* Saint Luke the Evangelist, sold for $2,750 via Swann Auction Galleries (December 2014). Most importantly, illuminated manuscripts are artifacts of a bygone tradition and remind us how people shared knowledge and stories before technological innovations were possible. Contemporary historians see them as dazzling works of art, while collectors often seek out individual leaves for decorative purposes as they are among the most affordable artifacts from the pre-Renaissance period. Due to the amount of work involved in creating them, illuminated manuscripts have been regarded throughout history as valuable religious relics. What is an illuminated manuscript?Īn illuminated manuscript is a handwritten book in which the text is decorated in gold or silver and the pages are filled with illustrations and decorative motifs. These embellishments imbued text with “light” and turned each book into an elevated experience. As the name implies, illumination is the practice of decorating book pages with glimmering gold or silver leaflets, rich pigments, intricate borders, and even elaborate paintings. One of the most elaborate books in art history was the illuminated manuscript-a unique, handcrafted book most commonly used to recount religious scripture and lore.
Before the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1439, books were crafted individually by hand.
0 kommentar(er)
