J. Henry Middleton

“ The miniatures are very minute in scale, and are often painted on backgrounds of the brilliant chess-board and other diapers in red, blue and gold. Though extremely decorative and beautiful, the miniatures of this class are not quite equal to those of the thirteenth century Bibles, either in vigour of drawing or in delicacy of touch.
The ivy pattern. On the whole, in the fourteenth century, the French schools of illumination were the finest in the world, and the manuscripts of Northern France were the most sumptuously decorated of all. ”

“ As an example of this class of illumination we may mention the famous Book of Hours of the Duke of Anjou (Paris, Bibl. Nat.) illuminated about the year 1380. Every page has a rich and delicate border covered with the ivy foliage [3] , and enlivened by exquisitely painted birds, such as the goldfinch, the thrush, the linnet, the jay, the quail, the sparrow-hawk and many others ”

“ Among this wealth of fruit and foliage, variety is given by the introduction of birds, insects, animals, and grotesque monsters half beast and half human, or else living figures growing out of flower blossoms, all designed with much graceful fancy and decorative beauty.
Later style. Towards the close of the fifteenth century one skilfully treated but less meritorious style of illuminated border became very common in France and Flanders. ”

“ Many of the miniatures are framed in a beautiful architectural composition of cusped arches, with delicate open tracery supported by slender columns.
Perfect finish. Fig. 22 gives the bare design of one of the historiated initials in this lovely manuscript, the capital B at the beginning of the Psalms. In the upper part is the scene of David watching Bathsheba bathing; and below is a kneeling figure of the king adoring Christ in Majesty. No reproduction can give any notion of the exquisitely delicate painting, or of the splendour of its burnished gold and colours. ”

“ Fig. 24 shows a miniature from a French manuscript of this magnificent class, the Treasure-Book of the Abbey of Origny in Picardy, executed about 1312 for the Abbess Héloise. It contains fifty-four large miniatures of scenes from the life and martyrdom of Saint Benedicta. The shaded part of the border is of the richest burnished gold, and the whole effect is magnificently decorative. ”

“ These elaborate borders are usually made to grow out of the ornaments of the illuminated initials in the text, and thus a sense of unity is given to the whole page, the decorations of which thus become, not an adjunct, but an essential part of the text. ”

“ Fig. 28 shows part of a border from a manuscript of this class, a Book of Hours executed for the Duke de Berri; the typical pointed "ivy-leaves" grow from each of the quatrefoils which are introduced to hold the arms and initials of the owner. It comes from the same manuscript as the illumination shown in fig. 25. ”