ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

 
Featured
Fragment of a compendium of the Genealogy of Christ, ca. 1200, ink on vellum, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Fragment of a compendium of the Genealogy of Christ, ca. 1200, ink on vellum, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In this 13th century manuscript, the history of the world is organised into six ages, each introduced in the manuscript with a line drawing. Here a Nativity illustrates the sixth age - that of the Incarnation of Christ.

Lorenzo Monaco, Decorated Initial with Scene of Christ Entering the Temple, ca. 1408-11 pen on ink, wash, on vellum, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Lorenzo Monaco, Decorated Initial with Scene of Christ Entering the Temple, ca. 1408-11 pen on ink, wash, on vellum, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This very early, extremely rare, drawing by Lorenzo Monaco was intended for an illuminated manuscript which was unfinished. It was produced for one of the choir books of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence.

Zoomorphic Initial from the Corbie Psalter, early 9th century, northern France, Abbey of Corbie, Bibliothèques d’Amiens Métropole, MS 18C.
Zoomorphic Initial from the Corbie Psalter, early 9th century, northern France, Abbey of Corbie, Bibliothèques d’Amiens Métropole, MS 18C.

This psalter, or book of psalms, was produced in the scriptorium of the Abbey of Corbie in northern France, one of the main centres of manuscript illumination in the early Middle Ages. Its illustrations consist entirely of remarkably inventive initials for the first letter of the first word of each text.