Browse Items (53 total)

Leaf 11. "In the XIIIth century Italy was distraught by the long struggle between the papal and anti-imperialistic Guelphs and the autocratic and imperialistic Ghibellines. Little encouragment was given to either party by the arts. This leaf reveals,…

Leaf 12. "This small Psalter leaf illustrates the fact that, although skilled scribes were available in many monasteries in the XIIIth century, some of the monks who attempted to apply and burnish the gold leaf were still struggling with many…

Leaf 13. "It is usually difficult to distinguish the miniature or portable Bibles by the young Dominican firars in England from those written in France" (Ege). "The original master text was carelessly transcribed again and again. It may even have…

Leaf 14. "This copy of the Latin version by St. Jerome was made during the period when France stood at the height of her medieval glory" (Ege). "The bar borders came to be exectued in rich opaque gouache pigments, with ultramarine made of powdered…

Leaf 15. "This manuscript, a special gift to a church in the city of Beauvais, was written for Robert de Hangest, a canon, about 1285 A.D." (Ege). "The ornament of this leaf shows the first flowering of Gothic interest in nature. The formal hieratic…

Leaf 16. "Brevaries were seldom owned by laymen. They were service books and contained the Psalter with the versicles, responses, collects and lections for Sundays, weekdays, and saints' days. Other texts could be included. A Breviary, therefore, was…

Leaf 17. "Illuminated Psalters occur as early as the VIIIth century, and from the XIth to the beginning of the XIVth century they predominate among illuminated manuscripts." "At this time the pendant tails of the initial letters are rigid or only…

Leaf 18. "The Breviary is one of the six official books used by the Roman Catholic Church in its liturgy" (Ege). "The angular script of this lead is executed with great skill and precision. The small and vigorous black initials and the hair line…

Leaf 19. "The rich black lettering of this manuscript is in the transitional rotunda script and is executed with skill and beauty. It is supplemented by initial letters of ultramarine blue and deep cinnabar (vermilion), which colors are reflected in…

Leaf 20. "Small Psalters of this period are comparatively rare, since Pslaters were used primarily in the church services and not by the layman. Here, the letters and ornament still retain all the rigidity of the previous century and give no…