Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/727

707 I L L I L L 707 took place between Weishaupt and Knigge in 1784 greatly accelerated the public expression of a counter feeling of suspicion and dislike which had been slowly gathering strength, and in 1785 the Bavarian Government issued an edict which proved fatal to the order. Many of its members were imprisoned or compelled to leave their homes ; Weishaupt himself was deprived of his chair and banished the kingdom. See Grosse Absichten dcs Ordens dcr Illuminaten (with Appen dices, Munich, 1786); and Weishaupt s Vollstandige Gcschichte dcr VerfoJgung der Illuminaten (1787), and. Kurzc Rechtfertigung mciner Absichten (1787). ILLUMINATION is a term which has long been used to signify the embellishment of written or printed text or de sign with colours, and especially with gold, more rarely also with silver. The lustre of the former metal may probably have led to the adoption of the word in this sense. The Latin verb illuminare, with the meaning of &quot; to decorate,&quot; occurs as early as the 8th century; and in the first. portion of the Roman de la Rose, composed before 1260, enluminer is found with a similar meaning, while Dante (Purgat., xi. 79) alludes to this kind of painting and its French desig nation as &quot; quell arte, che alluminar e chiamata in Parisi.&quot; In Early English we find the forms enlomyne, luminen, limnen, whence limn. Of synonymous use with these terms we find in the Middle Ages the words miniare and minia- tura, from minium, a red pigment, in early use for decorat ing MSS. Miniature employed in connexion with the art of illumination now, however, generally signifies a picture or portrait as distinguished from mere ornament or ornate letters. The research into the past which has characterized the present century has extended to the art of illumination, and, following the lead of D Agincourt, Mabillon, and others, has by the examination of mediaeval decorated manuscripts thrown a vast amount of light upon the arts of the past. In spite of iconoclasm in the East, the burn ing of Arabic MSS. in Spain, and the destruction and dissipation of libraries which unhappily accompanied the Reformation, a considerable number of beautiful and elaborate volumes have come down to us where larger and more exposed works of art have perished. They therefore supply many a lacuna in art history. Conformably to the unity which pervaded all art work in the Middle Ages, a close correspondence in style has been recognized between the ornamentation of MSS. of different periods and contem poraneous architecture and other arts. The architect, the decorator, the. glass-stainer, and other artists have conse quently learned, and with great profit, to search their pages for ornamental motives, details, and colouring, in thorough harmony with ancient styles, which no other source supplies so copiously. Invaluable materials too for the history of costume are found in the miniatures with which they abound. The earliest writing of which monuments exist, the Egyptian, was often enhanced by the use of colour. In the ritual papyri, directions, &c., are written in red to dis tinguish them from the main text, just as was subsequently done in mediaeval liturgical MSS. a practice from which the term rubric is derived. A few scattered passages in Latin classic authors (notably Ovid, Seneca, Varro, Martial, Pliny the Elder, J. Capitolinus) prove the occa sional use of rubrication and of pictorial embellishment of MSS. among the Romans. The earliest decorated MSS., at least of European execution, which have reached us date from the 4th and 5th centuries of our era, and are of ex treme rarity. Of these one of the most celebrated is the Virgil written in elegant capitals preserved in the Vatican, in which the adornment is limited to rectangular pictures (miniatures) painted in the antique manner seen in the Pompeian frescos, the body colour laid on with a free brush and without black outlines. It may be taken as the type of a class of MSS. of which very few specimens are extant. A different type of early calligraphy, which was much esteemed, is found in the Codex Argenteus, now at Upsala, written about 360, containing Ulfila s Mceso- Gothic version of part of the Scriptures. It is written in gold and silver letters on vellum stained a red purple. The art of thus staining vellum, perhaps with the murex, was afterwards lost, and in the 8th and 9th centuries was imitated by painting the vellum. After the 2d century art rapidly declined in the West, owing to the corruption and anarchy of the empire. It found a home, however, at Constantinople, where inter course with Persia resulted in a style which blends Oriental magnificence with Western vigour and variety, and is de stined, as we are about to see, to exercise a dominant in fluence upon the art of Europe for many centuries. This style, known as the Byzantine, is distinguished by very characteristic details, and by its lavish use of gold, especially in backgrounds. Meanwhile Christianity had been planted in remote Ireland, which proved such favour able soil that the isle was already at the beginning of the 6th century renowned for its learning and sanctity, and was the seat of numerous monasteries and seminaries, where a native style of art was developed, wholly distinct from any thing else which the world has seen. Its principal features are spirals, extremely ingenious plaits, and interlacements of attenuated lacertine animals and birds of conventional form. The human figure is sometimes introduced, but becomes objectionable, through the ignorance of drawing and of anatomy usually characteristic of semi-civilized attempts to portray the higher organisms. The work is further distinguished by a degree of minuteness, intricacy, and precision baffling to the modern draughtsman. It is seen in its highest perfection in the Book of A&quot;ells, pre served in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Lindisfarne Gospels in the British Museum. This style, known as the Celtic or Anglo-Celtic, was transplanted by Irish missionaries to Lindisfarne, Bobbio, St Gall, Wiirz- burg, Luxeuil, and other places, where volumes displaying this peculiar ornamentation are still treasured. The influ ence of Anglo-Celtic art is very apparent in the subsequent &quot; Carlovijigian style &quot; which arose in France and Germany under the fostering care of Charlemagne, and of Alcuin, whom he had invited to France to direct the progress of learning and the arts. The gospels found upon the knees of the great emperor when his tomb at Aix-la-Chupelle was opened, the gospels of St Servin de Toulouse, those of St Medard de Soissons, the Bible of San Calisto monastery at Rome, and the Harleian Codex aiireus of the British Museum are justly renowned examples of this majestic and magnificent style, in which the pages glow with gold and purple, and the Roman acanthus, Celtic in terlacements, and Byzantine details combine in harmoni ous variety. A text written wholly or partially in gold ink is another characteristic of the epoch. About this period too are found those gigantic initials which from containing figures relating to the text have been called in France Jlistoriees. A new style had also arisen in England, in which the debased Roman acanthus was largely developed. This conyentional foliage is here seen skilfully combined with gold bars, which surround the page, and forma border at the commencement of books, &amp;lt;tc. This style has been called the Opus An;/licum. It often displays a masterly free dom and spirit, and a peculiar &quot;fluttering outline,&quot; which also characterizes the spirited pen-drawings frequently found in MSS. of the period. The finest specimens of this style, among which are the benedictional of St Ethelwold, belonging to the duke of Devonshire, and a couple of vol-