The background of buildings and temples recalls the paintings at Pompeii These are small pictures bordered by coloured bands (six of them fill a whole page) some of them, especially in the "Georgics", represent country landscapes the freshness of which is worthy of the text they illustrate. 3225), written by a single hand, has fifty miniatures which appear to be the work of at least three different painters. (The portraits of the Evangelists in medieval manuscripts result from this tradition.) None of these works remains and the only traces of the illuminations of antiquity are found in the following manuscripts of the fourth and fifth centuries: Martial (XIV, 1865) mentions a portrait of Virgil painted on a parchment manuscript, and Varro collected seven hundred such portraits of illustrious men. Latin writers show us that the miniature was introduced into Rome as early as the first century B.C. 1294 first century A.D.) displays a text broken by groups of miniatures: men and women in bluish-gray or pink costumes stand out in relief from the background of the papyrus itself. A fragment of a romance on a papyrus (Paris, Bib. The papyrus containing the poems of Timotheus (fourth century B.C.) found at Abousir, has a long-legged bird in the body of the text as a mark of division. The art seems to have been also cultivated by the Greek artists of Alexandria. After having drawn the outline in black in the artist filled in the drawing in colours. The most ancient examples are found on Egyptian papyri, where in the midst of the texts, and not separated from it, portraits are painted, most frequently in profile, according to the Egyptian method. In the Orient must be sought the origin of this art, as well as that of the manuscripts themselves. it is especially in miniature that the ebb and flow of artistic styles during the Middle Ages may be detected. Finally, in the history of art the rôle of illuminated manuscripts was considerable by treating in their works scenes of sacred history the manuscript painters inspired other artists, painters, sculptors, goldsmiths, ivory workers, etc. And whereas most of the paintings of the Middle Ages have perished, these little works form an almost uninterrupted series which afford us a clear idea of the chief schools of painting of each epoch and each region. Despite its limitations, the art of illumination is one of the most charming ever invented it exacts the same qualifications and produced almost as powerful effects as painting it even calls for a delicacy of touch all its own. At first the "miniator" was charged with tracing in red minium the titles and initials. Italy see below).Īll these ornaments are called "eluminures", illuminations, or miniatures, a world used since the end of the sixteenth century. ![]()
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