Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their technique — John Shaqi
Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their techniqueMiddleton, J. H. (John Henry)
History
Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their technique
Middleton, J. H. (John Henry)
Illumination of books and manuscripts; Manuscripts
On the other side of the Prophet is a winged boy, like a youthful Eros,
bearing a torch to symbolize the dawn.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. A Pompeian painting of Hellenic style, as an example
of Greek drawing and composition.]
_Classical style._
The bold and very decorative, yet almost realistic treatment of the foliage
of the trees and of the flowers which are sprinkled among the grass is
purely classical in style, and the whole miniature shows that the tenth
century illuminator had before him some very fine manuscript of early
Imperial date. From this he has selected a picture which might by omissions
and modifications be adapted to his subject; and for the figure of the
Prophet he has fallen back on another less ancient original, but still one
which must have been several centuries older than his own time.
This is the explanation of what at first seems so strange a union in the
same painting of very graceful single figures by the side of others which
are rigid and awkward; and again, great skill shown in the drawing of the
individual figures combined with a feeble and clumsy arrangement of the
whole composition.
_Byzantine style._
Fig. 5 shows a miniature of very similar style representing the Prophet
Ezechiel in the Valley of dry bones. It is taken from a manuscript of the
_Sermons_ of Saint Gregory Nazianzen, which was written for the Byzantine
Emperor Basil who reigned from 867 to 886. This figure chiefly illustrates
the Byzantine, not the Classical element in the miniatures of this mixed
style of art, though there is also a clear trace of Graeco-Roman influence
in the finely designed drapery of the Prophet.
The curious union of two utterly different styles is well exemplified in
another of the miniatures in the last mentioned _Psalter_. Here David is
represented like a Byzantine Emperor crowned and wearing the richly
embroidered _toga picta_, and holding an open book. The figure might well
pass for a representation of the Emperor Justinian, and the original
painting was probably of that date, of the early part of the sixth century.
_Graeco-Roman figures._
On each side of the Byzantine David is a female figure draped with most
gracefully designed folds of pure Graeco-Roman style, a most striking
contrast to the central figure. Who these ladies represented in the
original manuscript it is impossible to say, but the painter who in the
tenth century illuminated the _Psalter_ called them _Wisdom_ and
_Prophecy_, writing by them the names _Sophia_ and _Prophetia_.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. The Prophet Ezechiel from a Byzantine manuscript of
the ninth century A.D.]
_Value of late copies._
Many other examples might be given to show that a truer notion of classical
illuminated manuscripts of the best Graeco-Roman style can be gained from a
study of the works of mediaeval copyists than from manuscripts which,
though older, are of late and debased style like the famous illuminated
Virgil of the Vatican[28].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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