Manuscript illumination

In Byzantium

Used solely to set off texts and provide visual exegesis, illuminations have decorated manuscripts from the early centuries. We know from written sources that many papyri were illustrated, that many illustrated texts of all kinds were produced and that there was a very active book market. The use of parchment and the codex form brought with them new possibilities. The flat sheets of parchment, which no longer had to be rolled like papyrus, allowed thicker coats of paint to be applied. By the fourth century, miniature painting had already attained a high artistic level, becoming a major art.

On sheets of papyrus, illuminations were only executed in the margins. The use of parchment and especially of the codex allowed for the production of full-page miniatures, which served as independent panels, and the introduction of miniatures into the text, as friezes or panels. Marginal miniatures were produced after the text was copied. The image in the margins accompanied the text but was not really a part of it. The absence of a frame allowed the image to spread out over an open space and acquire a narrative development. On the other hand, the full-page miniature stood out from its textual context, acquiring complete autonomy and dramatic power. Miniatures thus became veritable panels and served as portable icons.

When the system of frieze illustrations or framed panels was adopted, the image broke the unity of the text. From then on, the relationship between text and image became one of complementarity and the ties between them were considerably reinforced. The advantages offered by this type of mise-en-page easily explain its permanency. It made it possible to illustrate the text every time it was necessary with an immediate juxtaposition of the written text and the explanatory image. The frieze illustration still retained a certain liberty, similar to that of the marginal illustration, as no frame delimited the space reserved for it. During the Middle Byzantine period, limited use was made of this type of decoration. This kind of illustration allowed several consecutive scenes to be juxtaposed on a single pictorial field. The friezes – long and narrow strips – interrupted the text several times, a little before or after the passage to be illustrated. In this way, the artist clearly expressed the desire to follow the text closely and an undisguised pleasure in narration through images.

Miniatures were executed after the text was copied. For those inserted in the text, as the text was copied, the copyist drew a frame in red ink to mark out the space in which the miniaturist was to execute the illuminations. First, the artist sketched out his design and then laid down the gold background over a layer of grounding. The layer of grounding allowed the gold to adhere better to the parchment and made it more hard-wearing. After sketching the drawing, the artist coloured each part of the miniature separately, beginning with the architecture in the background. Then he executed the preparatory drawing of the faces and began painting the garments. Once the large surfaces of his subject were completed, he meticulously painted the tiniest details of his work with the help of a finer brush and a palette of all the shades of the principal colours.

Texts – scientific and literary, as well as religious – were illustrated from the early centuries. A limited number of examples have survived but their illuminations are evidence of the eclecticism in the choice and execution of the scenes illustrated. In most cases, the illuminations are located in the margins – the Vienna Genesis, the Rabbula Gospel, the Rossano Gospel – or are full-page illustrations – the Calendar of Filocalus (Chronography of 354), the Vienna Dioscorides. There are, however, also examples of miniatures inserted into the text (Ilias Ambrosiana).

After the Iconoclast period, the production of books was particularly abundant. The illustration of all types of manuscripts proliferated and the quality of execution improved. The illustrated manuscripts of the tenth century showed the influence of antiquity, which had become an object of study and imitation during this period. The pastoral landscapes, classical architecture, allegories, personifications, and treatment of figures and dress show the painters’ classical inspiration. The illustrations of literary and medical works (Nicander’s Theriaca) were among the first to depict mythological or pastoral scenes in a very pronounced classicising style. The classicising style also characterised the miniatures of well-known religious manuscripts (the Paris Psalter). In the late tenth century, the style changed considerably, featuring supple poses and movements, elongated proportions, hieratic forms, expressive faces and realism in the rendering of the forms (the Theodor Psalter). The compositions were enriched with details bringing more narrative information to the image[1]. Elsewhere, the compositions were less explicit but laden with a pronounced symbolism[2]. Alongside miniatures treating religious subjects, ornamental compositions became widespread: veritable carpets adorned with motifs inspired by Islamic painting, they were evidence of the exceptional skill of the miniaturists[3]. Historical and secular texts were not overlooked, even though they were copied less often than during the previous centuries (chronicle of John Scylitzes). Classics continued to be copied during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, including works such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and scientific works such as the Pseudo-Oppian’s Cynegetica and Elianus’ Tactical Theory, required reading for cultured Byzantines.

Illuminations continued to decorate Byzantine manuscripts over the centuries, but their numbers decreased sharply from the late thirteenth century. Some of the most remarkable works included a few imperial manuscripts whose illustrations were limited to portraits of emperors executed according to the conventions of the art of the Palaeologus dynasty[4].

E. Y.

In Islam

As recent studies reveal, the Islamic book was decorated with paintings very early on in its history[5]. Minimally at the outset, the paintings gradually gained in importance within the heart of the codex. What examples remain suggest that the Koran was the first text in Arabic to have illuminations. Very early on, however, the libraries of the Islamic world were subjected to the great upheavals of history and the little that remains of such a splendid heritage makes it very difficult to reach any definite or general conclusion. Major discoveries, such as the thousands of fragments of the Koran found in the Sanaa mosque in the 1970s have, nevertheless, opened up new perspectives in the history of the illuminated codex of the Arab-Muslim world. Some of these fragments, which can be dated from the second half of the 7th century[6], contain illuminations that confirm the importance of the late classical heritage, as well as the later Byzantine era, for the early centuries of Islam.

The production of what is most commonly referred to as “illuminations”, a purely ornamental form, should be distinguished from “miniatures”, the latter being grouped around and related to a given text. While the first examples of illuminations go back to ancient times, no manuscripts that we know of prior to the 11th century had illustrations.

Illuminations rapidly developed as a vibrant art form. A limited polychrome palette was initially introduced into a very sober form of ornamentation, gradually taking up its own place within the space reserved for the text. Punctuating the Koranic sacred text, such illuminations took on a more or less elaborate form according to the importance of the verses they outlined. Composite bands for separating the Surahs of the Koran came later, and then, in the early 8th century, larger vignettes with imbricated palmette were introduced into the margins. The century that followed showed an increase in illuminated frontispieces and all-over decorations. Gold was used profusely and the compositions gained in complexity, making for fine geometric combinations. What were formally figurative motifs (vessels, floral vegetation and architectural elements…) tended towards greater abstraction.

Parallel to this, and while only a few fragmentary sheets with summary representations existed leading up to this time, it was not until the very early 11th century, in 1009-1010 to be precise, that the first manuscript in Arabic letters were decorated with illustrations. A famous codex, in conservation at the Oxford’s Bodleian Library is the Book of Fixed Stars, composed by the astronomer ‘Abd al-Rahmân al-Sûfî and probably copied and illustrated by his son. These ink drawings, punctuated with large red dots, are stylistically closer to the styles in operation during the Sassanid dynasty of Iran than to the pictorial tradition of the Mediterranean basin.

It is interesting to note that the 12th and 13th centuries were what provided the final touch for the production of scientific illustrated manuscripts in those places. The variety of notable texts cover mainly two categories of subject: scientific and literary. Bestiaries, material medica, geography, books on mechanical engineering and automatons, treaties on cosmogony or the equestrian arts make up the first ensemble. In all of them, the image is eminently didactic: The Arabic translations of De Materia medica by Dioscorides, on parchment (BnF, Arabic ms, 4947) or on paper (BnF, Arabic ms, 2850), constitute some marvellous examples of the doubling of a textual evocation of a vegetal species with its systematic iconographic representation—“naturalistic” or stylized. To this day, these two manuscripts are of great interest, having been executed in two distinct geographical locations, and relatively close together in time: The work on parchment was probably painted and copied in Mesopotamia at a time when the writing used in the manuscript on paper was closely tied to the western Muslim world.  

Spain and North Africa were nevertheless the poor relations in the history of the illustrated manuscript. Only a few scientific works such as those by Dioscorides seem to have come from these regions. And there were even less literary manuscripts—an exception being Hadîth Bayâd wa Riyâd, a sort of courtly romance, copied and illustrated with fourteen miniatures during the 13th century and currently in conservation at the Library of the Vatican (Arabic ms, 368).  Elsewhere, in Iraq, Egypt and Syria, the great literary texts were richly and densely illustrated. Judging from the great number of these works copied out, one can imagine just how popular they were in urban circles among the “bourgeoisie”[7]. Two texts offer a fine example of this: Kalîla wa Dimna, an Arabic adaptation from the Sanskrit fable with its complex plot that had widespread acclaim in the whole of the Islamic world, and the Maqâmât by Harîrî, which recounts the famous tribulations of two companions, written in a sophisticated and difficult Arabic. France’s National Library holds an exceptional copy of the two friends, dated 1237, that we owe to a certain Yahya ibn Mahmûd al-Wâsitî, an artist who shows great originality in his handling of the story; by distancing himself from the story itself, he developed his own rather ironic interpretation.

The conquest of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 marked a turning point in the history of the miniature. Mamluk Egypt and Syria continued to produce illustrated manuscripts but of inferior quality, the style of painting having grown static and the iconographic repertory limited and clichéd. The Iranian world, meanwhile, especially beginning in the 14th century, produced the most exquisite painted manuscripts as its artists took full advantage of the patronage of the major dynasties such as the Ilkhanids. The miniature was greatly enriched by the artistic influence of the Far East, even as certain elements of an older style were still present. The destiny of illuminations, however, is a different story, no doubt because of its close rapport with the sacred text, whereby it kept its primary position within the arts. Indeed, illuminations in the western Islamic world and the Mediterranean basin remained a vibrant art form for many centuries, but in the course of which it lost some of its original creativity. 

E. B. de la P.

In Western Europe

Medieval painted manuscripts are complex cultural objects, in which graphic symbols achieved their fullest written and figurative expression. In the finest examples of these works, the text and images are perfectly complementary in their sublimation of the senses and representation of the Revelation—because illuminated manuscripts, in their Western form, were the privileged medium for the religion of the Word of God.

The text was written out before the ‘rubrication’ of the initials and titles, whose place on the page was set aside. Letters waiting in the margin were a useful prompt for the ornamentalist, who was responsible for painting the ornate or historiated letters. The illustrated cycle was only completed, if necessary, at the end of the work and sometimes remained unfinished. This enables us to see the various steps of the entire process, from black lead drawn sketches to the application of the colours (1: BnF, Paris, Italian 115, f. 106: the multiplication of loaves in ‘the Meditations on the life of Christ’, Tuscany, around 1340). In the thirteenth century the production of books became a secular and standardized activity, produced in specialized urban workshops where illuminators worked for a patron, under the guidance of a master, who arranged the composition, defined the iconographic programme and determined the cost of the work according to the desiderata of the client.

The illuminated codex was a luxury product whose prestige augmented that of its owner, whether a secular nobleman or a religious institution. Sheets stained in a purple die, or embellished with decorations using rare pigments (lapis lazuli, Egyptian blue, and malachite) and gold, were associated in the collective memory with the patronage of the major princely families that founded Europe: Carolingian and Ottonian sacramentaries and evangelistaria celebrated earthly power as much as they exalted heavenly power (2: BnF, Paris, Latin 1141, f. 6: Christ in glory in the ‘Sacramentary of Charles the Bald’, circa 870). The eleventh century was marked by political dismemberment and various catastrophes that affected the northern kingdoms. But the art of miniatures (from the Latin miniare, meaning ‘to colour with red’, while illuminare had a wider sense, that of ‘putting into colours’) was confined to the monasteries, where, within the confines of scriptoria (or workshops), works were born inspired by lessons from the near or distant past. The Gospels of Saint-Bertin, the monumental portraits of Evangelists (Boulogne-sur-Mer, BM, ms. 11), and the Psalter of Odbert (Boulogne-sur-Mer, BM, ms. 20), which were both produced in St-Bertin (Northern France) at the dawn of the eleventh century, attest to this fusion between the models inherited from the traditions of Carolingian art and the influence of contemporary insular artistic language.

Furthermore, the monastic environment played an important role as conservatoire of classical culture and science, thereby preserving the ferments of the coming Renaissance—that of the twelfth century. And once again, it is the Abbey of St-Bertin to which we owe the copy of a famous treatise on astrology from the third century BC, the Phenomena of the Greek poet Aratus, in a Latin adaptation transmitted by an example from Reims in the 840s. Odbert probably had it lent to him in order to reproduce its paintings. But, despite the careful imitation of the model, the style betrays a pre-Romanesque approach and the miniatures were now only painted on the left side of the sheet (Boulogne-sur-Mer, BM, ms. 188). The layout of the page says much about the intellectual dispositions of an era and this was due to the flourishing of the historiated initial (circa 1100) which established a new, more intimate relationship between the illustration and the text, combining graphic virtuosity, aesthetic pleasure, and the intellect. Ornamental elements were no longer merely used to decorate or magnify the writing, but took on a life of their own (3: Albi, BM, ms. 45, f. 20: initial of the psalm Beatus Vir). In the Gothic era, secondary, ‘grotesque’ figures—hybrid monsters and animals dressed as men—populated the margins of the texts, where they were intended to entertain the reader, and deliberately contrast with the text and the main images in a typically medieval process of critical inversion (4: Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, Paris, ms. 145, f. 63v-64: the consecration of the virgins and the tempting siren). From the thirteenth century, narrative illustration became a highly skilled art and, for two centuries, Paris was the Western capital of illuminations. Artists and artisans, especially from the north of Europe, came to live in the city as demand for these books became increasingly widespread: with the emergence of universities and the development of cities and trade, came a new clientele made up of masters, the middle classes, and minor nobles that stimulated the process of fabricating private devotional works, books on law, and many others that were increasingly varied in genre (novels, chronicles, and practical and scientific treatises). Blanche of Castile, regent of France in 1226, inaugurated the tradition of female patronage in the royal family when she commissioned a Bible Moralisée in three volumes, a large collection of images for the religious and political education of her son, the future Louis IX. Fifty years later, the sovereign Charles V was portrayed by Jean Bondolf de Bruges in the frontispiece of the Bible historiale de Jean de Vaudetar (5: Rijksmuseum, La Haye, ms. 10 B 23, 1371); a painting within a painting portrays him being handed the illuminated manuscript by the author, at the beginning, with a full-page representation of the enthronement of Christ in Glory. The Book of Hours, a bestseller at the end of the fourteenth century, was a more personal work, while communicating its owner’s social standing through its rich decorations. The Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (Condé Museum, Chantilly, Fr.), which were left unfinished after the death of the Limbourg brothers (1416) from Nijmegen, are amongst the masterpieces of the end of the Middle Ages. But it was in the illustration of secular works that manuscript painting introduced the most radical innovations—it embraced the naturalistic trend from Flanders as well as the Italianizing spirit, and was supported by the bibliophile princes ‘of blood’. The Livre de chasse written by the comte de Foix Gaston Phoebus between 1387 and 1390, a great classic of cynegetic literature and a fifteenth-century publishing success, thus appeared as one of the precursors of illustrated technical treatises of the modern era (the BnF example, French ms. 616, dated 1305–1310; 6: f. 40v: the care of hunting dogs). The Chansonnier de Jean de Montchenu (BnF, Rothschild 2973, circa 1475), with its sheets bound into a heart-shaped book, is a charming collection of love songs set to airs from the most famous musical compositions of the time. Jean Fouquet, the fifteenth century’s most famous painter and illuminator demonstrated the full extent of his graphic genius in a series of miniature pictures that freely interpreted the major events in Jewish history (BnF, French ms. 247, circa 1465, ‘The Antiquities of the Jews’, by Flavius Josephus).

M.B.

[6] Von Bothmer, H. C., Ohlig, K. H. and Puin, G. R., “Neue Wege der Koranforschung”, Magazin Forschung, Universität des Saarlandes I, 1999, p.45.

[7] Grabar, O., “The Illustrated Maqamat of the Thirteenth Century: the Bourgeoisie and the Arts”, in Hourani, A., The Islamic City, Oxford: 1970, p. 207-220.