Illuminated Manuscripts Middle Ages 5th to 15th century

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Illuminated Manuscripts

• Middle Ages
• 5th to 15th century

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• Period of roughly 1,000 years from the
  destruction of the Roman Empire to the
  Renaissance.
• Cultured centered around the Catholic Church.
• The Dark Age and Age of Faith

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Illuminated Manuscripts
Books written by hand and painted with pigments.
Manuscripts were most often written on
parchment, high quality writing support made from
skins of livestock.

• French, probably Noyon, after 1205 Tempera
  colors and gold leaf on parchment 12 3/16 x 8
  5/8 in. MS. 66, FOL. 88V

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Historiated Initial

• Antonio da Monza Italian, Rome, late 1400s to
  early 1500s Tempera colors and gold leaf on
  parchment

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Illuminate

• Illumination comes from the Latin word illuminare
  (to light up).
• This describes the glow created by the radiant
  colors of the illustrations, especially gold and
  silver.
• Gold leaf is made by crushing gold and mixing
  with a vehicle.
• Vehicle- liquid like water or oil, that pigments
  are mixed with to make paint.

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Scenes from the Life of King DavidGallican
Psalter with Canticles, by Nikolaus
Bertschi Germany, Augsburg, c. 1520
This is an opening page from a Psalter containing
events from the life of David, author of most of
the 150 psalms. This page begins with Psalm 1
and is illustrated with images and rubrics in the
margin. Rubrics are used as titles, chapter
headings, or instructions.
The Library Company of Philadelphia
King David playing a musical instrument inside
the historiated initial B.
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Historiated Initial M with Christ and the
Apostles Biblia Pauperum, Germany c. 1435
Diurnal Antiphonary Italy, Milan, early 1500s
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• French, Paris or Sens, about 1170 - 1180 Tempera
  colors and gold leaf on parchment 17 7/16 x 11
  7/16 in. MS. LUDWIG XIV 2, FOL. 8V

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Initial A Two Men before a King and A Man
Speaking to a Family
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(No Transcript)
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Notre Dame Cathedral 13th Century
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Stain Glass
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Background Information

• In 1247, King James I of Aragon and Catalonia (in
  present-day Spain) decided to establish a new
  systematic code of law for his kingdom. He
  entrusted the task to Vidal de Canellas, bishop
  of Huesca. The Getty Museum's manuscript, the
  only known copy of the law code still in
  existence, is a translation of Vidal de
  Canellas's Latin text into the vernacular, or
  regional language, in this case
  Navarro-Aragonese. The manuscript's scribe was
  Michael Lupi de Çandiu, who identifies himself in
  an inscription and who also may have translated
  the text.Not only is the text an important
  historical document, it is also luxuriously
  illuminated with hundreds of historiated and
  decorated initials. This illustrated scene
  corresponds to a portion of the text devoted to
  the legal rights of orphans. In the top half of
  the image, a man in a red robe speaks with the
  king about the sale of a piece of property. He
  appears again to the far right, having received
  the king's judgment. Below, he is shown a third
  time, approaching a couple and a small child.
  Because the man's petition to sell the property
  would deprive the child of his rights to the
  estate, it is denied. The two scenes take place
  in the upper and lower halves of an initial "A."
  The letter is formed by the arching body of a
  dragon the beast's folded wings are seen on the
  left, while its small doglike head is at the
  lower right. The two human-headed birds perched
  on top of the square frame are known as
  marginalia and add liveliness to the page.