Chapter II: Engravings (13)

To the twelfth century is assigned the beautiful Greek manuscript which was afterwards given to Louis XIV. by Chrysanthes Noras, Patriarch of Jerusalem; to the thirteenth century belongs another manuscript, in very small cursive letters, ornamented with portraits, presented by the Emperor Palæologos to St. Louis. It was only in the fourteenth century that manuscripts half Latin and half Greek, appeared. Lastly came Ange Végèce, of Corfu, who, towards the middle of the fifteenth century, made for himself, as a Greek caligrapher, such a reputation that he gave, it is said, rise to the proverb, “_Écrire comme un ange_.”

The Greek alphabet, when it penetrated into the countries of the north with the Christian religion and civilisation, underwent important modifications. On the right bank of the Danube, in ancient Mœsia, Ulphilas, the descendant of a Cappadocian family formerly taken prisoner by the Goths, invented, in the fourth century, the alphabet bearing, on that account, the name of _Mœso-Gothic_, and which is of Greek origin, with a mixture of Latin characters and other peculiar signs. This writing is heavy, without being elegant; differing, as if by an instinct of nationality, from the types which it imitates. The Mœso-Gothic manuscripts are, however, very rare; only two or three being known.

The Sclavonic writing, which is also a daughter of Greece, has a history nearly similar to that of the Mœso-Gothic. When the people of this family were converted to Christianity, they were brought over to it by Greek Christians, and the Patriarch Cyril, in the ninth century, became their teacher; he taught them, how to write (which they never knew till then), and it was the Greek alphabet they adopted, adding to it, however, a few new signs, so that they might be able to express the sounds peculiar to their language. Sclavonic manuscripts are positively numerous in public libraries. We find them in Paris, Bologna, and Rome, but above all in Germany, and in the country under the dominion of the Muscovite. One of the most celebrated is that belonging to the town of Rheims, and which is known by the name of “Texte du Sacre,” because a tradition (an erroneous one, however) asserts that the kings of France, at the time of their coronation at Rheims, took the oaths on this book, which was said to be written by the hand of St. Procopius. The Sclavonic manuscripts in general recommend themselves less by the elegance of their execution than by the richness of their bindings.

The actual Russian alphabet is but an abridgment of the alphabet called the _Cyrilian_, reduced to forty-two signs by the Emperor Peter I.; so that the Sclavonic nations knew two _Cyrilian_ alphabets, the ancient Sclavonic for the liturgical writings, and the modern Sclavonic, or Russian, in general use. Of the first no manuscripts exist earlier than the eleventh century of our era.

The manuscripts of the Latins are, without doubt, more numerous and more varied, because the Latin Church is more extensive, and because Roman civilisation spread itself over a larger number of European provinces. At the head of the manuscripts of the Latin writing is placed a fragment of papyrus, found in Egypt, on which is inscribed an imperial edict for the annulment of a sale of property, agreed upon in consequence of some violence committed by a certain man named Isidore; the date of this document has been fixed as the third century. For the fourth century we have the “Virgil,” with miniatures, which we mention elsewhere (MINIATURES OF MANUSCRIPTS), and a “Terence,” both belonging to the Vatican Library, and both written in capital letters; in the latter, however, they are irregular, and called, on that account, _rustic capitals_.

To the same period we must refer the “Treatise on the Republic,” by Cicero, which has but lately been found in a volume from which the previous writing had been effaced, as was often the case (see PARCHMENT AND PAPER), in order to make room for the new writing. For the fifth century we have a second “Virgil,” with miniatures, which passed from the library of the Abbey of St. Denis into that of the Vatican. The “Prudence,” which the Imperial Library of Paris still possesses, is a very fine manuscript of the sixth century, written, in rustic capitals, quaint but elegant.

Two other kinds of writing were, at the same period, in use among the Latins; this same rustic capital, ceasing to be rectangular, and rounded in its principal strokes, became the uncial; and for that very reason being much more expeditious, was reserved especially for the copying of works; while the cursive, although sometimes employed for manuscripts, was used chiefly in letter-writing. Of the first of these two writings, the uncial, we have two fine specimens of the sixth century in the “Sermons” of St. Augustine, on papyrus (Fig. 336), and in a Psalter of St. Germain-des-Prés, written in letters of silver on purple vellum, both of which now belong to the Imperial Library, Paris.

In the same century, we find a kind of writing called _half-uncial_, which became more and more expeditious by the change made in certain of its forms. There was then also a Gallican uncial, the form of which we can see in the manuscript said to be by St. Prosper (Imperial Library, Paris); and an uncial of Italy, among which figure the Bible of Mont-Amiati, at Florence; the palimpsest[55] Homilies of the Vatican, and the admirable Book of the Gospels at Notre-Dame, Paris (Fig. 337).

The most ancient style of cursive writing, employed in charts and diplomas, is to be seen in the deeds known by the name of _charters of Ravenna_, from the name of the town in which they were first discovered. We may consider as analogous to these the writing of the Acts of our early kings, very difficult to read on account of the exaggerated manner in which the thin strokes join the letters together, and by the indefinite forms of the up and down strokes. We give a fragment (Fig. 338) taken from an original chart, on parchment, of Childebert III. We see what the same writing had become in 784 by Fig. 339, copied from an original capitulary of Charlemagne.

To the same period belongs the employment, in ordinary use among chancellors and notaries, of a writing completely tachygraphic; it is composed of ciphers, one of which took the place of a syllable or a word. This writing was called _Tironian_, because the invention of it is attributed to Tiro, Cicero’s freed-man, who made use of it in tachygraphing, or, as we should now say, stenographing (short-hand), the speeches of the illustrious orator. Fig. 340 is taken from a psalter of the eighth century, of which the text is transcribed with the tachygraphic characters of that period.

The name of _Visigothic_ is given to the writing of manuscripts executed in the south of France and in Spain during the rule of the Goths and the Visigoths; this writing, still rather Roman, is generally round and embellished with fanciful strokes, which render it agreeable to the eye.

We also find in Italy the _Lombardic_, in use for diplomas till the twelfth century.

The beautiful manuscripts on purple vellum are of the time of Charlemagne, when luxury in the arts showed itself in all forms. There is in the Imperial Library, Paris, a magnificent volume, which came from the ancient domain of Soubise, that contains the Epistles and Gospels for all the festivals of the year: the execution of this work is perfect; the gigantic capital letters, of Anglo-Saxon form, are coloured, and rendered still richer by being dotted with gold.

A valuable manuscript of the “Tractus Temporum” of the Venerable Bede, a manuscript posterior by more than two hundred years to the author, who lived in the beginning of the eighth century, affords a specimen of one of the varieties of minuscule writings, which in France was called the _Lombardic writing of books_, because it was in use during the reign of the Lombard kings beyond the Alps; it is more difficult to read than the Roman, though similar in form, because the words are not separated. A beautiful manuscript of “Horace” (Imperial Library, Paris), which presents a mixture of the different kinds of Roman writing of the period, is attributed to the same century. We have in Fig. 341 an elegant ornamental capital, taken from a manuscript, “Commentaries of St. Jerome,” also in the Imperial Library. We find specimens of writing of Anglo-Saxon origin, capital letters, and running text, in many books of the Gospel.

The diplomatic writing of the tenth century is here represented by a charter of the king, Hugh Capet, from which we borrow Fig. 342; it must have been issued between 988 and 996. In this fragment, the first line only is composed of characters very elongated, close together, mixed with some capital letters and some singular forms. It bears witness to the fact that the fine Merovingian writing had then singularly degenerated.

In the eleventh century the minuscule of manuscripts was characterised by its angular forms, which caused it to receive the name of _Capetian_. Then the Capetian, exaggerated in its tendency towards its strokes and angles, became the _Ludovician_, which announces the thirteenth century, and characterises the reign of St. Louis.

(From a Miniature of the Fifteenth Century.)]

However, manuscripts of the thirteenth century abound, and the history of the writing of the period of St. Louis and of the three centuries succeeding it, may be summed up in these words:--“The Capetian writing called _Ludovician_, when it had come to differ still more from the beautiful forms of the writings of Charlemagne’s time or the renovated Roman, was more and more deformed, and these successive degradations became so complicated that the writing, in the seventeenth century, resulted in being perfectly illegible. Thus can be generalised all the precepts relative to the state of writing, in the manuscripts and the charters in France, for this period of three hundred years” (Fig. 343).

It was, however, the era of the richest manuscripts, that in which was brought to perfection the art of ornamenting them, when the pencil of the miniature-painter and the pen of the caligrapher, conjointly, produced some masterpieces (Fig. 344). This was also the time when the corporation of writers became numerous and powerful (Fig. 335). One of the most distinguished members of this society was that Nicholas Flamel, about whom so many fabulous legends have been invented. We give, as a specimen of his magnificent cursive writing (Fig. 345), the fac-simile of one of the _ex libris_ inscriptions he placed at the beginning of all the books belonging to Duke Jean de Berry, whose secretary and _bookseller_ he was.[56]

In other countries than France, in Germany especially, Gothic writing was easily diffused. German manuscripts differ little from those of France. We observe only that German writing continued to be very fine till the middle of the thirteenth century, at which period it became irregular, angular, and bristling with sharp points.

That which has just been said of Germany in particular is naturally applicable to East and West Flanders, and to the Low Countries. During the fifteenth century, under the impulse given by the Dukes of Burgundy, whose influence we have already mentioned, the most important chronicles, the best histories then extant, were magnificently transcribed in that beautiful Gothic minuscule, thick, massive and angular, which was called _lettre de forme_; and we find it again in some ancient editions of the end of the fifteenth century (Fig. 346), and of the beginning of the sixteenth.

In more northern countries the _Runic_ alphabet was made use of, to which for a long while a marvellous origin was attributed, but which the Benedictines justly regarded as an imitation, or rather as a corruption, of the Latin alphabet. There exist in the _Runic_ language inscriptions on stone and on wood, some manuscripts on vellum, and Irish books on parchment and on paper.

In the south, the writing seems constantly to have reflected the lively and frank spirit of its inhabitants, among whom was perpetuated the profound impress of the old Roman civilisation. The minuscule continued as high as it was long, thin, and distinct; even when it was altered by the influence of the Gothic, it was still beautiful, and, above all, legible, as we may be convinced of by examining a fine manuscript entitled “Specchio della Croce” (“Mirror of the Cross”), of the thirteenth century; and a precious manuscript of Dante, of the fourteenth century, both belonging to the Imperial Library, Paris.

We may adopt for Spain the same opinions as for Italy. There was in that country also writing of great merit, handed down from the Romans, which received, as we have already said, the name of _Visigothic_. The Visigothic writing of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, of the eleventh especially, is a minuscule of the most graceful kind. But Gothicism, by the _Capetian_ and the _Ludovician_ coming in as intermediate agents, at last corrupted this elegant and delicate writing, as we see in the collection of Spanish troubadours, formed by order of John II., King of Castile and Leon, about 1440; a celebrated manuscript in the Imperial Library, Paris.

Into England, where the Anglo-Saxon type reigned supreme, the Norman conquest introduced the French writing in charters and manuscripts. And lastly, among the writings called national, we must again mention that of Ireland, of which there are fine examples remaining; but upon examination they prove to be nothing but a variety of the Anglo-Saxon. It is said to have been in use since the sixth century; and we find that in spite of divers conquests it continued to be employed till the fifteenth century. It was even known and employed in France, although it by no means recommends itself by its elegance, as is attested, among other manuscripts, by that of the “Homilies of St. Augustine,” in the Imperial Library, Paris, which is supposed to belong to the eighth century.

Here our summary review of palæographic examples at different periods of the Middle Ages comes to an end. We might follow up our investigations on this point, even after the time when the printing-press was invented, since manuscripts are found of the reign of Louis XIV.; but they were nothing but fanciful inutilities; each century, in order to show itself in its true light, should follow the instincts and the inspirations which belong to it.

FAC-SIMILE OF MANUSCRIPTS.

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

TEXT.--_Spes nostra e[st] non de isto tempore, neque de mundo est, neque in ea felicita[te...._

TRANSLATION.--Our hope is not of this time, nor is it of the world, nor in that felicity.]

TEXT.--_Incipit præfatio._

TRANSLATION.--Here begins the Preface.]

TEXT.--

_Childeberthus rex_
_Se oportune beneficia ad loca sanctorum quod pro juvamen servorum...._
_Et hoc nobis ad eterna retributione pertenire confidemus. Ideoque...._

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

TEXT.--_Primo Capitulo. Salutant vos dominus noster, filius vester, Carolus rex [et filia vestra domna nostra Fastrada, filii et] filæ domini nostri simul, et omnis domus sua._

_II. Salutant vos cuncti sacerdotes, episcopi et abbates, atque omnis congregatio illorum [in Dei servicio constituta etiam, et universus] populus Franconum._

TRANSLATION.--I. Our lord, your son, King Charles [and your daughter our Lady Fastrada, salute thee, also the sons and] daughters of our Lord, and all his house.

II. All the priests, bishops, and abbots salute thee, as also the whole congregation [of those who are established in the service of God, and the whole] of the French people.]

TEXT.--_Exsurge, Domine, in ira tua et exaltare in finibus inimicorum meorum, et exsurge, Domine Deus meus, in precepto quod mandasti; et sinagoga populorum circomdabit, te, et propter hanc in altum regredere._

TRANSLATION.--Arise, O Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.

So shall the congregation of the people compass thee about: for their sakes therefore return thou on high.--(Psalm vii. 6, 7.)]

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

TEXT.--_Qui nolunt inter epistolas Pauli eam recipere quæ ad Filemonem scribitur aiunt non semper apostolum nec omnia Christo in se loquente dixisse. Quia neque_ ...

TRANSLATION.--Those who are unwilling to receive among the epistles of St. Paul that which is written to Philemon, deny that the Apostles spoke everything and at all times under the inspiration of Christ. Because neither ...]

This Fac-simile gives only half the length of the lines.

TEXT (completely restored.)--_In nomine sanctæ et individuæ Trinitatis, Hugo gratia Dei Francorum rex. [Mos et consuetudo regum prædecessorum nostrorum semper exstitit ut ecclesias Dei sublimarent et justis petitioni]bus servorum Dei clementer faverent, et oppression[em eorum benigne sublevarent, ut Deum propitium] haberent, eujus amore id fecissent. Hujus rei grati[a, auditis clamoribus venerabilis Abbonis abbatis] monasterii S. Mariæ, S. Petri et S. Benedicti Flori[acensis et monachorum sub eo degentium, nostram] presentiam adeuntium, pro malis consuetudi[nibus et assiduis rapinis_ ...

TRANSLATION.--In the name of the holy and indivisible Trinity, Hugh, by the grace of God, King of the Francs.

The custom and habit of the kings our predecessors has always been to honour the churches of God, and to show themselves mercifully favourable to the just petitions of the servants of God, and to deliver them kindly from oppression, so that God might be propitious to them, for the love of whom they thus acted. For this cause, having heard the complaints of the venerable Abbon, Abbot of the Monastery of Our Lady, St. Peter and St. Benedict, of Fleury-sur-Loire, and those of the monks living under his direction, and who came into our presence, on account of the bad customs and continual rapines ...]

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

TEXT.--_Messeigneurs et freres, si tres humblement que faire puis a voz bonnes graces me recommande. Messeigneurs, j’ay receu, voz lettres par le present porteur: ensemble la requeste et arrest de la court par icelle ensuivy. J’ay le tout communiqué a messeigneurs les generaulx de Langue doil et Normandie, et nous avons souuant esté ensemble. Ilz trouuent bien estrange, aussi font daultres, qui zelent le bien et honneur de la chambre ausquelz pareillement_ ...

TRANSLATION.--My lords and brothers, I commend myself as humbly as possible to your good graces. My lords, I received your letters by the bearer of this, together with the petition and the decree of the court accompanying them. I communicated the whole to my lords the generals of La Langue d’Oil and of Normandy, and we have often conferred together on the matter. They think it very strange, as do others also, who are zealous for the good and the honour of the chamber, to which equally ...]

TEXT.--_Eadem, &c._--GLOSE. _Ceste histoire touche Titus Liuius ou quint liure. Pourquoy il est assauoir que ou temps que les Gals auoient prise Romme et assis le Capitole, si comme il est dit deuant, il y auoit dedens le Capitole un jeune homme qui auoit non Gayus Fabius qui estoit de la lignie des Fabiens. Et pour auoir la congnoissance de ceste lignie est assauoir aussi que il y ot asses pres de Romme jadis une cite qui estoit appelee Gabinia: laquele cite apres moult de inconueniens se rendi a Romme par tel conuenant que il seroient citoiens de Romme._

TRANSLATION.--Eadem, &c.--GLOSE. Livy, in his fifth book, touches on this history. We must know that at the time when the Gauls had taken Rome and besieged the Capitol, as was said above, there was in the Capitol a young man named Caius Fabius, and who was of the Fabian race; and to know this race we must also know that there was formerly near Rome a town called Gabinia; which town, after many vicissitudes, surrendered to Rome, on the condition that all its inhabitants should be considered as citizens of Rome.]

(Imperial Library, Paris.)

TEXT.--_Ceste Bible est a Monseigneur le Duc de Berry._

FLAMEL.

TRANSLATION.--This Bible belongs to Monseigneur the Duke de Berry.

FLAMEL.

NOTE.--The Duke de Berry, John, brother of King Charles V., and uncle to King Charles VI., was a great amateur of fine books. He spent very large sums in having manuscripts copied and illuminated. The Imperial Library, Paris, preserves a large number of the most valuable of them.]

TEXT.--_Sabbato in aduentu Domini, ad vesperas, super psalmos antiphona, Benedictus, psalmus, ipsum cum ceteris antiphonis et psalmis. Infra capitulum._

_Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et suscitabo Dauid germen._

TRANSLATION.--On Saturday in Advent, at vespers, before the psalms chanted alternately, (comes) the hymn Benedictus, with the other antiphons and psalms. After the lesson ...

“Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord, and I will restore the seed of David.”]

(Fifteenth Century.)]

MINIATURES IN MANUSCRIPTS.

Miniatures at the Beginning of the Middle Ages.--The two “Vatican”
Virgils.--Painting of Manuscripts under Charlemagne and Louis le
Débonnaire.--Tradition of Greek Art in Europe.--Decline of the
Miniature in the Tenth Century.--Origin of Gothic Art.--Fine
Manuscript of the time of St. Louis.--Clerical and Lay
Miniature-Painters.--Caricature and the Grotesque.--Miniatures in
Monochrome and in Grisaille.--Illuminators at the Court of France
and to the Dukes of Burgundy.--School of John Fouquet.--Italian
Miniature-Painters.--Giulo Clovio.--French School under Louis XII.

Contemporaneous, almost, with the idea which first caused oral traditions, chronicles, speeches, and poetry to be collected together under the form and name of _book_, is the art of ornamenting manuscripts with miniatures. Our intention is not to go back to the sources--as obscure as they are distant--of that art, but only to point out its principal phases of improvement or of decay during the Middle Ages.

The most ancient known miniatures date from the very commencement of that period which is generally called the Middle Ages; that is to say, from the third and fourth centuries. These paintings, of which there exist but two or three specimens in the libraries of Europe, nevertheless offer, in their correctness and masterly beauty, the great characteristics of ancient Art. The most celebrated are those of the “Virgil,” preserved in the Vatican Library (Fig. 348), a manuscript long celebrated among learned men for the authenticity of its text. Another “Virgil,” of the date of about a century later, and which, before its presentation to the Pope, was one of the most beautiful ornaments of the ancient library of the Abbey of St. Denis, in France, contains paintings not less remarkable in respect of colour, but very inferior as far as drawing and the style of the compositions are concerned. These two incomparable examples are sufficient in themselves to show the state of the painting of manuscripts at the beginning of the Middle Ages.

(Third or Fourth Century.)]

The sixth and seventh centuries have left us no books with miniatures; the utmost we find at that period are some capital letters embellished by caligraphy. In the eighth century, on the contrary, the ornaments were multiplied, and some rather elegant paintings can be pointed out; the fact is, under the reign of Charlemagne a movement of renovation took place in the Arts as in literature: the Latin writing, which had become illegible, was reformed, and the style of painting manuscripts assumed something of the form of the fine antique examples still extant at that period. (Fig. 350.)

If we would have an idea of the heaviness and the ungraceful character of the writing and of the ornaments which accompanied it before the period of Charlemagne, it will suffice to examine Fig. 349. “It was then quite time,” says M. Aimé Champollion-Figeac, “that the salutary influence exercised by the illustrious monarch made itself felt in the Arts as well as in letters.” The first manuscripts which seem to bear witness to this progress are first a sacramentary, said to be that of Gellonius, the allegorical paintings of which are of great interest in the history of Christian symbolism; and a Book of the Gospels, now in the Louvre: the latter is said to have belonged to the great emperor himself, and we reproduce one of the paintings from it (Fig. 351). We may mention, as of the ninth century, many Books of the Gospels, in one of which, given by Louis le Débonnaire to the Abbey St. Médard de Soissons, the purest Byzantine style shows itself; then the Bible called the “Metz” Bible, in which are paintings of large dimensions, remarkable for the felicitous groupings of the figures and for the beauty of the draperies. One of these miniatures excites an interest quite peculiar, inasmuch as King David, who is represented in it, is but a copy of an ancient Apollo, round whom the artist has personified Courage, Justice, Prudence, &c.

Let us mention still further two Bibles and a book of prayers, the last containing a very fine portrait of the king, Charles the Bald, to whom it belonged; and lastly, two books really worth attention, on account of the delicacy and freedom of the outline drawings, for the attitudes of the characters represented, and for the draperies, which resemble those of ancient statues. These books are a “Terence,” preserved in the Imperial Library, Paris, number 7,899 in the catalogue; and a “Lectionary of the Cathedal of Metz,” from which the

(Manuscript in the Library of the Louvre.)]

border (Fig. 352) is taken. While in France the art of painting manuscripts had progressed so much as to produce some perfect models of delicacy and taste, Germany had never got beyond the simplest compositions, as we see in the “Paraphrase on the Gospels,” in Theotisc (the old Teutonic language), belonging to the Library of Vienna.

The artistic traditions of the ancients in the ninth century are attested by the manuscripts of Christian Greece, whereof the Imperial Library, Paris, possesses many magnificent specimens, at the head of which we must place the “Commentaries of Gregory Nazianzus,” ornamented with an infinite number of paintings, in which all the resources of ancient art are applied to the representation of Christian subjects (Fig. 353). The heads of the characters portrayed are admirably expressive, and of the finest style; the colouring of the miniatures is warm and soft; the costumes, the representations of buildings and of the accessories, offer, moreover, very interesting subjects of study. Unfortunately, these paintings were executed on a very crumbling surface, which has in many places peeled off: it is sad to see one of the most precious monuments of Greek and Christian Art in a deplorable state of dilapidation.

The masterpiece of the tenth century, which again is due to the artists of Greece, is a “Psalter, with Commentaries,” belonging also to the Imperial Library (number 139 among the Greek manuscripts), a work in which the miniature-painter seems not to have been able to disengage himself from the Pagan creeds in illustrating Biblical episodes. Two celebrated manuscripts of the same time, but executed in France, and preserved in the same collection, show, by the stiffness and incorrectness of the drawing, that the impetus given by the genius of Charlemagne had abated: these are the “Bible de Noailles,” and the “Bible de St. Martial,” of Limoges (Fig. 355).

To speak truly, if in France there was a decadency, the Anglo-Saxon and Visigothic artists of this period

were also very inferior, to judge from a Latin Book of the Gospels of the tenth century painted in England (Fig. 356); it, however, proves that the art of ornamenting books had degenerated less than that of drawing the human figure. Another manuscript with paintings, called Visigothic, containing the Apocalypse of St. John, gives, in its fantastic ornaments and animals, an example of the strange style adopted by a certain school of miniature-painters.

Germany now began to improve in the art of painting miniatures. It owed this happy result to the emigration of Greek artists, who came to the German court to take refuge from the troubles of the East. The progress accomplished in this part of Europe shows itself in the drawing of the figures of a German Book of the Gospels of the beginning of the eleventh century, a work very superior to that of the Teutonic Book of the Gospels just referred to. The border of which we give a fac-simile in Fig. 357 shows also a certain degree of improvement; it is taken from a Book of the Gospels of the same period, preserved in the Royal Library, Munich.

But in France, to foreign invasions and to misfortunes of all kinds, which, since the death of Charlemagne, had afflicted the country, was added the terror caused by the general expectation that the world was coming to an end at the expiration of the first millennial. People were, therefore, otherwise employed than in ornamenting books. Accordingly, this epoch is one of the most barren in religious or other paintings. Fig. 358 represents the last degree of abasement in this art. Nothing in the world could be more barbarous, nor farther removed from all sentiment of the beautiful, and even from the instinctive idea of drawing. Ornamentation, however, remained sufficiently good, although under very heavy forms, as the Sacramentary of Æthelgar, which is preserved in the Library of Rouen, shows (Fig. 359). The decadency, however, seems to have come to a stop in France towards the end of the eleventh century, if we judge of the art from paintings, executed in 1060, and contained in a Latin manuscript, bearing the number 818, in the Imperial Library.

(Imperial Library, Paris, No. 821.)]

In the manuscripts of the twelfth century, the influence of the Crusades made itself already felt. At this period, the East regenerated in some sort the West in all that concerned arts, sciences, and literature. Many examples witness that the painting of manuscripts was not the last to undergo this singular transformation. Everything the imagination could invent of the most fantastic was particularly brought into play to give to the Latin letters a peculiar character--imitated, moreover, from the ornaments of Saracenic architecture. This practice was even applied to public acts and documents, as Fig. 360 proves; it represents some of the initial letters in the “Rouleau Mortuaire” of St. Vital. Callot, in his “Temptation of St. Anthony,” has, we think, imagined nothing stranger than the figure we give; a demon standing on the back of Cerberus forms the vertical line in the letter T; while two other demons, whose feet are in the mouth of the first, form the two lateral branches of the letter.

In the thirteenth century, Saracenic or Gothic art universally prevailed. Everywhere figures assumed gaunt, elongated forms; coats-of-arms invaded the miniatures; but the colouring was of marvellous purity and brightness; burnished gold, applied with the greatest skill, stood out from blue or purple backgrounds which even in our own day have lost nothing of their original freshness.

(Imperial Archives of France.)]

Among the most remarkable manuscripts of this century we must mention a Psalter in five colours, containing the French, Hebrew, and Roman versions, with some commentaries (Imperial Library, No. 1,132 _bis_). One should analyse the greater number of subjects depicted in this manuscript to understand all their importance; we will mention only that among them are sieges of towns, Gothic fortresses, interiors of Italian banking-houses, various musical instruments, &c. There is, perhaps, no other manuscript which equals this in the richness, the beauty, and multiplicity of its paintings: it contains ninety-nine large miniatures, independently of ninety-six

medallions representing divers episodes suggested by the text of the Psalms (Fig. 361). After this psalter we must place the Breviary of St. Louis, or rather of Queen Blanche, formerly preserved in the Arsenal Library, Paris, and now in the Musée des Souverains; a celebrated manuscript which has, on folio 191, this inscription: “C’est le Psautier monseigneur St. Loys, lequel fu à sa mère.”[57] But the volume is not rich in large miniatures. We observe in it, however, a calendar ornamented with small subjects very delicately executed, representing the labours appropriate to each month, according to the seasons of the year. The character of the paintings exhibits a style anterior to the reign of Louis IX.; and it is supposed, indeed, that this book first belonged to the mother of that king.

We must now mention another Psalter, which was actually used by St. Louis; as is proved not only by an inscription at the beginning of the volume, but still further by the fleurs-de-lis of the king, the arms of Blanche of Castile, his mother, and perhaps also _les pals de gueules_ of Margaret of Provence, his wife. Nothing can equal the beautiful preservation of the miniatures in this volume, which contains seventy-eight subjects, with as many explanatory texts in French. The heads of the characters, though almost microscopic, have nevertheless, generally, a fine expression.

(Imperial Library, Paris.)]

The “Livre de Clergie,” which bears the date of 1260, merits far less attention: so does the “Roman du Roi Artus,” No. 6,963, in the Imperial Library, Paris, executed in 1276. But we must point out two of the most beautiful examples of this period, a Book of the Gospels in Latin, No. 665 in the Supplement, Imperial Library, from which we have borrowed an elegant border (Fig. 362), and the “Roman du Saint-Graal,” No. 6,769, also in the Imperial Library.

Italy was then at the head of civilisation in everything; it had particularly inherited the grand traditions of painting which had gone to sleep for ever in Greece only to wake up again in Europe.

Here we must introduce a remark, the result of a general examination of the manuscripts bequeathed to us by the thirteenth century; namely, that the miniatures in sacred books are much more beautifully and carefully executed than those of the romances of chivalry and the chronicles of the same period (Figs. 363 and 364). Must we attribute this superiority to the power of religious inspiration? Must we suppose that in the monasteries alone clever artists met with sufficient remuneration? Before answering these questions, or rather as an answer to them, let us remember that in those days religious institutions absorbed nearly all the social intellectual movement, as well as the effective possession of material riches, if not of territorial property. Solely occupied with distant wars or intestine quarrels which impoverished them, the nobles were altogether unable to become protectors of literature and Art. In the abbeys and convents were lay-brethren who sometimes had taken no vow, but whose fervent spirits, burning with poetical imagination, sought in the monastic retreat redemption from their past sins: these men of faith were happy to consecrate their whole existence to the ornamentation of a single sacred book destined for the community which gave them in exchange all the necessaries of life.

This explains the absence of the names of the miniature-painters in ancient manuscripts, particularly in those which are written in Latin. However, when romances and chronicles in the vulgar tongue began to come into fashion, artists of great talent eagerly presented themselves to be engaged by princes and nobles who wished to have this sort of books ornamented; but the anonymous which these lay artists generally preserved is explained by the circumstance that in most cases they were considered only as artistic assistants in the lordly houses where they were employed, and in which they fulfilled some other domestic duty; for instance, Colard de Laon, the favourite painter of Louis of Orleans, was also valet-de-chambre to this prince; Pietro Andrea, another artist, doubtless an Italian, to judge from his Christian name, was gentleman-usher; and we see this

(Imperial Library, Paris.)]

same painter “sent from Blois to Tours, to procure certain matters for the accouchment of Madame the Duchess;” or again, “from Blois to Romorantin, to inquire after Madame d’Angoulesme, who was reported to be very unwell.”

Certain artists, however, who then took the modest name of illuminators, lived entirely by their profession; working at _tableaux benoîts_ (blessed pictures), or popular paintings, which were sold at the church-doors. Others, again, were paid assistants of the recognised painters to princes or nobles; and the anonymous was quite naturally imposed upon them by their subordinate position, if not by the simple modesty which was for a long time the accompaniment of talent. In the fourteenth century the study of miniatures is peculiarly interesting, on account of the scenes of public and private life, of manners and customs, we find reproduced in them. Portraits after life, _d’après le vif_, as they were called in those days, made their appearance; and caricature, at all times so powerful in France, already began to show itself with a daring which, occupying itself with the clergy, women, and chivalry, stopped only before the prestige of royalty.

The miniatures of a French manuscript, dated 1313 (Imperial Library, Paris, No. 8,504, F. L.), deserve to be mentioned, especially on account of the various subjects they represent; for, besides the ceremony of the reception of the King of Navarre into the order of chivalry, we see in it philosophers discussing, judges administering the law, various scenes of conjugal life, singers accompanying themselves on divers instruments of music, villagers engaged in the labours of country life, &c. We must mention also a manuscript of the “Roman de Fauvel,” in which is especially prominent the very original scene of a popular concert of rough music, by masked performers, given, according to an old custom, to a widow who had married a second time (Fig. 365).

The period during which Charles V. occupied the throne of France is one of those that produced the finest specimens of manuscript-painting. This monarch, the founder of the Royal Library, was an admirer of illustrated books, and had accumulated, at great cost, a large collection in the great tower of the Louvre. A royal prince, whom we have already mentioned as being excessively devoted to artistic luxuries, was the rival of Charles V. in this respect: this was his brother, the Duke Jean de Berry, who devoted enormous sums to the purchase and production of manuscripts.

Even under Charles VI. this impulse did not abate, and the art of painting manuscripts was never in a more flourishing condition. The border taken from the “Livre d’Heures,” or prayer-book, of the Duke d’Anjou, uncle of the king (Fig. 366), is an example of this. We might mention, as specimens of illustrated works of this period, the book of the “Demandes et Réponses,” by Peter Salmon, a manuscript executed for the king, and ornamented with exquisite miniatures, in which all the characters are true historical portraits, beautifully finished. Nevertheless, the masterpieces of the French school at this period show themselves in the miniatures of two translations of Boccacio’s “De Claris Mulieribus” (“Beautiful Women”) (Fig. 367).

At that time two new styles appeared in the painting of manuscripts: miniatures _en camaïeu_ (in one colour only), and miniatures _en grisaille_ (in two colours, viz., a light colour shaded, generally with brown). Of the first kind, we may instance “Les Petites Heures” of John, Duke de Berry (Fig. 368), and “Les Miracles de Notre-Dame.”

Germany did not in this respect rise to the height of France; but miniature-painting in Italy progressed more and more towards perfection. A remarkable specimen of Italian art of this period is the Bible called Clement VII.’s (Fig. 369), which is preserved in the Imperial Library, Paris. But there exists one more admirable still in the same establishment, so rich in curiosities, of the manuscript of “The Institution of the Order of the Holy Ghost,” an order of chivalry founded at Naples in 1352, by Louis de Tarento, King of Naples, during a feast on the day of Pentecost; it is in this superb manuscript, executed by Italian or French artists, may, perhaps, be found the most exquisite miniatures of that day (Fig. 370); especially remarkable are the beautiful portraits in _camaïeu_ of King Louis and his wife, Jane I., Queen of Naples. A valuable copy of the romance of “Lancelot du Lac,” of the same date, recommends itself to the attention of connoisseurs by a rare peculiarity: one can follow in it the successive operations of the painter in miniature; thus are presented to us consecutively the outline-drawing, then the first tints, generally uniform, executed by the illuminator; next the surface on which the gold is to be applied; then the real work of the miniature-painter in the heads, costumes, &c.

(Imperial Library, Paris.)]

France, in spite of the great troubles which agitated her, and the wars she had to maintain with foreign powers during the fifteenth century, saw, nevertheless, the art of the painter improve very considerably. The fine copy of Froissart in the Imperial Library, Paris (Fig. 371), might alone suffice to prove the truth of this assertion. The name of John Foucquet, painter to King Louis XI., deserves to be mentioned with eulogy, as that of one of the artists who contributed most to the progress of painting on manuscripts. Everything thenceforward announced the Renaissance which was to take place in the sixteenth century; and if we wish to follow the onward progress of art from the beginning of the fifteenth century till the time

Miniature from Froissart’s Chronicles in the National Library, Paris.]

of Raphael, it is in the miniatures of manuscripts we shall find the best evidences of it. Let us observe, by the way, that the Flemish school of the Dukes of Burgundy exercised great influence over this marvellous art for a period of more than a century. Spain was also progressing; but it is to the Italian artists we must, from that time forward, look for the most remarkable works. The Imperial Library of Paris possesses many manuscripts which bear witness to the marked improvement in miniature-painting at this period; among others an “Ovid” of the fifteenth century (Fig. 372); but in order to see the highest expression of the art, we must examine an incomparable copy of Dante’s works, preserved in the Vatican, a manuscript proceeding from the hands of Giulio Clovio (Fig. 373), an illustrious painter, pupil and imitator of Raphael: his miniatures are remarkable for beauty.

Lastly, in the reign of Louis XII., the complete regeneration of the Arts was effected. We should, however, mention that at this period there were two very distinct schools: one whose style still showed the influence of ancient Gothic traditions, the other entirely dependent on Italian taste. The Missal of Pope Paul V. emanated from this last school (Fig. 374).

This immense progress, which showed itself simultaneously in France and in Italy by the production of many original works, seems to have attained its climax in the execution of a justly celebrated manuscript, known by the name of “Heures d’Anne de Bretagne” (Fig. 375). Among the numerous pictures which decorate this book of prayers, many would not be unworthy of Raphael’s pencil: the expression in the face of the Virgin Mary is, with many others, remarkable for its sweetness; the heads of the angels have something divine in them; and the ornaments which occupy the margin of each page are composed of flowers, fruits, and insects, represented with all the freshness and brilliancy of nature. This inimitable masterpiece was, like a sort of sublime testament, to mark the glorious boundary-line of an art which must necessarily degenerate now that the printing-press was causing the numerous class of scribes and illuminators of the Middle Ages to disappear. It has never revived since, but at intervals; and then more to meet the requirements of fancy than to be of any real use.

A few manuscripts adorned with miniatures of the end of the sixteenth century may still be mentioned, especially two “Livres d’Heures” (prayer-books) painted in _grisaille_, which

(Musée des Souverains.)]

belonged to Henry II., King of France (now in the Musée des Souverains), and the “Livre d’Heures,” executed for the Margrave of Baden by a painter of Lorraine or of Metz named Brentel (Fig. 376), who, however, did nothing

(Imperial Library, Paris.)]

but put together designs copied from the great masters of Italy and Flanders. There were, nevertheless, good miniature-painters in France up to the seventeenth century, to illustrate the manuscripts executed with so much taste by the famous Jarry and the caligraphers of his school. The last manifestation of the art shines forth, for example, in the magnificent “Livre d’Heures” presented to Louis XIV. by the pensioners of the Hôtel des Invalides, a remarkable work, but yet unworthy to appear by the side of the “Livre d’Heures d’Anne de Bretagne,” which the painter seems to have adopted as his model.

BOOKBINDING

Primitive Binding of Books.--Bookbinding among the
Romans.--Bookbinding with Goldsmith’s Work from the Fifth
Century.--Chained Books.--Corporation of _Lieurs_, or
Bookbinders.--Books bound in Wood, with Metal Corners and
Clasps.--First Bindings in Leather, honeycombed (_waffled_?) and
gilt.--Description of some celebrated Bindings of the Fourteenth
and Fifteenth Centuries.--Sources of Modern Bookbinding.--John
Grollier.--President De Thou.--Kings and Queens of France
Bibliomaniacs.--Superiority of Bookbinding in France.

As soon as the ancients had made square books, more convenient to read than the rolls, binding--that is to say, the art of reuniting the leaves stitched or stuck (_ligati_) into a movable back, between two square pieces of wood, ivory, metal, or leather--bookbinding was invented. This primitive binding, which had no other object than that of preserving the books, no other merit than than of solidity, was not long ere it became associated with ornament, and thus put itself in relation with the luxury of Greek and Roman civilisation. Not contented with placing on each side of the volume a little tablet of cedar-wood or of oak, on which was written the title of the book (for books were then laid flat on the shelves of the library), a piece of leather was stretched over the edge to preserve it from dust, if the book was valuable, and the volume was tied up with a strap passed round it many times, and which was subsequently replaced by clasps. In certain instances the volume was enveloped in thick cloth, and even enclosed in a case of wood or leather. Such was the state of bookbinding in ancient times.

There were then, as now, good and bad bookbinders. Cicero, in his letters to Atticus, asks for two of his slaves who were very clever _ligatores librorum_ (bookbinders). Bookbinding, however, was not an art very generally known, for square books, notwithstanding the convenience of their shape, had not yet superseded rolls; but we see, in the Notices of the Dignities of the Eastern Empire (“Notitia Dignitatum Imperii), written towards 450, that this accessory art had already made immense progress; since certain officers of the empire used to carry, in the public ceremonies, large square books containing the administrative instructions of the emperor: these books were bound, covered with green, red, blue, or yellow leather, closed by means of leathern straps or by hooks, and ornamented with little golden rods disposed horizontally, or lozengewise, with the portrait of the sovereign painted or gilt on their sides. From the fifth century goldsmiths and lapidaries ornamented binding with great richness. And so we hear St. Jerome exclaiming:--“Your books are covered with precious stones, and Christ died naked before the gate of his temple!” “The Book of the Gospels,” in Greek, given to the basilica of Monza by Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, about 600, has still one of these costly bindings.

A specimen of Byzantine art, preserved in the Louvre, is a sort of small plate, which is supposed to be one of the sides of the cover of a book; on it we find executed in bas-relief the “Visit of the Holy Women to the Tomb,” and several other scenes from the Gospels. In this example the beauty of the figures, the taste which dictated the arrangement of the draperies, and the finish in the execution, furnish us with evidence that, in the industrial arts, the Greeks had maintained till the twelfth century their pre-eminence over all the people of Europe.

In those days the binding of ordinary books was executed without any ornamentation, this being reserved for sacred books. If, in the treasures of churches, abbeys, and palaces, a few manuscripts covered with gold, silver, and precious stones were kept as relics, books in common use were simply covered in boards or leather; but not without much attention being given to the binding, which was merely intended to preserve the volumes. Many documents bear witness to the great care and precision with which, in certain monasteries, books were bound and preserved. All sorts of skins were employed in covering them when they had been once pressed and joined together between boards of hard wood that would not readily decay: in the North, even the skins of seals and of sharks were employed, but pig-skin seems to have been used in preference to all others.

Bas-relief in Gold Repoussé. Ninth Century. (in the Louvre.)]

It must be admitted that we, perhaps, owe to their rich bindings, which were well calculated to tempt thieves, the destruction of a number of valuable manuscripts when towns or monasteries were sacked; but, on the other hand, the sumptuous bindings with which kings and nobles covered Bibles, the Gospels, antiphonaries,[58] and missals, have certainly preserved to us very many curious examples that, without them, would by degrees have deteriorated, or would not have escaped all the chances of destruction to which they were exposed. It is thus, for instance, that the famous manuscript of Sens has descended to us, which contains “La Messe des Fous,” set to music in the twelfth century; it is bound between two pieces of ivory, with bas-relief carvings of the fourth century, representing the festivals of Bacchus. All great public collections show with pride some of these rare and venerable bindings, decorated with gold, silver, or copper, engraved, chased, or inlaid with precious stones or coloured glass, with cameos or antique ivories (Fig. 378). The greater number of rich books of the Gospels mentioned in history date back as far as the period of Charlemagne, and among these we must mention, above all, one given by the emperor himself to the Abbey of St. Riquier, “covered with plates of silver, and ornamented with gold and gems;” that of St. Maximinius of Treves, which came from Ada, daughter of Pepin, sister of Charlemagne, and was ornamented with an engraved agate representing Ada, the emperor, and his sons; and lastly, one that was to be seen as late as 1727 in the convent of Hautvillers, near Epernay, and which was bound in carved ivory.

Sometimes these sumptuous volumes were enclosed in an envelope made of rich stuff; or, in pursuance of an ancient custom, a casket not less gorgeously decorated than the binding, contained it. The Prayer-book of Charlemagne, now preserved in the Library of the Louvre, is known to have been originally enclosed in a small casket of silver gilt, on which were represented in relief the “Mysteries of the Passion.”

These books, however, bound with goldsmith’s work, were not those that were chained in churches and in certain libraries (Fig. 379), as some volumes still in existence show, with the rings through which passed the chain that fastened them to the desk. These _catenati_ (chained books) were generally Bibles and missals, bound in wood and heavily ornamented with metallic corners; which, while placed at the disposition of the faithful and of the public in general, their owners wished to guarantee against being stolen.

(Musée du Louvre).]

We must not forget to mention, among the most beautiful bindings of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the coverings of books in enamelled copper (Fig. 380). The Museum of Cluny possesses two plates of incrusted enamel of Limoges, which must have belonged to one of these bindings: the first has for its subject the “Adoration of the Magi;” the other

Serving as a Book Cover, “l’Office des fous.”. (In the Library of Sens)]

represents the monk Etienne de Muret, founder of the order of Grandmont (in the twelfth century), conversing with St. Nicholas. The Cathedral of Milan contains in its treasury the covering of a book still more ancient and much richer, about fourteen inches long by twelve inches wide, and profusely covered with incrusted enamel, mounted and ornamented with polished, but uncut, precious stones of various colours.

But all these were only the work of enamellers, goldsmiths, illuminators, and clasp-makers. The binders, or bookbinders properly so called, fastened together the leaves of books, and placed them between two boards, which they then covered with leather, skin, stuff, or parchment; they added to these coverings sometimes leathern straps, sometimes metal clasps, sometimes hooks, to keep the volume firmly closed, and almost always nails, whose round and projecting heads preserved the flat surface of the binding from being rubbed.

In the year 1299, when the tax was imposed upon the inhabitants of Paris for the exigencies of the king, it was ascertained that the number of bookbinders then actually in the town amounted only to seventeen, who, as well as the scribes and booksellers, were directly dependent on the

University, the authorities of which placed them under the surveillance of four sworn bookbinders, who were considered the _agents_ of the University. We must except, however, from this jurisdiction the acknowledged bookbinder to the “Chambre des Comptes,” who, before he could be appointed to this office, had to make an affirmation _that he could neither read nor write_.