illuminated manuscripts a brief history of the birth of illustration
TRANSCRIPT
Illuminated ManuscriptsA Brief History of the Birth of Illustration
Definition and BeginningsEarliest surviving script from
AD 400-600
Most date back to the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
Defined as a text supplemented with decorations such as initials, borders, and small illustrations. Refers originally to those decorated with gold or silver.
How They Were MadeTypically made on
papyrus or vellumText written firstSilverpoint drawings of
design were madeGold dots applied then
application of colorsMargins painted
The Purpose of Illumination
Wealthy individuals commissioned them as a sign of status in the community.
Monasteries would commission them for their church libraries or be commissioned for the founding of a new church.
The Birth of IllustrationThe artists that created the images for
manuscripts was called an ‘Illuminator’Some artists opened shops for selling
their skills to design ‘illumination’
• Often were monks who specialized in the production of manuscripts in separate areas called ‘scriptoriums’
The Transition to Now
Illuminated manuscripts became too costly to create when compared with the new and cheaper method of book production (Enter: The Printing Press) so they fell out of favor.
Illuminators now had to find a way to adapt, so they gradually became ‘illustrators’ that designed and created images for books and other texts that were being generated with the dawn of the printing era.