DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14715#0018
2
THE ART OF ILLUMINATION.
embellished with pictures of the most striking scenes or events recorded in
them; and as all the actors in these scenes were represented in the dresses
of the time, and all the appliances and accessories were those then in use,
these illustrations supply the most authentic records of the various details of
religious observances, as well as those connected with military operations,
and with the habits of domestic life.
As, however, the principal object of this little treatise is to point out the
peculiarities of, and the changes of fashion in, decorative art, as found in
illuminated manuscripts, rather than to attempt any minute description of
their pictorial beauties, or uses, we need pursue the subject no further.
There can be little doubt that the art of illuminating manuscripts in
gold, silver, and colours, and the processes employed on them, were of
Eastern origin; indeed, the figures of the Apostles, which generally precede
the books of the Gospels written by them, are Byzantine in character, as
late as the eleventh century, and are frequently accompanied by Greek
inscriptions.
The use of minium, or vermilion, m marking the commencement of
titles, or particular words of manuscripts, is of very high antiquity, since it
is commonly found in Egyptian papyri, the earliest specimens of writing
known. In these papyri, often occur mythological figures painted in various
colours. From Egypt the practice may have passed to Greece and Rome,
though previously to the Christian era no evidence exists of the mode of
writing manuscripts in either country. In the rolls of papyri dis-
covered at Herculaneum, written in the early part of the first century,
no trace of any ornament is found; but we have the evidence of Ovid and
Pliny that the Romans, long before the destruction of Pompeii, were
accustomed to rubricate their manuscripts, and adorn them with pictures.
The process of burnishing gold and silver was familiar to the oriental
nations from the most remote antiquity, and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the Greeks acquired from Egypt or India the art of thus ornamenting
manuscripts. Among the later Greeks it became so common that the
scribes, or artists in gold, formed a distinct class. The luxury thus intro-
duced was augmented by writing on vellum stained of a purple or rose
colour; the earliest instance of which is recorded by Julius Capitolinus, in
his life of the Emperor Maximums the younger, to whom his mother made
a present of the poems of Homer written on purple vellum in letters of gold.
This took place at the commencement of the third century. The copy of
Virgil in the library of the Vatican has been attributed by the best palaeo-
graphers to the same century. This volume is enriched with miniatures,
many of which are engraved in D'Agincourt's " Histoire de l'Art par les
Monuments."
THE ART OF ILLUMINATION.
embellished with pictures of the most striking scenes or events recorded in
them; and as all the actors in these scenes were represented in the dresses
of the time, and all the appliances and accessories were those then in use,
these illustrations supply the most authentic records of the various details of
religious observances, as well as those connected with military operations,
and with the habits of domestic life.
As, however, the principal object of this little treatise is to point out the
peculiarities of, and the changes of fashion in, decorative art, as found in
illuminated manuscripts, rather than to attempt any minute description of
their pictorial beauties, or uses, we need pursue the subject no further.
There can be little doubt that the art of illuminating manuscripts in
gold, silver, and colours, and the processes employed on them, were of
Eastern origin; indeed, the figures of the Apostles, which generally precede
the books of the Gospels written by them, are Byzantine in character, as
late as the eleventh century, and are frequently accompanied by Greek
inscriptions.
The use of minium, or vermilion, m marking the commencement of
titles, or particular words of manuscripts, is of very high antiquity, since it
is commonly found in Egyptian papyri, the earliest specimens of writing
known. In these papyri, often occur mythological figures painted in various
colours. From Egypt the practice may have passed to Greece and Rome,
though previously to the Christian era no evidence exists of the mode of
writing manuscripts in either country. In the rolls of papyri dis-
covered at Herculaneum, written in the early part of the first century,
no trace of any ornament is found; but we have the evidence of Ovid and
Pliny that the Romans, long before the destruction of Pompeii, were
accustomed to rubricate their manuscripts, and adorn them with pictures.
The process of burnishing gold and silver was familiar to the oriental
nations from the most remote antiquity, and it is not unreasonable to suppose
that the Greeks acquired from Egypt or India the art of thus ornamenting
manuscripts. Among the later Greeks it became so common that the
scribes, or artists in gold, formed a distinct class. The luxury thus intro-
duced was augmented by writing on vellum stained of a purple or rose
colour; the earliest instance of which is recorded by Julius Capitolinus, in
his life of the Emperor Maximums the younger, to whom his mother made
a present of the poems of Homer written on purple vellum in letters of gold.
This took place at the commencement of the third century. The copy of
Virgil in the library of the Vatican has been attributed by the best palaeo-
graphers to the same century. This volume is enriched with miniatures,
many of which are engraved in D'Agincourt's " Histoire de l'Art par les
Monuments."