Illustration of Medieval Manuscripts —— What are the design features of European Medieval Manuscripts?

An illustrator who seeks the history of western illustration is a person who draws illustrations as a profession. His main work includes drawing illustrations and covers for books, magazines, newspapers, handbooks, novels, textbooks and other publications, as well as drawing greeting cards, posters, advertisements, inkjet paintings and humorous paintings.

Illustrators will choose pastels, watercolors, plastic colors, markers, pens and other painting materials according to their personal preferences or needs.

In the manuscripts decorated with clay gold in the Middle Ages, illustrators undertook a lot of book binding work.

A glossy manuscript decorated with clay gold is a kind of manuscript, and its content is usually about religion. The text is full of exquisite decorations, such as decorative initials and borders.

Clay decorative graphics usually come from medieval heraldry or religious symbols.

Development history

[Editor] Byzantium

The Byzantine Empire invented parchment, and mosaics and portraits were widely used in Byzantine architecture.

[Editor] Ireland and England

BookofKells, this is an exaggerated depiction of the letter "XP". At the end of the 5th century, under the influence of Rome, the British Isles became more and more Christian.

From the 6th century to the 7th century, decorative illustrations developed in Ireland and England.

Their paintings have the national characteristics of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon, and their compositions are peculiar.

In the 7th century, Irish monks turned Lindisfarne into the religious and cultural center of the whole British Isles.

The Book of kells was drawn by monks on Ai Ou Island in western Scotland about 800 years ago.

This book consists of four gospels, with illustrations at the beginning of each article, totaling 2000 articles.

[Editor] Carolyn Dynasty and Otto Dynasty

The Carolingian manuscript theAdaGospels was brought to the European continent by British scholars invited by Charlemagne, and developed a more elegant European style.

Previously, scribes were free to choose fonts, including Onciale, Semi-Onciale, Capital and trust.

In Charlemagne period, in order to ensure the accuracy of the manuscript, it was unified as "Caroline lowercase font" [1].

In 789, King Charlemagne issued an order to unify the layout standards, font standards and binding standards of books throughout Europe [2].

The famous manuscripts of this period are The Bible on Angels (78 1C783), The Gospels of the Old Testament (778c820), The Gospels of the Old Testament, The Gospels of the Soissons and the Gospels of Christianity.

There are 9,000 existing Caroline dynasty manuscripts, which shows a large number.

[Editor] Gothic Style Period

Caroline's lowercase font was replaced by Gothic font.

There are 27 illustrations in the Biography of Saint-Denis, which depict the slim Gothic architecture popular at that time, secular life and church life.

The most famous Gothic illustration in The Book of September by Limbaugh Brothers in Duke Barry's rich day school is The Book of Time by Dutch court painters Paul, Herman and Jean Jean, which is a prayer book arranged according to the calendar.

A prayer book carefully bound for the rich appeared: Gothic fonts run through it; Leaf vortex decorative frame; Chapters begin with capital letters and are decorated with small decorations; Use a lot of beautiful colored paintings and so on.

Picture frames have been widely used. One is an antenna-like plant pattern, which extends from the first letter and finally surrounds the whole text. The other is the vine pattern type.

[Editor] Renaissance

/kloc-In the 5th century, the mosaic of humanistic style appeared in Italy, with special emphasis on ancient figures and flowers, birds and leaves of naked little love god.

Editing skills

Clay sculpture technology is a complex and expensive process, so it is usually used for books with special purposes, such as the Bible placed on the altar.

Rich people generally have valuable clay scriptures, so that they can pray many times on Sunday.

In the process of making clay manuscripts, the characters are usually copied first.

Parchment paper is cut to a certain size, and the whole page is planned and designed (initials, borders, etc. ), fix the page with a sharp stick, and the scribe begins to copy with a quill pen or a reed pen dipped in ink.

After copying the text, the illustrator began to work.

These complex designs need to be planned in advance, perhaps by using wax board sketches lined with heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant metal plates.

Then draw a shadow on the leather paper (perhaps using pinholes or other means to assist, as in the gospel of Lindisfarne).

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In the13rd century, France often used chalk preparation to make the gold foil appear slightly convex when it was stuck on the painting.

[Editor] Artistic features

Manuscripts decorated with clay gold usually have the following characteristics.

Gorgeous cover decoration, and some will be inlaid with gems.

Inside pages sometimes have a border style, and the first letter of each page is a specially decorated capital letter.

There are often color illustrations, most of which tell religious stories, such as biographies of saints, and more particularly, there are pictures of manuscripts.

Many colors are used, and they are all natural pigments.

The style of the manuscript is closely related to the local style and taste.

In the early dark ages, the strong Roman script gradually gave way to Ansel script, semi-Ansel script and other cursive scripts, especially in the British Isles, which developed their own island uppercase and island lowercase scripts.

/kloc-the solid and textured Gothic body also appeared for the first time in the 0/3rd century, which was especially popular in the late Middle Ages.

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/kloc-manuscripts decorated with clay gold in the 0/3rd century

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BookofKells, this is an extremely exaggerated depiction of the letter "XP"

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Limbaugh Brothers "The Book of Seasons: A Rich Day of the Duke of Barry Classic September"

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The manuscript of Caroline dynasty

What are the design features of European medieval manuscripts? Illustration manuscripts usually have the following characteristics: ornate covers carved with precious metals and ivory, and some are inlaid with gems; Inner pages sometimes have a border style, and the first letter of each page is a specially modified capital letter. There are often color illustrations, most of which tell religious stories, such as biographies of saints, and more particularly, there are pictures of manuscripts. Many colors are used, and they are all natural pigments.

Manuscripts, Saxon and Viking Art | Early Medieval Art (1) _ Christianity not only conveyed spiritual information, but also brought order structure to the fragmented society in turbulent times, and the resulting attraction once again played a powerful role.

Early medieval art

After the fall of Rome, many cultures were born in western Europe. Migration and invasion occur from time to time, and conflicts between ethnic groups are frequent and integrated. On top of this integration are Roman cultural traditions, including Christianity. The church has gradually become an important force of European unity, and powerful political leaders have ruled alternate dynasties, including Caroline and Otto. Artists have created exquisite and luxurious metal products, built and decorated many churches and monasteries, and produced a large number of beautifully decorated books.

Anglo-Saxon and Viking Art

During the 4th to 5th century AD, European immigrants were common, among which Germans were one. Their artworks were portable, including metal products and jewelry. These handicrafts are exquisitely made, usually made of gold, silver and precious stones. The artistic traditions of these ethnic groups are sometimes called "animal style" because they use stylized animal forms. This tradition is combined with the artistic traditions of other nations, resulting in unique works of art, such as those found in the Anglo-Saxon ship burial in Sutton Lake, England.

Animal style

Germans carry all kinds of light works of art with them, such as knitwear, metalwork, jewelry and wood carving. The Germanic artistic tradition is called animal style by some scholars, because they use a large number of stylized animal forms and combine Celtic exquisite metal ornaments to create a unique combination of abstraction and nature, rigor and standardization, and free imagination.

An Anglo-Saxon shipyard in Sutton, England, followed an ancient tradition and used it to bury the belongings of important people. This custom may reflect concern for the afterlife, or just express reverence for the dead. The cultural relics unearthed in Sutton Lake illustrate the spread of decorative patterns and techniques in the process of immigration of different nationalities.

The big gold buckle unearthed in Sutton Hu is covered with exquisite animal modeling patterns. A pair of hinge buttons unearthed in the tomb are also decorated with snakes, which are used to decorate the border. They are oblique chessboards inlaid with garnet and glass. The ends of the two buckles are attached to curved decorative plates, and several pairs of wild boars squat back to back on them.

Sutton Hu also unearthed a capsule cover embedded with gold enamel and garnet. The original ivory or bone liner has been lost, which is a substitute. There are four groups of symmetrical patterns on the capsule cover, each group has its own unique characteristics, indicating that their sources are different. Among them, the humanoid pattern with the bottom between two opposite animals has a long history. More than 3200 years ago, this human figure was first discovered in Mesopotamian art.

A gorgeous animal head at Osberg Shipyard in Norway shows all the characteristics of animal style. This was found on a pirate ship in Osberg, southern Norway. It was originally a decoration on the top of a wooden mast. The custom of burying dignitaries on ships seems to have begun in Scandinavia, where animal styles prevailed for a long time.

The word "Viking" comes from the old Norwegian word "Vinkingr", which means pirate or attacker. When these people leave their own waters and plunder in Britain or Russia, they are really just "pirates". Osberg ships are not used for looting, but for pleasure and sailing in calm waters.

Irish-Saxon art

In the early Middle Ages, Irish monasteries became academic and artistic centers, paying special attention to handwritten and colorful literary and religious texts. Among them, the most exquisite manuscripts belong to the Irish-Saxon style, and also incorporate Christian, Celtic and Germanic artistic elements. His representative works are The Gospel of Lindisfarne and The Book of kells.

original manuscript

Irish monasteries have become academic and artistic centers, spending a lot of energy copying literary and religious texts. In order to spread the message about Christ, the kingdom of God and salvation (that is, the gospel), Irish monasteries need to copy a lot of Bible and other Christian classics by hand. Every manuscript is regarded as a sacred object bearing the word of God, and it needs a gorgeous appearance to reflect the preciousness of the content.

In Irish monasteries, monks are divided into three categories:

Junior monks (juniors, students, newcomers);

Workingbrothers (engaged in manual labor);

Senior monk (most experienced), responsible for copying holy books.

The illustration of the symbol of Saint Mathieu in The Book of Heroes in the Legal Field shows how the pattern can highlight the decoration and still give vitality to the characters. The human body is composed of a checkerboard pattern with a border, which reminds people of the decorative features of Sutton Hu hinge buckle.

The cross-shaped pages in the Gospel of Lindisfarne are extremely complicated artistic achievements. The precision of fine painting artists is comparable to that of jewelers. They inject such dense and dynamic animal interwoven patterns into the geometric framework that even the fighting animals on Sutton's hood are dwarfed.

Matthew's illustrations in the Gospel of Lindisfarne are quite different from those of Saint Mathieu in The Book of Heroes in the Legal Field, which is only decades earlier. In the Gospel of Lindisfarne, Matthew is studying the scriptures carefully. The artist implies a sense of space by twisting the human body, and creates a depth of field with an inclined bench.

Matthew in The Book of Heroes in the Legal Field hangs his hands at his sides and looks directly at the viewer. Matthew is the only figure in the painting of a legal hero, but in the gospel of Lindisfarne, there is an unidentified figure behind the knotted curtain. Some scholars think that he is Moses with the Old Testament, while others think that he is Christ with the New Testament.

During the 7th and 8th centuries, contact between Ireland and Rome became more and more frequent, and Roman liturgy was adopted. Prophet Ezra's explanation of the restoration of the Bible in Common Inspection undoubtedly borrowed and transformed the Roman manuscripts in the monastery at that time. The artist depicts bookcases, tables, benches and footstools at an oblique angle, showing a sense of perspective, as if the object retreated into a deep space. The light and shade of clothes and the shadow of Mo Chi on the ground create a sense of depth. Artists also use color mixing to shape, which is especially obvious in Ezra's clothes, hands, face and feet.

One hundred years after The Book of kells appeared in the Gospel of Lindisfarne, the Irish-Saxon manuscript art reached its peak, and its achievement was The Book of kells, which is the most exquisite manuscript of Celtic art.

XPI, the Greek initials of Christ's name, is painted on ChiRhoIota's page, and the words "Christiautemgeneratio", that is, "The birth of Jesus Christ is as follows", means that Matthew's gospel (1: 18) will begin, which is a praise for the birth of Jesus.

Colorful illustrations make people have to concentrate on reading and appreciating. This is similar to the firm gaze of saints in early Byzantine icons. In icons and manuscripts, images are so powerful that viewers almost forget the reality and walk into the world in the picture.

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