ILLUMINATING, a kind of miniature painting, anciently much practised for illustrating and adorning books. Besides the writers of books, there were artists whose profession was to ornament and paint manuscripts, who were called illuminators; the writers of books first finished their part, and the illuminators embellished them with ornamented letters and paintings. We frequently find blanks left in manuscripts for the illuminators, which were never filled up. Some of the ancient manuscripts are gilt and burnished in a style superior to later times. Their colours were excellent, and their skill in preparing them must have been very great.
The practice of introducing ornaments, drawings, emblematical figures, and even portraits, into manuscripts, is of great antiquity. Varro wrote the lives of 700 illustrious Romans, which he enriched with their portraits, as Pliny attests in his Natural History (lib. xxxv. chap. 2.). Pomponius Atticus, the friend of Cicero, was the author of a work on the actions of the great men amongst the Romans, which he ornamented with their portraits, as appears in his life by Cornelius Nepos (chap. 18.). But these works have not been transmitted to posterity. There are, however, many precious documents remaining, which exhibit the advancement and decline of the arts in different ages and countries. These inestimable paintings and illuminations display the manners, customs, habits ecclesiastical, civil, and military, weapons and instruments of war, utensils and architecture of the ancients; they are of the greatest use in illustrating many important facts relative
Illustrative to the history of the times in which they were
eg. executed. In these treasures of antiquity are preferred
a great number of specimens of Grecian and Roman art,
which were executed before the arts and sciences fell
into neglect and contempt. The manuscripts contain-
ing these specimens form a valuable part of the riches
preserved in the principal libraries of Europe. The
Royal, Cottonian, and Harleian libraries, as also those
in the two universities in England, the Vatican at
Rome, the imperial at Vienna, the royal at Paris, St
Mark's at Venice, and many others.
A very ancient MS. of Genesis, which was in the
Cottonian library, and almost destroyed by a fire in
1731, contained 250 curious paintings in water colours.
Twenty-one fragments, which escaped the fire, are en-
graven by the society of antiquarians of London. Se-
veral specimens of curious paintings also appear in Lam-
becius's catalogue of the imperial library at Vienna, par-
ticularly in vol. iii. where 48 drawings of nearly equal
antiquity with those in the Cottonian library are engra-
ven; and several others may be found in various cata-
logues of the Italian libraries. The drawings in the
Vatican Virgil made in the fourth century, before the
arts were entirely neglected, illustrate the different sub-
jects treated of by the Roman poet. A miniature draw-
ing is prefixed to each of the gospels brought over to
England by St. Augustine in the 6th century, which is
preserved in the library of Corpus Christi college, Cam-
bridge: in the compartments of those drawings are de-
picted representations of several transactions in each gos-
pel. The curious drawings, and elaborate ornaments
in St. Cuthbert's gospels made by St. Ethelwald, and
now in the Cottonian library, exhibit a striking speci-
men of the state of the arts in England in the 7th cen-
tury. The same may be observed with respect to the
drawings in the ancient copy of the four gospels pre-
served in the cathedral church of Litchfield, and those in
the Codex Rushworthianus in the Bodleian library at
Oxford. The life of St. Paul the hermit, now remain-
ing in Corpus Christi college, Cambridge, (G. 2.), af-
fords an example of the style of drawing and ornamen-
ting letters in England in the 8th century; and the copy
of Prudentius's Pseucamachia in the Cottonian library
(Gleop. c. 8.) exhibits the style of drawing in Italy in
the 9th century. Of the 10th century there are Ro-
man drawings of a singular kind in the Harleian libra-
ry (No 2820.) Nos 5280, 1802, and 432, in the same
library, contain specimens of ornamented letters, which
are to be found in Irish MSS. from the 12th to the
14th century. Cædmon's Poetical Paraphrase of the
book of Genesis, written in the 11th century, which is
preserved amongst F. Junius's MSS. in the Bodleian li-
brary, exhibits many specimens of utensils, weapons, in-
struments of music, and implements of husbandry used
by the Anglo-Saxons. The like may be seen in ex-
tracts from the Pentateuch of the same age in the Cot-
tonian library (Claud. B. 4.). The manuscript copy
of Terence in the Bodleian library (D. 17.) displays
the dresses, masks, &c. worn by comedians in the 12th
century, if not earlier. The very elegant Psalter in
the library of Trinity college, Cambridge, exhibits spe-
cimens of the art of drawing in England in the same
century. The Virgil in the Lambeth library of the
13th century (No 471.), written in Italy, shows both
by the drawings and writing, that the Italians produced
works much inferior to ours at that period. The copy illuminat-
of the Apocalypse in the same library (No 209.), con-
tains a curious example of the manner of painting in the
14th century.—The beautiful paintings in the history of
the latter part of the reign of King Richard II. in the
Harleian library (No 1319.), afford curious specimens
of manners and customs, both civil and military, at the
close of the 14th and in the beginning of the 15th cen-
tury; as does No 2278. in the same library.—Many
other instances might be produced; but those who de-
sire farther information may consult Strutt's Regal and
Ecclesiastical Antiquities, 4to, and his Horda-Angel-
eynan lately published in 3 vols.
This art was much practiced by the clergy, and
even by some in the highest stations in the church.
"The famous Olmund (says Brompton), who was con-
fected bishop of Salisbury, A. D. 1076, did not disdain
to spend some part of his time in writing, binding, and
illuminating books." Mr. Strutt, as already noticed,
has given the public an opportunity of forming some
judgment of the degree of delicacy and art with which
these illuminations were executed, by publishing prints
of a prodigious number of them, in his "Regal and
Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England," and "View of
the Customs, &c. of England." In the first of these
works we are presented with the genuine portraits, in
miniature, of all the kings, and several of the queens
of England, from Edward the Confessor to Henry VII.
mostly in their crowns and royal robes, together with
the portraits of many other eminent persons of both
sexes.
The illuminators and painters of this period seem to
have been in possession of a considerable number of col-
ouring materials, and to have known the arts of pre-
paring and mixing them, so as to form a great variety
of colours: for in the specimens of their miniature-
paintings, that are still extant, we perceive not only
the five primary colours, but also various combinations
of them. Though Strutt's prints do not exhibit the
bright and vivid colours of the originals, they give us
equally a view, not only of the persons and dresses of
our ancestors, but also of their customs, manners, arts,
and employments, their arms, ships, houses, furniture,
&c. and enable us to judge of their skill in drawing.
The figures in those paintings are often stiff and formal;
but the ornaments are in general fine and delicate, and
the colours clear and bright, particularly the gold and
azure. In some of these illuminations the passions are
strongly painted. How strongly, for example, is ter-
ror painted in the faces of the earl of Warwick's failors,
when they were threatened with a shipwreck, and grief
in the countenances of those who were present at the
death of that hero *? After the introduction of print-
ing, this elegant art of illuminating gradually declined,
and at length was quite neglected. See Strutt,
vol. ii.
plates 56,
58.
Before concluding, it may not be improper to ob-
serve, that from the 5th to the 10th century, the mini-
ature paintings which we meet with in Greek manu-
scripts are generally good, as are some which we find
among those of Italy, England, and France. From
the 10th to the middle of the 14th century they are
commonly very bad, and may be considered as so many
monuments of the barbarity of those ages; towards the
latter end of the 14th, the paintings in manuscripts
were much improved; and in the two succeeding cen-
turies,
tures, many excellent performances were produced, especially after the happy period of the restoration of the arts, when great attention was paid to the works of the ancients, and the study of antiquity became fashionable.