St. Paul that which is written to Philemon, deny that the Apostles spoke
everything and at all times under the inspiration of Christ. Because
neither ...]
[Illustration: Fig. 342.--Diplomatic Writing of the Tenth Century, from
a Charter of Hugh Capet. (Archives of the Empire.)
This Fac-simile gives only half the length of the lines.
TEXT (completely restored.)--_In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis,
Hugo gratia Dei Francorum rex. [Mos et consuetudo regum prædecessorum
nostrorum semper exstitit ut ecclesias Dei sublimarent et justis
petitioni]bus servorum Dei clementer faverent, et oppression[em eorum
benigne sublevarent, ut Deum propitium] haberent, eujus amore id
fecissent. Hujus rei grati[a, auditis clamoribus venerabilis Abbonis
abbatis] monasterii S. Mariæ, S. Petri et S. Benedicti Flori[acensis et
monachorum sub eo degentium, nostram] presentiam adeuntium, pro malis
consuetudi[nibus et assiduis rapinis_ ...
TRANSLATION.--In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Hugh, by
the grace of God, King of the Francs.
The custom and habit of the kings our predecessors has always been to
honour the churches of God, and to show themselves mercifully favourable
to the just petitions of the servants of God, and to deliver them kindly
from oppression, so that God might be propitious to them, for the love
of whom they thus acted. For this cause, having heard the complaints of
the venerable Abbon, Abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady, St. Peter and
St. Benedict, of Fleury-sur-Loire, and those of the monks living under
his direction, and who came into our presence, on account of the bad
customs and continual rapines ...]
[Illustration: Fig. 343.--Cursive Writing of the Fifteenth Century,
after an Original Letter, taken from “Recueil des Lettres de Rois.”
(Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Messeigneurs et freres, si tres humblement que faire puis a voz
bonnes graces me recommande. Messeigneurs, j’ay receu, voz lettres par
le present porteur: ensemble la requeste et arrest de la court par
icelle ensuivy. J’ay le tout communiqué a messeigneurs les generaulx de
Langue doil et Normandie, et nous avons souuant esté ensemble. Ilz
trouuent bien estrange, aussi font daultres, qui zelent le bien et
honneur de la chambre ausquelz pareillement_ ...
TRANSLATION.--My lords and brothers, I commend myself as humbly as
possible to your good graces. My lords, I received your letters by the
bearer of this, together with the petition and the decree of the court
accompanying them. I communicated the whole to my lords the generals of
La Langue d’Oil and of Normandy, and we have often conferred together on
the matter. They think it very strange, as do others also, who are
zealous for the good and the honour of the chamber, to which equally
...]
[Illustration: Fig. 344.--Writing of the Fourteenth Century, after a
Manuscript of “L’Histoire Romaine;” being a paraphrase of the text of
Valerius Maximus. (Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Eadem, &c._--GLOSE. _Ceste histoire touche Titus Liuius ou quint
liure. Pourquoy il est assauoir que ou temps que les Gals auoient prise
Romme et assis le Capitole, si comme il est dit deuant, il y auoit
dedens le Capitole un jeune homme qui auoit non Gayus Fabius qui estoit
de la lignie des Fabiens. Et pour auoir la congnoissance de ceste lignie
est assauoir aussi que il y ot asses pres de Romme jadis une cite qui
estoit appelee Gabinia: laquele cite apres moult de inconueniens se
rendi a Romme par tel conuenant que il seroient citoiens de Romme._
TRANSLATION.--Eadem, &c.--GLOSE. Livy, in his fifth book, touches on
this history. We must know that at the time when the Gauls had taken
Rome and besieged the Capitol, as was said above, there was in the
Capitol a young man named Caius Fabius, and who was of the Fabian race;
and to know this race we must also know that there was formerly near
Rome a town called Gabinia; which town, after many vicissitudes,
surrendered to Rome, on the condition that all its inhabitants should be
considered as citizens of Rome.]
[Illustration: Fig. 345.--Fac-simile of the Inscription _Ex libris_,
&c., in the beginning of a Manuscript executed by John Flamel, Scribe
and Librarian to the Duke de Berry, at the end of the Fourteenth
Century.
(Imperial Library, Paris.)
TEXT.--_Ceste Bible est a Monseigneur le Duc de Berry._
FLAMEL.
TRANSLATION.--This Bible belongs to Monseigneur the Duke de Berry.
FLAMEL.
NOTE.--The Duke de Berry, John, brother of King Charles V., and uncle to
King Charles VI., was a great amateur of fine books. He spent very large
sums in having manuscripts copied and illuminated. The Imperial Library,
Paris, preserves a large number of the most valuable of them.]
[Illustration: Fig. 346.--Writing of the Fifteenth Century, after the
First Page of a Breviary. (Royal Library, Brussels.)
TEXT.--_Sabbato in aduentu Domini, ad vesperas, super psalmos antiphona,
Benedictus, psalmus, ipsum cum ceteris antiphonis et psalmis. Infra
capitulum._
_Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo Dauid germen._
TRANSLATION.--On Saturday in Advent, at vespers, before the psalms
chanted alternately, (comes) the hymn Benedictus, with the other
antiphons and psalms. After the lesson ...
“Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I will restore the seed
of David.”]
[Illustration: Fig. 347.--Design of a Caligraphic Ornament taken from a
Charter of the University of Paris.
(Fifteenth Century.)]
MINIATURES IN MANUSCRIPTS.
Miniatures at the Beginning of the Middle Ages.--The two “Vatican”
Virgils.--Painting of Manuscripts under Charlemagne and Louis le
Débonnaire.--Tradition of Greek Art in Europe.--Decline of the
Miniature in the Tenth Century.--Origin of Gothic Art.--Fine
Manuscript of the time of St. Louis.--Clerical and Lay
Miniature-Painters.--Caricature and the Grotesque.--Miniatures in
Monochrome and in Grisaille.--Illuminators at the Court of France
and to the Dukes of Burgundy.--School of John Fouquet.--Italian
Miniature-Painters.--Giulo Clovio.--French School under Louis XII.
Contemporaneous, almost, with the idea which first caused oral
traditions, chronicles, speeches, and poetry to be collected together
under the form and name of _book_, is the art of ornamenting manuscripts
with miniatures. Our intention is not to go back to the sources--as
obscure as they are distant--of that art, but only to point out its
principal phases of improvement or of decay during the Middle Ages.
The most ancient known miniatures date from the very commencement of
that period which is generally called the Middle Ages; that is to say,
from the third and fourth centuries. These paintings, of which there
exist but two or three specimens in the libraries of Europe,
nevertheless offer, in their correctness and masterly beauty, the great
characteristics of ancient Art. The most celebrated are those of the
“Virgil,” preserved in the Vatican Library (Fig. 348), a manuscript long
celebrated among learned men for the authenticity of its text. Another
“Virgil,” of the date of about a century later, and which, before its
presentation to the Pope, was one of the most beautiful ornaments of the
ancient library of the Abbey of St. Denis, in France, contains paintings
not less remarkable in respect of colour, but very inferior as far as
drawing and the style of the compositions are concerned. These two
incomparable examples are sufficient in themselves to show the state of
the painting of manuscripts at the beginning of the Middle Ages.
[Illustration: Fig. 348.--Miniature taken from the “Virgil” in the
Library of the Vatican, Rome.
(Third or Fourth Century.)]
The sixth and seventh centuries have left us no books with miniatures;
the utmost we find at that period are some capital letters embellished
by caligraphy. In the eighth century, on the contrary, the ornaments
were multiplied, and some rather elegant paintings can be pointed out;
the fact is, under the reign of Charlemagne a movement of renovation
took place in the Arts as in literature: the Latin writing, which had
become illegible, was reformed, and the style of painting manuscripts
assumed something of the form of the fine antique examples still extant
at that period. (Fig. 350.)
[Illustration: Fig. 349.--Painted Capital letters, taken from
Manuscripts of the Eighth or Ninth Century.]
[Illustration: Fig. 350.--Border, taken from a Book of the Gospels of
the Eighth Century. (Library of Vienna).]
If we would have an idea of the heaviness and the ungraceful character
of the writing and of the ornaments which accompanied it before the
period of Charlemagne, it will suffice to examine Fig. 349. “It was then
quite time,” says M. Aimé Champollion-Figeac, “that the salutary
influence exercised by the illustrious monarch made itself felt in the
Arts as well as in letters.” The first manuscripts which seem to bear
witness to this progress are first a sacramentary, said to be that of
Gellonius, the allegorical paintings of which are of great interest in
the history of Christian symbolism; and a Book of the Gospels, now in
the Louvre: the latter is said to have belonged to the great emperor
himself, and we reproduce one of the paintings from it (Fig. 351). We
may mention, as of the ninth century, many Books of the Gospels, in one
of which, given by Louis le Débonnaire to the Abbey St. Médard de
Soissons, the purest Byzantine style shows itself; then the Bible called
the “Metz” Bible, in which are paintings of large dimensions, remarkable
for the felicitous groupings of the figures and for the beauty of the
draperies. One of these miniatures excites an interest quite peculiar,
inasmuch as King David, who is represented in it, is but a copy of an
ancient Apollo, round whom the artist has personified Courage, Justice,
Prudence, &c.
Let us mention still further two Bibles and a book of prayers, the last
containing a very fine portrait of the king, Charles the Bald, to whom
it belonged; and lastly, two books really worth attention, on account of
the delicacy and freedom of the outline drawings, for the attitudes of
the characters represented, and for the draperies, which resemble those
of ancient statues. These books are a “Terence,” preserved in the
Imperial Library, Paris, number 7,899 in the catalogue; and a
“Lectionary of the Cathedal of Metz,” from which the
[Illustration: Fig. 351.--Miniature from the Book of the Gospels of
Charlemagne.
(Manuscript in the Library of the Louvre.)]
border (Fig. 352) is taken. While in France the art of painting
manuscripts had progressed so much as to produce some perfect models of
delicacy and taste, Germany had never got beyond the simplest
compositions, as we see in the “Paraphrase on the Gospels,” in Theotisc
(the old Teutonic language), belonging to the Library of Vienna.
[Illustration: Fig. 352.--Border of a Lectionary in the Cathedral of
Metz. (Ninth Century.)]
The artistic traditions of the ancients in the ninth century are
attested by the manuscripts of Christian Greece, whereof the Imperial
Library, Paris, possesses many magnificent specimens, at the head of
which we must place the “Commentaries of Gregory Nazianzus,” ornamented
with an infinite number of paintings, in which all the resources of
ancient art are applied to the representation of Christian subjects
(Fig. 353). The heads of the characters portrayed are admirably
expressive, and of the finest style; the colouring of the miniatures is
warm and soft; the costumes, the representations of buildings and of the
accessories, offer, moreover, very interesting subjects of study.
Unfortunately, these paintings were executed on a very crumbling
surface, which has in many places peeled off: it is sad to see one of
the most precious monuments of Greek and Christian Art in a deplorable
state of dilapidation.
The masterpiece of the tenth century, which again is due to the artists
of Greece, is a “Psalter, with Commentaries,” belonging also to the
Imperial Library (number 139 among the Greek manuscripts), a work in
which the miniature-painter seems not to have been able to disengage
himself from the Pagan creeds in illustrating Biblical episodes. Two
celebrated manuscripts of the same time, but executed in France, and
preserved in the same collection, show, by the stiffness and
incorrectness of the drawing, that the impetus given by the genius of
Charlemagne had abated: these are the “Bible de Noailles,” and the
“Bible de St. Martial,” of Limoges (Fig. 355).
To speak truly, if in France there was a decadency, the Anglo-Saxon and
Visigothic artists of this period
[Illustration: Fig. 353.--Miniature of the Ninth Century, extracted from
the “Commentaries of Gregory Nazianzus,” representing the consecration
of a Bishop. (Large folio Manuscript in the Imperial Library, Paris.)]
were also very inferior, to judge from a Latin Book of the Gospels of
the tenth century painted in England (Fig. 356); it, however, proves
that the art of ornamenting books had degenerated less than that of
drawing the human figure. Another manuscript with paintings, called
Visigothic, containing the Apocalypse of St. John, gives, in its
fantastic ornaments and animals, an example of the strange style adopted
by a certain school of miniature-painters.
[Illustration: Fig. 354.--Fac-smile of a Miniature drawn with the pen,
taken from a Bible of the Eleventh Century. (Imperial Library, Paris.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 355.--Border taken from the Bible of St. Martial of
Limoges. (Tenth Century.)]
Germany now began to improve in the art of painting miniatures. It owed
this happy result to the emigration of Greek artists, who came to the
German court to take refuge from the troubles of the East. The progress
accomplished in this part of Europe shows itself in the drawing of the
figures of a German Book of the Gospels of the beginning of the eleventh
century, a work very superior to that of the Teutonic Book of the
Gospels just referred to. The border of which we give a fac-simile in
Fig. 357 shows also a certain degree of improvement; it is taken from a
Book of the Gospels of the same period, preserved in the Royal Library,
Munich.
[Illustration: Fig. 356.--Border taken from a Book of the Gospels in
Latin, executed in England. (Tenth Century.)]
[Illustration: Fig. 357.--Border taken from a Book of the Gospels of the
beginning of the Eleventh Century. In the Royal Library, Munich.]
But in France, to foreign invasions and to misfortunes of all kinds,
which, since the death of Charlemagne, had afflicted the country, was
added the terror caused by the general expectation that the world was
coming to an end at the expiration of the first millennial. People were,
therefore, otherwise employed than in ornamenting books. Accordingly,
this epoch is one of the most barren in religious or other paintings.
Fig. 358 represents the last degree of abasement in this art. Nothing in
the world could be more barbarous, nor farther removed from all
sentiment of the beautiful, and even from the instinctive idea of
drawing. Ornamentation, however, remained sufficiently good, although
under very heavy forms, as the Sacramentary of Æthelgar, which is
preserved in the Library of Rouen, shows (Fig. 359). The decadency,
however, seems to have come to a stop in France towards the end of the
eleventh century, if we judge of the art from paintings, executed in
1060, and contained in a Latin manuscript, bearing the number 818, in
the Imperial Library.
[Illustration: Fig. 358.--Miniature taken from a Missal of the Beginning
of the Eleventh Century.
(Imperial Library, Paris, No. 821.)]
In the manuscripts of the twelfth century, the influence of the Crusades
made itself already felt. At this period, the East regenerated in some
sort the West in all that concerned arts, sciences, and literature. Many
examples witness that the painting of manuscripts was not the last to
undergo this singular transformation. Everything the imagination could
invent of the most fantastic was particularly brought into play to give
to the Latin letters a peculiar character--imitated, moreover, from the
ornaments of Saracenic architecture. This practice was even applied to
public acts and documents, as Fig. 360 proves; it represents some of the
initial letters in the “Rouleau Mortuaire” of St. Vital. Callot, in his
“Temptation of St. Anthony,” has, we think, imagined nothing stranger
than the figure we give; a demon standing on the back of Cerberus forms
the vertical line in the letter T; while two other demons, whose feet
are in the mouth of the first, form the two lateral branches of the
letter.
[Illustration: Fig. 359.--Border taken from the Sacramentary of
Æthelgar. (Rouen Library.)]
In the thirteenth century, Saracenic or Gothic art universally
prevailed. Everywhere figures assumed gaunt, elongated forms;
coats-of-arms invaded the miniatures; but the colouring was of
marvellous purity and brightness; burnished gold, applied with the
greatest skill, stood out from blue or purple backgrounds which even in
our own day have lost nothing of their original freshness.
[Illustration: Fig. 360.--Initial Letters extracted from the “Rouleau
Mortuaire” of St. Vital, Twelfth Century.
(Imperial Archives of France.)]
Among the most remarkable manuscripts of this century we must mention a
Psalter in five colours, containing the French, Hebrew, and Roman
versions, with some commentaries (Imperial Library, No. 1,132 _bis_).
One should analyse the greater number of subjects depicted in this
manuscript to understand all their importance; we will mention only that
among them are sieges of towns, Gothic fortresses, interiors of Italian
banking-houses, various musical instruments, &c. There is, perhaps, no
other manuscript which equals this in the richness, the beauty, and
multiplicity of its paintings: it contains ninety-nine large miniatures,
independently of ninety-six
[Illustration: Fig. 361.--Facsimile of a Miniature of a Psalter, of the
Thirteenth Century, representing warlike, scientific, commercial, and
agricultural Works. (Imperial Library, Paris.)]
medallions representing divers episodes suggested by the text of the
Psalms (Fig. 361). After this psalter we must place the Breviary of St.
Louis, or rather of Queen Blanche, formerly preserved in the Arsenal
Library, Paris, and now in the Musée des Souverains; a celebrated
manuscript which has, on folio 191, this inscription: “C’est le Psautier
monseigneur St. Loys, lequel fu à sa mère.”[57] But the volume is not
rich in large miniatures. We observe in it, however, a calendar
ornamented with small subjects very delicately executed, representing
the labours appropriate to each month, according to the seasons of the
year. The character of the paintings exhibits a style anterior to the
reign of Louis IX.; and it is supposed, indeed, that this book first
belonged to the mother of that king.
We must now mention another Psalter, which was actually used by St.
Louis; as is proved not only by an inscription at the beginning of the
volume, but still further by the fleurs-de-lis of the king, the arms of
Blanche of Castile, his mother, and perhaps also _les pals de gueules_
of Margaret of Provence, his wife. Nothing can equal the beautiful
preservation of the miniatures in this volume, which contains
seventy-eight subjects, with as many explanatory texts in French. The
heads of the characters, though almost microscopic, have nevertheless,
generally, a fine expression.
[Illustration: Fig. 362.--A Border taken from a Gospel in Latin, of the
Thirteenth Century.
(Imperial Library, Paris.)]
The “Livre de Clergie,” which bears the date of 1260, merits far less
attention: so does the “Roman du Roi Artus,” No. 6,963, in the Imperial
Library, Paris, executed in 1276. But we must point out two of the most
beautiful examples of this period, a Book of the Gospels in Latin, No.
665 in the Supplement, Imperial Library, from which we have borrowed an
elegant border (Fig. 362), and the “Roman du Saint-Graal,” No. 6,769,
also in the Imperial Library.
Italy was then at the head of civilisation in everything; it had
particularly inherited the grand traditions of painting which had gone
to sleep for ever in Greece only to wake up again in Europe.
[Illustration: Fig. 363.--Facsimile of a Miniature of the Thirteenth
Century, representing a scene of an old Romance: the beautiful Josiane,
disguised as a female juggler, playing a Welsh air on the _Rote_
(Fiddle), to make herself known to her friend Bewis. (Imperial Library,
Paris.)]
Here we must introduce a remark, the result of a general examination of
the manuscripts bequeathed to us by the thirteenth century; namely, that
the miniatures in sacred books are much more beautifully and carefully
executed than those of the romances of chivalry and the chronicles of
the same period (Figs. 363 and 364). Must we attribute this superiority
to the power of religious inspiration? Must we suppose that in the
monasteries alone clever artists met with sufficient remuneration?
Before answering these questions, or rather as an answer to them, let us
remember that in those days religious institutions absorbed nearly all
the social intellectual movement, as well as the effective possession of
material riches, if not of territorial property. Solely occupied with
distant wars or intestine quarrels which impoverished them, the nobles
were altogether unable to become protectors of literature and Art. In
the abbeys and convents were lay-brethren who sometimes had taken no
vow, but whose fervent spirits, burning with poetical imagination,
sought in the monastic retreat redemption from their past sins: these
men of faith were happy to consecrate their whole existence to the
ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the community which
gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life.
[Illustration: Fig 364.--The Four Sons of Aymon on their good Steed,
Bayart. From a Miniature in the Romance of the “Four Sons of Aymon,” a
Manuscript of the Thirteenth Century. (Imperial Library, Paris.)]
This explains the absence of the names of the miniature-painters in
ancient manuscripts, particularly in those which are written in Latin.
However, when romances and chronicles in the vulgar tongue began to come
into fashion, artists of great talent eagerly presented themselves to be
engaged by princes and nobles who wished to have this sort of books
ornamented; but the anonymous which these lay artists generally
preserved is explained by the circumstance that in most cases they were
considered only as artistic assistants in the lordly houses where they
were employed, and in which they fulfilled some other domestic duty; for
instance, Colard de Laon, the favourite painter of Louis of Orleans, was
also valet-de-chambre to this prince; Pietro Andrea, another artist,
doubtless an Italian, to judge from his Christian name, was
gentleman-usher; and we see this
[Illustration: Fig. 365.--Miniature taken from the “Roman de Fauvel”
(Fifteenth Century), representing Fauvel, or the Fox, reprimanding a
Widow who has married again, and to whom is being given a Serenade of
Rough Music.
(Imperial Library, Paris.)]
same painter “sent from Blois to Tours, to procure certain matters for
the accouchment of Madame the Duchess;” or again, “from Blois to
Romorantin, to inquire after Madame d’Angoulesme, who was reported to be
very unwell.”