Thursday 3 May 2012

Blogpost 4

This week I have moved onto the questions of what role illuminated manuscripts played in society, who produced them.  I've added another question to my list after doing some more research, and that is Who were the patrons of this art, i.e. who was ordering the making of these manuscripts and possessing them?  My processes have still mostly been reading through the sources I have previously found, especially the book: "Masterpieces of Illumination", this book is written in easy to understand language, with headings that make it easy to find the information I'm after.  I have also found one new source, the headings and information make it feel like it was written just for this project, I found the link for this source in one of the others I found in the first couple of weeks.

I think at this stage of the project, finding new information on a large scale is not necessary, four weeks in it should be a matter of reading, reading and more reading, with searching for new sources to be limited to use for validating some questions that come along.  The videos I am embedding in my blog have also been pre-planned now, so unless I find something new and fantastic, I know what I will be showing there.  I am trying to find new and interesting images each week, something that is relevant to the parts of the report I am answering.  Below is the fourth part of the series on Manuscript reproduction.  An image from the Arthurian Romances, a page from a manuscript about the mythical tales of King Arthur and Camelot, an example of a secular manuscript.  And finally another example of another ecclesiastical illumination, from a bible in the early 15th century.


 

Page from the Arthurian Romances.
The role each manuscript in society was determined by it's type and intended use, especially in the beginning.  Manuscripts were initially produced by and for the religious community, for use in private devotions and also for use during services.  Around the 12th century, this started to change, orders for these manuscripts were coming from individuals, still mostly for use during devotions, but also to use for self-education.  Sometimes these wealthy 'donors' would request their own image be included in the donor miniature, they would often appear as a tiny figure somewhere.  Eventually, in the 13th century, we start to see the production of manuscripts for other uses; i.e. books for specialists (law, medicine etc), literature and even history, these manuscripts are intended for scholarly use, especially with the rise of universities.

In the early Middle Ages, manuscripts were produced in monasteries, by monks, in rooms called scriptorium's.  As illuminated manuscripts penetrated into the secular parts of society, this saw the rise of lay craftsman.  These craftsman opened their own workshops and worked as professional artists, producing manuscripts for profit.  At times these craftsman were even called into monasteries to complete works for the monks.


Early 15th century illumination from a Bible.

Bibliography

Link to my complete Bibliographical page. 

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