DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14714#0074
DESCRIPTION OF MS.
A MANUSCRIPT JUVENAL,
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM (HARL. 2,730).
^ AlilOUS distinct styles of illumination prevailed in Italy from the middle to the close
of the fifteenth century, among which, that of the present specimen is perhaps most
remarkable, as being totally different, in all its features and general treatment, from any
other cotemporary European style. Its white interlacing branches, with their interstices,
filled with grounds of various colours, powdered with small white dots, arranged in
triangles, produce a peculiar effect, totally distinct from that of any other school of
pictorial ornamentation. The feeling, as I have stated in another place, is perhaps founded
upon an early style which prevailed in the twelfth century, but which was at that period
confined entirely to initial letters, the practice of which may have continued in some
parts of Europe through the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries ; but I am
unacquainted with any well-defined examples. Certain, however, it is, and proved by
innumerable examples, that a similar feeling, applied to borders, was used in Italy early in
the fifteenth century, where it was also applied to initial letters, some of which are very
beautiful, and form occasionally, like those of the twelfth century, the only features of decoration to a manuscript. But I now
more particularly allude to the enriched borders, which were at first composed entirely of white branch-work—in the earlier specimens
symmetrically arranged, while in some of the later, as in our specimen, an irregular or picturesque arrangement was the one adopted;
and in these later specimens, compartments were frequently, though not always, preserved for small miniatures, &c, some of which are
wrought with exquisite finish. Other enrichments were also introduced, even mingling with the white branch-work in late examples,
such as birds in their natural colours, cupids, &c. The beautiful first page of a beautiful copy of Juvenal, which forms our specimen,
exhibits many of these features, and is one of the finest examples of the later modifications of the style, that I am acquainted with.
Yet much finer may exist, for the fine copies of the classics illuminated in this, and its closely allied styles, during the course of the
fifteenth century, are numberless. Sometimes the branch-work is shaded with pale gray, and sometimes with pale yellow—of the
former, our specimen page is an example ; and of the latter, the elegant V at the head of this description, taken from another
manuscript of the period.
The latest phase of the interwoven branch style is that in which the branches themselves are highly coloured, the ground being of
uniform tone, either gold, black, or some rich colour, of which the plate following this, from a magnificent manuscript, Aulus Gellius,
is a superb example. Other examples exist, in which the coloured branches are transformed to cables, as in the truly wonderful
manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Canonici 85), two outlines from which, at the commencement of the present volume, Nos. 7
and 8 convey an accurate idea of that modification of the style.
A MANUSCRIPT JUVENAL,
IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM (HARL. 2,730).
^ AlilOUS distinct styles of illumination prevailed in Italy from the middle to the close
of the fifteenth century, among which, that of the present specimen is perhaps most
remarkable, as being totally different, in all its features and general treatment, from any
other cotemporary European style. Its white interlacing branches, with their interstices,
filled with grounds of various colours, powdered with small white dots, arranged in
triangles, produce a peculiar effect, totally distinct from that of any other school of
pictorial ornamentation. The feeling, as I have stated in another place, is perhaps founded
upon an early style which prevailed in the twelfth century, but which was at that period
confined entirely to initial letters, the practice of which may have continued in some
parts of Europe through the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries ; but I am
unacquainted with any well-defined examples. Certain, however, it is, and proved by
innumerable examples, that a similar feeling, applied to borders, was used in Italy early in
the fifteenth century, where it was also applied to initial letters, some of which are very
beautiful, and form occasionally, like those of the twelfth century, the only features of decoration to a manuscript. But I now
more particularly allude to the enriched borders, which were at first composed entirely of white branch-work—in the earlier specimens
symmetrically arranged, while in some of the later, as in our specimen, an irregular or picturesque arrangement was the one adopted;
and in these later specimens, compartments were frequently, though not always, preserved for small miniatures, &c, some of which are
wrought with exquisite finish. Other enrichments were also introduced, even mingling with the white branch-work in late examples,
such as birds in their natural colours, cupids, &c. The beautiful first page of a beautiful copy of Juvenal, which forms our specimen,
exhibits many of these features, and is one of the finest examples of the later modifications of the style, that I am acquainted with.
Yet much finer may exist, for the fine copies of the classics illuminated in this, and its closely allied styles, during the course of the
fifteenth century, are numberless. Sometimes the branch-work is shaded with pale gray, and sometimes with pale yellow—of the
former, our specimen page is an example ; and of the latter, the elegant V at the head of this description, taken from another
manuscript of the period.
The latest phase of the interwoven branch style is that in which the branches themselves are highly coloured, the ground being of
uniform tone, either gold, black, or some rich colour, of which the plate following this, from a magnificent manuscript, Aulus Gellius,
is a superb example. Other examples exist, in which the coloured branches are transformed to cables, as in the truly wonderful
manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Canonici 85), two outlines from which, at the commencement of the present volume, Nos. 7
and 8 convey an accurate idea of that modification of the style.