Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their technique

by J. H. Middleton

The Irish Church; Celtic goldsmiths; technical processes of the metal-workers copied by illuminators of manuscripts; the Book of Kells, its perfect workmanship and microscopic illuminations; copies of metal spiral patterns; the "trumpet pattern;" Moslem influence; absence of gold in the Irish manuscripts; the Book of Durrow; the monks of Iona; the Celtic missionaries to Northumbria; the Gospels of St Cuthbert; the Viking pirates; the adventures of St Cuthbert's Gospels; the Anglo-Celtic school; improved drawing and use of gold; Italian influence; the early Gospels in the Corpus library; the Gospels of MacDurnan; the Book of Deer; the Gospels of St Chad; the Celtic school on the Continent; the Psalter of St Augustine; Scandinavian art; the golden Gospels of Stockholm and its adventures; the struggle between the Celtic and the Roman Church; the Synod of Whitby; the Roman victory, and the growth of Italian influence; the school of Baeda at Durham.

CHAPTER VII. Page [98] to [105].

The Anglo-Saxon School of Manuscripts.

The Danish invasions; revival of art under king Alfred; the Benedictional of Aethelwold; signs of Carolingian influence; the Winchester school; St Dunstan as an illuminator; Anglo-Saxon drawings in coloured ink; Roll of St Guthlac; the great beauty of its drawings; Canute as a patron of art; the Norman Conquest.

CHAPTER VIII. Page [106] to [125].

The Anglo-Norman School.

The Norman invasion; development of architecture and other arts; creation of the Anglo-Norman school; magnificent Psalters; the Angevin kingdom; the highest development of English art in the thirteenth century; Henry III. as an art patron; the rebuilding and decorating of the Church and Palace of Westminster; paintings copied from manuscripts; the Painted Chamber; English sculpture; the Fitz-Othos and William Torell; English needlework (opus Anglicanum); the Lateran and Pienza copes; Anglo-Norman manuscripts of the Vulgate; the style of their illuminations; manuscripts produced in Benedictine monasteries; unity of style; various kinds of background in miniatures; magnificent manuscripts of the Psalter; the Tenison Psalter; manuscripts of the Apocalypse; their extraordinary beauty; their contrast to machine-made art; English manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; the results of the Black Death; the Poyntz Horae; the Lectionary of Lord Lovel; the characteristics of English ornament; the introduction of portrait figures; the Shrewsbury manuscript; "Queen Mary's Prayer-book;" the works of Dan Lydgate; specially English subjects; manuscripts of Chronicles and Histories.

CHAPTER IX. Page [126] to [146].

French Manuscripts.

The age of Saint Louis; archaism of costume in miniatures; French manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries; historiated Bibles; the ivy-pattern; the Horae of the Duc de Berri; the treasure-book of Origny Abbey; the Anjou Horae; costly and magnificent French Horae; their beautiful decorations; their numerous miniatures; the Bedford Breviary; the Bedford Missal; various styles in the same manuscript; manuscripts in Grisaille; manuscripts of secular works; Cristina of Pisa; Chronicles and Travels; Romances and Poems; Italian influence in the south of France; the growth of secular illuminators; the inferiority of their work; cheap and coarsely illuminated Horae; manuscripts of the finest style; use of flowers and fruit in borders and initials; influence of the Italian Renaissance; the Horae of Jehan Foucquet of Tours.