J. Henry Middleton

“ Among the greatest marvels of human skill that have ever been produced are some of the very small Books of Hours which were executed for the merchant princes of Florence and Venice and for other wealthy Italian patrons. The borders in these frequently have minute figures of Cupid-like angels (amorini) playing among decorative foliage, or birds and animals, such as fawns, cheetahs and the like, designed with an amount of grace and modelled with a microscopic refinement of touch that no words can adequately describe. ”

“ As has been already mentioned, the old classical forms survived in the manuscript miniatures of Italy for many centuries with but little alteration.
A slow, but steady degradation in the forms of classic art began to take place about the fifth or sixth century; the fact being that no art can for long remain stationary; there must be either advance or decay, and when the habit of copying older forms has once become the established rule an artistic degradation soon becomes inevitable.
Italian decadence. ”

“ The influx of Greek exiles into Florence, after the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, led to the famous revival of classical learning, and for a while made Florence not only the artistic but the intellectual centre of the world. ”

“ All through the fifteenth century, alike in the manuscripts of the Florentine, Sienese and Venetian schools, the same purely conventional forms of foliage were used, with great curling leaves, alternately blue and red, lighted up by the jewel-like studs and bosses of burnished gold. ”

“ Parma, Modena and Cremona also were thriving centres of the illuminators art; in fact wherever in Italy there was a school of painting a subsidiary school of manuscript miniaturists seems also to have existed. The two classes of painting acted and reacted upon one another; and in some cases, as is indicated below [24] , the more important art of painting on a large scale owed more to the manuscript illuminators than has commonly been acknowleged.
School of Milan. Milan, especially under Duke Ludovico and other members of the Sforza family, was an active centre of manuscript illumination. ”

“ In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries many magnificent illuminations were produced in Spain and Portugal, but they are mainly imitations either of Italian or of Flemish miniatures. In earlier times in Northern Spain the influence of France was paramount, and in Southern Spain the beautiful "Saracenic" art of the Moorish conquerors influenced all branches of the fine arts, including that of manuscript illumination.
Moslem influence. To some extent the same Moslem influence is apparent in the decorative borders of Sicilian and Venetian manuscripts, especially during the fifteenth century. ”

“ For delicacy of touch, for intricate beauty of ornament, and for decorative splendour in the use of gold and colour, these Oriental manuscripts are, in their own way, unsurpassed.
Persian MSS. In the orthodox Sunni manuscripts miniatures with figure subjects do not occur, but are lavishly used in the manuscripts of the Persians and other members of the Sufi sect. The drawing of the human form is without the dignity and grace that is to be seen in Western manuscripts, but as pieces of decoration the Oriental miniatures are of high merit. ”

“ Illumination from an Italian manuscript executed for the Countess Matilda in the twelfth century; this illustrates the extreme decadence of art in Italy before the thirteenth century. MS. of Giotto's school. One of the finest manuscripts of the Florentine school, executed by an unknown miniatore of the school of Giotto, is a Missal in the Chapter library of the Canons of Saint Peter's in Rome. The arms of the donor, repeated several times among the floreated borders, show that the manuscript was illuminated for Giotto's patron Cardinal Gaetano Stefaneschi, probably between 1330 and 1340. ”

“ Though the miniatures are poor, the writing of the text and the music might well pass for the work of a fifteenth century scribe.↑ A valuable but by no means exhaustive list of manuscript illuminators is given by J. W. Bradley, Dictionary of Miniaturists, Illuminators and Caligraphers, London, 1887. The names of Italian miniaturists are specially numerous, partly because Italian manuscripts are more frequently signed by their illuminators than the manuscripts of other countries. ”

“ Visit of Leo X. In later times Pope Leo X., who, like other members of the Medici family, was an enthusiastic lover of illuminated manuscripts, when on a visit to the Monastery, desired to carry away to the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome some of these choir-books by the hand of Don Lorenzo [8] .
Dominican painters. The Dominican Convent of San Marco in Florence, where the famous Florentine painter Fra Beato Angelico [9] was a Friar, possesses, or till quite recently did possess, a magnificent collection of choir-books richly illuminated with miniatures by various members of the Convent. ”

“ The manuscripts of this period are not unworthy of the general artistic glories of the time, and in some cases their technical qualities bear witness to an almost superhuman amount of dexterity and patience. ”

“ In most cases they resemble large oil paintings reduced to a microscopic scale; the figures are commonly feeble imitations either of large pieces of contemporary tapestry or else of painting in Michel Angelo's grandiose style, both of which of course were utterly unsuited for miniatures in a manuscript [29] .
The Vatican MSS. The Manuscripts in the Vatican Library. The Archives of the Vatican library contain a number of records of the development of the library during the sixteenth century and later [30] . ”

“ J. W. Bradley, Life of Giulio Clovio, London, 1891, gives an interesting account of him and of his times; see also Vasari, Ed. Milanesi, Vol. VII. p. 557.↑ The ex-king of Naples' library possesses a Book of Hours, on the illuminations of which (Vasari tells us) Giulio Clovio spent nine years. It certainly is a marvel of human patience and misdirected skill; the text was written by a famous scribe named Monterchi, who was specially renowned for the beauty of his writing.↑ An interesting little volume on this subject has been published by Eug. ”