Byzantine Manuscript Illumination
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 June 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396584-0237
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 June 2017
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780195396584-0237
Introduction
Illustrated manuscripts constitute an important source for Byzantine art, owing to the number of examples surviving across time and the great loss of monumental painting from Constantinople, the seat of the court and center of patronage from the 9th century onward. The history of the Byzantine Empire, more than one thousand years long, is divided into periods that have the benefits and drawbacks of any such divisions of historical epochs. The first period begins with Constantine (reigned 324–337) ruling a still-substantial Roman Empire, and it ends with the liquidation of iconoclasm in 843; by then, the state had been vastly reduced in size, having lost North Africa, the eastern provinces, and all of Italy but the southern part, and was fending off Slav incursions into Greece and the Arabs into Asia Minor. The second period, the Middle Byzantine, sees both a strong economic and a military revival; its end comes with the Latin Conquest and occupation of Constantinople in 1204, though works of the 13th century are often, though uneasily, included in this period. The third and last period begins with the restoration of Byzantine rule under the Palaiologan emperors in 1261 and ceases with the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. Only a handful of illustrated books survive from the first period. It may be that books with pictures were not produced in great number, or at least great enough to ensure that a representative sample survived the ravages of time; also working against early manuscripts, whether illuminated or not, is the revolution that took place in the generations following the end of iconoclasm, when minuscule writing came to replace uncial, quickly superannuating books copied in the old and labor-intensive script. During the late 9th and 10th centuries, manuscripts with elegant ornament and miniatures begin to reappear, and the 11th and 12th centuries witnessed a dramatic increase both in the types and number of books illustrated. Palaiologan illustration reflects the depth of cultural disruption caused by the Latin Conquest, but it can hardly be dismissed as merely a revival, whether that word denotes art making in general or refers specifically to the handful of works that copy or adapt models from the 10th century. Palaiologan illuminators, like monumental painters, created dramatic and emotionally affecting works offering a degree of naturalism unknown in earlier Byzantine art. In doing so they laid the foundation for later painting in Greece, the Balkans, and Russia.
Survey Books
Manuscript illumination is covered in all surveys by the reproduction of a handful of “masterpieces,” such as the Vienna Genesis, Paris Psalter, Joshua Roll, and Theodore Psalter. They are then discussed with ivory carvings and deluxe metalwork objects, a combination that is problematic on two counts. The first is the skewed impression of Byzantine material culture inevitably produced. The second is that ivories survive in limited number and from a narrow period of time and that costly metalwork objects are rare, but illuminated manuscripts survive in the thousands; their range and use can hardly be grasped by a dozen exceptional works. Beckwith 1968, a brief handbook, is a chronological survey of sculpture and painting from the 4th century through the 15th. Mathews 1998 treats all media, including architecture, in a survey that is thematic rather than strictly chronological. Volbach and Lafontaine-Dosogne 1968 covers all media and is especially rich in the treatment of the lands bordering the Byzantine Empire, which are not an issue here. Lazarev 1967 treats the period from Constantine to the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and limits its discussion to painting, which is the author’s strength, as is the rich documentation he compiled. This text is nearly five hundred pages long, supported by 576 illustrations. Lowden 1997 is a concise handbook of Byzantine art from the early Christian period to the fall of Constantinople.
Beckwith, John. The Art of Constantinople: An Introduction to Byzantine Art 330–1453. London and New York: Phaidon, 1968.
A readable survey of painting and sculpture in stone, ivory, and metal, told in the context of Byzantine imperial history.
Lazarev, Viktor N. Storia della pittura bizantina. Biblioteca di storia dell’arte 7. Turin, Italy: Einaudi, 1967.
An expanded version in translation of the Russian edition of 1947; a second Russian edition was published in 1986, but the footnotes and bibliography were not carefully brought up to date. Lazarev’s is the basic monographic survey. He discusses painting, both illumination and monumental, beginning in the 5th century and ending with Palaiologan. It is a magisterial study by an outstanding connoisseur, with dense notes.
Lowden, John. Early Christian & Byzantine Art. Art & Ideas. London: Phaidon, 1997.
A comprehensive treatment of art from the beginning of the 4th century through the Palaiologan era; although the author discusses works in all media, his emphasis falls on painting.
Mathews, Thomas F. Byzantium from Antiquity to the Renaissance. Perspectives. New York: Abrams, 1998.
Although beginning with Constantine the Great and ending with Giotto, Mathews divides his discussion into themes, such as the city of Constantinople, icons, and the domestic world. As he sketches Byzantine material culture, manuscript illumination plays a supporting role.
Volbach, Wolfgang F., and Jacqueline Lafontaine-Dosogne. Byzanz und der christliche Osten. Propyläen Kunstgeschichte 3. Berlin: Propyläen-Verlag, 1968.
A comprehensive treatment of art and architecture from Constantine to the fall of the Byzantine Empire; separate chapters are devoted to individual media and, a particular strength, the art of neighboring lands. The book is heavily illustrated, with short paragraphs on each work and bibliographies following the sections.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Aelred of Rievaulx
- Alcuin of York
- Alexander the Great
- Alfonso X
- Alfred the Great
- Alighieri, Dante
- Angevin Dynasty
- Anglo-Norman Realm
- Anglo-Saxon Art
- Anglo-Saxon Law
- Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Illumination
- Anglo-Saxon Metalwork
- Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture
- Apocalypticism, Millennialism, and Messianism
- Archaeology of Southampton
- Armenian Art
- Art and Pilgrimage
- Art in Italy
- Art in the Visigothic Period
- Art of East Anglia
- Art of London and South-East England, Post-Conquest to Mon...
- Arthurian Romance
- Attila And The Huns
- Auchinleck Manuscript, The
- Audelay, John
- Augustodunensis, Honorius
- Bartholomaeus Anglicus
- Benedictines After 1100
- Benoît de Sainte Maure [113]
- Beowulf
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Bernardus Silvestris
- Biblical Apocrypha
- Birgitta of Sweden and the Birgittine Order
- Boccaccio, Giovanni
- Boethius
- Bokenham, Osbern
- Book of Kells
- Bozon, Nicholas
- Byzantine Art
- Byzantine Manuscript Illumination
- Calendars and Time (Christian)
- Cambridge Songs
- Canon Law
- Capgrave, John
- Carolingian Architecture
- Carolingian Era
- Carolingian Manuscript Illumination
- Carolingian Metalwork
- Carthusians and Eremitic Orders
- Cecco d’Ascoli (Francesco Stabili)
- Charlemagne
- Charles d’Orléans
- Charters of the British Isles
- Chaucer, Geoffrey
- Childhood
- Christian Mysticism
- Christianity and the Church in Post-Conquest England
- Christianity and the Church in Pre-Conquest England
- Christina of Markyate
- Chronicles of England and the British Isles
- Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The
- Cistercian Architecture
- Cistercians, The
- Clanvowe, John
- Classics in the Middle Ages
- Cloud of Unknowing and Related Texts, The
- Coins
- Contemporary Sagas (Bishops’ sagas and Sturlunga saga)
- Coptic Art
- Corpus Christi
- Councils and Synods of the Medieval Church
- Crusades, The
- Crusading Warfare
- Cynewulf
- da Barberino, Francesco
- da Lentini, Giacomo
- da Tempo, Antonio and da Sommacampagna, Gidino
- da Todi, Iacopone
- Dance
- Dance of Death
- d’Arezzo, Ristoro
- de la Sale, Antoine
- de’ Rossi, Nicolò
- de Santa Maria, Cantigas
- Death and Dying in England
- Decorative Arts
- delle Vigne, Pier
- Drama in Britain
- Dress
- Dutch Theater and Drama
- Early Italian Humanists
- Economic History
- Eddic Poetry
- El Cid
- England, Pre-Conquest
- England, Towns and Cities Medieval
- English Prosody
- Exeter Book, The
- Falconry
- Family Letters in 15th Century England
- Family Life in the Middle Ages
- Feast of Fools
- Female Monasticism to 1100
- Feudalism
- Findern Manuscript (CUL Ff.i.6), The
- Florence
- Folk Custom and Entertainment
- Food, Drink, and Diet
- Fornaldarsögur
- France
- French Drama
- French Monarchy, The
- French of England, The
- Friars
- Froissart, Jean
- Games and Recreations
- Gawain Poet, The
- German Drama
- Gerson, Jean
- Glass, Stained
- Gothic Art
- Gower, John
- Gregory VII
- Guilds
- Handbooks for Confessors
- Hardyng, John
- Harley 2253 Manuscript, The
- Hiberno-Latin Literature
- High Crosses
- Hilton, Walter
- Historical Literature (Íslendingabók, Landnámabók)
- Hoccleve, Thomas
- Hood, Robin
- Hospitals in the Middle Ages
- Hundred Years War
- Hungary
- Hungary, Latin Literacy in Medieval
- Hungary, Libraries in Medieval
- Hymns
- Icons
- Illuminated Manuscripts
- Illustrated Beatus Manuscripts
- Insular Art
- Insular Manuscript Illumination
- Islamic Architecture (622–1500)
- Italian Cantari
- Italian Chronicles
- Italian Drama
- Italian Mural Decoration
- Italian Novella, The
- Italian Religious Writers of the Trecento
- Italian Rhetoricians
- Jewish Manuscript Illumination
- Jews and Judaism in Medieval Europe
- Julian of Norwich
- Junius Manuscript, The
- King Arthur
- Kings and Monarchy, 1066-1485, English
- Kings’ Sagas
- Knapwell, Richard
- Kraków
- Lancelot-Grail Cycle
- Late Medieval Preaching
- Latin and Vernacular Song in Medieval Italy
- Latin Arts of Poetry and Prose, Medieval
- Latino, Brunetto
- Ælfric
- Libraries in England and Wales
- Lindisfarne Gospels
- Liturgical Drama
- Liturgical Processions
- Liturgy
- Lollards and John Wyclif, The
- Lombards in Italy
- London, Medieval
- Love, Nicholas
- Low Countries
- Lydgate, John
- Machaut, Guillaume de
- Magic in the Medieval Theater
- Maidstone, Richard
- Malmesbury, Aldhelm of
- Malory, Sir Thomas
- Manuscript Illumination, Ottonian
- Marie de France
- Markets and Fairs
- Masculinity and Male Sexuality in the Middle Ages
- Medicine
- Medieval Archaeology in Britain, Fifth to Eleventh Centuri...
- Medieval Archaeology in Britain, Twelfth to Fifteenth Cent...
- Medieval Bologna
- Medieval Chant for the Mass Ordinary
- Medieval English Universities
- Medieval Ivories
- Medieval Latin Commentaries on Classical Myth
- Medieval Music Theory
- Medieval Naples
- Medieval Optics
- Melusine
- Mendicant Orders and Late Medieval Art Patronage in Italy
- Middle English Language
- Mirk, John
- Mosaics in Italy
- Mozarabic Art
- Music and Liturgy for the Cult of Saints
- Music in Medieval Towns and Cities
- Musical Instruments
- Necromancy, Theurgy, and Intermediary Beings
- Nibelungenlied, The
- Nicholas of Cusa
- Norman (and Anglo-Norman) Manuscript Ilumination
- N-Town Plays
- Nuns and Abbesses
- Old English Hexateuch, The Illustrated
- Old English Language
- Old English Literature and Critical Theory
- Old English Religious Poetry
- Old Norse-Icelandic Sagas
- Ottonian Art
- Ovid in the Middle Ages
- Ovide moralisé, The
- Owl and the Nightingale, The
- Papacy, The Medieval
- Paris
- Peasants
- Peter Abelard
- Petrarch
- Pictish Art
- Pizan, Christine de
- Plowman, Piers
- Poland
- Poland, Ethnic and Religious Groups in Medieval
- Pope Innocent III
- Post-Conquest England
- Pre-Carolingian Western European Kingdoms
- Prick of Conscience, The
- Pucci, Antonio
- Queens
- Rate Manuscript (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 61)
- Regions of Medieval France
- Regular Canons
- Religious Instruction (Homilies, Sermons, etc.)
- Religious Lyrics
- Rímur
- Robert Mannyng of Brunne
- Rolle, Richard
- Roman Law
- Romances (East and West Norse)
- Romanesque Art
- Ruthwell Cross
- Sagas and Tales of Icelanders
- Saint Plays and Miracles
- Saint-Denis
- Scandinavian Migration-Period Gold Bracteates
- Schools in Medieval Britain
- Scogan, Henry
- Seals
- Sermons
- Sex and Sexuality
- Ships and Seafaring
- Shirley, John
- Skaldic Poetry
- Slavery in Medieval Europe
- Song of Roland, The
- Songs, Medieval
- Spain
- St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury
- St. Peter's in the Vatican (Rome)
- Textiles
- The Middle Ages, The Trojan War in
- The Use of Sarum and Other Liturgical Uses in Later Mediev...
- Theater and Performance, Iberian
- Thirteenth-Century Motets in France
- Thomas Aquinas
- Thomism
- Thornton, Robert
- Tomb Sculpture
- Travel and Travelers
- Trevisa, John
- Tropes
- Troubadours and Trouvères
- Troyes, Chrétien de
- Usk, Adam
- Usk, Thomas
- Venerable Bede, The
- Vercelli Book, The
- Vernon Manuscript, The
- Vikings
- Von Eschenbach, Wolfram
- Wace
- Wall Painting in Europe
- Wearmouth-Jarrow
- Welsh Literature
- William of Ockham
- Witchcraft
- Women's Life Cycles
- Wulfstan
- York Corpus Christi Plays
- York, Medieval