Arts and crafts in the Middle Ages

by Julia de Wolf Addison

DETAIL FROM AN ITALIAN CHORAL BOOK

Once, while examining an old choral book, I was particularly struck with the matchless personal element which exists in a book which is made, as this was, by the hand, from the first stroke to the last. The first page showed a bold lettering, the sweep of the pen being firm and free. Animal vigour was demonstrated in the steady hand and the clear eye. The illuminations were daintily painted, and the sure touch of the little white line used to accentuate the colours, was noticeable. After several pages, the letters became less true and firm. The lines had a tendency to slant to the right; a weakness could be detected in the formerly strong man. Finally the writing grew positively shaky. The skill was lost.

Suddenly, on another page, came a change. A new hand had taken up the work—that of a novice. He had not the skill of the previous worker in his best days, but the indecision of his lines was that of inexperience, not of failing ability. Gradually he improved. His colours were clearer and ground more smoothly; his gold showed a more glassy surface. The book ended as it had begun, a virile work of art; but in the course of its making, one man had grown old, lost his skill, and died, and another had started in his immaturity, gained his education, and devoted his best years to this book.

The printing press stands for all that is progressive and desirable; modern life and thought hang upon this discovery. But in this glorious new birth there was sacrificed a certain indescribable charm which can never be felt now except by a book lover as he turns the leaves of an ancient illuminated book. To him it is given to understand that pathetic appeal across the centuries.

THE END.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arts and Crafts Movement. O. L. Triggs.
Two Lectures. William Morris.
Decorative Arts. William Morris.
Treatises of Benvenuto Cellini.
Library of British Manufactories.
Gold and Silver. Wheatley.
Ye Olden Time. E. S. Holt.
Arts and Crafts Essays. Ed. by Morris.
Industrial Arts. Maskell.
Old English Silver. Cripps.
Spanish Arts. J. E. Riañio.
History of the Fine Arts. W. B. Scott.
Art Work in Gold and Silver. P. H. Delamotte.
Gold and Silver. J. H. Pollen.
Une Ville du Temps Jadis. M. E. Del Monte.
Industrial Arts. P. Burty.
Arts of the Middle Ages. Labarte.
Miscellanea Graphica. Fairholt.
Artist's Way of Working. R. Sturgis.
Jewellery. Cyril Davenport.
Enamels. Mrs. Nelson Dawson.
Precious Stones. Jones.
Ghiberti and Donatello. Leader Scott.
Iron Work. J. S. Gardner.
Guilds of Florence. E. Staley.
Armour in England. J. S. Gardner.
Foreign Armour in England. J. S. Gardner.
Cameos. Cyril Davenport.
Peter Vischer. Cecil Headlam.
St. Eloi and St. Bernward. Baring Gould; Lives of the Saint.
European Enamels. H. Cunynghame.
Intarsia and Marquetry. H. Jackson.
Pavement Masters of Siena. R. H. Cust.
Sculpture in Ivory. Digby Wyatt.
Ancient and Mediæval Ivories. Wm. Maskell.
Ivory Carvers of the Middle Ages. A. M. Cust.
Arts of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. P. Lacroix.
Ivories. A. Maskell.
Old English Embroidery. F. and H. Marshall.
The Bayeux Tapestry. F. R. Fowke.
History of Tapestry. W. G. Thomson.
La Broderie. L. de Farcy.
Textile Fabrics. Dr. Rock.
Needlework as Art. Lady Alford.
History of Needlework. Countess of Wilton.
Gilds; Their Origins, etc. C. Walford.
Tapestry. A. Champeaux.
Tapestry. J. Hayes.
Ornamental Metal Work. Digby Wyatt.
La Mosaïque. Gerspach.
The Master Mosaic Workers. G. Sand.
Revival of Sculpture. A. L. Frothingham.
History of Italian Sculpture. C. H. Perkins.
Art Applied to Industry. W. Burges.
Four Centuries of Art. Noel Humphreys.
Aratra Pentelici. Ruskin.
Seven Lamps of Architecture. Ruskin.
Val d'Arno. Ruskin.
Stones of Venice. Ruskin.
Lectures on Sculpture. Flaxman.
Brick and Marble. G. E. Street.
Sculpture in Wood. Williams.
Greek and Gothic. St. J. Tyrwhitt.
Westminster Abbey and Craftsmen. W. R. Lethaby.
Le Roi René. L. de la Marche.
English Mediæval Figure Sculpture. Prior and Gardner.
Churches of Paris. Sophia Beale.
Matthew Paris' Chronicle.
Crowns and Coronations. Jones.
Bell's Handbooks of Rouen, Chartres, Amiens, Wells, Salisbury and Lincoln.
History of Sculpture. D'Agincourt.
The Grotesque in Church Art. T. T. Wildridge.
Choir Stalls and Their Carving. Emma Phipson.
Memorials of Westminster Abbey. Dean Stanley.
Memorials of Canterbury. Dean Stanley.
Les Corporations des Arts et Metiers. Hubert Valeroux.
Finger Ring Lore. Jones.
Goldsmith's and Silversmith's Work. Nelson Dawson.
The Dark Ages. Maitland.
Rambles of an Archæologist. F. W. Fairholt.
History of Furniture. A. Jacquemart.
Embroidery. W. G. P. Townsend.
Le Livre des Metiers. Etienne Boileau.
Illuminated Manuscripts. J. H. Middleton.
Illuminated Manuscripts. Edward Quaile.
English Illuminated Manuscripts. Maunde Thompson.
Les Manuscrits et l'art de les Orner. Alphonse Labitte.
Les Manuscrits et la Miniature. L. de la Marche.
Primer of Illumination. Delamotte.
Primer of Illumination. Digby Wyatt.
Ancient Painting and Sculpture in England. J. Carter.
Vasari's Lives of the Painters. (Selected.)
Benvenuto Cellini—Autobiography.
Illuminated Manuscripts. O. Westwood.
Celtic Illuminative Art. S. F. H. Robinson.
Illuminated Manuscripts. Bradley.

INDEX

Aachen, [16]

Abbeville, [265]