Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/41

* MANUSCRIPTS. 27 MANUSCRIPTS. really originated and dtvclopod. Tlip intliience of Byzantine art is shown in the clear outlines, the solid strong coloring, the small-sized figures, the simplicity of accessories, and the good taste shown in every particular. Of course the orna- ments and other details were adapted from the Gothic style of architecture, with growing realism in the use of plants and llowers. A Fsultcr of Saint Louis is the earliest masterpiece of the type so familiar to the strong style of stained glass windows. In the course of the fourteenth century a lighter scheme was introduced, with delicate shading instead of flat tints, with more detail and expression. This French Gothic school was extremely systematic in its use of subjects— j in this as in the larger arts — and it originated the type of the Bible Historice, corresponding to the German Biblia Patipcnim, with its great ■wealth of illustrations. The other main class of religious illuminated manuscripts was the Book of Hours or prayer-book. Such works, executed for the use of royal and feudal personages, were the most exquisite products of the school. But the field of subjects was immeasurably enlarged beyond the religious sphere, which had hitherto reigned alone. Works of poetry and legend, of history and literature of every kind, were deco- rated as a matter of course with illuminations. Other countries followed timidly and awkward- ly in the wake of France, adopting her Gothic style in this as in other branches of art. Still, though England, Germany, and the Netherlands had flourishing schools, there was a lack of orig- inality and far less perfection of design and color. In France itself the latter part of the four- teenth century saw a further approach to the methods of naturalistic painting. Exquisite bor- ders of elaborate floral patterns commonly in- closed the entire page, often enlivened by little birds, animals, and figures. Contemporary cos- tume, furniture, and other accessories are repro- duced with minute fidelity. Brush work is evi- dent in the modeling, and faces are exquisitely treated. Work in monochrome, in the light /irisaille, and in cnma'ieu became popular. The libraries of King Charles V. and of the dukes of Berry, Anjou, and Burgundy were cnriclied with many illuminated manuscripts, often by Court illuminators — missals, gospels, psalters, brevi- aries, books of hours, romances, poems, treatises on falconry, jousting, astronomy, physics. The number of illuminations in some of these works can be judged by the fact that a Bible done for the Duke of Burgimdy contained over 2500 pic- tures. The great public and private collections testify to the enormous productivity of the French schools during the latter part of the thirteenth and the whole of the fourteenth cen- tury. It was at this time that two influences are noticeable: that of Italy and that of Flanders. The Italian Giottesque revival extended to illu- mination, and Giotto's contemporary, the Sienese master Simone Mcmnii. executed illustrations to Vergil and to Petrarch in a simple broad style, im- ported from wall-painting, which henceforth char- acterized Italian illuminating. The manuscript statutes of the Order of the Holy Ghost illustrate the development of this school. When the popes established themselves at Avignon the Italian miniaturists with them began to influence the French artists. On the other hand, the powerful Vol. XIH.— 3. school of Flanders began to dominate French art on the northern side, in this as in other branches, with tendency to heaviness, realism, and portrait- ure, especially remarkable in the following cen- tury. The fifteenth century still belongs to the golden age in the West. In France, except for a few exceptional men who adopted the Renaissance style, led by Fouquet, the Gothic manner still ruled supreme. Here it was the feudal nobles and the royal family, and not the churches or monasteries, for whom nearly all the master- pieces were executed : the Books of Bours or prayer-books were especially beautiful. Those of Philip the Good of Burgimdy, at The Hague, and those of Charles the Bold and !Mary of Bur- gundy, at Vienna, are typical of Flemish art, which was taking the lead in powerful natural- ism. The Breviary of the Duke of Bedford (c. 1430) shows Franco- Flemish art in the service of England. The Hours executed for Chevalier and the Jewish Antiquities of Josephus are among the masterpieces of Fouquet, even more great as a painter than miniaturist, who combined the pure Italian Renaissance with North French realism. In Bohemia also the art was royally patronized by EmiX'ror Charles IV. and his son Wenceslas, while King Jlatthias Corvinus of Hungary helped develop the genius of some of the greatest Italian miniaturists. Renaissance. Italy forged to the front during this centuiy. The Sforzas at jNIilan, the dukes of Ferrara, the royal House of Naples, the Medici at Florence were the greatest patrons besides the cathedral churches. The Cathedral of Siena still has the finest collection of illuminated missals and choir books decorated by Liberale da Verona, Girolamo da Cremona, Francesco di Lorenzo, Roselli, and other leading artists. But the great- est of all artists was Attavante, some of whose work can be seen at Florence (in the Cathedral), beside that of Gherardo, of Strozzi, the pupil of Fra Angel ico, and others. Some of Attavante's greatest masterpieces were executed for JIatthias Corvinus (e.g. Missal of 1485-87). This Italian school did not aim at the delicate French effects. It remained broader; preferred to use large capital letters to frame its compositions; aimed at simplicity of composition with few figures. The invention of printing, while it limited the scope of illumination by greatly diminishing the demand for manuscripts, did not at once give it its death blow. Printed books were often at first illuminated with initials or pictures added by hand in spaces left for them, a practice that lasted even into the first decade of the sixteenth century. Quite as fatal was the introduction of foreign methods into the art, borrowed from fresco and oil painting. The old simplicity and aloofness from naturalism gave way to attempts at effects that were totally foreign to the true spirit of illumination: shading and delicacy of coloring, imitation of natural objects, importance given to perspective and accessories. The works of Raphael's pupil. Oiulio Clovio. are the most charming of this mistaken school. Prominent among the works of the old school is the some- what earlier Grimani Brrriari/ (c, 1477) in Ven- ice, so long ascribed to Mcmling, the last master- piece of the Flemish school. In France the famous Missal of. ne of Brittany (1508, Saint Petersburg Library) is the expiring effort of the national school, which was succeeded by the