I came across one of those random Youtube suggestions that simply delighted me. It was about something I have long been fascinated by, medieval illuminated manuscripts.
The youtube video was The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers & the Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry. I have a copy of the book the that they spoke of at the start of the video. This video is old, from 2010 but there was still much to learn from it.
My book. It is a lovely thing, bound well, and boxed for protection. It is one of my treasures and I have had it since forever.
What was really cool was that they showed several of the illuminated pages that are included in my book.
These are Carthusian monks going in to this,
on the next page. Instead of showing you the inside of the building, the artists took you to the spiritual heights showing the lay of the land and the entire monastery.
I have read the least of this lovely book. I keep getting distracted by the glorious art. After watching the video, I had to take a tour through the rest of this part of my library. And yes, I have read all of these.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicles are not strictly about the art of illumination but the book is filled with pictures from other texts used for illustrative purposes. It is a lovely thing and I have come across the book in a forum I follow online about British medieval history. It blows my mind a bit, that a book I got from a discount bookseller is discussed out in the world. I always assumed it was only a partial copy and I never got around to looking into the book beyond reading it, but apparently it is a complete text of one of the Chronicle copies in existence.
Next up is a book filled with photos from many illuminated manuscripts.
This is what a book of hours, such as the Belles Hueres looked like. It is essentially a prayer book for the wealthy.
And then a scholarly copy of a book about the most famous illuminated manuscript, the Book of Kells.
It is filled with intricate magic. The artists were masters of the hand copying craft.
It comes up often in discussions about illuminated manuscripts.
And lastly, my own favourite from a discount bin, a story of Christmas using plates from medieval books to tell the story, A Medieval Christmas.
The plates in this book, are taken from the Mary cycles from many different books of hours.
This one is interesting. It illustrates Epiphany, when the three wise men visit the infant Jesus. No kings here. Nary a crown. When were they turned into kings? I know the answer is out there but this blog post is not a biblical discussion. I only mark it as an interesting observation.
It was a lovely way to prepare for Easter and it is always fun to wander through my bookshelves.
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