bespeak a superior artist ; they also denote,
probably, a slightly later date, a more settled, less tentative
phase in the development of the school. The colouring
is extraordinarily rich and beautiful, dark tones predomi-
nating, especially a deep blue. The framework of the
1 See Pal. Soc., ii, 166-7 ; Burl. F.A. Club, No. 106, pi. 78.
138
PLATE XVI
BIBLE. ENGLISH, XIIxH CENT.
WINCHESTER CHAPTER LIBRARY
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
initials themselves is usually filled with leaf-moulding or
foliated scroll-work : plaits, dogs' heads, grotesques, and
other forms of ornament also occur. Good examples of
these initials are to be seen on the first page of the
Psalms, 1 which are given in both "Gallican" and
" Hebrew " versions in parallel columns, so that the
miniaturist had to supply a " B" for each column; and in
doing this he has blended uniformity with variety
most happily. Each pair of scenes represents two vic-
tories of Good over Evil : in the two loops of the
right-hand " B," Christ casts out a devil and makes
His triumphant descent into Hades ; on the left, these
events are typified by David's conflicts with bear and
lion.
The Bible at S. Genevieve's* was written late in the
twelfth century by a scribe of English parentage, one
Manerius, who describes himself as " scriptor Can-
tuariensis " ; so there is some presumption that it was
executed at Canterbury, but no certainty, for he does
not say where he wrote it, and the earliest fact known of
its history is that in the eighteenth century it belonged to
a church near Troyes. It may possibly, therefore, have
been written and illuminated in France at no time is
the difficulty of discriminating French from English illu-
mination greater than in the twelfth and thirteenth cen-
turies. Like the Winchester Bible, it is in three large
volumes ; the foliate decoration of its initials is freer and
more naturalistic, but the miniatures which many of them
enclose, while spirited and interesting, are inferior as
regards the treatment of the face, and the proportions and
modelling of the figure. The " I " of Genesis occupies a
whole column, and is filled with scenes of the Creation
and Fall a feature of Bible-illustration which became
traditional.
Besides the Life of S. Edmund, two other pictorial
biographies of English saints deserve notice, both
1 PI. xvi.
2 New Pal. Soc., pi. 116-18.
139
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
executed towards the end of the twelfth century. One is
a little Life of S. Cuthbert, written at Durham and illus-
trated with forty-five full-page miniatures 1 in gold and
colours. These are enclosed in plain banded frames,
without conventional ornament ; the backgrounds are
mostly gold, sometimes red or blue, in one case diapered
(an early instance of what afterwards became the normal
pattern of background). The pictures are on a modest
scale, but very charming : the treatment of the face is
very careful, and usually judicious, though sometimes
marred by excessive use of white paint ; the proportions
are good, except for the extended fingers, which are still
too long occasionally ; and the colours are pleasing,
especially the red and blue. The other manuscript is the
famous Guthlac Roll in the British Museum, 2 a long strip
of vellum covered with eighteen beautiful outline-draw-
ings 3 of events in the life of S. Guthlac, probably
executed in his abbey at Croyland. Here we find the
English tradition of linear design, freed from Anglo-
Saxon extravagances, steadied and matured by contact
with other arts. The line has now become firm and
clean ; there is still a tendency to elongate the bodies and
enlarge the extremities unduly, but the lively quaintness
of the characterization, whether of angels, demons, or
human beings, 4 gives these drawings an almost unique
charm.
From the middle of the twelfth century till well on in
the fourteenth the book most frequently used for the
exercise of the illuminator's art was the Psalter. Those
of S. Alban's (at Hildesheim) and Winchester (Nero C.
iv) have already been noticed. Another fine one is the
1 Reproduced in The Life of Saint Cuthbert, ed. W. Forbes-Leith, sj., 1888.
See too Burl. F.A. Club, No. 17, pi. 22. The manuscript is now in Mr. Yates
Thompson's library.
2 Harley Roll Y. 6.
3 Reproduced by W. de Gray Birch, Memorials of St. Guthlac, 1881. See
too Warner, Reprod., i, 8. Dr. Birch suggests that they are the working drawings
for a series of stained-glass medallions.
4 PI. xvii shows the saint expelling a demon, and receiving the tonsure.
I 4
PI.ATB XVII
LIFE OF ST GUTHLAC. ENGLISH, LATE Xllrti CENT.
BRIT. MUS. HARI.RV ROLL V 6
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION TO 1200
Huntingfield book in Mr. Pierpont Morgan's library, 1
having at the beginning forty pages of Biblical pictures
and portraits of saints, besides a splendid "B" (to Psalm i)
enclosing a Jesse-tree, and many decorative or historiated
initials. The Psalter known as that of S. Louis, in the
Leyden University Library, 2 executed in England about
the end of the twelfth century, also contains a long series
of Old and New Testament miniatures. The forms are
severe and emaciated, with prominent eyes and grave
expressions ; the modelling is only moderately good, the
bodies being short, with large extremities ; the com-
position is crowded, sometimes "continuous." Two
Psalters at the British Museum, written about the end
of the twelfth century, though much less profusely
illuminated than those just mentioned, deserve some
notice. Harl. 5102 has some fine initials, especially the
" D" of Psalm cix, which contains a representation of the
Trinity, on a background of stippled gold ; but its chief
interest lies in the five full-page miniatures which seem
to have been inserted, but which are plainly contemporary :
one of these depicts the martyrdom of S. Thomas of
Canterbury (1170), and is perhaps the earliest extant
painting of that event, being only some twenty or thirty
years later. A much more beautiful book is Royal 2 A.
xxii, the Westminster Abbey Psalter. 3 It has five full-
page miniatures at the beginning, painted in thick body-
colour on burnished gold grounds, and representing the
Annunciation, Visitation, Madonna and Child, Christ in
glory, and David as harpist. Ultramarine, red, and
green are the principal colours the first-named especially
deep and rich. The rounded, gentle face of the Virgin,
and the stronger, more severe male types, show consider-
able power of modelling and expression ; especially fine is
1 M. R. James, Cat. of MSS. off. Pierpont Morgan, 1906 (five plates); Burl.
F.A. Club, No. 36, pi. 35.
2 Lat. 76 A. See Miniatures du Psautier de S. Louis, ed. H. Omont, 1902
(Codd. Gr. et Lat., Suppl. ii).
3 See Thompson, pp. 33-5, pi. 10 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 14, and
\, 9, 10.
141
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the picture of David, a truly regal, dignified figure. The
"B" of Psalm i is elaborate, as usual, and is a good
example of its kind, consisting of convolutions of foliage-
scrolls, with animals' figures, and with three small
medallion-scenes of the life of David ; but it is from the
beauty of the miniatures, above all, that the Westminster
Psalter derives its value.
142
CHAPTER VIII
GERMAN, FRENCH, AND FLEMISH ILLUMINATION,
A.D. 900-1200
THE outburst of magnificent, if ungainly, art which
had characterized the Carolingian period declined
towards the end of the ninth century. The chief
centres of this art, as we saw in chapter v, were in
Northern France and the Franco-German borderland :
at Aix-la-Chapelle, Tours, Rheims. But the troubled
times which saw the decay of the Carolingian line in
France were unfavourable to artistic activity, and
Germany begins now to take the leading place, especially
during the brilliant period of the Ottonian dynasty, from
the accession of Otto the Great in 936 to the death of
Henry II, the Saint, in 1024. The not inaptly so-
called Ottonian Renaissance doubtless owed much to the
marriage of Otto II, in 972, to the Byzantine princess
Theophano, whether she actually brought Greek artists
in her train or only paintings and other objects of art
from the Eastern imperial court ; but the movement had
probably begun before this date. Reichenau, at any rate,
on Lake Constance, had long been famous as a school of
painters; and many of the finest Ottonian illuminations,
especially the earlier ones, emanate from this centre.
Towards the end of the tenth century the artistic revival
began to spread northwards : S. Bernward, Bishop of
Hildesheim near Hanover (993-1022), instituted a school
of illumination and metal-work in his cathedral city, and
the Reichenau influence was brought to Treves by Arch-
bishop Egbert (977-93). The Bavarian schools too,
especially that of Ratisbon, began to flourish about the
143
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
same time ; throughout Germany, in fact, this was a time
of great energy in artistic production, though the result-
ing achievements were for the most part (so far at least as
miniature is concerned) interesting rather than beautiful.
By the twelfth century, a definite style with well-developed
decorative features was thoroughly established in Western
and Central Europe ; and such books as the great Bibles
of Worms, Floreffe, and Arnstein, and that lost treasure-
house of medieval allegory, the Hortus Deliciarum, were
preparing the way for the exquisite thirteenth century
Gothic art of France and the Low Countries.
Few German illuminated manuscripts remain to us
from the first half of the tenth century ; and these few
represent the decay of the Carolingian rather than the
rise of any new progressive style. One of these books,
however, must be mentioned, though its claim to notice
arises less from its intrinsic merit than from its historical
associations. This is the Gospel-book of King Athel-
stan, 1 given him (as the inscription " Odda rex, Mihthild
mater regis" seems to indicate) by Matilda, widow of
Henry the Fowler, and her son Otto the Great (who had
married Athelstan's sister Edith in 929), between Henry's
death in 936 and Otto's coronation as Emperor in 962 ;
and afterwards given by Athelstan to Christ Church,
Canterbury, where tradition says that it was kept for use
as the oath-book at the coronation of the English kings.
It is decorated with portraits of the Evangelists, arcades
for the Eusebian Canons, and large ornamental initials.
Gold and silver, the former edged with red, are profusely
used in the arcades and initials, whose style is best
described as debased Carolingian ; and this abundance
of the precious metals, together with the illustrious
names of donors and recipient, justifies the assumption
that the book, ugly as it is, may be taken as representative
of the best work produced in the "dark age" which gave
it birth. The Evangelists Mark, Luke, and John rather
small huddled figures painted on dull green backgrounds
1 Brit. Mus., Tib. A. ii, described in Cat. Anc. MSS., ii, pp. 35-7.
14
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
show traces of the influence of the ninth century
Rheims school, but without its artistic merit. Their
strong flesh-tints contrast disagreeably with the cold
tones of their draperies ; their huge hands, their heads
twisted round in the effort to gaze upwards, suggest the
incompetent copyist of a good model. The Matthew
miniature is quite different in style ; with its thick soft
technique and pale colouring, it represents a type which
afterwards became characteristic of one branch of Otto-
nian art.
The Gregorian Sacramentary in the Heidelberg
University Library (Sal. ix b ) is assigned by Dr. A. von
Oechelhauser l to the first half of the tenth century ; but
its affinity with the Gospel-book at Darmstadt (Cod.
I948) 2 , executed for Gero, Archbishop of Cologne 969-76,
is so close that we can hardly suppose the two books to
be at all widely separated in point of age, if indeed they
are not actually by the same hand, as Janitschek held
them to be. In any case, the Heidelberg book is one of
the earliest extant productions of the great Benedictine
Abbey at Reichenau, which, as we have said, occupies the
foremost place in the history of German tenth century
schools of painting. The style of the Reichenau artists,
judged by existing miniatures and by the wall-paintings
discovered there in i88o, 3 seems to have been founded
(as to iconography and types of figure-drawing) on Early
Christian models of the Roman type; indirectly, perhaps
for Dr. Haseloff 4 sees in the miniatures only a con-
tinuation of the tradition of the "Ada-Gospels" group
of Carolingian illuminators. But a new feature appears
1 Die Miniaturen der Universitats-Bibliothek zu Heidelberg, pt. i, 1887,
PP- 4-55. Pi- 1-8.
2 Ibid., pp. 14-16, 32-3, pi. 9. Haseloff, Der Psalter Erzbischof Egberts von
Trier, Codex Gertrudianus, 1901, p. 119, pi. 61 (2), 62.
8 See Kraus, Geschichte d. chr. Kunst, ii, i, fig. 28-35.
4 For the subject of the present chapter, see his articles in Michel, Hist.
deCArt, i, ii, 714-37, 744-55, ii, i, 297-309, 320-9; and, for a more detailed
study of Ottoman illumination, his masterly introduction to the Codex Gertru-
dianus.
10 145
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
in the patterned backgrounds introduced into some of
the pages of Reichenau manuscripts and their derivatives ;
the patterns used are either geometrical designs or else
forms of birds or monsters, and were probably suggested
by tile-work or textile fabrics in neither case do they
improve the pictorial effect in figure-scenes, but when
confined to the purely decorative pages they are less
inappropriate.
In the Heidelberg Sacramentary these tendencies are
already prominent. Its two full-page miniatures, of
Christ and the Virgin, each enthroned within a circular
border filled with the common Carolingian device of
semicircles arranged mosaic-wise, have the hard, clumsy
figures of mediocre Carolingian painting ; but the beard-
less, long-haired, almost feminine-looking Christ is of
the type characteristic alike of Early Christian (fourth to
fifth centuries) fresco and of Ottonian illumination. The
"Vere dignum" page, within a frame of Carolingian
meander, has its background diapered with a repeat-
pattern of crosses and rosettes, in true Reichenau style ;
a much less pleasing background, of horizontal bands of
green and blue, disfigures the "Te igitur" page, and
occasionally reappears in other Ottonian manuscripts ; on
these two pages and elsewhere throughout the book are
initials of intertwined branch-and-leaf work, which tends
to curl about itself in the characteristic German manner.
We have here, in fact, an almost complete epitome of the
Ottonian style, already distinct from the great mass of
Franco-German work of the ninth century.
Closely allied to the Heidelberg manuscript are the
Gero Gospels at Darmstadt, mentioned above, and the
Reichenau Sacramentary at Florence. 1 The former re-
peats the miniature of Christ in a circular glory with
hardly a variation, except for a slightly improved
technique. The latter has no miniatures, but its deco-
rative pages are covered with geometrical repeat-patterns,
or with the beasts and long-tailed birds which the
1 Haseloff, Cod. Gerlr., pp. 115-17* pi. 59> 6o -
146
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
Reichenau painters borrowed, probably, from Oriental
silks. Precisely similar backgrounds appear on almost
all the illuminated pages 1 of the Psalter at Cividale,
which was executed for Egbert, the great Archbishop
of Treves (977-93), but which is usually known as the
Codex Gertrudianus from the insertions made in the
eleventh century by a Russian lady named Gertrude.
At the beginning of this book are four pages depicting
its presentation by Ruodpreht (presumably the scribe or
illuminator) to Archbishop Egbert, and its dedication by
him to S. Peter. The remaining miniatures represent
fourteen of Egbert's predecessors, each standing in the
orans attitude, and are interspersed throughout the
Psalter, opposite fully illuminated initial pages w r hich
match them as to border and background. The initials
are more pronouncedly Ottonian than in the Heidelberg
Sacramentary, the leaf-terminals being now replaced by
little round knobs. 2
The Reichenau school reached its culminating point
in another of Archbishop Egbert's books, the Codex
Egberti par excellence: a Gospel-lectionary, now in the
public library at Treves, 3 which was executed for him
by the monks Keraldus and Heribertus. A purple dedi-
cation page at the beginning shows these two, shrunk in
modesty to diminutive proportions, offering the book to
the majestic prelate, who sits towering above them in
dignity. The portraits of the Evangelists follow, painted
on backgrounds filled with geometrical patterns like
those in the Psalter, and with their emblems above their
heads ; but otherwise adhering closely to Byzantine
models, both in the simplicity of the compositions and
in the grave, thoughtful, ascetic type of face. But it is
the fifty-one miniatures illustrating the Gospel-lessons
which give the book its exceptional interest and value.
1 These are all reproduced in the elaborate and profusely illustrated mono-
graph by Sauerland and Haseloff, referred to above, p. 145.
2 See pi. xix.
3 Kraus, Die Miniaturen des Codex Egberti in der Stadtbibl zu Trier , 1884.
147
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
These are framed in rectangular bands with no ornament
beyond a simple lozenge-pattern, and mostly occupy half-
page spaces in the text ; where they fill the whole page,
they often contain two scenes with differently coloured
backgrounds, but without formal partition. 1 In such
details as these, and still more in the whole spirit and
manner of the paintings themselves, they recall vividly
the Vatican Virgil and the Quedlinburg Itala, and show
quite unmistakably the influence of Early Christian art
of the fourth or fifth century : the spaciousness of the
compositions ; the lightness and freedom of the style ;
the slender, expressive figures, distinctly reminiscent of
antique grace ; the softly shaded backgrounds. The
range of subjects includes many that are new to Prankish
painting ; though we know from the sixth century
mosaics of S. Apollinare Nuovo at Ravenna that they
had long been used by artists of the Italo-Byzantine
school. It is curious that in these same mosaics we
recognize the youthful long-haired Christ of the Codex
Egberti and other Ottonian illuminations.
The pre-eminence of the Reichenau scriptorium at
this time may be gauged by the fact that Pope Gregory V
(996-9) granted special privileges to the abbey in ex-
change for liturgical manuscripts to be supplied to Rome.
Its artists were commissioned by Egbert, as we have
seen, to enrich his library at Treves ; and their influence
was undoubtedly felt in the monastic schools of illumina-
tion which were now springing up in all parts of
Germany. Whether executed in Reichenau or elsewhere,
the Gospels of the Emperor Otto (apparently Otto III,
crowned by Gregory V 996, died 1002) in the cathedral
at Aix-la-Chapelle 2 have many features in common with
the books which we have been discussing. The Evan-
gelist types are very like those of the Codex Egberti ; the
beardless, long-haired Christ is quite of the Reichenau
type ; and there is a certain flavour of Early Christian
1 See pi. xviii.
2 Beissel, Die Bilder der Hs. des Kaisers Otto im Munster zu Aachen, 1886.
148
PLATE XVIII
CODEX EGBERTI. 977-9^
TR1KK. STAnTBIBLIOTHEK
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
tradition about many of the Gospel illustrations. But
along with these resemblances are many points of differ-
ence. The backgrounds have neither the delicate grada-
tions of the Codex Egberti, nor the tapestry-like patterns
which form such a feature in the manuscripts of un-
doubted Reichenau origin ; but are blue or purple for
the dedication pictures, and gold for the illustrations to
the text. The crowded compositions, clumsy figures, and
absurd proportions suggest the crudity of primitive Byzan-
tine miniatures such as those of the sixth century Codex
Sinopensis, rather than the Classic grace and spacious-
ness of the earlier paintings whose manner survives in
the finest Reichenau work. Moreover, the Carolingian
tradition appears plainly in the arches, sometimes sur-
mounted by pediments, often decorated with birds and
plants in the spandrels, which enclose the miniatures ;
also in the apotheosis of Otto, who sits, enthroned within
a mandorla, with the four Evangelistic emblems holding
a veil before him a composition which recalls the
Apocalyptic picture at the end of the Alcuin Bible. 1
The Aix-la-Chapelle book is related to two other
Ottonian manuscripts the Echternach Gospels at Gotha
and the Bamberg Gospels at Munich. The former, 2
which belonged to Echternach Abbey, near Treves,
is in its original binding, with the portraits of " Em-
press" Theophano and "King" Otto on one of the
covers, fixing the date of execution between the years
983 and 991, when Theophano was regent for her young
son, Otto III. The binding is considered to be Treves
work, and it seems probable that the manuscript was
written and illuminated in or near that city. It is chiefly
remarkable for its great wealth in illustrations of the
Parables. The Munich MS. (Cim. 58), which formerly
1 PI. xi.
2 Described by Beissel, op. tit., pp. 18-28, and Janitschek, Geschichte der
deutschen Malerei, 1890, pp. 66-70 (plate).
3 Described very fully by W. Vbge, Eine deutsche Makrschiik urn die Wendt
des erstenjahrtausends, 1891, pp. 7-98, fig. 2-15. See too L. v. Kobell, Kitnstvolle
Miniaturen, pp. 20-1, pi. 8-10; Cod. Gertr., pi. 57; Janitschek, pp. 72-3 (plate).
149
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
belonged to Bamberg Cathedral, contains a dedication
picture, filling two pages, of Rome, Gaul, Germany, and
" Sclavinia" offering tribute to the young Emperor,
Otto III, who sits in state, with prelates and warriors
standing round his throne. This miniature, almost a
replica of one of Otto II painted for Archbishop Egbert's
Registrum Gregorii, 1 dates the manuscript 996-1002. But
the special interest of the volume lies in the scenes from
the Gospels, many of which are identical, as to the main
outlines of composition, with the corresponding pictures
in the Codex Egberti and the Aix Gospels. The treat-
ment generally resembles the latter rather than the
former, and is more Germanic and "modern" than
either ; but in a few cases notably the Crucifixion,
Descent from the Cross, and Entombment every detail
of the Codex Egberti groups is copied, and the posing
of the slim lithe figures is reproduced with amazing
fidelity.
The Bamberg Lectionary at Munich (Cim. 57)* is of
slightly later date, having been written for Henry II,
apparently between his accession in 1002 and his corona-
tion as emperor in 1014, and given by him to the great
church which he founded at Bamberg. Its dedication
page has in its upper compartment Henry and his wife
S. Cunigunde, two timid little figures, presented by SS.
Peter and Paul to Christ, who crowns them. Below are
personifications of countries and provinces, holding up
the orb of sovereignty, chaplet, and tributary offerings.
The illustrations of the life of Christ agree in composi-
tion, for the most part, with those in the manuscripts
which we have just been discussing particularly the
Descent from the Cross and the Entombment ; but in
execution there are distinct signs of decadence, e.g. in the
treatment of draperies, which are over-accentuated either
by making them cling too closely to the limbs, or by
1 Now at Chantilly. Reproduced in Michel, i, ii, pi. 9, Cod. Gertr., pi. 49.
2 Vcige, pp. 112-29, fig. I6 1 , 19, 22-9, 43; Kobell, p. 24, pi. 13-15; Cod.
Ger/r., pi. 58.
ISO
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
giving them a tendency to flutter in a way suggestive
of the contemporary Winchester mannerism. Both faults
appear in the miniature of the Angel and the Shepherds,
together with ungainly posing, absurd proportions (es-
pecially the ridiculous little horses instead of the usual
sheep grazing in the foreground). An unusual feature
is the landscape of boulders, which is probably derived,
along with the tightly clinging draperies and some details
of composition, from Byzantine paintings of the tenth
century.
One of the most important artistic centres in Germany
at the beginning of the eleventh century was Hildesheim,
where a great revival of ecclesiastical art especially in
metal-work, enamels, and illumination took place under
the auspices of S. Bernward, 1 who reigned there as bishop
from 993 to 1022. A friend of the Empress Theophano,
and tutor to her young son Otto III, he had enjoyed
special opportunities for studying all that was best in
European art of the time ; and the school which he
established in his cathedral city shows something of the
eclecticism which might naturally be expected. The
tradition that he was himself a miniaturist seems to
have no foundation ; but many of the books that were
executed for him are still preserved in Hildesheim
Cathedral. The most noteworthy of these are a Gospel-
book 2 and a Sacramentary, the former probably and the
latter certainly the work of Guntbald the Deacon, who
wrote another Gospel-book, less richly ornamented, in
ion ; also a Bible, written about 1015, with an elaborate
and interesting frontispiece. In these manuscripts the
Reichenau fashion of filling the backgrounds with a
repeat-pattern is adopted, but with a difference : the
patterns seem founded less on textile designs than on
those found in champleve enamel, though there is no
evidence that BernwarcTs craftsmen actually practised the
1 See Beissel, Derhl. Bernwardvon Hildesheim als Kiinstler und Forderer der
deutschen Kunst> 1895.
2 Beissel, Des hi Bernward Evangelienbuch im Dome zu Hildesheim, 1891.
151
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
latter art. The whole technique of his books suggests
indeed, by its severity and disposition of line, its lack
of perspective and modelling, its rigid, non-realistic
rendering of the human form, an acquaintance with the
arts of metal-work and enamelling rather than the more
plastic ideals proper to the miniaturist. This predilection
for conventional forms is joined, however, to an elaborate
and sometimes impressive symbolism, e.g. in the Cruci-
fixion miniature of the great Gospel-book, where Christ's
feet rest on the emblem of S. Luke (the Evangelist whose
narrative is being illustrated, and who appears himself,
writing his Gospel, in the lower compartment of the same
page), and where Terra and Oceanus, as well as the more
usual Sol and Luna, look on in astonishment. This
antique idea of the amazed Earth and Ocean before the
divine power is used again with fine effect in the minia-
ture of the Incarnation, prefixed to S. John's Gospel.
Above, in the firmament of heaven, God sits enthroned
on the globe, holding the Agnus Dei and the Book of
Life, a six- winged seraph on either side ; below His feet
the Child in a manger-cot hangs suspended from a star,
while Terra and Oceanus, classical half-draped figures,
raise themselves to gaze up in wonder.
S. Bernward's Gospel-book was probably written
between 1011 and 1014; his Sacramentary is slightly
later, and shows distinct signs of development in its
one miniature, a Crucifixion prefixed to the Canon of the
Mass, with the opening words " Te igitur " embodied in
the design, the "T" forming the cross, with elaborately
plaited terminals. The figure-drawing is much less
flat and rigid, though the aim is still symbolical and
decorative rather than realistic. The effect is unfortun-
ately marred by the striped background an ugly device
which also disfigures many pages in the Gospel-book.
A much higher degree of technical perfection was
reached by the contemporary artists of the Bavarian
schools ; especially at Ratisbon, as the famous Uta-
codex witnesses. This manuscript, now in the Munich
152
PLATE XIX
PSALTER OF EGBERT, ARCHBISHOP OF TRIER, 977-993
CIV1OALK, CODEX GERTRUDIANUS
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
Library (Cim. 54), 1 is a Gospel-lectionary, and was
executed for Uta, Abbess of Niedermtinster at Ratisbon
(1002-25), who appears in a dedication picture at the
beginning of the book, offering it up to the Madonna
and Child. Its splendid pages blend in a remarkable
manner the Carolingian tradition of ornate magnificence
with Byzantine wealth of symbolic imagery, and already
foreshadow, in the slender figures and in the medallion-
scenes set in the frames, the fully developed Gothic
miniature of the thirteenth century. The mystical
tendency is shown very strikingly in the miniature of
the Crucifixion, where the crucified Christ appears as
priest and king, wearing a crown and vested with stole
and tunic, attended by allegorical figures of Life and
Death, Grace and the Old Law.
But the Uta-codex is exceptional, wellnigh unique,
among the great mass of eleventh century German
illuminations that have survived. For the most part
these are characterized by poverty of invention, heaviness
and hardness in drawing, and harshness and want of
harmony in colouring. The same compositions are
copied again and again with wearisome iteration of
design, and with steady deterioration in treatment. In
initial-ornament, the interlaced branch-work of the
Heidelberg Sacramentary is repeated with scarcely any
variation, until with the twelfth century the historiated
initial begins to make its appearance, and with it the
initial decorated with forms of animals and monsters ;
a revival rather than a new movement, for both motives
were used by Carolingian painters, as we have seen, e.g.
in the Sacramentary of Drogo. A good example of the
transition is Egerton 809 in the British Museum, a
Gospel-lectionary written about the year noo, apparently
for S. Maximin's monastery at Treves. Its four full-page
miniatures (Nativity, Maries at the Tomb, Ascension,
Pentecost) are hard, flat, and uninteresting, while its
1 G. Swarzenski, Die Regensburger Buchmakrei des X. und XI. Jahrhunderts^
1901, pp. 88-122, pi. 12-18.
153
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
initials are mostly of the stereotyped pattern, gold
branch-work, red-edged, with knobby terminals, taste-
lessly disposed on green and bright blue grounds ; but
the monotony is occasionally broken by the introduction
of small miniatures and serpentine forms crude and
insignificant in themselves, but welcome signs of incipient
progress.
The twelfth century was pre-eminently a time for the
production of huge Bibles, on the Continent as in
England. Two splendid examples of German work
are the Worms and Arnstein Bibles in the British
Museum, both of them produced in the Rhineland.
The earlier of the two is the Worms Bible (Harl.
2803-4), 1 apparently written in 1148. It has the usual
German defect of an excessively hard and dry technique,
and in its figure-painting shows little advance beyond
the average work of the preceding century. The illumin-
ation consists of a large decorated initial at the beginning
of each book in some cases historiated, but generally
filled only with scroll-work and leaf-ornament ; two
miniatures of S. Jerome writing ; one of David as
harpist, prefixed to the Psalms ; arcaded Canon-tables ;
and portraits of the Evangelists. The miniatures are
crude, flat, and coarsely executed ; it is in the initial-
ornament that the illuminators of this and similar books
show to most advantage. The gold and silver branching
has now vanished ; in its stead we have white or coloured
foliage-scrolls with gold bands, painted on coloured
grounds and often combined with plait-work and human
or serpentine figures. Sometimes the colouring is
subdued and pleasing, more frequently it is harsh and
gaudy, bright greens and blues, ill-matched, predomin-
ating to an unpleasant extent.
The Arnstein Bible (Harl. 2798-9) * is far superior to
the Worms MS., and shows the best side of German
twelfth century illumination. It was written towards
1 Warner, Ilium. MSS. % pi. 16.
8 Warner, pi. 18.
154
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
the end of the century for the Premonstratensian abbey
of Arnstein, near Coblentz, and, with two other twelfth
century books from the same foundation a Passionale
(Harl. 2800-2) and a copy of Rabanus De Laudibus
S. Crucis (Harl. 3045) ,forms a valuable monument of
this great period of Rhenish art. The Bible and the
Passionale have a long series of very fine initials of
white foliated branch-work, outlined in red upon soft
blue and green fields. Dragons and birds are often
added to the intertwining stems and leaves, and form
effective head and tail-pieces to the letters. Human
figures too are sometimes introduced as part of the
decorative scheme. The second volume of the Bible is
more richly illuminated than the first, having great
initials in gold, silver, and colours prefixed to Proverbs
and to each of the Gospels ; these initials are similar to
the rest in general plan, but contain in addition large
figures of Solomon and the Evangelists writing, with
smaller half-length allegorical figures in medallions.
The colouring is much more harmonious in tone than
that of the Worms Bible, and the technique far less
harsh. The De Laudibus S. Crucis, besides richly
illuminated initials in silver, gold, and colours, has
several pages filled with curious mystical diagrams, which
have no interest from the purely artistic point of view,
but are enclosed in border-frames decorated with various
repeat-patterns in red outline on blue and green grounds ;
the great feature of the book is the depth and warmth of
the colouring in the initials.
The curious symbolism of this last-named book links
it with a far more beautiful and celebrated manuscript,
now unhappily destroyed : the Hortus Deliciarum, com-
posed, written, and illuminated by Herrad von Landsperg,
Abbess of Hohenburg in Alsace, 1167-95, for the edifica-
tion and delectation of her nuns. This great and unique
work, with all its wealth of miniatures, was burnt at
Strassburg during the siege of 1870. Fortunately, copies
had previously been made of several of the miniatures,
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and these have been published by the Society for the
Preservation of the Historical Monuments of Alsace. 1 The
book was a sort of encyclopaedia of religious and philo-
sophical knowledge, illustrated by paintings of scriptural,
symbolical, and other subjects. These show a largeness
and originality of conception which the navvetd of the
drawing could not conceal.
In Germany, as elsewhere, the monastic scriptoria
were not given up exclusively to the transcription and
embellishment of religious books. A vernacular literature
was growing, which demanded its copyists and illustrators.
Shortly before the year 1200 there was made, in a Bavarian
monastery, a copy of Heinrich von Veldegke's Eneidt, a
free German paraphrase of Virgil's epic. This manuscript,
now in the Berlin Library, 2 is illustrated with seventy-one
fine drawings in red and black outline, on panelled
grounds of crimson, blue, green or buff. The scenes,
in spite of faulty technique, are full of action : feasts and
battles, ships, castles, armed knights, fill the pages with
a riot of chivalry delightful in itself, though having little
relation to the dignities of the antique world.
Not much need be said about French or Flemish
illumination during the period dealt with in this chapter.
The art was almost paralysed by the constant strife and
disorder which accompanied the decline and extinction
of the Carolingian dynasty, and which by no means
ceased with the conversion of the Counts of Paris into
nominal Kings of France ; and its recovery was doubtless
retarded, and its progress checked, by the puritanical
tendencies of the Cistercian Order, which, founded at the
end of the eleventh century, spread with such amazing
rapidity in the next century under S. Bernard, especially
in France, the land of its birth. The S. Omer Psalter
at Boulogne, written 989-1008, has already been men-
1 Herrade dc Landsberg, Hortus Delidarum^ ed. G. Keller, 1901. See too, for
reproductions in colour, Horfus Deliciarum dc Herrade de Landsperg, Paris, 1877.
2 MS. germ. fol. 282. See F. Kugler, Die Bilderhs. der Eneidt [1834];
Janitschek, pp. 113-15.
I 5 6
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
tioned in chapter vi, as showing the close connection
between English and North French work at that time ;
and the same interdependence appears half a century
later in a Gallican Missal, written probably for some
church in the north of France, and now in Mr. Yates
Thompson's library. 1 The miniatures in this manuscript,
though less thickly painted and more subdued in colour-
ing, show a strong resemblance to those in contemporary
manuscripts produced in Southern England ; especially
in the draperies, the elongated fingers, and in the border
decoration of frames filled with leaf-moulding and set
with rosettes and medallions.
An important school of writing and illumination
existed from early times in the Benedictine abbey of
Stavelot or Stablo in Belgium, many of whose manu-
scripts have found their way to the British Museum.
Among these is a tenth century Missal (Add. 16605),
whose decoration shows the continuance, rather than
development, of the Franco-Saxon style. It has no
figure-compositions, only a few initials in gold and
colours, and four pages of the Canon (Preface, Te igitur,
and Paternoster) written in silver uncials on a purple
ground, with large interlaced initials in gold, green, and
white ; the first two enclosed in frames whose panel
and corner ornaments, like the whole of the decorative
scheme, are quite in the manner of the S. Denis school.
A Psalter from the same abbey, also of the tenth century
(Add. 18043), shows no trace of this influence, and is
more nearly allied to the Boulogne Psalter, so far as
one may judge by the brightly yet softly coloured pages,
with gold and red plait-work initials enclosing quaint
little figures, prefixed to Psalms li and ci; the initial-page
of Psalm i doubtless the most elaborate of the three
has unluckily been cut out.
Better known, and more significant for the student of
illumination, is the great Stavelot Bible (Add. 28106-7),
1 No. 69. See Illustrations of zoo MSS. in the Library of H. Y. Thompson,
i, 1907, pi. 1-3.
157
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
in two huge volumes, written by the monks Goderannus
and Ernestus in 1093-7 J tne precursor of the series
which includes the Winchester, Worms, and Arnstein
Bibles. Its illumination consists of large historiated or
decorated initials to the several books; an " In principio"
series of medallion-scenes from Genesis and the life of
Christ, enclosed in an ornamental frame and rilling the
first column of the book of Genesis ; Canon-arcades of no
particular merit or interest ; and one full-page miniature.
This last, representing Christ in glory, surrounded by the
emblems of the Evangelists in medallions, and enclosed
in a frame filled with a meander pattern, is thoroughly
Carolingian in spirit, and is chiefly remarkable for the
immense size of the central figure. The initials vary
considerably : most of those which are merely decorated
with branching scroll-work (sometimes with animal forms
entangled in the foliage), as well as some of those enclos-
ing miniatures, are comparatively coarse. But many of
those in the first volume contain illustrations in which
the figures are drawn in outline and left wholly or
partially uncoloured ; and these are for the most part
drawn with much delicacy, expressiveness, and even
charm. Especially good are the miniatures prefixed to
Exodus, Judges, and the first and second books of Kings;
David beheading Goliath, in the last of these, is the very
embodiment of youthful grace and energy.
Another Belgian monastery which has contributed
largely to the British Museum Library is the Premon-
stratensian abbey of S. Mary De Parco, near Louvain.
Its Bible, written in 1148 in three large volumes (Add.
14788-90), has only one full-page illumination, a very
elaborate design prefixed to Genesis and containing the
words of the first verse: Christ in glory in the centre,
scenes from Genesis in medallions round the frame ; the
interspaces filled with foliate scroll-work, birds, archers,
etc. Gold and silver are freely used, and the colouring
is warm and rich, so that the total decorative effect is
splendid, despite a certain coarseness in the figure-drawing.
158
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION, 900-1200
The initials sometimes contain figures, but are for the
most part merely handsome examples of the current
decorative style, being made of plaited gold ribbons
placed on a coloured field and entwined with white vine-
stems, or else of coloured foliations on a gold ground.
Dragons are used for the tails of letters, and the white
vine-branches are finely patterned with red and green
pen-work.
The initials of the great two-volume Bible from
Floreffe Abbey, 1 near Namur, written about 1160, are of
a simpler character. They are of the usual scroll and
dragon type, very finely drawn in red and black outline,
with great elaboration of detail, but without any illumina-
tion properly so called. The miniatures, which occur in
the second volume only, are brilliant in colour but rather
hard in technique. The subjects are mystical and alle-
gorical : the sacrifices of the Old and New Dispensations,
the theological and cardinal virtues, etc. Despite its
faults of hardness and flatness, this book with its neat
execution and its slender, almost Gothic figures, shows
that Flemish painting had by this time reached at least
as high a level as that of the contemporary German
schools.
1 Brit. Mus., Add. 17737-8. See Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 15, and Reprod.,
iii, 10 ; Pal. Soc., i, 213.
159
CHAPTER IX
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
THE materials for an orderly and consecutive
history of early Italian illumination can hardly be
said to exist ; here, at any rate, only the slightest
sketch can be attempted. That Byzantine influence pre-
dominated until well on in the Middle Ages need scarcely
be stated ; it has already been pointed out, in chapter iii,
that many Greek manuscripts were written in Italy, and
illuminated in a manner not to be distinguished from
that of Byzantine painters. There can be little doubt,
however, that illuminators working in Rome, Naples, and
other Italian cities were also influenced by what they saw
of wall-paintings, mosaics, and other monuments of Late
Classical and Early Christian art. The seventh century
Latin Gospels at Cambridge, 1 for instance, afford some
evidence of this. This book belonged to S. Augustine's,
Canterbury, at least as early as the ninth century, and it
is highly probable that it came originally from Italy,
perhaps from Rome itself. Its two remaining pages of
illumination show little trace of Byzantine influence,
except indirectly in the composition of S. Luke seated
within an alcove ; the additional figure of his emblem in
the tympanum is most likely an Italian invention, 2 and
the little scenes from the life of Christ are essentially
Western in iconography and debased Roman in manner.
Corroborative evidence may be deduced from the painting
of David and his musicians in the Canterbury Psalter, 3
1 Corpus Christi College, No. 286. See Pal. Soc.^ i, 33, 34, 44, and for
coloured reproductions J. Goodwin, Evangelia Augustini Gregoriana^ 1847
(Cambridge Ant. Soc., No. 13), pi. 6, 7.
2 See above, p. 62.
8 Brit. Mus., Vesp. A. i, noticed above, p. 86.
1 60
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
which combines Celtic ornament with Classical com-
position, the latter almost certainly based on an Italian
original of the seventh century or earlier.
In Northern Italy, overrun as it constantly was by
invading hordes, Byzantine and Roman influence de-
clined in art as in politics ; and the few extant examples
of the book-decoration practised in those troublous ages
have a barbaric stamp plainly marked upon them. The
outline-sketches which adorn (?) the fifth-seventh century
Psalter at Verona 1 are too rude to deserve the name of
art. More ambitious are the paintings of the famous
Ashburnham Pentateuch, 2 now in the Bibliotheque
Nationale at Paris (nouv. acq. lat. 2334), which were
probably executed in North Italy towards the end of the
seventh century. The title-page, with its peacocks,
looped-back curtains, and resetted arch, is of the ordin-
ary Byzantine type ; but formal regularity and adherence
to convention appear only in this design. The illustrative
miniatures, on the contrary, are graphic and forcible, but
crude almost to barbarism. Crowded scenes jostle one
another, often without partition, filling up the page
regardless of composition or artistic effect. The figures
are vigorous and expressive, but have no suggestion of
grace or dignity, and the heads are much too big. In
fact, if these pictures are indebted to Byzantine art at all,
it is to Byzantine art of the untutored kind represented
by the Vienna Genesis. The painter is at his best in
pastoral scenes, e.g. Adam and Cain ploughing; his
drawing of plants and animals is far in advance of his
mastery of the art of picture-making. On the whole,
this manuscript, interesting and valuable in itself,
occupies an almost isolated position in the history of art,
and has little relation to the subsequent development of
Italian illumination.
1 A. Goldschmidt, "Die altesten Psalterillustrationen," in Repert, f.
Kunstwissenschaftt xxiii, pp. 265-73.
2 O. von Gebhardt, The Miniatures of the Ashburnham Pentateuch, 1883;
Pal. Soc., i, 234-5.
II 161
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
In such places as the famous Chapter Library at
Verona, examples may be seen of Italian illumination
between the eighth and eleventh centuries ; but these
(setting aside the direct copies of Byzantine manuscripts,
to which allusion was made just now) have few of the
characteristics which one would expect to find in the
native country of antique Roman art. They appear
crude and barbarous when compared with the best work
of contemporary Carolingian, Ottonian, and Early English
illuminators ; and a national Italian style can hardly be
said to have evolved itself before the twelfth century. In
monasteries like Bobbio, founded by Irish missionaries,
Celtic influence appears, not only in illuminations directly
copied from, or at least founded on, Irish models, but
also in the blending of Celtic ornament with Byzantine
figure-composition and dress; 1 and this influence is plainly
discernible in the South Italian scheme of decoration
from the tenth century onwards, where Celtic plait-work
and convolutions of interlaced ribbons or foliage-stems
are combined with monsters whose weird forms bespeak
a Lombardic origin, and sometimes with intertwined
branch-and-leaf work in gold on coloured grounds,
a motive evidently borrowed from Ottonian illumination.
An excellent example of the mingled styles found in
early Italian manuscripts is the Sacramentary written for
S. Warmund, Bishop of Ivrea in Piedmont, about the
year 1000, and still preserved in the Chapter Library
there. 2 The opening page of the Canon has the words
"Te igitur" in gold interlaced lettering similar to that
found in German manuscripts of the same period, together
with a very Byzantine-looking figure of S. Warmund in the
orans attitude as though saying Mass, and wearing the
rectangular nimbus appropriated to living persons in
early Italian art. On the other hand, the really fine
1 See, for instance, the tenth-eleventh century Bobbio Psalter at Munich (Cod.
lat. 343), in Kobell, p. 22, pi. 12, 13.
2 F. Carta, C. Cipolla, and C. Frati, Atlante paleografico-artistico^ 1899,
pp. 21-2, pi. 23-4.
162
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
miniature of the Maries at the Tomb is thoroughly
instinct with C4assical tradition : in the slender dignified
forms of the women, in the great angel with his flowing
draperies, in the sleeping soldiers.
It is to the Benedictine monasteries of Southern Italy,
and particularly to the great parent house of Monte
Cassino, founded by S. Benedict in the sixth century,
that we must look for the beginnings of Italian illumina-
tion as a continuous and progressive art. 1 Lombard and
Saracen invasions, and a subsequent fire at Teano, where
the monks had taken refuge about the beginning of the
tenth century, have left us no relics of the book-painting
practised at Monte Cassino during the first three cen-
turies of its history. But there is little sign of artistic
tradition in the earliest extant work of the school, a copy of
Paul the Deacon's Commentary on the Rule of S. Benedict,
written at Capua between 915 and 934, and preserved in
the library at Monte Cassino (No. 175). Besides its
frontispiece (Christ in glory, with the emblems of the
Evangelists and two adoring angels), it has a miniature
of Abbot John giving the book to S. Benedict, who sits
in a jewelled chair with an angel standing behind him.
The ornamental framing of the frontispiece recalls the
Book of Durrow and other early Irish manuscripts : a
broad band entwined upon itself so as to form one large
central circle and four small ones, and divided into panels
filled with interlaced ribbons. The figure-drawing, how-
ever, on both pages is rudimentary, not in the grotesquely
conventional Irish manner, but rather as though ineptly
copied from models which had some relation to actual
life ; the chief fault is in the proportions, especially those
of the two adoring angels, whose crouching bodies and
limbs are shrunk almost to nothing, while their heads,
hands, and feet are enormous.
With the eleventh century, the number of extant
1 See E. Bertaux, U art dans V Italic meridionale, i, 1904, pp. 155-67, 193-
212, etc.; Oderisio Piscicelli Taeggi, Le Miniature net codici Cassinesi (Litografia
di Montecassino, 1887, etc.), and Paleografia artistica di Montecassino, 1876.
163
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
illuminated manuscripts from Monte Cassino becomes far
greater. The art had not made much progress by the
time of Abbot Theobald (1022-35), if we may judge by
the miniatures in a copy of S. Gregory's Moralia written
for him (Monte Cassino, No. 73), with their wooden faces,
stiff, unlifelike figures, and poverty of design. But the
abbacy of Desiderius, who was elected in 1058 and
became Pope Victor III in 1086, marks an epoch in the
history of Benedictine art in Southern Italy ; and that in
miniature as well as architecture, mosaic, and wall-
painting. He imported Greek artists from Constanti-
nople to decorate the abbey church with mosaics ; and the
figure-compositions in the manuscripts illuminated for
him, whether painted by Greek masters or Italian pupils,
are purely Byzantine in conception and manner. The
decorative ornament of the initials, on the other hand,
is quite independent of Byzantine influence ; in it, the
Celtic and Lombardic elements have now combined to
form the characteristic South Italian style of the eleventh
and twelfth centuries : interlaced straps, ribbons, and
tendrils, with greyhounds, birds, human figures, and
grotesques. 1 Both styles appear to great advantage in
the beautiful Life of S. Benedict made for Abbot
Desiderius about 1070, now in the Vatican Library (Vat.
lat. 1202): another of his books, a volume of Homilies,
still at Monte Cassino (No. 99), is decorated with exquisite
drawings by a monk named Leo, executed in 1072.
Under Desiderius, Monte Cassino became one of the
chief centres for the production of a class of manuscripts
peculiarly South Italian, and specially interesting to
students both of liturgiology and of Romanesque art.
These are the illustrated Exultet Rolls, 2 which were
1 The British Museum, which is not strong in early Italian illuminations, has
a twelfth century Psalter (Add. 18859) with good initials in this, the typical
Cassinese style. Mr. Yates Thompson's fine Martyrology, also of the twelfth cen-
tury, is profusely decorated in the same manner. See Burl. F.A. Club, No. 5, pi. 13.
2 These are discussed very fully, with illustrations, by Bertaux, pp. 213-40.
See too the splendid series of coloured reproductions published at Monte Cassino,
Le Miniature net Rotoli dell' Exultet, ed. A. M. Latil, 1899, etc.; Venturi, Storia
dcW arte italiana^ iii, pp. 726-54^
164
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
used in the ceremony of consecrating the great paschal
candle on Easter Eve. One of the most impressive
services in the liturgy of the Roman Church at the present
day, this dedication of the holy candle symbolizing at
once Christ Himself and the Pillar of Fire which led the
Children of Israel in the wilderness was in the Middle
Ages a ceremony of almost sacramental solemnity : a fact
attested not only by the Exultet Rolls of which we are
now speaking, but also by the magnificent sculptured
candlesticks of the Romanesque period, specially intended
for the paschal candle and placed near the ambo from
which the Exultet was declaimed, which are still to be
seen in many of the churches in Southern Italy. The
Exultet itself, the text inscribed on these rolls, is the
strange, mystical, almost rhapsodical chant sung by the
deacon during the consecration and lighting of the candle:
named from its opening phrase, " Exultet jam angelica
turba caelorum, exultent divina mysteria!" Included
in the Missal as early as the seventh century, it is here
written separately on a long strip of vellum, and illus-
trated with pictures drawn in the reverse direction, so as
to be visible right way up to the congregation as the
deacon went on with the chant, letting the unrolled por-
tion fall over the front of the ambo before him.
These illuminated Exultet Rolls seem only to have
been used in Southern Italy, and there only for a com-
paratively short time, the surviving examples (which are
all written in the well-marked script known to palaeo-
graphers as Lombardic minuscule) ranging in date from
the beginning of the eleventh century to the end of the
thirteenth. As to subjects and compositions they re-
semble one another very closely, though some are much
more copiously illustrated than others. The most com-
plete ones begin with a miniature of Christ in glory,
or else (in two of the later ones) of a prelate enthroned
between two priests. Then comes an immense and
elaborately decorated initial " E" to the word " Exultet,"
with the "angelica turba" rejoicing, some rolls adding the
165
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Agnus Dei with six-winged seraphs and the Evangelistic
symbols. The next picture in order, illustrating the
words "Gaudeat et tellus," etc., is curiously Classical in
conception. In the Bari Roll, written before 1028, Earth
is represented as a dignified matron, fully draped, stand-
ing between two trees with animals grouped about her
feet ; but in most of the later rolls, including that in the
British Museum, 1 she appears sitting on the ground or
else emerging from it, half-draped or nude, with ox and
serpent or two other creatures feeding at her breasts a
personification of the Universal Mother obviously in-
spired by pagan art. Interspersed among such pictures
as these are others, showing the successive stages of the
ritual performed during the chant : the censing, blessing,
and lighting of the candle, the insertion of the five grains
of incense, etc. Interesting as these are to the student of
Christian archaeology, they are necessarily monotonous in
subject, compared with the rich variety of the allegorical
or literal illustrations of the text. The latter include,
besides those mentioned, the Crucifixion, the Passage of
the Red Sea, the Harrowing of Hell, and the Fall of
Man ; also Mother Church, a queenly figure extending
protective arms over clergy and laity ; and a very curi-
ous and distinctive scene, warranted by the text and yet
suggestive of the Georgics rather than of Christian
imagery: the bees, symbolical of the Virgin Birth, gather-
ing honey and producing the wax of which the paschal
candle is made ("Alitur enim liquantibus ceris, quas in
substantiam pretiosae hujus lampadis apis mater eduxit.")
In some rolls the symbolism is enforced by a miniature of
the Nativity, with bees hovering around the crib ; more
commonly by a separate picture of the Annunciation, or of
the Madonna and Child with adoring angels.
Until the end of the eleventh century, most of these
rolls have little artistic merit ; some indeed notably the
1 Add. 30337, assigned by the editors of the Palaeographical Society (i, 146)
to the twelfth century, but Bertaux, who says (p. 226) that it came from Monte
Cassino, calls it late eleventh century.
1 66
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
three in Gaeta Cathedral are of almost repulsive ugli-
ness, and their misshapen figures seem like childish
caricatures of some worthier model, whose composition
alone the copyist was able to preserve. The improved
technique which afterwards begins to appear is generally
accompanied by a closer adherence to Byzantine icono-
graphy, as well as a closer resemblance to Byzantine
style ; and M. Bertaux is doubtless right in giving
a large share in the credit for this change to the school
of Monte Cassino, and to Abbot Desiderius in particular.
It was here, apparently, and probably not long after the
time of Desiderius, that the Exultet of the British
Museum (Add. 30337) was executed. Though damaged
by the flaking away of the colours, it remains one of the
finest surviving examples of its class ; and its best minia-
tures already foreshadow that lovely early Italian style
which, seen at its best in the Sienese and Umbrian
schools, added dramatic expression and a light and bril-
liant colouring to the grand and spiritual Byzantine
types on which it was founded. Its prevailing tints are
blue and red ; and these, with a plenteous use of gold,
give its paintings a rich, bright, and yet charmingly soft
and harmonious effect. The workmanship is uneven ; but
in the best pictures, such as the Harrowing of Hell, 1 with
its splendid rushing figure of Christ, one sees more the
large free manner of the fresco painter than the compara-
tively cramped technique of the miniaturist.
From this and other manuscripts it is evident that
by the beginning of the twelfth century the Benedictine
schools of Southern Italy had already advanced far in the
evolution of a distinctive style of illumination ; founded,
so far as initial-ornament is concerned, on a mixture
of Celtic, Lombardic, and Teutonic (Ottonian) elements ;
and deriving the composition of its miniatures mainly
from Byzantine sources, but improving on its models by
adding a largeness of manner and a warmth and richness
of colouring which were afterwards among the most
* PI. XX.
167
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
striking characteristics of Italian painting. This instinct
for colour, indeed, was already a national trait ; it shows
itself not only in the South Italian schools, but quite as
strongly in the twelfth and thirteenth century illumina-
tions of Northern Italy, which would often be difficult
otherwise to distinguish from contemporary productions
of Germany and Flanders. This applies specially to
initial-ornament, where the Italian artist seems often
to have been content to copy the designs of Northern
illuminators, only replacing their light blue and pale
green fields by brilliant ultramarine or crimson back-
grounds, on which orange-yellow or gold letters, panelled
with geometrical patterns in red, white, and blue, and
filled with intertwining white vine-tendrils, stand in
sharp relief. The British Museum possesses two excel-
lent examples of this style in Harl. 7183 and Add. 9350.
The former, 1 a very large volume containing Homilies
for Sundays and Festivals from Advent to Easter Eve,
was written early in the twelfth century. Most of its
initials are of the type described, but often with figures
of birds and animals introduced as additional ornaments.
Some are historiated with half-length portraits of the
saints to whose Homilies they are prefixed ; these are flat,
wooden, monotonous, altogether on a lower level than the
purely decorative work, which is executed with great
finish, shows much inventive faculty in the variety of its
designs, and is altogether beautiful of its kind. In some
cases the initial consists of a bird or monster, usually in
white on a blue or crimson background; a favourite
device of this kind is an " S " formed by a long-necked
bird standing on its own tail and biting its back. Add.
9350 is a much smaller book, a glossed Psalter written
about the end of the twelfth century ; and its initials are
on a less ambitious scale, with less intricate decoration ;
the colour effect too lacks something of the brilliancy
and warmth of Harl. 7183, the blue being somewhat
paler. Its miniature of David with his four musicians,
1 See Pal. Soc., ii, 55.
168
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
all red-haired, red-nosed, and ill-proportioned, shows
again how much better decorative ornament was under-
stood at this time than figure-painting. In the fifteenth
century it was bequeathed to the famous Dominican
priory of S. Mark at Florence ; but nothing is known
as to its place of origin. These two manuscripts are good
examples of the models chosen by "humanistic" Italian
scribes and illuminators in the Renaissance period, and
imitated with such bewildering accuracy.
How strong a hold Germanic influence had obtained
in Northern Italy may be seen in such manuscripts as the
Gospel-book 1 in Padua Cathedral, written in that city in
the year 1170. This book has many full-page minia-
tures, painted in body-colour on dull gold grounds.
White, emerald-green, violet, light blue, and crimson pre-
dominate. The colouring is often quite arbitrary blue
hair, green nimbi, etc. ; the handling particularly harsh.
The stiff and numerous folds of the draperies are out-
lined with hard bands or hems of colour, the large oval
eyes and clumsy features are indicated by coarse lines.
In fact, these miniatures with their pale hard colouring,
angular figures, dry technique, and elaborate post-Caro-
lingian architecture of striped and patterned pillars
upholding round arches and many-coloured battlements,
might pass as the production of some highly conservative
Flemish or German scriptorium. Quite admirable, on
the other hand, are the grotesque forms of birds, fishes,
dragons, and demons, of which the chief initials are built
up, and which are paralleled by the quaint and vigorous
carvings that abound in North Italian churches of the
Romanesque time.
It was in the thirteenth century that the Byzantine
influence which had so long affected the course of South
Italian sculpture, architecture, and painting, flowed over
the whole of the peninsula, producing a sudden outburst
of pictorial art, often of peculiar loveliness, in which the
stateliness of Byzantium, her Oriental faculty for pre-
1 See Venturi, iii, pp. 450-2, 454.
169
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
senting spiritual mysteries under the guise of earthly
magnificence, was softened, humanized, by the gentler
temper of the Italian religious mind. Italy in the
thirteenth century was profoundly moved by the Fran-
ciscan spirit, which, though at first inimical to the
production of works of art, was finally responsible for
that sweetness and simplicity of outlook which charms
us in the fresco-painting of the early Italian school, and
gives its peculiar quality of grace to Italo-Byzantine art.
This art was applied with special success to the illumina-
tion of liturgical books. Here its admirable convention,
richness of colour, and extraordinary power of rendering
spiritual themes produced a sudden revival of the
miniaturist's art, in which Italy as a whole had so
long been content to lag behind her northerly neigh-
bours. Whilst England and France were in the hey-
day of their Early Gothic period, the illuminators of
Padua, Parma, and Bologna looked eastwards for in-
spiration ; and Italian miniature began to be henceforth
sharply differentiated from that of the rest of the
world.
How complete was the transition from the vague
eclecticism, which makes North Italian illuminations of
the twelfth century so perplexing to the student, to the
formal but finished style of the thirteenth century, is well
shown by a comparison of the Paduan Gospel-book of
1170, just described, with an Epistolar 1 made for the
same cathedral eighty-nine years later. The art of the
Gospel-book cannot be called either beautiful or religious.
That of the Epistolar, on the contrary, despite the faulty
proportions and overcrowded compositions, is essentially
mature, noble, profoundly spiritual. The pictures express
both dignity and emotion : things so opposed in their
tendencies, that they are only found together in art of
a high order. The Byzantine parentage of the Epistolar
is obvious, but its defects, no less than its special merits,
mark it off as a native product; and as a matter of
1 Venturi, iii, pp. 486-9.
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
fact it was written at Padua by a priest named Giovanni
di Gaibana, who finished it in 1259, and whose portrait is
appended, sitting at a desk and writing the words " Ego
presbyter Johannes scripsi feliciter." Turning to the min-
iatures, we find a long series of full-page pictures of the
lives of Christ and the saints, painted on highly burnished
fold backgrounds in just such deep rich colours as are to
e seen in the altar-pieces of Duccio and other Italian
painters who employed the maniera bizantina : deep blue
predominates, relieved by scarlet, pinkish purple, and a little
green. Instead of hard contours and flatly laid tints, we
have admirably modelled figures (though imperfect as to
proportions, the heads being too big), whose dark com-
plexions, with greenish shadows and sharp high-lights on
forehead, cheek, and nose, sufficiently betray their Byzan-
tine ancestry ; as do also the static character of the whole
work, the sudden failure of the artist when, as in the
Death of S. John Baptist, he tries to represent violent
action, and the poetic majesty of his design when, as
in the Death of the Madonna, he is content to give
new life to the old, formal compositions. The vivacity
of expression which, without impairing the impressive
character of his scenes, gives them a dramatic force often
lacking in the mystical and ceremonial art of the Greek
painters, owes something, perhaps, to Northern influence;
or more probably to the Benedictine art of South Italy,
for the same quality is noticeable, as we saw, in the
twelfth century Exultet Roll in the British Museum.
By the end of the thirteenth century a well-marked
type of conventional border-ornament had been evolved,
which persisted, of course with many slight variations,
throughout the fourteenth century in Italian illumination,
and which assuredly owes nothing to Eastern influences ;
it is, in fact, closely allied with, and most probably derived
from, the pendent "bar-border" initial-ornament which is
one of the features of thirteenth century English and
French book-decoration. Its main elements are : (i) The
thin wand or rod, normally straight and rigid, but capable
171
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of being tied in knots, twisted or plaited ; (2) The long
lobed and pointed leaf, the lobes generally on one side
only : this may spring from the wands or from the
initial letters, or may be an independent growth twined
round them; (3) Cup-shaped beads threaded on the wands
and stems : though this style of ornament is more
specially typical of fourteenth century Italian manu-
scripts, it had already come into use before the end of the
period now under discussion, particularly at Bologna,
where a school of miniature was growing 1 which was
afterwards to attain a position of considerable import-
ance. Another device found in Italian borders towards
the end of the thirteenth century was doubtless borrowed
from Northern Europe, where it was much more fre-
quently practised and with much freer play of fancy and
humour, especially in England, North France, and the
Low Countries. This is the frankly comical use of human,
animal, and grotesque figures : a hare hunting a man, two
men fighting a gigantic snail, and such-like extravagances.
They are not very common in Italian art, 2 but are note-
worthy as an instance of the constant interchange of
artistic ideas between different, even distant countries.
We cannot leave the thirteenth century without some
mention of a manuscript interesting for the delightful-
ness, no less than for the uncommon character, of the
drawings that it contains. This is a copy of the Emperor
Frederic IFs treatise De arte venandi cum ambus, written
about 1260, presumably in Sicily or Southern Italy, and
now in the Vatican Library (Cod. pal. lat. ioyi). 3 It
introduces us to a class of art curiously unlike most
of what Italy was producing at the time. The accuracy
and beauty of its marginal paintings of birds and
falconers indicate rather a close study of nature than
the slavish copying of traditional models. We have here
1 See Venturi, iii, p. 457 sq.
2 For examples see Venturi, iii, pp. 458-61, and a small Bible in the British
Museum, Add. 37487.
8 Venturi, iii, pp. 756-68 ; Beissel, Vat. Min., pi. 20.
172
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION BEFORE 1300
indeed a technical accomplishment and beauty of line,
quite Greek in their perfection, employed upon pictures
of contemporary life ; and these bright and lifelike
scenes, with their intensely open-air atmosphere, are a
refreshing contrast to the solemn, monastic spirit which
pervades so much of Italian illumination in the thirteenth
century.
173
CHAPTER X
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION IN THE THIRTEENTH
CENTURY
THE twelfth century, as we saw in chapter vii, was
a transitional period in English book-decoration;
and its close witnessed the birth of a new style,
which may well be called Gothic from its intimate con-
nection with the architectural style that supplanted the
Romanesque about the same time. In the main, Gothic
illumination is minute, refined, delicate, contrasting
sharply with the broad manner of the preceding age. At
its best it is, indeed, the most perfect realization of the
aims and ideals proper to the miniaturist's art, as dis-
tinct from skilful adaptations of the designs and methods
of other arts, mosaic, wall-painting, weaving, or metal-
work. Not that miniature was specially isolated and self-
contained during the Gothic period on the contrary, at
no time is its kinship with the sister arts more apparent;
but that somehow the decorative and illustrative ideas
characteristic of this remarkable age happened to be
specially suited to the limitations under which the minia-
turist worked. This applies to France equally with
England, at all events during the earlier part of this
period. For the first two-thirds of the thirteenth century,
indeed, French and English illumination resemble one
another so closely as to be practically indistinguishable
be the initial credit due to this country or to that. Later
on, as we shall see, the two followed somewhat divergent
paths ; and the development of the art, which in England
was abruptly checked about the middle of the fourteenth
century, proceeded continuously in France right on to its
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, 13 CENT.
decay in the tasteless magnificence of the Renaissance
period.
The miniaturist was encouraged to cultivate a more
minute style by the reduction of scale in book-production
generally, which began to come in about the year 1200.
Huge tomes like the Winchester and Durham Bibles
were no longer in vogue ; a demand arose for books of a
handier size, in particular for single volumes of portable
dimensions containing the whole of the Latin Bible.
These were a special feature of the thirteenth century,
and immense numbers of them still exist ; their multi-
plicity was due in part, no doubt, to the efforts of Paris
University to purify the Vulgate text, but they also testify
to the zealous activity of the itinerant friars. With this
reduction in format came also a diminution in the size
of the lettering, a small, exquisitely neat and clear minus-
cule script replacing the large, bold characters of the
twelfth century book-hands ; so that the artist was im-
pelled by his sense of due proportion, as well as by his
now restricted allowance of space, to alter his methods.
Initial-ornament, already a prominent feature of twelfth
century book-decoration, began to engross his attention
more and more at the expense of the full-page miniature ;
the historiated initial so affecting his style in figure-com-
position that when whole pages were still given up to
miniatures it became usual to divide them into compart-
ments, each containing a picture not much more spacious
than those enclosed in the larger initials. A very interest-
ing and distinctive feature of the initial-ornament of this
period is the pendent tail, out of which were gradually
evolved the luxuriant borders which so light up the pages
of French fifteenth century Books of Hours. At first
this tail merely wanders a little way down the margin,
to end in a leaf or knob ; gradually it lengthens until it
reaches the foot of the column of text, when it proceeds
next to turn the corner, becoming eventually a complete
border which surrounds the text on all four sides. The
main part is at first quite straight and rigid ; hence the
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
term " bar-border " is sometimes given to this type of
decoration in the comparatively simple and undeveloped
form which it kept throughout the thirteenth century.
But the straight edge soon began to be replaced by a
series of cusped lines, or other curves ; and small figures,
human, animal, or grotesque, further relieve the rigidity,
perching on the bars or forming terminal ornaments.
Finally, the bars themselves turn into foliage -stems,
putting forth leafy branches of ever-increasing lightness,
intricacy, and variety, bearing flowers and fruit as well as
leaves without regard for species. This last development
hardly appears before 1300, and does not reach its full
luxuriance until the beginning of the fifteenth century ;
but a tendency had already begun, as early as the middle
of the thirteenth century, to transform part of the bar into
a thin cylindrical rod, adorned at intervals with rings and
other ornaments a device which became, as we saw in
chapter ix, the foundation of the typical fourteenth
century border in Italy.
The great majority of the most finely illuminated
English manuscripts of the thirteenth century are Psalters.
At the beginning of the century these usually open with
a series of pages filled with miniatures of the life of
Christ, two on a page, enclosed within narrow banded
frames. The British Museum possesses two typical
examples of the class in Roy. i D. x 1 and Arundel I57, 2
practically identical in amount and subjects of illumina-
tion, but differing widely in artistic merit. As neither
of them mentions the translation of S. Thomas of Canter-
bury in the Calendar, it is fairly safe to conclude that they
were written before 1220. The Calendar of the former
points somewhat dubiously to Winchester as the place
of origin, that of the latter more decisively to Oxford ;
but both are plainly derived from a common archetype,
and belong, so far as the miniatures are concerned, to the
same transitional class as the Westminster Psalter (Roy.
2 A. xxii), noted at the end of chapter vii, though to a
1 Warner, Reprod., iii, 14. 2 Ibid., iii, 16.
176
PLATE XXI
PSALTER. ENGLISH, EARLY XIIIxH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. ROYAI. 1 D X
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, 13 CENT.
slightly more advanced stage; having the same depth and
splendour of colour, the same free use of burnished gold,
the same simplicity of design. The Royal MS. is much
the finer of the two. Its miniatures have plain back-
grounds, alternately of highly burnished gold, and of deep
blue or lake powdered with red rings and a small pattern
of white dots. The deep, rich blue, so popular in the
thirteenth century, is the dominant note of the colour-
scheme ; it is balanced by red, light green and lake, and
the harmony is completed by passages of warm and cold
grey, and of white draperies lightly shaded with buff, grey,
and pink. The blue is of a warmer tint than in the
Westminster Psalter, and the colour-effect as a whole is
brighter ; the faces, which are of longer, more emaciated
types, are equally expressive but lessjivid in hue, having
now a hectic spot of red on the cheek, besides sharply
defined white high-lights on forehead, nose, and chin. In
the best pictures, where few figures occur, such as the
Annunciation, Visitation, and the Magi scenes, 1 there is
a largeness of manner suggestive of fresco-painting rather
than miniature, and not often found after this date in
English illumination.
The Calendar-illustrations are thoroughly typical of the
period, each month having (besides an elaborate decorative
initial in gold and colours) representations of the zodiacal
sign and an appropriate occupation, each enclosed in a
small medallion. The occupation-scenes are no longer
complete pictures, as in the eleventh century Calendars
described in chapter vi, but are so compressed as to be
little more than symbols, having mostly only a single
figure. The subjects differ little from those of the older
cycle except in distribution among the several months ;
but we notice with regret that the November Halloween
Fire is now replaced by the less picturesque, more prosaic
and utilitarian, fattening or killing of pigs.
After the preliminary Gospel-pictures and Calendar,
thirteenth century Psalters have as a rule few illuminations
1 PL xxi.
12 I 77
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
beyond a highly decorative Beatus vir on the opening
page and a more or less elaborate initial to each psalm,
those at the principal divisions being specially large and
usually enclosing miniatures. Roy. i D. x has a splendid
Beatus vir\ the " B," whose loops are formed of an intri-
cate interweaving of spirals made of slender leafy stems
terminating in monsters' heads and joined to the upright
shaft by elaborate lattice-work, is placed on a finely
chequered ground ; minute animals are caught in the
spirals, and the surrounding frame has four scenes from
the life of David in gold medallions. Nine of the psalms
(Pss. xxvi, xxxviii, li, Hi, Ixviii, Ixxx, xcvii, ci, cix) have
initials historiated with scriptural subjects : in these the
miniature is painted on a background of burnished gold
stippled with a dot-pattern, and the whole letter is set in
a rectangle of diapered blue or lake. The initials to the
other psalms are smaller, but not less finely finished and
delightful to behold ; a few contain figures, but the
majority are filled with purely decorative designs of
foliage and grotesques. It is noteworthy that some of
them already show the beginnings of the pendent ornament
which afterwards grew into the complete bar-border.
Another feature of this and other English thirteenth
century Psalters is the practice of filling up the spaces
left at the ends of verses with pen-work designs in blue
or red ; these are sometimes mere flourishes or geometrical
patterns, but often they are spirited and humorous draw-
ings of fishes, birds, dogs, dragons, etc. Later on it
became customary to illuminate these line-endings fully
with diaper patterns or heraldic devices ; but the effect of
outline-drawings, such as those in this manuscript, is in-
finitely more telling.
As to the general character of its decoration, Roy.
i D. x may be taken as representative of its class ; but in
artistic excellence it is far above the average. Admirable
as its large miniatures are, with their beautiful colouring,
simple, dignified compositions, and careful treatment of
the face, they are fully matched by the exquisite delicacy
178
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
and rich variety of the decorative designs, and the fine
execution of the smaller miniatures. Arundel 157 may
almost be called a coarser, more commonplace replica.
Its initials and Calendar-medallions are only slightly
inferior ; its Beatus mr is actually finer, being on a larger
scale and more elaborately intricate in design, while no
less splendid in colouring indeed, few more perfect pages
exist, if any, of this particular kind. But the Gospel-
miniatures at the beginning are distinctly on a lower level
than those in the Royal MS. Practically identical in
subject, main outlines of composition, and general scheme
of arrangement, they fail altogether to produce the same
pleasing effect. The figures are smaller, less dignified,
with something of the gaunt ungainliness which character-
ized English figure-drawing nearly a century earlier, as
in the Holford MS. of the Passion of S. Edmund ; l the
faces have the same touches of red and white, but are not
treated with the same masterly delicacy. Finally, the
colouring, though bright and varied, has not the same
rich, soft charm, chiefly through the painter's lack of sure
instinct for harmony in colour. In short, the manuscript
is not the production of a great artist, but represents ex-
cellently the average work of an exceptionally interesting
period in the history of English illumination. Among
other characteristics of Gothic art, it illustrates the
whimsical habit of collocating the sublime with the
ridiculous : the solemn prayers which follow the Litany
having initials historiated with such incongruous subjects
as a monkey riding on a lion's back.
Another Psalter of the same period, but decorated in
a very different manner, is Lansdowne 420 in the British
Museum, emanating perhaps from Chester, since S. Wer-
burga and her mother S. Eormenilda receive special honour
in the Calendar. Like the two books just dealt with, it
has excellent line-endings in blue and red outlines (fishes,
human heads and limbs, etc.) ; but here the resemblance
ends. The ten pages of Gospel-miniatures at the begin-
1 Above, p. 135.
179
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ning are evidently inspired by a series of medallions in
stained glass. The pictures, two on a page, are painted
on gold, red or blue grounds in roundels, which are placed
on square fields of a contrasting colour; the gold
burnished and stamped with a star-pattern, the coloured
grounds patterned with white dots and rings. The stiff,
elongated, angular figures have all the severity proper to
the glass-painter's technique, their heavy black outlines
reproduce the leads exactly, and the drapery folds are
indicated in the same style by thick lines ; the colouring
shows a strong preponderance of deep blue and red. The
Beatus mr page is of an unusual and amusing type. The
" B," made of narrow entwined ribbons on a gold field,
forms a small and rather insignificant foundation ; but
round about it, on a blue ground patterned with white
branch-work, are eight gold medallions containing delight-
ful figures of animal musicians donkey and harp, cat
and fiddle, etc. Outside all this is a frame holding more
medallions of a less frivolous character.
The Psalter of Robert de Lindeseye, Abbot of Peter-
borough, in the library of the Society of Antiquaries, 1
cannot be many years later than the manuscripts which
we have been considering, its date being fixed between
the Translation of S. Thomas of Canterbury in 1220 and
the death of Abbot Robert in 1222; but its beautiful
miniatures already show the thirteenth century style in
full maturity. The most striking of these is a Cruci-
fixion, 2 drawn and painted with exquisite delicacy on a
rich background of burnished and patterned gold. The
anatomy is by no means faultless, the limbs of Christ
being attenuated beyond all possibility ; but this, like the
touch of sentimentality in S. John's expression and pose,
is a trifling blemish resulting very naturally from the
extreme refinement and genuine feeling with which the
whole picture is instinct. Especially charming is the grace-
ful figure of the Virgin, balancing that of S. John ; again
1 No. 59. See Burl. F.A. Club, No. 37, pi. 36.
2 PI. xxii.
1 80
PLATE XXII
PSALTER OF ROBERT DE LINDESEY, ABBOT OF PETERBOROUGH, 1220-22.
SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, MS. 59.
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, 13111 CENT.
a thought too graceful, perhaps, for absolute dramatic
fitness. The shaft and arms of the cross are covered with
a symmetrical leafy stem a very unusual feature; less
rare, especially about this time, are the half-length figures
of the Old and New Dispensations, and of Moses
balanced by S. Peter, in medallions at the corners. The
only other full-page illuminations, Christ in glory and
Beatus vir, are equally fine in execution, though less
original in design ; * and five of the psalms have initials
enclosing spirited and delicate miniatures. In all these
the colour-scheme, dominated by the highly burnished
and elaborately patterned gold, and by a lovely deep soft
blue, is at once splendid and harmonious.
Much more abundant, but incomparably rougher, is
the decoration of the Carrow Psalter in Mr. Yates
Thompson's library. 2 Executed towards the middle of
the thirteenth century (certainly after 1233), probably in
the neighbourhood of Bury S. Edmund's, it belonged in
the fifteenth century to the nuns of Carrow by Norwich.
Despite their lack of finish, its numerous miniatures are
interesting as the precursors (though the parental relation
is not obvious) of the exquisite paintings of the early
fourteenth century East Anglian school. Many of the
subjects too are unusual : the initial " B," for instance,
contains six scenes from the legend of S. Olaf, and the
full-page miniatures include a graphic representation of
the murder of S. Thomas of Canterbury, and a curious
picture of an angel giving Adam a spade and Eve a dis-
taff. Moreover, this manuscript is one of the earliest to
use the trefoil-arched canopy, so characteristic a device in
early Gothic architecture.
Leaving the Psalters for a while, we come to another
class of manuscript even more distinctive of the thirteenth
century, viz. copies of the Latin Bible. Of the vast
1 It may be noted that both subjects reappear, treated in a strikingly similar
manner, on a leaf inserted at the beginning of the much earlier Canterbury
Psalter, Vesp. A. i. See Warner, Reprod., iii, 15.
2 No. 52. See H. Y. Thompson, Descriptive Catalogue, 1902, pp. 2-11, and
Lecture on some Eng. Ilium. MSS., 1902, p. 13, pi. 2-4.
181
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
numbers of these volumes which have survived to the
present day, the great majority are veritable pocket-books,
and have more interest palaeographically than artistically,
being remarkable rather for the minute neatness and
regularity of their script than for the wealth of their
decoration ; the latter being generally confined to a
foliated or historiated initial at the beginning of each
book, sometimes with the addition of a series of Creation-
scenes and a Jesse-tree at the beginnings of Genesis and
Matthew respectively. From either point of view their
direct utility for study is diminished by the fact that so
few contain precise indications of date or provenance ;
even the country of origin can rarely be determined with
certainty, French and English work, both in writing and
illumination, being at this period so remarkably alike. In
Burney 3, 1 luckily, the British Museum possesses an excel-
lent example of the class, which is provided with these
essential data: the Bible of Robert de Bello, Abbot of
S. Augustine's, Canterbury, 1224-53, for whom it was
presumably written and illuminated in his own abbey.
Intended, no doubt, for library and not for pocket use,
it is on a somewhat larger scale than the diminutive
volumes just mentioned, though a mere pygmy compared
with the huge Bibles of the preceding century ; it may
very well be taken, however, as a representative of the
former class in everything but actual size. The chief
decoration is at the beginning of Genesis : the " I " of
In principle forming a broad band which fills the left-
hand column and all the lower margin of the page, and
contains a series of medallion-scenes from Genesis on
burnished gold grounds. The initial " I " of S. John's
Gospel is treated in a similar way, filling the whole space
between the two columns of text, as well as part of the
upper and lower margins, and containing, in a series of
long narrow panels, representations of the Evangelist with
an eagle's head and of incidents from his Gospel. At
the beginning of S. Matthew is a Jesse-tree, as usual.
1 Warner, Reprod., i, n ; Pal. Soc., i, 73-4.
182
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, I$TK CENT.
In these, as in the smaller historiated initials of the other
books, the style of the painting is rather flat, though the
figures are well and accurately drawn ; the colour-effect
generally is pallid, a very curious whitish blue pre-
dominating. The chapter-initials, coloured blue or red,
are decorated with pen flourishes in the same colours,
often elaborate and very delicately executed. This kind
of ornament became a great feature of thirteenth and
fourteenth century illumination ; it reached its greatest
perfection in England about the beginning of the four-
teenth century ; in Italy, where its development was
carried further, about half a century later.
A more beautiful manuscript, indeed the very flower
of its class, is Royal i D. i, 1 a Bible written about the
middle of the thirteenth century by one William of
Devon ; few English manuscripts of its time can
approach it in perfection of taste and technique. Its
historiated initials, with their exquisite little figures on
burnished gold or diapered backgrounds, are finished
with microscopic exactitude ; they are prolonged into bar-
borders which often surround the text on three sides,
supporting delicious little grotesques and sometimes
ending in slender foliage-stems. Only two pages have
miniatures unconnected with initials. The first of
these, 2 after the concluding lines of S. Jerome's Pro-
logue to the Pentateuch, is filled with canopied panels
of red, lake, or deep blue, either diapered or else
powdered with tiny patterns of white dots and rings. In
the topmost compartment is the Coronation of Christ by
the Father ; below this, the Crucifixion between two
seraphs. The lowest division has in the centre the
Virgin and Child, with a small miniature below of S.
Martin and the beggar ; on the sides, SS. Peter and Paul.
At the foot of the page is a kneeling monk, perhaps
William of Devon, perhaps the person for whom the
1 Thompson, pp. 36-8, pi. n ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 20, and Reprod.^
ii, 10 ; Kenyon, Biblical MSS., pi. xix.
- PI. xxiii.
133
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
book was written. The second miniature-page, prefixed
to the Psalms, is also divided into compartments ; the
backgrounds are blue or lake, powdered with gold discs
and a white dot -pattern ; the subjects depicted are the
Crucifixion, the martyrdom of S. Thomas of Canterbury,
the story of the Virgin helping him to mend his shirt,
and an apparition of Christ to him or some other arch-
bishop. The prominence given to S. Thomas has led to
the suggestion that the manuscript was written at Canter-
bury, where S. Martin too had long been held in special
reverence, as well as the Apostles Peter and Paul, the
original patrons of S. Augustine's Abbey. This, however,
is mere conjecture ; nothing is definitely known of the
history of the book, beyond the name of its scribe, which
may be taken as guaranteeing its English origin. Of the
other pages, the most richly illuminated are the first
page in the volume, having a miniature of S. Jerome
writing enclosed within the initial, and borders decorated
with exquisite little figures of archers, rabbits, birds, and
grotesques, and monks drawn in outline and delicately
tinted ; the In principle of Genesis, with a series of tiny
panels under cusped arches, containing miniatures of the
Creation, Fall, and Atonement ; and the Prologue to S.
Matthew, with a Jesse-tree in the initial. In these
miniatures, as in the historiated initials of the several
books, the figures are of the slender, dignified type
characteristic of the best Gothic art. The chapter-initials
throughout the volume are enriched with red and blue
pen-work decoration of the utmost delicacy.
Firm and delicate draughtsmanship formed the
groundwork of all the best English illumination of this
period, as of those which preceded and followed it ; and
the practice of illustrating books in outline, either lightly
tinted or left quite uncoloured, did not fall into complete
desuetude, though the prevailing taste at this time was
for books resplendent with burnished gold and rich warm
colouring. The scriptorium of S. Alban's Abbey, in par-
ticular, has left us several fine manuscripts of the former
184
PLATE XXI 1 1
we tor.fitif. <t6 uu rmr ?x;qjb nit
tcduts n bnr-.dlitio tft tomraf c y
a au a\nis aft
iHirum-. ^ ctnentaroiaftmT cjeempia
naiaona q^ngttta.gma^
a-iunricc tottrmi
tcon ocftoenumcttt mtitsriium o
pus mtfutnit fraftoT agtnrft gtoi
ofomi? tnitts
BIBLE. ENGLISH, XIIlTH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. ROYAL 1 D I
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
class, containing the historical writings of Matthew Paris.
A monk at S. Alban's from 1217, he made himself pro-
ficient in writing, drawing, painting, and metal-work, and
from 1236 till his death in 1259 he was head of the
scriptorium, as well as historiographer of the abbey.
Many of these manuscripts 1 are undoubtedly written by
him, and illustrated either by him or under his direction.
One of the most interesting is Royal 14 C. vii, containing
his Historia Anglorum and the concluding portion of his
Chronica Majora. Where the latter work ends, at the
year 1259, there is a drawing of Matthew Paris on his
deathbed, doubtless inserted by the monk who continued
the chronicle. We also see him kneeling before the
Virgin and Child in a full-page drawing, perhaps by his
own hand, at the beginning of the volume. This picture,
on a plain vellum background, framed in bands of pale
green and red, is the most charming thing in the book.
The Madonna is of the perfect Gothic type, with long
curling hair ; her face is shaded very slightly with bistre,
but the draperies are tinted green, grey, purple, blue, and
buff, and the folds indicated by black pen-strokes. This
page is followed by lightly tinted outline-drawings of the
kings of England from William I to Henry III, four on a
page, on coloured backgrounds under horseshoe arches ;
they are represented as sitting stiffly and symmetrically,
without much attempt at portraiture. In Claudius D. vi,
an abridged chronicle of England, we have several pages
of similar drawings of kings, from the legendary Brutus
down to Henry III, firmly outlined in brown ink, very
faintly tinted in water-colour, and placed against strong
backgrounds of lake or chalky blue ; there are occasional
touches of graphic symbolism, as in Canute holding
a battle-axe, or John with his crown nearly tilted off.
More strictly outline-work is the illustration of the Lives
of the Two Offas in Nero D. i: 2 a long series of excellently
1 For an account of them see Madden's and Luard's introductions to his
Historia Anglorum and Chronica Majora in the Rolls series.
2 Thompson, pp. 41-2, pi. 13.
I8 5
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
dramatic drawings, very large and open in manner, filling
the upper half of each page. Especially fine are the first
six pages, dealing with the early life of the first Offa, the
grievously afflicted and miraculously cured son of King
Waermund : the pathetic figure of the young prince, the
distress of his father and the faithful nobles, the malevo-
lence of the traitor Rigan's evil counsellor (" malorum
persuasor"), are all portrayed with real power and skill.
The remaining scenes are not only in a much more
sketchy, less finished state, but seem to be the work of
an inferior artist ; they too, however, though lacking in
delicacy, are full of freshness, vigour, and dramatic force.
Towards the end of the volume, which is filled with his-
torical documents and notes, chiefly relating to S. Alban's
Abbey, is a full-page drawing of the elephant which
Louis IX sent to England in 1255 as a present to
Henry III. This drawing is usually attributed to
Matthew Paris, and it certainly does him no discredit.
It naturally suggests a large class of manuscripts
which must be mentioned, though they do not lend them-
selves readily to precise chronological or topographical
arrangement. These are the illustrated Bestiaries, the
medieval handbooks of natural history. Based on the
Etymologiae of Isidore, and more remotely on Pliny and
" Physiologus," they were often illustrated profusely,
especially during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries,
with coloured drawings of beasts birds, and fishes actual
or fabulous ; more rarely with fully illuminated minia-
tures in gold and colours. They are often found in
conjunction with illustrated Herbals, which trace their
descent, almost in an unbroken line, from the famous
Dioscorides MS. of the sixth century described at the end
of chapter ii ; l having the same carefully outlined and
delicately tinted drawings of plants, the monotony of
their solid instructiveness always broken by a picture
of the ill-fated dog chained to the mandrake's monstrous
roots. A good example of this combination is Harl. 4986
1 Above, p. 34.
1 86
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
(twelfth century), though here the Bestiary illustrations
are decidedly inferior to those of the Herbal. One of the
finest extant Bestiaries, now in Mr. Pierpont Morgan's
library, 1 was executed in England shortly before 1187,
when a Canon of Lincoln gave it to Worksop Priory ;
another excellent specimen, perhaps slightly later, is
Harl. 475 1. 2 The most interesting of the pictures are,
of course, those which illustrate the supposed habits of
the creatures described : the pelican feeding her young
with her blood ; the unicorn crouching entranced at a
maiden's feet ; the watersnake spitefully entering the jaws
of a sleeping crocodile in order to devour his entrails ;
the whale plunging into the depths, to the consternation
of the sailors who have lighted a fire on its back ; the
wondrous white bird caladrius, which perches on a king's
sickbed and either looks him in the face and cures him,
or else turns its back on him, forecasting his speedy
death.
In the second half of the thirteenth century English
illumination was approaching its climax, w r hich it reached
soon after the year 1300. The ascetic, emaciated types of
face and figure began to assume softer, more rounded and
gracious contours ; and in like manner the severe restraint
of the bar-border was relaxed, branches shooting freely in
all directions, bearing leaves in ever-increasing luxuriance,
and giving shelter to all manner of dainty, whimsical,
fantastic creatures, as well as to birds and animals often
painted with amazing fidelity to nature. Nor is this
advance in freedom and luxuriance accompanied by any
decline in delicacy of drawing or refinement of taste ; on
the contrary, technique improved steadily in every way,
and at the same time the artistic instinct became more
sure. Of the many fine books of this period, which have
survived to the present day, only a very small selection
can be mentioned here ; most of these are Psalters, but a
1 No.- 107. See M. R. James, Catalogue (2 plates) ; Burl. F.A. Club, No. 80,
pi. 69.
'-' Warner, Reprod., Hi, 13.
I8 7
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
rival was already beginning to appear in the Book of
Hours, afterwards by far the most popular of illuminated
manuscripts. The British Museum possesses two good
examples of the latter class in Eg. 1151 l and Harl. 928,
both very small books, and both profusely decorated with
dogs, rabbits, birds, and grotesques, either placed on bar-
borders or filling the margins. Eg. 1151 has no large
miniatures, but instead there are exquisite little historiated
initials at the beginnings of the several offices, hardly to
be surpassed for minuteness of detail and delicacy of
execution. The figures, set against finely diapered back-
grounds, are drawn in very fine black outline, the faces
and some of the draperies left white. Tradition not
having yet fixed the range of subjects for illustrating the
Horae, the artist has sometimes given us delightful scenes
of contemporary life, e.g. on f. 47 we have a charming
little picture of musicians playing while a youth and
two ladies dance. Harl. 928 begins, like the Psalters,
with a series of full-page miniatures of the life of Christ;
these, like the historiated initials in the text, are less
delicate and finished, more archaic in style, than the
paintings in Eg. 1151; but the grotesques which are
scattered over the margins are full of variety and humour.
Interesting though these little volumes are, however,
they are completely eclipsed by the splendid Psalters
executed about the same time. Foremost among these is
a magnificent book in the Duke of Rutland's library, z
written about the middle of the century and decorated as
far as Psalm ex with extraordinary wealth and profusion.
One of its special features is that six of the psalms have
full-page or nearly full-page miniatures prefixed ; all
finely painted and elaborately finished, though varying
considerably in style and merit. The most beautiful by
far is the picture of Saul aiming a javelin at David : the
faces are delicately drawn and full of expression, especi-
ally that of a slender graceful woman who stands beside
1 Warner, Reprod., i, 12.
2 New PaL Soc., pi. 64-6; Burl. F.A. Club, No. 43, pi. 41.
1 81
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
the infuriated king, her hand uplifted in gentle protest.
Expressive faces and gracefully modelled figures are
noticeable again in the miniature of Balaam and the
angel, where the ass (apart from its blue colour) is depicted
with a spirited naturalism not often found at so early
a date. The Jacob's Ladder miniature has something of
the charm of these two ; and that of David playing on an
organ is remarkable both for the rare interest of the sub-
ject to historians of music, and also for the vigorous,
well-modelled figure of the youth who works the bellows.
These six psalms and three others have large illuminated
initials, the first eight enclosing miniatures, the last (Ps.
ex) filled with conventional foliage ornament. The Calendar
has the usual two roundels for each month, containing the
zodiacal signs and occupation-pictures on burnished gold
backgrounds. Psalm i has a splendid initial-page : the
framework of the "B" formed by two long-necked dragons
with tails ending in convolutions of foliage, and by two
lions back to back, with men astride both lions and
dragons, fighting the latter or seizing one another by the
hair ; the loops historiated with David as Harpist and
the Judgment of Solomon ; between the "B" and the rect-
angular frame, and at the four corners of the latter, are
seven roundels of the Creation and Fall. The other
psalms have finely illuminated initials, sometimes enclos-
ing figures, but more often filled with decorative designs
of foliage. The borders are not of the typical bar-border
kind, but consist of a broad vertical band of gold, or of
blue and red covered with white tracery, running down
the left-hand side of the page and having the gold verse-
initials set within it, with dragons, birds, or other designs
at the terminations ; helping to enhance the rich, ornate
appearance of the book. A far more striking feature, how-
ever, of the Rutland Psalter is the abundance, variety, and
excellence of its marginal decoration : coloured drawings
of single figures or small groups, sometimes exquisitely
graceful, always instinct with life and humour, fill the
lower margins of many pages ; besides the usual gro-
189
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
tesques, animals, and fanciful creatures such as mermaids
and centaurs, there are illustrations of the games, pastimes,
and ordinary pursuits of everyday contemporary life
chess-playing, wrestling, tumbling, etc. as precious to the
antiquary as they are delightful to the ordinary beholder.
The leading characteristics of English illumination at
the close of the thirteenth century are well seen in two
manuscripts now in the British Museum, which were both
not improbably executed in a Dominican house, perhaps
the Blackfriars in London, viz. the famous Tenison
Psalter 1 and the Ashridge Petrus Comestor; 2 although
neither of them contains any large miniatures. The
Tenison Psalter, so called because it once belonged to
Archbishop Tenison, was originally intended, as the arms
on the first page show, for presentation to Alphonso, son
of King Edward I, on his marriage with the Count of
Holland's daughter Margaret; but the abrupt change after
the first quire to a more commonplace style of decoration
has led to the inference that the illumination of the book
was interrupted by the young prince's death in 1284, a
few days after the sealing of the marriage contract, and
that its completion was afterwards entrusted to inferior
artists. In its present state the volume begins with three
pages of finely executed figures of saints ; but these, like
the small miniatures of the life of Christ which fill the
next three pages, are later insertions, and we are here
concerned only with the opening quire of the Psalter text
itself. The first page is framed in a gold-edged band of tiny
lozenges, alternately blue and crimson ; on this border,
and in the margins outside, are exquisitely painted birds
gull, bullfinch, etc., drawn and coloured with scientific
accuracy, and standing in the most lifelike attitudes also
other figures, lion, leopard, an ape shooting a crane, and
at the foot of the page a dainty little David slinging a
stone at Goliath ; David also appears as harpist in the
1 Add. 24686. See Pal. Soc., i, 196 ; Thompson, p. 39, pi. 12; Warner,
Ilium. MSS., pi. 22, and Reprod., iii, 17.
2 Roy. 3 D. vi. See Neiv Pal Soc., pi. 13.
190
PLATE XXIV
tnmc qtttD tmtlnpltem fttnr qttt m
jbttJUmrmc'mtttomftttgttmraDttct^me-
Jl^trttt duttnranmtcmornon eft- fcftts tpfi
mocoatts-
^&u dtmm commc fttfc
mm etemltans cajwrmatmi
TKxOx mm ^ lommttm dmndttt:era<atDttttr
omrnut cc(53|m^itts (ttmrcr^ftttmt qttt
: ttmdto mtttapintlt amtmmntts me
4tflgt qmttnt faltatm me fecoats mettsj
ptxtt(3ftflt omncB m>tttrtantt8
, xmttm ammtttflt-
j:erftQxr||nuttmtttttmtt
tnttoamn
atfctmfit nudrt-
ma:lcrmutDt o^tttoncm
nimmattmO
BrfotottqttontammtttftmtttrrDmmusi
fcm&tm fitttmrimntmts emttotct nu ettmda
PSALTER OF PRINCE ALPHONSO. ENGLISH, 1284
BRIT. MUS. ADD. 24686
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
initial " B," a gracefully posed, well-proportioned figure
set on a background of patterned gold. The succeeding
pages, though less elaborate, are decorated in the same
delicate and perfectly finished manner j 1 they have only
partial bar-borders, ending in curved and leafy stems,
and supporting a great variety of charming and amusing
groups or single figures : a monkey riding on a grotesque
bird's back, a merwoman suckling her young, a lady stag-
hunting, etc.
The Petrus Comestor (Roy. 3 D. vi) was given to
Ashridge College by its founder, Edmund, Earl of Corn-
wall (d. 1300), and must have been executed for him in or
soon after 1283. It is therefore contemporary with the
Tenison Psalter, to which it bears a striking resemblance,
though a much larger volume ; having the same cusped
and foliated bar-borders, the same admirably drawn and
painted birds, animals, and grotesques. In one respect it
is even richer in decoration, for each book has a large
initial enclosing a finely executed miniature.
Some of the most beautiful examples of thirteenth
century English illumination are copies of the Apocalypse;
no mention has been made of them in this brief sketch,
as they will be discussed later on in the chapter devoted
to the Apocalypse manuscripts of various countries and
periods, which form a distinct class.
1 See pi. xxiv.
191
CHAPTER XI
FRENCH, FLEMISH, AND GERMAN ILLUMINATION
IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY
THERE are few facts more striking in the history
of illumination than the sudden emergence of
France, about the beginning of the thirteenth cen-
tury, from the comparative obscurity in which she had
lain ever since the decay of Carolingian art, and her rapid
advance to the leading position which she occupied from
the time of S. Louis (1226-70) until the middle of the fif-
teenth century. Many causes must have combined to
bring about this remarkable result, and it would be impos-
sible to analyse them fully in a brief sketch like the
present ; two things, however, may be suggested as prob-
able factors. In the first place, the advent of a strong
ruler in Philip Augustus (1180-1223) removed an obstacle
to the progress of peaceful arts by reducing the country to
a more settled and orderly condition ; and secondly, the
growing importance of Paris as the French capital, and of
its University as one of the chief European centres of
learning, drew artists and students thither from all parts,
and created a great demand for book-production there.
For the decoration of books, English artists were per-
haps employed at first to some extent ; at all events, there
is a very close resemblance between French and English
work during the greater part of the thirteenth century, in
the early stages of Gothic illumination, before the French
schools had evolved that distinct national style which
continued to develop for nearly a couple of centuries, pro-
ducing in its various phases a succession of manuscripts
of surpassing loveliness.
The best representative of the early period is the
192
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
Ingeburge Psalter 1 at Chantilly, executed in or shortly
before 1213 for Ingeburge, the ill-used wife of Philip
Augustus, perhaps as a memorial of her reconciliation
with her husband after twenty years of estrangement.
The style of the miniatures shows a strong English
influence; austere and simple types, rich colour, a general
impression of splendour and severity. The twenty-seven
pages of preliminary paintings, mostly two on a page,
on burnished gold backgrounds, illustrate scenes from the
Old Testament, the Life of Christ, Pentecost, the Last
Judgment, the Burial and Coronation of the Virgin, and
the legend of her deliverance of Theophilus from the toils
of the devil. Their subjects point to a connection with
the so-called S. Louis Psalter at Leyden, mentioned in
chapter vii ; 2 but the style is more advanced, with less
stiffness and a greater attempt at grace and gentleness of
expression, and is altogether much nearer to that of
another English manuscript, the early thirteenth century
Psalter Roy. i D. x. 3 As in that book, and in most
Psalters of the thirteenth century, whether French or
English, the Calendar is decorated with medallions of the
zodiacal signs and figures symbolical of the occupations
proper to each month, the text of the Psalms with a full-
page Beatus vir and initials enclosing small miniatures
of the life of David. There is no direct evidence as to
where the Ingeburge Psalter was executed, but the saints'
names in Calendar and Litany indicate the north of
France, possibly Paris itself.
Closely related to the Ingeburge Psalter, and, like it,
showing strong affinity to English art in general and to
the Leyden S. Louis Psalter in particular, is the Arsenal
MS. u86; 4 a Psalter formerly preserved in the Sainte
1 Described by the Due d'Aumale, Music Conde, Chantilly. Cabinet des
Livres. MSS., vol. i, 1900, pp. 9-12. See too L. Delisle, Notice de douze livres
royaux, 1902, pp. 1-17, p l. 1-3,
- Above, p. 141. 3 Noticed above, p. 176.
All its miniatures have been reproduced by H. Martin, Psautier de St. Louis
et de Blanche de Castille (Joyaux de T Arsenal, I [1909]). See too Delisle, 12
livres roy., pp. 27-35, pl- 8.
13 193
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Chapelle, and executed (according to an ancient and
credible tradition) for Blanche of Castile, the pious and
devoted mother of S. Louis, probably between the date of
her marriage in 1200 and her husband's accession as
Louis VIII in 1223. In the arrangement of its pre-
liminary miniatures this manuscript follows the method
used in the contemporary English Psalter, Lansdowne
420, described in chapter x, 1 most of them being enclosed
in medallions, two of which, slightly interlaced, fill the
page. The subjects are nearly identical with those of the
Ingeburge Psalter ; but artistically the work hardly
reaches quite so high a level, its manner being less large
. and spacious, more minute. The page devoted to the
Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross is specially
1 interesting as containing one of the earliest appearances
of the symbolical representation of the Old and New
v Dispensations, which became so popular in Gothic art :
the former, a tottering woman, holds a broken lance in
one hand, while the Tables of the Law fall from the other;
the latter is a woman standing erect, holding cross and
chalice. The initials to the Psalms are mostly historiated
with the usual subjects ; but the "D" of Psalm ci has a lady
kneeling before an altar probably a portrait of Blanche
herself.
These two manuscripts show the high-water mark of
French illumination at this period. The average work
was of course greatly inferior, as may be seen, for in-
stance, in a Missal 2 written in 1218 by an Amiens clerk
named Geroldus, in an unidentified abbey dedicated to
SS. Stephen and Martin, and probably situated in the
north-east of France. Little or no advance is apparent
here on the art of the twelfth century, especially in the one
large miniature, a full-page Crucifixion, prefixed as usual
to the Canon, and characterized chiefly by coarse heavy
drawing and hard dull colouring. Less unpleasing, but
equally primitive, are the few historiated initials ; and the
1 Above, p. 179.
2 Brit. Mus., Add. 17742. See PaL Soc., ii, 194.
194
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 13 CENT.
decorative initials, filled with intertwined foliage-stems,
lions, greyhounds, etc., have little to distinguish them
from those found in late twelfth century books such as
the great Bibles described in chapter viii.
Pre-Gothic crudity still lingers in the miniatures of
the Vie de S. Denis, 1 executed in 1250 at the great abbey
founded in his honour ; graphic, clear, and forcible though
they be, viewed merely as illustrations of the narrative.
They naturally challenge comparison with the late twelfth
century English pictures of the life of S. Cuthbert ; 8
but in point of artistic finish they fall far short of the
earlier work. The fact is that about this time illumina-
tion was ceasing to be the monopoly of the religious
orders, and was beginning to grow into a recognized and
organized craft. Names of illuminators begin to appear
in records ; and though it happens but rarely that the
work of an individual can be identified, there can be no
doubt that most of the finely illuminated manuscripts
which France, and more particularly Paris, soon began to
produce in such abundance, were executed by these pro-
fessional painters, and not by monks or clerics.
At the same time secular subjects naturally began to
claim a larger share of the miniaturist's attention. Refer-
ence has been made in chapter x to the vogue which
illustrated Herbals and Bestiaries enjoyed in the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries ; and another class of scientific
picture-book, more strictly scientific and therefore far less
popular and numerous, is of too great interest to be
passed over in silence. The great majority of medieval
text-books of medicine and surgery have no illustrations
at all, but some contain diagrams carefully drawn in
outline, aTid a few have fully illuminated pages in gold
and colours. The British Museum possesses an admir-
able specimen of this last class in Sloane 1977, a French
translation of Roger of Parma's Treatise on Surgery,
1 Bibl. Nat., nouv. acq. fr. 1098. Reproduced in 1906, Vie et Hist, de St.
Denys, with preface by H. Omont.
2 Above, p. 140.
195
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
written about the middle of the thirteenth century. At
the beginning are sixteen full-page miniatures, each
divided into nine compartments, 1 and planned so as
to combine professional instruction with a reminder of
the homage due to religion : the three topmost com-
partments containing scenes from the life of Christ,
etc., painted on gold or diapered grounds under trefoil-
arched canopies, and forming a complete series from the
Annunciation to the Last Judgment ; while the remaining
compartments are filled with illustrations of surgical
treatment, on plain blue or lake grounds. Farther on
in the volume are four pages, each in twelve compart-
ments, entirely devoted to surgery, preceded by a full-
page representation of the master and his pupil in the
dispensary. The delicate and expressive draughtsman-
ship of these little pictures is a delight to the layman,
while members of the faculty find an added joy, not
unmixed with surprise, in recognizing their scientific
soundness and accuracy.
Still, despite the occasional production of such works
as this and other secular writings (histories, romances,
chansons de geste and other poems) in a decorated form,
theology and liturgy continued to supply the principal
field for the exercise of the illuminator's craft. In France,
as in England, copies of the Latin Bible were produced
in great numbers ; but these volumes are for the most
part interesting as curiosities, from the exquisite minute-
ness of script and figure-initials, rather than strictly
beautiful or important in relation to the development of
art. There is no need, therefore, to add to what has
been said on this subject in chapter x, beyond mention-
ing one single example of a French Bible. Add. 35085
in the British Museum, written in a Dominican house in
France (perhaps at Clermont in Auvergne, where it was
in the sixteenth century) about the year 1250, is an
excellent specimen of the most compressed type, its
pages measuring but five inches by three ; its Jesse-tree
1 See pi. xxvii ; Warner, Reprod., i, 21.
196
PLATE XXV
PSALTER. FRENCH, XIlIxH CENT.
BRIT. MUS., ADD. 17868
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
and its tiny miniature-initials, with architectural back-
grounds and partial bar-borders usually ending in a
single leaf, are marvellous in their combination of accuracy
and softness.
Far more important artistically are the Psalters, among
which are nearly all the finest manuscripts of this period.
Royal 2 B. ii, 1 written for an inmate of an abbey of nuns,
perhaps near Nantes, is a good example of the work of
the middle of the century. It has no full-page miniatures;
but the Calendar squares and medallions are finely painted,
and eight of the psalms have large initials enclosed in
diapered rectangles, and containing exquisite miniatures
on backgrounds of burnished gold. These are thoroughly
characteristic, and show at a glance with what speed and
sureness French illumination had already developed : in
the minuteness of the execution, the slender delicacy of
the figures, the rich harmony of the colouring. The
modelling of the draperies is partly obtained by slight
deepening of the local colour, partly by fine black pen-
lines, which are also used for the details of the pale and
often really beautiful faces.
Slightly later in date, and more advanced in technique,
is Add. I7868, 2 a Psalter executed certainly in Northern
France, perhaps at Rheims. 3 In its preliminary series of
eighteen full-page miniatures of the life of Christ, on
grounds of raised and brilliantly burnished gold, we have
a collection of true Gothic types : slender, pale-faced,
sweet though formal personages, now far removed from
the crudely outlined figures of the earlier time. The
architectural ornament too is typical of Gothic art, and
particularly of that branch of it which flourished in
France at this period : trefoil-arched gables supported
by very slender columns. Besides the usual historiated
initials, the text of the Psalter is decorated with bar-
1 Warner, Ilium. AfSS., pi. 24, and Reprod., ii, 19.
2 PL xxv. See too Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 25, and Reprod.^ i, 20.
8 See Vitzthxim, Die Pariser Miniaturmakrei von der Zeit des hi. Ludwig bis zu
Philipp von ValoiS) 1907, p. 56.
197
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
borders, supporting delicious little manikins, rabbits,
and other figures, on almost every page. In short, with-
out being absolutely first-rate of its kind, this book repre-
sents admirably the average of its class and that an
exceptionally charming one.
For the very best work of the time we must turn
to the productions of the Paris school, and particularly to
two exquisite little Psalters which are closely associated
with S. Louis himself. 1 The more complete of these,
now in the Bibliotheque Nationale (lat. 10525 ), 2 was
made for him in Paris between the years 1 253 and 1 270 ;
the other, an almost exact replica, whose mutilated
remains are preserved in Mr. Yates Thompson's collection,
was made, evidently in the same place and about the
same time, for a lady whom Mr. S. C. Cockerell 3 has
identified with Isabelle, sister of S. Louis and foundress
of Longchamp Abbey, where she lived from 1260 until
her death ten years later. The Paris book has no fewer
than seventy-eight full-page miniatures of Old Testa-
ment subjects at the beginning ; only six of the corre-
sponding series remain in the Yates Thompson MS.
Both books are remarkable, among other things, for their
exquisite architectural backgrounds, consisting in every
instance of two or four bays of a Gothic interior, with
gables, wheel or quatrefoil windows, and fretted arcad-
ings and pinnacles above ; forming as it were a scenic
setting before which the personages of Bible-history play
their parts like actors in the miracle-plays, which were
actually performed in churches. These personages
indeed, full of that gentle and ingenuous gaiety of which
Gothic painters held the secret, seem less historical
characters than the delighted actors of a pious play.
One thinks of a Morality, or of the "Gestes" of Moses,
Abraham, or Solomon not of the solemn periods of the
1 See Haseloff, Les Psautiers de St. Louis, 1900 (Mm. de la Soc. Nat. des
Antiquaires de France, lix, pp. 18-42) ; Delisle, 12 livres roy., pp. 37-51, pi. 9~ 12 -
3 Omont, Psautierde St. Louis. Reproduction des 86 miniatures [1902].
8 Psalter and Hours of Isabelle of France, 1905.
198
PLATE XXVI
F*??
muucmm mwoitotic
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ttoi/clhtttrgnoccU)
I dtcb aumntolnnnis
numcdo^tumpatt
ttttr.cruiolcntttapt
unrtllud, Omncsc
taics.
mmctfcfhuhunrTa
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lictfimtTatottquom
ciwattonimtmbitjjt
tumt)l)cc.doit(col
(frftuulaetcapctxto
batuicstpfccft-bc
tteaumn
mca:'tu>n
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iliuxptlhfi
lijia:ftcur
fmptumcft-
GOSPEL LECTIONARY. PARIS, LATE XIIIiH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. Ann. 17341
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
Vulgate text. The grave, ascetic faces met with in paint-
ings of the time of Philip Augustus are replaced by
gentler, more rounded and cheerful types ; showing how
the simple and joyous spirit of S. Francis, "the little
troubadour of God," had penetrated to the arts, and
banished the awe and terror with which the older
miniaturists approached the sacred mysteries.
The Little Psalter of S. Louis and its companion
represent the highest achievement of thirteenth century
illumination in France. In the treatment of the face and
figure they are indeed in advance of their time, and most
of their contemporaries still retain something of primitive
austerity. This is noticeable in a fine Gospel-lectionary
in the British Museum (Add. I734I), 1 of the latter part of
the thirteenth century. It follows the use of Paris,
where it was evidently written, being a copy of a slightly
earlier book which was given by S. Louis to the Sainte
Chapelle, and is now in the Bibliotheque Nationale (lat.
17326). Its decoration is restricted to miniature-initials
with partial borders attached ; the initial " I," which occurs
most frequently (in the prefatory phrase "In illo tem-
pore"), being an oblong frame, sometimes of the full
height of the column of script, enclosing one or more
miniatures illustrating the text, with lacertines, foliage-
scrolls, and other conventional ornament filling the rest of
the frame. Though exaggeratedly long and attenuated,
the figures are not ungraceful, and the draperies are now
softly and realistically modelled by means of gradations
of colour. A marked advance is perceptible in the bar-
borders, which end in light and delicate leafy sprays, and
on which are placed exquisite little figures of rabbits, birds,
and grotesques. The foliate scroll-work inside the initial-
frames is finely finished, and already foreshadows the
rich designs which fill the margins of fifteenth century
Horae.
Much more primitive is the art of the Moralized Bible,
1 PI. xxvi. See too Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 26, and Reprod. t ii, 20;
Vitzthum, pi. 5, 6.
199
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
a vast compilation in four volumes, two in the British
Museum (Harl. I526-7), 1 one at Paris (Bibl. Nat., lat.
1150), and one at Oxford (Bodl. 270!}); forming one
member of a large family of picture-books for religious
instruction. 2 Every page has two narrow columns of text
and two wide ones of miniatures : the text-column con-
sisting of two short passages from the Bible, each followed
by a moralization or allegorical interpretation ; the picture-
column, of four illustrative paintings on gold grounds in
medallions placed one below the other, the spaces between
them and their oblong frame being covered with a diaper
pattern. These pictures are well adapted for their pur-
pose, the scenes being depicted with unmistakable clear-
ness and force ; but as works of art they compare ill with
the beautiful books we have been considering, the figures
being stumpy and badly proportioned, the drawing heavy,
with hard black outlines, the colouring harsh and in-
harmonious, and the technique absolutely flat. The
British Museum possesses an uncoloured copy of the
same work, 3 perhaps a little later in date, and of much
greater artistic merit. Here the illustrations, again eight
on a page, are square instead of round, and are freely and
crisply drawn in brown ink without any use of colour.
Simple, expressive, dramatic, they tell their stories appar-
ently without effort, yet always with effect. Charming
female types, with draped heads ; a majestic lady with a
chalice, typifying the Church ; plump monks and bishops ;
bearded persons in conical hats these and other delight-
ful figures beflower the pages and give a mixed but
altogether pleasing impression of brisk narrative, popular
theology, and sure and easy draughtsmanship.
Of the many fine liturgical manuscripts produced in
the closing years of the century, one of the most interest-
ing is a Book of Hours at Nuremberg (Stadtbibl., Solger
in 4, No. 4).* Its contents seem to indicate that it was
1 Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 27, and Reprod.^ i, 22.
2 See Delisle, "Livres d'images," in Hist. Lift, de la France^ xxxi, 213-85.
3 Add. 18719. *' Vitzthum, pp. 47-54* pi- 9-
200
PLATE XX VII
SURGICAL TREATISE BY ROGER OF PARMA. FRENCH, XIIIrH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. SI.OANK 1977
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, ISTH CENT.
written in England, or at all events for an English lady ;
the decoration, however, is essentially French in manner,
and is evidently the work of an artist trained in France,
if not actually a Frenchman. An inserted inscription at
the end shows that about the year 1400 the book was
given by King Charles [VI] of France to the Queen of
England (probably Isabella, wife of Richard II, or Cathe-
rine, wife of Henry V, both being his sisters). Nothing
is known of its earlier history, but its original owner was
evidently a lady possessed of wealth as well as of excellent
taste. Apart from the great beauty of its workmanship,
the Nuremberg Horae is interesting by reason of the
unusual composition of the full-page miniatures prefixed
to the several Hours of the Virgin. These are divided
into compartments, in which the Joyful and Dolorous
Mysteries of Our Lady are represented side by side.
Thus the Nativity and the Adoration of the Shepherds
are balanced by the Arrest of Christ and His appearance
before Pilate ; the Annunciation and Visitation, by Christ
bearing the Cross and being stripped by the soldiers ; the
Crucifixion, by the Ascension. The figures are painted
on backgrounds of stippled gold ; the faces are left white,
and finished with a fine pen-line ; the draperies are
modelled by gradations of the local colours, in which
vermilion, blue, and pink predominate. Before the Hours,
there is a series of charming single figures of saints stand-
ing under canopies ; these are more conventionalized than
the scenes which follow, and are almost architectural in
their studied Gothic pose.
Still greater perfection is shown in a beautiful collection
of religious treatises, written and illuminated in France
about the year 1300. At some unknown stage in its
history this book was divided into two volumes, which
parted company and found their way eventually, one into
the British Museum, the other into Mr. Yates Thompson's
library. The former, numbered Add. 28162,' contains the
1 PaL Soc., i, 245, 246; Warner, Ilium, MSS., pi. 33, 34, and
iii, 19.
2O I
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Somme le Roi, a very popular compendium of Catholic
doctrine, which was composed in French prose for
Philip III by his confessor, Frere Laurent, in 1279. The
text, which is adorned with well-executed initials enclosing
foliage-scrolls or figures, and prolonged into bar-borders
with cusped or leafy terminations, is preceded by a series
of full-page miniatures illustrating the Decalogue, the
Creed, the cardinal virtues, and the seven deadly sins with
their corresponding virtues. These last are allegorically
presented, and sometimes followed by their Biblical types:
Humility and Pride, for instance, by the Publican and
Pharisee ; Love and Hatred, by David and Jonathan, and
by Saul casting a javelin at David ; Mercy and Avarice, 1
by Abraham welcoming the three angels, and by the
widow distributing her oil freely. These scenes are
painted on backgrounds of burnished and patterned gold,
and placed within Gothic arcades. The dominant colour
is scarlet, which, combined with the gold ground, produces
a very brilliant effect. The figures, though rather large
for the size of the pictures, are charming, especially the
Lady Amitie in her garden, the widow pouring out her
oil, and the three adorable angels who come to Abraham
disguised as pilgrims with staff and wallet, but wearing
the nimbus and rainbow-coloured wings without any
attempt at concealment.
Mr. Yates Thompson's volume 2 has only four full-page
miniatures ; but the first three of these are superior to
anything in the Somme le Roi, having a beauty of con-
ception, a delicacy and refinement of colouring, and a
perfection of technique, which mark them out as among
the most exquisite productions of the illuminator's art.
Two of them illustrate the Sainte Abbaye, the allegorical
tract with which the volume opens. The first depicts the
ideal state of the mystical Abbey of the Holy Ghost :
Madame Charite* the abbess and Sainte Sapience the
1 Plate xxviii.
2 See M. R. James, Descriptive Catalogue, 1898, No. 40, pp. 225-32;
H. Y. Thompson, Illustrations, vol. i, 1907, pi. 6-9.
202
PLATE XXV I II
SOMME LE ROI. FRENCH, CIRCA 1300
BRIT. MUS. ADD. 28162
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION, 13 CENT.
prioress kneel in prayer, and Honeste with her birch rod
admonishes the novices who stand before her with their
lesson-book ; above the abbey is a representation of the
Trinity and the heavenly host. The next picture is in
two compartments : in the upper, a priest celebrates Mass
in the abbey church before the assembled sisterhood, the
nun-sacristan pulling vigorously at the bell-ropes ; the
lower compartment represents a priest and clerks, fully
vested, walking in procession, followed by the abbess and
her nuns. The third page illustrates another tract in the
volume, the " Livres de lestat de lame," and shows the
three states of good souls penitence, devotion, and con-
templation in the person of a nun who confesses, prays,
and kneels in ecstasy before a vision of the Trinity.
There is a wonderful dreamy charm about these exquisite
miniatures of conventual life, with their subtle harmonies
of colour, the subdued tints of the nuns' habits contrast-
ing effectively with the splendour of the heavenly person-
ages and the delicately coloured architectural backgrounds.
We have here, in fact, the work of a great artist in full
sympathy with his subject ; while the remaining miniature
in this book, like all those in the Somme le Roi, more
brilliant yet somehow lacking in poetic flavour, is only
an admirable example of one of the most perfect schools
known in the history of illumination.
Flemish illumination in the thirteenth century de-
veloped on similar lines to that of England and France,
though at first with lagging footsteps. Such books as
the Missal of S. Bavon's, Ghent (Brit. Mus., Add. 16949),
written about the year 1200, show little promise of the
glory which awaited Flemish painting. Its decorated
initials, of white foliage-scrolls on pale blue fields
powdered with white spots, are still of the regular twelfth
century type ; and its one full-page miniature, 1 a Cruci-
fixion prefixed to the Canon of the Mass, is archaic, stiff,
and lifeless, void alike of realism, grace, and impressive-
ness. This manuscript can only be regarded as typical
1 Warner, Reprod., ii, 34.
203
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of Flemish art at the very beginning of the century ;
but until well on in the second half the figure-drawing
was uncouth and the technique altogether far behind that
of the French and English schools. The British Museum
possesses a good many Psalters of this period of gradual
transition from comparative barbarism to real artistic
excellence ; but none of them can be compared with the
splendid productions of contemporary French or English
miniaturists. One of the most important of these is
Royal 2 B. iii, executed apparently towards the middle of
the century, certainly after 1228, as S. Francis occurs in
the Calendar. Its full-page miniatures 1 of the life of
Christ, some of which are interspersed among the Psalms,
instead of being prefixed in the usual manner, have
something of the largeness and simplicity found in
English work a few decades earlier ; but the dignity and
feeling, which in the latter go so far to make up for faulty
drawing, are altogether lacking here. The figures, heavily
outlined in black, are stiff, ill-proportioned, and badly
drawn ; the pallid faces are mostly of unlovely, almost
grotesque type ; the grouping shows no attempt at
effective composition. As to colouring, the backgrounds
of raised and highly burnished gold brighten up the
pages, but the general effect is sombre, hard, and streaky.
A very dark blue, characteristic of thirteenth century
Flemish painting, predominates ; and on this and the
other colours, which are for the most part pale and
dingy, white paint has been applied lavishly for high-
lights.
The Flemish cycle of Calendar-pictures, as shown in
Roy. 2 B. iii and other Psalters of this period, has one or
two peculiar features. The signs of the zodiac are not
represented as a rule; and the occupation-pictures, though
containing single figures only, are comparatively large in
scale, and are painted on blue or pink grounds framed in
gold. The subjects too are peculiar in some respects,
notably those for February (a woman holding a great
1 See pi. xxix.
204
PLATR XXIX
PSALTER. FLEMISH, XIIIrH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. ROY. 2 B til.
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION, 1311* CENT.
Candlemas taper), June (a man carrying a load of wood),
and October (grape-picking). This distinctively Flemish
series appears, for instance, in Add. MSS. 19899 and
24683, two Psalters of about the same date as Roy. 2 B.
iii, but of even ruder, more archaic technique; also in Roy.
2 A. iii, a very small book, executed apparently in or near
Maestricht. In this last-named manuscript, however, the
tiny figures are on gold grounds in medallions, and the
treatment shows something already of the refinement and
delicacy typical of the best thirteenth century art. Harl.
2930, another Maestricht Psalter, probably of slightly
later date, has no Calendar-decoration, but its miniatures
and historiated initials and bar-borders, with birds and
grotesques, form an interesting link between the crudity
of the earlier period and the finished excellence of the
school now beginning to approach maturity. Its colour-
ing is rich and brilliant, but the effect is spoilt by the pre-
dominance of a vivid and unpleasant crimson.
The Maestricht artists seem to have worked by prefer-
ence on a small scale ; the masterpiece of the school, a
Book of Hours of the very end of the century, 1 is even
more diminutive than these two Psalters, its leaves
measuring only 3f by 2f inches. This is indeed a
wonderful little book. Its miniatures of the Childhood
and Passion are charming, with exquisitely drawn figures,
well posed and carefully draped, the faces finely outlined
with the pen. It is in the marginal ornament, 2 however,
that its special interest lies. Bible-history, legends of the
saints, folk-lore, scenes in daily life, are illustrated with an
exuberance of fancy and a delightful inconsequence
thoroughly typical of this fascinating phase in the history
of art, when austerity and genial humour strove for the
mastery. To enumerate even the principal subjects
would be impossible here : we have the monkeys' castle
besieged by foxes with catapults and other engines ; the
fox shamming death ; the three living and three dead
1 Stowe 17. See Warner, Reprod.^ ii, 35.
2 See pi. xxxviii.
205
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
kings ; an abbess spinning, whilst her white cat brings
her a new spindle in its mouth ; wrestlers, tilting knights,
tumblers, musicians. The patroness of the book, a lady
in an ermine cloak, appears frequently once in a full-
page miniature, kneeling before a crucifix.
Another remarkable monument of Franco-Flemish art
of this time is a little book which once formed part of the
Sneyd Collection, and passed, on its dispersal, into the
possession of Mr. Bernard Ouaritch, for whom it was
described by Dr. M. R. James. 1 Its contents are of a
very miscellaneous character, consisting of legends, horta-
tory and other tracts, passages from the Bible and the
Fathers, etc., put together somewhat after the fashion of
the Hortus Deliciarum, and very richly illustrated. Its
art has certain affinities with that of Stowe 17, but is
more French in style. It opens with a series of full-page
tinted drawings of scenes from the lives of the Hermits,
including one very naive and charming picture of an angel
cooking a hermit's supper over an open fire. After this we
have many illuminated illustrations of Christian dogma,
the arts and sciences, and allegories of monastic discipline ;
and two long series of designs, the one intended as
mystical representations of the attributes of the Trinity,
the other as expositions of the symbolic meaning of the
Song of Solomon. Many of the subjects are extremely
rare, if not unique, in the history of illumination ; so
that even apart from the richness and ingenuity of the
borders and grotesques with which the latter part of this
delightful little volume is filled, its importance as a
treasure-house of medieval symbolism can scarcely be
over-rated. The colouring, with its almost exclusive use
of white, gold, rose, deep blue, and scarlet, and the
elaborately diapered and stippled backgrounds, do not
differ markedly from those found in contemporary French
work. In fact, Flemish illumination, so backward at the
beginning of the century, had by its close thoroughly
1 Description of an Illuminated MS. of the Thirteenth Century, 1904.
206
GERMAN ILLUMINATION, 131*1 CENT.
absorbed the spirit of the French Gothic, and become less
a distinct and native style than a branch of that great
school of art.
In striking contrast to these minute volumes, so far as
scale is concerned, is a great Antiphoner in three stately
volumes, dated 1290, and emanating, as the researches of
its present owner, Mr. Yates Thompson, 1 have proved,
from the Cistercian nunnery of Beauprd near Grammont.
Despite their large size, its historiated initials are not
lacking in delicacy, and with its cusped and leafy borders
and marginal figures show how thoroughly the new spirit
had by now been assimilated. Especially charming in
their demure grace are the kneeling patronesses, " Domi-
cella de Viana" and " Domicella Clementia."
The Gothic movement, which produced such a re-
markable development of the art of illumination in
England, France, and Flanders during the thirteenth
century, left Germany almost untouched. German minia-
turists were content, for the most part, with the artistic
formulae, compounded of Byzantine and Romanesque
traditions, which had been elaborated during the twelfth
century. They placidly repeated the old harsh, lifeless
types, the hard flat technique, the crude and discordant
scheme of colour, of the style which the Rhenish schools
had brought to such perfection as it was capable of by the
end of the twelfth century. In fact, Germany ceased to
take a leading place in the history of book-decoration,
and the subsequent course of German illumination be-
comes a matter of interest for the specialist rather than
for the student of the art in general, and of its most
beautiful forms in particular. Some mention should
indeed be made of such fine manuscripts as the Wein-
garten Missals in Lord Leicester's library at Holkham, 2
and of the numerous and exceedingly interesting group
1 See his Descriptive Catalogue, iii, 1907, pp. 55-74 (No. 83); Burl. F.A.
Club, Nos. 61-2, pi. 54.
2 Nos. 36, 37. See L. Dorez, Les MSS. d peintures de la bibl de Lord
Leicester^ 1908, pi. 5-8, 12-21.
2O7
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
of early thirteenth century Psalters which Dr. Hase-
loff l has subjected to so searching a study, and which is
represented in the British Museum by Add. i768y 2 and
18144. This must suffice, however, in a brief sketch
like the present. 3
1 Eine thiiringisch-sachsische Malerschule des 13. Jahrhunderts^ 1897.
2 Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 19, and Reprod., i, 41.
3 For fuller treatment of German thirteenth century miniature see Haseloff
in Michel's Hist. deFArt, ii, i, 359-71, and the bibliography on pp. 419-20.
208
CHAPTER XII
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
EXCEPT the Psalms and Gospels, no part of the
Bible was more popular than the Apocalypse in
the Middle Ages as a subject for pictorial illustra-
tion. Painters of the Carolingian period had already
begun to find themes in it for some of their most interest-
ing miniatures, 1 as we saw in chapter v ; and a long
series of compositions, illustrating the whole book, seems
to have been devised about the same time. This series
is found in manuscripts from the ninth century onwards,
especially in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries ;
usually in company with the complete Latin or vernacular
text, often with a commentary in addition, but sometimes
with nothing beyond descriptive legends written across
the field of the pictures. So numerous, important, and
distinctive a family do these manuscripts form that it
seems most convenient to consider them as a separate
class, irrespective of date or nationality.
The first appearance of a regular series of Apocalypse-
pictures is in the illuminated copies of a Commentary on
the Apocalypse, composed by the Spanish monk Beatus
towards the end of the eighth century. These range in
date from the ninth century to the thirteenth, and are all,
or very nearly all, of Spanish origin. 2 In the history of
illumination generally Spain occupies quite a secondary
position ; one might even say a negligible position, apart
from these illustrations of the Apocalypse and the initial-
1 See pi. xi.
2 For a descriptive list see Delisle, Melanges de Paleographie etde Bibliographic,
1880, pp. 117-47, supplemented by Konrad Miller, Die dltesten Weltkarten,
Heft i, 1895, PP- 10-22, and by Dr. James and Dom Ramsay in the account of
Mr. Yates Thompson's MS., cited below.
14 209
ornaments (of a bizarre type, partly Merovingian and
partly Celtic in style) found in the Mozarabic liturgical
books and other manuscripts of the tenth to twelfth centu-
ries. 1 In later times Spanish illumination was essentially
derivative and imitative, French, Italian, and Flemish
influence appearing in turn, or sometimes simultaneously,
producing an oddly mixed and unsatisfactory result. It
was not until illumination had ceased to exist as a living
art that the great school of Spanish painters came into
being.
Of the Beatus manuscripts, the oldest now extant is
that in Mr. Yates Thompson's collection, 2 written A.D. 394
in a hitherto unidentified monastery dedicated to S.
Michael ; clearly in Spain, as is proved by the form of
script (Visigothic minuscules), by certain peculiarities in
spelling, and by the presence of marginal notes in Spanish.
The cycle of pictures, however, most probably goes back
a good deal earlier, for the contrast between the excellence
of the compositions and the ineptitude of the technique
suggests that the illustrator of this manuscript was a
copyist rather than an original artist. Moreover, in all
the manuscripts the illustrations of Beatus, and of S.
Jerome's commentary on Daniel which usually follows
it, are practically the same as to number and subject,
showing plainly that all are derived from one common
archetype, dating perhaps from the lifetime of Beatus
himself. The British Museum possesses one of these
Beatus-codices, 3 written in Silos Abbey between 1073 and
1091, and illuminated by Pedro the Prior, who finished
his work in 1 109 ; and its agreement with the Yates
Thompson MS. is almost exact, despite the interval of
more than two centuries which separates them. In style
1 The British Museum has some characteristic examples in Add. 30844-6,
30850, and 30853, from Silos Abbey in the diocese of Burgos, and Add. 25600
(see Pal. Soc., i, 95) from S. Pedro de Cardena in the same diocese.
2 No. 97, described very fully by Dr. James in the Catalogue, ii, pp. 304-30,
with additional notes by Dom H. L. Ramsay on pp 373-6.
3 Add. 11695. See Pal. S0c., i, 48-9 ; Ferotin, Hist, de Vabbaye de Silos, 1897,
pp. 264-9.
2IO
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
too, as well as subject, there is a great resemblance ; the
Silos manuscript is slightly less rude and primitive than
its predecessor, but the general character is much the same
in both, and either of them may be taken as typical of the
whole group. 1
So strange and barbarous is the art of these manu-
scripts, that one is reminded of the worst productions of
the Celtic school. But while Celtic miniatures are gener-
ally cheerful in their grotesqueness, here we find an air of
settled melancholy; dark and heavy colour accentuating
the effect of coarse outlines and dull, gloomy faces. The
figures are stiff and wooden, more like rudely made dolls
than human beings ; the faces are monotonous and ill-
drawn, with low foreheads and large staring eyes ; there
is no attempt at modelling or perspective. The composi-
tions, on the other hand, large and elaborate (many of
them occupying the full page, and some extending over two
pages), are often well planned and impressive. Moorish
influence is seen in the uniform employment of
the horseshoe arch in buildings, frames, and arcades ;
also, perhaps, in the horizontally striped backgrounds of
red, yellow, dark blue, dark green, and other colours, a
prominent feature in these paintings. The conventional
ornament is far better than the figure-compositions, as so
often happens in primitive art. Patterned frames, decor-
ated with cable, plait, and knot, surround the most im-
portant miniatures ; in the later manuscripts of the group
great cruciform pages appear, and symbolic representa-
tions of the glorified Christ, obviously modelled on the
emblematic designs of the Celtic and Carolingian Gospel-
books, though never approaching their delicate exactitude.
The initials and tail-pieces too deserve mention. Those
in the Silos manuscript are often spirited and amusing :
fishes, birds, beasts, and human forms, brightly coloured
and sometimes very quaintly combined, form the initials;
1 Another good example, one of the latest of the group, is MS. Lat. 8 in the
John Rylands Library at Manchester. See New Pal. Sffc.,pl. 167.
211
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
among the tail-pieces are various exploits of Reynard the
fox, besides figures of musicians, soldiers, etc.
With the thirteenth century begins that remarkable
series of Gothic illustrations of the Apocalypse, of which
MM. Delisle and Meyer have made so comprehensive
and minute a survey. 1 Though the subjects are the same,
the treatment in these later and more northerly manu-
scripts (mostly produced in England, France, or
Flanders) is, as might be expected, very different from
that of their semi-barbarous Spanish ancestors. In the
best we find some of the most perfect examples of early
Gothic painting, with a poetic fancy exercising itself on
material of the most suggestive kind ; in the worst, an
abundance of that medieval humour which found such
congenial expression in the gargoyles and grotesques of
ecclesiastical sculpture.
These manuscripts must have been extremely
numerous. M. Delisle mentions no less than fifty-nine,
ranging in date from the beginning of the thirteenth to
the end of the fifteenth century ; and he describes many
of them in full detail, especially the first sixteen, for
which he gives a tabular list of all the miniatures. He
divides them into two families, according to the subjects
illustrated ; but this classification cannot be rigidly
applied, for many of the manuscripts which he assigns to
the second family contain one or more of the scenes which
he regards as distinguishing marks of the first. One
might, no doubt, choose other principles of grouping, e.g.
separating the illustrations in tinted outline from those
painted in body-colour, or those which are accompanied
by the text from those which merely bear scrolls with
descriptive legends. Any such system, however, would
be open to objection : the full truth as to the inter-
dependence of these manuscripts which remain, and of the
many more which must have perished, to say nothing of
1 L* Apocalypse en fran^ais, 1901, forming an introduction to the facsimiles
of the miniatures in Bibl. Nat. MS. fr. 403, published by the Societe des anciens
textes franqais.
212
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
their connection with Apocalypse-illustrations in other
forms of art, 1 is too obscure and complicated a matter to
be ascertained readily or stated tersely. No attempt can
be made here, at any rate, to do more than call attention
to one or two of the most important of these interesting
specimens of the illustrative art of the Middle Ages.
Two excellent and closely related examples of the
tinted outline class are the Bodleian MS. Auct. D. 4. 17 2
and the Paris MS. Bibl. Nat. fr. 403, 3 both produced in
England about the beginning of the thirteenth century.
They belong to what M. Delisle calls the first family, and
begin and end with scenes from the life of S. John. The
former contains no text beyond explanatory inscriptions
in red and blue letters on the backgrounds of the minia-
tures, which fill the page, being usually divided into two
compartments. No such inscriptions appear in the Paris
MS., though blank tablets and scrolls evidently intended for
their reception are in most of the miniatures ; but the full
text of the Apocalypse, with a commentary, both in French,
occupies the lower half of each of the pictured pages.
Leaning towards the grotesque rather than the poetical,
these drawings are truly illustrative, unconstrained, and
full of life. The type of figure is much the same in both
manuscripts : large, rather elongated personages, angels
and saints having sleek rounded faces, while devils, false
witnesses, and executioners have rugged features, with
extraordinary hooked noses. The compositions in the
Oxford MS. have a tendency to be overcrowded, the
artist's desire to illustrate every detail of his subject being
stronger, apparently, than his instinct for spaciousness of
design. The Paris MS. errs less in this respect. Amongst
much that is grotesque, it has several impressive, some
almost beautiful miniatures ; especially the Marriage of
1 See, for instance, Delisle's interesting chapter on the tapestries in Angers
Cathedral, pp. clxxvi-cxci.
2 Reproduced by the Roxburghe Club, The Apocalypse of S. John the Divine^
ed. H. O. Coxe, 1876.
3 Published in facsimile by the Soc. des. anc. textes fr., as noted above,
p. 212.
213
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the Lamb, which already shows signs of the delicate
charm distinctive of the best Gothic art.
Akin to these two books is the British Museum MS.
Add. 35I66, 1 executed in England late in the thirteenth
century. Though placed by Delisle in the second family,
it includes the two series of scenes from the life of S. John
(the second series unusually long), so it forms a link
between the two families ; it also contains a somewhat
rare subject, " the woman drunken with the blood of the
saints" (Apoc. xvii. 6), very graphically treated. The
miniatures, which are drawn in outline and tinted in pale
colours, fill only the upper half of each page, the lower
half containing the full Latin text with a Latin com-
mentary; there are no descriptive legends inside the
frames of the pictures. The paintings are softer, more
delicate and less crisp than those of the Oxford and Paris
MSS. ; the faces, mostly gentle to the point of weakness,
are rendered expressive by skilful and delicate pen-work ;
the figures are long and slender, but not ungraceful ; the
draperies are well handled, with gradation of local colour
as well as pen-strokes. Burnished gold is used for nimbi
and other accessories, and parts of the backgrounds are
painted red, blue or green in body-colour. There is less
vivacity but more dignity, on the whole, than in the two
earlier books.
Much more beautiful than any of these three, indeed
one of the finest of all extant copies of the Apocalypse, is
MS. R. 1 6. 2 in Trinity College, Cambridge. 2 Written in
England, not improbably at S. Alban's, about the year
1230, this splendid manuscript is hardly surpassed by any
of its contemporaries. Its ninety-one miniatures, while
lacking the minute delicacy of the smaller designs which
adorn the best French and English Psalters of the time,
atone for this deficiency by the richness of their colouring
and the dramatic force and vigour of their compositions.
1 Warner, Reprod., ii, 12.
* New Pal. Soc. t pi. 38-9. Reproduced for the Roxburghe Club, ed. M. R.
James, 1910.
214
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
It is in the battle scenes, naturally, that the latter quality
is displayed most effectively ; the artists (for more hands
than one are discernible) are less successful in their treat-
ment of subjects of a more reposeful character. In fact,
if we divide the Apocalypse MSS. into two classes
accordingly as the grotesque or poetical imagination
predominates, the Trinity MS. must be assigned to the
former rather than the latter, though by no means void
of single figures rich in delicate charm, such as the
winged woman flying into the wilderness (xii. 14).
The poetical and devotional element is uppermost in
Mr. Yates Thompson's beautiful manuscript, 1 written to-
wards the end of the thirteenth century, and very profusely
illuminated in England or the north of France. Like the
Lambeth MS. 209, with which it is closely related, it
contains the Latin text with the commentary of Beren-
gaudus ; 2 but it stands alone in the wealth of its decora-
tion, having no fewer than 152 miniatures, which illustrate
not only the usual cycle of subjects from the Vision itself,
but also their scriptural and historical antitypes as set
forth in the commentary. Interesting by reason of its
symbolism, the book is also delightful from an artistic
point of view, for its graceful figures, with naive appealing
expressions, and for the beauty and variety of its colour-
ing, burnished gold and deep blue being freely used, as
well as the more delicate harmonies of grey, green, and
white.
The Lambeth Apocalypse 3 belongs to the same period,
perhaps a trifle later, and was probably written and
illuminated at S. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury. It has
seventy-eight half-page miniatures in plain banded frames,
1 No. 55. See Catalogue^ ii, pp. 20-39; H. Y. Thompson, Lecture on some
Eng. Ilium. MSS., 1902, pp. 16-20, pi. 7-13; Delisle and Meyer, pp. xc-cvi, and
Appendix, pi. 7-12.
2 For other illustrated copies containing this commentary, though not artistic-
ally related to the above, see Burl. F.A. Club, Nos. 88, 89, pi. 74.
3 No. 209 in the Archiepiscopal Library. See S. W. Kershaw, Art Treasures
of the Lambeth Library, 1873, pp. 47-54 (2 plates); Pal. Soc., ii, 195; Burl. F.A.
Club, No. 87, pi. 73.
215
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and at the end a series of tinted drawings of scenes in the
life of Christ, miracles of the Virgin, and figures of
saints. In the miniatures, pale and delicately drawn
figures are contrasted against brilliant backgrounds of
blue, purple, or stippled and burnished gold, usually con-
sisting of a central panel framed in a broad border, the
blue and purple sometimes diapered. The figures are
slender and elegant, the angels being particularly graceful.
The outlining and modelling of the flesh are in sepia,
giving a much softer effect than the usual black ink ; the
drapery folds are indicated with light colours, chiefly
grey, brown, and green. Specially pleasing is the figure
of S. John, a tall slim person with curly hair and short
beard, who appears, as usual, in every picture as spectator
or interlocutor.
Less powerful and original than the Yates Thompson
MS., but more delicately lovely, is Douce 180 in the
Bodleian. 1 This exquisite book shows English painting
of the late thirteenth century at its best ; it has advanced
beyond the formalism and severity of Early Gothic, and has
not yet begun to grapple with the problems and subtleties
of modern art. The white vellum backgrounds, soft
pale colours, and careful space-filling, together with the
sweet and gracious forms of the personages represented,
give these miniatures a dainty, poetical, and altogether
irresistible charm. Some of them are merely drawn in
outline, in others the colouring and gilding have been
left at various stages of unfinishedness. The angels are
of monastic type, massive and dignified, with tonsured
heads, grave and gentle expressions. One of the most
delightful miniatures in the book is that of the vineyard, 2
where the successive incidents of Apoc. xiv. 17-20 are
naively depicted in one composition, without a hint of
division and yet with no overcrowding of the canvas : the
angel with the sickle coming out of the temple, taking
1 Pal. Soc., ii, 77. The editors judged it of French origin, but linguistic con-
siderations point to England. See Delisle and Meyer, p. cxxi.
2 PI. xxx.
216
PLATK XXX
: naltUMugtlttSpmtrtrtt
foflrfelccmantram. f attttdt
flttgrtttspuur fraimn quttottr
jpuflaiem fp?a igncm (rrtama
ittnuKtmagna artotm qtnm
srfetom animm dttcn$.fThr
ttftlom aotmtmummnia tofe
gftiuiaiia iftnimqmfffttttrftiprnutntt dios.
fwir raiffm tuam temat I'lmwqui mhiritr
iti uilrMitrcvft^tiftT-pn'^.tiipiutti Attmntttur
cvrff r titfitt ttf-- ttrttfta WigtitttuR. <tammur
'try> iionim qni Mttnrltipn-niilrm ttrmmt
fitrftUmnfiiammnttminfrmfimrquifttok
nntntnTnitrsniimrlnmiiiinQUmiopiirani
hiifti mi'-
life
jmno cciiiraKimr- -=?iintUttr i
umctrmt-qtiontamitiaiurrfuT
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jfttam tttimam (rtttnmniautrttt
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tci magmtm.er(ai(atu6 cfttams
?ora atttmimi.- crcntttr fengttte
qm ttwmplo onfto utffirfr.-?i^uftmrnftapt
icttoe (tcao mUvna ttimlafoMmre. alrair autf
ttham ftgnftrrtr.f!n!rTBrapUt!n.prrtgnon d8
mtttmtiii u)fftirm imriltonr n:uimmiojdi&>
ipicni fenm pjttftmon tifir
<iuin iinoi'Uiiii t'cniutani falonn srmrttm.quf
xyir.figiiiftcrtCTc tftoiiuw uruttitaniftitftoixoft
limit ttitrprrqiw&impu Kfl^iiAiinir-quta itsu
fRiiitmro conoio gnus* Tnimaniirr i mnoniB;
APOCALYPSE. ENGLISH, LATE XIIIxH CENT.
OXFORD, BODL. DOUCE 180
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
his instructions from the angel at the altar, and cutting
the clusters of grapes, while two small horses gaze some-
what apprehensively at the red stream which flows
towards them. The serene, graceful, leisured dignity of
the picture contrasts whimsically with the majestic terror
of the text.
The best thirteenth century Apocalypse manuscripts
are, as we have seen, of English origin ; and fine
examples continued to be produced in this country during
the early years of the succeeding century, though none
have survived which approach the perfection of their pre-
decessors. Only three need be mentioned here, all in the
British Museum. Roy. 19 B. xv 1 has seventy-two minia-
tures of varying size and of widely varying degrees of
excellence; the best, by an artist whose hand is also recog-
nizable in the famous Psalter of Queen Mary (Roy. 2 B.
vii, to be noticed in chapter xiii), are quite charming.
They are effective through simplicity rather than strength
of colour, relying for effect on the contrast between back-
grounds of soft red and blue, and white or faintly tinted
figures delicately sketched in pen outline. The faces are
rounded in contour and suave in expression, the figures
graceful, though tending to an artificial statuesqueness of
pose. Simplicity of composition as well as colour marks the
happiest efforts of this artist, as in the exquisite design of
the angel casting a millstone into the sea (xviii. 21). Roy.
15 D. ii, 2 unlike most of these manuscripts, is a volume
of huge size, containing besides the Apocalypse a copy of
the Anglo-Norman poem Lumiere as Lais ; a combina-
tion also found in the contemporary MS. B. 282 of the
Royal Library at Brussels. It probably belonged to
Greenfield nunnery in Lincolnshire, and its decoration,
which consists mainly of initials containing miniatures or
ornamental foliage, with cusped bar and line-and-leaf
borders attached, is typical of the East Anglian school
1 Pal. Soc., i, 223; Thompson, Eng. Ilium. MSS.> pp. 53-5, pi. 16; Warner,
Ilium. AfSS., pi. 30, and Reprod., i, 13.
2 Warner, Reprod., ii, 13.
217
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
which flourished in the first half of the fourteenth century.
The figures in the miniatures have a certain family like-
ness to those of Roy. 19 B. xv, though decidedly inferior to
the best work in that book ; the backgrounds are mostly
covered with a large diaper-pattern. The colour-scheme
is harmonious and pleasant, but the technique is abso-
lutely flat, without gradation or perspective ; the drapery
folds are indicated by heavy black lines. A great feature
of East Anglian illumination is the use of foliage, treated
with some attempt at naturalism, for initial and border
ornament ; and that occurs on almost every page of this
manuscript. Add. 18633 is perhaps a little later than the
two Royal MSS., but can hardly be assigned to a later
date than the middle of the fourteenth century. It con-
tains a paraphrase of the Apocalypse, in Anglo-Norman
verse, which is found in some half-dozen illuminated
copies ranging from the beginning to the middle of the
century. 1 All the manuscripts of this group seem to be
artistically as well as textually allied, and their archetype
is clearly related to Bibl. Nat. fr. 403 with its hook-nosed
devils. The art of Add. 18633 * s not f a high order,
but it is quite expressive as illustration. The backgrounds
are mostly blue or pink, diapered, but are sometimes
of stippled gold. On the whole the drawing is hard, the
technique flat, the composition stiff; the architecture,
however, is good and interesting. Silver is used for
armour and other accessories.
Franco-Flemish Apocalypses are represented in the
British Museum by two early fourteenth century manu-
scripts, Add. 22493 an d 17333- The former, a fragment
of four leaves, the upper half of each page filled by a
miniature, is a fair sample of the average work of its
school, with its neatly diapered backgrounds, its hard but
clean and decided drawing, and its depth of colour,
especially its dark blue. Much finer is the art of Add.
17333,* a really beautiful manuscript, which formerly
1 See Delisle and Meyer, p. cxxiii; Romania, xxv, 178.
2 Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 35, and Reprod.^ i, 23.
ill
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE APOCALYPSE
belonged to the Carthusian monastery of Val-Dieu, near
Mortagne. It has eighty-three half-page miniatures,
drawn and painted with great delicacy and finish, on
backgrounds of plain dark colour, or more often diapered
with a great variety of tessellated patterns. Buildings
are drawn with no less minute accuracy than in Add.
J 8633; and the slender graceful figures, the exquisite
expressive faces, the finely painted birds and monsters
which enliven the borders, combine with the harmonies of
colour and composition to put this in the front rank of
Apocalypse manuscripts.
About the middle of the fourteenth century the
demand for these illustrations seems to have ceased
among connoisseurs of art ; for a marked and rapid
decline is apparent in the quality of those produced after
that time, and their chief interest, as regards the history
of design, lies in the fact that they form a link in
the chain which connects the Spanish paintings of the
ninth century with Dutch or German woodcuts of the
fifteenth.
219
CHAPTER XIII
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION IN THE FOURTEENTH AND
FIFTEENTH CENTURIES
THE first quarter of the fourteenth century was
the real flowering-time of English illumination.
Other periods have bequeathed to us an abun-
dance of good work, each with its special points of excel-
lence, but also with its special foibles. In this, however,
a peculiarly satisfying balance was struck between the
various conflicting elements of book-decoration : realism,
imagination, and tradition, illustration and ornament,
were blended with unerring nicety of adjustment, by
artists possessed of a greater technical dexterity and a
more thorough naturalism than their early Gothic
predecessors ; and a harmonious perfection resulted,
which has hardly been surpassed in all the history of
the art.
This perfection was already foreshadowed in the
closing years of the thirteenth century, to which Mr.
Pierpont Morgan's "Windmill " Psalter 1 perhaps belongs,
though its rich, fully developed style suggests rather the
opening years of the fourteenth. It is indeed not easy to
find a parallel to the two magnificent pages with which
Psalm i begins. The first is filled with the initial " B," on
a diapered ground, enclosed in a rectangular frame set with
medallions of the Creation, etc., on gold grounds, and
itself enclosing a Jesse-tree. The letter " E," continuing
the word Beatus, takes up half the next page ; it is
surrounded with a wonderfully delicate and intricate lace-
work design of leaves and flourishes drawn in red and
1 M. R. James, Cat. of MSS. in the Library of J. Pierpont Morgan, pp. 41-3
(four plates) ; Burl. F.A. Club, No. 47, pi. 44.
220
PLATE XXXI
it U viable Kimr en feme te Ifmc H la f&nc M<x etcmnro V for> mar.
cnfortqcdciicsoitt otHidralc'pm'tw narrttnttltnu'^-p^
c fiac vn abornon tic toticu a bcftt- e il tcwna rote iffint fifr ck
ft
l^r A;
^C:
i comentc 5^oc n rtvxrmtttr- 1 Ic tntmcr roup qii ferur. ntte Ic moiuta u :
10 vint vn mmgel ft u: cil tna nwro- Lt angct U w tuas malfcr 1x6
-> **^ T (y^x 1 * n* va5 c to dciHs-. c chciic M nccf le men* DC tu ptims <car " flao S'^
iC.%joiutttt
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PSALTER. ENGLISH, EARLY XIVxH CENT
BRIT. MUS. ROY. 2 B VII.
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
blue outlines and faintly washed with pale green, and
it encloses paintings of an angel and of the Judgment of
Solomon over Solomon's head, the windmill to which
the book owes its name. The remaining decoration of
this interesting book consists of finely historiated initials
at the usual divisions of the Psalter, and of humorous
and spirited line-endings (grotesques, rabbits, monsters,
etc.) in outline or body-colour.
If the Windmill Psalter represents the opening bud,
it is assuredly the fine flower of early fourteenth century
illumination, in its fullest perfection, that we see in the
beautiful manuscript known as Queen Mary's Psalter.
Kept in its native country through the vigilance of
a London customs-officer, who seized it in 1553, just as
it was on the point of being sent abroad, and presented
it to the Queen, whose name it now bears, it has been
ever since one of the chief treasures of the old royal
collection, in which it is numbered 2 B. vii. 1 For a Psalter
it is an unusually thick volume, its exceptional wealth of
miniatures and marginal drawings leaving but little space
for text on most of the pages. Prefixed to the Calendar
is a long series of scenes from Old Testament history,
over two hundred in all, mostly two on a page, framed in
plain vermilion bands with three leaves growing out of
each corner. These drawings, firmly but delicately exe-
cuted in the finest possible outline, far freer and more
truly spontaneous in manner than any previous works of
the kind, are lightly tinted in violet, green, and reddish
brown. The compositions are spacious and simple ; the
figures graceful, with just a hint of dainty self-conscious-
ness in their pose ; the facial types often of great beauty.
As is usual in such series, a comparatively small number
of models is made to serve for many personages. The
subjects are described in French legends, quaint in
phrasing and often of considerable length ; they are not
1 See Pal, Soc., i, 147 ; Thompson, Eng. Ilium. MSS., pp. 43-5, pi. 14, 15 ;
Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 28-9, and Reprod., iii, 20-2 ; N. H. J. Westlake and
W. Purdue, Illustrations of O.T. Hist, in Qu. Mary? s Psalter, 1865.
221
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
restricted to the scriptural narrative, but include many
stories of apocryphal origin, e.g. that of the devil in-
stilling jealous suspicions into Noah's wife, in order to
hinder the building of the ark. 1
These drawings are followed by a nearly full-page
Jesse-tree and some pages filled with figures of Christ
and His kindred, etc., all painted in body-colour on
grounds of burnished gold or diapered colours, but ob-
viously by the same artist as the tinted drawings. Then
comes the Calendar, remarkable for the elaboration and
originality with which the zodiacal signs and monthly
occupations are treated in a series of frieze-like designs
running across the full width of the pages.
After the Calendar, the text of the Psalms is in-
troduced by a frontispiece of the Annunciation and
Visitation. The lower margin of every page is now filled
with an admirable tinted drawing, in the same style as
the scenes from the Old Testament, but on a smaller scale,
and with much greater freedom of range as to subject.
Beginning with a long series of illustrations of medieval
animal-lore the phoenix, the panther whose fragrance
attracts other animals, the tiger brought to a standstill by
a mirror which the hunted man has dropped, the water-
snake eating his way through a crocodile, sirens capturing
mariners, etc. the artist goes on to illustrate all manner
of contemporary games, sports, and pastimes, often with
grotesque monsters for performers. Then come the
miracles of the Virgin, followed by the lives and martyr-
doms of the saints. The book is further enriched, not
only with historiated initials at the usual divisions, but
also with a great number of large miniatures of the life
of Christ, delicately drawn and brilliantly painted on
stippled gold or diapered backgrounds. 2
1 PI. xxxi.
2 See pi. xxxii, representing the Cana marriage-feast just after the miracle,
a servant offering a cup of the new wine to the ruler of the feast. This treatment
of the subject is rare ; in the contemporary Taymouth Horae it follows a picture
of the more familiar scene, servants filling the jars with water. See H. Y. Thomp-
son, Catalogue, ii, p. 63.
222
PLATE XXXII
mmnaumvjq
jMDatftnmc
iftruefumfl!
PSALTER. ENGLISH, EARLY XIV CENT.
BRIT. MUS., ROY. 2 B VII.
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
Queen Mary's Psalter stands alone in its dainty and
exquisite beauty ; in point of variety and brilliance of
decoration, however, it is rivalled, if not surpassed, by
its contemporaries of the East Anglian school. An
Apocalypse 1 belonging to this remarkable group was
mentioned in the last chapter ; but its finest representa-
tives are a set of Psalters, which take a very prominent
place in the history of English illumination. All are
executed with the highest degree of finish, and all
are characterized to a great extent by the same manner-
isms. 2 These are easier to recognize with the eye than
to describe in words ; they may be briefly summed up,
however, as consisting of (i) a rich and harmonious
colour-scheme, with plentiful use of burnished and
patterned gold ; (2) luxuriance of ornament, especially in
the designing of frame-borders and initial -decoration,
where plant forms, animals, and human figures are
entwined together in an effective and distinctive manner,
red and green ivy, vine, and oak-leaves, the last com-
bined with acorns, being specially prominent ; (3) a
passion for the droll and grotesque, not peculiar indeed
to this school, but very noticeable and pronounced in it.
This last trait suggests a connection with late thirteenth
century Flemish art, as exemplified in Stowe 17 ; 3 and
very likely East Anglian art did owe something to
Flemish or North-French influence. In the main, how-
ever, it was undoubtedly a native growth, and its half-
century of duration (1300-50) was the brightest period in
English illumination.
Mr. Sydney Cockerell claims the Rutland and Tenison
Psalters 4 as ancestors of the East Anglian school ; but no
evidence has been adduced to connect them with it locally,
and they have but little resemblance to it in point of style,
apart from the use of grotesques, which is too common in
1 Roy. 150. ii. See above, p. 217.
2 These are well brought out in Mr. S. C. Cockerell's valuable and sump-
tuously illustrated monograph on The Gorleston Psalter, 1907.
3 Above, p. 205. * Noticed above, pp. 188, 190.
223
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
late thirteenth century work to be considered a distinctive
attribute of one particular school. It is quite otherwise
with the Peterborough Psalter in the Royal Library at
Brussels. 1 The contents of this splendid book prove
beyond question that it was done for (and in all probability
at) Peterborough ; its date has been variously put by good
judges as circa 1250 and circa 1300, so we may safely
assign it to the latter half of the thirteenth century. There
is still a good deal of archaic angularity about its minia-
tures ; but the borders contain all the elements of ornament
noted above as characteristic of the early fourteenth century
East Anglian school, though they lack the rich exuberance
of fancy and the fineness of finish which make the best
productions of the school so delightful to behold.
Of these, one of the earliest and most interesting is
Arundel 83 in the British Museum ; 2 a volume containing
two incomplete manuscripts, of similar contents, age, and
style, bound up together. The first is a Psalter, preceded
by a Calendar and several pages of allegorical designs,
and followed by Canticles, Litanies, Office of the Dead,
and Hours of the Passion, the last imperfect. The second
is a mere fragment textually, though artistically the richer
and more beautiful of the two ; it consists of Calendar and
allegorical designs, followed by a series of miniatures of the
life of Christ, in compartments, and by some remarkable
full-page miniatures. In the second Calendar, under
November 25, Robert de Lyle has recorded his gift of
the book to his daughters Audrey and "Alborou" in
succession, with remainder to the nuns of Chicksand in
Bedfordshire. His note is dated 1339, and the manu-
script is probably some twenty or thirty years earlier; his
family association with Mundford in Norfolk supports the
evidence of style in favour of an East Anglian provenance.
The arms on the first page of the other MS. seem to indi-
1 Nos. 9961-2. For full description and reproductions, partly in colours, see
Le Psautier de Peterborough, ed. J. van den Gheyn [1907], forming fasc. 2-3 of Le
Musle des Enluminures.
2 Pal. Soc., i, 99, 100; Thompson, pp. 55-8, pi. 17; Warner, Ilium. MSS.,
pi. 31, and Reprod., iii, 23-5; Cockerell, Gor lesion Psalter, pi. 20, 21.
224
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
cate that it was made either for Sir William Howard, who
died in 1308 and was buried at East Winch near Lynn,
or for Alice Fitton his wife. The opening page of the
Psalter is, as usual, the most elaborate: the " B " encloses
a Jesse-tree, and the two columns of text are framed in a
border resplendent with gold and colours, filled with inter-
twining foliage-stems whose curves form panels for figures
of Patriarchs and Prophets on both sides, a Crucifixion at
the top, and the Evangelistic emblems at the corners. At
the foot of the page, between text and frame, is a lively
picture of a woodland scene, with stag and hind, rabbit,
and a fowler crouching under a bush and luring birds with
an owl; all carefully and admirably painted, and full of an
animation the more vivid from its contrast with the con-
ventionalism of the more strictly appropriate scriptural
figures. The other divisions of the Psalter have miniature-
initials on grounds of burnished and stippled gold, and
borders of cusped bars and foliage-stems, supporting gro-
tesques and decorated with ivy, oak and vine leaves; daisy-
buds, afterwards a favourite device in English borders,
also occur.
The emblematic diagrams, which figure in both manu-
scripts, are exceedingly curious : they include a seraph
whose wings are inscribed with moral qualities, illustra-
tions of the Creed, tables of virtues and vices, and a repre-
sentation of the Cross as the Tree of Life. In the second
manuscript the series is fuller, and contains a painting of
the stages of human life in ten medallions, the first an
infant on its mother's lap, the last a tomb; also the Three
Living and Three Dead Kings a subject found in East
Anglian wall-paintings of this period, 1 and very popular
at a later date in Flemish Books of Hours.
Of greater artistic merit, indeed of singular beauty, are
the additional pages in Robert de Lyle's book. The life
of Christ miniatures are in two series, by two different
1 e.g. at Gorleston, possibly the birthplace of this very book, and at Wick-
hampton and Belton. See Cockerell, p. 7, and G. E. Fox in the Victoria History
of Norfolk, vol. ii, 1906, p. 547.
15 225
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
hands : the first eighteen, arranged in compartments, six
to a page, within cusped quatrefoils, are exquisitely painted
in subdued tints, a soft greyish blue predominating, and
are set on grounds of stippled gold and diapered colours
alternately. The faces are too long for correct proportions,
anatomy is often at fault, and the compositions are lacking
in vigour and movement ; but with all this there is an
indescribable charm about the pictures, the gentle, repose-
ful faces and quiet, solemn gestures expressing well the
reverential awe with which the artist approached his sub-
ject. The remaining eight, separated from these by some
pages, are in the same style, but of somewhat inferior
workmanship. Two of the intervening pages are filled
with large miniatures which show East Anglian painting
at its best. One of these 1 represents the Madonna and
Child under a canopy, against a background of gold highly
burnished and covered with a finely stippled pattern of
foliage scroll-work; the Child is playing with a goldfinch,
and the Virgin's feet rest on a dragon and a lion ; in the
spandrels are angels with censers, and on either side are
saints in niches. The other is a Crucifixion, painted on
a background of lozenges filled with fleurs-de-lis and
heraldic lions ; at the foot of the cross Adam sits up in
his tomb and holds up a chalice to catch the Redeemer's
blood ; at the top are two angels with discs to represent
the sun and moon, between them a pelican feeding her
young, an emblem of the Redemption.
We come next to two Psalters definitely associated with
Gorleston in Suffolk, two miles south of Yarmouth ; both
of the very highest excellence, and closely allied to the
Arundel MS. These are MS. 171 in the Public Library
at Douai, 2 and the book which was long famous as Lord
Braybrooke's Psalter, but is now one of the gems in the
collection of Mr. C. W. Dyson Perrins, who prefers to
call it the Gorleston Psalter. 3 The Douai Psalter was
1 PI. xxxiii. 2 New Pal. Soc., pi. 14-16; Cockerell, pi. 16-18.
3 It forms the main subject of Mr. Cockerell's often-cited monograph, in
which pi. 1-14 show eight full pages and a great number of marginal subjects.
226
PLATE XXXIII
PSALTER. EAST ANGLIAN, EARLY XIViH CENT.
BRIT. MUS., ARUNDEL 83
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
given, as an inscription on the fly-leaf shows, by Thomas,
vicar of Gorleston, to a certain Abbot John ; and it
contains two series of chronological notes, referring
specially to the diocese of Norwich, and fixing the date
of the book between the years 1322 and 1325. These
same notes occur, be it observed, in a Breviary of the
Norwich diocesan use (Brit. Mus., Stowe I2), 1 which in
its present condition has no large miniatures, but whose
border and initial ornaments make it an interesting, if not
quite first-rate, example of East Anglian illumination.
The Perrins Psalter has the Dedication of Gorleston
Church marked in the Calendar (Mar. 8) as a " majus
duplex" festival, and special prominence is given in the
illuminations to S. Andrew, to whom the parish church
at Gorleston was dedicated. Moreover, it has so marked
a resemblance to the Douai Psalter in point of style, that
they may both be referred without hesitation not only to
the same locality but also to the same period and the
same scriptorium, if not indeed to the same individual
artists. Each of them has a magnificent Beatus vir page,
much richer than that in the Arundel MS. : an elaborate
Jesse-tree in the " B," the frame-border filled with figures
of kings and scenes from the life of Christ, finely painted
on patterned gold grounds in panels formed by intersecting
oak or vine stems. The Perrins MS. has a hunting scene
at the foot, corresponding to the woodland scene in Arundel
83 ; in the Douai MS. there is instead a picture of David
bringing the ark to Jerusalem, with all the stately pomp
of a medieval church procession. This page is preceded
in the Douai book by two splendid full-page miniatures,
of the Virgin and Child and the Crucifixion; both subjects
were probably in the Perrins book too originally, but only
the latter remains. The Douai miniatures, like the
Arundel Madonna, are on backgrounds of gold punctured
with a scroll-work pattern of foliage ; a further point of
resemblance is the goldfinch with which the Child is
playing. The Perrins and Douai Crucifixions are so
1 Pal. Soc., ii, 197 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 32, and Reprod., ii, 14.
227
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
much alike that Dr. James assigned them both to the
same hand ; Mr. Cockerell, however, who had the advan-
tage of seeing them together, thought them more probably
the work of "two artists who worked side by side." It
is quite clear that many hands contributed to the em-
bellishment of these and other allied manuscripts that
there was, in fact, an active, flourishing, and highly
accomplished school of illuminators established at this
time somewhere in the neighbourhood of Norwich, per-
haps at Gorleston. The Franciscans and the Austin
Friars had houses at the latter place, but we have no
grounds for attributing these books to either of those
orders, or even to clerics at all, religious or secular ; at
this period it seems more likely, as Mr. Cockerell says,
that " the best of the artists were laymen, who contracted
for given pieces of work, and moved from place to place,
at the beck and call of various patrons."
We must not leave the Perrins Psalter without a word
as to the small marginal figures and the still smaller ones
in the line-endings, which for variety, humour, and vivacity
are unrivalled among the productions of this the best
period of the school. Practically the whole range of
human activities, as known to the artists, is represented :
ecclesiastics, warriors, hunters, musicians, blacksmiths,
etc., practising their respective callings. But it is in
whimsical caricature above all that the illustrators de-
lighted, giving free play to an absolutely riotous fancy :
foxes masquerading as bishops, rabbits conducting a
solemn procession, apes hunting on horseback or driving
a team of plough-oxen, and such-like drolleries. Gro-
tesque and monstrous forms of all kinds abound, of
course, and scenes of animal life are often depicted with
great spirit.
The Ormesby Psalter at Oxford 1 belongs to the same
group ; a gift to Norwich Priory by one of the monks,
Robert of Ormesby, a village about six miles north of
1 Douce 366. See H. Shaw, Ilium. Ornaments, 1833, No. 9 ; Cockerell, pi. 19;
Michel, Hist, de FAr/, ii, pt. i, pi. iv.
228
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
Gorleston. Except for a few pages, it is much less richly
decorated than the Perrins MS. ; but those few pages are
superb, especially the Beatus vir, in which the illumina-
tion covers the whole page, kneeling portraits of a monk
(doubtless Robert of Ormesby himself) and bishop having
been painted in on square panels over the few lines of
text which were originally there. The plant-forms in the
borders are exceptionally light and varied, cornflowers,
bluebells, and other flowers appearing as well as the usual
oak and ivy leaves.
Slightly later, perhaps, and representing East Anglian
work at its greatest height of technical perfection, is the
Psalter in Mr. Yates Thompson's collection, 1 begun for a
member of the St. Omer family, of Mulbarton in Norfolk,
but left unfinished by the fourteenth century illuminators,
and completed about the beginning of the fifteenth cen-
tury. Its Beatus vir page is indeed the ne plus ultra of
this particular style of illumination, combining a rich,
yet spacious and not overladen scheme of decoration with
minute and exquisite delicacy in the spirited little figure-
compositions, and with the utmost fertility in invention ;
the plant-forms are as varied as in the Ormesby Psalter,
and bears, unicorns, stags, birds of all kinds, and tiny
human figures are perched here and there on the stems,
quite irrelevantly and yet with a perfect decorative fitness.
The Louterell Psalter 2 in the Lulworth Castle Library,
made for Sir Geoffrey Louterell, of Irnham in Lincoln-
shire, about 1340, shows the East Anglian style already
beginning to decay. It has historiated initials of a hard,
brightly coloured, expressionless type ; but its chief
decoration is the marginal ornament, which is amazing
in its mass, variety, and incoherence. Regardless of all
sense of proportion or congruity, the illuminators have
covered the margins with a mixture of studies of con-
temporary life, fabliaux, and gigantic, sometimes quaint,
1 No. 58, described by Sir G. Warner in the Catalogue ', ii, pp. 74-82. See too
H. Y. Thompson, Facsimiles from a Psalter , 1900, and Lecture on some Eng.
Ilium. MSS., 1902, pp. 23-5, pi. 31-6 ; Cockerell, pi. 15.
* New Pal. Soc., pi. 41-3.
229
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
but often merely hideous, grotesques. Many of the
subjects, taken apart from their surroundings, are charm-
ing, ingenious, full of vivacity : such are the delightful
series of scenes in a medieval kitchen, with pots boiling,
and game on a spit before an open fire, tended by lightly
clad and heated cooks ; the Castle of Love, defended by
ladies who throw roses from the battlements ; the picture
of Constantinople as a walled city ; the ladies in a long,
covered travelling-coach drawn by five horses; the portrait
of Sir Geoffrey Louterell on horseback, taking leave of
his wife and daughter-in-law, who hand up to him his
helmet, shield, and lance. In fact, to the antiquary the
book is a perfect treasure-house, though the beauty-lover
must deplore its crude, ill-assorted designs and its garish,
bizarre colouring.
About the middle of the century the East Anglian
school, already decadent, seems to have died out as
suddenly as it had sprung up ; perhaps through the
ravages of the Black Death, which devastated England
in 1348-9, visiting Norfolk with especial severity. What-
ever the cause, there is a great dearth of good English
work from the middle until very near the end of the
fourteenth century. During the greater part of the cen-
tury, indeed, apart from the East Anglian group, Queen
Mary's Psalter, and a few other choice books of the same
period, English illumination is not so much beautiful as
valuable and interesting for the wealth, vigour, and
expressiveness of its illustrations of folk-lore, popular
legend (sacred or profane), and contemporary life. In
this category come such books as Roy. 10 E. iv, a copy
of the Decretals of Gregory IX, written in Italy but
illuminated in England, perhaps by the canons of
S. Bartholomew's, Smithfield ; its lower margins filled
with rough but very lively and diverting coloured draw-
ings, forming a vast medley of Bible-history and hagio-
graphy jostling up against less edifying literature,
intermingled with fables, allegories, and sketches from
everyday life distracting, if not uninstructive, to the
230
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
student of Canon law. 1 Here too we must class the
Taymouth Horae in Mr. Yates Thompson's collection, 2
with its delicious pictures of the sportswoman's exploits ;
the Carew-Poyntz Horae in the Fitzwilliam Museum at
Cambridge, 3 with its long series of illustrations of the
Mary-legends ; and a Horae in the British Museum, 4 less
copiously and much less finely illuminated than these,
but interesting because of its unusual choice of subjects.
Even the Psalter of Queen Philippa, 5 executed apparently
between 1328 and 1340, graceful as its bordered pages
are with their light sprays of foliage, is not of first-rate
importance artistically ; moreover, both the borders and
the miniature-initials, with their backgrounds covered
with gilt scroll-work, show strong traces of French in-
fluence, and cannot be regarded as characteristic English
work of the time.
The progressive deterioration that went on during the
latter half of the fourteenth century may be seen in such
manuscripts as the Missal 6 of Nicholas Lytlington, Abbot
of Westminster (1362-86), still preserved in Westminster
Abbey, or the huge Wydiffite Bible 7 made for Thomas
of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (d. 1397). The typical
border has now become a framework of narrow rigid bars,
sometimes broken midway and replaced by a sort of
festoon of close-set foliage, but mostly diversified only
by leafy bosses at the corners (a curious reversion to the
tenth century Winchester style, as Sir G. Warner has re-
marked) and by short-stalked leaves or buds (usually in
pairs or threes) and sprays of foliage thrown out at
intervals. The total effect is heavy and dull, despite the
plenteous use of gold.
1 For a full list of subjects, etc., see the new Catalogue of the Royal MSS.
- No. 57. See Cat., ii, pp. 50-74, and Lecture on some Eng. Ilium. MSS.,
pp. 20-3, pi. 14-3-
1 No. 48. See M. R. James, Cat. of Fitzwilliam MSS., 1895, pp. 100-20.
4 Eg. 2781. See Warner, Reprod.,\\, 15; Titus and Vespasian, Roxburghe
Club, 1905 (two coloured plates.) 5 Harl. 2899. See Warner, Reprod., i, 14.
6 Missale ad usum EccL Westmonast., ed. J. Wickham Legg, Hen. Bradshaw
Soc., 1891-7.
7 Eg. 617-18. See Pal. Soc., i, 171 ; Kenyon, Biblical MSS., pi. 24.
231
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Just before the end of the century, however, a new
spirit was infused into English illumination, and the art
revived and flourished for a short time in a style quite
unlike that of the preceding period. This happy result
is generally ascribed to the influence of Rhenish or
Bohemian painters coming into the country with Anne of
Bohemia, who married Richard II in 1382; a theory
which is confirmed by Sir G. Warner's recent discovery l of
Low-German inscriptions among the illuminations of one
of the earliest and most splendid examples of this new
style, the great Bible of Richard II. The work of the
new school is characterized especially by great softness in
the treatment of the face, the use of the pencil or pen
being discarded in favour of pure brush-work ; by a rich,
warm, and harmonious colour-scheme (sadly wanting in
the immediately preceding age) ; by the skilful use of
architectural ornament ; and by the introduction of new
forms of foliage, in particular of light and feathery sprays
putting forth curious spoon-shaped leaves and bell or
trumpet-shaped flowers frankly conventional, but pro-
ducing a very decorative and pleasing effect. Another
characteristic device is a white scroll with sinuated edges,
resembling an elongated oak-leaf, which is wrapped
festoon-wise round the upright shafts of pillars or initials.
The great Bible 2 just mentioned, a volume of enormous
size, is supposed in default of evidence to have been made
for the Royal Chapel ; it is evidently of the time of
Richard II, or Henry IV at latest, and its bulk and
magnificence certainly suggest a royal patron. Every
book has a large miniature-initial and full border, and the
prologues have initials of equal size, either filled with
scrolls of foliage or else enclosing pictures of S. Jerome
at work among his books. The main characteristics of
the decoration are those of the school in general, and it
only remains to say a word about the treatment of land-
1 See his description of Roy. i E. ix in the new Cat, of Royal MSS.
2 Roy. i E. ix. See Thompson, Eng. Ilium. MSS., pp. 58-61, pi. 18, 19;
Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 41-2, and Refrod., iii, 27.
232
~ p*.^: ~J$<JK.
r fc& ^
PLATE XXXIV
CUTTINGS FROM A MISSAL. ENGLISH, LATE XIVxH CENT.
BRIT. MUS. Ann. 29704
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
scape in the miniatures. This is now beginning tenta-
tively to approach naturalism, so far as the ground on
which the personages stand is concerned ; but where sky
should be, we still have gilded, tapestried or checkered
backgrounds.
Another splendid work of the same school is a great
Missal, of which nothing remains except a number of
initials and border ornaments cut out by some former
owner, and now filling two large volumes in the British
Museum. 1 When complete the book must have been
as stately as the Bible which it resembles so closely.
Many of the initials are filled with foliate decoration ; but
there are also several which contain finely painted minia-
tures of the lives of saints, liturgical ceremonies, and
other subjects more or less germane to the text. 2 In one
of them a portrait of Richard II has been recognized ; so
it seems not unlikely that this book and the Bible were
both made for him. Be that as it may, they are certainly
magnificent specimens of the last period when illumina-
tion in this country approached greatness.
More gorgeous still is the gigantic Sherborne Missal 3
in the Duke of Northumberland's collection ; of special
interest, too, from the data which it supplies as to the
circumstances of its production. Portraits of Richard
Mitford, Bishop of Salisbury 1396-1407, and Robert
Bruynyng, Abbot of Sherborne, in Dorsetshire, 1386-
1415, recur in conjunction on page after page, proclaiming
them the joint patrons of the book, and thus fixing its
date within the limits of Mitford's episcopate. Nor is
this all : more frequent still are the smaller figures of the
scribe, John Whas, a Benedictine monk (doubtless of
Sherborne Abbey), and the artist John Siferwas, a
Dominican friar. The latter, one of the few illuminators
whose names have come down to us in definite association
1 Add. 29704-5. See Warner, Reprod.^ i, 16.
2 PI. xxxiv shows S. Giles in one initial, a baptism in another.
3 Described by Sir E. M. Thompson in the Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries, xvi, 1896, pp. 226-30. Photographs of four pages are in the British
Museum, MS. Facs. 64 (r).
233
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
with particular works, also appears on the frontispiece of
a Lectionary 1 in the British Museum, giving the volume
to John, Lord Lovel (d. 1408), who had ordered it as an
offering to Salisbury Cathedral. This book, now unfor-
tunately in a very incomplete state, has decorations of a
similar style to those in the Sherborne Missal, but far
inferior in richness and variety. In both cases it is
evident that Siferwas was the chief artist who planned
and supervised the decoration, not the actual painter of
the whole. It is not easy to do justice to the Sherborne
Missal. Besides a great wealth of initial and border
decoration, carefully executed in a style similar to that
of Richard U's Bible and Missal, it has the margins en-
riched with scenes from Scripture, hagiography, and eccle-
siastical history, and with many other subjects, including
a delightful series of birds inscribed with their English
names. Architectural canopies are frequently introduced ;
these are mostly of a highly ornate character, and greatly
enhance the splendour of the pages.
The same manner appears again, though on a much
more modest scale, in a charming miniature of the
Annunciation contained in a Book of Hours in the British
Museum. 2 The volume, which was executed about the
end of the fourteenth century, presumably for a member
of the Grandison family, is decorated throughout in the
somewhat heavy, uninteresting style of what might be
called the " unreformed " English illuminators of the
time. But this frontispiece is plainly the work of an
artist trained in the school which inspired John Siferwas.
The colouring is soft and pleasing ; especially gracious
and charming are the cloaked figures of the patron and
his wife who kneel in prayer on either side at the foot of
the page. Mary and the angel are enclosed in an elabor-
ately canopied tabernacle, from the sides and pedestal
of which light sprays of foliage issue with delightful
incongruity.
1 Harl. 7026. See Warner, Reprod., ii, 16.
2 Roy. 2 A. xviii. See Thompson, pp. 61-4, pi. 20; Warner, Reprod., i, 15.
234
ENGLISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
This remarkable school left a permanent influence on
English border-decoration, giving it a lightness of con-
struction and variety of detail which it had needed sadly,
and of which it retained some traces long after all other
elements of good illuminative art had disappeared. In
other respects the influence was shortlived. The first
quarter of the fifteenth century saw the produc-
tion of a few really fine manuscripts, foremost among
which stands the admirable Horae of " Elysabeth the
Quene" in Mr. Yates Thompson's collection. 1 But on
the whole the art of illumination was on the down grade.
Henry V's successful invasion of France introduced a
taste for French illumination, then at its prime ; and
most of the fifteenth century Horae and other decorated
books done for wealthy English patrons were the work
of French artists or of mere copyists who imitated the
foreign methods as best they could. Under Edward IV
this fashion gave way to a similar enthusiasm for
Flemish painting, and native art decayed and perished
for lack of encouragement. The manuscripts of distinc-
tively English character are chiefly interesting as illustra-
tions of costume, like the famous Lydgate's Life of
S. Edmund (Harl. 2278) presented to Henry VI in
X 433; r as evincing a genuine depth of mystical
devotion, like the Cottonian " Desert of Religion "
(Faust. B. vi, pt. ii) ; rather than through their intrinsic
merits as works of art.
1 No. 59. See Cat. t ii, pp. 83-9, Lecture, pp. 26-7, pi. 38-42 ; Pal. Soc., ii, 37.
235
CHAPTER XIV
FRENCH ILLUMINATION IN THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY
THE fourteenth century, in England so full of prom-
ise at the outset and so disappointing later on,
was in France a period of steady advance, if not
from good to better for better of its kind than the Sainte
Abbaye could scarcely be at any rate from one good
style to another. In the history of Western European
miniature the year 1300 is a magical epoch, and marks
the zenith of the early Gothic manner. But whilst the
English painters after a few glorious decades fell away
from their state of grace, their French fellow-craftsmen
went on from strength to strength : preserving the excellent
tradition they had inherited, yet continually vitalizing and
developing it by the rejection of worn-out conventions and
the introduction of new ideas, and progressing steadily
towards a more perfect mastery of technique. This
applies, of course, only to the best work of the century.
It was an age of great activity in the production of
illuminated manuscripts, good, bad, or indifferent ; but
we are not concerned here with the last two classes.
Researches among archives have revealed to us the
names of many French illuminators (and of one " enlumi-
neresse " at least) who worked in the fourteenth century. 1
But these discoveries, interesting as they are, are mostly
tantalizing rather than informing ; for while the painter's
name and address are often recorded with the utmost pre-
cision, his actual work is rarely mentioned at all, still
more rarely in such a way as to lead to its identification.
1 See H. Martin, Les Miniaturistes Franfais, 1906, pp. 49-75, and Les
Feintres de MSS. et la Miniature en France [1909], pp. 35-72.
236
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 14x11 CENT.
One or two names, however, stand out with such promi-
nence that we are justified in regarding their owners
as the leading illuminators of their respective times,
though we need not therefore assume that they are to
be credited personally, or even through their immediate
pupils, with any and every piece of fine work that has sur-
vived from those times. Foremost among these are Jean
Pucelle in the second quarter of the century, and Andre
Beauneveu and Jacquemart de Hesdin at its close, each
of whom has come to be definitely associated, on more or
less secure foundation of actual evidence, with a well-
marked distinctive style.
Of the miniaturists settled in Paris about the year
1300 the one esteemed most highly seems to have been
Honore, to whom the Breviary of Philippe le Bel (Bibl.
Nat., lat. IO23), 1 executed in 1296, may probably be attri-
buted. His son-in-law, Richard de Verdun, had been
associated with him in 1292, and seems to have succeeded
to his atelier by 1318, in which year Richard occurs as
a painter of antiphoners for the Sainte Chapelle. One
is strongly tempted to see more than a mere coincidence
of local names between the latter artist and Mr. Yates
Thompson's Verdun Breviary, 2 which, like its companion
the Metz Pontifical in the same collection, 3 forms one of
the most beautiful extant memorials of French early
fourteenth century illumination. Of the two, which are
plainly by the same hand, the Breviary is slightly the
earlier, having been made for Marguerite de Bar, Abbess
of S. Maur, at Verdun, 1291-1304 ; the Pontifical was
made for her brother Renaud or Reinhold, Bishop of
Metz 1302-16, probably towards the end of his episco-
pate, the last few miniatures in the book being more or
1 Delisle, Douze livres royaux, No. vii.
2 No. 31. See Cat., i, pp. 142-78; H. Y. Thompson, Illustrations of 100
MSS., vol. i, 1907, pi. 10. It is the first volume only, the second being in the
Public Library at Verdun (No. 107).
3 Formerly in the possession of Sir Thomas Brooke, who bequeathed it to his
brother-collector. It was edited by the Rev. E. S. Dewick, and its illuminations
reproduced (four in gold and colours), for theRoxburghe Club in 1902.
237
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
less unfinished, as though his death had interrupted its
completion. Both books are copiously and beautifully
decorated with historiated initials and with borders of
a restrained and particularly pleasing type, consisting
of slender cusped bars ending in foliage-stems, or some-
times in little human heads or grotesque forms, and
supporting an immense variety of single figures or
groups. These last are of the diverting character so dear
to miniaturists at this period ; inferior to none of their
contemporaries in humour and invention, they far surpass
most of them in the exquisite neatness of their execution
and in the fine taste and sense of proportion with which
they are fitted into the decorative scheme. The Pontifical
is further enriched with a splendid series of half-page
miniatures, which illustrate the text by representing with
the minutest accuracy many of the rites and ceremonies
in which a bishop is required to take the leading part.
In the first nineteen pictures, for instance, the successive
acts in the dedication of a church are shown in full
detail : watching the relics in a tent the night before ;
the bishop knocking at the church-door and demanding
admittance, tracing the Greek and Latin alphabets with
his crosier on the floor of the nave, 1 etc. The delicately
drawn figures stand out well against the diapered back-
grounds ; they still have the almost ascetic slenderness
of early Gothic art, but its austere rigidity has now given
place to a curious and distinctive sway of the body, not
ungraceful, though somewhat artificial and suggestive of
sentimentality. The faces, placid, smooth, and rounded,
are of refined types, and are drawn with extraordinary
delicacy.
In 1295 the Historia Scholastica of Petrus Comestor
was translated into French by Guiart des Moulins, Canon
of Aire in Artois ; and this vernacular paraphrase of the
Scriptures, known as the " Bible historiale," was in France
almost as popular throughout the fourteenth century as
the Vulgate had been in the thirteenth. One of the
1 PI. XXXV.
238
PLATE XXXV
quam mmtmDiis rit lotus tftr
ur re noil dt liir alurt uifi lomu?
'i t fc' ' I i
ittus oife
tRia jKt.aqrtnitti.tt
METZ PONTIFICAL, 1302-16
LIBRARY OF SIR T. BROOKE, BART.
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 14x11 CENT.
earliest extant copies, written at Paris in 1317 by Jean
de Papeleu, is now in the Arsenal Library (No. 5059).*
Besides a frontispiece, representing Christ surrounded
by angels, it has 176 illustrative miniatures on gold
or diapered grounds. Good as these are, especially in
depicting facial expression, they are not to be compared
for delicate beauty with the paintings in the two manu-
scripts just mentioned ; they are interesting, however,
as typical of a very large class, 2 and also because of the
preliminary sketches still visible in the margins opposite
many of them. M. Martin has made a special study of
such sketches, which occur in several other manuscripts,
e.g. in Roy. 18 D. viii, a French Bible of about the same
period ; he sees in them the hand of the chef d atelier,
giving a rough working model for the assistant who
paints the actual finished miniature a theory which has
much plausibility, especially in the case of works turned
out in such numbers and with such virtual uniformity
as these illustrated Bible-histories.
Another noteworthy Parisian production of the year
1317 is the Life of S. Denis, in Latin and French, com-
posed by Yves, a monk of the famous abbey dedicated to
that saint, and presented by the abbot to King Philip V.
The manuscript, now in the Bibliotheque Nationale (fr.
2090-2), contains seventy-seven miniatures 3 (all but three
full-page) of the lives and martyrdoms of S. Denis and his
companions. These are all finely executed, on diapered
or tapestried grounds, and were doubtless painted, not by
a monk of S. Denis, but by one or more of the skilful lay
" enlumineurs " of whom, as we have seen, there was an
abundant supply in Paris at this time. There is a touch of
1 Martin, Peinires, p. 58, fig. 12, Miniaturistes, p. 113, and Cat, des MSS. de
la Bibl. de P Arsenal, v, 1889, P- 2 9-
2 A good, though hardly quite first-rate, representative is the well-known
"Poitiers Bible" in the British Museum (Roy. 19 D. ii), so called because it was
captured with its owner, John II, at the battle of Poitiers in 1356.
3 Published in facsimile, with four more pages showing the initial and border
decoration, by the Soc. de 1'hist. de Paris, Lcgetide de Saint Denis, ed. H. Martin,
1908. See too New Pal. Soc., pi. 88-90.
239
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
traditional formality in the purely hagiographical scenes ;
but the foregrounds are enlivened with a delightful series
of pictures of everyday street and riverside life in the
French capital, full of animation and assuredly a faithful
representation of incidents witnessed daily by the artist :
men bathing from boats, or fishing with rod or net; boats
laden with merchandise, being towed along or unloaded ;
the streets above thronged with passers-by, on horse or
foot, intent on pleasure or business all depicted with a
genial realism not commonly associated with the four-
teenth century.
The name of Jean Pucelle first appears in 1319-24, in
the accounts of a Paris confraternity, for whom he designed
a seal. As a miniaturist, he can only be given three books
with anything like certainty, viz. a Bible, completed in
1327, and now in the Bibliotheque Nationale (lat. 11935);
the Belleville Breviary, also in the Bibl. Nat. (lat. 10483-4),
which must have been finished before 1343; and a little
book of Hours, 1 in Baroness Adolphe de Rothschild's
collection, which M. Delisle has identified with the "Heures
de Pucelle " mentioned in the inventories of the Due de
Berry's library. This last is perhaps, as M. Martin con-
jectures, the same book as the " bien petit livret d'oroisons
. . . que Pucelle enlumina," between 1325 and 1328, for
Charles IV to give his third wife Jeanne d'Evreux, who
bequeathed it in 1370 to Charles V. At any rate, the fact
that he received so important a commission proves his
eminence among the miniaturists of his day; and the
commemoration of his name more than forty years after-
wards in Queen Jeanne's will, and still later in the Due
de Berry's inventories, is a very exceptional tribute to his
reputation.
The Bible 2 of 1327 is very neatly written by a scribe
named Robert de Billyng, and beautifully decorated with
1 Delisle, 12 livres roy., pp. 67-75, and Les Heures dites de Jean Pucelle,
reproducing the miniatures.
2 See Martin, Miniaturistes, fig. 9 ; Delisle, 12 livres roy., pi. 14; Exposition
des Primitifs Francis, 1904, MSS., No. 23.
240
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 14 CENT.
pen-tracery in blue and red. Of illumination proper, how-
ever, it has but little, excellent and tasteful though that
little is ; and it owes its celebrity largely to the colophon,
which not only gives the date of completion, but also
states that Jehan Pucelle, Anciau de Cens, and Jaquet
Maci "hont enlumine' ce livre ci." The Belleville Brev-
iary 1 contains some memoranda which seem to indicate
that Pucelle was the chef d 'atelier commissioned to exe-
cute the book, and that he employed Mahiet, Ancelet, and
J. Chevrier to assist him as copyists or illuminators.
Mahiet and Ancelet are perhaps variants of the names
of his former collaborators Maci and Anciau ; and it may
be conjectured that their work consisted mainly of pen-
work and other minor decoration, and that the finest
miniatures were painted by Pucelle himself. At any rate,
it is convenient, and need not be misleading, to give the
name of "school of Pucelle " to the mid-fourteenth century
style which is so admirably exemplified in the Belleville
Breviary. This beautiful book has seventy-six small
miniatures, not enclosed in the initials but set in the
column immediately above them (a method which was
now beginning to supplant the historiated initial), of the
full width of the column of text and about one-third of its
height ; painted with exquisite minuteness and delicacy,
the figures more softly rounded, the draperies more skil-
fully modelled by means of gradations of colour, than in
the Metz Pontifical and its contemporaries. The border-
frame is still slightly attached to the initial and miniature,
but tends to become an entirely independent piece of orna-
ment. It consists of narrow bars, cusped and knotted at
the angles, surrounding the text on both sides and at the
bottom ; single leaves and sprays shoot out at intervals,
and at the top the bars branch out into foliage- stems
which nearly meet and complete the frame. Human
figures, birds, insects, dragons, and grotesques are dis-
persed among the foliage, or used as terminals ; they are
1 Martin, Miniaturistes, fig. 10, Peintres, fig. 14, 15 ; Delisle, 12 livres roy.,
pp. 8 1-8, pi. 15-17.
16 241
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
less freely employed, however, than in the earlier style,
and the French border tends to rely more and more on
graceful and symmetrical arrangements of conventional
foliage, rather than on organic forms, for its effect. In
the details of the foliage too there is little striving after
either naturalism or variety, both so characteristic of con-
temporary English work ; the three-lobed conventional
"ivy-leaf" is used almost exclusively.
In the lower margins of several pages, between the
text and the framing bar, are exquisite little scenes from
Bible-history and allegorical representations of virtues
and of the mysteries of the Church. The main idea in
these, a contrast between the Old and New Dispensations,
is treated more systematically in the Calendar-illustrations,
which form an exceedingly interesting feature of the
manuscript. Only the two pages for November and
December remain, unfortunately ; but the artist's meaning
is set forth in an elaborate " exposition des ymages " at
the beginning of the book, and the whole of this very
curious series of subjects is preserved in a small group of
contemporary and later manuscripts. One of the earliest
of these is a beautiful Book of Hours, made about
1336.48 for Jeanne II, Queen of Navarre, daughter of
Louis X of France ; it is now in the collection of Mr.
Yates Thompson, 1 who has reproduced its miniatures,
together with the November page from the Belleville
Breviary and two later manuscripts, the Duke of Berry's
"Petites Heures" and "Grandes Heures." The same
collector also possesses another member of the group in
a Book of Hours made for Jeanne's daughter-in-law,
Yolande de Flandre, about 1353.* Like the Belleville
Breviary, these two Books of Hours are among the
choicest surviving specimens of Parisian illumination of
1 Hours of Joan If, Queen of Navarre, Roxburghe Club, 1899. Fully
described as No. 75 in the Catalogue, ii, pp. 151-183, with the text of the Belle-
ville "exposition" on pp. 365-8. See too PaL Soc., ii, 36; Burl. F.A. Club,
No. 130, pi. 87.
2 Hours of Yolande of Flanders, ed. S. C. Cockerell, 1905, with photogravure
illustrations.
242
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 14 CENT.
the time; and both might be classed in the Pucelle school
on general grounds of style, even without their remark-
able agreement in the Calendar-designs.
The originator of this series, who may well have been
Jean Pucelle himself, would seem to have aimed at
proving that a high degree of artistic taste and skill was
not incompatible with a love for theological symbolism ;
and he has achieved this so completely that his verbal
explanations are, to say the least, a welcome adjunct to
his designs. Each month is identified with one of the
twelve apostles, with one of the twelve articles of the
Creed, and with S. Paul's conversion or one of his
Epistles ; the whole year also symbolizes the gradual
destruction of the Old Dispensation. At the top of each
page is a battlemented gate, one of " les xij portes de
Jerusalem de Paradis." From its battlements the Virgin
Mary, " par quoi nous fu la porte ouverte," waves a
banner emblazoned with a device illustrating one of the
articles of the Creed. Below her is S. Paul, in January
crouching beneath the Hand of God, " comment il fu ravi
et apeleY' in the other months preaching to attentive
groups of Romans, Corinthians, etc. An arch springs
from the right-hand side of the gateway, bearing the sun
in a position which marks its meridian altitude for the
successive months ; below is the zodiacal sign, with a
landscape sketch suggestive of the season (bare trunks
and frost-bound earth in January, rain in February, bud-
ding shoots in March, and so on). At the foot of the
page is a building, the Synagogue of the Old Testament,
from which a prophet removes a stone, symbolizing a
prophecy, and gives it to an apostle ; in the latter' s hands
it turns into a scroll, inscribed with an article of the
Creed corresponding with the device on the Virgin's
banner. Thus the Synagogue, complete in January,
crumbles away as the year advances, till in December it
falls to the ground in ruins. The series apparently ended
with a full-page design, in which the apostles are shown
building the Church out of the spoils of the Synagogue ;
243
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
but this is no longer extant in the Belleville Breviary or
the Yates Thompson MSS.
The Hours of Jeanne de Navarre also contain sixty-
eight half-page miniatures and thirty-seven historiated
initials, besides border and minor initial decoration on
almost every page. The miniatures have the inevitable
fourteenth century backgrounds of diaper, checker-work,
or colour brocaded with gold scroll-work, and are nearly
all enclosed in cusped quatrefoils within square frames of
gold and colours. They are not all of equal fineness, but
the best are unmistakably the work of a great artist. The
soft, well-modelled figures are of a charming type, the
colouring is light, bright, and delicate. One of the most
interesting features of the book is the series of miniatures
accompanying the Hours of S. Louis, an ancestor of
Jeanne through both her parents, and therefore doubtless
an object of her special devotion. Various scenes in the
saint's life are depicted : his instruction as a child, under
the watchful eye of his mother Blanche of Castile j 1 his
journey to Rheims to be crowned ; and so on, till we see
him taking the cross on what was thought to be his
death-bed. 2 Of the historiated initials, none is more
charming than the first, in which Queen Jeanne kneels
with a Prayer-book open before her, below a large minia-
ture of the Trinity. The borders are mostly of the regu-
lation bar-and-ivy-leaf type, but birds, butterflies, and
other figures occur in a few of the margins : around the
Coronation of the Virgin, for instance, are delightful
half-length figures of angels playing musical instru-
ments, with Queen Jeanne kneeling on a leaf; equally
fascinating in a different way is the quaint group of
peasants dancing to a bagpipe, on the Angel and
Shepherds page.
The miniatures in the Hours of Yolande of Flanders
have lost most of their colour through a Thames flood,
1 PI. xxxvi.
2 It is noteworthy that the Hours of S. Louis are also contained in Baroness
A. de Rothschild's " Heures de Pucelle."
244
PLATE XXXVI
g)rtunc labra mm ft|rne8<
^maunanmnma
HORAE OF JEANNE DK NAVARRE. FRENCH, CIRCA \330-40
LIBRARY OF H. Y. THOMPSON ESQ.
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, HTH CENT.
but the exquisite beauty of their design is still per-
ceptible. Apart from its intrinsic merit, this book is
interesting as an additional link between the Belleville
Breviary and the Hours of Jeanne de Navarre, on the
one hand, and the Rothschild " Heures de Pucelle " on
the other. Allied to the first two through its Calendar-
pictures, it has an equally rare feature in common with
the third, viz. a double illustration of the Hours of the
Virgin, each of the usual joyful subjects being contrasted
with a scene from the Passion. This arrangement has
already been noted in chapter xi, as occurring in the
Nuremberg Hours ; it is, however, very unusual.
The style which these manuscripts represent in its
greatest perfection was followed, with more or less
success, by French illuminators generally till well on in
the latter half of the century. A good example of its
application on a large scale may be seen in Roy. 17 E. vii, 1
a copy of the Bible Historiale written in 1357, and con-
taining two half-page miniatures with full borders (one at
the beginning of each volume) and eighty-seven smaller
ones. In the main outlines of design this manuscript
follows what we may call the Pucelle tradition ; but it
also exemplifies the vitality and continual growth which
characterized French art all through the century, for
already a change in technique has begun to show itself.
The figures are no longer painted in full body-colour like
the rest of the miniature, but are in grisaille or cama'ieu-
gris, a method of painting in monochrome, usually on a
patterned or coloured ground, which soon became very
popular with French miniaturists ; and rightly so, for
grisaille painting at its best is wonderfully effective,
having all the combined sharpness and delicacy of cameo.
The figures, very faintly shaded and modelled in a cold
grey, seem as though moulded or carved in relief; and
their pale, semi-lucent quality is enhanced by the
splendidly brocaded and tessellated grounds of gold and
bright colours against which they stand out. In the
1 New Pal. Soc., pi. 169.
245
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Breviary of Jeanne d'Evreux, at Chantilly, 1 we see the
method employed on a minute scale. This little book,
made about the middle of the century for Jeanne d'Evreux,
widow (1328-70) of King Charles IV, contains 114 minia-
tures, in which the draperies are sometimes fully coloured,
but the small, slender figures are delicately painted in
grisaille on diapered, trellised or damasked backgrounds.
Of somewhat later date, probably about 1370-80, are the
two great volumes of S. Augustine's De Civitate Dei in
the British Museum ; 2 and they show a corresponding
improvement in technique. The fine modelling of the
grisaille figures, whether in the miniatures or disposed
among the bars and foliage of the borders (as in vol i, f. 3),
leaves little to be desired by the most exacting critic ; and
a perfect harmony is established between the figures and
their setting, through the restraint observed in the
patterned backgrounds, which are often over-emphasized
in inferior work of the time, marring the effect of the
compositions. A noteworthy advance is to be seen here,
too, in the handling of landscape. This is still in a
rudimentary condition : the picture is still set, as it were,
against a screen covered with conventional patterns, and
no attempt is made to represent the sky or distant effects.
But the foreground is painted with great care, and with
a serious effort in the direction of naturalism ; especially
in the Creation-scenes at the beginning of vol. ii. 3
Another good example of the grisaille work of this
period may be seen in the Missal of S. Denis Abbey,
now in the Victoria and Albert Museum at South Ken-
sington. It has no large miniatures, the leaf before the
Canon having been cut out ; but this lack is atoned for by
the exquisite loveliness of the small, delicately shaded
figures in the lower margins and in the numerous histori-
1 See the Chantilly Catalogue, i, pp. 48-51, pi. 4 J Delisle, 12 livres ray.,
pp. 65-6, pi. 19, 20.
2 Add. 15244-5. See Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 37, Reprod., ii, 23, iii, 26 ;
also Count A. de Laborde's monumental and sumptuously illustrated Les MSS. a
pcintures de la Cite de Dieu de St. Augustin, Soc. des Bibliophiles frangais, 1909.
3 PI. xxxvii.
246
PLATE XXXVII
' X X X
g
fcapaitr opens fliiADua t
uunnmmmi&ffrcrtrftiscr
mtau minat fines mnpiiir
fttmonflum.capmiiu. i
"iwrattm >n
minus m
mstafrap^
qucnofe, y
5
i'aiuinou
fed piaitcfuiiK Dtfpofta
one pioutdamt fui> ifs
omnttt gtncui utmasol
S. AUGUSTINE DE CIVITATE DEI. FRENCH, LATE XIV CENT.
KRIT. MUS. ADD. 15245
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, HTH CENT.
ated initials. The borders are of the usual ivy-leaf
type, with well-drawn birds, butterflies, and grotesques
in faintly tinted outline.
The history of French illumination in the fourteenth
century is largely a catalogue of the library of John,
Duke of Berry ; l especially during the latter part, when he
figures not only as collector but as patron. Born in 1345,
he inherited from his father, King John II, that love for
the fine arts which was traditional in the royal house of
France ; and his wealth and high position enabled him to
f ratify it without stint. His brother Charles V shared
is taste to some extent, though there is little evidence of
this in the pictorial record of his coronation, now in the
British Museum. 2 This is a copy of the coronation service
of the King and Queen of France, in Latin and French,
made (as we learn from his autograph note) by his order
in 1365, to serve at once as a memorial of his own corona-
tion in the previous year, and as a guide for future
occasions. Its thirty-eight miniatures are perfectly adapted
to the latter purpose. Painted in gold and colours, on
diapered, tessellated or damasked backgrounds, they are
admirable as " diagrams to explain the coronation ritual,"
but have little significance as works of art, though there
is unmistakable portraiture, albeit of a superficial kind,
in the continually recurring face of Charles himself.
Among the many manuscripts which, though not
made originally for the Duke of Berry, afterwards passed
into his possession, there are two in the British Museum
which deserve a word of mention, viz. Burney 275 and
Harl. 2891, both dating from about the middle of the
century. Burney 275 has an illustrious list of owners,
having belonged successively to Pope Gregory XI (1370-8)
1 The literature concerning him and his art treasures is extensive, but refer-
ence need only be made here to Delisle, " Les Livres d'Heures du due de Berry," in
Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1884, i, pp. 97-110, 281-92, 391-405; and to Bastard,
Librairie de Jean de France, Due de Berry, 1834.
2 Tib. B. viii, ff. 35-80. Reproduced in facsimile by the Henry Bradshaw
Society, Coronation Book of Charles V, ed. E. S. Dewick, 1899. See too Pal. Soc,,
i, 148 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 36, Rcprod,, i, 24.
247
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and the Antipope Clement VII (1378-94), the latter of
whom gave it to the Duke of Berry. It contains the
works of Priscian, Euclid, and Ptolemy, illustrated with
delicious impersonations of the arts and sciences, and
with borders in which finely executed animals and
grotesques abound. Harl. 2891, a Missal of Paris use,
seems to have been a gift from Itier de Martreuil, Bishop
of Poitiers 1395-1405, to the Duke, who in his turn gave
it to the Sainte Chapelle at Bourges. Besides two full-
page miniatures, a Crucifixion and a Christ in Glory 1 (the
former a very beautiful composition), prefixed to the
Canon, it has a number of historiated initials, with
borders of the earlier and more restrained type, all
painted with great delicacy ; the first page of the
Temporale 2 is particularly charming, with an exquisite
little miniature of the celebrant lifting up his soul to God
the usual subject, illustrating the introit " Ad te levavi
animam meam," but treated with unusual felicity.
Appreciative as he was of the best productions of
bygone generations of artists, the Duke of Berry did not
neglect his own contemporaries ; and we owe him an
unspeakable debt of gratitude for his discerning munifi-
cence in encouraging the galaxy of brilliant illuminators
which included Andre" Beauneveu, Jacquemart de Hesdin,
and above all Pol de Limbourg. The last-named belongs
mainly to the fifteenth century, and must therefore be
reserved for chapter xvi ; Hesdin might with equal pro-
priety be classed as late fourteenth or early fifteenth
century ; but most, if not all, of Beauneveu's work was
done before 1400, and as he and Hesdin appear to have
collaborated, it seems most convenient to mention them
both here.
Andre" Beauneveu 3 was primarily a sculptor and a
painter in the ordinary sense, only incidentally a minia-
1 Reproduced in the Guide to Exhibited AfSS., 1906.
2 Warner, Reprod., ii, 22.
3 See Dehaisnes, Hist, de VArt dans la Flandre, etc., 1886, pp. 242-57;
Champeaux and Gauchery, Travaux d'art exlcutls pour Jean de France, due de
Berry, 1894, pp. 92-8.
248
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 14x11 CENT.
turist. A native of Hainault, according to Froissart, who
has given him a kind of immortality rare indeed among
medieval artists, he occurs repeatedly from 1361 onwards
in the municipal accounts of Valenciennes. In 1374 he
received payment " pour ouvrage de peinture " (doubtless
a wall-painting) which he made in the chamber of
the Halle des Jure"s ; but the other entries refer mainly
to his work as a sculptor. In this capacity he was
already famous in 1364, when Charles V commissioned
him to carve royal tombs for the basilica of S. Denis ;
and for several years afterwards he was busily engaged
in carving statues and inspecting buildings at Ghent,
Ypres, Cambrai, and elsewhere, for the Count of Flanders
and others. We find him at Bourges in 1386, as salaried
"ymagier" to the Duke of Berry; and Froissart men-
tions him, in terms of glowing eulogy, under the year
1390, as the Duke's director of sculptures and paintings
(" maistre de ses oeuvres de taille et de peintures"). The
exact date of his death is not known, but he is alluded to
as "feu maistre Andre" Beaunepveu" in an inventory 1
attested 16 October, 1403, but apparently drawn up in
June, 1402.
Of his miniatures, only twenty-four pages, 2 prefixed to
a Latin-French Psalter made for the Duke of Berry
(Bibl. Nat., fr. 13091), have come down to us with docu-
mentary credentials. They represent the twelve apostles,
each balanced by a prophet on the opposite page ; the
figures in grisaille, seated on faintly coloured thrones rich
with architectural ornament ; the backgrounds sometimes
minutely diapered or tessellated, sometimes coloured
reddish brown or very dark blue and covered with a
pattern of oak-leaves or other foliage outlined in black.
The figures, large in manner, with draperies softly and
beautifully modelled, have all the solidity and statuesque-
1 J. Guiffrey, Inventaires de Jean due de Berry, ii, 1896, p. 119.
2 Many of these have been reproduced, e.g. in Fond. E. Plot, Mon. et Mm.,
i, p. 187, iii, pi. 6; Le Manuscrit, i, 1894, p. 51; Martin, Peintres^ fig. 17, 18;
Michel, Hift. de FArt, iii, pt. i, p. 155.
249
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
ness that might be expected of a great sculptor ; none of
the tight neatness and flat effect that stamp the work of
the trained miniaturist. The faces are full of character
and individuality, and are obviously portraits of living
models. The same qualities, displayed more tellingly on
a larger scale, appear in two superb full-page miniatures 1
at the beginning of a Book of Hours in the Royal Library
at Brussels (Nos. 1 1060-1). These two, on opposite pages,
form a single composition, representing the Duke of
Berry on his knees, between SS. Andrew and John the
Baptist, before the Virgin and Child. The pose of the
Virgin, enthroned like the prophets and apostles of
the Psalter described above (fr. 13091) ; the handling of
the draperies ; the charming, unobtrusive backgrounds,
of foliage behind the Duke and his patrons, of adoring
angels behind the Virgin and Child ; the fine expressive
heads of the two saints, above all the masterly portrait of
the Duke all these seem to indicate Beauneveu's hand,
though an eminent critic 2 has urged the claims of Jacque-
mart de Hesdin. Beauneveu has been credited on grounds
of style with another work, which, though not strictly
relevant to the history of illumination, is too interesting
to be ignored : a series of exquisite silverpoint studies of
the Madonna, a bal masqud, and other subjects, covering
the boxwood panels of a little sketchbook in Mr. Pierpont
Morgan's collection. 3
Very little is known of Jacquemart de Hesdin's life. 4
Perhaps a pupil of Charles V's court painter Jean de
Bruges, he was in the Duke of Berry's service at Bourges
in 1384 and 1399; he seems to have been living in 1413,
but probably died soon after. The inventories give him
sole credit for the decoration of the Brussels Hours, and
assign him a share (along with " autres ouvriers de Mon-
1 Often reproduced, eg. in Dehaisnes, pi. 8, 9 ; Michel, iii, i, pp. 156-7. For
a description of the manuscript, with fine reproductions of all its miniatures, see
Pol de Mont, Musle des Enluminures, fasc. i [1905].
2 R. de Lasteyrie, in Fond. E. Piot, iii, pp. 71-119.
8 Published by R. E. Fry in the Burlington Magazine, x, 1906, pp. 31-8.
4 See Lasteyrie, as above; Champeaux and Gauchery, pp. 118-21.
250
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, HTH CENT.
seigneur," who were doubtless under his direction) in that
of the "Grandes Heures," now Bibl. Nat., lat. 919. But
the former attribution, authoritative though it seems, is
certainly inexact. The twenty large miniatures in the
Brussels MS. are all framed in similar borders, of a graceful
and unusual type ; but the pictures themselves are plainly
by several different hands. The first two, in particular,
stand out strikingly from the rest, and are emphatically,
as we have seen, in the Beauneveu manner ; the third
combines their subjects into a single picture, of greatly
inferior execution and apparently the work of a copyist ;
while the remainder, varying in merit but sufficiently alike
to have been all produced in the same atelier, are typical
in style, with their full colouring and elaborate landscapes,
of the first quarter of the fifteenth century. In fact, there
is much to be said for M. Pol de Mont's theory that
Beauneveu painted the first two pages and then left the
book, which at a later date was completed by Jacquemart
de Hesdin and his assistants.
Besides the "Grandes Heures," finished in 1409,
Jacquemart is believed to have painted the best miniatures
in the "Petites Heures" (Bibl. Nat., lat. 18014), finished in
or before 1402, and also (except Beauneveu's prophets and
apostles) in the Latin-French Psalter, fr. 13091. These
show him to have been a painter of consummate skill.
His work is more conventionally perfect than Beauneveu's,
neater and crisper ; but it lacks the sculptor's large con-
ception of form. Distinct signs of primitive Italian in-
fluence are visible in his miniatures, as in those of most
French painters of his time ; notably in the landscape,
now claiming more and more of the space hitherto given
up to conventional patterns. Hardly less conventional
itself, this landscape is at first of the type described in
chapter iii as characteristic of Byzantine, and afterwards
of early Italian art. We see the same flat-topped hillocks
with smooth, steep, terraced slopes ; but the aridity of the
model is generally softened by the herbage, already
prominent in French foregrounds, being continued up the
251
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
hillsides, and the tops are often crowned by a clump of
trees or a castle. On the whole, Jacquemart seems to
have been an eclectic copyist of great expertness, rather
than an original artist. As we have seen already, in
choosing subjects to decorate the Calendars of his Books
of Hours he had recourse to Jean Pucelle ; and he repro-
duced almost every detail of the earlier artist's composi-
tions with minute, almost slavish exactness. Only in the
border-ornament is the divergence striking, and that not
in Jacquemart's favour. His sense of proportion fails
him here, perfect as his execution is ; and he tends to
overload his pages with intricate but monotonous con-
volutions of ivy-leaved sprays.
Before quitting the Duke of Berry's library for the
present, we may notice two of his books now in the
British Museum, not to be compared for beauty with
those just mentioned, but useful as good examples of the
average work of the third and last quarters of the
fourteenth century. One is Lansd. 1175, the first volume
of a French Bible, translated by Raoul de Presles for
Charles V (1364-80). It is the only extant MS. contain-
ing the translator's dedicatory preface, and is probably
the actual copy given to the king, many of whose books
found their way into his brother's library. At all events,
his portrait is unmistakable in the miniature which heads
the preface and shows Raoul presenting his book to
Charles. It is well written, by a scribe who signs himself
Henri du Trevou, and adorned with neat little miniatures
at the beginnings of the several books. The figures,
whose chief fault is that their heads are too small, are in
grisaille. The backgrounds are as usual checkered,
tessellated, or damasked ; landscapes of the type just
described, with tufted hillocks, often occur. The other
manuscript, commonly known as the Berry Bible, contains
the Bible Historiale in two large volumes (Harl. 438I-2), 1
written about the end of the century. The first page of
Genesis has an elaborate painting of the Trinity, with the
1 Warner, Ilium, AfSS., pi. 44, Reprod., ii, 24.
252
FRENCH ILLUMINATION, 14111 CENT.
Virgin, SS. Peter and Paul, and the four Doctors of the
Church, as well as a company of pagan philosophers
(Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, etc.) and personifications of
Dialectic and Arithmetic. The opening page of vol. ii is
coarser in execution and less magnificent in design and
colouring ; it has only a large square enclosing four
scenes from the life of Solomon, to illustrate the book of
Proverbs. Smaller miniatures abound at the beginnings
of books and chapters throughout both volumes, together
with ivy-leaf borders and initials rich with burnished
gold. The miniatures vary considerably : one or two are
extremely good, especially the Nativity, at the beginning
of S. Matthew, a really exquisite picture; but the majority
are rather hard and flat in technique. In fact, the book
is chiefly remarkable for the brilliancy of its colouring.
This is particularly splendid in the miniatures whose
grounds are of burnished gold or minute diaper, less
effective where red, patterned with gold, is used instead.
The Songe du Vergier, 1 written by Philippe de Maiz-
ieres for Charles V in 1378, is interesting for its frontis-
piece, which represents the author asleep in an orchard,
while a clerk and a knight, the disputants in his dream,
stand arguing, and the king sits in state between two
charming queens, typifying Spiritual and Temporal Power,
the subjects of the dispute. There is a striking contrast
between the rudimentary landscape - painting and the
mature, naturalistic treatment of the figures. Another
curious frontispiece is that prefixed to the same writer's
Epistle 2 to Richard II, composed in 1395-6 to promote
peace and friendship between that monarch and the French
King, Charles VI. In the upper half are the crowns of
France and England on blue and red fields, with the
Crown of Thorns between them on a black ground, all
three under Gothic canopies and inscribed " Charles roy
de France, Jesus roy de paix, Richart roy d'Angleterre."
The space below is filled with the arms of the two coun-
1 Brit. Mus., Roy. 19 C. iv. See Pal. Sot:., ii, 169.
2 Roy. 20 B. vi. See Warner, Reprod., i, 25.
253
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
tries, the sacred monogram in gold written across the two
divisions. On the opposite page is a large miniature of
the author presenting his work to King Richard, together
with initial and border ornament of the usual type. Like
the miniatures of the Berry Bible, and of many con-
temporary manuscripts, these two pages are a blaze of
brilliant colours.
254
U
</i "
2 s
a -
j
b H
CHAPTER XV
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION IN THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY
A' the outset we might naturally have expected to find
Italian illumination at its prime during the age of
Giotto, Duccio, and their immediate followers. But
as a matter of fact we find instead, among the manuscripts
of the fourteenth century, a few frontispieces and other
large pictures of supreme beauty, but hardly a single
volume whose decoration as a whole will bear comparison
with that of a representative French manuscript of the
same period. That this is the case need not, however,
surprise us very greatly. Closely as all branches of the
art of painting must inevitably be allied, there is yet a
certain divergence, indeed almost an antagonism, between
the true aim of the book-decorator and that of the painter
of frescoes or panels. The large, spacious manner which
befits the latter requires modification even when applied
to a full-page miniature, with its comparatively reduced
scale, and is altogether inappropriate to the illumination
of a page of text. Hence the ascendency of the great
masters of early Italian painting led their disciples who
practised miniature into the adoption of methods at
variance with the strict canons of the minor art.
The fresco-like manner is seen at its best, naturally,
in paintings which fill the page, without any writing to
restrict the space and interfere with the design ; as in
Mr. Yates Thompson's remarkable series l of miniatures
of the life of Christ, painted about the beginning of the
century, doubtless for inclusion in a Psalter or other
1 No. 8 1, formerly Ashburnham, Appendix 72. See H. Y. Thompson, Cata-
logue^ iii, pp. 45-9, Ilhtstrations, ii, pi. 5-15 ; also Pal. Sac., ii, 18.
255
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
liturgical manuscript, of which, however, not a vestige
remains. These pictures, thirty-eight in number, are
painted on a deep blue ground and framed in plain
narrow bands of blue and red, with no ornamentation
beyond a little tracery in white on the inner side of the
borders. The absence of conventional ornament is in
keeping with the severity of the compositions, which are
solemn, majestic, and thoroughly monumental in style.
The grouping is well ordered and spacious, the gestures
are leisurely and dignified, the faces expressive, with
careful preservation of types ; and one almost forgets
such blemishes as the faulty proportions or the character-
istically " Giottesque " representation of the hair as
a series of laboriously emphasized wavy lines. The
British Museum possesses a similar set of paintings (Add.
34309), detached in like manner from the manuscript
for which they were made. They seem contemporary
with the Yates Thompson series, and are closely allied
with it as to the subjects represented, some of which are
unusual ; both series include, for instance, a picture of
Christ ascending the cross. The Museum paintings are
greatly inferior, however, in feeling and execution, even
when due allowance is made for their damaged condition.
Most of the compositions are obviously of Byzantine
descent, but the round table in the Last Supper seems
to link the series to the German Psalters of the thirteenth
century.
The illuminator of the verses l addressed by the town
of Prato to its protector Robert of Anjou, King of Naples,
about 1335-40, was evidently more at home in fresco-
painting than in miniature. Large as the pages are,
he almost always claims the whole of them for his de-
signs, leaving the text to fit itself as best it can into the
interstices left by his solid and gigantic figures. These
are painted in a thick, rather viscid medium, generally
without frames or background. On the best pages the
work is very highly finished, face and hair especially
1 Brit. Mus., Roy. 6 E. ix. See Warner, Reprod., ii, 39, 40.
256
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION, HTH CENT.
being treated with great care. The curious greyish pink
flesh-tints, with a greenish tinge in the shadows, are
characteristic of early Italian painting in general, and are
found in most of the fourteenth century miniatures.
Gold is used plentifully, and the colouring is strong, but
with little attempt at gradation or modelling, so that the
figures are flat and unshapely masses of colour rather
than draped human beings.
The illustrated frontispiece lent itself readily to treat-
ment in the large manner of the panel-painter. Such
frontispieces were not confined to literary works, which
in fact rarely contained them ; but were prefixed to books
of a kind from which modern ideas of congruity would
banish all ornament : registers of wills, " matricole "
(i.e. statutes and lists of members) of trade-guilds,
municipal account-books, etc. The great majority of
these are of no particular merit as works of art, though
useful historically as fixed points, 1 date and locality being
seldom stated with equal precision in other manuscripts.
But there are one or two gems among them, especially
the lovely Assumption of the Virgin 2 painted by Niccold
di Ser Sozzo on the first page of a Caleffo, or register
of public documents, which was compiled at Siena in
1 334-6, and is preserved in the Archivio di Stato of that
city, where it is known as the Caleffo dell' Assunta. No
other works by this great artist are known to exist ; but
he has fortunately signed this masterpiece (" Nicholaus
ser sozzo de senis me pinxit "), which alone is enough to
stamp him as one of the great Sienese painters of his
time and that the time of Simone Martini and the
Lorenzetti. It is more than probable that in the next
century Matteo di Giovanni, whose great altar-piece of
1 A few examples may be named, more or less elaborately decorated at the
beginning : Brit. Mus., Add. 16532 (Bologna, 1334), 21965 (Perugia, 1368),
22497 (Perugia, before 1403); Vitelli e Paoli, Facsimili paleografici, Lat., pi. 20
(Florence, 1340); F. Carta, Atlante pal.-art., 1899, pi. 58 (Venice, 1392), 59-60
(Bologna, 1394). Others will be mentioned farther on, in connection with Niccolb
da Bologna.
2 PI. xxxix.
'7 257
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
the same subject is now in the National Gallery, was
inspired by this beautiful miniature, which he must have
had many opportunities of seeing. The frontispiece to
Petrarch's Virgil, now in the Ambrosian Library, was
painted by Simone Martini himself; and he has also
been credited by some critics with the charming illumina-
tions of the " Codice di S. Giorgio " in the Archives of
S. Peter's at Rome, but this attribution is doubtful. 1
The next best thing to a full page, for a painter who
demands amplitude, is a large share in a page of excep-
tional size ; and this was provided in generous measure
for the illuminators charged with the decoration of the
gigantic choir-books in which Italian chapter-libraries
are so rich, and which form so important a feature in the
history of Italian painting. The historiated initial, to
the Northern illuminator at first a field for the congenial
exercise of minute compression, afterwards so irksome
through its restrictions that it was virtually abandoned in
favour of the purely ornamental initial surmounted by
a miniature in a separate frame, followed a different
course of development in the hands of his Italian confrere.
The letter itself, of elaborate design, rich in gold and
bright colours and lavishly adorned with pendent decora-
tion, claimed more and more of the page of a huge
Gradual or Antiphoner, and framed a picture which
in largeness of manner often rivalled the compositions
of contemporary panel-painters. These splendid Libri
Corali reached their full development before the end of
the fourteenth century, as regards the main outlines of their
decoration, though the finest examples now extant were
mostly produced about a hundred years later. To be
studied properly they must be visited in their native
land. 2 Such enormous volumes do not lend themselves
readily to transport overseas ; and the single leaves or
1 See Venturi, Storia delt Arte italiana, v, pp. 621, 1018-30, fig. 786-91.
2 A few examples are given by Venturi, iii, fig. 445~57> v > n g- 793- 8o6 from
Modena, Siena, and elsewhere. See too Atl. pal-art., pi. 51 (Asti Antiphoner,
dated 1332).
258
PLATK XXXIX
NICCOLO DI SER SOZZO, 1334-6
SIENA, ARCHIVIO Dl STATO. CALEFFO DELL* AS
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION, 14- CENT.
initials, cut out unscrupulously from their original setting,
which abound in English libraries and art-collections, 1
public and private, are unsatisfactory for scientific pur-
poses, however beautiful they may be in themselves.
The British Museum is fortunate in possessing a hand-
some Gradual (Add. 18198)* made for some monastery
near Florence, perhaps that of Vallombrosa, about the
middle of the fourteenth century. It contains the
Proprium and Commune Sanctorum, the former adorned
at the principal feasts with large initials enclosing minia-
tures. These are painted in soft tints of blue, red, and
other colours, on backgrounds of richly burnished gold.
There is no border-ornament beyond a slight continua-
tion of the leafy decoration of some of the initials. The
initials to the less important feasts are mostly historiated
with half-length figures of saints, painted on grounds
of blue or lake with a little white tracery, and are not
specially noteworthy ; but many of the ordinary blue and
red initials are surrounded with a most elaborate sort of
lace-work design in red, white, and blue. Italian scribes
or illuminators were particularly fond of this form of
decoration, and practised it with amazing skill and excel-
lent taste, especially in the fourteenth century. It is seen
at its highest perfection of delicate intricacy in a late
fourteenth century Missale Pontificis (Add. 21973), a
book not otherwise remarkable artistically, though the
painting of the Crucifixion, on a pale blue ground edged
with white tracery, is by no means without merit. This
filigree pen-work was sometimes extended from the initial
to form a partial border, as in Add. 34247,* a Bolognese
Book of Hours written near the end of the century.
Byzantine traditions were still strong in Italy at the
1 Several volumes and portfolios in the British Museum are filled with cuttings
of this kind, fourteenth to sixteenth centuries (Add. MSS. 18196-7, 21412,
32058, 35254); and many fine leaves are exhibited in the Victoria and Albert
Museum.
2 Warner, Reprod., i, 46 (accidentally given the lettering which belongs
to pi. 45).
3 Warner, Reprod., ii, 44.
259
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
beginning of the fourteenth century, and appear plainly
in much of the best illumination that was not really
fresco or panel-painting on a small scale. Looking at
the exquisite little figures which fill the margins of a
Benedictine Breviary in the British Museum (Add.
I5205-6), 1 we are forcibly reminded of the Theodore
Psalter and the Simeon Metaphrastes. The small
miniatures enclosed within initials are of course Byzan-
tine in their iconography ; this is all but inevitable in
Italian art of the time. But the same influence is
apparent here in the subdued colouring, the pose of the
figures, the treatment of the faces. Among other inter-
esting features of the book are the raised patterns of dots
and lines with which the gold nimbi and backgrounds
are covered.
Traces of Byzantine tradition may be seen again,
combined with other influences, in the great Bible of the
British Museum (Add. 18720)* and its twin-sister at
Paris (Bibl. Nat., lat. i8), 3 where the figure-compositions
and borders are not only effective in themselves, but are
controlled by a nice sense of the due proportions between
text and illumination a rare quality in fourteenth
century Italian manuscripts. Sig. Venturi assigns these
two books, together with a similar Bible in the Vatican
(Vat. lat. 2o), 4 to a school of Bolognese miniaturists
flourishing about the beginning of the fourteenth century.
Whatever their provenance may be, about their excellence
there can be no question. In the main outlines of its
scheme of decoration, Add. 18720 follows the pattern of
the normal thirteenth century French or English Bible :
a series representing the Days of Creation set in a tall
narrow frame at the beginning of Genesis, a similar
frame containing a Jesse-tree prefixed to S. Matthew,
1 Warner, Reprod., ii, 38.
2 Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 38, Reprod., i, 43.
3 Venturi, ii, fig. 345-5, v, fig. 774.
4 Mr. Yates Thompson's Bentivoglio Bible (No. 4, Cat., i, pp. 12-18, Illus-
trations, ii, pi. 16-21) has much in common with these manuscripts; it also seems
allied to the Franciscan Bible (D. i. 13) at Turin. See All. paL-art., pi. 53.
260
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION, 14 CENT.
and historiated initials to the other books. But the
treatment is very different from that of the Northern
miniaturists : the stately pose, the fine modelling of
limbs and draperies, the soft, subdued, almost sombre
colouring, the swarthy faces, with white high-lights and
greenish shadows, all show close adherence to the best
traditions of Italo-Byzantine art. The Genesis and
Matthew pages have three additional scenes in the lower
margin : the expulsion from Paradise, the sacrifices of
Cain and Abel, and the murder of Abel on the former,
the Annunciation, Nativity, and Presentation on the
latter. The borders are of the light and pleasing type
described at the end of chapter ix as characteristic of
Italian fourteenth century illumination ; less subdued in
tint than the miniatures, they brighten up the pages most
effectively. Human figures are sometimes employed as
terminals or supports to the stems which form the frame-
work ; among these is a graceful youth, nude and
exquisitely modelled, on the first page. At the foot of
this page are also two Dominican friars, whose presence
recalls the fact that Bologna was a great stronghold
of that order.
The same well-adjusted balance between text and
decoration is found in the British Museum Durandus
(Add. 31032) j 1 but this book has nothing like the large
simplicity and majestic beauty of the great Bible. Borders
and initials are very highly finished, but the multiplicity
of minute details of ornament gives them a somewhat
meaningless and finicking appearance. Detached gilt
discs, a favourite device with Italian illuminators in the
fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, are used abun-
dantly in the borders ; but instead of enriching the decor-
ative scheme they serve rather to enhance its triviality.
The colour-effect would be somewhat pallid but for the
brilliancy of the stippled gold grounds.
One might naturally expect to be confronted at every
turn with evidences of the influence of Giotto ; but as
1 PaL Soc., i, 221 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 39, Reprod.^ ii, 41.
261
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
a matter of fact there are few manuscripts in which any-
thing of the sort appears. One of these few is Add.
27428* in the British Museum, a volume containing
Simone da Cascia's Lordene della Vita Cristiana (com-
posed in 1333), followed by lives of saints in Italian.
These last are illustrated with miniatures on gold
grounds, in plain rectangular frames, set in the column of
text and rilling its whole width. The compositions are
crowded, and appear still more so from the fact that the
figures are of almost the full height of the picture, as
though the artist had designed them without regard to
the amount of space at his disposal. It would be a gross
injustice to the great master to call these quaint, bril-
liantly coloured little paintings Giottesque ; but there is
a far-away suggestion of his manner in the clear-cut
profiles, the well-defined types, the careful treatment of
the hair.
A few words must be said about the great tomes of
civil and canon law, the output of which must have been
prodigious, to judge from the numbers still preserved.
They were mostly written, no doubt, in the universities
of Bologna and Padua, and were probably illuminated
at the same time, as a rule, though some were sent out
plain, to be decorated in their place of destination. 2 The
illuminations in the vast majority of cases are singularly
unattractive, being coarsely executed, with repulsive
underhung faces. This ugly type of face is not peculiar
to law-books, but recurs constantly in the inferior work
of the North Italian schools in the first half of the
century, e.g. in a copy of the Divina Commedia now in
the British Museum (Eg. 943). After the middle of the
century some improvement is visible, as in Add. 23923, a
copy of the Decretals of Boniface VIII, written between
1370 and 1381, and illuminated in a style which Sig.
Venturi considers distinctive of the school of Niccolb da
1 Pal. Soc. t i, 247 ; Warner, Reprod.^ i, 42.
2 Roy. 10 E. iv, for instance, was illuminated in England. See above, p. 230.
262
ITALIAN ILLUMINATION, HTH CENT.
Bologna. This prolific miniaturist, 1 who worked from
1349 to 1399, does not seem himself to have painted many
law-books ; his illuminations are to be found chiefly in
choir-books, missals, and " matricole," and seem to be
remarkable for his unusual habit of signing them rather
than for their own superlative excellence. Of the many
fourteenth century Italian law-books in the British
Museum, the only one with real artistic significance is a
fine two-volume copy of the Decretum (Add. 15274-5), z
written in the latter part of the century. A large picture
of the Pope in Council fills half the first page, which has
also an initial enclosing a miniature of a scribe at work,
and an elaborate and handsome border replete with a
great variety of ornament. Each of the thirty-six
chapters is preceded by a miniature illustrating its
subject-matter, and begins with a large initial enclosing
a single figure, usually legal or clerical. All these are
well executed and very richly coloured, vermilion and
deep blue prevailing.
The curious manuscript attributed to that shadowy
person, Cybo the Monk of Hyeres (Brit. Mus., Add. 27695,
2884 1 ), 3 has no very obvious relation to the main course
of Italian illumination, but is too interesting to be passed
over in silence. The Monk of Hyeres was clearly an
individualist, who owed as little to his predecessors as he
bequeathed to his successors. His large miniatures,
illustrating the text, a treatise on the Vices, are bold and
expressive in design ; but with their vivid colouring and
aggressive checkered background they cannot be called
beautiful. The conventions of figure-composition did not
suit his genius, which was emphatically that of a natural-
ist ; and he found a congenial exercise for his powers in
covering the margins and line-endings of the text-pages
with plants, insects, birds, and animals of various kinds,
1 See Venturi, v, pp. 942, 1014-6 ; Archivio Storico del? Arte, 1894, pp.
1-20 j LArte, 1907, pp. 105-15.
2 Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 40, Reprod., ii, 42.
3 Pal. Soc., i, 149, 150.
263
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
painted with the most marvellous fidelity to nature. All
are wonderful, but his special predilection was evidently
for insect life : his spiders, bees, grasshoppers, and stag-
beetles seem to be positively starting out of the page. It
is hard to find a parallel nearer to his date (end of the
fourteenth century) than the Flemish miniaturists a
hundred years later; and even their work seems tame and
flat in comparison.
264
CHAPTER XVI
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
BY the beginning of the fifteenth century the produc-
tion of illuminated manuscripts had become in
France almost a staple industry. Books of Hours,
in particular, were produced in vast numbers, not only to
the order of wealthy patrons, but also for booksellers to
add to their stock and sell to any chance customer.
Specimens of these "shop copies' 7 may be seen in nearly
every library in Europe, and form the nucleus of most
private collections ; being comparatively easy to acquire
and at the same time pleasing to behold, despite the
perfunctory nature of much of the miniature-painting,
through the fidelity with which an excellent tradition in
border-decoration was followed. This was founded on
the "ivy-leaf" pattern which came into vogue early in
the fourteenth century : modified by the gilding of the
leaves and their diminution in size, by the increased
intricacy of the stem-convolutions, and by the introduction
of a few additional forms of foliate, floral, and other
ornament, the type persisted with little variation until
the second half of the fifteenth century, when it gave way
to a much less tasteful style of border, with backgrounds
partly or wholly gilt instead of the plain vellum. Another
change for the worse began to come in about the same
time, viz. the substitution of architectural frames of heavy
Renaissance style, with much gilding, for the simple
bands which had hitherto enclosed the large miniatures.
So much for the average work, which exists in such
quantity as to demand some notice, and at the same time
to render any attempt at detailed treatment impossible in
a general sketch like the present. Of work of a higher
265
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
class there is enough to fill many chapters, and only the
salient points can be indicated here. The death of the
Duke of Berry in 1416 marks the close of the first and
greatest epoch, culminating (as indeed the whole art of
illumination may be said to do) in the wonderful " Tres
Riches Heures," which Pol de Limbourg and his brothers
were then engaged in painting for him. These artists did
not long survive their patron ; and the period which
followed, though one of great luxuriance and brilliancy,
producing a remarkable group of books among which the
Bedford Hours holds a leading place, showed already the
beginning of a decadence in point of taste. About the
middle of the century flourished the great painter Jean
Fouquet, and his influence survived among his disciples,
notably the " egregius pictor Franciscus " who has been
conjecturally identified with his son Francois, and later in
the works of Jean Bourdichon, painter of the Hours of
Anne of Brittany, and of his school, continuing until
well on in the sixteenth century.
French illumination had reached a very high level by
the end of the fourteenth century, as we saw in chapter xiv;
and the opening years of the next century have bequeathed
to us a great many manuscripts of such excellence that
one only hesitates to call them first-rate because they are
eclipsed by the superlative beauty of the few real master-
pieces. An admirable sample of this class is the Bouci-
caut Hours, 1 in Madame Jacquemart-Andr^'s collection.
This book, executed for the Marechal de Boucicaut
between 1396 and 1421, shows its transitional nature in
the backgrounds, which in a few of the miniatures are
filled with deep blue sky spangled with stars, a welcome
relief from the somewhat wearisome checkered and bro-
caded patterns. The latter, appropriate enough as a
setting for the comparatively flat, conventional treatment
1 Les Heures du marlchal de Boucicaut ', Soc. des Bibliophiles fr., 1889. See
too Durrieu, " La peinture en France au debut du xv e siecle," in Revue de fart anc.
ef mod., xix, pp. 401-15, xx, pp. 21-35 ; and his "Jacques Coene," in Lesarts anc.
de Flandre, ii, pp. 5-22.
266
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
of figures and accessories seen in the miniatures of earlier
date, match ill with the realism which begins to show
itself in these pictures with their improved perspective
and increasing attention to landscape. Still more striking
is this incongruity in a splendid copy of the Livre de la
Chasse of Gaston Phe*bus, Comte de Foix (Bibl. Nat.,
fr. 6 1 6), whose numerous and extremely interesting illus-
trations 1 quaintly combine these purely conventional back-
grounds with a spirited and by no means unsuccessful
attempt at naturalistic treatment of woodland hunting
scenes. The various operations of the chase are depicted
most clearly and in the fullest detail : questing for trails,
setting snares, traps, and nets, etc., nothing is forgotten,
not even the hunters' meal in a glade of the forest. The
various species of game, and the corresponding breeds of
dog, are all recognizable at a glance ; and the whole of the
foreground, vegetable as well as animal, shows a genuine
and careful study of nature. But on reaching the tree-
tops our artist almost invariably relapses into convention-
alism, and gives us, instead of skies, backgrounds covered
with the stereotyped lozengy, tessellated or brocaded
patterns.
In many manuscripts of this period, however, these
formal backgrounds are discarded altogether, and in their
place we have a clear blue sky, very pale at the horizon,
and deepening by careful gradation towards the top of the
picture. Of this class are the Livre des Merveilles (Bibl.
Nat., fr. 2810), the British Museum Statins (Burney 257),
and the famous Terence of the Arsenal Library (No. 664).
The first-named was apparently made for Philippe le
Hardi, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1404), whose son, John the
Fearless, gave it in 1413 to the Duke of Berry. It is a
collection of Eastern travellers' tales, compiled from the
narratives of Marco Polo, Mandeville, and others ; and
its 265 illustrations, 2 as might be expected, are interesting
1 Published in reduced facsimile, ed. C. Couderc [1909]. For full-sized
reproductions see W. A. and F. Baillie-Grohman, The Master of Game, 1904.
2 Livre des Merveilles, ed. H. O[mont], 2 vols. [1907].
267
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
and amusing, presenting a most welcome variety of
subject. The Arsenal Terence, 1 usually known as the
"Terence des Dues" from its first possessors, Louis,
Duke of Guyenne and Dauphin (d. 1415), and John,
Duke of Berry, is also very copiously illustrated ; and its
miniatures have a special value from the complete absence
of any marvellous or symbolical element to interfere with
the simpler aim of depicting actual life as the artists saw
it. The faces are well and clearly drawn, the posing and
grouping of the figures full of dramatic expressiveness,
the costumes carefully painted. The Statius 2 is a less
sumptuous manuscript, but belongs more or less to the
same family ; its figures are mostly in grisaille, very softly
and delicately executed, with much grace and charm.
Among the many fine Books of Hours of this period,
Lat. 1161 in the Bibliotheque Nationale is worthy of
special mention. As in the Boucicaut Hours (with which
this book, though on a smaller scale, has much in common),
only a few of the miniatures have sky-backgrounds, the
others having mostly a checkered pattern, or else purple
or blue covered with gold filigree-work. The borders
are graceful and varied, containing among other details of
ornament (besides the inevitable ivy-leaf, which of course
predominates) the long sinuated leaf entwined about a
slender stem, which we noticed in some English manu-
scripts of the end of the fourteenth century ; quatrefoils,
birds, mermaid, and grotesque organist also occur. The
miniatures are remarkable for their brilliant yet finely
harmonized colours, the rich bright red and blue of the
costumes contrasting effectively with the white or pale
grey architecture. The best of them, perhaps, is the
really beautiful half-page picture at the end, of the Virgin
and Child adored by a lady whose guardian angel stands
by her. The burial-scene in a monastic cemetery, pre-
fixed to the Vigils of the Dead, is an impressive and
1 H. Martin, Le Terence des Dues, 1 908, Les Miniaturistes f ran fats, 1 906,
fig. 29-32.
2 Warner, Reprod., iii, 28.
268
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
interesting composition ; but modern ideas of propriety
are rudely jarred by the presence of a white dog, squatting
just behind the celebrant, in the " Salve sancta parens "
miniature (f. 192).
Closely allied to Lat. 1161 is a Horae in the British
Museum (Add. 32454), l whose miniatures (above all, the
splendid Coronation of the Virgin on f. 46), show the
same brilliancy of colouring, and whose borders are even
more varied, especially those which accompany the large
miniatures. Some of the devices, e.g. putti springing
from flowers, suggest the influence of Italian art ;
an influence unmistakably present in the decoration
of another Horae in the same collection (Add. 29433). 2
This manuscript follows the liturgical use of Paris,
and its minor decorations are thoroughly French in
style, with diapered grounds to the small miniatures ;
but in the more elaborate pages there is a strong, some-
times even preponderating, admixture of the Italian ele-
ment. These pages are very finely executed, and glow
with burnished gold and bright colours. The borders are
filled with various forms of natural or conventional
foliage, partly painted on the plain vellum, partly against
a ground of burnished gold ; putti disport themselves
among the leaves or grow Clytie-wise out of flowers, and
birds, butterflies, rayed gilt discs, and detached flowers are
disposed about the margins. All this gaiety produces
sometimes a whimsical effect, as in the opening page of
the Penitential Psalms : the miniature represents the
damned being collected by devils from castle, city, and
convent, and hurled down into hell, where they are
devoured by Satan and tortured by his myrmidons ; but
instead of inspiring dread and horror, the whole picture
gives an impression of light-hearted, hustling activity.
There is a touch of the same bizarre humour in the fine
miniature of the Annunciation : the Virgin and Gabriel
are in opposite transepts of a Gothic church, while the
1 Warner, Reprod., ii, 25 Michel, Hist, de I' Art., iii, i, fig. 96.
- Warner, i, 26.
269
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
space between them, in the nave, is occupied by a cat and
dog fighting.
A very finished and beautiful example of this period
is the Burgundy Breviary in the British Museum (Harl.
2897, Add. 3531 1). 1 Executed for John the Fearless,
Duke of Burgundy (1404-19), and his wife Margaret of
Bavaria, it was originally complete in one volume ; but
for convenience it was soon afterwards divided into two
parts, and the Calendar and Psalter duplicated so as to
complete the second part (now Harl. 2897), the miniatures
in the second Psalter having evidently been copied, by a
somewhat inferior hand, from those in the first, or at any
rate from the same designs. The two volumes, after
centuries of separation, were brought together again
through the Rothschild bequest in 1899. Both volumes
have suffered some mutilation, and the Rothschild MS.
has now only two large miniatures, the Harleian but one.
All three are of great beauty, and are specially remarkable
for their luxuriant and yet harmonious colour-scheme.
Particularly lovely is the blue, so characteristic of French
illumination at this time ; at once cold and brilliant,
exquisitely transparent yet capable of forming a solid
mass upon the page, its effect is always beautiful and
satisfying, whether it be used in a pure or modified form,
for skies, draperies, or ornament. The smaller miniatures
are very numerous, and the best of these, though less
imposing than the three large paintings, are no whit
inferior in beauty and finish. One of the most charming
is that of S. Anne teaching the Virgin to read; 2 the soft
treatment of the face, the delicate gradations of colour,
the fine modelling of the draperies, are here seen at their
best, and so is the typical border-ornament of gilt ivy-
leaves. More sumptuous and varied borders surround
the three principal pages. The most splendid of these is
at the beginning of the Psalter (Add. 35311, f. 8), with
plaques of burnished and delicately patterned gold en-
1 Pal. Sac., i, 224-5 ; Warner, Ilium. JifSS., pi. 45-6, Reprod., i, 27, iii, 29-31.
2 See Frontispiece.
270
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
closing half-length figures of David, Goliath, and angel-
musicians, and with exquisitely painted birds and
flowers. Within the initial "B" on the same page is a
wonderfully tender Madonna holding the Child closely to
her and sheltering Him with her cloak. The border of
the Ascension-day page (Harl. 2897, f- i88b) is more
monotonous in design ; its special interest lies in the
graceful figure of a lady who sits on a daisy-studded lawn
and holds the shields of arms of the Duke and Duchess
furnishing the sole evidence as to the history of the
manuscript.
The books mentioned hitherto may serve to indicate
the abundance and the great, excellence of French illumina-
tion in the opening years of the fifteenth century; but they
all even the Burgundy Breviary pale into insignificance
beside the glory of the aptly named "Tres Riches Heures,"
which Pol de Limbourg and his brothers Jehannequin and
Hermann were painting for the Duke of Berry, when his
death in 1416 brought their work to a premature end.
This wonderful book, now in the Musde Conde* at Chan-
tilly, 1 was completed about 1485 by a miniaturist named
Jean Colombe for Charles, Duke of Savoy, and his Duchess,
Blanche de Montferrat ; and the later illuminations, ex-
cellent examples of their period, only serve as a foil to the
dazzling beauty of the pages painted by the Limbourg
brothers. The latter begin with twelve full-page Calendar-
pictures, the occupation-scenes in which were taken as
models by Flemish illuminators at the end of the fifteenth
century, e.g. in the Grimani Breviary and the Hennessy
Hours. But while the later artists generally placed their
compositions in landscapes of a distinctly Flemish char-
acter, Pol and his brothers paid a subtle compliment to
their patron by introducing a fine series of paintings of
his chateaux. Thus in March we see the fortress of
Lusignan, with the dragon-fairy MeUusine flying to re-
1 No. 1284. See the Chantilly Catalogue^ i, pp. 59-71, pi. 5-8; Delisle, in
Gazette des Beaux-Arts y 1884, i, pp. 401-4 (four plates); and above all Durrieu's
two stately volumes, Les Tres Riches Heures de Jean, due de Beriy, 1904.
271
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
join her husband Raymondin ; the dainty and gracious
betrothal-scene, which illustrates April, is placed just out-
side the walls of Dourdan; the May-day hunting-party
rides through a wood above which the towers of Riom
are visible. Moreover, the Duke himself is represented
in the January picture, sitting in state at a banquet, con-
versing with an ecclesiastic, while groups of fashionably
dressed courtiers stand about. Above each of these
pictures, in a semicircle enclosed by a starry arch bearing
the zodiacal signs for the month, is the chariot of the sun,
drawn by winged steeds across the sky.
Landscape-painting is not confined to the Calendar,
but is used when possible to enrich the scriptural and
hagiographical scenes. The meeting of Mary and Eliza-
beth, 1 for instance, takes place in a region of bleak and
craggy hills, with a stately pinnacled city in the distance.
More specially appropriate is the illustration to the Mass
of S. Michael a fine picture of Mont S. Michel with its
abbey buildings and with the waves breaking at the foot
of the mount, the islet of Tombelaine in the offing, the
Archangel and Satan fighting furiously in mid-air.
Masterly artists in every way, it is as colourists above
all that the Limbourg brothers show their consummate
powers. At once brilliant and delicate, clean without
hardness, and infinitely varied without loss of unity, the
colouring could hardly be surpassed in beauty; on vellum,
at any rate, it assuredly never has been. Most of the
pages glow with bright and joyous sunlight ; but night-
effects are attempted with great success in a few pictures,
as in the dusky blue of the Gethsemane scene, where the
soldiers fall prostrate before the divine majesty of Christ;
or in the lurid darkness of hell, with the devils, and the
lost souls whom they torture with every circumstance of
medieval ingenuity, seen dimly in the smoky gloom.
Very little is known as to Pol and his brothers, beyond
the fact that for the last few years of the Duke of Berry's
life they were salaried members of his household. A
1 PI. xl.
272
PLATE XL
" TRES RICHES HEURES " OF JEAN DUG DE BERRY, D. 1416
BY PAUL DE LIMBOURG AND HIS BROTHERS. CHANTII.LY, MUSRE CONDK
FRENCH ILLUiMINATION AFTER 1400
document dated i February, 1434, concerning a house at
Bourges given by the Duke to Pol about 1409, shows
that he had long been dead (his widow having married
again and died, and her second husband having " longue-
ment tenu et occupe* " the said house), and implies by its
silence that his two brothers were also dead. They must
have had time, however, before 1416 if not after, to execute
many other paintings besides those in the "Tres Riches
Heures"; among those which have been more or less
confidently assigned to them, on grounds of style in
default of documentary evidence, are the miniatures in
the " Belles Heures " of the Duke of Berry, now in Baron
Edmond de Rothschild's collection, 1 and a Crucifixion
and a Majestas Domini in a Missal given to the church
of S. Magloire at Paris in 1412 (Bibl. de r Arsenal, No.
623), 2 Whether these attributions be well founded or not,
it is clear that in the "Tres Riches Heures" we have the
supreme achievement of this remarkable band of brothers.
In it, as in Add. 32454 and 29433, signs of Italian influ-
ence have been recognized ; indeed, the miniature of the
Purification (Durrieu, pi. 39) is all but identical in com-
position with Taddeo Gaddi's fresco of the Presentation
of the Virgin, in the church of Santa Croce at Florence. 3
We come next to a splendid group of manuscripts
illuminated at Paris in or about the second quarter of
the century, three of them for John, Duke of Bedford,
uncle of Henry VI and Regent of France from 1422 until
his death in 1435. The finest of these is his Book of
Hours (Brit. Mus., Add. 18850),* commonly but incor-
rectly called the " Bedford Missal." It was probably
made on the occasion of his marriage, in 1423, to Anne,
daughter of John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy ; for it
1 Gazette dcs Beaux- Arts, 1906, i, pp. 265-92.
2 Primitifs Franfats, 1904, pt. ii, No. 222 (pi. opp. p. 61); Martin, Peintres,
p. 75, fig. 20.
3 M. Durrieu maintains, however (pp. 45-73), that not even this resemblance,
striking though it is, affords any proof of direct Italian influence.
4 Pal. Soc., i, 172-3 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 47, Reprod., iii, 32-4.
IS 2/3
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
contains her portrait, arms, and motto as well as his, and
it was given by her, with his consent, to the young King
Henry on Christmas Eve, 1430. Its wealth of decoration
is extraordinary, almost unique, in fact, though it falls far
short of the "Tres Riches Heures" in beauty. Every
page of text has a full border of the same type as the
most elaborate borders in the Burgundy Breviary, but
more luxuriant, with columbines, violets, and other
flowers combined with ivy-leaf and acanthus, and with
brilliant little medallion-miniatures introduced. After
the Calendar are four full-page paintings of scenes from
Genesis, without borders; these are among the best pages
in the book, especially the building of the Ark and the
Tower of Babel, with their interesting details and the
lively, natural action of the figures. Each of the large
miniatures prefixed to the principal divisions of the text
is accompanied by a series of vignettes connected with it
in subject, usually placed in a richly ornate border of
flowers, birds, and foliage, with little or none of the ivy-
leaf pattern which forms the groundwork of the other
borders. Thus the Lessons from the four Gospels have
large pictures of the Evangelists writing, surrounded with
vignettes representing incidents in their lives ; at the
Hours of the Dead, monks are seen chanting round a
bier which stands in a stately Gothic choir, while the
vignettes in the border illustrate the last rites of the
Church. 1 But the Annunciation, prefixed to Matins of
the Virgin, is completely framed by twelve scenes from
Our Lady's life, which leave no space for any non-pictorial
border-ornament. The two portrait-pages, near the end
of the book (fT. 2$6b, 25yb), are splendid. The Duke
and Duchess, in magnificent attire, kneel before their
respective patrons ; their faces are very carefully painted
in pure profile, and have every appearance of being
authentic portraits of high value. The last miniature in
the volume (f. 288b) is a fine full-page composition, illus-
trating the legend of the divine origin of the royal arms
i PI. xli.
274
PI,A TK XLl
rvs*r! ' w^M\f j-ip *
"t ominnir lot rrtcbif iofifur cr If fcuurcfriiimrtfc pjurlr^
\JMV iqnjctiuinifir ^ rdmublc vioifir on(ciatf oamnifr
v:iaurbimquU(airionnc
o:r.comTa . i ifomirin.T;
';-.
BEDFORD HOURS. FRENCH, CIRCA 1423
BRIT. MUS. ADD. 18850
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
of France. On the whole, it is chiefly through its exces-
sive sumptuousness that the Bedford Hours misses the
very highest rank. Every page is lavishly flowered with
brilliant colours and ingenious patterns, but the total
effect is gorgeous rather than entirely satisfying; splendid
and skilful as the painting is, it fails to achieve complete
success through lack of restraint and simplicity of plan.
In fact, a decline in artistic taste has already begun.
The Sarum Breviary in the Bibl. Nat. (lat. I7294) 1
was also made for the Duke of Bedford ; its decoration
is similar to that of his Hours, and was evidently
the work of the same artists. Its date, however, is
somewhat later, for it contains the arms of his second
wife, Jacqueline of Luxembourg, whom he married in
1433. Another book begun for the same patron was the
famous Pontifical of Jacques Jouvenel des Ursins, which
was acquired by the city of Paris in 1861. Ten years
later it perished in the fire at the Hotel de Ville a truly
lamentable loss, to judge by Vallet de Viriville's descrip-
tion of the manuscript, 2 and by Le Roux de Lincy's
coloured reproductions 3 of three of its miniatures contain-
ing views of old Paris.
The Sobieski Hours 4 (so called from having once
belonged to John Sobieski, King of Poland), bequeathed
by Cardinal Henry Stuart to George IV, and now in the
Royal Library at Windsor, belongs to the same group.
The precise circumstances of its origin are uncertain, but
it seems probable that it was made for Margaret, sister of
Anne, Duchess of Bedford, to signalize her marriage in
1423 to Arthur, Comte de Richemont. At any rate, it
is clearly contemporary with the Bedford Hours and
decorated to a large extent by the same artists. The
best pages indeed are even superior to most of the work
in that book : less overlaid with border-ornament, more
1 Primitifs Fr., ii, No. 106.
2 Gaz. des Beaux-Arts, 1866, ii, pp. 471-88.
3 Paris et ses historic ns, 1867, pi. 4, 8, 10.
4 New Pal. Soc., pi. 94-6, 194-5 ; Burl. F.A. Club, No. 209, pi. 134.
275
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
delicate and harmonious in colouring. In fact, it may be
regarded as a sort of connecting link between the com-
paratively restrained style of the Burgundy Breviary and
"Tres Riches Heures," on the one hand, and the florid
sumptuousness of the Bedford books on the other. The
Calendar preserves some traces of fourteenth century
symbolism in its figures of prophets and apostles with
scrolls, balancing each other at the foot of the page ; but
it also has, like the Bedford Hours, figures of saints in
the margins opposite their respective days, not framed as
in the Bedford Hours, but inserted in the borders. The
large miniatures, many of which are interesting in subject
as well as admirable in treatment, are mostly composite
pictures, either divided into compartments or else repre-
senting several incidents continuously. Of the former,
one of the most charming examples is the series of scenes
from the life of the Virgin prefixed to her Hours ; of the
latter, the Mont S. Michel picture at the Memoria of
S. Michael.
Of the same class, though on a much smaller scale,
is a beautiful little Book of Hours in Mr. Yates Thomp-
son's collection, 1 made for the famous Dunois, Bastard of
Orleans, probably after his capture of Paris in 1436, for
it is evidently the work of the brilliant school of Parisian
illuminators who had enjoyed the patronage of the Duke
of Bedford under the English regime. In its long series
of admirable miniatures are some of uncommon design,
especially the representations of the seven deadly sins
which illustrate the Penitential Psalms ; one of these,
the picture of Idleness (f. 162), has a fine landscape back-
ground, which has been recognized as a careful copy from
Jan van Eyck's well-known "Vierge au donateur" in
the Louvre. Dunois himself is introduced in three of
the miniatures, and these are perhaps the only authentic
portraits of the great soldier in existence.
The same collection includes another Book of Hours 2
1 No. ii. See Catalogue, i, pp. 49-57-
2 No. 85. See Catalogue, ii, pp. 238-64.
276
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
of this period, even more plentifully adorned with minia-
tures, though hardly of quite so high a level of artistic
excellence ; made for Admiral Prigent de Coetivy
(d. 1450), probably before 1445. In colouring the contrast
between the two manuscripts is great, the Dunois book
having all the rich brilliancy of its class, while most of
the miniatures in the Coetivy Hours are painted in what
is practically a modification of grisaille, the draperies
being left white, against backgrounds coloured in light
tones.
Somewhat earlier is the Psalter of Henry VI, 1 which
was probably a gift from his mother, Queen Catherine,
on his coronation in 1430. It has nothing like the wealth
of illustration with which the manuscripts just described
abound ; but its fifteen miniatures are all finely executed,
and six of them have an added interest from the portraits
of the young king which they contain now kneeling
before the Image of Pity or the Virgin and Child, now
looking on at the combat between David and Goliath.
The borders show the gilt ivy-leaf style at its best, and
the church scenes, with nuns and friars singing the
office, are admirable both for the display of architec-
tural detail and for the soft and delicate treatment of
the faces.
The first half of the fifteenth century was the flower-
ing-time of French illumination in the proper sense of
the term. An immense quantity was produced in the
next fifty or sixty years, and some of this has considerable
artistic merit ; its special beauty, however, is that of
pictures on a small scale, painted on vellum instead of
wood or canvas, rather than that of manuscript pages
fittingly adorned. The great master of the new school
was Jean Fouquet, who, after receiving unstinted praise
from his contemporaries and immediate successors,
Italian as well as French (he is enshrined in the pages of
Vasari), fell into neglect for nearly three centuries, but
has been amply rehabilitated in recent years ; on few
1 Brit. Mus., Dom. A. xvii. See Warner, Ilium. MSS^ pi. 48, Reprod., i, 29.
277
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
painters indeed, certainly on no other miniaturist, have
such unremitting study and research been lavished. 1
Born at Tours about 1410-20, he went to Rome while
still a young man, and painted there, apparently between
1443 and 1447, a portrait of Pope Eugenius IV, on
canvas, for the church of S. Maria sopra Minerva. He
probably returned to France soon after, but nothing is
actually known of his movements until 1461, when he
was commissioned to paint the dead King Charles VI Fs
portrait. From this time till his death, which took place
between 1477 and 1481, his abode was at Tours, where
he was engaged from time to time in designing the
decorations for great civic displays. When Louis XI
instituted the order of S. Michael, in 1469, Fouquet was
charged with the execution of "certains tableaux . . .
pour servir aux chevaliers de 1'ordre " ; these are not
specified, but they doubtless included the frontispiece to
the copy of the Statutes now in the Bibl. Nat. (fr. 19819),*
which represents the royal founder presiding at a
chapter. In 1474 he received payment " pour avoir tire
et peint sur parchemin " a portrait of Louis when that
monarch was having his tomb prepared in advance ; and
in 1475 he was dignified with the title " Peintre du Roy."
Contemporary records further show that he was com-
missioned to illuminate a Book of Hours for the Duchess
of Orleans in 1472, and another for Philippe de Commines,
apparently in or before 1474.
None of these works of Fouquet's is now known to
exist, with the single exception of the frontispiece to the
Statutes of the Order of S. Michael ; and even that is not
so precisely documented as could be wished. So this
great painter would be a mere name to us, but for a note
which Francois Robertet was happily inspired to insert,
between 1488 and 1503, in a volume then belonging to
1 The Fouquet literature is vast and scattered, but its results are very fully
and carefully set forth by Durrieu, Les Antiquitls Juddiques et le peintre Jean
Foucquet, 1908. For a more succinct but useful summary, see G. Lafenestre,
Jehan Fouquet ^ 1905.
2 Durrieu, Ant. Jud., pi. 19.
278
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
his master Pierre de Bourbon, Sire de Beaujeu and Due
de Bourbon. This volume (now Bibl. Nat., fr. 247) con-
tains the first half of a French translation of Josephus'
Antiquities of the Jews and Jewish War, written originally
for the Due de Berry between 1403 and 1413; and the
note states explicitly that its first three "ystoires" are by
" 1'enlumineur du due Jehan de Berry," and the remaining
nine (or rather, actually, eleven) are by the hand "d'un
bon peintre et enlumineur du roi Loys XI e , Jehan Fouc-
quet, natif de Tours." These "ystoires" are of large size
and in perfect preservation, and sufficiently varied in sub-
ject to enable modern critics at once to endorse the verdict
of his contemporaries and to form some idea of his dis-
tinctive characteristics ; and his hand has consequently
been recognized in other paintings, both miniatures and
panels, the latter including some splendid portraits. The
second volume of the Josephus, long given up as lost,
reappeared in 1903 at Sotheby's sale-rooms, where it was
bought by Mr. Yates Thompson. It then lacked twelve
of its thirteen miniatures, but ten of the missing ones
were discovered two years later by Sir G. Warner, in an
album of detached leaves belonging to the Royal Library
at Windsor; and thanks to King Edward's public-spirited
generosity and that of Mr. Yates Thompson the volume,
complete but for two leaves, has now rejoined its com-
panion in the Paris Library, where it is numbered nouv.
acq. fr. 21013. I* s opening miniature is unmistakably
by Fouquet ; and the others, though much smaller, are in
exactly the same manner, so that if (as some critics hold)
they are not the master's own work, they must at any rate
be assigned to a singularly faithful and skilful disciple. 1
We need not follow those daring critics who see in
certain manuscripts 2 the work of Fouquet in his youth,
1 All the miniatures of both volumes, together with other examples of Fou-
quet's work, are reproduced by Durrieu, Ant. Jud, ; for reduced facsimiles of the
Josephus miniatures, see H. O[mont], Antiquites et Guerre des Juifs de Josephe
[1906],
2 e.g. Brit. Mus., Add. 28785 (Warner, Reprod., ii, 30), a Book of Hours
whose interesting miniatures are specially admirable for their distant landscapes.
279
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
before his style had reached the maturity evident in the
splendid paintings of the Josephus. The latter show
plainly the hand of a great master in the plenitude of his
powers ; their large manner, moreover, bespeaks the
"peintre" rather than the "enlumineur." In his faculty
for handling landscape, his understanding of open-air
effects, Fouquet rivals the_ great Flemish painters of his
time ; he resembles them too in the homely directness
of his portraiture. From Italy he seems to have borrowed
little directly beyond architectural details, in particular the
twisted columns of S. Peter's ; but there are suggestions
of Italian influence in some of his figure-compositions.
His pictures are admirably planned, with an unerring
sense of balance and due proportion between the several
parts. In battle-scenes and processions, especially, he
excels in combining the total effect of serried crowds with
life and individuality in the single figures. All these
characteristics appear in other miniatures, along with
more minute traits which stamp them as Fouquet's work
beyond all question ; among these are the illustrations
of the Grandes Chroniques de France, 1 the Munich Boc-
cace, 2 painted for Laurens Gyrard in or soon after 1458,
and above all the Hours of Iitienne Chevalier. The
last-named manuscript, Fouquet's great masterpiece, was
probably painted in or before 1461, since it contains
a representation of Charles VII as one of the Magi.
Etienne Chevalier, for whom it was made, as appears by
his initials 3 or full name being introduced into most of
the miniatures or ornamental initials, was a personage of
great note under Charles VII and Louis XI, from about
1440 until his death in 1474. His portrait occurs twice
1 Bibl. Nat., fr. 6465. Published in reduced facsimile by H. O[mont],
Grandes Chroniques de France [1906].
2 Munich, Hofbibl., Cod. gall. 369. See Durrieu, Le Boccace de Munich,
Reproduction des gi miniatures, 1909.
3 The same "EC" device appears in a charming little Horae now in the
British Museum (Add. 16997. See Pal. Soc., ii, 116 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 49,
Reprod., i, 30) ; a manuscript probably of slightly earlier date, and certainly not by
Fouquet.
280
PLATE XLII
HORAE OF E. CHEVALIER, BY JEAN FOUQUET, MID. XV CENT.
CHANTII.LY, MUSP.E CONDK
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
in the Hours : first, kneeling with his patron S. Stephen 1
before the Virgin and Child, in a splendid double-page
picture at the beginning ; and again in the Entombment,
kneeling at the foot of the sepulchre.
Only forty-four detached leaves remain of this lovely
Book of Hours ; of these, forty are in the Musee Conde
at Chantilly, 2 two in the Louvre, 3 one in the Bibliotheque
Nationale, 4 and one in the British Museum. 5 Contrary
to what might be expected, these are the most interesting
as well as the most beautiful of Fouquet's extant minia-
tures. There is a touch of monotony in the battles,
ceremonial processions, and murders with which the
Jewish and French chronicles and the " Cas des nobles
homines et femmes " are illustrated ; but here, well worn
as the themes are, Fouquet has found ample scope in
their presentment for his imagination and originality of
design. In the Enthronement of the Virgin, for instance,
his instinct for majestic composition and his skill in per-
spective are finely exemplified. We seem to be looking
down the nave of a vast cathedral, built up not of stones
but of saints and angels, rising tier on tier to the key of
the vault. Far away in this living temple the Three
Persons of the Trinity, all exactly alike, sit clothed in
white on three Gothic canopied thrones ; and the Virgin
is seated on a fourth throne, placed like a bishop's at the
side of the choir. The same conception appears, but
with many variations in detail, in the Coronation of the
Virgin, 6 where the Son descends from His place in the
triple throne (here of Renaissance style) to place the
crown on Mary's head. Sometimes Fouquet fills up his
pages by inserting legendary scenes, as of the woman
1 A panel-portrait of Chevalier, again supported by S. Stephen, was painted
by Fouquet, probably about 1450, and is now in the Berlin Museum (Primitifs
Fr., i, No. 41, plate between pp. 24 and 25).
2 Published by F. A. Gruyer, Les Quarante Fouquet, 1897.
3 Prim. Fr., i, Nos. 50, 500.
4 Ibid., ii, No. 131 (nouv. acq. lat. 1416).
5 Warner, Reprod., iii, 35 (Add. 37421).
PI. xlii.
281
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
forging the nails for the Crucifixion ; or delights us with
lifelike but irrelevant touches, such as the subsidiary group
in the Visitation, a man drawing water from a well, under
the deeply interested supervision of a little boy. Some
of the subjects too are unusual : the curious " Mission
of the Apostles" (Gruyer, pi. 20), for instance, or the
beautiful picture of the angel's visit to Mary to announce
her approaching death.
Fouquet's sons Louis and Francois were painters of
some note ; and it may be that the latter was the " egregius
pictor Franciscus" who illustrated a huge "Cite" de Dieu"
(Bibl. Nat., fr. 18, 19)* for Charles de Gaucourt in or
shortly before 1473, and whose hand has been recognized
in other manuscripts of the time, notably in a Valerius
Maximus made for Philippe de Commines about 1475, in
two stately volumes (Brit. Mus., Harl. 4374~5). 2 Another
large volume in the British Museum 3 has miniatures
which may safely be referred to the same school, if not
to the same artist. In all these the influence of Jean
Fouquet is plainly discernible, in the composition, the
pose of individual figures, the treatment of draperies, the
frequent touches of gold to heighten effects ; but the
master's supreme genius is lacking, his pupil has not
inherited his charm, refinement, and width of range, nor
his consummate skill as a landscape-painter. That
" Franciscus " was, however, an artist of considerable
versatility is proved by the fact that besides these and
other manuscripts of large size he also illustrated Books
of Hours of the tiniest dimensions. Two such books, at
least, are extant: one in Mr. Yates Thompson's collection, 4
executed for Rend II, Duke of Lorraine (1473-1508) ; the
1 Prim. Fr., ii, Nos. 141-2. Count A. de Laborde, MSS. a peintures de la
Cite de Dieu (Soc. des Bibliophiles fr., 1909), pp. 397-416, pi. 47~S 6 -
2 Warner, Valerius Maximus. Miniatures of the School of Jean Fouquet,
1907 ; also Ilium. MSS., pi. 50, and Reprod., ii, 33.
3 Add. 35321, Boccace, Cas des malheureux nobles hommes et femmes; the
subject of an illustrated article by Sir E. M. Thompson in the Burlington Magazine,
vii, 1905, pp. 198-210. See too Warner, Reprod., i, 33.
4 Warner, Valerius Maximus, pp. 12, 15-17.
282
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
other in the British Museum, 1 perhaps made for Louis de
Luxembourg, Count of St. Pol (d. 1475). The latter has
borders of the unpleasing type which came into vogue
towards the end of the century, gilt triangular insertions
alternating with the plain vellum as background for
scrolls of foliage. But the miniatures are very finely
painted, especially when one considers that the artist was
accustomed to work on a much larger scale a fact only
recalled by an occasional tendency to make the heads too
big for the bodies. The distant landscapes are excellent,
and many of the compositions are interesting, notably
the charming picture of the Virgin teaching the Child-
Christ to read, and still more the frontispiece to Vespers
of the Dead, with the mysterious symbolism of its nine
crosses each bearing the crucified Saviour, and its twofold
representation of the dead Christ in angels' arms below
an empty cross. 2
The work of Jean Fouquet and his school, like that
of most Northern French illuminators in the latter half
of the fifteenth century, shows strong affinities with
Flemish art. In South-eastern France, on the other
hand, there is often some admixture of Italian influence,
especially in the border-ornament. There are hints of
this in the Hours of Rene" of Anjou (d. 1480) ; 3 and it is
more pronounced in the Saluces Hours, 4 executed about
1450-60, probably for Amedee de Saluces. The former
manuscript contains two miniatures, painted in a curious
and somewhat uncouth style, which have been attributed to
"le bon roi Rend" himself, but though his love for illumina-
tion is well known, 5 no certain evidence is forthcoming as
to his practical proficiency in the art.
Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in
France long after the introduction of printing, and much
1 Eg. 2045. See Warner, Val. Max., pp. 16-17, Reprod., i, 31.
2 For these two pages (ff. 2i6b, 280) see pi. xliii.
8 Eg. 1070. See Warner, Reprod., iii, 36-7.
4 Add. 27697. See Pal. Soc., i, 253 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. $\,Reprod.,\, 32.
5 See E. Chmelarz in the Vienna Jahrbuch^ xi, 1890, pp. 116-39.
283
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
skill and labour were expended upon them. But the
art may be said, without grave inaccuracy, to have
finished its course by the end of the fifteenth century.
It was no longer instinct with life and capable of natural
development ; and the great masters of painting ceased,
with few exceptions, to devote their talents to it. Pre-
eminent' among the exceptions is the illuminator of the
Hours of Anne of Brittany, Queen Consort of Charles
VIII (1491-8) and of his successor Louis XII (1499-1514).
This famous manuscript 1 was long attributed to Jean
Poyet of Tours, on the strength of an entry in the
Queen's accounts, recording a payment made to him in
1497 f r illuminating "unes petites heures"; but since
the discovery of a warrant, dated March 14, 1507, for
the payment of six hundred crowns to Jean Bourdichon
for having " richement et somptueusement historic' et
enlumyne' une grans heures " for Anne's use, it has been
generally identified, not with Poyet's "petites heures,"
but with the presumably larger and more sumptuous work
of Bourdichon. 2 Like his rival Poyet, Bourdichon be-
longed to Tours, and was quite possibly a pupil of
Fouquet, having been born in 1457. As early as 1478
he was commissioned to decorate the Royal Chapel at
Plessis-les-Tours, and from 1484 onwards he bore the
title of " painctre du roy," apparently until his death in or
shortly before 1521. Like Fouquet, he employed his
artistic talents in various ways : he designed coins, lamps,
and reliquaries, painted portraits, banners, and views of
towns, as well as illuminating manuscripts. As in the
case of Fouquet, too, we are dependent on a single
manuscript for our knowledge of his actual work, and
even of that, as we have seen, he has not been left in
undisputed possession. M. Male has recognized his
1 Bibl. Nat., lat. 9474. See H. O.[mont], Heures d* Anne de Bretagne [1907] ;
E. Male, in Gaz. des Beaux-Arts^ 1902, i, pp. 185-203, 1904, ii, pp. 441-57; also
F. de Mely, in Gaz. des Beaux-Arts, 1909, ii, pp. 177-96, 1910, ii, p. 173.
2 It should be mentioned, however, that M. de Mely upholds the attribution
to Poyet, though the weight of evidence seems against him.
284
FRENCH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1400
hand, however, in five other manuscripts now in French
libraries ; and a sixth, executed apparently for Jean
Bourgeois soon after 1490, has been found in the Univer-
sity Library at Innsbruck. 1 All these show some
lingering traces of Fouquet's influence, particularly the
Innsbruck MS., which contains a miniature of David
praying, clad in full armour, directly reminiscent of the
corresponding picture in the Chevalier Hours (Brit. Mus.,
Add. 37421). The best of them is undoubtedly the
Hours of Anne of Brittany, in its somewhat decadent
way a veritable masterpiece. The groups are well planned,
the landscapes and architectural ornaments are finely
painted, but the faces, though not without a certain
individuality, are sentimental, sleek, lacking in animation.
Though not a great master, Bourdichon evidently had
a numerous following ; more or less feeble imitations of
his manner abound in almost every large library, 2 the
dying efforts of French illumination.
1 See H. J. Hermann, " Ein unbekanntes Gebetbuch von Jean Bourdichon," in
Beitrdge zur Kunstgeschichte, Franz Wickhoff geividmet, 1903, pp. 46-63.
2 Samples may be seen in the Brit. Mus. MSS. Add. 18854 (executed in 1525
for Francois de Dinteville, Bishop of Auxerre), 18855, (early sixteenth century,
contrasting unfavourably with two leaves from an exquisite Flemish calendar, of
about the same period, inserted at the end of the volume), and 35254, T-V. The
last, three leaves from a large Book of Hours, early sixteenth century, is decidedly
the best of these ; it is perhaps the work of one of Bourdichon's pupils.
285
CHAPTER XVII
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
WE saw that in the fourteenth century Italy failed
to reach in illumination a pre-eminence com-
mensurate with that which she achieved in
fresco and panel painting. Speaking broadly, the same
may be said of the fifteenth century. In the first half
she is eclipsed by the Franco-Flemish schools ; and in
the second, when her distinctive style had reached full
maturity, even her most superb productions are rivalled,
if not surpassed, by the more sober colouring and the
minuter finish of the finest Flemish work of the same
period. Her prime too was much briefer than her
Northern rival's, her decay more rapid and complete ; in all
the mass of Italian sixteenth century illumination that
exists there is little which gives the beholder anything
like complete satisfaction by its beauty, which does not
rather repel him by its tasteless exuberance of ornament
and its ill-harmonized scheme of colour.
No great masterpieces have survived from the early
decades of the fifteenth century, and there is no reason
for supposing that any were produced ; but the con-
tinuance and gradual development of the fourteenth cen-
tury style often produced very pleasing results. A fair
sample of the work of this period may be seen in the
Hymnal of the Austin Hermits of Siena, 1 dated 1415,
and decorated with large historiated initials and pendent
borders. Compared with the fourteenth century Vallom-
brosa Gradual 2 which stands near it in the same show-
1 Brit. Mus., Add. 30014. See Warner, Reprod., i, 45 (accidentally given the
lettering which belongs to pi. 46).
2 Add. 18198. See above, p. 259.
286
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
case at the British Museum, it marks a considerable
advance ; not so much in the miniatures (though these
too show more elaboration of detail, more effort after
minute finish) as in the borders. These are a modifica-
tion of the old rod-and-acanthus design : the rods become
less prominent and are usually curved, the leaves grow
more freely and luxuriantly, and flowers and delicate
sprays of foliage issue at the corners and extremities ;
human, grotesque, and other figures too are introduced
a monk praying, a woman carrying a basket on her head,
a bird flying with food to its nestlings, etc. The most
elaborate page is at Christmas (f. 51), where the initial
encloses a miniature of the Nativity in a landscape of snow-
clad hills, the Annunciation to the Shepherds is depicted
in an interesting pastoral scene in the lower margin, and
the borders are enriched with medallions of angel-
musicians and half-length figures of David and John the
Baptist. The miniature has a sky of stippled gold, and
is surrounded with a square frame filled with a geo-
metrical repeat-pattern. Throughout the volume, though
the technique is not of the highest quality, the total effect
is satisfying, sometimes even charming, through the
simplicity and good taste of the compositions and orna-
ment, and above all through the purity and brilliance of
the colour-scheme, with its predominant gold and ver-
milion set off against paler tints and the plain vellum.
The manuscript is full of exquisite lace-work initials in
red and blue another heritage from the preceding cen-
tury.
This Hymnal is of special interest as being a complete
manuscript, and one whose date and place of origin are
known. The finest specimens of its class are mostly
found (outside Italy, at all events) in single leaves or por-
tions of leaves, ruthlessly cut out from choir-books to
enrich collectors' albums. Among many such cuttings
that have found their way to the British Museum are two
large miniatures, which have evidently been taken from
early fifteenth century Sienese choir-books. Both are
287
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
resplendent with vermilion and burnished gold ; and both
are enclosed in tessellated frames, like the Nativity in the
Hymnal. Characteristic too of the school are the large-
ness and simplicity of the compositions, and the serene,
slightly sentimental facial types. One of these paintings 1
represents the Burial and Assumption of the Virgin,
between two precipitous hills of the familiar primitive
Italian type, against a vast expanse of gold background ;
the other 2 treats the subject of the Annunciation in a
somewhat original way, Gabriel being half-hidden by the
elaborately foliated "R" which encloses the picture. The
Sienese school was exceptionally conservative, and these
miniatures form an interesting link between the great
masterpiece of Niccolo di Ser Sozzo and the illuminations
painted by Sano di Pietro, after the middle of the fifteenth
century, in choir-books still preserved in the cathedral at
Siena.
Fra Angelico is sometimes said to have practised
illumination, and he has actually been credited with the
decoration of certain choir-books now exhibited in the
Museo di S. Marco at Florence. But this attribution
seems ill-founded, 3 though signs of his influence are
obvious ; and there is no real evidence that he painted on
vellum at all. The history of Florentine illumination in
the earlier part of the fifteenth century is obscure ; and
much the same may be said of Italian illumination gener-
ally during that period, until the Renaissance infused new
life into the art. One of the first indications of the new
movement was a revival of the style of script and decora-
tion of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. This appears
as early as 1433, in a copy of Justinus made at Verona ; 4
still earlier at Florence, in a Valerius Flaccus written in
1 Add. 37955. A.
2 Add. 35254, C. See pi. xliv.
3 See Langton Douglas, Fra Angelico, 1902, p. 159. For descriptions of
the S. Marco MSS. see F. Rondoni, Guida del R. Museo fiorentino di S. Marco,
1872, and for plates, V. Marchese, S. Marco, Convento del Padri Predicaiori in
Firenze, 1853.
4 Brit. Mus., Add. 12012. See Pal. Soc.> i, 252.
288
I'LATK XL1V
SINGLE LEAF, PERHAPS FROM A CHOIR BOOK. SIENESE, EARLY XV CENT
BRIT. MUS. ADI). 35254 <:
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
1429.* The script soon developed into the well-known
" scrittura umanistica," whose exquisite neatness and pre-
cision made Italian calligraphers famous, and prepared
the way for the triumphs of the early Italian printers ;
while the decorative scheme produced the borders which
are so familiar to all students of late Italian illumination,
and whose foundation is an interlaced scroll of white vine-
tendrils. This scroll-work design was usually painted on
grounds of alternating blue, green, and crimson, and set
in a rectangular frame composed of narrow gold bands ;
and putti, birds, rabbits, and other animals were often
introduced, together with medallions enclosed in wreaths
of close - set foliage, and containing sometimes figure-
compositions, sometimes heraldic or symbolical designs,
sometimes busts copied from antique gems. This type of
Renaissance work may be seen at its best in the sump-
tuous books written by Hippolytus Lunensis,a calligrapher
who worked chiefly for Ferdinand of Aragon, King of
Naples (1458-94), and who probably directed the illumin-
ation of the volumes to which his name is attached.
Among these is a copy of " Joannis Scoti super libros
Sententiarum quaestiones" in several bulky tomes,
four of which are in the British Museum and one at
Paris ; 2 vol v. having on the opening page, 3 besides a
full and elaborate border of this kind, a neatly executed
miniature of a scribe at work, attached to the initial. The
Ovid in Mr. Perrins's collection, 4 written by Hippolytus
for Antonello Petrucci about 1480, combines the vine-
tendril design with another style of Renaissance border,
a scroll of thread-like stems with tiny leaves and large
flowers on a plain vellum ground ; and the artist cannot
be congratulated on his juxtaposition of the two schemes,
effective though each of them is when employed separately.
1 Vltelli and Paoli, Facsimili Paleografid, Lat., tav. 48.
2 Brit. Mus., Add. 15270-3; Bibl. Nat., lat. 3063. See Warner, Reprod.,
iii, 38.
3 Pl.xlv.
4 Burl. F.A. Club, No. 186, pi. 124.
19 289
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
This lack of simplicity and restraint, this tendency to
spoil the decorative effect of a page by overloading it with
ill-assorted ornaments, was a besetting sin of the Renais-
sance illuminators, and one which grew as time went on,
after the accustomed manner of besetting sins. Early
manuscripts are comparatively free from it, even to so
late a date as 1457, when a Roman Missal 1 was executed,
probably at or near Florence, for Sandra di Giovanni
Cianchini da Gavignano, Abbess of Rosano in the diocese
of Fiesole. This manuscript has no great intrinsic
importance, but may be taken as marking the limit of
persistence (outside Siena) of the Pre- Renaissance tradi-
tion. Its one full-page miniature, a Crucifixion prefixed
to the Canon, is crude and unattractive ; but the initial
and border decorations are simple and effective, especially
on the opening page of the Temporale (f. 7), where they
form a pleasing harmony in pale blue, pale green, and
burnished gold.
But more sophisticated tastes were coming in, together
with a much wider range of decorative ideas and a great
advance in technical skill. Despite the transitional
character of this Missal, Italian illumination had already
entered on its most brilliant period, and the next half-
century witnessed the production of many splendid
masterpieces. The florescence was general, and it is not
easy to discriminate between the different local schools.
The leading miniaturists undoubtedly moved about from
place to place, fulfilling particular commissions ; and
though many of their names are preserved in records,
there is still the old difficulty of identifying their work
in actual extant manuscripts. Very few of them had the
habit of signing their paintings ; and the records, when
they do specify individual manuscripts that are still in
existence, often connect them with the names of several
painters, giving no indication of the precise part per-
formed by any one of them. It is tantalizing information
of this kind that we are given, for instance, about the
1 Brit. Mus., Add. 14802.
290
PLATE XLV
-
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pllrrin boc OKTT frnj/i Jf frrmitwr ur licur cr pnmo <V fnundo r/jm
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SCOTUS, QUAESTIONES IN SENTENTIAS. ITALIAN, 1458-94
BRIT. MUS. ADD. 15273
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
great two-volume Bible of Borso d'Este, Lord of Ferrara,
now in the library of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand
of Austria-Este. Borso's accounts show that the decora-
tion of this splendid book was begun in 1455 and com-
pleted in 1462, that the illuminator-in-chief was Taddeo
Crivelli, and that his principal assistants were Franco
Russi, Giorgio Tedesco, and Marco dell' Avogaro ; but
they leave much room for conjecture in the attribution to
each artist of his share in the work.
The Borso Bible marks the highest achievement of
the illuminators attached to the court of Ferrara, where
the Este princes, especially Leonello (1441-50) and his
successor Borso (1450-71), were liberal patrons of art. 1 It
is, indeed, one of the most perfect and magnificent of all
existing monuments of Italian illumination. For wealth
of decoration it is almost without a rival, having some-
thing like a thousand miniatures. There is documentary
evidence that the superb double-page illumination at the
beginning of Genesis was painted by Taddeo Crivelli
himself; and it amply justifies his reputation as one of
the greatest illuminators of his time. The wide border
which surrounds the three columns of text is filled with
a great variety of decorative elements, but these are so
well adjusted as to result in an admirable design, rich and
yet harmonious and not overloaded. The two inner
margins are comparatively simple, having a style of border
very often found in Ferrarese manuscripts, 2 though not
peculiar to them : consisting of flowers and discs, con-
nected by a sort of network of filigree lines, representing
the stems, which also enclose plaques painted with the
Este arms and imprese. But decoration is freely lavished
1 See H. J. Hermann, "Zur Geschichte der Miniaturmalerei am Hofe der
Este in Ferrara," in the Vienna Jahrbuch, xxi, pp. 117-271 (copiously illustrated,
especially from the Borso Bible); also G. Gruyer, LArt ferrarais, 1897*, ii, pp.
4I5-5 1 ; F- Carta, AtL pal.-art,, pi. 92-7; VArte, 1900, pp. 341-73, 1910,
PP- 353-6i.
2 e.g. in Brit. Mus., Add. 17294, a Ferrara Breviary made about 1472, ap-
parently for Borso's successor, Ercole I, whose arms it contains, together with the
" diamante" impresa : a beautifully written manuscript, but its decoration, though
well executed, is not sumptuous or in any way remarkable.
291
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
on the two broad outer bands, which, with the upper and
lower margins, contain a series of Creation-scenes, placed
in a gorgeous setting of Renaissance architectural and
other ornament, putti, vases, doves, and conventional
foliage. The Creation-scenes show much originality in
composition, especially that in which the Almighty is
putting the finishing touches to a lion under the interested
surveillance of a horse. The animals and nude human
figures are treated in a naturalistic and graceful manner,
the putti are particularly charming ; in the purely decora-
tive work a fertile fancy is combined with excellent taste ;
the drawing is firm and delicate, the whole execution
finely finished. Dr. Hermann has reproduced many other
examples of what is apparently Taddeo's work, showing
the same excellent qualities ; the pages which he assigns
to one or other of Taddeo's collaborators, though evi-
dently painted by skilful craftsmen, are distinctly inferior,
lacking the master's freedom, originality, and charm.
The Borso Bible is the only book in which we have
anything like certainty that Taddeo Crivelli's work is to
be found. But he is known to have been much in request
from 1452 to 1476, illuminating choir-books for the Certosa
at Pavia and the monasteries of S. Procolo and S. Petronio
at Bologna; he died in or before 1479. His work at
S. Petronio was continued, from 1477 to 1480, by Martino
da Modena, son of his former collaborator Giorgio
Tedesco. Martino also decorated service-books for
Modena and Ferrara cathedrals, between 1480 and 1485,
and he has been credited with a splendid Missal now in
the Trivulzio collection at Milan. He seems to have had
less aptitude than Taddeo for planning a sumptuous full-
page design ; but his treatment of the human face and
figure, still more of landscape, is much more advanced.
Elaborately painted landscape-backgrounds were now
becoming a regular feature in Italian miniature ; they
are prominent, and sometimes quite beautiful, in the
famous Breviary of Ercole I, most of which is now in
the Austria-Este Library. Executed about 1502, this fine
292
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
book already shows signs of decadent taste. The details
of ornament, exquisitely painted though they be, are ill-
distributed, now crowding up the borders with reckless
profusion, now arranged in stiff and monotonous sym-
metry. The miniatures too are often hampered with
incongruous details, and lacking in spaciousness of com-
position. The pages are gorgeous, magnificent ; but few
of them are satisfying. Among still later Este manu-
scripts the Officium of Alfonso I (circa 1505-10), in the
Austria-Este Library, and the Missal of Cardinal Ippolito I
(1503-20), in the University Library at Innsbruck, deserve
mention for the fine pictures which both contain ; but
these are only the last flickerings of a moribund art.
Dr. Hermann's admirable survey of Ferrarese illu-
mination, on which the above brief sketch is based, gives
a fairly accurate idea of the course of development and
decay of Renaissance illumination in any of the great
centres of Italian painting. The names of patrons change
we have the Medicis at Florence, the Sforzas at Milan,
and so on ; so do the names of artists, where these are
known at all. There are great varieties of style, due to
the special circumstances of a local school or the individual
genius of a great master. But the general trend is much
the same everywhere, though its course cannot as a rule
be followed step by step for lack of material, or of precise
data with regard to the abundant material which exists.
One of the few exceptions is the Venetian school, whose
successive stages are shown by the Ducali in almost
uninterrupted continuity down even to the eighteenth
century. 1 Strictly speaking, the Ducale was the covenant
which the Doge made with the Venetian people on his
election ; but the term is also applied in a more general
sense to ducal commissions and other documents, and
even to congratulatory addresses offered to a Doge. The
decoration of the earlier Ducali was usually confined to
a figure-initial with pendent border-ornament, and had
1 Holmes and Madden's Catalogue of Ducali (Brit. Mus., Add. 20758) ranges
from 1367 to 1718.
293
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
little artistic significance ; l but it became more elaborate
about the middle of the fifteenth century, and began to
be fairly representative of Venetian illumination. The
earliest Ducale in the British Museum, the covenant of
Cristoforo Mauro, 1462* has on the first page three
illuminated initials, besides a full border of flowers, rayed
discs, and filigree-stems, with numerous small figures of
birds, foxes, etc., painted on the plain vellum (like the
Ferrarese borders described above), and enclosing medal-
lions of apes, lions, and other animals, with the Mauro
arms within a wreath supported by putti in the lower
margin. The principal initial contains (or rather, is re-
placed by) a miniature of the Doge adoring the enthroned
Madonna and Child between S. Mark and S. Bernardino ;
finely painted, for the most part in subdued colours, but
lit up by the deep crimson of the Doge's robe. Venetian
illumination is seen at its best in this early Renaissance
phase, preserving due balance between text, ornament,
and figure-composition. The full-page frontispiece which
usually adorns the later Ducali 3 is more imposing, with
its gorgeous colouring and florid design, but is much less
satisfying as a work of art ; lacking as it does the
essential character of miniature, it quickly degenerates
into a poor imitation of panel-painting on a reduced scale.
Florence, the great home of all the arts, produced a
large number of illuminated manuscripts during the
Renaissance period ; but comparatively few of these
approach the first rank. There are two manuscripts in
the British -Museum which contain the Medici arms, and
were perhaps made for Lorenzo the Magnificent himself,
to whose time (1469-92) they seem to belong ; but they
cannot be called better than mediocre. One of them is a
1 See L. Testi, Storia della Pittura Veneziana, i, 1909, pp. 503, 512-15.
2 Add. 15816. See Warner, Reprod., i, 48.
3 There are many of these in the British Museum, including a volume (Add.
20916) filled with detached frontispieces, late fifteenth century to 1620. Of the
rest, the following may be noted as fair samples of their respective periods : Add.
21463 (1486, see Warner, i, 49), 18000(1521), 21414 (c. 1530), 17373 (1554). and
King's 156 (1568).
294
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Breviary (Add. 25697), the other a Petrarch (Harl.
both are very small books, and are chiefly worth notice
for the border-ornament, which is characteristically
Florentine, painted on the plain vellum, and differing
chiefly from the North Italian border, already described,
in its profusion of rayed gilt discs. The Petrarch also
has tiny vignette miniatures at the foot of the pages,
representing the Triumphs in a sketchy, but skilful
and effective manner. Another type of border, not
peculiar to Florence, but often found also in Milanese and
other illuminations of the end of the fifteenth century,
appears in Add. 33997, a Horae made in Florence, after
1472,* for a lady named Smeralda, consisting mainly of
arabesques in dead gold on blue, green, or crimson
grounds, enclosed in a rectangular frame. The colouring
in this manuscript is brilliant, but somewhat hard ; one
of the most pleasing features in the book is the half-
length portrait of a fair-haired girl (evidently the lady
Smeralda), which appears on almost all the illuminated
pages. Both styles of border are used in the decoration
of Add. 29735^ a Breviary of the great Franciscan convent
of S. Croce, written towards the end of the century
(certainly after April 14, 1482, the Calendar citing a decree
of that date, instituting the Feast of S. Bonaventura).
The more sumptuous style, with grounds of crimson,
blue, and green, occurs only on the opening page of the
Temporale (f. 7) : the most elaborate page in the book,
the lower border filled with a miniature of the Annuncia-
tion, the arabesques at the sides interrupted by half-
length figures of saints set in richly jewelled medallions.
The long narrow picture of the Annunciation is very
carefully painted ; it has some resemblance in manner to
Lorenzo di Credi's panels, especially in the sentimental
figures of the kneeling Gabriel and his attendant angels.
Borders of the lighter and more graceful type, with
1 Warner, ii, 48.
2 Having the Translation of S. Bernardino in the Calendar.
3 Pal. Soc., i, 227; Guide to Exhibited MSS., 1906, p. 139; Warner, ii, 50.
295
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
figure-initials, abound throughout the volume ; and there
is an interesting miniature, at the Invention of the Cross
(f. i2yb), of the miracle whereby the true cross was
recognized.
To be seen at its best, however, Florentine illumina-
tion should be studied in the work of Attavante ; or in
such books as the beautiful little Horae of Lorenzo the
Magnificent, formerly Libri MS. 1874 in the Ashburn-
ham Library, 1 but now restored to the Laurentian
Library at Florence. The latter volume, like its
companion, the " Liber Precatorius " in the Munich
Library (Cimel. 42), 2 was written in 1485 by the famous
scribe Antonio Sinibaldi. Its little miniatures are
surrounded with very lovely borders, in which tiny but
wonderfully lifelike amorini uphold festoons and vases
of fruit and flowers, amidst a well-ordered medley of
medallions, cherubs, birds, sphinxes, etc., and the
characteristic scroll of foliage, flowers, and rayed gilt
discs. All this sounds crowded, especially when one
considers that the whole page measures only six inches
by four ; and yet, painted on the plain white vellum, it
produces a light and charming effect.
Attavante degli Attavanti, the most famous of the
Florentine miniaturists, had the useful habit of signing
his work, much of which has survived. Mr. Bradley 8
enumerates no less than thirty-one manuscripts certainly
or probably illuminated by him. Born in 1452, he had
already established his reputation by 1483, when he was
commissioned by Thomas James, Bishop of Dol, to
decorate a Missal which is now in the treasury of Lyons
Cathedral ; * and in the next few years he illustrated
several volumes for that great book-lover Mathias Cor-
vinus, King of Hungary (d. 1490). One of these, a
1 Pal. Soc., ii, 19.
2 L. von Kobell, Kunstvolle Miniaturen, p. 88.
3 Diet, of Miniaturists, i, pp. 74-80. See too P. d'Ancona, in Thieme and
Becker's Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler, ii, 1908, pp. 214-16.
* Described, with illustrations, by E. Bertaux and G. Birot in Revue de I' Art
Anc. et Mod., xx, pp. 129-46.
296
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
Missal executed in 1485-7, and now in the Royal Library
at Brussels, 1 may be taken as representing his style at its
best. It is splendidly decorated throughout, especially
the great double-page paintings prefixed to the Temporale
and the Canon (ff. 80-9, 193^4), the latter including
a fine picture of the Crucifixion set in the foreground of a
Tuscan landscape. It is in the accessories, however,
rather than the large figure-compositions, that Attavante
finds the most congenial scope for his powers : he delights
in gorgeous colouring and rich and varied ornament; his
pages glow with crimson, blue, and gold, his borders are
filled with a bewildering wealth of " humanistic " decora-
tion copies or imitations of Classical friezes, cameos,
and coins ; arabesques, putti, pearls, and rubies ; all
painted with great skill, against grounds of brilliant
hues. In fact, his work is typical of Renaissance illu-
mination at its height, with its florid taste and dexterous
technique.
Many of Attavante's contemporaries are chiefly known
as illuminators of choir-books. Pre-eminent among these
are Girolamo da Cremona and Liberale da Verona, both
of whom did some of their finest work of this kind at
Siena, the former from 1468 to 1473, the latter from 1470
to I476. 2 - The conventional ornament, in the books
illuminated by these two masters, is often heavy,
commonplace, even perfunctory, and was perhaps done
by their assistants ; but the miniatures enclosed in the
large initials are always interesting and finely finished,
and sometimes exquisite, e.g. Liberale's illustration of the
parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. 3 A fine North
Italian choir-book, apparently made for a church dedi-
cated to SS. Cosmas and Damian, was recently acquired
1 No. 9008. See J. van den Gheyn, Cat. des MSS. de la Bibl. Roy. de
elgique t i, 1901, pp. 277-9; E. Miintz, Hist, de I' Art pendant la Renaissance,
ii, 1891, p. 221, and in Gazette ArcheoL, 1883, pp. 116-20. For another, but
inferior, example of Attavante's work, the Martianus Capella at Venice, see A.
Perini, Facsimile delle miniature di Attavante Florentine^ 1878.
Bradley, Diet, of Min. ; Crowe and Cavalcaselle, Hist, of Painting in N.
Italy. 3 PI. xlvi.
297
by the Society of Antiquaries. 1 Besides the large his-
toriated initials, it has at the beginning a half-page
miniature of that favourite episode in the legend of the
two physician-saints, the miracle of the Ethiopian's leg.
A sixteenth century inscription, signed " Prater Jacobus
de Mantua," attributes the illuminations to Andrea
and Francesco Mantegna. This attribution cannot be
accepted, though it may indicate a Mantuan origin.
Both borders and miniatures have a strong resemblance
to the work of the neighbouring school of Ferrara about
1460-70.
Most important of all the local schools, perhaps, is the
Milanese, 2 a superb monument of which is preserved at the
British Museum in the Sforza Book of Hours. 3 Executed
for Bona of Savoy, widow of Galeazzo Maria Sforza,
Duke of Milan (d. 1476), probably about 1490, this
famous book seems to have been given by her to her
daughter Bianca Maria, who married the Emperor Maxi-
milian I in 1493; and thus to have descended to Charles V,
who succeeded Maximilian in 1519. At all events, in
1519-20 several pages were inserted to make good the
then imperfections of the manuscript. The illuminations
on these inserted pages are Flemish, and will be noticed
in the next chapter ; here it need only be said that they
include a portrait of Charles V, dated 1520. The imper-
fections have been conjecturally accounted for by the
supposition that the book was originally intended as a
wedding-gift to Bianca Maria as the bride of John Cor-
vinus, natural son of King Mathias, and that the pages
which contained direct allusions to this abortive marriage-
project were removed when Bianca's hand was transferred
to the Emperor. Be this as it may, the book is fully
1 New Pal. Soc., pi. 171-3.
" 2 See G. Mongeri, "L'arte del minio nel ducato dt Milano," in Archivio
Storico Lombardo, 1885, pp. 330-56, 528-57, 759-96.
3 Add. 34294. See PaL Soc., ii, 204-5 ? Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 58-9,
Reprod., iii, 42-3, and above all his fully illustrated monograph, The Sforza Book
of Hours, 1894.
298
PLATE XLVI
LIBERALE DA VERONA, CIRCA 1475
SIENA, LIBRRRIA PICCOLOMINI. GRADUAL
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
worthy, even in its unfinished or mutilated condition,
either of an Empress or of the daughter-in-law of so
impassioned a lover of Italian art as Mathias Corvinus.
Its forty-eight full-page miniatures and numerous frame-
borders vary in merit, as well as in style, and are plainly
the work of several hands ; but the great majority of them
represent Milanese illumination at its highest pitch of
excellence. They are painted in the sharp, vivid manner
of the Lombard school ; as crisp as medals, as brilliant
as enamels, they yet avoid hardness, and their saints and
angels have all the tense, ardent spirituality of expression
which the great North Italian masters knew so well how
to convey. The contrast between them and the Flemish
insertions, as to colouring and style, is very striking and
instructive, but is not detrimental to either ; each school
has its own special qualities, and each is admirably repre-
sented here.
The forty-eight Italian miniatures include three Evan-
gelist-portraits, ten scenes from the Passion, the Death
and Assumption of the Virgin, and a long and interesting
series of saints. In this last series are many of the most
beautiful compositions in the book ; it is difficult to make
a selection, but among the best, unquestionably, are the
two S. Catherines and SS. Clare, Bernardino, Albert of
Trapani, and Gregory. 1 The borders are painted with the
same brilliancy as the miniatures, and are designed with
equal freedom and originality, with regard to details of
conventional ornament as well as figure-compositions.
The conventional ornament is all of the Renaissance
Classical type, but is varied with amazing fertility of
invention. The figure-compositions include angel-musi-
cians 2 (an extremely interesting and charming series),
saints whimsically depicted as putti, a putto teaching a
dog to beg, etc.
None of the illuminations are signed, and no docu-
ment has been discovered which helps to identify the
1 PL xlvii. 2 PL xlviii.
299
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
artists, with the doubtful exception of a letter from an
otherwise unknown "presbiter Johannes Petrus Biragus,
miniator," concerning an "officiol imperfecto" which he
had in hand for Duchess Bona. Even if, as is by no
means certain, this "officiol" is the Museum Sforza Book,
Birago cannot be supposed to have painted the whole of it
himself. Other names have been suggested, viz. Antonio
da Monza and Ambrogio de Predis. The former, a Fran-
ciscan friar, illuminated a Missal for Pope Alexander VI
(1492-1503), whereof one leaf remains in the Albertina
Museum at Vienna, containing a miniature 1 of the Descent
of the Holy Spirit ; a fine painting, and clearly allied to
some of the miniatures in the Sforza Book, though the
resemblance is hardly close enough to form secure founda-
tion for an attribution. Ambrogio de Predis is best known
through his association with Leonardo da Vinci ; but Dr.
Miiller-Walde attributes to him some of the miniatures
in a Donatus made for Maximilian Sforza, now in the
Trivulziana ; and if this attribution be correct, there seems
little doubt that he must also be credited with the Passion-
series, at any rate, in the Sforza Book. The British
Museum is fortunate in possessing two more fine examples
of Milanese borders of this period, in the printed Sforziada
(Milan, i49o) 2 and a grant of lands 3 from Ludovico Sforza
to his wife Beatrice d'Este, dated 1494. These are in the
same style as the Sforza Book borders, though on a larger
scale, and are specially interesting for the splendid medal-
like portraits of Ludovico and Beatrice, and of Ludovico's
father Francesco Sforza-Visconti. They have not led so
far, however, to a satisfactory solution of the question of
the artists' identity.
If Ambrogio de Predis really painted the miniatures
which Dr. Miiller-Walde has ascribed to him, then he
must be acknowledged to rank still higher as a miniaturist
than as a panel-painter, and to outshine completely his
1 Reproduced in Arch. Stor, Lomb., 1885, p. 769.
2 Warner, Sforza Book, p. xxvii, pi. Ixi-lxv, Ilium. MSS., pi. 60.
8 Add. 21413. Sforza Book, p. xxxii.
300
1'LATK XLVH
SFORZA BOOK OF HOURS. MILANESE, CIRCA 1490
BRIT. MIJS., ABD. 34294
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
deaf-mute brother Cristoforo, 1 who is only known in the
former capacity. Cristoforo's extant works are : (i) the
Borromeo Hours in the Ambrosian Library ; 2 (2) Lives of
SS. Joachim and Anna, etc., in the Royal Library at
Turin (Cod. 14434); (3) Missal, in the church of the
Madonna del Monte sopra Varese ; (4) a detached leaf, in
the Wallace Collection. All these are signed, and all but
the first are dated, viz. Nos. 2 and 3, 1476, and No. 4,
147.. (the last digit is illegible, but the miniature was
evidently painted in the lifetime of Galeazzo Maria Sforza,
and so not later than 1476). Thus Cristoforo represents
an earlier phase of Milanese illumination than the master-
pieces which we have been considering. He adopts the
full Renaissance style of ornament, filling his frame-
borders with festoons, arabesques, vases, pearls, and
precious stones, cameos and medallions, as well as birds
and innumerable putti ; but his figure-drawing and per-
spective are poor, and his colouring, though deep and
brilliant, is ill-harmonized and unpleasing in effect. The
Calendar-pictures in the Borromeo Hours are one of the
most interesting features of his work ; filling the lower
margins and part of the sides of each page (a plan often
followed in the later French Horae), and containing some
curious illustrations of contemporary life.
The materials probably do not exist for writing a
complete and orderly history of Central and South Italian
illumination. The court of Rome doubtless attracted, or
from time to time hired the services of, the best illumina-
tors from all parts of Italy ; we have seen, for instance,
that the Lombard Antonio da Monza worked for Alex-
ander VI. But there is no evidence of the existence of
what could properly be called a Roman school of minia-
ture. The Neapolitan school is equally elusive. There
1 The relationship between them, together with many other facts concerning
them and their three brothers, has been ascertained through the researches of
Dr. Biscaro, published in Arch. Star. Lomb., 1910, pp. 132, 223-6. For other
notices of Cristoforo, with illustrations, see Vienna Jahrbuch, xxi, p. 214, and
Rassegna (TArie, i, 1901, p. 28 ; see too Arch. Star. Lomb., 1885, pp. 344-7.
2 Published in heliotype by L. Beltrami, II libro (fore Borromeo^ 1896.
301
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
is a great mixture of styles in the Psalter 1 executed in
1442 for Alfonso of Aragon, King of Naples 1442-58;
it looks in great part like a clumsy imitation of French
work of earlier date, and was probably done by Spanish
artists. Alfonso's natural son and successor Ferdinand,
King of Naples 1458-94, appears more definitely as a
patron of Italian art. Besides the volumes prepared
for him by Hippolytus Lunensis (above, p. 289), the British
Museum possesses a copy of S. Augustine's Commentary
on the Psalms, written for him in 1480, in four large
volumes, 2 by a scribe named Rudolfo Brancalupo. There
is nothing very distinctive about its decoration, which
consists mainly, like that of countless other manuscripts
of the time, of gold initials with pendent borders of inter-
laced white vine-tendrils on coloured grounds ; but the
third volume has an elaborately bordered first page of
text, in full Renaissance style (putti, architecture, etc.),
preceded by a well-designed title-page. A word may be
said here about these late Italian title-pages, which are
among the most pleasing features of Renaissance illumina-
tion, being usually characterized by a good taste checking
that delight in ornament which so often ran riot else-
where. One of the most charming examples is in Add.
I5246, 3 another manuscript connected with the Neapoli-
tan court : a copy of S. Augustine's De Civitate Dei
made for Don Inigo Davalos, Count of Monte Odorisio
and Grand Chamberlain of Naples under King Ferdi-
nand, d. 1484. The title, written in plain Roman capitals,
is encircled by a garland, which again is surrounded by a
scroll-work design of foliage, flowers, and rayed gilt discs,
with the patron's arms and with numerous putti disport-
ing themselves among the branches; the total effect is
delightful, combining symmetry, lightness, and grace. All
the decoration of this volume is admirable, especially
the first page of text, with its miniature-initial and its
1 Brit. Mus., Add. 28962. Pal Soc,, i, 226.
2 Add. 14779-14782.
3 Warner, Reprod.^ iii, 39, 40. See too Ilium. MSS., pi. 57.
302
PLATK XLV111
''*.
[/VriatfHno
anncmn no
_ mini: Linen]
Linccclcfu ft
mmirifnidmcp]
on cvnltrnnnrcgc
fiiolPJ*iiittiirnoihl
cms in clx>:o in nin
p*ino:r
SFORZA BOOK OF HOURS. MILANESE, CIRCA 1490
BRIT. MUS., ADD. 34294
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
highly ornate, yet light and pleasing, full border. It
would be difficult, however, to point out any definite
feature which stamps it as Neapolitan and differentiates
it from the best Ferrarese or Venetian or Florentine work
of the same period. The same may be said, mutatis
mutandis, about a smaller and more mediocre manuscript
of the same period, Add. 28271 ; a Horae of Rome use,
made for a patron whose name began with C (f. 159), and
whose arms (per bend, azure and or, over all a leopard
rampant argent) are on the first page. It lacks the
Calendar, but the Litany points distinctly to Sicily or the
extreme south of Italy a localization which could not
easily have been inferred from the decoration, unless
perhaps through a certain coarseness in the miniatures,
especially in the facial types. There is more distinctive-
ness, on the other hand, in Add. 2II2O, 1 a copy, evidently
made for the translator himself, of Prince Charles of
Viana's Spanish translation of Aristotle's Ethics. This
manuscript, which has no miniatures but is elaborately
adorned with initials and borders, is generally sup-
posed to have been made in Sicily during the Prince's
residence there (1458-9). But there is no direct evidence
of this ; and a Spanish origin seems not only to be
indicated by the language and what little is known
of the history of the volume, but to be confirmed
by the resemblance in style between its decoration
and that of a fragmentary Toledo Missal recently
acquired by the British Museum. 2 The borders are
a modification of the familiar branch-work type, with
putti, birds, and human figures interspersed somewhat
stiffly ; they are chiefly distinguished from those found
in undoubtedly Italian manuscripts by the greater thick-
ness of the curving stems. The initials are mostly gold,
filled with conventional foliage, and have the marked pecu-
liarity of being made to appear as if cut out of the solid.
1 Pal Soc. t ii, 157 ; New Pal. Sac., pi. 145-6 ; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 56,
Reprod., i, 47.
2 Add. 38037.
303
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Not much need be added to what has already been
said about sixteenth century illumination. Its quantity
is considerable, both in the great choir-books which
were still required for use in monastic and other
churches, and in smaller volumes made to gratify
the sumptuous tastes of princes and prelates. But
its quality is decadent, its vitality is ebbing rapidly,
and it has no real significance in the history of
painting. Great masters of panel-painting condescended
at times to practise the art : Perugino, for instance, painted
one of the miniatures in the Albani Horae. 1 But among
the specialists in illumination the names which stand out
most prominently are those of Giulio Clovio and his
disciple Apollonio de' Bonfratelli. Giulio Clovio, 2 though
reckoned among Italian painters, was actually a Croatian,
born at Grizane in 1498; but he came to Italy in 1516,
and remained there almost continuously until his death
in 1578, working now at Perugia, now at Rome, now at
Florence. He formed his style largely on that of his
friend Giulio Romano, the pupil of Raphael ; but he also
felt the influence of Michelangelo, and effete imitations
of that great master's sibyls and athletes often appear in
his miniatures. Giulio Clovio is a typical master of the
decadence ; fond of weak suave forms, cheap sentiment,
and soft broken colours. His work, though often tech-
nically good, never rises above an insipid elegance. He
is best known in England by two works of his middle
period, both done for his patron Cardinal Marino Grimani :
the Commentary on S. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, in
the Soane Museum, and a Book of Hours in the British
Museum (Add. 20927). The Soane MS. has a large
frontispiece of the Conversion of S. Paul, painted in
Clovio's characteristic style, weak and affected, but beau-
1 Pal. Soc., ii, 38. The plate is from another page, signed by Amico
[Aspertini] of Bologna, on which the picture combines great brilliancy in execution
with confused and overcrowded composition, while the border is a mere incoherent
medley of disconnected and incongruous ornaments.
2 J. W. Bradley, Life and Works of Giorgio Giulio Clovio, 1891.
304
THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
tifully finished. The Horae is a much smaller book,
containing several full-page illuminations. These have
frame-borders of the amazingly miscellaneous character so
loved by the late Renaissance illuminators : satyrs, pieces
of armour, birds, nude athletes, scriptural scenes, jostling
one another on the gilded and coloured grounds. Many
of the miniatures are exquisitely painted, soft and delicate;
occasionally vigorous too, as in the vignette of David
beheading Goliath, which forms part of the admirable
frontispiece to the Penitential Psalms (f. Qib). But
Clovio's usual weaknesses peep out continually, especially
in the larger compositions : his mawkish sentiment, want
of dignity, and florid taste. His actual output does full
credit to his industry ; but he has also been made respon-
sible for an immense number of paintings in which modern
critics see rather the work of his pupils or imitators.
Such are the Victories of Charles V, in the British
Museum (Add. 33733) ; a large miniature of the Cruci-
fixion, in the Musee Conde* at Chantilly : and a host of
other pictures. The Chantilly Crucifixion is really by
Apollonio de' Bonfratelli, as appears plainly on comparing
it with his signed miniatures, cut out from a manuscript
executed in 1564 for Pope Pius IV, and preserved in the
Rogers Album at the British Museum (Add. 21412,
ff. 36-44) ; especially with the Crucifixion and Pieta
(ff. 42, 43). Apollonio has many of his master's affecta-
tions ; but he composes in a larger, freer manner, and
adopts a deeper and more brilliant colour-scheme. His
conception of the human form too is essentially different;
instead of Giulio's slender and often absurdly elongated
figures he prefers a more robust type, and gives us
thickset, clumsy, yet vital and actual men and women.
He cannot be called a great artist, but his work is not
without merit, and he may fitly be taken as the last repre-
sentative of Italian illuminators.
20 305
CHAPTER XVIII
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
THE materials for the history of Flemish illumina-
tion in the fourteenth century are as distressingly
scarce as those for the fifteenth are embarrassingly
plenteous. We have an abundance of manuscripts exe-
cuted in the near neighbourhood of the year 1300; some
of these have been noticed at the end of chapter xi,
notably Stowe 17 and the Sneyd MS., which might
with equal propriety have been placed at the beginning of
the present chapter. In all of them a close affinity to
contemporary East Anglian and Northern French work
is apparent. French influence predominates in some, e.g.
in the little Breviary 1 of the Dominican convent of Val-
Duchesse, at Auderghem near Brussels, whose miniatures,
with their daintily swaying, white-faced figures painted
against diapered or burnished gold grounds, and their
use of black pen-lines to indicate all details of drapery
and features, have little to distinguish them from French
illuminations of the time, except the characteristic Flemish
dark blue. In others, it is the resemblance to the East
Anglian manuscripts, noticed in chapter xiii, which
catches the eye. This shows itself not only in the love
for grotesques and caricatures, so prominent in Stowe 17
and many other manuscripts, such as Add. 30029 and
29253, both from- Blandigny Abbey near Ghent, or the
slightly later S. Omer Horae, Add. 36684 (circa 1320),
formerly in Ruskin's library ; but also in the whole
decorative scheme, and sometimes in the larger composi-
tions. Thus the Crucifixion in a Cambrai Missal, 2 now
1 Brit. Mus., Harl. 2449.
2 No. 149. See A. Durieux, Les miniatures des MSS. de la Bibl. de Cambrai,
1861, pi. 7.
306
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
preserved in the Public Library of that place, might
almost pass as the work of the Gorleston or Norwich
school ; and the same may be said about the ornamenta-
tion of the two-volume Bible 1 in the same library. It is
difficult to fix the "scientific frontier" between France
and Flanders for the purposes of art history. Perhaps
Cambrai ought strictly to be regarded as French ; un-
doubtedly Soissons and Laon must be, and yet these
places too provide examples of just the same type of
miniature and ornament. 2 South-eastwards too the
influence spread at any rate as far as Treves, where
it appears plainly in the border-decoration of a " Kopial-
buch " written for Archbishop Baldwin, now in the
Archives at Coblenz. 3
The difficulty of distinguishing Flemish from French
illumination in the second half of the fourteenth century
is increased by the fact that many of the best Flemish
miniaturists are known to have worked in France, for the
king and for great nobles such as the Duke of Berry.
Their work, so far as it can be identified with any
approach to certainty, was usually of a high order, as we
saw when dealing with Andre Beauneveu and Jacquemart
de Hesdin. 4 Their native land seems to have been content
with a less refined form of art, if we may judge by such
books as the "Kuerbouc" of Ypres, 5 dated 1363, and
copiously adorned with marginal figures, almost in-
variably of grotesque character ; or by the illustrations
of the " Biblia Pauperum" and "Speculum Humanae
Salvationis," most of which are worthless artistically,
though of great interest from an iconographical point
of view. The majority of the extant manuscripts of
1 No. 327. Durieux, pi. 8.
2 See E. Fleury, Les MSS. miniatures de la Bibl. de Soissons, 1865, and his
similar volume for Laon, 1863.
3 A. Chroust, Mon. Pa!. Denkmdler der Schreibkunst des Mittt!alters, Abth. i.
ser. ii, Lief, vi (1911), Taf. 7.
4 See chapter xiv.
5 M. Verkest, " La satire dans le ' Kuerbouc ' d'Ypres," in Les Arts ana'ens de
Flandre (Bruges, 1904, etc.), pp. 95-107.
307
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
these two closely allied compositions l are German rather
than Flemish in origin ; and many of them, being on
paper, do not come within the scope of the present
volume. One of the few exceptions is King's MS. 5 2 in
the British Museum, a finely illuminated copy of the
" Biblia Pauperum " on vellum, executed by Flemish or
Rhenish artists about the year 1400. As now bound up,
it consists of thirty-one long narrow pages, each page
having in the centre a scene from the life of Christ,
accompanied by four half-length figures of prophets
bearing scrolls, and flanked by two Old Testament scenes
by which it is supposed to have been foreshadowed. The
parallelism is sometimes curiously far-fetched, as when
the widow of Zarephath gathering sticks is made to
typify Christ carrying the cross. But this manuscript
does not differ from other copies of the work in the
choice of subjects ; it is the finished excellence of their
treatment which distinguishes it above its fellows. The
backgrounds of the pictures are either gilded or diapered
in the old style, the landscape-painting which was later to
constitute one of the chief glories of Flemish art not
having yet been developed. Touches of naive absurdity
still occur in some of the compositions, e.g. where
Michal lets down David from a window in full view of
Saul ; but the flat treatment of the figure has now given
way to careful modelling by means of skilful and delicate
gradations of colour. The range of colours is not wide,
but is generally used with felicity, a favourite tint being
a particularly soft and pleasing violet. In the faces a
distinct striving after individual types is noticeable,
especially in the grave, intensely pathetic Christ.
Among the earliest attempts to represent the figures
in their natural setting, instead of placing them against
a conventional background, is a series of twenty-eight
1 For their bibliography, etc., see W. L. Schreiber, Biblia Pauperum, 1903 ;
. Lutz and P. Perdrizet, Speculum Humanae Salvationis, 1907-9.
2 Fully described, with illustrations, by Sir E. M. Thompson in Biblio-
graphica, Hi, 1897, pp. 385-406.
308
PLATE XL1X
MANDEVILLE'S TRAVELS. FLEMISH, EARLY XVxH CENT
BRIT. MUS., ABU. 24189
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
full-page miniatures, without text, illustrating the travels
of Sir John Mandeville. 1 Executed early in the fifteenth
century, probably at or near Lidge, these delightful pictures
are almost entirely in monochrome. The whole page
is tinted a pale milky green, on which the outlines are
drawn in ink, and delicately shaded with washes of pale
grey, with occasional touches of opaque white. Faces
and hands are faintly tinted, sea and sky are blue, some-
times patterned in white, and gold is used for crowns,
nimbi, and other accessories ; otherwise the only colouring
is in the foliage, usually a sombre green. The pictures
are filled almost to the limit of their frame-lines with
buildings or landscapes, the latter sometimes of quite an
elaborate description, as in the representation of pilgrims
visiting Aristotle's tomb ; 2 and despite the rudimentary
perspective, resembling that of a bird's-eye view, the
artist goes far towards achieving his aim of making us
see the actual scene which he has in his mind. The
figures, though often faulty, and out of all proportion to
the tiny buildings which surround them, are spirited and
expressive ; and the architecture is drawn with character-
istically Flemish attention to detail. In fact, with its firm
yet delicate draughtsmanship, its freedom from conven-
tionality, this series constitutes a veritable masterpiece.
To the same period belong the first additions to that
ill-fated book known as the Turin Hours, whose history
has been worked out so fully by M. Durrieu. 3 Begun in
or after 1404 for the famous Duke of Berry, it was for
some reason left unfinished, and was given by him,
before 1413, to his keeper of jewels, Robinet d'Estampes.
The latter had entered it in his inventories, even in its
incomplete state, as " unes tres belles heures de Nostre
1 Brit. Mus., Add. 24189, reproduced for the Roxburghe Club, The Buke of
John Maundevill, ed. G. F.Warner, 1889. See too Pa!. Soc., ii, 154-5 ; Warner,
Reprod., i, 36.
- PI. xlix.
3 ff cures de Turin, 1902, reproducing the forty-five illuminated pages then at
Turin and in the Louvre; " Les 'tres belles heures de N. D.' du due Jean de
Berry," in Revue ArcheoL, ser. iv, vol. xvi, 1910, pp. 30-51, 246-79.
309
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Dame " ; and the epithet is amply justified by what
remains of the original work, which is worthy to rank
almost among the finest productions of the Duke of
Berry's artists. The greater part of this is now in Baron
Maurice de Rothschild's collection at Paris. The re-
mainder seems very soon to have been detached, and
to have passed into the possession of William IV of
Bavaria, Count of Hainault and Holland (d. 1417). A
new Calendar was prefixed to this part, showing a Nether-
landish origin by the preponderance of local saints as
well as by the style of its decorations ; and many of the
uncompleted pages were now filled up with miniatures by
Flemish artists. Some of these are superb, displaying
a remarkable advance in perspective and in all the
problems of landscape-painting, especially the picture
which contains Count William's portrait, a sea-shore
piece, with a long line of breakers along the coast (H cures
de Tttrin, pi. 37) ; and that of SS. Martha and Julian in
a small sailing-boat, guiding the sailors into harbour
(pi. 30), with its masterly treatment of the choppy sea,
the boat and its occupants, and the distant wooded hills.
This portion of the manuscript was afterwards split up
again ; some fragments are now in the Louvre, others in
the Trivulzio Collection at Milan, but the greater part
(including the two admirable pages just mentioned)
perished in the disastrous fire of January 1904, which
wrought such havoc among the treasures of the Turin
Library.
These miniatures are enough to show that the art had
already been brought to a high state of perfection ; and
for the next hundred years Flemish illuminators not only
held their ground against their French and Italian fellow-
craftsmen, but ultimately eclipsed them completely, main-
taining great excellence, and even continuing to improve,
especially in the delicacy of their handling of landscape
and portraiture, long after their rivals had sunk into
tasteless decadence. This remarkable fact is largely due,
it may not unreasonably be supposed, to the propensity of
310
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
Flemish art in general throughout this period the time
of the great masters of early Flemish painting, from the
Van Eycks to Gerard David, Quentin Metsys, and Mabuse
for methods peculiarly appropriate to miniature. Indeed,
David is known to have painted miniatures as well as
panels j 1 and there is no antecedent improbability in the
supposition that Memlinc did so too, though the many
attributions of miniatures to him are quite unsupported
by evidence. It is probably safer, however, to assign the
resemblance to his work, often noticed in illuminations of
the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, to direct
imitation. Most of these illuminations were done at
Bruges, the scene of Memlinc's career as a great painter,
and also the home of a flourishing guild of illuminators,
whose chapel was presented in 1478 with an altar-piece
painted by him for Willem Vrelant, a distinguished
member of the guild. 2 What, then, is more likely than
that younger members should have sought inspiration
for their miniatures in Memlinc's panels, aptly suited as
these were in so many ways to their special needs ?
Among the many illuminators who are known to have
worked for, or in the time of, Philip the Good, Duke of
Burgundy (1419-67), and his successor, Charles the
Bold (1467-77), Willem Vrelant is one of the few whose
names are definitely associated with extant manuscripts.
From 1454 until his death in 1480-1 his name occurs in
the accounts of the illuminators' guild at Bruges ; but the
only certain examples of his work are the miniatures in
vol. ii of the " Histoire du Haynaut " (Brussels, Bibl.
Roy., 9242-4), for which he was paid in 1467-8 ; and even
these cannot all be assigned with confidence to his hand,
though doubtless all were painted under his direction.
Taking these as basis, critics have been led to attribute
many other fine miniatures to his school, notably those
1 See W. H. J. Weale, Gerard David, 1895, p. 47 ; also his chapter on "The
Miniature Painters and Illuminators of Bruges, 1457-1523," in The Hours of Albert
of JBrandenburg, ed. F. S. Ellis [1883], pp. 9-16.
2 Weale, Hans Memlinc, 11,07, pp. 10, 20-3.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
in the "Chroniques de Jherusalem" and the romance of
Girard de Roussillon at Vienna, both executed for Philip
the Good about 1450 j 1 and the " Histoire du bon roi
Alexandre " in the Dutuit Collection at Paris. 2 M. Durrieu
also sees his hand in the Breviary of Philip the Good
(Brussels, 9511, 9026) ; but the illuminations in this book
are of a less finished character, and are probably to be
referred to a somewhat earlier date, though they may
conceivably have been done in the atelier where Vrelant
learnt his craft. 3 The other manuscripts prove him and
his assistants to have thoroughly mastered the art of
depicting the operations of war : in the representation of
beleaguered cities especially they excelled, showing the
scaling-ladders, catapults, and other siege engines in full
detail, and combining the realistic and the picturesque
with great success. There is a certain stiffness and
artificiality about the grouping and posing of figures,
both in battle-scenes and in other pictures : but the land-
scape-painting has now reached a pitch of excellence not
surpassed until the beginning of the next century, com-
bining softness, sense of distance, and atmosphere, with a
marvellous rendering of detail.
Other miniaturists of the same period, and more or
less of the same school, are Jean le Tavernier of
Oudenarde, who illustrated the " Conquetes de Charle-
magne" (Brussels, 9o66-8) 4 in 1458 for Philip the Good ;
and Loyset Liddet, who worked at Hesdin and Bruges
from 1460 to 1478, becoming a member of the guild of
illuminators at the latter place in 1469. Several of
Lie"det's \vorks are extant, at Brussels, Paris, and else-
where. His illustrations to the " Histoire de Charles
Martel" (Brussels, 6-9), made in 1463-5 for Philip the
1 See A. Schestag, " Die Chronik von Jerusalem," in the Vienna_//Ww/&, xx
1899, pp. 195-216.
2 Durrieu, " L'histoire du bon roi Alexandre " in Rev. de Fart anc. et mod., xiii,
1903, pp. 49-64, 103-21; F. de Mely, " Les signatures des primitifs," in Gaz.
des Beaux- Arts, 1910, ii, pp. 173-94.
3 See J. van den Gheyn, Le Breviaire de Philippe le Bon, 1909.
* New Pal Soc., pi. 44.
312
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
Good, have been published, 1 and show him to have been,
if not a great or original artist, at least a highly accom-
plished craftsman. Another great name is that of Simon
Marmion of Valenciennes, called "prince d'enlumineure"
by a contemporary poet ; 2 and fitly, if the splendid
miniatures of the Grandes Chroniques at St. Peters-
burg, 3 painted for Philip the Good about 1456, are
actually, as M. Reinach supposes, the work of him and
his assistants. The best of these are unquestionably by
a great master, who rivalled Jean Fouquet in his power
of giving individuality and character to the personages of
a group.*
Besides fully illuminated pictures, this period has
bequeathed to us many fine examples of painting en
grisaille. Among the most perfect are the illustrations
to the two volumes of Mielot's Miracles de Nostre
Dame at Paris. 5 The first volume was completed at the
Hague in 1456 ; the second is evidently somewhat later,
and represents a more advanced stage of the art : archi-
tecture, landscape, and figure-composition being all handled
with the utmost delicacy and finish. A replica of vol. ii,
as regards text and subjects, made apparently about the
beginning of Charles the Bold's reign, is in the Bodleian. 6
Its seventy miniatures, in bluish grey shaded from white
to nearly black, are spirited, humorous, and quaintly ex-
pressive, but are not to be compared for artistic merit with
those of the Paris counterpart.
The alliance between Edward IV and Charles the
Bold, consolidated by the marriage of Charles with
Edward's sister Margaret in 1468, was followed by a
1 Hisioirede Charles Martel, ed. J. van den Gheyn, 1910.
2 See E. Gilliat-Smith, The Story of Bruges, 1909, p. 372.
3 S. Reinach, Un MS. de la Bibl. de Philippe le Bon a St. Petersbourg (Fond.
E. Piot, Mon. et Mem., vol. xi), 1904.
4 See especially pi. i, the dedication-picture.
5 Bibl. Nat., fr. 9198-9. Published in facsimile, slightly reduced, by H
O[mont], Miracles de Notre Dame [1906].
6 Douce 374, reproduced for the Roxburghe Club, Miracles de Nostre Dame,
ed. G. F. Warner, 1885.
313
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
corresponding change in English taste ; and French
illumination began to be supplanted by Flemish in the
esteem of the nobility of this country. The king himself
led the fashion, adding to his library a large collection of
huge tomes written and illuminated in the Low Countries,
especially at Bruges and Ghent. One of these, a Josephus,
is in the Soane Museum ; but the great majority are now
in the British Museum, having been transferred thither
with the rest of the old Royal Library. 1 They consist
mainly of copies of the Bible Historiale and of histories,
romances, and philosophical works in French. None of
them can be called quite first-class in point of artistic
merit, but they serve as useful examples of the style most
in vogue towards the end of the fifteenth century. The
miniatures, filling half the page or more, are very large,
and their technique resembles that of scene-painting ;
looked at from a distance they are effective and not
unpleasing, but a close inspection reveals in many cases
an almost repulsive coarseness of execution. Among the
best are those in 18 E. iii and iv (Valerius Maximus,
dated 1479), 15 E. ii and iii (Livre des proprie'te'z des
choses, written at Bruges in I482), 2 and 19 E. v (Romu-
leon, a compilation of Roman history). 16 G. iii (Vita
Christi, written by D. Aubert at Ghent in 1479) may also
be mentioned in connection with these manuscripts, though
its miniatures are on a much smaller scale ; they are
attributed by M. Durrieu 3 to Alexander Bennink, and are
certainly by an artist of some distinction and individuality.
The borders in these books are practically always of the
same type, consisting of a scroll of conventional foliage,
mixed with sprays of leaves, fruit, and flowers treated
more naturalistically, and sometimes varied by the intro-
duction of angels, birds, or insects ; the ground of the
border-frame is usually left white, but is occasionally
covered with a thin wash of colour.
1 A few specimens are exhibited in the Saloon and the Grenville Room. See
Guide, 1906, pp. 82, 140-1.
2 Warner, Reprod., i, 38. 3 Gaz. des Beaux- Arts, 1891, i, p. 364.
314
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
Towards the end of the century the demand for these
colossal tomes declined ; and Flemish illumination in its
last and most attractive phase, from about 1490 to 1530,
is found mainly in devotional books intended for private
use or private enjoyment, it would perhaps be more
correct to say especially Breviaries and Books of Hours.
In technical skill the best miniaturists had now reached
the utmost heights attainable in the art, and their render-
ing of landscape leaves little to be desired by the most
exacting critics ; while their close relations with the great
painters saved them from the decadence into which their
French and Italian fellow-craftsmen fell, and gave their
compositions something of the sincerity and homely
simplicity, combined with dignity and intense spirituality,
which give such character to the masterpieces of Memlinc
and his contemporaries. The development of border-
decoration was less satisfactory. The continuous scrolls
of conventional foliage, painted on the plain margins of
the vellum page, had served their turn, and a new style
of border came into fashion. This, though more in
harmony with the passionate fidelity to nature which
inspired the landscape and genre painting of the minia-
tures, cannot be called an entire success as a decorative
scheme ; it has even been compared, flippantly yet not
inaptly, to a modern seedsman's illustrated catalogue.
The miniature-pages are now framed in broad rectangular
bands of dead gold, or less commonly of pale grey, purple,
or other monochrome ; and these bands are covered with
flowers (singly or in short sprays), fruits, birds, snails,
butterflies, bees, and other insects, painted with con-
summate skill and most scrupulous accuracy. Each in
itself is delightful, but as an ensemble the scheme is some-
what incoherent and unmeaning, and tends rather to
distract attention from the picture, instead of forming an
appropriate setting for it. Despite these strictures, how-
ever, one cannot refuse a tribute of admiration to these
illustrations from natural history. The objects selected
are beautiful in themselves (carnations, pansies, corn-
315
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
flowers, and columbines are the favourite flowers, wild
strawberries the favourite fruit), and colour and form alike
are reproduced almost faultlessly ; the illusion of solidity
is enhanced by the device of making the objects cast
shadows on the background, as though slightly raised
above it.
Good examples of these naturalistic borders may be
seen in Add. 25698 at the British Museum, an interest-
ing fragment consisting of eleven leaves from a prayer-
book of unknown origin, but apparently made about
1492-3 and connected with the military order of S.
George (founded by the Emperor Frederick III in 1469,
and extended by his successor Maximilian), and with
a project of Maximilian's, in which that order was meant
to play an important part, for an international crusade
against the Turks. This seems plainly alluded to on
f. 3, where Frederick and Maximilian, with the Kings of
England, France, and Spain, and the Archduke Philip of
Austria, are kneeling before the altar of S. George j 1 and
on f. n, an anticipatory picture of the knights of the
order defeating the Turks in battle. Other miniatures,
similar in plan to that on f. 3, show the Pope and prelates
invoking S. Peter (f. 4), monks and friars invoking the
Holy Ghost (f. 10), and all sorts and conditions of the
laity invoking Christ (f. 8) all, probably, with the same
object of ensuring victory against the Turk. On another
page (f. 5) we see the deathbed of some great lady, whose
name apparently began with M : 2 a friar holds a crucifix
before her eyes, and props up the candle in her feeble
hands, while Michael and the devil fight for her soul,
and she is cheered by a vision of the Virgin and Child ;
the picture is completed by two clerics praying by the
bedside, and a richly dressed indifferent group chatting
near the door. Another subject (f. 9) is the Lenten
1 Warner, Reprod^ ii, 37.
2 One is tempted to identify her with Mary of Burgundy (d. 1482), or with
Margaret of York, widow of Charles the Bold (d. 1503); but there are chrono-
logical or other objections to either conjecture.
316
PLATE L
tvHOitctnnttc taur
LEAF FROM A BOOK OF HOURS, FLEMISH, CIRCA 1492
BRIT. MUS., ADD. 25698
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
Penance, 1 a priest shriving one penitent while others
kneel before the altar with its veiled Calvary. Another
(f. 2) is the Elevation of the Host, in a church whose
sanctuary is raised high above the nave, with a flight of
steps on either side and a crypt underneath. 2 This com-
position was copied faithfully, down to the minutest
detail, including the kneeling figures in the nave, by the
illuminator of the Hours of Floris van Egmond, Count
of Buren and Knight of the Golden Fleece (1505-39),
and Margaret van Bergen his wife ; 3 but the copy-
ist was a greatly inferior artist, and his work lacks
the charming softness and grace of the original. One
more page must be mentioned before we leave this
fascinating fragment, viz. f. i, which represents simply
a Flemish countryside : a village by a river, animals
grazing in the fields, trees and low hills misty on the
horizon. This is one of the few instances to be found, in
illuminated manuscripts, of landscape painting for its
own sake, not as the setting of a subject-picture.
Two manuscripts of a secular character deserve some
notice, both executed about the year 1500, and both now
in the British Museum. One of these 4 contains the
poems of Charles, Duke of Orleans, and was evidently
made for Henry VII or his son Arthur, Prince of Wales.
It has six large miniatures, of varying degrees of merit,
and none of them quite representative of Flemish art at
its best. The artists were perhaps brought into England
for the purpose, or attached permanently to Henry's court.
At all events, the work seems to have been done in this
country, for it closely resembles that of a manuscript
written for Henry at Sheen in 1496 (Roy. 19 C. viii), and
one of the best miniatures is a quaint but thoroughly
realistic picture of the Tower of London (where the poet-
1 PI. i.
2 This unusual construction recalls the Church of Jerusalem at Bruges, but
the details are somewhat different.
3 Add. 35319, f- 33-
4 Roy. 1 6 F. ii. See Warner, Ilium. MSS. t pi. 54.
317
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
duke spent most of his captivity, from 1415 to 1440), with
the Thames, Traitor's Gate, London Bridge, and the City.
It is curious to see in this picture the persistent survival
of the " continuous " method : Charles appears at once
writing at a table, in his prison-chamber in the White
Tower ; looking out of a window ; and giving a letter to
a messenger. The second manuscript 1 is a copy of the
Roman de la Rose : a very sumptuous volume, with four
large and eighty-eight small miniatures. There is a
quaint artificial elegance (French rather than Flemish in
spirit) about the large garden-scenes ; but the great merit
of the book consists in the admirable figure-drawing and
characterization shown in many of the smaller pictures.
The text seems to have been transcribed from one of the
early printed editions 2 a curious inversion of the
usual order of things.
The well-known "Isabella Book" of the British
Museum 3 is a Breviary of Spanish Dominican use,
illuminated by Flemish artists (probably working in
Spain, where the text was evidently written), and given
to Queen Isabella in or about 1497 by Francisco de
Roias. Besides numerous borders, and over one hundred
small miniatures, it contains forty-five half-page pictures,
which taken as a whole exemplify most admirably the
work of this period. The technique has not yet reached
the summit of its perfection, that combination of firm
outline with extreme delicacy and softness, which dis-
tinguishes the Hennessy Hours and a few other books of
slightly later date ; but many of the compositions are very
beautiful, especially the Adoration of the Magi (f. 41),
the Nativity (f. 29), the Apocalyptic vision of S. John
(f. 309), and the lovely S. Barbara (f. 297), in all of which
the influence of Memlinc and his disciples is plainly dis-
1 Harl. 4425. See Warner, Reprod., iii, 47.
2 See F. W. Bourdillon, Early Editions of the Roman de la Rose, 1906, pp.
12, 28.
3 Add. 18851. See Pal Soc.> i, 174-5; Warner, Ilium. MSS., pi. 53, Re-
prod., iii, 45-6.
318
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
cernible. The borders are of three kinds : ist, the nearly
obsolete Franco- Flemish scroll-work ; 2nd, the natural-
istic style described above ; 3rd, striped repeat-patterns,
apparently copied from brocaded stuffs. This last style
occurs also, it may be noted, on some of the pages of an
interesting little Book of Hours 1 of the same period,
which contains portraits of Isabella's daughter Joan and
the latter's husband PhiliotJie__Fair. The Calendar-
illustrations in the I sabellaBook are of a type often
followed about this time. There are no separate minia-
tures, but the whole text for each month is inlaid, as it
were, in a picture of an appropriate occupation. One of
the subjects newly introduced into the cycle is worth
noting, for it forms a striking feature in the Calendar-
pictures produced by the Bruges miniaturists during the
next decade or two : for May, a boating pleasure-party on
a river.
Still more famous is the Grimani Breviary, preserved
in S. Mark's Library at Venice. 2 Many conflicting and
misleading statements have been published by various ill-
informed writers concerning the age of this book, the
names of its illuminators, and even its actual contents.
For the last kind of misstatement the facsimile repro-
duction, with Dr. Coggiola's detailed description, leaves
now no shred of excuse. In the absence of documentary
evidence, critics will always claim freedom to attribute the
miniatures according to their several tastes; but one may
perhaps venture to deprecate the repeated and confident
attributions of particular miniatures to Memlinc, 3 who
probably had no hand in the work at all. As to the date,
a terminus ad quern is furnished by Cardinal Domenico
1 Add 17280. See Warner, Reprod., i, 37. In Add. 18852 the Museum possesses
another book associated with the unfortunate Joan : an exquisite little Horae with
many charming miniatures, containing her portrait on ff. 26 and 288.
2 See F. Zanotto, Facsimile delle miniature contenute ml Breviario Grimani,
1862; F. Ongania, A Glance at the Grimani Breviary, 1903; and the complete
reproduction, largely in colour, edited by S. Morpurgo and S. de Vries, with intro-
duction by G. Coggiola, Le Brlviaire Grimani, 1904-10. A succinct but useful
account of the manuscript, with illustrations, is in Weale's G. David, pp. 55-68.
3 As in Ongania's publication, passim,
319
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Grimani's mention of the book in his first will, dated
5 October, 1520. He had bought it from Antonio
Siciliano ; farther back its history has not been carried.
The text of the Calendar, however, shows plainly that it
was intended for the Italian market (whether actually
written in Italy or not), and that it was certainly not
begun before 1481, probably not before 1490. The
advanced technique, especially in the handling of trees,
suggests a still later date, say about 1510. Splendid
monument as it is of the illuminator's art, its pre-
eminence in fame above all its contemporaries is due to
the extent of its decorations rather than to their intrinsic
superiority in point of beauty. With its 831 leaves of
ample size, containing forty-nine full-page miniatures,
besides the Calendar-pictures and minor decorations, it
stands almost alone in its class. The twelve full-page
miniatures which illustrate the Calendar agree most
remarkably with the corresponding series in the "Tres
Riches Heures," not only in subject and main outlines of
composition, but in such details as the device of the Sun-
God in his chariot, set in a semicircle at the top of each
page; even the backgrounds are reminiscent of the earlier
work, though no longer containing precise representations
of the Duke of Berry's castles. In short, there is no room
for doubt as to the parentage of these designs ; and it
must be admitted that they suffer badly by comparison
with the originals one seeks here vainly for the exquisite
dainty grace of the Limbourg brothers' painting. The
Adoration of the Magi, again, is almost identical with
that in the Isabella Book ; but here it is not easy to say
which is the original if either, for very likely both are
derived from some lost panel, perhaps by David, some of
whose pictures are known to have inspired the artists of
the Grimani Breviary. Other compositions also occur
in a Book of Hours, now in the British Museum, 1 which
1 Add. 35313. See Warner, Reprod., ii, 36. A possible allusion to the death
of Mary of Burgundy (1482) has been seen in the design prefixed to Vigils of the
Dead, three skeletons with darts attacking a lady in the hunting-field.
320
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
is probably of somewhat earlier date, and certainly of
greatly inferior execution : notably the Annunciation,
Nativity, and Augustus with the Sibyl. Originality of
design, however, is the last thing to be expected of a
miniaturist at this period, with a few rare exceptions. As
to execution, the various styles discernible in the Grimani
Breviary differ widely, from the comparative coarseness
of some of the Calendar-scenes to the charming softness
of the picture of S. Mary Magdalene. The book is, in
fact, not one work of art but many a gallery of little
masters. Of the cognate manuscripts, those best worth
notice are Mr. Pierpont Morgan's Breviary ; * the Hours
of Albert of Brandenburg ; 2 three manuscripts at Munich ; 3
and Maximilian's Prayer-book* and the Hortulus Ani-
mae 5 at Vienna.
The Flemish additions to the Sforza Book 6 were made
during the years 1519-21, by artists working for the
Emperor Charles V, whose portrait, with date 1520, is on
one of the pages, painted in gold within a medallion.
The border-decoration of this page (the first of the Peni-
tential Psalms) is a close imitation of the work of the
original Milanese artists. But the sixteen inserted full-
page miniatures are thoroughly Flemish in conception,
design, and colouring, and are among the finest extant
examples of the school. Differences of style suggest that
more than one artist was employed ; but an exceedingly
high level of merit is maintained throughout, and it is
difficult to make a selection. Especially striking are the
Adoration of the Magi and the Presentation, with their
masterly portraiture, simple yet effective grouping, and
skilful, characteristically minute and careful treatment of
architecture and costume ; the " O intemerata," with its
1 See Burl. Mag., Mar. 1907, pp. 400-5.
2 Ed. F. S. Ellis [1883],
3 See Kobell, pp. 90-1.
4 See Vienna Jahrbuch, vii, pp. 201-6.
5 Ibid., ix, pp. 429-45 ; Hortulus Animae, facsimile reproductions (partly in
colour), 1907, etc.
8 See above, p. 298.
21 321
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
placid, dreamy Madonna and the delightful group of
angel-musicians ; and loveliest of all, perhaps, the " Salve
Regina," with its beautiful soft colouring and large,
gracious manner.
Finally, a group of manuscripts must be mentioned
whose most complete representatives are the Hennessy
Hours 1 at Brussels and the " Golf Book " 2 in the British
Museum. It is clear that they all emanate from the same
school ; and the resemblance of the Calvary in the Hen-
nessy Hours to that painted in 1530 by Simon Bennink,
eldest son of Alexander, in a Missal at Dixmude 3 has led
to the association of his name with the whole group.
The Hennessy Hours contains twenty-seven full-page
miniatures, including a full Calendar series, portraits of
the Evangelists, scenes of the Passion, and other subjects;
besides many pages with interesting marginal decoration.
The " Golf Book " is more fragmentary ; it consists of
thirty leaves, and has only twenty-one full-page miniatures,
viz. S. Boniface, eight Passion scenes, and a Calendar
series. The kinship between these two books is obvious,
especially in the Passion pictures, many of which are
identical in almost every detail (including the Calvary, a
subject whose pathos is rendered with wonderful intensity).
The Calendar subjects do not always agree, though the style
is always similar; but when the two manuscripts have the
same subject, as in the delightful May scene 4 of a boating-
party passing one of the gates of Bruges, the June tourna-
ment, or the exquisitely homely August picture of the
harvest-labourers taking their midday meal in the corn-
field, the agreement is as close as in the Passion series.
The same, or very nearly the same, cycle of subjects
occurs in many other Flemish manuscripts of this period,
1 J. Destree, Les Heures de N. D. dites de Hennessy, 1895 ; Muste des Enlu-
minures, fasc. 4-6.
2 Add. 24098. See Pal. Soc., ii, 135-6; Warner, Reprod., iii, 49.
8 Reproduced in Burl. Mag., Feb. 1906, p. 357, illustrating an article by
Mr. Weale, whose researches prove that Simon Bennink was born at Ghent in
1483-4, went to Bruges in 1508, settled there permanently in 1517, and died
in 1561. 4 PI. li.
322
PLATE LI
HORAE ("GOLF BOOK'V- FLEMISH, EARLY XVlTH CENT.
BRIT. MIIS. ADD. 24098
FLEMISH ILLUMINATION AFTER 1300
e.g. in Eg. 1147 in the British Museum; but nowhere
else is it treated in so finished and delicate a manner,
except in a dismembered manuscript of which two leaves
are in the British Museum 1 and two more in the Salting
Collection at South Kensington ; 2 in this fragment the
execution is finer still, and could hardly be surpassed in
any form of landscape-painting. One very interesting
feature of the "Golf Book" is the representation of
popular games and pastimes in little miniatures at the
foot of the pages ; it is from this that its sobriquet is
derived, the September page showing a party of men
playing golf. In these exquisite pictures, and in those
of the Sforza Book, Flemish miniature-painting reaches
its culminating point ; it would be an unprofitable as well
as ungracious task to carry its history farther.
1 Add. 18855, ff- IQ 8> 109. See Warner, Reprod., iii, 50.
2 Burl. F.A, Club, No. 231, pi. 144.
323
NOTE
ON THE VARIOUS KINDS OF LITURGICAL
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
TO purists in terminology the common habit of
speaking of all illuminated manuscripts as missals
is an abomination ; and there are many lovers of
illumination who, without being in the least pedantic,
have a laudable desire to call things by their right names,
but who lack time or opportunity or inclination to be-
come deeply versed in the mysteries of liturgiology. To
such persons the following remarks may, it is hoped, be
of some service. They must bear in mind, however, that
no attempt is made here to cover the whole field of litur-
gical manuscripts, or even to deal exhaustively with any
one of the classes mentioned. The variations due to
difference in age, locality, and circumstances are endless ;
and the many volumes that have been written, and remain
to be written, about them could not possibly be sum-
marized in a few pages. My present aim is merely to
point out to the beginner in the study of illumination the
salient features by which he may recognize the several
classes of manuscripts which are likely to come most
frequently under his notice. These are all of a liturgical
character; Biblical manuscripts form a class apart, and
the other non-liturgical books which will come his way
(whether religious or secular) are comparatively few, and
neither require, nor from their diversity lend themselves
readily to, a formal classification.
There are six classes of manuscripts to be considered,
viz. Missals, Breviaries, Psalters, Graduals, Antiphoners,
and Books of Hours. This is by no means a com-
plete list of the liturgical books of the medieval Latin
324
LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Church, but it comprises those in which illuminations are
most commonly found. As to date, the manuscripts range,
roughly speaking, from the eleventh century to the six-
teenth ; but illuminated Breviaries and Books of Hours
of earlier date than the latter part of the thirteenth century
are, to say the least, extremely rare ; and so are Psalters
of later date than the middle of the fourteenth. The
Calendar of festivals, which forms an integral part of most
of these books, often contains entries which give valuable
indications of date and provenance ; but great care must
be taken to ascertain whether they are in the original hand
or later additions, and not to infer more from them than
is warranted. It is not always safe, for instance, to take
the presence of a saint's name as proof of a date subse-
quent to his canonization. 1
The Missal, or Mass-book, is the book used by the
celebrating priest at the altar, and corresponds in large
measure to the earlier Sacramentary. Its normal con-
tents are : (i) Calendar. (2) Temporale, or Proper of Time,
containing the variable parts (introit, collect, epistle,
gradual, gospel, offertory, secret and post-communion) of
the Mass for every Sunday and week-day throughout
the year, beginning with the first Sunday in Advent.
This is sometimes headed " Incipit ordo missalis secun-
dum consuetudinem ecclesie Sarum " (or whatever the
special use may be), but more often simply " Dom. i. in
aduentu Domini. Ad missam officium " (or " introitus ").
(3) Ordinary (unchanging introductory part, including the
Gloria and Credo), Prefaces for various days (always
beginning " Vere dignum et justum est," and often set to
music), and Canon of the Mass. These are usually
placed in the middle of the Temporale, just before Easter.
The Canon is the most solemn part of the Mass, includ-
ing the consecration. It begins with the prayer "Te
igitur, clementissime Pater," and is almost always
immediately preceded by a full-page miniature of the
1 S. Anselm (d. 1109) was not canonized until 1494, but his name occurs in
English Calendars written centuries earlier.
325
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Crucifixion. (4) Sanctorale, or Proper of Saints : the
introits, collects, etc., for saints' days throughout the year,
generally beginning with S. Andrew (Nov. 30). (5)
Common of Saints : introits, etc., for saints not individu
ally provided for, e.g. for one apostle, for many martyrs,
etc. (6) Votive Masses, for special occasions ; followed
by various prayers, and sometimes by the services form-
ing what is commonly called the Manual, viz. Baptism,
Marriage, Visitation of the Sick, Burial, etc.
As a general rule, the Missal has but little illumina-
tion beyond the Crucifixion-picture at the Canon ; and
that little is confined to historiated initials at the principal
divisions. A favourite subject is the priest lifting up his
soul to God, illustrating the first introit of the Temporale,
"Ad te levavi animam meam." A few magnificently
decorated Missals do exist ; but they are quite exceptional,
and were probably never intended for actual use.
The Breviary contains the office, i.e. the services to be
said or sung every day by the clergy at the canonical hours
(Matins, Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers,
Compline). These services consist mainly of psalms,
interspersed with antiphons, verses, and responses, to-
gether with a few hymns and prayers. At matins there
are also three, nine or twelve lessons, taken from Scrip-
ture, patristic homilies, or lives of saints : three lessons
on minor festivals, nine on major (except in monasteries
of the Benedictine Order and its off-shoots, which have
twelve). The normal arrangement is as follows : (i)
Calendar; (2) Psalter; (3) Temporale, beginning at Ad-
vent, as in the Missal ; (4) Sanctorale ; (5) Common of
Saints ; (6) Hours of the Virgin, Office of the Dead, and
other special services. Finely illuminated Breviaries are
not common, the book being as a rule required for con-
stant practical use. The nature of its contents, however,
provides unlimited opportunities for illustration ; and
these are freely used in such manuscripts as the Breviary
of John the Fearless, the Isabella Book, and the Grimani
Breviary.
326
LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
The Psalter contains the 150 Psalms, usually pre-
ceded by a Calendar and followed by the Te Deum and
other Canticles, a Litany of Saints, and prayers ; often
too by Vigils of the Dead. Illuminated Psalters occur
as early as the eighth century, and from the eleventh to
the beginning of the fourteenth they form by far the most
numerous class of illuminated manuscripts. Several
pages at the beginning are filled in some copies, especially
in the thirteenth century, with scenes from the life of
Christ. The initial "B" of Psalm i is always lavishly
decorated, and so are the initial letters of the principal
divisions of the Psalter. These divisions vary with
country and date ; in the majority of thirteenth and four-
teenth century manuscripts they occur at Psalms xxvi
(" Dominus illuminatio mea," usually illustrated by a
miniature of David looking up to God and pointing to
his eyes, enclosed within the " D"), xxxviii (" Dixi custo-
diam"; David pointing to his lips), Hi (" Dixit insipiens";
a fool with club and ball, either alone or before King
David), Ixviii ("Salvum me fac" ; David up to his waist
in water, appealing to God for help ; or sometimes Jonah
and the whale), Ixxx (" Exultate Deo"; David playing on
bells), xcvii (" Cantate Domino " ; choristers singing),
cix ("Dixit Dominus"; the Father and Son enthroned,
the Dove hovering between them). The more sumptuous
copies have a great wealth of additional illustration, from
scriptural, hagiographical, and other sources.
Graduals and Antiphoners, classed together as Libri
Corali by Italian bibliographers, contain the choral parts
of the Mass and Office respectively. Thus the Gradual
answers to the Missal, the Antiphoner to the Breviary.
The former derives its name from the Gradual in the
Mass, a short passage from the Psalms to be said or sung
immediately after the Epistle ; the latter from the anti-
phons which make up a large part of its contents. They
are enormous volumes, having the text with full musical
setting, and being designed each to serve for several
choristers. They have no full-page miniatures, but their
327
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
principal initials enclose pictures as large as the page of
an average-sized book. The finest are of the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries, and were produced in Italy.
The Book of Hours is hardly liturgical in the strictest
sense, being intended for private devotional use, and
usually containing some non-liturgical matter. But it
would be absurd to omit it from this list, seeing how
immensely it outnumbers all other classes of illuminated
manuscripts. Its contents vary greatly, both in matter
and arrangement, but almost always include the following
nucleus : (i) Calendar ; (2) Four Lessons, one from each
Gospel, viz. the opening verses of S. John (" In principio
erat verbum," etc.), the Annunciation from S. Luke, the
Adoration of the Magi from S. Matthew, and the
conclusion of S. Mark. These are called " Cursus
Evangelii " by some modern writers, " Sequences of the
Gospels " by others ; but neither title occurs in the
manuscripts. (3) Two prayers to the Virgin, beginning
"Obsecro te," and "O intemerata"; (4) Hours or Office
of the Virgin. It is from this section, generally the
longest in the volume, that the name " Book of Hours "
is taken. The opening words of Matins are " Domine
labia mea aperies " ; the other Hours begin " Deus in
adjutorium meum intende," except Compline, which begins
" Converte nos Deus salutaris noster." (5) Hours of the
Cross, and of the Holy Ghost, usually in a very condensed
form ; (6) The Seven Penitential Psalms (" Domine ne in
furore tuo," etc.), followed by Litany and prayers ; (7)
Memorials of Saints (in English Horae these are in-
troduced into Lauds of the Virgin) ; (8) Vigils, or Office,
of the Dead ; consisting of Vespers (called " Placebo,"
from its opening word, in old English literature) and
Matins (" Dirige "). (9) English Horae usually have also
the Commendation of Souls, beginning " Beati imma-
culati." Additions to the above, too many and too various
to be enumerated here, are frequently found, especially in
French Horae of the fifteenth century, e.g. Hours of
S. Catherine, Mass of the Trinity, etc.
328
LITURGICAL MANUSCRIPTS
Illuminated Books of Hours occur before the end of
the thirteenth century, and by the end of the fourteenth
they had become extremely popular. Their normal decora-
tion includes the following full or half-page miniatures
(apart from Calendar-illustrations, borders, and initials):
At the Gospel-lessons, portraits of the Evangelists. At
Matins of the Virgin, the Annunciation, sometimes with
a portrait of the owner adoring the Virgin ; Lauds, the
Visitation ; Prime, the Nativity ; Tierce, Angel and
Shepherds ; Sext, Adoration of the Magi ; None, Presenta-
tion in the Temple ; Vespers, Flight into Egypt ; Com-
pline, Coronation of the Virgin. Hours of the Cross; the
Crucifixion. Hours of the Holy Ghost; Pentecost. Peni-
tential Psalms; David kneeling, or sometimes Bathsheba,
sometimes the Death Angel. Memorials of Saints ;
miniatures of the several saints commemorated. Vigils
of the Dead ; Raising of Lazarus, or sometimes a Burial,
or sometimes the Three Living and Three Dead ; but
most commonly the interior of a church, with monks
chanting round a bier. Commendation of Souls ; the
Day of Judgment, with the dead rising from their
graves.
329
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE following list contains, for the most part, only those
publications which the present writer has found specially
useful, and which ought to be consulted by all serious
students of the several branches of the art of illumination with which
they deal. It may be supplemented to some extent by reference to the
footnotes on the foregoing pages.
I. PERIODICALS
Archivio Storico del? Arte. Rome, 1888, etc. ; continued from 1898 as L'Arte.
Les Arts anciens de Flandre. Bruges, 1904, etc.
Burlington Magazine. London, 1902, etc.
Fondation Eugene Piot. Monuments et Memoires. Paris, 1894, etc. (Acad.
des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres).
Gazette des Beaux-Arts. Paris, 1859, etc.
Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses.
Vienna, 1883, etc. Cited below zsjahrb.
Revue de FArt ancien et moderne. Paris, 1897, etc.
II. GENERAL WORKS
BASTARD, COUNT A. DE. Peintures et ornements des MSS. 1832-69.
BRADLEY, J. W. Dictionary of Miniaturists. 1887-9.
CHROUST, A. Monumenta Palaeographica. Denkmdler der Schreibkunst des
Mittelalters. 1899, etc.
GARRUCCI, R. Storia della Arte cristiana. 1872-81.
KRAUS, F. X. Geschichte der christlichen Kunst. 1896-1900.
MICHEL, A. Histoire de VArt. 1905, etc. (sections on miniature by G.
Millet, P. Leprieur, A. Haseloff, and P. Durrieu).
NEW PALAEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. Facsimiles of ancient MSS., etc.^ ed. E. M.
Thompson, G. F. Warner, and F. G. Kenyon. 1903, etc.
PALAEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. Facsimiles of MSS. and Inscriptions^ ed. E. A.
Bond, E. M. Thompson, and G. F. Warner. 1873-94.
SHAW, H. Illuminated Ornaments. 1833.
THIEME, U., and BECKER, F. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Kiinstler.
1907, etc.
VENTURI, A. Storia del? Arte italiana. 1901, etc.
331
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
III. CATALOGUES, ETC., OF SINGLE COLLECTIONS OR
EXHIBITIONS
ANCONA, P. D'. La miniatura ferrarese nel fondo urbinate della Vaticana
(L'Arte, 1910, pp. 353-61).
BEISSEL, S. Vaticanische Miniaturen. Miniatures choisies de la bibl. du Vatican.
1893.
BRITISH MUSEUM. Catalogue of Ancient MSS., by E. M. Thompson and
G. F. Warner. 1881-4.
Guide to Exhibited MSS. 1906.
v. Kenyon, F. G., and Warner, Sir G. F.
BURLINGTON FINE ARTS CLUB. Exhibition of Illuminated MSS. Catalogue [by
S. C. Cockerell]. 1908. Illustrated edition [1909].
CARTA, F. Codici corali e libri a stampa miniati della Bibl. Naz. di Milano.
1895.
CARTA, F., CIPOLLA, C., and FRATI, C. Atlante paleografico-artistico [Turin
Exhibition, 1898]. 1899.
CHANTILLY, MUSE COND. Cabinet des Litres. MSS. [illustrated Catalogue
by the Due d'Aumale]. 1900.
DOREZ, L. Les MSS. a peintures de la bibl. de Lord Leicester. 1908.
DURIEUX, A. Les miniatures des MSS. de la bibl. de Cambrai. 1861.
FLEURY, E. Les MSS. a miniatures de la bibl. de Laon. 1863 ; de Soissons.
1865.
HERMANIN, F. Le miniature ferrarese della bibl. Vaticana (L'Arte, 1900,
pp. 341-73)-
JAMES, M. R. Catalogue of the Fitzwilliam MSS. 1895 ; of the MSS. at
Pembroke College, Cambridge. 1905 ; at Trinity College, Cambridge.
1900-4 ; and of many other collections at Cambridge and elsewhere,
especially Morgan, J. P., and Thompson, H. Y., q.v.
KENYON, F. G. Facsimiles of Biblical MSS. in the British Museum. 1900.
KERSHAW, S. W. Art Treasures of the Lambeth Library. 1873.
KOBELL, L. VON. Kunstvolle Miniaturen [from Munich MSS. 1890].
MARCHESE, V. 5". Marco, Convento dei Padri Predicatori in Firenze.
1853-
MORGAN, J. PIERPONT. Catalogue of MSS. of [by M. R. James. Many plates
in gold and colours]. 1906.
MUNOZ, A. L'art byzantin a F exposition de Grottaferrata. 1906.
/ codici greet miniati delle minori bibliotheche di Roma. 1905.
OECHELHAUSER, A. VON. Die Miniaturen der Universitats-Bibliothek zu
Heidelberg. 1 887-95 .
OMONT, H. Facsimile's des miniatures des MSS. grecs de la Bibl. Nat. Paris,
1902.
PRIMITIFS FRAN^AIS, EXPOSITION DES. Catalogue. 1904.
RONDONI, F. Guida del R. Museo ftorentino di S. Marco. 1872.
332
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
TAEGGI, O. P. Le Miniature net codici cassinesi. 1887, etc.
Paleografia artistica di Montecassino. 1876.
THOMPSON, SIR E. M. [Notes on an exhibition of English illuminated MSS.]
(Soc. of Antiquaries, Proceedings, 2nd ser., xvi, pp. 213-32). 1896.
THOMPSON, H. YATES. Catalogue of MSS. of, by M. R. James and others.
1898-1907.
Illustrations of too MSS. 1907-8.
Lecture on some English illuminated MSS. 1902.
VALERI, F. M. La collezione delle miniature deW Archivio di Stato in Bologna
(Archivio Storico delV Arte, 1894, pp. 1-20).
WARNER, SIR G. F. British Museum. Reproductions from illuminated MSS.
1907-8.
Illuminated MSS. in the Brit. Mus. [60 plates in gold and colours].
1899-1903.
IV. REPRODUCTIONS OF, OR MONOGRAPHS ON,
PARTICULAR MSS.
ABBOTT, T. K. Celtic Ornaments from the Book of Kells. 1895.
ALBANI, CARD. A. Menologium Graecorum. 1727.
BAILLIE-GROHMAN, W. A. and F. The Master of Game. 1904.
BASTARD, COUNT A. DE. Peintures de la Bible de Charles le Chauve. 1883.
BEISSEL, S. Die Bilder der Hs. des Kaisers Otto im Munster zu Aachen. 1886.
Des hi. Bernward Evangelienbuch im Dome zu Hildesheim. 1891.
BELTRAMI, L. II Librod 1 OreBorromeo, alia Bibl. Ambros., miniato da Cristo-
foro Preda. 1896.
BERTAUX, E., and BIROT, G. Le Missel de Thomas James, Eveque de Dol
[by Attavante] (Revue de VArt anc. et mod., xx, pp. 129-46). 1906.
BETHE, E. Terentius. Cod. Ambros. H. 75 inf. phototypice depictus (De Vries,
Codd. Gr. et Lat., viii). 1903.
BIRCH, W. DE G. Liber Vitae. Hampshire Record Soc., 1892.
Memorials of St. Guthlac. 1881.
On two Anglo-Saxon MSS. (Roy. Soc. of Lit., Transactions, new ser., xi,
pt. iii). 1876.
The Utrecht Psalter. 1876.
BOUCICAUT. Heures du Marechal de Boucicaut, Soc. des Bibliophiles fr., 1889.
CARYSFORT, WILLIAM, EARL OF. Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of
Warwick. Roxb. Club, 1908.
CERIANI, A. M. Homeri Iliadis pictae fragmenta Ambrosiana phototypice edita.
1905.
CHMELARZ, E. Das dltere Gebetbuch des K. Maximilian I (Jahrb., vii, pp. \
201-6). 1888.
Konig Rene der Gute und die Hs. seines Romanes " Cuer d> Amours
Espris" (id., xi, pp. 116-39). 1890.
333
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
CHMELARZ, E. Ein Vervoandter des Breviarium Grimani (ib. , ix, pp. 429-45).
1889.
COCKERELL, S. C. The Gorleston Psalter. 1907.
Hours of Yolande of Flanders. 1905.
Psalter and Hours of Isabelle of France. 1905.
COUDERC, C. Livre de la Chasse [1909].
COXE, H. O. The Apocalypse of S. John the Divine. Roxb. Club, 1876.
DELISLE, L. Les Heures dites de Jean Pucelle. 1910.
-DELISLE, L., and MEYER, P. L Apocalypse en francais. Soc. des anc. textes
fr., 1901.
DESTRE, J. Les Heures de N. D. dites de Hennessy. 1895 '>
[same title. Full reproduction of the miniatures, without letterpress]
(Musee des Enluminures, fasc. 4-6) [1907].
DE VRIES, S. Codices Graeci et Latini photographice depicti. v. Bethe, E.,
Omont, H., and Premerstein, A. von.
13. Grimani Breviary.
DEWICK, E. S. Coronation Book of Charles V. Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1899.
Metz Pontifical. Roxb. Club, 1902.
DIEZ, E. Die Miniaturen des Wiener Dioskurides (Byzantinische Denkmaler,
iii, pp. 1-69). 1903.
DORNHOFFER, F. Hortulus Animae [reproduction in colours]. 1907, etc.
DURRIEU, COUNT P. Les Antiquitesjudaiquesetlepeintre Jean Foucquet. 1908.
Les Belles Heures de Jean de France, due de Berry (Gas. des Beaux-Arts,
1906, i, pp. 265-92).
Le Boccace de Munich. 1909.
Heures de Turin. 1902.
Lhistoire du bon rot Alexandre (Revue de VArt anc. et mod., xiii, pp.
49-64, 103-21). 1903.
Uorigine du manuscrit celebre dit le Psaiitier d 1 Utrecht. 1895.
Les ' tres belles heures de N.DS du due Jean de Berry (Revue Archeol.,
ser. iv, xvi, pp. 30-51, 246-79). 1910.
Les Tres Riches Heures de Jean, due de Berry. 1904.
ELLIS, F. S. The Hours of Albert of Brandenburg [1883].
ELLIS, SIR H. Caedmon's Paraphrase (Archaeologia, xxiv, pp. 329-4). 1832.
FORBES-LEITH, W. Gospel Book of St. Margaret. 1896.
Life of St. Cuthbert. 1888.
GAGE, J. St. Aethelwold's Benedictional and the " Benedictionarius Roberti
Archiepiscopi" (Archaeologia, xxiv, pp. 1-136). 1832.
GASQUET, F. A., and BISHOP, E. The Bosworth Psalter. 1908.
GEBHARDT, O. VON. The Miniatures of the Ashburnham Pentateuch. 1883.
GEBHARDT, O. VON, and HARNACK, A. Evangeliorum Codex graecus pur-
pureus Rossanensis. 1880.
GOLDSCHMIDT, A. Der A Ibani- Psalter in Hildesheim. 1895.
Das Evangeliar im Rathaus zu Goslar. 1910.
334
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GOODWIN, J. E-vangelia Augustini Gregoriana (Cambridge Ant. Soc. , No. 13).
1847.
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GRUYER, F. A. Les Quarante Fouquet. 1897.
HARTEL, W. RITTER VON, and WICKHOFF, F. Die Wiener Genesis. 1895.
HASELOFF, A. Codex purpureus Rossanensis. 1898 (and v. Munoz, A.).
Der Psalter Erzbischof Egberts von Trier , Codex Gertrudianus. 1901.
HERMANN, H. J. Ein unbekanntes Gebetbuch von Jean Bourdichon (Beitrdge
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HERRADE DE LANDSBERG. Hortus Deliciarum. [reproductions in colour].
1877.
Hortus Deliciarum, ed. G. Keller. 1901.
JAMES, M. R. Description of an illuminated MS. of the thirteenth century.
1904.
The Trinity College Apocalypse. Roxb. Club, 1910.
JANITSCHEK, H. Die Trierer Ada-Handschrift. 1889.
KRAUS, F. X. Die Miniaturen des Codex Egberti. 1884.
MAI, CARD. A. Picturae antiquissimae, bellum Iliacum repraesantes. 1819.
Homeri lliados picturae. 1835.
MARTIN, H. Legende de St. Denis. Soc. de 1' hist, de Paris, 1908.
Psautier de St. Louis et de Blanche de Castille [1909].
Le Terence des Dues. 1908.
MELY, F. DE. Les Heures d'Anne de Bretagne (Gaz. des Beaux-Arts, 1909,
ii, pp. I77-9 6 )-
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MONT, P. DE. Un livre d'heures du due Jean de Berry (Musee des Enlu-
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MUNOZ, A. // Codice Purpureo di Rossano e il Frammento Sinopense. 1907.
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NOLHAC, P. DE. Le Virgile du Vatican (Notices et Extraits, xxxv, pt. ii, pp.
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335
OMONT, H. Livre d'heures de Henri II [1906].
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ii, pp. 599^75)- 1 9*-
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pi. 16-19). 1900.
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ONGANIA, F. A Glance at the Grimani Breviary. 1903.
PERINI, A. Facsimile delle miniature di Attavante Fiorentino. 1878.
PREMERSTEIN, A. VON. Anicia Juliana im Wiener Dioskorides-Kodex (Jahrb.,
xxiv, pp. 105-24). 1903.
Dioscurides, Codex Aniciae Julianae (De Vries, Codd. Gr. et Lat.> x).
1906.
QUARITCH, B. Description of a Book of Hours, illuminated probably by H.
Memling and G. David. 1905.
REINACH, S. Un MS. de la bibl. de Philippe le Bon a St, Petersbourg (Fond.
E. Piot, xi). 1904.
ROBINSON, S. F. H. Celtic Illuminative Art in the Gospel Books of Durrow,
Lindisfarne, and Kells. 1908.
SCHESTAG, A. Die Chronik von Jerusalem (fahrb., xx, pp. 195-216). 1899.
SCHULTZE, V. Die Quedlinburger Itala-miniaturen. 1898.
SIMKHOVITCH, V. G. A predecessor of the Grimani Breviary (Burl. Mag:,
Mar. 1907, pp. 400-5).
SPRINGER, A. Die Psalterillustrationen im fruhen Mittelalter (Abhandlungen
der phil.-hist. Cl. der k. sacks. Gesellsch. der Wissensch., viii, pp. 228-94).
1883. [Utrecht Psalter]
TRZYGOWSKI, J. Der Bilderkreis des gr. Physiologus, etc. 1899.
Die Calenderbilder des Chronographen vomjahre 354. 1888.
Das Etschmiadzin-Evangeliar. 1891.
STUART, J. Book of Deer. Spalding Club, 1869.
THOMPSON, Sir E. M. A contemporary account of the fall of Richard II (Burl.
Mag.) v, pp. 160-72, 267-70). 1904.
Pageants of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick (ib. y i, pp. 151-64).
1903.
A Rothschild MS. in the Brit. Mus. (#., vii, pp. 198-210). 1905.
On a MS. oftheBiblia Paiiperum (Bibliographica, iii, pp. 385-406). 1897.
THOMPSON, H. YATES. Facsimiles from a Psalter. 1900.
Les Heures de Savoie. Facsimiles of 52 pages, with a notice by Dom
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Hours of Joan //, Queen of Navarre. Roxb. Club, 1899.
336
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
TIKKANEN, J. J. Le rappresentazioni delta Genesi in S. Marco a Venezia
(Arch. Stor. delV Arte, i, pp. 212-23, 2 57~^7, 348-63). 1888-9. [Cotton
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USPENSKV, T. ' LOctateuque du Serail a Constantinople. 1907.
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VAN DEN GHEYN, J. Le Breviaire de Philippe le Bon. 1909.
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VERKEST, M. La satire dans le " Kuerbouc" d'Ypres (Les Arts anc. de
Flandre, 1904, etc., i, pp. 95-107).
WARNER, SIR G. F. Buke of John Maundevill. Roxb. Club, 1889.
Miracles de Nostre Dame. Roxb. Club, 1885.
Sforza Book of Hours. 1894.
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WARNER, SIR G. F., and WILSON, H. A. Benedictional of S. Aethelwold.
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WESTLAKE, N. H. J., and PURDUE, W. Illustrations of O. T. hist, in Qu.
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WESTWOOD, J. O. Bible of the Monastery of St. Paul near Rome. 1876.
WILSON, H. A. Benedictional of Abp. Robert. Henry Bradshaw Soc., 1903.
Missal of Robert of Jumieges. H. B. Soc., 1896.
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WICKHOFF, F. Die Omamente eines altchristl. Cod. der Hofbibl. (Jahrb.,
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v. Hartel, W. Ritter von.
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V. MISCELLANEOUS
BASTARD, COUNT A. DE. Librairie de Jean de France, Due de Berry. 1834.
BEISSEL, S. Der hi. Bernivard -von Hildesheim als Kimstlcr^ etc. 1895.
BERTAUX, E. L'art dans Vltalie mgridionale, i, 1904.
22 337
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
BISCARO, G. Intorno a Cristoforo Preda (Archivio Storico Lombardo, 1910,
pp. 223-6).
BRADLEY, J. W. Life and Works of Giorgio Giulio Clovio. 1891.
BROCKHAUS, H. Die Kunst in den Athos-Klostem. 1891.
BRUUN, J. A. Celtic Illuminated MSS. 1897.
CIACCIO, L. Appunti intorno alia miniatura bolognese del sec. xiv (L'Arte, x,
PP- i OS- 1 5)- *97-
CIPOLLA, C. Codici Bobbiesi. 1907.
CONSTANTINOPLE, INSTITUT ARCHOL. RUSSE. Bulletin, vol. xii, Album
[Octateuch MSS.]. 1907.
DEHAISNES, M. LE CHANOINE. Histoire de FArt dans la Flandre, PArtois et le
Hainaut. 1886.
DELISLE, L. Les Livres d"Heuresdu due de Berry (Gas. des Beaux- Arts ', 1884,
PP- 97-no, 281-92, 391-405).
Livres a" images (Hist. Litt. de la France ', xxxi, pp. 213-85). 1893.
Melanges de Paleographie et de Bibliographic. 1880.
Memoire sur d 1 anciens sacramentaires (Mem. deFAcad. des Inscr. et Belles-
Lettres, xxxii, i). 1886.
Notice de douze livres royaux. 1902.
DIEHL, C. Justinien. 1901.
DURRIEU, COUNT P. Un dessin du Musee du Louvre, attribue a Andre
Beauneveu (Fond. E. Piot, i, pp. 179-202). 1894.
Jacques Coene, peintre de Bruges (Les Arts anc. de Flandre, ii, pp. 5-22).
1906.
Les miniatures a" Andre Beauneveu (Le Manuscrit, i, pp. 52-6, 84-95).
1894.
Lapeinture en France au debut du xif siecle (Revue de fart anc. etmod.,
xix, pp. 401-15, xx, pp. 21-35). 1906.
FOWLER, J. On mediaeval representations of the months and seasons (Archaeo-
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GILBERT, J. T. National MSS. of Ireland, pt. i. 1874. [Coloured
plates]
GRUYER, G. L'Artferrarais. 1897.
HASELOFF, A. Les Psautiers de St. Lcuis (Mem. de la Soc. Nat. des Antiquaires
de France, lix, pp. 18-42). 1900.
Eine thiiringisch-sachsische Malerschule des /j. Jahrhunderts. 1897.
HERMANN, H. J. Miniaturhss. aus der Bibl. des Hersogs Andrea Matteo III
Acquaviva (Jahrb., xix, pp. 147-216). 1898.
Zur Geschichte der Miniaturmalerei am Hofe der Este in Ferrara (ib.,
xxi, pp. 117-271). 1900.
JANITSCHEK, H. Geschichte der deutschen Malerei. 1890.
KALLAB, W. Die toscanische Landschaftsmalerei im xiv und xv Jahrhundert
(Jahrb., xxi, pp. 1-90). igoo.
338
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der Antiq. Gesellsch. in Zurich, vii, Heft 3, pp. 61-97). 1851. Transl.
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1860.
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LATIL, A. M. Le Miniature nei Rotoli delT Exult et. 1899, etc.
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MARTIN, H. Les Miniaturistes francais. 1906.
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MILLER, K. Die Weltkarte des Beatus (Die altesten Weltkarten, Heft i).
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1901.
PROU, M. Dessins du xi' siecle et peintures du xiii' siecle (Revue de fart
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RIEGL, A. Die mittelalterliche Kalenderillustration (Mittheil. des Instituts
fur oesterr. Geschichtsforschung, x, pp. 1-74). 1889.
RUSHFORTH, G. McN. The " Descent into Hell" in Byzantine Art (Papers of
the British School at Rome, i, pp. 114-19). 1902.
REIBER, W. L. Biblia Pauperum. 1903.
STETTINER, R. Die illustrierten Prudentius-Handschriften* 1895.
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STOKES, M. Early Christian Art in Ireland. 1887.
SWARZENSKI, G. Die Regensburger Buchmalerei des X und XI Jahrhun-
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TESTI, L. Storia della Pittura veneziana, i, 1909.
THOMPSON, SIR E. M. English Illuminated MSS. 1895.
TIKKANEN, J. J. Die Psalterillustration im Mittelalter. 1895.
VALLET DE VIRIVILLE, A. Notice de quelques MSS. precieux (Gaz. des Beaux-
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VITZTHUM, GRAF G. Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei von der Zeit des hi.
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339
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
VOGE, W. Eine deutsche Malerschule um die Wende des ersten Jahrtausends.
1891.
WEALE, W. H. J. Gerard David. 1895.
Simon Binnink, miniaturist (Burl. Mag., viii, pp. 355-7). 1906.
WESTWOOD, J. O. Facsimiles of the Miniatures and Ornaments of Anglo-
Saxon and Irish MSS. 1868.
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Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria. 1843-5.
340
INDEX
MANUSCRIPTS
Abbeville: No. i (Cod. Aur.), 101
Aix-la-Chapelle, Cathedral : Gospel-
books, 92, 148
Arras: No. 1045 (S.VaastLectionary),io5
Austria-Este, Archduke Francis Ferdi-
nand of: Borso Bible, 291 ; Brevi-
ary and Officium of Ercole I, 292-3
Bamberg : A. 1.5 (Alcuin-Bible), 95
Bari : Exultet Roll, 166
Berlin, Royal Library: Eneidt (germ.
fol. 282), 156; Itala, 1 6
Boulogne, Bibl. Municip. : No. 20 (S. j
Omer Psalter), no
Bristol, Baptist College: Cotton Genesis,
17
Brussels, Royal Library : Apocalypse (B.
282), 217 ; Berry Hours (11060-1),
250; Breviary of Philip the Good
(9511, 9026), 312; Conquetes de
Charlemagne (9066-8 ), 3 1 2 ; Gospels
of S. Victor-in-Santem (18723), 92;
Hennessy Hours, 322 ; Histoire de
Charles Martel (6-9), 312; Histoire
du Haynaut (9242-4), 311 ; Missal
of Mathias Corvinus (9008), 297 ;
Peterborough Psalter (9961-2), 224
Cambrai, Public Library: Nos. 149, 327
(Missal and Bible), 306-7
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College : No.
286 (S. Augustine's Gospels), 160
Fitzvrilliam Museum: No. 48 (Carew-
Poyntz Horae), 231
Pembroke College: No. 120 (Bury
St. Edmund's Gospels), 136
St. John's College : C. 9 (Irish
Psalter), 82
Trinity College : Apocalypse (R.
16.2), 214; Eadwin Psalter, no;
Winchester Gospels (B. 10.4), 128
Cambridge, University Library : li. vi.
32 (Book of Deer), 83; LI. i. 10
(Bp. Aethelwald's Prayer-book), 85
Chantilly, Musee Conde : Breviary of
Jeanne d'Evreux, 246 ; Crucifixion
(A. de' Bonfratelli), 305 ; Hours
of E. Chevalier, 280, pi. xlii; Inge-
burge Psalter, 193; Registrum
Gregorii, 150 ; Tres Riches Heures,
271, pi. xl
Cividale : Cod. Gertrud., 147, pi. xix
Coblenz, Archives : Treves " Kopial-
buch," 307
Constantinople, Seraglio: Octateuch, 48
Darmstadt: No. 1948 (Gero Gospels),
J 45
Devonshire, Duke of: Benedictional of
S. Aethelwold, 126
Douai, Public Library : No. 171 (Psalter),
226
Dublin, Trinity College : Book of Ar-
magh, 8 1 ; of Dimma, 72 ; of
Durrow, 71 ; of Kells, 76, pi. vii ;
of Mulling, 8 1 ; Psalter of Rice-
march, 83
Durham, Cathedral Library : Pudsey
Bible, 138 ; Cassiodorus (B. ii. 30),
85; Gospels (A. ii. 17), 85
Epernay : No. 1722 (Ebbo Gospels), 104
Etschmiadzin : Gospels, 34
Florence : Rabula Gospels, 32 ; Reiche-
nau Sacramentary, 146
Gaeta, Cathedral: Exultet Rolls, 167
Gotha: Echternach Gospels, 149
Heidelberg, University Library: Sacra-
mentary (SaL ix b ), 145
341
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Hildesheim, Cathedral : Bible, Gospels,
and Sacramentary of S. Bernward,
151
S. Godehard's Church : S. Alban's
Psalter, 136
Holford, Sir G. L. : Passion of S.
Edmund, 135
Holkham, Lord Leicester's Library :
Weingarten Missals, 207
Innsbruck, University Library : Missal
of Card. Ippolito I d'Este, 293;
Prayer-book of J. Bourgeois, 285
Ivrea, Chapter Library : Sacramentary
of S. Warmund, 162
Jacquemart-Andre, Madame : Boucicaut
Hours, 266
Leyden, University Library : Psalter of
5, Louis, 141
Lichfield, Cathedral Library : Gospels
of S. Chad, 75
London, British Museum: Additional
MSS. 4949, 64; 5111, 30; 9350,
1 68; 10546 (Alcuin-Bible), 95,
pi. xi; 11662, 4; 11695, 210;
11838, 62; 11870 (Metaphrastes),
54, pi. v; 1 201 2, 288; 14779-
82, 302 ; 14788-90 (Louvain
Bible), 158; 14802, 290; 15205-
6, 260; 15244-5, 246, pi. xxxvii;
15246, 302; 15270-3, 289, pi.
xlv; 15274-5, 263; 15816, 294;
16532, 257; 16605, 157; 16949,
203; 16997, 280; 17280, 319;
17294, 291; 17333. 218; 17341,
199, pi. xxvi; 17373. 2 94; 17687,
208; 17737-8 (Floreffe Bible),
159; 17742, 194; 17868, 197;
18000, 294*; 18144, 208; 18196-
7, 259; 18198, 259; 18633,
218; 18719, 200; 18720
(Bologna Bible), 260; 18850
(Bedford Hours), 273, pi. xli ;
18851 (Isabella Book), 318;
18852, 319; 18854, 285; 18855,
285, 323; 18859, 164; 19352
(Theodore Psalter), 49; 19899,
205; 20916, 294; 20927 (G.
Clovio), 304; 21120, 303; 21412
(Rogers Album), 259; 21413
(Sforza deed), 300; 21414, 294;
342
21463, 294; 21965, 257; 21973,
2 S9; 22493, 218; 22497, 257;
22736, 64; 22740, 64; 23923,
262; 24098 (" Golf Book "), 322,
pi. li; 24189, 309, pi. xlix; 24199,
in ; 24683, 205 ; 24686 (Tenison
Psalter), 190, pi. xxiv; 25600,
210; 25697, 295; 25698, 316,
pi. 1; 27428, 262; 27695, 263;
27697 (Saluces Hours), 283;
28106-7 (Stavelot Bible), 157;
28162 (Somme le Roi), 201, pi.
xxviii; 28271, 303; 28785, 279;
28815, 64; 28841, 263; 28962,
302; 29253, 306; 29433, 269;
29704-5. 2 33. .P 1 - xxxiv; 29735
(S. Croce Breviary), 295 ; 30014
Siena Hymnal), 286 ; 30029, 306;
3337 (Exultet Roll), 167, pi. xx.;
30844-6, 30850, 30853 (Silos
MSS.), 210; 31032, 261; 32058,
25?; 32454, 269; 33733 (Vic-
tories of Charles V), 305 ; 33997,
295; 34247, 259; 34294 (Sforza
Book), 298, pi. xlvii, xlviii ; 34309,
256 ; 34890 (Grimbald Gospels),
131, pi. xv ; 35030, 47; 35085,
196; 35 l6 6, 214; 35254, 259,
285, 288, pi. xliv; 35311 (Bur-
gundy Breviary), 270; 3531 3, 320 ;
353 J 9. 317; 35321, 282; 36684,
306; 36928, 47; 37421 (J.
Fouquet), 281; 37517 (Bosworth
Psalter), 129; 37768 (Lothaire
Psalter), 104; 37955^288; 38037
(Toledo Missal), 303
London, British Museum : Arundel
MSS. 60, 132; 83 (E. Anglian
Psalter), 224, pi. xxxiii; 155, 129;
157, 176; 547,65
Burney MSS. 3, 182 ; 19, 64,
pi. iv; 20,64; 257,267; 275,247
Cotton MSS. Calig. A. xv, 1 20 ;
Claud. B. iv (Aelfric's Hexateuch),
120; Claud. D. vi, 185; Cleop. C.
viii, 112; Dom. A. xvii (Psalter
of Hen. VI), 277; Faust. B. vi,
pt. ii, 235 ; Galba A. xviii (Athel-
stan's Psalter), 122; Jul. A. vi, 113;
Nero C. iv, 137 ; Nero D. i, 185 ;
Nero D. iv (Lindisfarne Gospels),
73, pi. viii ; Otho B. vi (Cotton
Genesis), 17; Tib. A. ii (Athel-
INDEX
Stan's Gospels), 144; Tib. B. v,
114; Tib. B. viii (Charles V's
Coronation-book), 247 ; Tib. C. vi,
119, pi. xiv ; Tit. D. xvi, 112;
Tit. D. xxvii, 117; Vesp. A. i
(Psalter of S. Augustine's, Canter-
bury), 85 ; Vesp. A. viii (King
Edgar's charter), 125 ; Vitell. F. xi,
81
London, British Museum: Egerton MSS.
617-8 (Wycliffite Bible), 231 ; 768
(Franco-Saxon Gospels), 105 ; 809,
153; 943, 262; 1 070 (Hours of Rene
ofAnjou), 283; 1139 (Melissenda
Psalter), 57, pi. vi ; 1147, 323;
1151, 1 88; 2045 (S. Pol Hours),
283, pi. xliii ; 2781, 231
Harley MSS. 76 (Bury S.
Edmund's Gospels), 130; 603
(copy of Utrecht Psalter), 115;
928, 188; 1023, 82; 1526-7
(Moralized Bible), 200; 1802
(Maelbrigt Gospels), 82; 1810, 58;
2278 (Lydgate's Life of S. Edmund),
235 ; 2449 (Val-Duchesse Breviary),
306 ; 2788 (Cod. Aur.), 100, pi. ix;
2798-9 (Arnstein Bible), 154;
2800-2 (Arnstein Passionale), 155;
2803-4 (Worms Bible), 154 ; 2891,
247 ; 2897 (Burgundy Breviary),
270, frontispiece; 2899 (Qu.
Philippa's Psalter), 231 ; 2904, 1 16 ;
2930, 205 ; 3045, 155 ; 4374-5
(Valerius Maximus), 282; 4381-2
(Berry Bible), 252 ; 4425 (Roman
de la Rose), 318; 4751, 187;
4986, 186 ; 5102, 141; 5761
(Medici Petrarch), 295 ; 5790
(Greek Gospels of Card. F.
Gonzaga), 65 ; 7026 (Lovel Lec-
tionary), 234; 7183, 168
Harley Roll Y. 6 (Guthlac
Roll), 140, pi. xvii
King's MSS. 5 (Biblia
Pauperum), 308; 156 (Ducale), 294
Lansdowne MSS. 420, 179;
1175 (Bible of Charles V), 252
Royal MSS. i D. i (Bible of
William of Devon), 183, pi. xxiii;
i D. ix (Canute's Gospels), 130;
i D x, 176, pi. xxi; i E. vi, 87;
1 E. ix (Bible of Richard II), 232;
2 A. iii, 205 ; 2 A. xviii. (Grandison
Hours), 234; 2 A. xxii (West-
minster Psalter), 141 ; 2 B. ii, 197 ;
2 B. iii, 204, pi. xxix ; 2 B. vii
(Qu. Mary's Psalter), 221, pi.
xxxi-ii ; 3 D. vi, 1 90 ; 6 E. ix
(Prato verses), 256 ; 10 E. iv, 230 ;
14 C. vii (Matthew Paris), 185;
15 D. ii (E. Anglian Apocalypse),
217; 15 E. ii-iii, 314; 16 F. ii
(Charles, Duke of Orleans), 317;
169. iii (D. Aubert, Vita Christi),
314; 17 E. vii, 245; 18 D. viii,
239; 18 E. iii-iv, 314; 19 B. xv,
217; 19 C. iv (Songe du Vergier),
2 53.;. J 9 C. viii, 317; 19 D. ii
(Poitiers Bible), 239; 19 E. v
(Romuleon), 314; 20 B vi (Epistle
to Richard II), 253
London, British Museum : Sloane MS.
1977 (Treatise on Surgery), 195, pi.
xxvii
Stowe MSS. 12 (Norwich
Breviary), 227; 17 (Maestricht
Hours), 205, pi. xxxviii ; 944 (New-
minster Liber Vitae), 117, pi. xiii
Lambeth Archiepiscopal Library :
Apocalypse(209),2i5 ; Mac Durnan
Gospels, 80
Soane Museum : Giulio Clovio, 304 ;
Josephus of Edw. IV, 314
Society of Antiquaries : Mantuan (?)
Choir-book, 298 ; Peterborough
Psalter (59), 180, pi. xxii
Victoria and Albert Museum, South
Kensington : Flemish Calendar-
pictures (Salting collection), 323;
Italian Choir-books, 259; S. Denis
Missal, 246
Wallace Collection: C. dePredis, 301
Westminster Abbey. Lytlington
Missal, 231 %
Lulworth Castle Library : Louterell
Psalter, 229-30
Lyons Cathedral : Attavante Missal, 296
Manchester, John Rylands Library: Lat.
8 (Beatus on the Apocalypse), 211
Milan, Ambrosian Library : Borromeo
Hours (C. de Predis), 301 ; Greek
Gospels (B. 56 Sup.), 65 ; Greek
Psalter (54), 46 ; Iliad, 8 ; Petrarch's
Virgil (S. Martini), 258; Terence
(H. 75 inf.), 12
343
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Milan, Trivulzio Collection : Donatus of
Maximilian Sforza (Ambr. de
Predis ?), 300 ; Missal (Martino da
Modena?), 292 ; Turin Hours, 310
Monte Cassino: No 73 (S. Gregory's
Moralia), 164; 99 (Homilies), 164;
175 (Commentary on Rule of S.
Benedict), 163
Morgan, J. Pierpont, Esq. : Flemish
Breviary, 321; Huntingfield Psalter,
141 ; Windmill Psalter, 220 ; Work-
sop Bestiary (107), 187
Mount Athos, Pantocrator : 49 (Psalter),
46
Vatopedi : 515 (Octateuch), 48;
609 (Psalter), 46
Munich, Hofbibl: Cim. 54 (Uta-codex),
153; Cim. 55 (Cod. Aur. of S.
Emmeran), 98 Cim. 57 (Bamberg
Lectionary), 150; Cim. 58 (Bam-
berg Gospels), 149 ; Cod. gall. 369
(Boccace, J. Fouquet), 280
Schatzkammer : Prayer-book of
Charles the Bald, 98
Nuremberg, Stadtbibl : Solger in 4,
No. 4 (Hours of King Charles), 200
Oxford, Bodleian Library : Auct. D. 4.
17 (Apocalypse), 213; Bodl. 27ob
(Moralized Bible), 200; Bodl. 579
(Leofric Missal), 116; Douce 180
(Apocalypse), 216, pi. xxx ; Douce
366 (Ormesby Psalter), 228; Douce
374 (Miracles de N. D.), 313;
Junius ii (Caedmon), 118; Lat.
Liturg. f. 5 (S. Margaret's Gospel-
book), 133; Rawlinson B. 484
(leaf from Athelstan's Psalter), 123;
Rushworth Gospels (Mac Regol), 79
4
Padua, Cathedral: Epistolar, 170;
Gospel-book, 169
Paris, Bibl. de 1' Arsenal : No. 623 (S.
Magloire Missal), 273; 664 (Te'rence
des Dues), 267; 1186 (Psalter of
Blanche of Castile), 193; 5059
(Papeleu Bible), 239
Bibl. de Ste. Genevieve : Canterbury
Bible, 139
Bibl. Nationale : Coislin 79 (Chry-
sostom of Nicephorus Botaniates),
4i
344
Paris, Bibl. Nationale : Fonds franc.ais,
18-9 (Cite de Dieu), 282 ; 247
(Fouquet, Josephus), 2795403 (Apo-
calypse), 213; 616 (Livre de la
Chasse), 267; 2090-2 (Legende de
St. Denis), 239; 2810 (Livre des
Merveilles), 267 ; 6465 (Fouquet,
Grandes Chroniques), 280; 9198-9
(Miracles de N. D.),3i3; 9350 (after
Cotton Genesis), 17; 13091 (Duke
of Berry's Lat.-Fr. Psalter), 249 ;
19819 (Fouquet, Order of S.
Michael), 278
Fonds grec., 139 (Psalter), 42;
510 (Greg. Naz.), 40; 1208 (Homi-
lies of Jacobus), 56
Fonds latin, i (Vivian Bible),
96 ; 2 (2nd Bible of Charles the
Bald), 105 ; 18 (Bologna Bible),
260; 257 (Gospels of Frangois II),
105; 265 (Blois Gospels), 104; 266
(Lothaire Gospels), 97 ; 919 (Duke
of Berry's "Grandes Heures"),
251; 1023 (Breviary of Philippe
le Bel), 237; 1150 (Moralized
Bible), 200; 1152 (Psalter of Charles
the Bald), 98; 1161 (Hours), 268;
3063 (Scotus of Ferd. of Aragon),
2895 8846, anc. Suppl. lat. 1194
(Tripartite Psalter), no; 8850
(Soissons Cod. Aur.), 103, pi. x;
9383, 9388 (Gospel-books), 104;
9428 (Drogo Sacramentary), 103;
9474 (Hours of Anne of Brittany),
284 ; 10483-4 (Belleville Breviary),
240; 10525 (Little Psalter of
S. Louis), 198; 11935 (Billyng
Bible), 240; 12048 (Gellone
Sacramentary), 89; 17294 (Brev-
iary of John, Duke of Bedford),
275; 17326 (Ste. Chapelle Lection-
ary), 199; 18014 (Duke of Berry's
"Petites Heures"), 251
Nouv. acq. fr., 1098 (Vie de
St. Denys), 195; 21013 (Fouquet,
Josephus), 279
Nouv. acq. lat., 1203, anc.
1993 (Godescalc Gospel-book),
100; 1359 (Chronicle of S. Martin
des Champs), 4; 1416 (Fouquet,
Hours of E. Chevalier), 281 ;
2334 (Ashburnham Pentateuch),
161
INDEX
Paris, Bibl. Nationale: Suppl. gr. 1286
(Cod. Sinop.), 29
Collection Dutuit : Hist, du bon roi
Alexandre, 312
Musee du Louvre. Fouquet, Hours |
of E. Chevalier, 281 ; Turin Hours, j
310
Perrins, C. W. Dyson, Esq. : Gorleston
Psalter, 226; Ovid, 289
Rome, Archives of S. Peter's : Codice di
S. Giorgio, 258
Barberini Library : Calendar of
Filocalus, 3
S. Paul's: Bible, 98
Vatican Library: Pal. gr. 381
(Psalter), 47 ; 431 (Joshua Roll), 42
Pal. lat. 1071 (Fred. II, De arte
venandi cum avibus), 172
Reg. gr. i (Bible), 47 ; Reg.
lat. 438 (Calendar-pictures), 113
Urbino-Vat. gr. 2 (Gospels), 60
Vat. gr. 394 (Climacus), 56 ;
666 (Alexius Comnenus), 41 ; 699
(Cosmas Indicopleustes), 40 ; 746-
7 (Octateuchs), 48; 1162 (Homi-
lies of Jacobus), 56; 1291 (Pto-
lemy), 39; 1613 (Menology of
Basil II), 52; 2138 (Evangelis-
tarium). 65
Vat. lat. 20 (Bologna Bible),
260; 1202 (Life of S. Benedict),
164; 3225 (Vatican Virgil), 5,
pi. ii; 3867 (Virgil, Codex Ro-
manus), 10; 3868 (Terence), 12
Rossano, Cathedral: Greek Gospels
(Cod. Rossan.) 22, pi. iii
Rothschild, Baroness Adolphe de :
Heures de Pucelle, 240
Baron Edmond de : Duke of Berry's
" Belles Heures," 273
Baron Maurice de : Duke of Berry's
" Tres belles heures," 309
Rouen, Public Library : Benedictional
of Abp. Robert, 127; Missal of
Robert of Jumieges, 128
Rutland, Duke of: Psalter, 188
S. Gall: No 51 (Irish Gospel-book), 84
St. Petersburg : Grandes Chroniques,
3i3
Siena, Archivio di Stato : Caleffo dell'
Assunta, 257, pi. xxxix
22*
Siena, Libreria Piccolomini : Choir-
books, 297, pi. xlvi
Smyrna : Octateuch, 48
Thompson, H. Yates, Esq. : Albani
Hours, 304 ; Apocalypse, (55), 215 ;
Beatus on the Apocalypse (97),
210; Beaupre Antiphoner (83),
207 ; Bentivoglio Bible (4), 260 ;
Carrow Psalter (52), 181 ; Coetivy
Hours (85), 276 ; Dunois Hours
(n), 276; Gallican Missal (69),
157; Hours of "Elysabeth the
Quene" (59), 235; of Jeanne de
Navarre (75), 242, pi. xxxvi; of
Rene II, Duke of Lorraine, 282 ;
of Yolande de Flandre, 242 ; Life
of Christ (8 1, formerly Ashb. App.
72), 255 ; Life of S. Cuthbert,
140; Martyrology (8), 164; Metz
Pontifical (formerly Sir T. Brooke's),
237, pi. xxxv ; St. Omer Psalter
(58), 229; Sainte Abbaye (40),
202; Taymouth Hours (57), 231;
Verdun Breviary (31), 237
Treves, City Library : Ada Gospels (22),
101 ; Cod. Egberti, 147, pi. xviii
Turin, National Library : Franciscan
Bible (D. i. 13), 260 ; Turin Hours,
310
Royal Library : Lives of SS. Joachim
and Anna (14434), 301
Utrecht, University Library : Utrecht
Psalter, 106, pi. xii
Varese, Church of the Madonna del
Monte sopra : Missal (C. de Pre-
dis), 301
Venice, S. Mark's : Grimani Breviary,
319; Iliad (454). 13
Verdun, Public Library : Breviary (107),
2 37
Verona: Psalter, 161
Vienna, Albertina Museum : Leaf from
Missal of Alex. VI (A. da Monza),3oo
Imperial Library : No. 847 (Euseb.
Canons, etc.), 30; 1907 (Maxi-
milian's Prayer-book), 321 ; 2533
(Chron. de Jherus.), 312; 2549
(G. de Roussillon), 312; 2706
(Hortulus Animae), 312; 3416
(Calendar of Filocalus), 5
345
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Vienna, Imperial Library: Med. gr. i Winchester, Chapter Library: Bible,
(Dioscorides), 34 i3 8 > P 1 -
Theol. gr. 31 (Vienna Genesis),
20
Schatzkammer : Gospel-book of
Charlemagne, 92
Windsor, Royal Library: Sobieski
Hours, 275
Zurich, Cantonal Library : No. i
(Alcuin-Bible), 95
SCRIBES AND ILLUMINATORS
Aelfwin, Abbot of Newminster, 117
Aldred, 73
Alighieri, Giovanni, 13
Ancelet, al. Anciau de Cens, 241
Aspertini, Amico, 304
Attavanti, Attavante degli, 296
Aubert, D., 314
Avogaro, Marco dell', 291
Basilius, 58
Beauneveu, Andre, 237, 248-51, 307
Bede, 85
Bennink, Alexander, 314, 322
Simon, 322
Berengarius, 98
Billyng, Robert de, 240
Biragus, Johannes Petrus, 300
Blachernae, Michael and Simeon of, 52
Bologna, Niccol6 da, 257, 262
Bonfratelli, Apollonio de', 304
Bourdichon, Jean, 266, 284
Brancalupo, Rudolfo, 302
Chevrier, J., 241
Clovio, Giulio, 304
Coene, Jacques, 266
Colombe, Jean, 271
Columba, S., 71
Cremona, Girolamo da, 297
Crivelli, Taddeo, 291
Cybo, Monk of Hyeres, 263
David, Gerard, 311
Devon, William of, 183, pi. xxiii
Dimma, Mac Nathi, 72
Eadfrith, Bp. of Lindisfarne, 73, pi. viii
Ernestus, 158
Fouquet, Francois, 266, 282
Jean, 266, 277-85, 313, pi. xlii
346
Fcuquet, Louis, 282
Franciscus, "egregius pictor," 266, 282,
pi. xliii
Gaibana, Giovanni di, 171
Geroldus, clerk of Amiens, 194
Goderannus, 158
Godescalc, 100
Guntbald the Deacon, 151
Heribertus, 147
Hesdin, Jacquemart de, 237, 248,
250-2, 307
Hippolytus Lunensis, 289, 302
Honore, 237
John, Cretan priest, 65
Keraldus, 147
Leo, 164
Liedet, Loyset, 312
Limbourg, Pol de, and his brothers,
248, 266, 271-3, 320, pi. xl
Liuthard, 98
Mac Durnan, Maelbrigte, 80
Mac Regol, 79
Maci, Jaquet, 241
Maelbrigt hua Maeluanaigh, 82
Mahiet, 241
Manerius, of Canterbury, 139
Mantegna, Andrea and Francesco,
298
Marmion, Simon, 313
Martini, Simone, 258
Memlinc, Hans, 311, 319
Michael the Little, 53
Modena, Martino da, 292
Monza, Antonio da, 300
Mulling, S., 8 1
INDEX
Niccolb di Ser Sozzo, 257, 288, pi.
xxxix
Pantoleon, 53
Papeleu, Jean de, 239
Paris, Matthew, 185-6
Pedro, Prior of Silos, 210
Perugino, 304
Poyet, Jean, 284
Predis, Ambrogio de, 300
Cristoforo de, 301
Pucelle, Jean, 237, 240-5, 252
Rabula the Calligrapher, 32
Ricemarch, Bp. of S. David's, 83
Russi, Franco, 291
Sano di Pietro, 288
Siferwas, John, 233
Trevou, Henri du, 252
Tavernier, Jean le, 312
Tedesco, Giorgio, 291-2
Theodore, Arch-priest of Caesarea, 49
Verona, Liberale da, 297, pi. xlvi
Vrelant, Willem, 311
Whas, John, 233
GENERAL
Ada Gospels, school of, 99-103
Adonis, death of, 45
Aelfgyfu, 117
Aelfric's Hexateuch, 120
Aelfwin, Abbot of Newminster, Win-
chester, 117-8
Aethelgar, Abbot of Newminster, 127
Aethelwald, Bp. of Lindisfarne, Prayer-
book of, 85
Aethelwold, S., 124; Benedictional of,
126
Aix-la-Chapelle, 90, 92-3, 143; Ottonian
Gospels at, 148-50
Albani Horae, 304
Albert of Brandenburg, Hours of, 321
Alcuin, 91, 94; Alcuin-Bibles, 94-7,
149, pi. xi
Alexander VI, 300-1
Alexandria, 2, 14
Alexius Comnenus, portraits of, 41, 60
Alfonso of Aragon, King of Naples,
Psalter of, 302
Alfred the Great, 122
Alphonso, son of Edw. I, 190
Amiens, 194
Angelico, Fra, 288
Ani, Book of the Dead of, i
Animal-lore, fabulous, 186-7, 222
Anne of Bohemia, 232
of Brittany, Hours of, 266, 284-5
of Burgundy, Duchess of Bedford,
273-5
Antiphoners, 327. v. Choir-books
Annunciation, early instance of divided
form, 33
Apocalypse, illustrations of, 96, 209-19,
pi. xi, xxx
Arabic Gospel, in portrait of S. Matthew,
64
Aratea, 13
Archippus, hermit, legend of, 53-4,
pi. v
Aristotle, Ethics, 303 ; tomb of, 309,
pi. xlix
Armagh, Book of, 81
Arnstein Abbey, Bible, etc., from, 154-5
Arthur, Prince of Wales, 317
Arundel Psalter, E. Anglian, 26, 224-7,
pi. xxxiii
Ashburnham House, fire at, 1 7
Pentateuch, 161
Ashridge College, 191
Assumption of the Virgin, notable
Italian paintings of, 137, 257-8,
299, pi. xxxix
Asti Antiphoner, 258
Athelstan's Gospels, 144-5 > Psalter,
122-3
Augustine, S., Commentary on the
Psalms, 302 ; De Civitate Dei, 246,
282, 302, pi. xxxvii
Backgrounds, architectural, 198; dia-
pered, 140; patterned, 146, 151;
punctured gold, 227; striped, 96,
146, 152, 211 ; transitional, 266-8
347
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Bamberg Gospels, 149-50; Lectionary,
150-1
Bar, Marguerite de, Abbess of S. Maur
at Verdun, 237
Renaud de, Bp. of Metz, 237
Bari Exultet Roll, 166
Basil I, the Macedonian, 36, 38 ; por-
trait of, 40-1
II, Menology of, 52-5
Bavarian schools, 143, 152-3
Beatus on the Apocalypse, 209-12
Beaupre Antiphoner, 207
Bedford, John, Duke of, Hours of
("Bedford Missal"), 273-5, plxli;
Breviary and Pontifical of, 275
Belleville Breviary, 240-5
Belton, wall-paintings at, 225
Benedict, S., 130, 163 ; Life of, 164
Benedictional of Abp. Robert, 127; of
S. Aethelwold, 126
Bentivoglio Bible, 260
Berengaudus on the Apocalypse, 215
Bergen, Margaret van, Countess of
Buren, Hours of, 317
Bernward, S., Bp. of Hildesheim, 143,
151-2
Berry, John, Duke of, 240, 247-54,
266-8, 271-3, 279, 307, 309-10,
320; his "Belles Heures." 273;
Bibles, 252; "Grandes Heures,"
242, 251; "Petites Heures," 242,
251; Psalter, 249, 251; " Tres
Belles Heures," 309; "Tres
Riches Heures," 266, 271-4, 276,
320, pi. xl
Bestiaries, 34, 186-7
Bible Historiale, 238-9, 245, 252, 314
Moralized, 199-200
Bibles, nth and i2th centt., huge, 138,
!54, i57- 8 ; 1 3th cent, mostly
small, 175, 181-4, 196-7; i4th
cent, Italian, 260-1
Biblia Pauperum, 307-8
Billfrith, 73
Blachernse, miniaturists of, 52-3
Black Death, 230
Blackfriars, London, 190
Blanche of Castile, 244 ; Psalter of,
!93.-4
Blandigny Abbey, near Ghent, 306
Blois Gospels, 104
Bobbio MSS., 83, 86, 162
Boccace, 280, 282
348
Bologna, illumination at, 170, 172,
259-62, 292
Book of the Dead, i
Borders, various styles of, 28, 125,
128-33, 171-2, 175-6, 189, 231,
241, 287, 289, 291, 295, 303-5,
314-6, 319
Borromeo Hours, 301
Borso Bible, 291
Bosworth Psalter, 129
Boucicaut Hours, 266, 268
Bourbon, Pierre, Due de, 279
Bourgeois, Jean, 285
Bourges, 248-250, 273
Braybrooke Psalter, v. Gorleston
Breviaries, 326
Bridget, S., 77
Bruges, 311-4, 3 1 7. 322
Jean de, 250
Bruynyng, Robert, Abbot of Sherborne,
233
Burgundy, Dukes of. Philippe le Hardi,
267. John the Fearless, 267;
Breviary of, 270-1, 276, 326,
frontispiece. Philip the Good,
311-3; Breviary of, 312. Charles
the Bold, 311, 313
Bury S. Edmund's, MSS. from, i n, 131,
135-7
Byzantine illumination, 14-5, 36-65
Byzantium, 14, 19, 36. v. Constanti-
nople
Caedmon, 118-9
Calendar of Filocalus, 3-5
illustrations, 4, 39, 113-5, J 77,
204-5, 242-5, 271-2, 276, 319-23
Cambrai, 249, 306-7
Canterbury, 109, 139, 184; MSS. from
Christ Church, no, 120, 129-30,
144; from S. Augustine's, 85-6
(Psalter), 115, 120, 1 60 (Gospels),
182-3 (Bible), 215
Canute, 117, 130
Capua, MSS. written at, 65, 163
Cardena, S. Pedro de, MS. from, 210
Carew-Poyntz Horae, 231
Carolingian illumination, 88-105
Carrow Psalter, 181
Cascia, Simone da, 262
Cassiodorus, Commentary on the Psalms,
8 S
Celtic illumination, 66-87
INDEX
Chad, S., Gospels of, 75-6
Charlemagne, 88-94, 100-2
Charles the Bald, 96-8, 105
the Fat, 98
the Simple, 123
V, Emperor, 298; portrait of, 321;
Victories of, 305
IV, King of France, 240
V, King of France, 240, 249, 252-3 ;
Coronation-book of, 247
VI, King of France, 253
VII, King of France, 278, 280
Chester, 179^
Chevalier, Etienne, Hours of, 280-2
Chicksand nunnery, 224
Choir-books, 258-9, 286-8, 297-8, 304,
327-8
Chroniques de Jherusalem, 312
Cingal, 75
Clement VII, Antipope, 248
dementia, Domicella, 207
Clermont in Auvergne, 196
Codex Egberti, 147-50, pi. xviii
Gertrudianus, 147, pi. xix
Romanus (Virgil, Cod. Vat. lat.
3867), 2 . 5i I0 - 12
Rossanensis, 19, 22-31, 33, 37, 39-
40, 51, 61-2, pi. iii
Sinopensis, 19, 28-30, 149
Codices Aurei, 100-3
Coetivy Hours, 276-7
Commines, Philippe de, 278, 282
Communion, representations of, 25-6,
33, 51, pi. iii
Conquetes de Charlemagne, 312
Constantinople, 2, 20, 23, 35, 44, 49,
52, 6 1. v. Byzantium
Constantius II, 4
Gallus Caesar, 4
"Continuous" method, 21, 25, 41, 141,
.318
Copies and repetitions, 3-5, 17, 45-9,
56, no, 114-5. i5 I 9%> 270,
273. 276, 313, 317, 320-3; danger
of relying on, 4
Corbie, school of, 92, 98-9
Coronation, Byzantine, 46, 48, 51
book of Charles V, 247
Corvinus, John, 298
Mathias, King of Hungary, 296-9 ;
Missal of, 297
Cosmas and Damian, SS., 297-8
Indicopleustes, 39-40
Cotton, Sir Robert, 17, 106
Credi, Lorenzo di, 295
Croyland abbey, 140
Crucifixion, earliest appearance of, in
illumination, 32 ; various represen-
tations of, 41, 51, 116-7, I 3 2 > 180,
305, 322; grotesque, 82, 84-5;
symbolical, 152-3, 194, 225-6,
283 (nine Crucifixes, two dead
Christs) ; Christ ascending the
cross, 256 ; legend of nails for,
281-2 ; pi. xxii, xxiii, xliii
Cunigunde, S., 150
Cuthbert, S., 73 ; Life of, 140, 195
Daniel, commentary on, 210
Danish raids, effect of, on English art,
122, 124
Dante, Divina Commedia, 262
Davalos, Don Inigo, 302
David as Byzantine Emperor, 46 ; as
Orpheus, 39, 44-7 ; as prophet-
witness, 24, 30, 51
Deathbed scene, 316
Decretals of Boniface VIII, 262 ; of
Gregory IX, 230
Decretum, 263
Dedication of a church, 238, pi. xxxv
Deer, Book of, 83
Denis, S., Life of, 195, 239-40
Desert of Religion, 235
Desiderius, Abbot of Monte Cassino,
164, 167
Dimma, Book of, 72
Dinteville, Frangois de, Bp. of Auxerre,
285
Dioscorides, 34-5, 186
Diptychs, consular, imitated, 35, 46
Dixmude Missal, 322
Donatus, 300
" Donor " picture, early instance of, 98
Douai Psalter, v. Gorleston
Dourdan, view of, 272
Drogo, Sacramentary of, 103, 153
Ducali, Venetian, 293-4
Duccio, 171, 255
Dunois Hours, 276-7
Dunstan, S., 124, 129
Durandus, 261
Durham, 85, 135, 138, 140, 175
Book (Lindisfarne Gospels), 62-3,
66, 70, 73-6, 79, 84, 86, pi. viii
Durrow, Book of, 71-2, 80, 84, 89
349
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Eadwin Psalter, no
Early Christian illumination, 14-35
East Anglian school, 217-8, 223-30
Winch, 225
Ebbo Gospels, 104, 108-9
Echternach Gospels, 149
Edgar, King, 124; charter of, 124-5
Edmund, Earl of Cornwall, 191
S., Passion of (Holford MS.), 135-7,
179 ; Lydgate's Life of, 235
Edward IV, patron of Flemish art, 235,
313-4
- VII, 279
Egbert, Abp. of Treves, 143, 147-8,
15
Egmond, Floris van, Count of Buren,
Hours of, 317
Egypt, skins used for writing in, i
Egyptian influence on Celtic art, 78
papyri, illumination of, i
" Elysabeth the Quene," Hours of, 235
Eneidt, 156
English illumination, 7th and 8th cent.,
72-5, 84-7; 9th-i2th cent., 106-
21 (outline - drawings), 122-42 ;
1 3th cent., 174-91 ; after 1300,
220-35
Eormenilda, S., 179
Estampes, Robinet d', 309
Este, House of, 291-3 ; Alfonso I, 293 ;
Beatrice, 300 ; Borso, 291 ; Ercole I,
291-2; Ippolito I, Cardinal, 293;
Leonello, 291
Ethilwald, Lindisfarne Gospels bound
by, 73
Etschmiadzin Gospel-book, 34, 91
Euclid, 248
Eudocia, Empress, portrait of, with her
sons, 40-1
Eugenius IV, portrait of, 278
Eumenes II, King of Pergamum, i
Eusebian Canons, decoration of, 23, 28,
30-3, 60, 74, 87, 90-105 passim,
128, 130, pi. ix
Evangelists, emblems of, first appearance
of, 62-3; in Celtic MSS., 71-84
passim, pi. vii ; Merovingian, 89
portraits of, early Christian, 28 ;
Byzantine, 61-4 ; Celtic, 70-84
passim; Carolingian, 90-4, 98,
100-3
Exeter Cathedral, 1 1 6
Exultet Rolls, 164-7
350
Falconry, illustrations of, 172
Ferdinand of Aragon, King of Naples,
289, 302
Ferrara, Aeneid formerly at, 13; school
of, 291-3
Filocalus, Calendar of, 3-5
Fitton, Alice, 225
Flanders, Count of, 249
Flann, King, 71
Flemish illumination, A.D. 900-1200,
156-9; 1 3th cent., 203-7; a ft er
A.D. 1300, 306-23
Fleury, 124
Floreflfe Bible, 144, 159
Florence, 259, 273, 293, 304; school of,
288, 294-7; S. Marco, 169, 288;
Breviary of S. Croce, 295-6
Fortescue, Sir John, 1 7
Fountain of Life, 34, 91, 94, 100, 103,
pi. x
Francis, S., 199, 204
Franco-Saxon school, 92, 105
Francois II, Gospels of, 105
Frederick II, De arte venandi cum
avibus, 172
HI, 316
French illumination, A.D. 900-1200,
i43 *S 6 ~7; J 3 tn cent -> 174, 192-
203; i4th cent., 236-54; after
A.D. 1400, 265-85
Froissart, 249
[ Frontispieces, 13, 28, 31, 125, 151, 163,
257-8, 294. v. Title-pages
Fugger, Ulrich, 43
Gaddi, Taddeo, 273
Gaston Phebus, Comte de Foix, Livre
de la Chasse, 267
Gau court, Charles de, 282
Gavignano, Sandra di Giovanni Cian-
chini da, Abbess of Rosano, 290
Gellone Sacramentary, 89
Genesis, Cotton, 17-19; Vienna, 19-
22, 161
Geoffrey, Abbot of S. Alban's, 136
George IV, 275
S., Order of, 316
German illumination, A.D. 900-1200,
143-56; after A.D. 1200, 207-8,
307-8
Gero Gospels, 145-6
Gertrude, owner of Cod. Gertrud. ,
147
INDEX
Ghent, 249, 322 ; Missal of S. Bavon's,
203 ; Vita Christi, etc., written at,
3U
Giotto, 26, 255, 261
Giraldus Cambrensis, 77
Girard de Roussillon, romance of,
312
Godescalc, school of, 99-103
Gold, MSS. written in, 19, 23, 29, 1*5.
v. Codices Aurei
Golf Book, 322-3, pi. li
Gonzaga, Card. Francesco, 65
Gorleston, 225-9, 307 ; Psalters (Bray-
brooke and Douai) from, 226-8
Gothic style in illumination, 135, 174,
236
Graduals, 327. v. Choir-books
Grandes Chroniques, 280, 313
Grandison Hours, 234
Greek artists imported to Monte Cassino,
164
Greenfield nunnery, 217
Gregory V, 148
XI, 247
Nazianzen, S., Sermons, 40-2
Grimani Breviary, 271, 319-21, 326
Card. Domenico, 319-20
Marino, 304
Grimbald Gospels, 131-2, pi. xv
Grisaille, 245-6, 249, 277, 313
Grizane, 304
Guiart des Moulins, 238
Guthlac Roll, 121, 140, pi. xvii
Guyenne, Louis, Duke of, 268
Gyrard, Laurens, 280
Hague, The, 313
Hainault, 249
and Holland, William IV of Bavaria,
Count of, 310
Harrowing of Hell, various representa-
tions of, 59-60, 119, 139, 167, pi.
vi, xvi, xx
Hautvillers, 104, 109
Head-pieces, Byzantine, 55-6, pi. v
Heidelberg Sacramentary, 145-6, 153
Helena, S., portrait of, 41
Hennessy Hours, 271, 318, 322
Henry II, Emperor, 143, 150
II, King of England, 138
~ V, 235
VI, 235, 273-4; Psalter of, 277
Henry VII, 317
-VIII, 17
of Blois, Bp. of Winchester, 137
Herbals, 34, 186-7
Herrad von Landsperg, 155
Hesdin, 312
Hildesheim, school of, 143, 151-2
Histoire de Charles Martel, 312-3
du bon roi Alexandre, 312
du Haynaut, 311
Holkham MSS., 207
Homer, 3. v, Iliad
Hortulus Animae, 321
Hortus Deliciarum, 144, 155-6
Hours, Books of, 328-9; early, 188;
French, i5th cent., 265
Howard, Sir William, 225
Hugh, S., Prior of Witham, 138
Hunting, illustrations of, 227, 267
Huntingfield Psalter, 141
Iconoclastic Controversy, 20, 36; de-
picted, 51-2
Iliad, Ambrosian, 2-3, 8-12; Marcian,
!3
Incarnation, symbolical representation
of, 152
Ingeburge Psalter, 193
Initials, decorative : Byzantine, 64-5 ;
Celtic and Hiberno-Saxon, 69-87
passim, pi. viii ; Lombardic, Mero-
vingian, and Visigothic, 65, 88,
209-12; Carolingian, 91-109 pas-
sim; English, 127-42 passim, 183
(pen-work), 189, 220-1 (pen-work),
2 3 2 -3; German, 144-55* P 1 - xix ;
French, 57, 195, 240-1 (pen-
tracery); Flemish, 157-9, 203;
Italian, 162-9, 2 59 (P en lace-work),
287 (do.)
historiated : early examples of, 102,
104, no, 130, 133, 153-5; de-
cline of, in France, 241 ; develop-
ment of, in Italy, 258-9, 286-8,
297-8; pi. xvi, xxvi, xxxii, xxxiv,
xxxv, xxxvii, xxxix, xliv-vi
Instructions to artist, written across
field of pictures, 1 7
Isabella Book, 318-20, 326
Isabelle of France, Psalter of, 198-9
Isidore, 186
Itala, Quedlinburg, 16-7, 148
3SI
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Italian illumination before A.D. 1300,
160-73; i4th cent., 255-64; after
A.D. 1400, 286-305
Italo-Byzantine paintings in a Win-
chester MS., 137
Jacobus, Homilies of, 56
Jacqueline of Luxembourg, Duchess of
Bedford, 275
James, Thomas, Bp. of Dol, 296
Jeanne d'Evreux, 240 ; Breviary of, 246
II, Queen of Navarre, Hours of,
242-5, pi. xxxvi
Jerome, S., Commentary on Daniel, 210;
sumptuous MSS. decried by, 19
Jerusalem, entry into, traditional icono-
graphy of, 26-7
Joan of Castile, Hours of, 319
John, Abbot of Capua, 163
Comnenus, portrait of, 60
II, King of France, 239, 247
S., dictating his Gospel, 54, 63
Jordan, personified, 22, 59, 126
Josephus, 279-80, 314
Joshua Roll, 42-4
Jouvenel des Ursins, Jacques, Pontifical
of, 275
Joyful and dolorous mysteries con-
trasted, 201, 245
Juliana Anicia, portrait of, 35
Jumieges, Robert of, Missal of, 128
Justinus, 288
Kells, Book of, 66, 68-9, 74, 76-80,
84, pi. vii
Kildare, 77
Landscape-painting, naturalistic, in the
Vatican Virgil, 6-8, pi. ii ; peculiar
Italo-Byzantine tradition of, 53-4,
251, 288; gradual development of
French, 251-3, 267, 271-2, 276-85
passim, pi. xxxvii, xl; Italian,
292, 297; Flemish, 308-23 passim,
pi. xlix, li; English, 225, 2.27,
232-3
Laon, 307
Laurent, Frere, 202
Law-books, illumination of, 230, 262-3
Lazarus, raising of, 26-7, 59
Leo the Patrician, 47
Leofric Missal, 116-7
Lidge, 309
352
Lindeseye, Robert de, Abbot of Peter-
borough, 1 80
Lindisfarne Gospels, v. Durham Book
Line-endings, 178-9, 221
Livre de la Chasse, 267
des Merveilles, 267
des proprietez des choses, 314
Livres de lestat de lame, 203
Lombardic illumination, 88-9 ; initials,
65
London, Tower of, depicted, 317-8
Longchamp Abbey, 198
Lorenzetti, the, 257
Lorraine, Rene II, Duke of, 282
Lothaire, Emperor, Gospels of, 95, 97 ;
Psalter of, 104
Louis VIII, 194
IX, S., 192, 199; Psalters of, 193-4,
198-9 ; scenes in the life of, 244
XI, 278-80
Louterell Psalter, 229-30
Lovel, John, Lord, Lectionary of, 234
Lumiere as Lais, 217
Lusignan, view of, 271
Lydgate, Life of S. Edmund, 235
Lyle, Robert de, 224-5
Lytlington, Nicholas, Abbot of West-
minster, 231
Mabuse, 311
Mac Durnan, Maelbrigte, Gospels of,
80-1
Mac Regol, Gospels of, 79
Madan, F., 133
Maelbrigt hua Maeluanaigh, Gospels of,
82
Maestricht Psalters and Hours, 205-6
Maizieres, Philippe de, 253
Malcolm Canmore, 134
Mandeville, Travels of, 267, 309, pi.
xlix
Mandrake, legend of, 35, 186
Mantua, Fr. Jacobus de, 298
Marco Polo, 267
Margaret of Bavaria, Duchess of Bur-
gundy, 270-1
of Burgundy, Countess of Riche-
mont, 275
of Scotland, S., Gospel-book of,
133-4
of York, Duchess of Burgundy, 313,
316
Martial, 2
INDEX
Martreuil, Itier de, Bp. of Poitiers, 248
Mary of Burgundy, death of, 316, 320
I, Queen of England, Psalter of, 121,
217, 221-3, 230, pl- xxxi-ii
Matilda, widow of Henry the Fowler,
144
Matteo di Giovanni, 257
Matthew, S., portrait of, with Arabic
exemplar, 64
Mauro, Cristoforo, Ducale of, 294
Maximilian I, 298, 316; Prayer-book
of, 321
Medici, House of, 293-4 ; Lorenzo de',
294, 296 (Hours of)
Melissenda, Queen of Jerusalem, Psalter
of, 57-61, pi. vi
Melusine, 271
Memlinc, Hans, 311, 315, 318-9
Menology of Basil II, 52-5
Merovingian illumination, 88-9
Metaphrastes, Simeon, 52, 54-7, 63,
260, pi. v
Metsys, Quentin, 311
Metz Pontifical, 237-8, 241, pi. xxxv
school of, 92, 99-104
Michael, Abbot of the Studium, 49
S., fighting with devil, 272, 316;
rescuing hermit, 53-4, pi. v ; Order
of, 278
Michelangelo, 304
Mielot, Miracles de N. D., 313
Milan, school of, 293, 298-301
Missals, 324-6
Mitford, Richard, Bp. of Salisbury, 233
Modena, choir-books at, 258, 292
Mont S. Michel, 272, 276
Monte Cassino, school of, 163-7
Montferrat, Blanche de, Duchess of
Savoy, 271
Mozarabic MSS., 210
Mulbarton, 229
Mulling, Book of, 81
Mundford, 224
Nantes, 197
Naples, 5, 160; mosaics at, 62; school
of (?), 301-3
Nativity, typical Byzantine representa-
tion of, 53
Natural history, illustrations of, 263-4,
315-6. v. Bestiaries, Falconry,
Herbals, Woodland
Newminster. v. Winchester.
Nicephorus Botaniates, portraits of, 4 1-2
Patriarch, 5 1
Nimbus, in Classical MSS., 10, 12 ;
cruciferous, 27 ; rectangular, for
living persons, 162
Noah's wife, legend of, 222
Norfolk, 224-5, 229-30
Norman Conquest, 121
Norwich, 227-8, 307 ; Breviary of,
227*
Nuremberg Hours, 200-1, 245
Oath-book, 144
Octateuch MSS, 48-9
Offas, Lives of the Two, 185-6
Olaf, S., scenes from the legend of, 181
Old and New Dispensations, symboli-
cally contrasted, 181, 194, 242-4,
276
Organ, early painting of, 189
Orleans, Charles, Duke of, 317-8
Duchess of, 278
Ormesby Psalter, 228-9
Otto I, the Great, 123, 143-4
II, 143, 150
Ill, 148-51 ; apotheosis of, 149
Ottoman illumination, 143 seq.
Outline-drawings, i, 12, 106-21, 140,
184-6, 212-7, 221-2, etc.
Ovid, 289
Oxford, 176
Pachomius, S., 120-1, 130
Padua, 26, 170-1, 262; Gospel and
Epistle-books of, 169-71
Papyri, illuminated, i
Parco, Abbey of S. Mary de, MSS.
from, 158-9
Paris, illumination at, 192-5, 198-9,
237. 239-42, 273-6; liturgical
use of, 248, 269 ; scenes of
everyday life in, 240; views of,
275 ; Hotel de Ville, fire at, 275 ;
Sainte Chapelle MSS., 193-4, 199,
237 ; S. Magloire's Missal, 273 ;
University, 175, 192
Matthew, 185-6
Parma, 170
Roger of, Treatise on Surgery, 195
Paul the Deacon, Commentary on the
Rule of S. Benedict, 163
Pavia, 292
Peiresc, illuminations copied for, 3, 17
353
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Pen-work initial and border ornament,
183, 220, 259, 287
Perugia, 304
Peterborough Psalter, at Brussels, 224 ;
London, 180-1, pi. xxii
Petrarch, 258, 295
Petrucci, Antonello, 289
Petrus Comestor, Historia Scholastica,
190-1, 238
Philip Augustus, 192-3, 199
Ill, 202
the Fair, Archduke of Austria, 316,
3i9
Philippa, Queen, Psalter of, 231
Philippe le Bel, Breviary of, 237
Philippi, 17
Physiologus, 186
Pius IV, 305
Plessis-les-Tours, 284
Pliny, 34, 186
Poitiers Bible, 239
Pontano, Gioviano, 5
Prato MS., 256
Presles, Raoul de, 252
Priming, in Byzantine MSS., 47, 49
Priscian, 248
Prochorus, S., writing down S. John's
Gospel, 54, 63
Prophets and apostles, in pairs, 243,
249, 276
figures of, in Gospel scenes, 24, 29,
5 1
Prudentius, Psychomachia, 111-3
Psalters, 327; illustration of, 44-52,
109, etc.; popularity of, i2th-
i4th cent., 140, 176, 193, etc.
Ptolemy, 39, 248
Pudsey Bible, 138
Purple vellum, MSS. on, 19-29, 102
Quedlinburg Itala, 16-7, 148
Rabanus, De Laudibus S. Crucis, 155
Rabula Gospels, 31-4, 41
Raphael, 6, 304
Ratisbon, school of, 143, 152-3
Ravenna, 56, 90; mosaics, 7, 15, 22, 37,
126, 148
Raymondin, 272
Registrum Gregorii, 150
Reichenau, school of, 143-51 passim
Rene of Anjou 283
354
Rheims, 197 ; school of, 92, 104-5,
108-9, M3. MS
Ricemarch, Psalter of, 83
Richard II, Bible and Missal of, 232-4,
pi. xxxiv ; Epistle to, 253-4
Rigan, 186
Riom, view of, 272
Robert of Anjou, King of Naples,
256
of Normandy, Abp. of Rouen, Missal
of(?), 127
Robertet, Fran9ois, 278
Rogers Album, 305
Roias, Francisco de, 318
Roman de la Rose, 318
Romano, Giulio, 304
Rome, 2, 14, 85, 90-1, 137, 160, 278,
304 ; MS. written at, 65 ; school
of (?), 301 ; mosaics of S. Maria
Maggiore, 43 Bible of S. Paul's,
98-9 ; twisted columns of S. Peter's,
101, 103, 280
Romuleon, 314
Rosano, Abbess of, 290
Rushworth Gospels, v. Mac Regol,
Gospels of
Rutland Psalter, 188-90
Sacramentaries, 325. v. Drogo, Gellone,
Heidelberg, Warmund
S. Alban's, MSS. executed at, 136-7,
140, 184-6, 214
Denis, abbey of, n, 239, 249;
Franco-Saxon school of, 92, 105 ;
Missal of, 246-7 ; Vie de S. Denis,
executed at, 195
Gall, Celtic MSS. at, 83-4
Omer, Hours of, 306 ; Psalter of
S. Berlin's abbey, no, 156
Omer family, Psalter of, 229
Pol, Louis de Luxembourg, Count
of, Hours of, 283
Vaast, Gospel-lectionary of, 105
Victor-in-Santem, Gospels of, 92
Sainte Abbaye, 202-3, 236
Salisbury Cathedral, 234
Saluces Hours, 283
Savoy, Charles, Duke of, 271
Scala Paradisi, 56-7
Script, Greek : capitals, 42 ; uncials, 8,
17, 19; Slavonic uncials, 65;
minuscules, 42, 44
INDEX
Script, Latin: rustic capitals, 6, 10, 107,
109 ; uncials, 16 ; cursive, 1 7 ; half-
uncials, 74 ; Irish, 67 ; minuscules,
Merovingian and Caroline, 91 ;
Lombardic, 165; Visigothic, 210;
1 3th cent. Bible-hand, 175, 182,
196 ; " scrittura umanistica," 289
Scotus, Joannes, 289
Sforza, Bianca Maria, 298 ; Bona, 298,
300 ; Galeazzo Maria, 301 ; Ludo-
vico, 300 ; Maximilian, 300
Book of Hours, 298-300, 321-2,
pi. xlvii-viii
Visconti, Francesco, 300
Sforziada, 300
Shaftesbury, 137
Sheen, MS. written at, 317
Sherborne Missal, 233-4
Siciliano, Antonio, 320
Sicily, 303
Siena, school of, 257-8, 286-8, 290, 297,
pi. xxxix, xliv, xlvi
Silos abbey, MSS. from, 210-2
Silver, MSS. written in, 19, 20, 23
Sketchbook, artist's, 250
Sketches, preliminary, in margins, 239
Smeralda, Hours of, 295
Smithfield, S. Bartholomew's, 230
Sneyd MS., 206, 306
Sobieski Hours, 275-6
Soissons, 307 ; Gospels of S. Medard's,
103, pi. x
Somme le Roi, 201-3, P^ xxviii
Songe du Vergier, 253
Spanish illumination, 209-12, 302-3
Speculum Humanae Salvationis, 307-8
Stained glass medallions, 140, 180
Statius, 267-8
Stavelot abbey, MSS. from, 157-8
Strassburg, 155
Stuart, Card. Henry, 275
Surgical and medical MSS., 195-6,
pi. xxvii
Susa, mosaic-portrait of Virgil at, 1 1
Syrian illumination, 31-4; influence of,
on Carolingian art, 91, 100
Tail-pieces, 211-2
Taymouth Horae, 231
Teano, 163
Teilo, S., 75
Tenison Psalter, 190-1, pi. xxiv
Terence, MSS. of, 12-3, no; "Terence
des Dues," 267-8
Theobald, Abbot of Monte Cassino, 164
Theodore, Abbot of the Studium, 51
Psalter, 49-52, 54, 65, 260
Theophano, wife of Otto II, 143, 149,
151
Thomas of Canterbury, S., 176, 180;
miniatures of the murder of, 141,
1 8 1, 184; of a miracle of the
Virgin to, 184
of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester,
Bible of, 231
Three living and three dead, 205, 225 ;
variant of, 320
Title-pages, 31, 161, 302. v. Frontis-
pieces
Toledo Missal, 303
Tombelaine, 272
Tours, 278-9; school of, Carolingian,
9 2 > 94-9i J 43; late French, 277-
85
Trefoil-arched canopy, early use of, 181,
197, pi. xxv
Treves, 143, 149; Gospel-lectionary of
S. Maximin's, 153; "Kopialbuch"
of Abp. Baldwin, 307
Troyes, 139
Turin Hours, 309-10
Ussher, Abp., 77
Uta-codex, 152-3
Utrecht Psalter, 92, 104, 106-11;
copies of, no, 1 15
Val-Dieu monastery, 219
Val-Duchesse Breviary, 306
Valenciennes, 249
Valentine, Calendar of Filocalus made
for, 4
Valerius Flaccus, 288
Maximus, 282, 314
Vallombrosa Gradual, 259, 286
Van Eyck, Jan, his "Vierge au dona-
teur" copied, 276
| Vatican Virgil (Cod. Vat. lat. 3225),
5-10, 12, 16-9, 21, 148, pi. ii
Veldegke, Heinrich von, 156
Vellum, earliest use of, i
Venice, school of, 293-4
Verdun Breviary, 237
Richard de, 237
Verona, 162, 288; early Psalter at, 161
355
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS
Viana, Domicella de, 207
Prince Charles of, 303
Vinci, Leonardo da, 300
Virgil, MSS. of, 2, 13, 258. v. Codex
Romanus, Vatican Virgil
portraits of, 2, n
Visigothic illumination, 88-9, 209-12
Vivian Bible, 96-7, 99
Waermund, 186
Warmund, S., Sacramentary of, 162-3
Weingarten Missals, 207
Werburga, S., 179
Westminster, 135 ; Missal, 231 ; Psalter,
141-2,176-7
Wickhampton, wall-paintings at, 225
Winchester, school of, 106-39 pcissim,
151, 176, 231 ; Bible, 137-9. J 5 8 >
pi. xvi; Psalters, 116, 127, 137-8;
Newminster Foundation - charter,
124-5; Gospels, 128-9; Liber
Vitae, 117-8, pi. xiii; Office-book,
117 ; Psalter, 132-3
Windmill Psalter, 220-1
Witham Priory, 138
Woodland scenes, 225, 227, 267
Worms Bible, 144, 154-5, 158
Worksop Bestiary, 187
Wycliffite Bible, 231
Yolande de Flandre, Hours of, 242-5
Ypres, 249; "Kuerbouc" of, 307
Yves, monk of S. Denis, 239
Zagba, MS. written at, 32
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