Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work

Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work
Author: Jonathan James Graham Alexander
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 1992-01-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780300060737

Who were the medieval illuminators? How were their hand-produced books illustrated and decorated? In this beautiful book Jonathan Alexander presents a survey of manuscript illumination throughout Europe from the fourth to the sixteenth century. He discusses the social and historical context of the illuminators' lives, considers their methods of work, and presents a series of case studies to show the range and nature of the visual sources and the ways in which they were adapted, copied, or created anew. Alexander explains that in the early period, Christian monasteries and churches were the main centers for the copying of manuscripts, and so the majority of illuminators were monks working in and for their own monasteries. From the eleventh century, lay scribes and illuminators became increasingly numerous, and by the thirteenth century, professional illuminators dominated the field. During this later period, illuminators were able to travel in search of work and to acquire new ideas, they joined guilds with scribes or with artists in the cities, and their ranks included nuns and secular women. Work was regularly collaborative, and the craft was learned through an apprenticeship system. Alexander carefully analyzes surviving manuscripts and medieval treatises in order to explain the complex and time-consuming technical processes of illumination - its materials, methods, tools, choice of illustration, and execution. From rare surviving contracts, he deduces the preoccupation of patrons with materials and schedules. Illustrating his discussion with examples chosen from religious and secular manuscripts made all over Europe, Alexander recreates the astonishing variety and creativity ofmedieval illumination. His book will be a standard reference for years to come.

Art of the Book

Art of the Book
Author: National Art Library (Great Britain)
Publisher: Victoria & Albert Museum
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2001-06
Genre: Architecture
ISBN:

Celebrating the marriage of word and image on the written and printed page, The Art of the Book presents rarely examined treasures from the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Featuring a huge range of material spanning six centuries -- including illuminated manuscripts, fine bindings, the classics of children's literature, comic novels, and artists' books, it explores the ways in which books not only transmit information but become works of art in their own right. Thematic sections illustrate the key aspects of book design and production over the ages. With medieval books of hours sitting alongside contemporary paperback novels, the choice of artists, designers, subjects, and authors is wonderfully varied -- from Leonardo da Vinci to Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Aesop to Charles Dickens, and de Brunhoff's Babar the Elephant to Art Spiegelman's Maus. Strikingly illustrated with 100 colorplates, this absorbing compendium will be of interest to collectors, graphic designers, and booklovers.

The Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum
Author: Elizabeth James
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 841
Release: 2013-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1134271069

A comprehensive bibliography and exhibition chronology of the world's greatest museum of the decorative arts and design. The Victoria and Albert Museum, or South Kensington Museum as it used to be known, was founded by the British Government in 1852, out of the proceeds from the Great Exhibition of 1851. Like the Exhibition, it aimed to improve the expertise of designers, and the taste of the public, by exposing them to examples of good design from all countries and periods. 2,500 publications have to date been produced by, for, or in association with the V&A. The National Art Library, which is part of the Museum, has prepared this detailed catalogue, supplemented by a secondary list of 500 other books closely related to the V&A. The 1,500 exhibitions and displays recorded include those held in the main Museum and at its branches, the Bethnal Green Museum (now the National Museum of Childhood) and the Theatre Museum, Covent Garden, and additionally those it has organized at external venues, in Great Britain and abroad. The exhibitions and publications are fully cross-referenced, and there are name, title and subject indexes to the whole work, as well as an explanatory introduction.

Colour

Colour
Author: Stella Panayotova
Publisher: Harvey Miller
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval
ISBN: 9781909400566

"This richly illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition that celebrates the bicentenary of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge with a display of its finest illuminated manuscripts. Of all the medieval and Renaissance arts - from sculptures, ivories, frescoes and stained glass to easel and wall paintings - it is manuscript illuminations, protected inside volumes, that best preserve the glowing colours and precious metals that would have dazzled their original spectators. The focus of this exciting and innovative exhibition is on COLOUR: it integrates scientific and art historical analyses of painting materials and techniques with studies on the manuscripts' historic contexts of production, including the relationships between artists and patrons. Identifications of the pigments' chemical composition and methods of application are considered alongside their aesthetic impact as well as the multiple dimensions and meanings of colour appreciated by medieval and Renaissance viewers. Over 150 manuscripts are displayed in the exhibition dating from the 8th to the 19th century and all are catalogued and fully illustrated here. The manuscripts are grouped in 14 thematic sections each of which is introduced by an essay that includes further relevant illustrations and presents the scientific and art historical analyses in a broader cultural context. The majority of the exhibits are from the Museum's collection and the main focus is on Western European illumination, but examples of Byzantine, Armenian, Persian and Sanskrit manuscripts are also included. In addition there are special loans from other Cambridge, British and European collections. The catalogue entries and introductory essays are written by a team of leading manuscript scholars, scientists and conservators who offer an integrated, cross-disciplinary approach and new insights into the art of illumination."--

The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture

The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture
Author: Colum Hourihane
Publisher:
Total Pages: 4064
Release: 2012
Genre: Architecture, Medieval
ISBN: 0195395360

This volume offers unparalleled coverage of all aspects of art and architecture from medieval Western Europe, from the 6th century to the early 16th century. Drawing upon the expansive scholarship in the celebrated 'Grove Dictionary of Art' and adding hundreds of new entries, it offers students, researchers and the general public a reliable, up-to-date, and convenient resource covering this field of major importance in the development of Western history and international art and architecture.