Illumination

ILLUMINATION. - Properly, the art of painting or adorning manuscripts; an ornamentation that in antiquity was executed predominantly with the red color, minium, whence the name. Limited at first to initials, with the passage of time it came to include true paintings in small proportions, executed with a special technique, which made of manuscripts veritable treasures, very important in the study of art history.

I. TECHNIQUE

As for the technique, it should be noted that the ancient miniature was always done on parchment with opaque colors, and therefore white lead was also used, which was later set aside when, from the 18th century, miniature painting was done on thin sheets of ivory and with transparent colors; thus the "lights" are provided by the white of the ivory. The colors are mixed in a blend of gum arabic, rock candy and water, while the parchment is suitably prepared with fish glue.

II. HISTORY OF THE MINIATURE

1. Antiquity

Certainly the miniature was not unknown to the ancients; various writers speak of it, among them Ovid, Pliny, Aulus Gellius; Varro employed a Greek artist, Lala of Cyzicus, to adorn his Hebdomades with portraits, but nothing has come down to us today, except for some copies, which do not go beyond the 4th century, and among these the famous codex of Virgil (Vatican Library, lat. 3225), with its compendiary style, characteristic of Alexandrian art. With Byzantine art the miniature established itself among the greatest expressions, undergoing the influence of Egypt, Syria and Armenia. It seems in fact that it was the Egyptians themselves who first adorned their papyri, and from Alexandrian art the Byzantines drew their pictorial manner, while the Syrian and Armenian influence, later, was predominantly ornamental in character. Although the works that have come down to us are often no more than copies, it has nevertheless been possible to establish with sufficient approximation the prototype from which they derive. Thus one may cite among the best products the Calendar of 354, with characteristics of Hellenistic art, to which the Iliad (Ambrosian Library [5th cent.]), the Dioscorides (Vienna [524], a copy of an older original) and the Rotulus of Joshua (Vatican [7th cent.]) are close. From the 6th century is also the prototype of the Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes (Vatican), where one can already discern a principle of evolution, probably determined by mosaic art, which also holds for the group of the Purple Codices (Genesis of Vienna [570]; Evangelary of Rossano [ca. 580]; the fragments of the Evangelary of Sinope [ca. 600], National Library, Paris). In the group of Syrian and Armenian manuscripts one should recall the Evangelary of Rabbula (586, Florence, Laurentian Library) and the Evangelary no. 229 (Library of Etchmiadzin [902], but reproducing an original of the 6th century). It does not appear that the iconoclastic struggle had a great repercussion on the miniature; indeed some tend to affirm the contrary. One should recall the Chludov Psalter (10th cent., Moscow), with marginal vignettes. The golden period of the Byzantine miniature is that between the 10th and 12th centuries; the most important productions: the Psalter of the National Library of Paris (Greek 139), the Bible, the Menologion and the Codex of John Climacus (all of the Vatican: Reg. I, Greek 1613, Greek 394).

2. The miniature of the Middle Ages in Europe outside Italy (v. also MEDIOEVO, XIII. Arte). - The miniature in Europe spread especially through the merit of Irish monks; there are, however, various schools: the Merovingian, with figurations reduced almost exclusively to stylized ornaments and a few flat tints (e.g., the Frédégaire of the 7th century [National Library of Paris, lat. 19910]); the Visigothic (prototype the Ashburnham Pentateuch, National Library of Paris); the very important one of Ireland, with characteristic ornamental initials in interlace (Evangelary of St. Gall [ca. 760]; Book of Kells [ca. 760], Dublin, Trinity College; Sacramentary of Gellone [end of the 8th century], National Library of Paris, lat. 12048). Derived from the Irish is the Anglo-Saxon miniature; a combination of the Irish manner with the Byzantine and classical is found in the south of England (Evangelary of Canterbury [ca. 785], at the British Museum; Codex Aureus of Stockholm [ca. 790]). But the importance of the Irish miniature lies also in the influence it exercised on the Carolingian miniature and on the ornamental style of Romanesque sculpture.

The Carolingian rebirth (v. CAROLINGIA, ARTE) has its most beautiful productions precisely in the miniature, and various schools of monastic character distinguished themselves in it: the École du Palais with the Evangelary of Aix (ca. 800) and the Evangelary of Charlemagne (ca. 810; Vienna, Imperial Treasury), rather of Byzantine derivation; the school of Reims, also of Byzantine derivation, with the Liber Canonum (Vallicellian Library, Rome, cod. A. 5) and the Psalter of Utrecht (before 837; Utrecht, University Library); the Rhenish group, also called the Ada or Godescalc group, with the Evangelary of St-Sernin of Toulouse (ca. 785; Paris, National Library), executed by Godescalc for Charlemagne, and the Evangelary of Ada (ca. 800; cathedral of Trier); the school of Tours, with the Bible of Fleury (before 818; Paris, National Library); Bible of Bamberg (ca. 835; Library of Bamberg); the Evangelary of Lothair (Paris, National Library, lat. 266; of ca. 840); the Bible of Charles (Paris, National Library, ca. 850); the school of Metz, with productions close to the Rhenish style (Sacramentary of Metz [ca. 850, Library of Metz]); the school of St-Denis and that of St. Gall, rather conservative; the school of Fulda, derived from the Ada group and foreshadowing the style of the Ottonian miniature (Codex Wittschindeus [ca. 950], Berlin). Of particular importance is the Mozarabic group of Spain, to which the south of France is also linked; a notable document (especially for the formation of Romanesque iconography) is the Commentary on the Apocalypse of Beatus (composed in 784 in the Asturian monastery of Liebana, known to us through many illustrated copies, for the most part from the early 10th century and revealing the influence of Muslim miniature); furthermore the Beatus of Madrid (from the abbey of Tavara, finished in 970), that of Valladolid (970), of Gerona (975) and the better-known one of S. Sever (National Library of Paris, between 1028 and 1072; ms. lat. 8878); the Bible

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of St. Isidore of León (finished in 960), with Arab influences, the Vigilianus (Library of the Escorial, no. 976) and the Aemilianus (ibid., no. 980).

Among the most celebrated productions of the 10th-11th centuries are the works belonging to the Ottonian rebirth, derived in part from the Carolingian. The principal schools are: the Benedictine one of Reichenau with the Evangelary of Egbert (960; Library of Trier), the work of the miniaturists Kerardo and Eriberto, and the Evangelary of Otto III, called of Bamberg (ca. 1010; National Library of Munich); that of Trier, which acquired importance in the middle of the 11th century, when the school of Reichenau declined; the minor ones of Cologne, of Regensburg and those derived from the latter, of Salzburg, of Prüfening and of Prague.

In England the school of Winchester is important, with the Benedictional of Aethelwold (ca. 975, Devonshire coll. at Chatsworth) and the Missal of Robert of Jumièges (11th cent.; Library of Rouen). Linked to it is the Franco-Saxon miniature of northern France with the Gospels of Amiens (ca. 1040) and the Life of St. Omer (ca. 1050; Library of Saint-Omer).

During the Romanesque age, in France, in the 12th century, the important centers were the Benedictine abbeys, especially the school of Cîteaux, with its characteristic initials ornamented with animals (Bible of Souvigny, ca. 1125; Paris, Bibl. Nat.). Zoomorphic initials also appear in the manuscripts of the "Franco-Saxon" school of the North (Bible of St. Bertin [ca. 1150], Paris). In Germany, in the face of the predominant Byzantine influence, the school of the Middle Rhine asserted itself around the end of the 12th century, with manuscripts already almost Gothic in their drawing style (Hortus deliciarum of Herrad of Landsberg of 1205; Scivias of St. Hildegard of Bingen, ca. 1190, at Wiesbaden). But the most interesting and most original manuscripts of this period are certainly those of England (Psalter of St. Albans [ca. 1130, Hildesheim], Psalter of Eadwine of Canterbury [ca. 1150 at Cambridge], Psalter of Henry de Blois [ca. 1160, British Museum], Bible of Winchester [ca. 1180]).

3. The Gothic period outside Italy

In France manuscript illumination became the art par excellence; it displays very close affinities with that of southern England, and it is at times difficult to distinguish the two schools. But especially Paris saw at work in the 13th century many workshops of laymen, and already at the beginning of the 13th century there were works with well-defined stylistic characteristics, and compositions in medallions that bear some relation to the then highly flourishing art of stained glass (Psalter of Blanche of Castile [ca. 1215; Paris, Bibl. de l'Arsenal, no. 1186]; Psalter of Joan of Navarre [ca. 1225 at Manchester], the historiated Bibles: among them the Bible moralisée in 4 vols., with over 5600 compositions [ca. 1240; Bibl. Nat. of Paris, Oxford and British Museum]). Between 1250 and 1275 many works were executed by the Parisian workshops for St. Louis, and they are distinguished by their light tones, the almost complete abolition of the gold ground, and refined and elegant figures in realistic settings. Also characteristic the "drôleries" (lively little scenes in the decoration of the margins), for example, in the Lectionary of the Ste Chapelle (Paris, Bibl. Nat.). More important works: the two Psalters of St. Louis (1254, Paris, Bibl. Nat.; ca. 1270, Thompson collection). Among the productions of southern England mention should be made of: the Psalter of St. Louis (ca. 1210, Leiden), the Psalter of Queen Ingeborg (ca. 1210, Chantilly), the two Psalters of Trinity College (before 1220) and the Psalter of Robert of Lindeseye (ca. 1220; Soc. Antiq. of London); the "drôleries" of the Missal of Henry of Chichester (ca. 1260, Manchester); but of particular interest is the style of a group of Franco-English Apocalypses (the Douce Apocalypse of ca. 1270 in the British Museum; the Apocalypse of Trinity College [cod. R. 16.2]) and of Lives of saints (Life of St. Alban of ca. 1260 in Dublin, Trinity College). Among the Parisian workshops of the end of the century one of the most famous is that of Maître Honoré, author of the Breviary of Philip the Fair (1296, Paris, Bibl. Nat.) and of the Decretum of Gratian (1288, Bibl. of Tours).

In Germany there is an important centre in Saxony in the 13th century; masterpiece: the Psalter of Hermann of Thuringia (ca. 1210, Stuttgart). But in general Romanesque modes survive, because Gothic art became established in German m. only in the first decade of the 14th century.

4. M. in the 14th-15th centuries outside Italy

French m. is dominated by Jean Pucelle, to whom are owed the Bible of Robert of Bilyng (1327, Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 11.935) and the Breviary of Belleville (1317, Paris, ibid., lat. 10.483), and in the meantime exercises great influence on Germany and also on Italy, especially in Naples with the Angevins. In the age of Charles V a more pronounced note of realism enters into m., and many productions of this time are linked to the name of Jean de Berry, who gathered around himself the most famous miniaturists: Maître aux Bouqueteaux, from his manner of drawing little trees (Bible of Charles V [at the Arsenal of Paris]), Jacquemart de Hesdin (Petites e Grandes Heures de Berry [ca. 1390-1405], Bibl. Nat., lat. 919), André Beauneveu (Psalter of the Duke of Berry, Paris, Bibl. Nat., fr. 13,091), down to the productions of the de Limbourg brothers of the early 15th century (Très Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, 1408-16, Chantilly), in which Italian influences are not lacking. In the other countries of Europe illumination in this century is below that of France; one may recall: in England, the East Anglian school with the Lanterell Psalter (1340, British Museum); while around 1370 certain manuscripts illuminated for the Bohun family are important; toward the end of the century continental influences become ever more evident. Flemish art in the early 15th century is dominated by the Van Eyck brothers, of whom the Books of Hours for William of Bavaria (Hours of Turin, ca. 1417) should be remembered.

In France one must wait for the end of the Hundred Years' War before being able to count the important works of Jean Fouquet of Tours (Heures of Etienne Chevalier [ca. 1450 at Chantilly]; Antiquités Judaïques [ca. 1455 at the Bibl. Nat. of Paris]); and of Jean Bourdichon, the last French illuminator before the advent of the printed book (Heures de Anne de Bretagne [finished ca. 1508; Paris, Bibl. Nat., lat. 9474]), both revealing Italian influences. The influences of the French school make themselves felt in England; while on the continent there arises around Philip the Good that true and proper Flemish school of artists, often educated in Parisian workshops, yet nonetheless tied to the major Flemish masters: such as Jean Dreux, who reflects in his works the style of Van der Weyden; Guillaume Vrelant, Jean Tavernier and Simon Marmion, with his masterpiece: the Pontificale of the church of Sens (Brussels, Royal Library), and above all Hugo Van der Goes, who influenced the work of Gérard Horenbaut (to whom the Hortulus animae of Vienna is attributed) who worked on the famous Breviaria Grimani of Venice, of which the greater part would be due to Simon Bening, and where nevertheless the proofs of the decadence of illumination are already visible, as it turned toward achieving effects proper to painting.

5. Illumination in Italy

Illumination in Italy, having passed through Byzantine and then transalpine experiences, asserts a character of its own in the works of the Benedictine scriptoria of southern Italy, among which are the rolls of the Exultet of the 11th-12th centuries (Vat. Barb. lat. 592; Bibl. Casanatense, ms. 724/3, Bari, Mirabella etc.) The greatest center was Montecassino (Miracles of St. Benedict of the 11th century, Bibl. Vat., lat. 1202; Chronicon Vulturnense of the early 12th century, Vat. Barb. lat. 2724), but also in central Italy, the monasteries of Subiaco and Farfa especially boast the Bibles of the 12th century studied by Toesca (see, for example, that of the Bibl. Augustea of Perugia, cod. L. 59). In northern Italy there is the Roman Missal of the Ambrosiana (D. 84 inf.) with German influences and the Sacramentary of Ivrea (ca. 1010; Ivrea, Bibl. Capitolare) with Ottonian influences; this influence is often combined with the Byzantine one (see the Ambrosian Missal of the early 11th century [Bibl. Ambrosiana, A 24 inf.]) which becomes more strongly felt after the capture of Constantinople (1204). In the 13th century religious illumination was accompanied by secular illumination (De arte venandi cum avibus of Frederick II [Bibl. Vat., Pal. lat. 1071]). Especially in Naples, during the reign of Robert of Anjou, illumination took on broader development with a commingling of French and Sienese elements and a marked taste for realistic scenes. French influence and naturalism also characterize the school of Bologna (Digestum infortiatum of Justinian [Turin, Bibl. Naz., ms. E. 1.8]) and has its major representatives in Oderisi da Gubbio and Franco Bolognese. Tuscan influences are instead found in Niccolò di Giacomo (Novella in libros Decretalium of Giovanni d'Andrea [dated 1354; Milan, Bibl. Ambr., B 42 inf.]; Tragoediae of Seneca [ibid., C. 196 inf.] and Libro dei creditori del Monte di Pubbliche Prestanze [1394, Bologna, Archivio di Stato]). From Niccolò da Bologna it has been sought to distinguish an earlier artist akin to him, called the Pseudo-Niccolò (Decretali di Bonifacio VIII, Constitutiones Clementi V, of the Capitular Archive of Padua). Active until around 1425 is Jacopo di Paolo, frankly Bolognese in his manneristic evocation. At Rimini one should remember Neri, who left two illuminations signed and dated 1300, revealing contacts with Florentine art; and furthermore the Antiphonary of the Museo civico of Bologna, no. 1, 2 and the Antiphonary of the Olschki collection in Florence.

The extension of illumination to secular books contributed to determining, on the part of lay amateurs, the constitution of fine private libraries; it suffices to recall that of Petrarch, the first nucleus of the Marciana of Venice. But above all the Lords love to have at their court also illustrators of books; in Milan, at the court of the Visconti, in the 2nd half of the 14th century, Pietro da Pavia works (see his realistic scenes and the representations of birds and insects in the Naturalis Historia of Pliny at the Bibl. Ambrosiana, E 24 inf.); Anovelo da Imbonate (illuminator of the Missal of the coronation of Gian Galeazzo Visconti); Giovannino and Salomone de Grassi, to the first of whom are also attributed some illuminations of the Tacuinum sanitatis (Rome, Bibl. Casanatense, ms. 459) which includes, however, also later illuminations, to be assigned to the 15th century. The school of Siena in the 14th century is dominated by Simone Martini (see the frontispiece of the Virgil in the Bibl. Ambrosiana) who exercised his influence also on the French school, to which the follower Master of the St. George codex seems tied. Also active are Niccolò Tegliacci (see the Assunta in the so-called Caleffo of the Archivio di Stato of Siena), Lippo Vanni, who reveals Lorenzetti influences, and in the 15th century Giovanni di Paolo and Sano di Pietro. The diffusion of the Sienese painting school is found at Perugia, at Naples, in the Abruzzi and elsewhere. Florence, at the beginning of the 14th century, had a miniaturistic school of Sienese influence in the convent of S. Maria Novella (Evangeliarum of the Bibl. Naz. of Florence, II, I, 167), while the plastic tendencies of Giottoesque derivation were asserted by Pacino di Bonaguida (Biblia of the Bibl. Trivulziana of Milan [cod. no. 2139]), and by others (Laudario of the Bibl. Naz. of Florence [II, I 122 BR 18] and Ammaestramenti degli antichi of Bartolomeo da San Concordio of 1342). In the second half of the 14th century the Sienese influence, instead, is quite evident in the works of the Camaldolese school of S. Maria of the Angels, dominated by Don Simone, a pupil of the Orcagna, and by Lorenzo Monaco (of whom see the Antiphonarium of the Biblioteca Laurenziana [Corale 3], illuminated in collaboration with other Florentine artists, among them the Beato Angelico). The development of publishing during Humanism gathered around the publishers of the time hosts of illuminators, such as Francesco Antonio del Cherico (Canzoni e Trionfi of Petrarch [of the Biblioteca Trivulziana, cod. no. 905], the Antiphonarium of the Biblioteca Laurenziana [Edili 151] and the Opere varie of St. Augustine at the Vaticana [Urb. lat. 79]); Filippo di Matteo Torelli, author of the best among the illuminations of the Evangelium of the Biblioteca Laurenziana [Edili 115]; Gherardo and Monte del Fora, with notable Flemish influences as well (see, for example, the Missale of the Museo Nazionale of Florence, datable to 1474-76); and, among the most famous, Attavante degli Attavanti, with a tone of decoration perhaps too sumptuous and overloaded (Opera varia of St. Augustine [Florence, Biblioteca Laurenziana plut. 12, 28], of St. Ambrose [ibid., plut. 1423], the Bibbia Urbinata of the Vaticana [cod. Urb. lat. 1-2], the Antiphonarium [ibid., Corale 4] illuminated in collaboration with Giovanni Boccardi, called Boccardino Vecchio. At Naples in the 15th century, at the court of Alfonso of Aragon (1396-1458), Giovacchino de Gigantibus, Nicola Rapicano (mentioned in La opera de Maiestete of Maio Giuniano of 1492 [Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale Italien 1711]) and Reginaldo Piramo da Monopoli were active; at Perugia the painters Perugino and Pinturicchio; at Siena the painters Girolamo da Cremona and Liberale da Verona. Of particular interest is the Ferrarese school, which has left a truly magnificent work in the famous Bibbia di Borso (1455-61, in the Biblioteca Estense), a work principally by Taddeo Crivelli, flanked by Franco de' Russi, which reveals Veneto-Paduan reminiscences (see some illuminations of the Divina Commedia [Biblioteca Vaticana, Urb. lat. 365], and of the Quattro Vangeli [ibid., Urb. lat. 10]) and Marco dell'Avogaro, with a manner close to that of Girolamo da Cremona. Other illuminators: Guglielmo Giraldi (Noctes Acticae of Aulus Gellius [1448, Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana] and Psaltorium of the Biblioteca Estense [ms. Lat. 990, Q. 4.9]) in collaboration with Alessandro Leoni; Martino da Modena (of whom see the many illuminations of the Missale Romanum of the Biblioteca Trivulziana of Milan [Cod. no. 2165]); l'Argenta; the Flemish-styled Matteo da Milano; the Marmitta of Parma; Battista del Cavalletto and the painter Amico Aspertini of Bologna. In the Lombard Quattrocento there emerge Michelino de Mulinari da Besozzo (Sermone in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris, cod. lat. 5888); Giovanni di Maestro Ugolino da Milano (Messale of the cathedral of Fermo); Belbello da Pavia (Libro d'Ore of Filippo Maria Visconti, completing the illuminations of Giovannino and Salomone de Grassi, and Messale of the cathedral of Mantua); Cristoforo de Predis (Libro d'ore Borromeo in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Lib. ore 4, signed); Antonio da Monza, the Pseudo Antonio da Monza, perhaps identifiable with Gian Andrea da Mantova (some miniatures of the Libro del Jesus, executed for Massimiliano Sforza between 1496 and '98 [Biblioteca Trivulziana of Milan, cod. no. 2163] and of the Grammatica of Donatus [ibid., cod. no. 2167]).

With the 16th century, throughout Italy, illumination sees its end both through internal exhaustion and through the arrival of external causes; chiefly the introduction of the printed book, which nevertheless continued for some time to be adorned also with illuminations. - See plates LXVII-LXIX.

I. Carolingian period, Florence 1928; R. Hinks, Carolingian art, London 1935. Romanesque art: W. Neuss, Die Katalanische Bibelillustr. um die Wende des ersten Jahrtausends, Bonn 1922; E. G. Millar, La miniature anglaise du Xᵉ au XIIIᵉ siècle, Paris 1926; Ph. Lauer, Les enluminaires romanes des manuscrits de la Bibl. nat., ibid. 1927; A. Boeckler, Abendländische Miniaturen, Berlin-Leipzig 1930; D. E. Saunders, English Illumination, I. Florence 1930; P. Neveux and E. Dacier, Les richesses des bibliothèques provinciales de France, Paris 1932. Gothic art: V. Vitzthum, Die Pariser Miniaturmalerei, Leipzig 1907; H. Martin, La miniature française du XIIᵉ au XVᵉ siècle, Paris 1923; H. Swarzenski, Die lateinischen illuminierten Handschriften des XIII. Jahrh. an Rhein, Main und Donau, Berlin 1937; G. Haseloff, Die Psalterillustration im XIII. Jahrh., Kiel 1938. 14th and 15th cent.: in addition to the works cited of H. Martin, G. Millar and E. Saunders, see F. Winkler, Die flämische Buchmalerei des XV. und XVI. Jahrh., Leipzig 1925; P. Durrieu, La miniature flamande à la cour de Bourgogne, Paris-Brussels 1926; G. Blum and Ph. Lauer, La miniature française aux XVᵉ et XVIᵉ siècles, Paris 1931; F. Lyna, De Vlaamsche miniatur van 2000 bis 1530, Amsterdam 1933; F. Harrison, English manuscripts of XIV cent., London 1938. On Italian m. the works of P. D'Ancona are fundamental, La miniature italienne du Xᵉ au XVIᵉ siècle, Paris 1925; id., Les primitifs italiens du XIᵉ au XIIIᵉ siècle, ibid. 1935, to which must be added the treatments in the various art histories, principally those of Toesca (I, Il medioevo, Turin 1927; II, Il Trecento, ibid. 1950) and A. Van Schendel, Le dessin en Lombardie jusqu'à la fin du XVᵉ siècle, Brussels 1938; Dictionaries: in addition to Thieme-Becker, see P. D'Ancona and E. Aeschlimann, Dictionnaire des miniaturistes du moyen âge et de la Renaissance, Milan 1940. See also BENEVENTANA SCRITTURA E MINIATURA: CAROLINA SCRITTURA E MINIATURA: GOTICA SCRITTURA E MINIATURA: INSULARE SCRITTURA E MINIATURA: MEROVINGICA SCRITTURA E MINIATURA: UMANISTICA SCRITTURA E MINIATURA: VISIGOTICA SCRITTURA E MINIATURA.