CLASSICAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS.
_Illumination._
The mediaeval phrase _illuminated manuscript_ means a manuscript which is
"lighted up" with coloured decoration in the form of ornamental
initial-letters or painted miniatures. Dante speaks of "The art which in
Paris is called illuminating,"
_... quell' arte
Che alluminare è chiamata in Parisi_; _Purg._ XI. 80.
_Use of minium._
The important use that was made of red paint (_minium_) in the decoration
of manuscripts led to the painter being called a _miniator_, whence the
pictures that he executed in manuscripts were called _miniature_ or
_miniatures_. Finally the word _miniature_ was extended in meaning to imply
any painting on a _minute_ scale[21]. Originally, however, it was only
applied to the painted decorations of manuscripts.
_Egyptian miniatures._
The Egyptian manuscript "Books of the Dead" are very copiously illuminated
with painted miniatures, both in the form of ornamental borders along the
edge of the papyrus, and also with larger compositions which occupy the
whole depth of the roll.
It is difficult to say to what extent illuminated manuscripts were known to
the ancient Greeks, but they were certainly not uncommon in Rome towards
the close of the Republic; and it may fairly be assumed that it was from
the Greeks that the very inartistic Romans derived the custom of decorating
manuscripts with painted miniatures.
_Illustrations in Roman MSS._
Pliny tells us (_Hist. Nat._ XXXV. 11) that a number of manuscripts in the
library of M. Varro in the first century B.C. contained no less than 700
portraits of illustrious personages.
That the original manuscript of Vitruvius' work on _Architecture_ was
illustrated with explanatory pictures is shown by the frequent reference in
the text to these lost illustrations which are mentioned as being at the
end of the work; _e.g._ see III., _Praef._, 4.
A manuscript written in letters of gold is mentioned by Suetonius (_Nero_,
10); this was a copy of Nero's own poem which was publicly read aloud to an
audience on the Capitol, and was then deposited in the Temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus.
_Writing in gold._
Again, two centuries later the mother of Maximus, who was titular Caesar
from 235 to 238 A.D., is said to have given him a manuscript of Homer's
poems written in gold letters on purple vellum; see Jul. Capit., _Max.
Vita_.
There is, in short, abundant evidence to show that illuminated manuscripts
were common among the Romans of the Imperial period; and there is a very
strong probability that manuscripts decorated with miniatures were no less
frequent in the great libraries of the Ptolemies and of the Attalid kings,
in fact throughout the Greek world from the time of Alexander the Great
downwards, if not earlier still.
_Greek miniatures._
Some notion of the great beauty of the illustrations in Greek manuscripts
may perhaps be gathered from an examination of the masterly and delicately
graceful drawings incised in outline which decorate the finest of the Greek
bronze _cistae_. Nothing could surpass the perfect beauty of the outline
engravings on the so-called _Ficoronian cista_, which is now preserved in
the Museo del Collegio Romano in Rome. Part of this series representing
scenes from the adventures of the Argonauts is shown on fig. 1.
_Two sources of knowledge._
With regard to the general scheme of decoration in classical manuscripts,
we have the evidence of a few existing examples dating from about the time
of Constantine, and also a large number of copies of Roman
manuscript-pictures of earlier date than the third century A.D., which are
to be seen in various Italian and Byzantine manuscripts of the eleventh and
twelfth centuries.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Part of the drawing engraved on the bronze _cista_
of Ficoroni, dating from the early part of the fourth century B.C. A
beautiful example of Greek drawing.]
_Isolated pictures._
_Mediaeval method._
The evidence derived from these two sources leads to the conclusion that as
a rule the illuminations in classical manuscripts were treated as separate
pictures, each surrounded with a simple painted frame, and not closely
linked to the text in the characteristic mediaeval fashion. The mediaeval
method, by often introducing miniature paintings within the boundary of
large initial letters, and by surrounding the page with borders of foliage
which grow out of the chief initials of the text, makes the decoration an
essential part of the whole and creates a close union between the literary
and the ornamental parts of the book, which is very unlike the usual
ancient system of having a plainly written text with isolated miniature
paintings introduced at intervals throughout the pages of the book.
_Iliad of the 4th century._
_Manuscript of the Iliad at Milan_; of all existing Greek or Latin
manuscripts none gives a better notion of the style of illuminations used
in manuscripts of the best Graeco-Roman period than the fragments of
Homer's _Iliad_ which are preserved in the Biblioteca Ambrogiana in Milan.
These fragments consist of fifty-eight miniature paintings, which have been
cut out of a folio manuscript on vellum of Homer's _Iliad_, dating probably
from the latter part of the fourth century A.D. The mutilator of this
_codex_ seems only to have cared to preserve the pictures, and the only
portion of the text which still exists is about eight hundred not
consecutive lines which happen to be written on the backs of the paintings.
Great additional interest is given to this priceless fragment by the fact
that the miniatures are much older in style than the date of the manuscript
itself, and have evidently been copied from a much earlier Greek original.
_Older Greek style._
And more than that; these paintings take one back further still; their
rhythmical composition, the dignity of their motives, the simplicity of the
planes, and the general largeness of style which is specially noticeable in
some of the miniatures representing fighting armies of gods and heroes, all
suggest that we have here a record, weakened and debased though it may be,
of some grand series of mural decorations on a large scale, dating possibly
from the best period of Greek art.
_Hellenic models._
As is naturally the case with copies of noble designs executed at a period
of extreme decadence these paintings are very unequal in style, combining
feebleness of touch and coarseness of detail with great spirit in the
action of the figures and great dignity in the compositions, which have
numerous figures crowded without confusion of line, thus suggesting large
scale though the paintings are actually miniatures only five or six inches
long. The treatment of gods and heroes, especially Zeus, Apollo, Achilles
and others, has much that recalls fine Hellenic models. And some of the
personifications, such as _Night_ and the river _Scamander_, possess a
gracefulness of pose and beauty of form which was far beyond the conception
of any fourth century artist.
It should, however, be observed that a fine Hellenic origin is not
suggested by all the fifty-eight pictures from this _Iliad_. Some of them
are obviously of later and inferior style, with weak scattered
compositions, very unlike the nobility and decorative completeness of the
best among the miniatures.
_Scheme of colour._
With regard to the arrangement of these pictures, each is surrounded by a
simple frame formed of bands of blue and red; in most cases the miniatures
reach across the whole width of the page. The colouring is heavy, painted
in opaque _tempera_ pigments with an undue preponderance of _minium_ or red
lead. White lead, yellow, brown and red ochres are largely used, together
with a variety of vegetable colours and the purple-red of the _kermes_
beetle (_coccus_), but no gold is used, a bright yellow ochre being
employed as a substitute[22].
The costumes are partly ancient Greek and partly of later Roman fashion. A
nimbus encircles each deity's head, and different colours are used to
distinguish them. The nimbus of Zeus is purple, that of Venus is green;
those of the other gods are mostly blue. To a large extent the backgrounds
of the pictures are not painted, but the creamy white of the vellum is left
exposed[23].
_The Vatican Virgil._
_The Virgil of the Vatican_; next in importance to the Ambrosian _Iliad_,
among the existing examples of classical illuminated manuscripts, comes the
manuscript of Virgil's poems (_Vat._ No. 3225) which is supposed to have
been written in the third or more probably the fourth century A.D. The text
is written in large handsome capitals, well formed except that all the
cross lines are too short, T, for example being written thus [Symbol: T
with short curled arms].
The whole manuscript, but especially the _Aeneid_, is decorated with
pictures, fifty in all, each framed by a simple border of coloured bands.
The style of these miniatures is very different and artistically very
inferior to that of the Ambrosian _Iliad_.
_Miniatures of the 5th century._
The whole of the designs, in composition and drawing and in the costumes of
the figures, are those of the fourth century. The details are coarse, the
attitudes devoid of spirit, and the figures clumsy. The backgrounds are
painted in and the colouring is dull in tone and heavy in texture, put in
with a considerable body of pigment (_impasto_). Gold, not in leaf but as a
fluid pigment, is largely used for high lights on trees, mountains, roofs
of buildings, and for the folds of drapery, especially where the stuff is
red or purple. The male figures have flesh of a reddish-brown tint like
many of the Pompeian wall paintings; they wear short tunics with cloaks
thrown over the shoulders. Other figures wear a long _dalmatica_ or tunic,
ornamented with two vertical purple stripes, closely resembling the tunics
which have recently been found in such abundance in the late Roman tombs of
the Fayoum in Upper Egypt.
_Period of decadence._
On the whole the miniatures are neither graceful nor highly decorative;
they were executed at about the low water mark of classical artistic
decadence shortly before the Byzantine revival under Justinian. Much that
has been written in their praise must be attributed to antiquarian
enthusiasm rather than to just criticism[24].
[Illustration: Fig. 2. Miniature of classical design from a twelfth century
_Psalter_ in the Vatican library.]
Before passing on to another class of manuscripts it should be noted that
there is in existence one manuscript of the fourth or fifth century A.D.
which is of special interest on account of its being ornamented, not only
with miniature pictures, but also with some decorative designs of a stiff
conventional character. This is a Roman _Kalendar_, which forms part of a
manuscript in the Imperial library in Vienna. The ornaments have but little
decorative merit, but they are of interest as showing that the
illuminations in classical manuscripts were not always confined to the
subject pictures.
_Copies of lost originals._
It has not as a rule been sufficiently noticed that the style of miniature
paintings in manuscripts of a considerably earlier date than either the
Ambrosian _Iliad_ or the Vatican Virgil is very fairly represented in
various manuscripts of the tenth to the twelfth century, the illuminators
of which have evidently copied, as accurately as they were able, miniatures
in manuscripts of the first or second century A.D.
The originals of these early Roman manuscripts do not now exist, and
therefore the information as to their style and composition, which is given
in the mediaeval copies, is of great interest.
_Classical design._
_Graeco-Roman design._
A Greek twelfth century _Psalter_ in the Vatican library (No. 381) has one
special picture which is obviously a careful copy of a miniature painting
of the first century A.D. or even earlier: see fig. 2. The subject is
Orpheus seated on a rock playing to a circle of listening beasts together
with two nymphs and a youthful Faun or shepherd. These figures are arranged
so as to form a very graceful composition in a landscape with hills and
trees. The figures are extremely graceful both in outline and in pose,
showing a considerable trace of Greek influence. The whole design closely
resembles in style some of the wall paintings in the so-called "House of
Livia" on the Palatine Hill in Rome, of which fig. 3 shows the scene of Io
watched by Argus, and those in the now destroyed villa which was discovered
by the Tiber bank in the Farnesina Gardens[25], and many of the better
class of paintings on the walls of the houses of Pompeii. Of the latter a
good example is shown in fig. 4, a painting the design of which has much
fine Hellenic feeling in the grace of its form and the simplicity of the
composition.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. Painting in the "House of Livia" on the Palatine
Hill in Rome.]
_Orpheus made into David._
Returning now to the above mentioned _Psalter_ of the Vatican, the scribe,
probably a Greek monk, who in the twelfth century painted this
miniature[26], converted it into quite a different subject, that of David
playing on the harp, by the simple device of ticketing each figure with a
newly devised name. Orpheus is called "David," one of the Nymphs who sits
affectionately close to Orpheus, probably meant for his wife Eurydice, is
labelled "Sophia", "wisdom"; while the other two figures are converted into
local personifications to indicate the locality of the scene.
It is not often that a mediaeval copyist has thus preserved unaltered the
composition of a whole subject of classical and pre-Christian date, but it
is not uncommon to find single figures or parts of pictorial designs of
equally early date among the illuminations of the ninth to the twelfth
centuries.
_Graeco-Roman personifications._
As an example of this we may mention one painting in a Greek _Psalter_ of
the tenth century in the Paris library (_Bibl. Nat._ No. 139). This
represents the Prophet Isaiah standing, gazing up to heaven, in a very
beautiful landscape with trees growing from a richly flower-spangled sward.
The somewhat stiff figure of the Prophet is Byzantine[27] rather than
Classical in style, but the other two figures which are introduced are
purely Graeco-Roman in design. On one side is a personification of Night
([Greek: NUX]), a very graceful standing female figure with part of her
drapery floating in the wind, forming a sort of curved canopy over her
head, such as is so often represented above the heads of goddesses or
nymphs on the reliefs of fine Graeco-Roman sarcophagi.
On the other side of the Prophet is a winged boy, like a youthful Eros,
bearing a torch to symbolize the dawn.
[Illustration: Fig. 4. A Pompeian painting of Hellenic style, as an example
of Greek drawing and composition.]
_Classical style._
The bold and very decorative, yet almost realistic treatment of the foliage
of the trees and of the flowers which are sprinkled among the grass is
purely classical in style, and the whole miniature shows that the tenth
century illuminator had before him some very fine manuscript of early
Imperial date. From this he has selected a picture which might by omissions
and modifications be adapted to his subject; and for the figure of the
Prophet he has fallen back on another less ancient original, but still one
which must have been several centuries older than his own time.
This is the explanation of what at first seems so strange a union in the
same painting of very graceful single figures by the side of others which
are rigid and awkward; and again, great skill shown in the drawing of the
individual figures combined with a feeble and clumsy arrangement of the
whole composition.
_Byzantine style._
Fig. 5 shows a miniature of very similar style representing the Prophet
Ezechiel in the Valley of dry bones. It is taken from a manuscript of the
_Sermons_ of Saint Gregory Nazianzen, which was written for the Byzantine
Emperor Basil who reigned from 867 to 886. This figure chiefly illustrates
the Byzantine, not the Classical element in the miniatures of this mixed
style of art, though there is also a clear trace of Graeco-Roman influence
in the finely designed drapery of the Prophet.
The curious union of two utterly different styles is well exemplified in
another of the miniatures in the last mentioned _Psalter_. Here David is
represented like a Byzantine Emperor crowned and wearing the richly
embroidered _toga picta_, and holding an open book. The figure might well
pass for a representation of the Emperor Justinian, and the original
painting was probably of that date, of the early part of the sixth century.
_Graeco-Roman figures._
On each side of the Byzantine David is a female figure draped with most
gracefully designed folds of pure Graeco-Roman style, a most striking
contrast to the central figure. Who these ladies represented in the
original manuscript it is impossible to say, but the painter who in the
tenth century illuminated the _Psalter_ called them _Wisdom_ and
_Prophecy_, writing by them the names _Sophia_ and _Prophetia_.
[Illustration: Fig. 5. The Prophet Ezechiel from a Byzantine manuscript of
the ninth century A.D.]
_Value of late copies._
Many other examples might be given to show that a truer notion of classical
illuminated manuscripts of the best Graeco-Roman style can be gained from a
study of the works of mediaeval copyists than from manuscripts which,
though older, are of late and debased style like the famous illuminated
Virgil of the Vatican[28].
After Rome had ceased to be the seat of government, Constantinople became
the chief centre for the production of illuminated manuscripts[29], but
nevertheless the older classical style of drawing to some extent did
survive in Italy, though in a very debased form, down to the thirteenth
century, when Cimabue and his pupil Giotto inaugurated the brilliant
Renaissance of Italian painting.
_Classical survival._
The _Gospels_, for example, which St Augustine is said to have brought with
him to Britain in 597 A.D., have paintings, enthroned figures of the
Evangelists, which in design and colour are purely of late Roman style,
unchanged by the then wide-spread influence of Byzantine art.