Medieval Illuminated Book of Hours Leaves for Sale on eBay These corporate-like guilds typically produced gorgeously illuminated manuscripts for wealthy clients who could afford the high cost of production. Later in the Middle Ages, as European commerce and wealth grew, private scribes' guilds began to form. European monasteries, the last bastions of literacy during the dark ages, became centers of book production after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Illuminated manuscript production was driven by two different institutions. European illuminated manuscripts were manufactured during the medieval period from approximately 600 CE to circa 1550 CE and were usually in Latin, the lingua franca of medieval Europe. And nowhere is this striving for unearthly beauty more obvious then when looking at the sumptuous designs and rich colors of medieval European illuminated manuscripts.Īn illuminated manuscript is a handwritten book (or single page of such a book) that has been decorated with colored pigments. Regardless of the medium used to create it, each stroke of the artist’s paintbrush, stylus or pen is made with the intention of distilling the divine essence of beauty into a physical form.
Art is concentrated beauty given tangible form. It is also an adage that underscores what makes art so special. All else is a form of waiting." This is a Truth that we all too often forget as the harsh demands of our hectic day-to-day lives relentlessly engulf us. Long ago, in a more genteel age, the famous Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran wrote in his moving poem "Sand and Foam" that "We live only to discover beauty. The lavish use of bright colors like blue, red and gold is typical of high quality medieval illuminated works. Here is a brilliantly colored leaf from a 13th century illuminated manuscript depicting scenes from the Aeneid, a classical work by the Latin poet Virgil.
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