Otto F. Ege: Fifty Original Leaves From Medieval Manuscripts

Items

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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 29. "The treatment of the [manuscript's] ivy spray with the single line stem and rather sparse foliage is characteristic of the work of the French monastic scribes about the year 1450. The occasional appearance of the strawberry indicates that the illuminating was done by a Benedictine monk. Fifty years earlier the stem would have been wider and colored, and the foliage rich; fifty years later the ivy would be entangled with flowers and acanthus foliage" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 28. "This Book of Hours shows definite characteristics of the manscript art of France and the Netherlands of about 1450 A.D. It was probably one of the many copies prepared for sale at a shrine to which devout pilgrims came to worship or to seek a cure. The spiked letters and the detached ornamental bar are unmistakably Flemish in spirit, while the free ivy sprays are distinctively French. The burnished metal in the decorations shows the use of alloyed gold (oro di meta) as well as silver" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Antiphonal: Antiphonarium

  Leaf 27. "Antiphonal or responsive singing is said to have been introduced in the second century by St. Ignatius of Antioch" (Ege). "Many of the more than four hundred antiphons which have survived the centuries are elaborate in their musical structure. They were sung in the medieval church by the first cantor and his assistants. Candle grease stains reveal that his small sized antiphonal was doubtless carried in processions in dimly lighted cathedrals. In this example the notation is written on the four-line red staff which was in general use by the end of the XIIth century. The script is the usual form of Italian rotunda with bold Lombardic initial letters."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 15th c.
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  Missal: Missale

  Leaf 26. "The fact that this Missal honors particular saints by its calendar and litany indicates that it was made by friars of the Franciscan order. This was established in 1209 by St. Francis" (Ege). "This leaf, with its well written, pointed characters and decorative initial letters, has lost some of its pristine beauty, doubtless through occasional exposure to dampness over a period of 600 years.The green tone is more frequently found in English manuscripts than in French. However, the ornament and miniature on the opening page of the manuscript definitely indicate that it is of French origin."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 25. "In the earlier periods there was generally a harmonious unity between the spirit of the ornament and the character of the writing. This unity is exemplified in this leaf. The three-lobed, gracefully drawn symmetrical fronds of leaves in the ornament are usually accepted without question as representing the ivy plant. In the Middle Ages many magical and medicinal qualities were attributed to this plant" (Ege). "Some pages of this manuscript book show the effect of having been exposed to dampness."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Book of Hours: Horæ Beatae Mariæ Virginis

  Leaf 24. "This particular Book of Hours, a devotional prayer book for the layman, was made for the use of Sarum, the early name of Salisbury, England. This text was accepted throughout the province of Canterbury. This manuscript was written about the time Chaucer completed his Canterbury Tales, but evidently by a French monk, who might have been attached as was often the case, to an English monastery. Again, the book could have been specially ordered and imported from abroad. The initial letter and the coloring and the treatment of the ivy are unmistakably French" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Breviary: Breviarium

  Leaf 23. "While the script of this leaf is almost certainly French, the initial letters and filigree decoration might easily be of Italian workmanship, and the greenish tone of the ink suggests English manufacture. The dorsal motif in the bar ornament is again decidely French, and the lemon tone of the gold is a third indication of French origin" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Missal: Missale Herbipolense

  Leaf 22. "This particular manuscript was written by Benedictine monks for the Parochial School of St. John the Baptist in Wurzburg shortly after 1300 A.D. The musical notation is the rare type which is a transition between the early neumes and the later Gothic or horsehoe nail notation.The "C" line of the staff is indicated by that letter, and the "F" simply by a diamond, an unusual method. The bold initial letters in red and blue are "built up" letters
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Hymnal: Hymnarium

  Leaf 21. "Much of the material incorporated in the hymnals was based on folk melodies. Hymns, like the other chants of the Church, varied according to their place in the liturgy" (Ege). "The initial letter design of this leaf persisted with little or no change for a long period, but the simple pendant spear was used as a distinctive motif for not more than twenty-five years."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  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 indication of the rounder type of letter or any beginning of the interest in nature that characterized the work of the scribes in France. The filigree decoration, as well as the line-fishing elements, show, however, more creative freedom than either the initial or the text letters" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Vulgate Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  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 the ornament of romanesque capitals. All of these factors combine seem to indicate that the manuscript was executed in central Italy, possibly at Florence" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 14th c.
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  Breviary: Breviarium

  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 details found in many of the ascenders and terminal letters indicate the work of a superior calligrapher."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  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 slightly wavy, with a few leaves springing from the ends" (Ege). "The blue and lake (orange-red) color scheme with accents of white is a carry-over from the Westminster tradition which prevailed in the previous century.The solid line-filling ornaments of the verses were a new feature added in the second half of the XIIIth century. Silver and alloys of gold are used on this leaf."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Breviary: Breviarium

  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 lengthy and usually bulky in format. Miniature copies like the one represented by this leaf were rare" (Ege). "This manuscript was written on a fine uterine vellum, i.e., the skin of an unborn calf."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Missal: Missale Bellovacense

  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 treatment is here giving way to graceful naturalism. The ivy branch has put forth its first leaves in the history of ornament. The writing, likewise, is departing from its previous rigid character and displays and ornamental pliancy which harmonizes with the decorative initials."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  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 lapis lazuli predominating. The foliage scroll work inside the inital frame created a style that persisted with little or no change for nearly two hundred years."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Oxford Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  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 been incorrectly copied from the Alcunian text written for Charlemagne. Therefore, "corrections" had to be made."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  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 problems of illumination. The famous treatise De Arte Illuminandi and Cennino Cennini's Trattato were both of a later date. These works gave directions on how to prepare and use the glair of egg, Armeninan bole, stag-horn glue, and hare's foot, and on how to burnish gold with a suitable wolf's tooth" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Bible: Biblia Sacra Latina, Versio Vulgata

  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, however, the skill and keen eyesight which were necessary for the writing of ten of those lines to the inch" (Ege).
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.
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  Psalter: Psalterium

  Leaf 10. "The line endings of a fish, elongated or shortened as the space required, and the grinning expression of the fish emblem have in some book circles given these German Psalters the nickname "Laughing Carp" Psalters" (Ege). "The lozenge heads on top of many of the vertical pen strokes are characteristic of German manuscripts."
  Original medium: Manuscript
  Date: 13th c.