The Illuminator. Containing all the parts of The Illuminators Magazine (1862)

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Plate 1.

PC important plate in tl;e literature of the present bap otmpieb bp ptriobicals malies it ncccssarn that cberir brand; sboulb be ablp represented ® ;is principle applies also to its twin sister, girt, more espetialln to that brand; of becoratibe art cmploneb in tbe ornamentation of glanuscripts; but the girt of Illuminating, tobid; is so elosdir ronnetteb toitb literature, still remains iinrepresentcb— pet no brand; of art is more tapable of being ertenbeb. '®;ougl; our ll'aga;ine is projecteb bp amateur Illuminators, too bo not bisrlaim tl;e help of professional A rtists; but toe tbink Illuminating pre-, eminentlp an amateur § r t : it is selbom that tl;e professional ^ rtist ran hope to be repaib for tl;e labour anb time requireb for tbe minute manipulation of I;igl;lp-finisbeb Illuminations.

W e hope, bp tl;e publication of ibis Baga;inc, to aib in bcbeloping tbe (Snglisl; Sd;ool of Illuminating, of tobitl; tbe present rcbibal bas openeb a neto era in tl;e bistorp of > r t ; to tl;is mb toe present to our Subscribers a historical j series of Illuminations, sl;otoing tbe progress of tl;e $ r t from its rise until \ its beeline; anb toe sl;a.ll gibe manp'Of tl;e choicest specimens of cgnglisl; $ r t, in tl;e l;opc tl;at our glaga;ine map be a .complete Manual to tl;e Illuminator.

W e map neber read; tl;c beau ibcal tbat toe l;abe set before us, but it is onlp bp aiming at a l;igl; stanbarb that anp begree of errellence ran be attaineb; toe therefore beg for a lenient jubgment from tl;e public upon our btfiriencics, anb I;ope it toill resol.be itsdf into a Committee of Amateurs to bdp u s; anb toe promise tl;at its support sliall be met on our part bp greater erections to increase tbe ctRciencp of our ^taga;ine. ,-<j

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Plate IV

London: Day 8c SonLith^lDtbe Queen. Oct5 18GJ .

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LESSON I.

T H IN K it unneceflary to fay much here to induce you to become my pupils in the Art of Illuminating. T o all lovers of colour (and I cannot imagine any one to be indifferent to its fafcinations) it has peculiar attractions, being an inexhauftible ftorehoufe of beauty and richnefs of colour,— a field for the exercife of tafte more gorgeous than the famed Field of the Cloth of Gold.

It has been faid that the emotion experienced by the traveller, on firft entering a foreign coun­ try, muft be akin to that felt by the new-born babe on its firft entrance into this world ; and the firft ftep taken by the tyro in a new lan­ guage, fcience, or art, is as a new birth into unex­ plored worlds of wonders and delights : an ac­ quaintance with foreign languages opens out treafures of human learning; he meets and converfes with kindred minds, or is ftartled with undreamt-of theories, and refrefhed from new fountains of immortal thought: his firft glimpfe into the caverns of fcience difclofes hidden won­ ders, which fills his mind with amazement and awe, until he is bewildered amid the vaftnefs of creation. Here fteps in Art, fetting in minia­ ture for our ftudy and ufe the gems from the jewel-cafket of Nature.

I think the reafons for learning drawing and painting are as many, as weighty, and as good, in refpeCt to the cultivation of the mind, as for learning to read; I had almoft faid more fo, for a picftorial reprefentation of anything gives a far more vivid idea to the mind than the moft minute defcription of it can do. We do not fee one half of N ature’s lovelinefs when we only read about it, and if we would fee her choiceft treafures we muft learn to reproduce them.

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Only the artift notes and feels her ever-varying, ever-lovely moods, and fees her delicate features ; which do not obtrude themfelves upon the carelefs gazer, but require careful feeking. An old writer upon Art (Novalis) fays, u T he painter really paints with his eye; his art is the art of feeling with regularity and beauty.” T o the intimate knowledge of nature acquired by the diligent ftudent, is added the power of feeling the exquifite tendernefs of high art, and appre­ ciating the work of a true artift.

As a ftill further inducement to begin to praCtife the Art of Illumination (if any be want­ ing), I refer you to the examples given in this and fubfequent numbers of the Magazine, allur­ ing you that, with a little patience and applica­ tion, you may execute and originate equal con­ ceptions. It has been faid that genius is perfeverance, and nothing m ore; but, however that may be, though we find a talent for original defign more ftrongly developed in fome minds than in others, yet all pofiefs an imitative faculty, which may be developed with comparatively little labour. I fay comparatively, becaufe with­ out fome real work we can do nothing well, and the fimple adt of perfeverance to fome minds is labour; but to thofe who can untiringly apply themfelves to its purfuit, illuminating is an eafy and agreeable ftudy.

T he illuminator ftiould be a proficient in draw­ ing to render faithfully the intricate fancies of Ancient Art. T he Ancients required the ftudent to go through a long preparatory courfe of out­ line drawing 'before he was allowed to work in the few fober colours ufed by them.

Some teachers of Illuminating profefs to teach the Art without requiring any knowledge of c

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drawing: you might as well learn to read with­ out knowing your alphabet.

W ith the help of tracing and transfer papers you may be able to copy illuminations accurately, but after years fpent upon fuch work you will only be a copyift, and will never advance beyond the threfhold of Art : the delight of the artift in giving form to the floating ideas of his mind will never be yours, and my objedt in fo ftrongly urging the ftudy of the ancient MSS., which is to enable you to defign after the beft examples, will be loft. It is with this end in view, alfo, that the hiftory of Art fhould be ftudied; precepts and rules are good and neceffary to the beginner, but when this firft ftage is paft, and the Student merges into the Artift and Defigner, the true principles of compofition and expreflion, and the refinements of Art, are only to be learnt from the works of the great matters.

You will proceed now to practice, for as one example is worth a folio of defcription, fo half an hour’s practice will do more towards making you a good illuminator than all I can fay upon the principles of Art. I fhall begin this courfe of leflons with examples of outline, advifing my pupils to confine themfelves to this branch of ftudy for the prefent, whether they can already draw or not, for the fine work of illumination is very different from the general ftyle of drawing.

For a firft practice you cannot do better than copy fome good Gothic letters, fuch as are here given. Do not think that any letter will do, fimply becaufe it is an ornamental letter, for you will vitiate your tafte by copying bad examples.

I f you cannot get copies from an old MS. con­ tent yourfelf with thefe examples, copying them over and over again until you have them quite perfect. In various parts of the Magazine you will find other letters more elaborate in defign, which you can copy, but I beg you will not proceed to them, or even to the fecond example

in this leffon, until you are quite fatisfied that the firft is corredlly drawn.

Before you begin the letter draw a line parallel with the top of your paper ; then meafure the firft letter and draw another line parallel with the firft, the exacft diftance from it of the length of the letter : now draw a fliort perpendicular line acrofs the other lines, meafure the breadth of the letter and draw another fhort line, the right diftance from the firft perpendicular line ; you will now have a fquare the exadt fize of the letter, which muft touch all the four lines. It will be eafy to fill in this fquare with the letter Num ber I of this leffon, which you may now do, meafuring exactly every line and fpace. T his you will find very tedious, but it is a point that I muft infift upon, for a correct eye is abfolutely effential ; when you have once attained it, truft to it as much as you like : in other letters difpenfe with the lines as you feel able to do without them. Draw this firft Ample letter truly and carefully, and you will find half the difficulty of the next overcome ; but if you hurry on from letter to letter careleflly, you will have a confufed affemblage of letters tumbling about in all directions, and be unable to execute the fimpleft forms : whereas to be able to draw a ftraight line or Ample curve freely and truly, is a point gained that will tell upon your future progrefs. Nothing in illumination is done well that is done hurriedly ; I do not mean that you may not work quickly,— quicknefs is (kill requiring only practice to attain and perfect it,— but hurried work is thoughtlefs work, and wafte of time. W hen you feel you can no longer give your unwearied attention to your work, lay it afide for a time ; no work is better than bad work, for that you will have to unlearn, and it will take you longer to do than you imagine.

T he only materials required in this early ftage of your work are, a common hard drawing pen­ cil, a T fquare, and fome drawing-paper.

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Correspondence.

Correfpondents are requejled to fe n d their Addrefs to the Editor, that the M agazine containing their contribution may be forw arded to them.

London, June 6.— T he Society of Antiquaries, W . rite , V.P. in the Chair, opened an Exhi­ bition of choice illuminated MSS. from the fol­ lowing private collections : Mr. T ite contributed a number of MSS. of the Irifh School, and of the 12th, 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries; Mr. R. S. Holford, M .P ., a Book of Gofpels illuftrating the influence of the Irifh School on the Continent; His Grace the Archbifhop of Canterbury, an Apocalypfe of the 13th century. Manufcripts of the 14th century were contributed by Mr. Rufkin, M r. T ite, M r. Fuller RufTell, Mr. Holford, Mr. Beresford Hope, Mr. Boone, and Mr. Stephen Ram. His Grace the Duke of Newcaftle fent a MS. of the 15th century, fuppofed to be by the fame hand as the celebrated Bedford Miflal.

Italian MSS. of the 14th and 15th centuries, from the collections of Mr. Beresford Hope, Mr. Layard, M r. W hitehead, Mr. Robinfon, Mr. F. RufTell, Lady Eaftlake, Mr. Ram, and Mr. Tite.

Mr. Charles Townley exhibited his magnificent Miflal, illuminated by Julio Clovio, and Her Majefty the Queen was gracioufly pleafed to fend an Initial Letter by the fame hand. O f modern illuminations His Grace the Duke of Newcaftle exhibited a patent of nobility, and Mr. Beresford Hope the diploma of the Order of Herminahilda granted to Lord Beresford, and a Life of Lord Beresford illuminated by Lady Mildred Hope.

Mr. R. R. Holmes, F.S.A., traced the hiftory of Illumination, as fhown by the MSS. exhibited, which he divided into periods of three centuries each: beginning with the Irifh School of the 7th century, he traced its influence on the Con­

tinent until the 9th century. T h e next period was characfterifed by the architectural arrange­ ment of foliage, and followed in the 13th century by the more faithful ftudy of nature. M r.

Holmes defignated the 13th century as that of the bud, the 14th of the leaf, the 15th of the flower; after this period, the realiftic fchool of Van Eyck and his followers exercifed great in­ fluence upon illumination in all countries. Mr. Holmes confidered the Italian School quite dis­ tinct from the French, German, or Englilh, and free from any trace of Byzantine influence.

Mr. Tite fhowed how erroneoufly illuminated MSS. of a religious character are called Miflals, fuch MSS. frequently comprifing, befides the Canon of the Mafs, Hours, Breviaries, Pfalters, and other Offices; he entered into fome further details refpecting the MSS. exhibited.

Mr. Rufkin gave a fhort refume of the de­ velopment of Illumination in form and colour to its decline as a diftinct art, which he attributed to the introduction of fhading.

T he Exhibition was clofed by a meeting on the 13th, the Marquis of Briftol, V .P ., in the Chair. Several MSS. had been added during the week from the libraries of Lady Londonderry and Mr. T ite, whofe contributions illuftrated the final period of the hiftory of Illumination, when the art became merged in that of painting. A fac-fimile of the Liber Regalis in Weftminfter was exhibited by Mr. Tite. After a few tech­ nical remarks upon the MSS. from Mr. Scharf, the meeting was clofed. W e truft that the great fuccefs of this beginning will induce the Society to repeat the exhibition next year, and that all = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =& >

T ie Illuminators' Magazine. perfons interefted in the art, and poflefled of manufcript treafures, will lend them. W e doubt not an international exhibition might be got up, and that foreign powers would as gladly lend their MSS. as their paintings and other works of art.

Edinburgh,— An Exhibitio n of W orks of D e­ corative and Induftrial Art of all Ages is an­ nounced for the month of Novembe r, under the Prefidency of W . B. Johnfton e, F.S.A. T he National Gallery is to be thrown open to receive the collection, which will comprife works of Glyptic and Numifma tic Art, Sculpture , Paint­ ing5 , Illuminations, and Bookbind ing; works in Metal, Jewels, Enamels, and Mofaics ; Pottery, Glafs Manufac ture, Furniture , Upholftery, and Textile Fabrics. Private collectors are requefted to fend contributions.

Huddersfield.— T he inhabitants of this bufy manufacturing town find time, amid their multi­ farious and prefling occupatio ns, for literary and artiftic purfuits. W e underflrand that the at­ tention of the Literary and Scientific Society has

been called to the Art of Illumination by one of the members, in a paper read at a late meeting.

W e hope this is the beginning of a permanen t intereft in the art, which will lead to the foun­ dation of a fchool of illumination in that town.

Peterborough.— T he meeting of the Archaeo­ logical Inftitute commenced here on the 23d of Ju ly ; the remainder of the week was occupied in vifiting the various intereftin g and notable localities of Northamp tonfhire, replete with aflociations of the unfortunate Mary Oueen of Scots.

A temporary Mufeum in the College Training School, formed by Mr. Alfred W ay, was aug­ mented by a number of curiofities and relics of the Stuarts, contributed for the occafion. Among other objeCts of intereft was a large collection of illuminated MSS. and fpecimens of early printing, fent by the Rev. Fuller Ruflell and W . T ite, Efq. M.P. T he Society of Anti­ quaries contributed the Pfalter of Robert de Lindefeye, Abbot of Peterboro ugh, who died 1222, and the “ Chronico n Petroburg enfe.”

Several interefting hiftorical papers were read by the members.

N O T E S A N D Q U E R IE S .

T he A ss and the L adder.— A manufcript of the 13th century, “ Biblia Sacra Hebraica,” formerly in the li­ brary of the Duke of Suflex, has at the end the follow­ ing infcription : “ I, Meyer, the fon of Rabbi Jacob the Scribe, have finilhed this book for Rabbi Abraham, the 5052nd year (that is, Anno Domini 1292); and he has

bequeathed it to his children and his children’s children forever. Amen, Amen, Amen. Selah. Be ftrong and {Lengthened. May the Book not be damaged, neither this day nor for ever, until the afs afcends the ladder.”

Here follows a rude reprefentation of an afs climbing a ladder. Query, to what legend does this allude ?

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j E antique School of Illumination comprifes the National Schools of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and the Graeco-Roman or Early Byzantine W School. T he earlieft forms in each country difplay fimilar lineaments, owing, in the firfl: inftance, to the univerfal love of ornament in man, and the degree of civilization, and the means of overcoming the difficulties in the path of the artift being in mod climes the fame ; on the other hand, when war or commerce brought about the mingling of peoples, an interchange of ideas took place, and foreign influence fenfibly afiedted the arts, as well as the laws and cuftoms of diftant nations.

T he imagery with which the Egyptians adorned the walls of their palaces and temples, and their rolls of papyri, though crude in form and con­ ception, contained the germ of all pidtorial a r t ; but the adaptation and development of the elements of Egyptian Art by the Greeks have led us to forget how much we are indebted to that wonderful people for artiftic forms in common ufe — fuch as the wave-fcroll, fpiral, zig-zag, fret or labyrinth, ftar, lotus, palm, the afp, and the beetle. There is no evidence of the employment of gold or filver in the illumination of Egyptian papyri; but from the cofl> linefs of materials ufed by them in ornament, it may be reafonably fuppofed that the art of laying on and burnifhing the precious metals was familiar to them, and was tranfmitted by them to the Greeks.

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B a y & Sor>, L ith r s to Jie Queen..

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Plate VI

Dav 1 5on,Lith r s to the Queen

Plale VJT

Landon Day & Son, Jjilh^tothe Queen Oct1- L861 .

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T h e Art of Painting was juftly efteemed in Greece, and had advanced to a high degree of excellence in the fixth century before C hrift; but whether it was confined folely to frefco and panel painting, or at that early period applied to the illumination of MSS., is not known. T he names of Polygnotus, Zeuxis, Apelles, and other Greek artifts, are familiar to all, but their works are only known by tradition ; and the ftyle of fuch paintings as have been preferved is chiefly fculpturefque in compofition, leading us to infer that they, were tranfcripts from bas-reliefs or fculpture. T his is fhown by the paintings which adorn the Ambrofian Iliad, the Vatican Virgil, the Terence, the Book of Jofhua, and the MS. of Indicopleuftes in the fame library, and the MS. of Diofcorides at Vienna, which are the beft fpecimens of antique illumination in exig­ ence. In this early flrage of the Art more im­ portance was attached to defign, than to bril­ liancy or variety of colouring; manufcripts were often illuminated only in outline, and when colour was added it was very fparingly.

T h e Romans readily adopted the Arts of con­ quered Greece, and carried her moflr beautiful flratuary in triumph to Rome, whither her artifts flocked to minifter to the luxury of their patri­ cian conquerors, and to adorn their palaces and villas with thofe inimitable frefcoes which com­ mand the admiration of every fucceeding gene­ ration in the villas of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

After the troubles of the laft days of the Repub­ lic and the eftablifliment of the Empire had fubfided, Rome for a time enjoyed the bleflings of peace, and cultivated literature and the fine arts, of which, however, architecture was the moft favoured. T here is evidence of the prac­ tice of portrait-painting in the memorable aCt of vanity of the Emperor Elagabulus, in fending his portrait, after his eleftion to the Imperial throne, to be placed over the altar of Viftory in the Senate-houfe in Rome, and in the collection of 700 portraits of celebrated characters* made * Varro is faid to have written a book on portrait painting, and to have made this colledion of 700 portraits to illuftrate fhort bio­ graphies of the eminent men ofhis time. They were, according to Brotier in his edition of “ Pliny,” executed with a pen.

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by one Varro, as recorded by Pliny in his u Nat. H ift.,” lib. xxxv. c. 2 ; but we do not find that MSS. were ornamented, except by being ftained with the juice of coloured woods, and rubri­ cated with vermilion, as referred to by Ovid in the “ De Triftibus,” cleg. i. T he papyri difcovered in the ruins of Pompeii and Hercu­ laneum have the outfide flieet ftained with ver­ milion, and the titles, which are fufpended from the end of the roll, written in the fame colour.

T he contentions of rival candidates for the im­ perial dignity, the divifion of the empire, and the fubfequent removal of the feat of government to Byzantium, contributed to the decline of all the arts of peace. T he conquerors of the world were faft finking into the condition of the wild nations which they admitted into their bofom, when Chriftianity arofe to ftem the tide of barbarifm, and reftore to man civilization and the attendant arts. T he three firft centuries of the Chriftian era were marked by alternate phafes of obfeurity and perfecution ; but the converfion of the Emperor Conftantine in the fourth century, and eftablifliment of Chriftianity as the national religion, gave it liberty to aCt as the revivifying power, refining and quickening the people to intellectual life and vigour.

T he Byzantine emperors were liberal patrons of literature and art. Under their fovereignty Grecian artifts were induced to vifit the new capital, and fchools were opened for the ftudy of the Fine Arts. T he Emperor Valentinian was himfelf an artift of confiderable talent in painting and modelling.

T h e veneration in which the Gofpels were held doubtlefs contri­ buted to the revival of painting and the illumi­ nating of MSS., as about this time a feparate clafs of artifts, or calligraphers, in gold and filver, arofe, and the pra&ice of ftaining vellums a purple or rofe colour became common. T he earlieft inftance of a MS. thus enriched is given by Julius Capitolinus in his amufing anecdote of the Emperor Maximin the younger, who, when he was placed under the care of tutors, had the poems of Homer given to him by his father written on purple vellum in letters of gold, but when he

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was invited to fupper by Alexander in honour of his father, had no fuitable drefs to go in, and had to borrow one of his hoft’s. T he oldeft fpecimen in exigence is, perhaps, the u Codex Ulphilas” of the fourth century, a copy of the Gofpels written in gold and filver on purple vellum, in the Royal Library of Upfal, in Sweden : another of the fifth century is the “ Codex Cott.

T itu s,” c. xv., in the Britifh Mufeum. T he practice became fo general in this and the fucceeding centuries, as to call forth the rebuke of St. Jerome upon the oftentation and vanity of thofe who defired to poflefs MSS. of purple vellum written with filver and gold in thofe they called “ uncial ” letters. But few early Greek MSS. of this kind are in exiftence, for the Emperor Leo the Great reftridted the ufe of the royal colour to the imperial family, who afteded only to write with purple ink, which they had mixed with powdered gold to add to its magnificence.

A MS. thus written was feen by the Hon R. Curzon in the library of the monaftery of Zenophon, on M ount Athos : it was the gift of the Emperor Alexius Comnenus, by whom it is fupT he text is pofed to have been executed. written throughout in the form of a crofs ; and the title, which is in gold, occupies the entire page. Another fplendid MS. was found by Mr. Curzon in the monaftery of Kiliantari, on Mount A thos,— an Evangeliarium, written in a large femi-uncial charader on white vellum, the gift of the Emperor Andronicus Comnenus to the monaftery about 1184. This, and a fimilar MS. in the library of the Holy Synod at Mofcow, are the only two early Greek MSS. written in gold on white vellum preferved. O f thofe on purple or rofe vellum — of which there are about a dozen in exiftence — there is in the Britifh Mufeum the “ Codex Cott. T it.,” c. xv., before referred to, a fragment of che Gofpels ; an 8vo.

Evano-eliarium at V ienna; a fragment of the books of Genefis and St. Luke in filver at V ienna; “ Codex T uricenfis” of part of the Pfalms ; fix leaves of the Gofpel of St. Matthew, the text in filver, the initials in gold, in the Vatican Library ; and others at Stockholm and Munich.

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Greek MSS., containing two or three pages in gold letters on ftained vellum, are alfo very rare.

Miniatures appear to be the only paintings introduced into the manuferipts of the firft three centuries ; in the fourth century, however, other ornaments were added, fuch as borders forming a framework to the text, and decorated initial letters.

O f fuch ornamentation, the oldeft examples are the Roman Calendar at Vienna, written during the reign of Conftantine the younger, 354, for a certain Valentinus, and the MS. of Diofcorides, alfo in the Imperial Library of Vienna.

T he accompanying border and miniature are beautiful fpecimens of Graeco-Roman Art : the border is from an Evangeliarium in the Britifh Mufeum (Addit. 5111), 2 vols. fmall folio, in which it forms one of the borders to the Eufebian Canons at the beginning of the firft volume.

Thefe canons are a fragment of two leaves of much earlier date than the reft of the MS., and originally larger, as they appear to have been cut down to their prefent fize, befides having fuftained other injuries. T he firft page contains a portion of the letter of Eufebius to Carpian, on the ufe of the canons, written in the beautiful golden letters at the head of this article on a gold ground ; the other three pages the canons written in a fimilar ftyle, of which a portion is given here. O f this fragment Sir F. Madden fays, “ It is one of the moft precious remains of early calligraphy and illumination in exiftence ; from the abfence of accents, and the fimilarity of the character to the Alexandrian Codex, and to the Diofcorides at Vienna, it may, with the hio;heft probability, be afiigned to the fixth century.”

T he manufeript in which it is inferted is a copy of the Greek Gofpels of the twelfth cen­ tury (1189), which formerly belonged to one of the monafteries on Mount Athos, and was purchafed for the Britifh Mufeum at the fale of Dr. Afkew’s library, in 1785.

T he St. Luke is from Evangeliarium (Addit.

No. 4949, B.M .), a folio of the eleventh century, purchafed in 1745 from the library of Csefar Von Mifty of Berlin, according to a Latin infcription at the end.

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Origin of tlje 3 rt of Jllumtnatton.

By N O E L H U M P H R E Y S.

H E firft rude attempts to impart a deco­ rative character to writing, forming, as they do, the fource of that kind of ornamentation from which the later art of illumination eventually arofe, may be traced back to thofe far diftant epochs when writing itfelf was ftill in its early ftruggles towards the form and confiftency of an art. At a time when, in the Chinefe fyftem of writing, the feries of outline pictures of which it confifted was reduced to a fet of abridged forms, capable of being rapidly written, the more ancient forms of full portraiture were ftill occafionally in­ troduced, in the title of a piece of writing, or at the head of a chapter or divifion of the work, as being more pi&urefque and ornamental. This is the earlieft kind of decorative writing of which traces ftill remain.

W ith a fimilar view to variety and ornament, it was not unufual, in the hieroglyphic fyftem of Egypt, when it had attained to its phonetic ftage, to ufe different fets of hieroglyphics to exprefs the fame found, if that found occurred frequently within a certain fpace. T hus, if the name of a city, for inftance, in fome written decree relative to its government, occurred many times in the courfe of the document, a fkilful fcribe, with a tafte for the ornamental and for the refinements of his art, would ufe a different combination of hieroglyphics each time the name occurred.

Such were the firft fteps leading towards our mediaeval pages, glowing with their foliaged capitals, and profufe borderings, glittering with T he next and more direCt purple and gold. advance towards the comparatively modern art of illumination was the ufe of a more arbitrary, and at the fame time more fimple method of enriching; a written document. This was the ufe of a red colour, identical with our modern

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vermilion, in forming the firft or initial characters of important documents. This cuftom prevailed in Egypt many centuries before the Chriftian Here we era, as proved by exifting papyri. have a glimpfe into the deepeft receffes of the hoar antiquity of Egypt, and find a fyftem of rubrication, or writing the heading of a chapter in red, already in exiftence, which prevailed throughout the Greek and Roman periods of civilization ; and, paffing on to modern nations, was ftill, till very recently, pra&ifed in our own books. T he term rubric, too, ftill fignifies the heading, or introductory fummary of a chapter, though no longer written or printed in red.

T he ancient cuftom of decorating manufcript records with red letters, larger, and more elaborate in form than the reft of the text, will help us to the origin of another term connected with book-decoration, and which has paffed alfo into another and more important branch of pictorial art. It was through the Romans that we firft received the germs of our knowledge of the arts and learning of the ancient Eaft, and with them the Latin terms by means of which the various details of thofe arts were diftinguifhed.

T he Romans, after their clofe connexion with Greece, adopted the forms of Greek manufcripts, which forms the Greeks had previoufly borrowed from the Egyptians. T he Romans, therefore, adopted the cuftom of decorating important manufcripts with vermilion capitals, the Latin term for which pigment was minium. As thefe letters of minium became more and more im­ portant features in expenfively- executed inanufcripts, they were probably confided to a feparate clafs of fcribes or calligraphers, juft as with us the engrojjing, as it is called, which is a cor­ ruption of the French en gros— that is, in large— 4

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is given, at the prefent day, to a different clafs of copying clerks, who receive a higher rate of pay for writing “ This Indenture” in large old Englifh than is paid for the reft of the document.

Juft, therefore, as thefe modern writers are termed engroflers, from the circumftance of their writing en gros, fo we may eafily conceive that the Roman writers of the ornamental letters in minium became miniaturifts.

And fo, even when their fucceflors in Roman book-decoration had got far beyond the ftage of fprawling capitals in minium, and compofed elaborate devices in various colours, enriched with gold and filver, the old name, miniaturifts, ftill ftuck by them.

It was eventually, however, transferred to a fpecial portion of their labours, and that the higheft and moft important, namely, the little illuftrative pictures which formed eventually the crowning feature of their labour. From thefe works of the miniaturifts the old term patted forward to any kind of picture on a finall fcale ; a very fmall portrait or picture being called a miniature. It will thus be feen that the term is not derived from the Latin minimus {ftnalleft, or of the fmalleft kind}, but from minium, vermilion, which was the folitary colour firft ufed by the inventors of pictures on a fcale fufficiently minute to form the illuftrations of written books.

T h e firft great ftep that was made in the art of early illumination, from the initial letter in ’minium towards the more profufe and artiftic enrichment of later times, took place under the influence of the earlieft ages of Chriftianity, when, after its eftablifhment by Conftantine in the central feat of univerfal empire, its aeftion formed by far the greateft ftimulant of GrecoRoman civilization. Copies of the Gofpels were called for in fuch numbers that the fcribes of Conftantinople could fcarcely keep pace with the demand ; and the enthufiaftic veneration of the firft generation of Chriftians for the facred

records, fuggefted all kinds of devices for enfhrining the very words of the new religion in worthy forms. Copies of the Gofpels were then iffued written entirely in letters of gold, fometimes on vellum ftained to imitate the tone of the imperial purple, or the letters were purple on a ground of gold, and the MS. itfelf was enclofed in maflive covers of ivory, fculptured with the facred Chriftian emblem, elaborated with all the fkill of the moft eminent carvers of the day.

Here we have the immediate parent of the great illuminated books of the middle ages.

A circumftance which facilitated the new art of gorgeous writing, and the further embelliftiing it with extraneous decoration, was *the recent tranfition in the form of manuferipts from the ancient rolled form to that of a feries of fquare pieces, or leaves, faftened together at one fide, or as we fay, at the back, after the fafhion of modern books, of which thefe fquare Roman manuferipts were the immediate predcceffors.

T he flat furface of thefe fquare “ leaves,” as we now term them, afforded a much fairer field for the increafing decorations of the calligrapher than the more ancient fcroll; his facilities were further increafed by the fubftitution of vellum for papy­ rus ; and the progrefs of decoration, both in elaboration and ftyle, was rapid in proportion to the increafed facilities thus afforded.

T he manner in which the form of the ancient rolled manufeript of papyrus was gradually fuperfeded by the fquare book of vellum — a tranfition which will exhibit many interefting details — muft form the fubject of my next paper, in which the firft forms of our earlieft mediaeval “ illuminations” will be briefly defcribed, and illuftrated with felecft examples, forming the firft of a feries of articles in which the three or four great epochs in the advance of mediaeval illumi­ nation will be feparately treated.

H. N . H.

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Watican WtrgiL (Kat. Lib. No. 3225.) “ They climb the next afcent, and looking down, Now at a nearer diftance view the town.

The Prince with wonder fees the (lately tow’rs (Which late were huts, and fliepherds’ homely bow’rs), The toiling Tyrians on each other call To ply their labour : ........................

Here fome defign a mole, while others there Lay deep foundation for a theatre ; From marble quarries mighty columns hew, For ornament of fcenes, and future view.’* / E neid , b. I. v. 580.

H E Britifh Mufeum is fortunate in poffefling a volume of facfimiles of this valuable manufcript, one of the earlieft and fpecimens of ancient illumination, the date of which ranges from the third to the fifth century.

By Mabillon, W inkelman, and others, it is fuppofed to have been executed in the time of Con­ ftantine the G reat; one writer, Schelftrate, fometime librarian of the Vatican, has afcribed to it as early a period as that of Septimius Severus; other bibliographers, as Dibdin and Agincourt, place the date at the end of the fourth, or beginning of the fifth century ; and this appears the more probable from the ftyle of writing, which fomewhat refembles that of the Roman Calendar and Vatican Terence. But the illuminations of the Virgil are fuperior to either of thefe ; and though executed in the period of the decline of Roman art, they are characterize d by claflical elegance of defign and compofition, and in thofe which reprefent the hiftory of the defpair of Dido, poffefs confiderable pathos, efpecially her death on the funeral pyre, furrounded by her forrowing women.

T he illuminations confift entirely of miniatures, the text is written in uncial, or capital letters, unadorned either by ornamented initials or borders.

Pietro Sano Bartoli, to whofe fkill we owe this interefting volume (Lanfd. 834), was a pupil of Nicholas Pouflin, and an engraver of eminence in the time in which he lived ; the firft edition which he publiflied at the expenfe of the Cardinal Camillo Maflimi contains fifty plates.

T he value of Bartoli’s facfimiles is enhanced by the faCt of five of the paintings being now en­ tirely effaced from the original MS.

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This noble fpecimen of early Engraving has been edited by various lovers of art. Bartoli s patron, the Cardinal Camillo Maffimi, who fpent beft a life in literary purfuits and the liberal patron­ age o f art, publifhed his edition in 1677, the year of his death : of this the Abbe Rive men­ tions feveral copies on vellum. A new edition of the plates, without the text, but with ftiort profe defcriptions of the fubjeds, appeared in 1725, edited by Bottari, who likewife publifhed an edition in 1741, with the text, accompanied by various readings and notes; in the preface he enumerates forty-five other manufcripts of Virgil in the Vatican library. In 1763, Antonio Ambrogio publifhed a tranflation of the Lorenzo Medicean Virgil in the Laurentian library at Florence, in three volumes folio, illuftrated by Bartoli’s plates ; again in 1782, Monaldini, a publifher in Rome, undertook an edition of the two MSS. from which Bartoli copied his plates, but the work was never completed.

Bartoli publifhed another edition of his E n­ gravings with five additional plates from a later MS. (Vat. Lib. No. 3867), written in fquare uncial letters, the titles in vermilion, which be­ longed formerly to the Abbey of St. Denis.

This is evinced by the words, “ Ifte liber eft B. Dionyfii,” on the 4th leaf, and a marginal anno­ tation, in old French, on the ftorm which over­ took the fleet of ZEneas. W e gave in our firft number a fac-fimile of a paftoral fcene from this M S., which is decorated with miniatures in the fame ftyle, but greatly inferior to thofe of the Square Virgil. Thofe palaeographers who have afcribed the Square Virgil to the 3rd century attribute this to the 5th.

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Tljc T t of Jllumina ttng* L E SSO N II.

HE next exercife to be learnt after pencil­ will fettle at the bottom in a powder ; pour off outlining is “ inking-in,”— that is, going all but a very little water, and mix up the over the pencil outline with a lithographic pen powder with gum-water to the fame confiftency (Gillott’s) and Indian ink. Obferve that all the as the colours, and lay it on with a brufh, lines are of an equal thicknefs. A little practice keeping the brufh for this ufe alone, as the gold will enable you to begin with the pen, difpenfing mixed with colours deftroys their tone. with the previous pencil outline and all guiding W hen the Indian-ink outline is complete lines, fuch as thofe I recommended in my firft proceed to colour the examples according to leffon. On the ftrength and regularity of the thefe directions : — Firft, lay on the gold with a penned lines depends, in a great meafure, the duck-quill fize brufh, and when quite dry lay a effeCtivenefs of the illumination, which you will piece of glazed writing-paper upon it, and pafs not fail to obferve in examining; the work of old the burnifher quickly over it feveral times, until manufcripts, and comparing them with the weak the gold is quite bright; next put in the blue, lines, and confequently poor effect, of many firft laying on the ground colour, that is, French modern fpecimens of the art. blue mixed with white. This firft, or ground A ufeful practice is to go over the outline colour, muft be applied in all the examples, with with a brufh and colour inftead of ink, to give the exception of No. 2, where the ground is delicacy and freedom to the hand, which will be merely wafhed in with tranfparent colours. T h e required in tracing the fine white lines upon a pure unmixed French blue is then ftruck over coloured ground, fo often feen with beautiful the ground colour: for the other flowers, ufe effect in Mediaeval illumination. vermilion heightened with fcarlet; for the holly­ T he prefent lefFon is partly a colour ftudy : berries, fcarlet, the leaves, emerald green mixed of the harmony and properties of colour I (hall with gamboge ; ftrawberry, burnt fienna, with a fay nothing here, they will be fully difcufTed in dafh of lake on the right fide; the feeds of the other articles. You require only to know the fruit, burnt fienna and lake mixed. T he pen­ manner of mixing and laying them on. T he work tendrils muft be done with one ftroke, colours are prepared, expreflly for the illumina­ beginning at the ftem.

T he fame touch is tor’s ufe, in various forms of cake, moift, and required in the ftem of No. 9, previoufly laying powder. O f thefe, the two firft are the moft on a fhade of Indian ink : ufe fap, or emerald commonly ufed; the cake form pofteffes fome green, and gamboge for the flowers. W hen quite advantages over the other two, although the dry, with two brufhes, one containing light pure moift are, perhaps, more convenient. colour, the other dark ; blend the two together to . In mixing the colours, ufe warm water, or give a fhaded appearance. T he markings are put diluted gum-water,and a moderately large camel’s- in with King’s yellow, or gamboge, and white. hair-brufh, to convey the water from the glafs T he fcarlet flower is fhaded with vermilion, the on to the palette, inftead of dipping the cake markings the fame as before. No. 3. Vermilion, into it, and for mixing up the colours, which heightened with fcarlet. No. 7. Pure vermilion muft be of an oily confiftency. and Trench blue. No. 11. For the dragon, ufe O f the various metallic preparations ufed in indigo and gamboge. No. 14. For the purple, illuminating you now require only gold. This lake and Pruflian blue on a ground of the fame, muft be fhell or faucer-gold, which you wafh off mixed with white. T he brufhes required are the fides of the fhell with pure water, when it red fable, of goofe, duck, and crow-quill fizes.

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(tn several Ancient j^letljolis of applying (^olU anti Colours, P A R T I.

T is worthy of remark, that whatever may long without the enviable (kill. But fkill only have been the changes in refpect of colour, comes by practice,— by long and devoted, arduous the ufe of gold is traceable, not only in every application. Fortunately, or unfortunately— nil period, but in every ftyle of book decoration, of fine magno labore — nothing without earneft toil which we have any record. In fact, it is of the can be accomplifhed by mortals : this is an higheft antiquity. W e have only to confult the opinion of far antiquity, of which time has proved writings of Mofes to find how early in the the truth. world’s hiftory the arts of decoration were unIt is certain that ancient artifts worked much derftood by the people of the funny Eaft. W e — in many cafes, entirely — from oral precept, do not fay funny, be it obferved, for the fake of the mafter explaining the fecrets of the workfhop a poetic epithet. It is a fact not difficult to whilft the work itfelf was in progrefs. T his verify, that in all funny countries Nature fpeaks will account in feveral noted inftances — the authoritatively as to the appropriation of gold, treatifes of Theophilus and others — for feeming jewelry, and colour. She fpeaks in the fplendour vaguenefs and incoherency of direction. W hen of her birds and flowers, and the glory of her a receipt tells you to take as much gum, or wax, fkies. W hatever we can imagine of azure and or oil, or colour, as you think neceflary, it is purple, ofcrimfon and burnifhed gold, is realized, plain that he fuppofes you to be accuftomed to or more than realized, in plumage, and petals, the general working of the art. It was, pro­ and funfets. bably, not intended by the author or compiler of It is but natural that, with fuch direcSh and any MS. book of directions to teach a perfon influential teaching, taftes and coftumes, that to utterly unacquainted with the procefles of the cold and northern thoughts partake of barba- fcriptorium or the ftudio. As the art of Illumi­ rifm, fhould be favoured in thofe lands. It is nating was a profeffion by which men earned a the full power of light alone that can bring out livelihood, thofe who betook themfelves to it the full magnificence of colour. were admitted to the workfhops of perfons But of this in its proper place. already in practice, or, as we fhould fay, in W e may hereafter attempt an analyfis of the bufinefs. natural principles of colouring.

Notwithftanding the fact, however, that the T he perpetual ufe of gold in one form or art was orally acquired in the majority, perhaps, other, noticed above, makes it interefting to of inftances, there are ftill very many treatifes know what were the methods by which thofe extant which profefs to give moft of the fecrets beautiful effects, which as yet we are better able formerly in ufe. Thefe fecrets comprife receipts to admire than imitate, were produced in the for the concoction or preparation of colours, works of Mediaeval artifts. Such knowledge is gold, glue, varnifhes, fizes or grounds for gilding, not difficult to arrive at. And if the knowledge parchment, and other matters convenient for the of the methods were to be taken as fome pledge purfuit of which they treat. T he receipts for of faculty to practife them, neither fhould we be the making of colours are generally of a tedious,

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and to us they would be of a wafteful, kind, fo ledtions o f fecrets and myfteries in Science and that it would be unprofitable to repeat them. Art. O f courfe in thefe treatifes there is a great One part of the procefs, however, and one on which Cennini earneftly infills, we may take a variety in the methods given, embodying as they hint from — that, with exceedingly few excep­ do the experience of very many pradtitioners of tions the colours fhould be long and finely ground. different countries. But whatever may be the “ If you grind minium or vermilion for twenty minor differences of manipulation, it is fingular years,” fays he, “ it will be all the better to obferve the uniformity of the main features of the procelfes. This coincidence is fhown par­ for it.”

T he earlieft treatifes which refer to miniature­ ticularly between the Venetian MS. in the Sloane painting and illumination known at prefent are Colledtion and the treatife of P. de St. Audemar, thofe of *Heraclius, *§ Theophilus,f Cennini,J and of thefe again with the Mappae Clavicula.

Thefe treatifes might be ufefully claffified as the Lucca, Bologna, Venetian, and Bruflels§ MSS., and the Mappae Clavicula.|| Later than the methods of particular fchools of Illumination, thefe are many others in various public5T and — the Italian differing from the German, and private libraries, fuch as the collediion of P. de this again differing from the French and Englifh.

St. Audemar, and of Jehan le Regue, of the T he various modes of preparing the grounds for 15th century; the “ Illuminir B uch” of Valen­ gilding might, perhaps, be taken as diftindtive tine Boltzen, of the 16th ; the “ Critical In­ marks of various fchools, as the brilliancy of the quiry” of Rafpe ; with a hoft of other col- gold is mainly dependent upon the ground, and the difference in brilliancy is eafily detedfed on * Egerton, 840, Brjt. Muf. examination of the MSS. themfelves. T o the f Diverfarum Artium Schedula : Hendrie’s tranflation. middle of the 15th century, the gold is generally J Treatife on Painting, &c. : Mrs. Merrifield’s tranflation. very firm, folid, and brilliant. From this time (Erratum : fhould be Muratori, Antiqq. Italic. Medii Aevi, not Merrifield.) the grounds are generally difpenfed with, and § Sloane MSS., 416, Brit. Muf. the gold laid with a thin fize at once upon the || Archaeologia, vol. xxxii., with notes by the pofleflor. vellum. <Jf Sloane MSS., 1754: Harl. 3151, 6106, 6376, &c.

NO TES A N D Q uery.— Whether fome very interefting Illuminated Manufcripts do not exift in the Soane Mufeum, and whether we may expedt at fome future time to fee a Notice of them in the Magazine?

[The Soane Mufeum is efpecially devoted to the fubjedts moft interefting to the late Sir John Soane, who was an architect. There are, however, ieveral very valuable Illuminated MSS. preferved there. Befides the Soane Clovio, which is a copy of a Commentary on the Epiftles of St. Paul, illuminated by that artift for Cardinal Grimani, there is a Flemifh MS. of the 15th

Q U E R IE S .

century, of Offices and Prayers for the feftivals of the Virgin, with numerous miniatures: a MS. (1478) on vellum, illuminated with miniatures from the Life and Martyrdom of St. Crifpin : a very fplendid Roman Miffal, with very numerous illuminations and minia­ tures by Lucas van Leyden and his Scholars: and a magnificent Office of the Madonna, MS. on vellum of the 15th century, with the miniature paintings, faid to be by Girolamo du Libri. We purpofe giving a fuller account of the MSS. contained in this and other Mufeums in future Numbers.— E d.]

Plate XI.

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here the courfe of inftruCtion purfued in my laft leflon, for the execution of this beautiful fpecimen of the Art of the 14th century.

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C O N T IN U E

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my laft leflon, put in all the blue, ufing ultramarine or French blue mixed with Chinefe white ; then the red, ufing vermilion and Chinefe white, and for the falmon colour, crimfon lake, and yellow ochre, with a large proportion of Chinefe white ; when quite dry blend the two together to give the fhaded appearance as directed in the laft leflon. T he falmon colour in the border, and in the leafy appendage to the initial, muft be treated in the fame manner, and N ext put in the the vermilion deepened with crimfon lake, and Indian ink. leaves, in fcarlet and emerald green, the bird with burnt fienna and Indian ink, Finally, with a crow-quill fable brufh, and Chinefe heightened with Chinefe white. white, execute the fieur-de-lis and other delicate patterns upon the ground colours. a In the original MS. a great part of the gold is raifed ; this gives the illumination r, very rich effeCt, which we are not able to reproduce in chromo -lithogra phy, howeve in eventually, ample directions will be given for executing this kind of gilding, but /kill flat-gilding muft be firft acquired. t My leflons, hitherto , have been illuftrated by examples of the illuminations of differen it periods, of which, from their extremely elementary characte r, I have not thought of a neceffary to give the dates, but as they will in future comprife the main features and complete illumination, viz. initial, text, and border, this point will be attended to, thofe from a careful ftudy of fuch examples the pupil will readily aflign the proper date to In fome inftances the exaCt age of the fpecimen can only be in guefled at by the moft competent judges ; this is the cafe with the prefent, which, g ftyle, refembles the illumination praCtifed in France at the end of the 13th and beginnin

that have gone before.

part of the 14th centuries ; it is, however, fuppofed to have been executed in the early of the 14th : it is an adaptation of bordering and diaper grounding from ^ 7 / “ Evangelia per annum ad ufum Ecclefiae Parifien .” (Add. 17, 341,' B. M .), which, Mr. Humphreys fays, “ is of the higheft character of true Parifian art.”

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’The Illuminators' Magazine.

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By N O E L H U M P H R E Y S .

I I .— T he State of the Art from the Seventh to the T enth C entury .

N my introductory eflay I endeavoured to fome cafes, either a band, or border, or arched trace the progrefs of the earliefl: kinds of top of gold, in which are painted, in ftrong and enrichment made ufe of in the ornamentation of brilliant body-colours, geometric patterns of great written records. I alluded to the employment, ingenuity, fimilar in character to the architec­ at a very early period, of letters painted red with tural friezes of the period, which were enriched minium at the beginning of important paffages, with painting or mofaic, and which form very even in Egyptian papyri. This Ample addition interefting fpecimens of early Byzantine Art. As was almoft the only kind of decoration ufed, even an example o f the decoration o f MSS. in this at a much later period in Roman MSS. previous ftyle, the example given in Plate V. will afford to the difruption of the Empire of the W eft.— an adequate example. In Byzantine MSS. of I mean of a purely decorative character ; for fuch this and a rather later period, there are frequently I do not conflder the illuftrative miniatures which large miniatures, in a debafed kind of Greek often occur in works of that time, as in the Art, which yet difplay much of the ancient Virgil of the Vatican Library; nor fuch flgure Hellenic genius, though driven into a quaint illuftrations as thofe of the celebrated copy of and narrow channel of ftyle, efpecially diftinT erence of a fomewhat later period. An exam­ guiflied by a mechanical mannerifm of execution, ple of miniatures of this kind of debafed Roman which, though greatly admired by fome of our Art, will be found in Plate III. of Part I., high authorities in matters connected with the No. 3, which is from the Vatican Virgil; and hiftory of Art, I cannot but conflder as a mark another example from an earlier MS. of the of weaknefs, and a forerunner of the utter de­ works of Virgil, reproduced from the fac-fimiles cadence which followed. In thefe ancient and of Bartoli, will be found in Part III. Plate V III. moft interefting monuments of decorative art, Certain Greek and Roman authors of later manufcripts, I do not conceive that even the date have mentioned incidentally MSS. written germ of the true art of book-illumination is in gold upon purple vellum ; but, in my efti- traceable. They exhibit none of thofe rich bormation, neither the metallic compofition of an derings of elaborate and continuous defign which ink nor the colour of the fubftance written upon diftinguifb the period of true illumination ; nor can be faid to conftitute that artiftic kind of do they difplay any attempt at the exercife of decoration which we now deflgnate by the term inventive compofition in the tafteful variation of the forms of grand initial letters, nor any rich “ illumination.”

In the New Byzantium, the capital of the play of fancy in the details fuggefted by fuch Romanized Eaft, it is true that a more elaborate variations of form. T he large initial letters al­ and artiftic mode of ornamentation was adopted) luded to by St. Jerome as one of the abufes of — perhaps as early as the fourth or flfth century. luxury in the MSS. of his time, were, in all A few rare fpecimens exift attributed to thefe probability, not initial letters, but thofe of the periods, in which certain headings are written in general text, which was frequently written in black upon a burnifhed gold ground, having, in uncials; a word which has been mifread as

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= @ The Illuminators' Magazine. initial^ a miftake eafily made, at a time when the majeftic letters at the commencemen t of no dots were ufed to diftinguifh the i’s ; and thefe each of the Gofpels are enriched with endlefs uncials were frequently of fuch a fize as to ren­ details of intricate ornament, fuch as it is almoft der it impoffible to get many fentences into an impoflible to conceive ; indeed, intricate elabo­ entire page, which increafed the general bulk of ration has in thefe compofitions been carried to the MSS. to a moft unwieldy and inconvenient the higheft pitch. Storks, lizards, and other fize. T he remarks of St. Jerome (taken in this birds and reptiles, whofe attenuated limbs afford light) will appear but too well founded, if we com­ facilities for ingenious interlacings, are profufely pare the clofely-written fcrolls recovered from introduced; thefe, again, are made to mingle and Herculaneum with fome of the books written in blend into a homogeneous general defign with the windings, and (till more elaborate interlacings, thofe large uncials of the time of St. Jerome.

It is in the early Irifti fchool of Art that we of richly-coloured threads, upon a dark ground : muft look for the firft examples of a genuine the whole compofition producing an effect of kind of illumination. In Ireland, lefs difturbed elaborate richnefs difficult to defcribe. Geo­ by invafion and internal tumult than Italy, Gaul, metric patterns of extreme intricacy and minuteBritain, Spain, or many other provinces of the nefs fill up other portions of the compofition, diffevered empire of the W eft, a fchool of cal­ while the entire effect is rendered ftill more ligraphers arofe, who developed a peculiar ftyle wonderfully elaborate by the grouping together of decoration for which ancient claffic Art afforded of the three firft initial letters in a grand mono­ them no models. Stimulated by the firft frefh graphic compofition. A feries of red dottings influences of Chriftianity, and a deep and earneft generally furround thefe Titanic capitals, the veneration for the words of the Gofpels, thefe lines of dots often breaking away at certain angles earlieft illuminators developed the rude fyftem or falient curves, and forming intricately inter­ of ornamentation found in ufe in almoft all femi- laced plaits and knottings. T h e fpaces between barbarous nations into a moft elaborate, and in the words of the general text are often filled many refpedts beautiful, fchool of Art, the ftyle with dottings of a fimilar character, frequently of which has no exact parallel in previous or fub- forming patterns of moft ingenious and beautiful conftrudtion. fequent periods.

Gold is but fparingly employed in this fchool In the middle of the fixth century, St. Columbkill, who was born a . d . 521, founded of Art, as not lending itfelf to the exceffive the celebrated monaftery of Iona, where the intricacy of treatment which is the marked ftyle of art alluded to was moft brilliantly deve­ feature of the ftyle.

T he outline No. 1, Plate 13, will convey a loped. Aidan, a monk of Iona, came to England about 635, and founded the convent of Lindif- fair idea of the intricate detail, and yet general farne, in the north of England, where the monks grandeur of character, of one of the great letters continued to devote themfelves to the fame ftyle from the Lindisfarne Gofpels. It is the Q at of art in the decoration of copies of the Gofpels the commencement of the Gofpel of St. Luke.

This page — the whole of which is highly en­ and other religious books.

It was in this monaftic laboratory of illumina­ riched— lies to the right when the book is open, tion that the famous copy of the Gofpels was and the oppofite page is entirely filled by one executed, which was afterwards preferved at great mafs of ornament, the compofition and ex­ Durham, and from that circumftance is known ecution of which muft have been a work of to modern archaeologifts as the Durham Book. extraordinary labour. Parts of it are formed of This wonderful example of Anglo-Hibernia n Art maffes of ornament, fomewhat fimilar to that ' of the feventh century is now preferved in the which fills out the fquare of the page under the Britifh Mufeum. T he grandly-varied forms of great loop of the O juft referred to.

The Illuminators' Magazine.

No. 2, Plate 13, is one of the lefler inter­ woven capitals of this wonderful volume, fuch as are found at the beginning of chapters. It is an M and an A combined.

No. 3 is a monogram of u Chrift,” from the Gofpels of Maelbregid Mac Durnan, now preferved in the archiepifcopal palace at Lambeth.

It is in a much later and lefs intricate phafe of the fame ftyle, and was, probably, executed at the clofe of the ninth century, or even the beginning of the tenth. T he volume was prefented by Athelftane to the metropolitan church of Can­ terbury. T he interlacings of the main features of the great letters themfelves are more intricate than in the earlier periods, but their convolutions are entirely black, inftead of being further en­ riched by minute details. T he monogram of Chrift is in the ufual Greek, letters, X P I., but it will be feen that the word u autem ” which follows is in the Roman character, treated in the manner of the period.

No. 3 I is another double letter from a MS. belonging to the fame epoch of art.

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MSS. of this period, crucifixions, &c., are, though neat in execution, of the moft barbarous defign, and exhibit the artiftic attempt to deli­ neate the human figure in its moft rudimental Rage, reminding the ftudent of fuch femi-favage Art, as that difplayed in Mexican idols, or ex­ tremely ancient Chinefe devices; for the firft fteps of Art are fimilar in all nations, however much they diverge as they advance.

No. 4 is an example fliowing this ftyle in a tranfition ftate towards the manner which deve­ loped itfelf on the Continent in the Carlovingian fchool of A ix-la-Chapelle, a city which the Frankifli emperors had made their capital. It is an A and U combined. T h e book from which it is taken is a large folio Bible, executed for Charles the Bald, the grandfon of the Emperor Charlemagne, which was a work executed by the Continental calligraphers, partly in imitation of the Anglo-Hibernian work, which was highly efteemed and admired on the Continent, finding imitators even in Italy. Another example of the ftyle of the A U juft defcribed will be found in the capital T , Plate 2, of Part I.

Jlluminateti Calendars.

N the illuminated Miflals, Breviaries, Pfalters, and paftimes of the country are alfo given in due and Hours, by which names the various feafon, and the architectural acceflories are infervice-books of the Roman Catholic Church terefting, and faithful delineations of contempo­ are denominated, the Calendar often forms an rary art. elegant and attractive portion of the volume.

Facsimiles of fuch Calendars, filled up with T he border decorations frequently confift offcroll- entries in accordance with the cuftoms and work, more or lefs elaborate, interfperfed with wants of the prefent day, may be acceptable to the birds, infeCts, and flowers peculiar to the our fubfcribers, and form a new feature in the month, the figns of the zodiac and other devices, neceflary, but generally profaic, companions to and in many inftances accompanied with minia­ our writing-defks y-clept almanacks. tures depicting the feveral occupations of the This month we give facjimiles from the richeft month, in which the poetical or humorous fancy illuminated Calendar in the Britifh Mufeum, of of the artift difported con amore. the 15th century (Egerton, No. 1070), of which Many of thefe miniatures are charming little any defcription would be fuperfluous : it is taken paftorals, in which are grouped all the fweet from Hora B. M a ria Virginis, prefented to delights of nature ; or interiors, revealing to us Henry V III. by his chaplain, George Strangthe domeftic manners, arts, and cuftoms of the ways, Archd. of Coventry, and formerly in the times in which they were executed : the fports pofleflion of Rene of Anjou.

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M EDIAEVAL IL L U M IN A T IO N .

Y the term Middle Ages, is underftood the Perfian Empire introduced a new element into period of time between the 4th or 5th the Art of the Byzantine fchool; and the influ­ ence of Oriental tafte is very ftrongly evinced by century and the revival of Art, or Renaiflance, which dawned upon the world in the 13th the MSS. of this period, efpecially in the fubfticentury, though the full day did not fet in until tution of gold backgrounds for the cool colours the 15th or 16th century. of the ancients, and in the darker flefli tones This period is alfo commonly but erroneoufly and gorgeous mofaic work of the border deco­ ftyled “ T he Dark Ages or, as a writer in the rations.

Revue Chretienne fays, “ T his legendary demi­ T he great number of conventual eftablilhday, grey and fombre, in which the thin and wan ments in the Greek and Latin Church contrifigures of the Middle Ages move.” How erro­ buted to the diffufion and advancement of the neous this judgment is in refpedb of the Art of Art of illumination, Each monaftery had its Illumination alone, I {hall endeavour to fhow. library and Scriptorium, within which were ex­ Mr. Hallam* truly obferves of this epoch in the ecuted the illuminated MSS. whofe brilliant world’s hiftory, “ If we look more accurately, pages were the precurfors of the chef d*oeuvre of there will appear certain gradual {hades of twi­ the matters of the Renaiflance. T h e practice light on each fide of the greateft obfcurity and of offering illuminated liturgical offices, among when we confider the relics of the Art of the other gifts, to monafteries and churches, kept 5th and 6th centuries, which have furvived the the cloiftered artifts fully employed.

As early as the 6th century the Art had fury of the icor.oclaftic Emperors who, in their blind zeal for the faith, ruthleflly burnt many penetrated into the fartheft corners of the north, valuable M SS.; the frequent fires which raged in where we find the monafteries of Ireland, famed Conftantinople, and the deftru&ion confequent for their libraries of MSS. and for miniaturifts, upon its conqueft by the Crufaders, we may the producers of the unrivalled and original juftly refcue thefe centuries from the obfcurity ftyle of Anglo-Hibernian A rt; from hence St. which partially veiled the four fucceeding ages.

Columb, with his little band of twelve difciples, W e have feen the effect upon the waning carried the national ftyle of Art to the remote Art of the Graeco-Roman fchool of the liberal ifland of Iona, foon to be the light of the Church patronage of Conftantine and his immediate fuc- in Scotland, and members of this community ceffors; their efforts were for a time oppofed pafled over to England and the Continent, and and retarded by the Church, which ftrenuoufly grafted their own original Art upon that of the difcountenanced the ftudy of the formative arts, foreign fchools. from a pious dread of their leading her children In the 7th century a new form of decoration back to idolatry ; but the efforts of the Court, was introduced, that of “ Lettres Hiftoriees,” or and the ftrong will of the people, which in the large initial letters, defigned to illuftrate the text, daily contemplation of the vaft Azores of claffical whence their name ; they were at firft filled in art collected in Byzantium could not be re- with all kinds of fanciful figures and conven­ ftrained, broke down this remnant of Judaifm, tional flowers, but fubfequently became one of and opened a new channel of art in the decora­ the moft beautiful and elaborately varied forms tion of churches with frefcoes, and of MSS. of of book decoration. T he “ Lettres Hiftoriees ” the Holy Scriptures, &c. with miniatures. T he attained their utmoft elaboration in the 12th friendly relations eftablifhed by Juftinian with the century, frequently occupying the entire page * “ Middle Ages,” Vol. III. of the MS.

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FIE next well-defined ftyle was that gene­ Royal Library of M unich, of which it forms one rally known as “ the fchool of Aix-la- of the moft carefully-guarded treafures.

Chapclle.” In this city, the centre of Franco- W e learn from an infcription, in gold letters Gallic Art, many noble copies of the Gofpels, on a purple ground, at the end of the volume, Bibles, Prayer-books, and other religious works, that this copy o f the Gofpels was executed for were executed ; and a grand, fimple, and effective the emperor by two brothers (priefts), named ftyle of illumination, well marked in all its lead­ Berengarius and Liuthardus, in the year 873 a . d . ing features, was there brought to high per­ On the fifth leaf a fine portrait of Charles the fection.

Bald occurs, painted with great boldnefs,— evi­ T h e annexed Plate is a rather late example dently a likenefs, and not a merely conventional of this ftyle, the compofitions of which, efpe- regal figure. He is feated on a throne, at either cially in a fomewhat earlier period, are often fide of which Hands a female figure : the one, truly majeftic in the noblenefs of their pro­ Francia; the other, Gothia, a part of Gaul, portions, and the breadth of character in their afterwards defignated as Aquitania. Above ornamental details. and below the portrait, verfes, written in gold T his example has been feledted as a fpecimen on a purple ground, contain a panegyric of the of the ftyle, chiefly on account of its broad and emperor. At the commencement of the Gofpel richly-coloured border,— a feature which is very of St. Mark is a fine figure of Chrift, accom­ rare at this period, and did not fully develope panied by richly-foliaged and interlaced letters, itfelf till a much later epoch. There is not in alfo on a purple ground. T he ordinary pages of the works of the fchool of Aix-la-Chapelle all this MS. are frequently furrounded with borderthat minute elaboration of defign which is found ings of the general character of that which fur­ in the Anglo-Hibernian fchool. But there is a rounds the text of Plate II. in Part I. Framings rude breadth about it — a fimplicity and vigour, of this character are much more ufual in Francowhich compenfates for the lofs of other features. Gallic MSS. of this period, than the boldly T h e text of the page given in the annexed defigned, fimple border which forms my illuftraexample contains the commencement of a pro­ tio n ; they are debafed forms of later Roman logue to the Gofpel of St. Matthew, by an art, though often mingled with the details in the unknown hand. T he grandly-formed M , the ufual ftyle of the period. T hey are often more initial of the name of the evangelift, with its gold rich in detail, but feldom vary from the fimple bars and foliations, relieved by bold and irregular fquare frame, divided into narrow compartments, dallies of rich colour, with which are combined to receive the various flips of ornament. the other letters of the name, on purple grounds, At the Bibliotheque Imperiale of Paris is a is a very fine example of the ftyle of the period. volume of very fimilar ftyle. It is a Prayer­ T he volume is a codex aureus, the whole of the book, executed for the fame prince by one of Gofpels being written in gold letters, of a fine femi- the before-named brothers, whofe name it bears, uncial character, fomewhat Gallican in form, and — “ Hie calamus fadto Liuthardi fine quievit.” partly on a purple ground. This noble volume In the litanies the king calls upon God to prewas executed for the emperor, and prefented by ferve him, as well as his queen Hermintruda, him to the great religious houfe of St. Denis, who was married to him in the year 842, and whence it was carried by the Emperor Arnoud to died in the year 869, between which two periods Ratifbone, in Bavaria. It has now palled to the the book muft have been executed.

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Mnea M Castagno.

A F L O R E N T IN E L E G E N D .

B y MISS P A R D O E .

P A R T I.

H E R E are few Rudies more charming or more foul-bracing than thofe which enable us to trace the hiftory of the great men of our own or previous ages, from its commencement to its clofe. W e do well when we lay it to our hearts ; and, thrufting from us all time-ferving adulation of the mere nobly born, who owe all their temporal honours and celebrity to the anceftors who fowed the grain of which they reap the harveft without having thruft their own fpade into the foil, we turn with fluihed cheek and ’bated breath to dwell upon the marvellous powers occafionally accorded by an All-Wife Providence to thofe lowly ones of the earth who come among us with that feal of genius upon their foreheads which has pre-ordained their names to an im­ mortality of fame.

Such an one was Andrea del Caftagno, the painter, who was born in Florence towards the middle of the 15th century; and whofe chefd'oeuvre is ftill to be feen in the fuperb convent Degli Angeli.

T h e fon of poor parents, and left an orphan while yet a mere boy, he earned a fcanty main­ tenance by adting as a Ihepherd and goatherd in the environs of Caftagno, his native village — that Caftagno which, humble and obfcure as it was upon the map of the Republic, he was deftined to render famous by adopting its name.

Referved, taciturn, and felf-centred, the lad, whofe poverty placed him beyond the pale of local companionfhip with other children of his age, never appeared to be confcious of his ifolation. Even from his infancy he had led that inner life of thought, and feeling, and afpiration, which differed rather than fhared the fqualid privations of his outer exiftence. T he pafler-by

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faw only the dreaming rags and the pinched cheeks of the folitary watcher on the hill-fide ; he could not look through the depths of his large, luminous, downcaft eyes, into the myfteries of a nature that was already grappling with a great and glorious future, of which it had as yet only a vague and confufed idea. Neverthelefs, fuch was the fa<ft: Andrea, in his tattered garments, and with his fcanty meal, was, as he fat among the wild thyme and violets, to himfelf as a king upon his throne. His eye made a picture, dwell where it m ight: in the clear ether of a fouthern fky; in the fleecy and fantaftic vapours which at intervals wandered over the broad bright high­ way of the fun; in the herb upon which he ftretched himfelf to fleep; in the gold and emerald-tinted infedts which wantoned in the air, or ihot noifeleflly through the grafs-blades upon which his flock were feeding; and as thefe forms and colours flitted acrofs the tablet of his mind, high thoughts and wondrous ambitions ftirred within him, and he panted to become familiar with objects and aims from which he felt himfelf to be hopeleflly fhut out.

Strange glimpfes thefe of the immortality of the foul, breaking through the prifon-houfe of the flefh, and for brief inftants caufing the finite to be abforbed into the infinite !

As Andrea, in his moments of mental ftruggle, occafionally yielded beneath the humble roof of his mafter to a difcouragement which, as he advanced from boyhood into youth grew almoft into defpair, and fat in his obfcure corner with the filent tears falling large and fall, and his panting bread heaving unconfcious fighs, the good woman of the houfe would curioufly inquire into the caufe of his trouble ; but, grateful as he

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W hat had he to tell her that fhe could com­ prehend ? He did not underdand himfelf, and he (hrank timidly from the idea of laying bare the torturing, although cheriflied, vifions of his young fpirit.

On one occafion, as he was (landing on the brink of a precipitous ravine, looking down into the dark abyfs, and involuntarily longing to lie in its deep gloom for ever, and fo to end an exidence which, by a drange fatality in the nature of a peafant lad, had already become infupportable to him, he was feized with a vertigo that caufed every furrounding objeCt to fwim, and fliift, and melt, and mingle, before his fight. He drove to glance Readily over the features of the fur­ rounding landfcape with which he had been fami­ liar from his boyhood, but the effort baffled him; houfes, rocks, trees, meadows, and dreams, were all in m otion; the wind fighing through the leaves grew into a melody which was echoed by the birds ; the flowers nodded to him upon their (lender dems ; and he felt as though he were upborne by fome invifible hand towards the heavens, cradled upon a rofe-coloured cloud, and gradually approaching the fun, until its beams fcorched into his brain.

T h e torture was fo intenfe that he became infenfible, and it was only when he had reco­ vered confcioufnefs that he learnt how he had fallen from the precipice, and had been for three days an inmate of the palace of the Archbifliop of Pifa; who, chancing to be paffing near the fpot, had caufed him to be refcued by his attend­ ants, and directed that no pains fliould be fpared to infure his recovery. At the end of that period, the meagre and ragged (hepherd-boy, having over­ come the effects of his fall, was admitted to an audience of the prelate, who received his unaccudomed gued in a fpacious faloon hung with pictures by the old maders. T he eleClric fpark in the fpirit of Andrea was druck I Even while he was dammering out his gratitude to his preferver, his gaze was not riveted upon the calm and benevolent face of the good archbifliop, but wandered in wonder, in admiration, and in awe,

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around the walls of the fpacious apartm ent; until, convinced that he had been fuddenly tranfported to a world of wonders of which he had long dreamt, but which he had never hitherto been able to realife, he (lowly and tremblingly traverfed the floor, and knelt down with clafped hands and bowed head before a magnificent picture of the Madonna.

After having looked beneficently for a few moments upon the lad, to whom he attributed an impulfe of devotion foreign to its real nature, the good-natured prelate placed a few filver coins in the hand of his protege^ and bidding him take better care of himfelf for the future, difmiffed him to his home.

But it was not fimply the treafure firmly grafped beneath his fingers that the boy Andrea carried away with him from that gorgeous abode.

Still he faw as he purfued his way to the village the benign and gracious face of the VirginMother fmiling down upon h im ; the tender grace of her form and the exquifite harmony of her whole perfon having awakened within him new perceptions of the beautiful and the artiftic.

He had at length found what he had fought for from his infancy, unconfcious of the true nature of his longing. Thenceforward one image alone haunted him ; he limned it on the funfet (ky ; he faw its outline amid the (lumbering trees ; the very (hadows cad its reflection on the hillfide: but all thefe delicious deceptions were mo­ mentary, and only filled his heart with a deeper forrow as they fucceffively efcaped him. A fudden yearning grew upon him to make his happinefs more dable and perm anent; and ere many weeks had paffed he remembered that there was a deferted marble quarry in the valley, where, unfeen and unfufpeCted, he might at lead endea­ vour to create fome faint imitation of that divine face and form which had now become the one objeCt of his young idolatry.

By dint of a perfeverance almod miraculous, he fucceeded, after long and laborious efforts, in polifhing the furface of a block of large dimenfions; and having once accompliflied this, he found it a comparatively eafy talk to manufacture

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brufhes of goats’-h air, and to trace upon the marble, with a piece of black clay which he difcovered in the bed of a torrent, the well-rem em­ bered outline of his incomparable Madonna. This was already a triumph ; but his artift-foul hun­ gered for a greater and a nobler fuccefs than he had as yet achieved. He had afcertained years before that certain plants gave out from their roots or blofloms coloured juices which he be­ lieved might be rendered available for his w o rk ; affiduoufly did he colled and teft them ; and ere long he became convinced that he had fur­ mounted this fecond difficulty alfo. W ith heart and hand, both alike Ready, becaufe he felt (urg­ ing within him that vivid a vis animte which is the ftrength -giver of the human mind, he purfued his tafk, until he faw, with flafhing eyes and thickening breath, that the features and limbs of his divinity were beginning to affume prominence and fubftance.

Enchan ted by the work of his own hands the folitary fhepherd-lad fell proftrate before his self­ created fhrine, and croffed himfelf devoutly as he murmured a paffionate Ave M a ria ; after which, unable longer to control his human exultation, he caft himfelf upon the ground, and in the fulnefs of his fpirit-joy, rolled himfelf over and over among the wild thyme, uttering fuppreffed cries of delight and triumph. His treafure was all his own, for the quarry was diftant from any dwelling, and was, moreover, rendered a doubly fafe retreat by the fact of its evil reputation, a band of brigands having many years before, ere they became the “ whipped of juftice,” com­ mitted fundry atrocious murders within its dark and filent recefles, which had caufed the fuperftitious peafants of the furrounding country to avoid its neighbourhood.

Hence the only vifitors to Andrea’s atelier were the meek-faced ftieep, who would occafionally ftand, and with foft round eyes gaze upon the myfterious figure as though they recognifed in it a fecond human guardian, greatly to the fatisfaction of the young artift, who from funrife to funfet continued unweariedly to add touch to touch, and tint to tint, until at length he felt as though -

"

—

the acftual marvel of the Archbifhop’s palace had been transferred to his mountain folitude.

Thus was he one day engaged, when, as he was about to emerge from his beloved quarry, in order to convince himfelf of the fafety of his flock, which was fcattered over the brow and dopes of the adjacent heights, he fuddenly heard the found of fmothered cries and rapid fteps approaching his hitherto uninvaded retreat; and he had fcarcely time to conceal himfelf behind the mafs of ftone upon which he had painted his Madonn a, when he faw four fierce-looking and heavily-armed brigands dragging towards him an aged man, in whom, to his grief and horror, be ere long recog­ nifed his firft patron, the venerable Archbilhop of Pifa. T heir oaths, their geftures, and their men­ aces, did not permit the foul-ftricken Andrea to doubt for an inftant the nature of their intentio ns; and as he at length faw a dagger glitter in the light, which the aflaffin by whom it was wielded was about to fheathe in the heart of the prelate, the horrified lad uttered a piercing fhriek, which caufed the bandits to turn fuddenly towards the found, when they found themfelves confronted with the picture of the Virgin !

So unexpected an apparition on a lonely fpot with which they were all familiar, and the un­ earthly cry which had reverbe rated through the dark recefles of the mountain, and which they did not for an inftant doubt had proceeded from the lips of the myfterious effigy as they were on the point of perpetrating a deed of blood, (hook the fuperftitious fouls of the robber-b and, who, flinging their poignards from them, Rood for an inftant mute and motionlefs, gazing on the Divine Mother , and then, with a groan and a fimultaneoufly uttered mea culpa^ caft themfelves before her with their faces in the duft.

Quick as a lightning-flafh Andrea advanced a pace from his hiding-place, and beckoned to the prelate to conceal himfelf in a deep crevice near at hand, into which the old man plunged fwiftly and noifeleflly. All this had been the work of an inftant, and when, as the brigands rofe to their feet, they difeovered the difappearance of their intended viflim, they were feized with a panic0

Tbe Illuminators' Magazine. terror even greater than that from which they had been flowly recovering; and doffing their broad-flapped hats, and multiplying the fign of the crofs upon their fcarred and ferocious faces, they haftened to efcape from the prefence of the offended and vengeance-threatening Madonna.

As the found of their footfteps died away in the diftance, Andrea emerged from his cavern, and clinging to the knees of the ftill trembling pre­ late, earneftly implored his bleffing. Gratefully and devoutly was it given ; and then, at the defire of the aged man, the boy-artift explained the fecret of his deliverance. W ith his eyes riveted in wonder, admiration, and almoft incredulity, upon the wonderful work of the untaught fhepherd at his feet, the Archbifliop liftened; and finally, railing up the youth with afmile of bene­ volent affe&ion, he bade him firft feek out the carriage from which the banditti had forced him near the entrance of the pine-foreft ; and next, after having delivered up his charge into the keeping of their rightful owner, follow him to the Archiepifcopal palace, which ihould thencefor­ ward be his home.

Andrea obeyed with a beating heart, and ere long found the equipage of which he was in fearch, furrounded by the bound, gagged, and terrified attendants, whom he forthwith releafed and conducted to their mafter; after which he haftened to collect his fcattered flock, to take leave of his late employers, and to make his way to his new home.

A few months only had elapfed ere Andrea del Caftagno — for thus was the young peafant, by the will of Monfignor Salviati, henceforth to be called— would have been utterly unrecognifable even by his beft friend, had he ever before re­ joiced in fuch a tie. Intruded to the care of the Archiepifcopal fecretary, well taught, well clad, and generoufly nourifhed, his natural beauty revealed itfelf as wonderfully as his genius had previoufly done ; but although he purfued all his ftudies thankfully and zealoufly, his devotion to Art continued to be his mafter-paffion ; and thus his progrefs under able and efficient teachers rendered him more dear day by day to the vener­

35

able and grateful prelate, himfelf an accompliflied amateur and virtuofo; while his gentle, fubmiffive, and loving nature made him a general favourite throughout the palace.

Tim e fped on alike happily and ufefully, and Andrea was verging upon his twentieth year, when, on a glorious evening as the young artift was about reluctantly to relinquifli his talk for the day, and to take his accuftomed ftroll upon the banks of the Arno, the prelate entered his Audio with an alacrity and joyoufnefs of expreffion which convinced his protege that fomething good and’ pleafant was about to happen to himfelf.

Having refpecftfully raifed the hand of M on­ fignor to his lips, the young man accordingly looked fomewhat anxioufly into the face of his patron, who replied to the mute interrogation by a hafty fmile. “ You are right, Andrea mio,” he faid ; “ I have news for you, which flhould make your artift-heart bound in your bofom. T he ladies of the convent Degli Angeli are about to adorn their beautiful chapel with a large altar-piece reprefenting the Adoration of the Angels ; and at my requeft, the holy Abbefs not only confides its execution to yourfelf, but has alfo been prevailed upon, after confiderable hefitation, to allow you to feledl your models from among the handfomeft of the boarders. Judge, therefore, what I expeft and hope from you ! ” T he cheek of the young artift flufhed, and his eyes flafhed with joy and pride. His hour of trial had come, and he felt equal to meet it.

Hitherto he had worked only for his patron and himfelf, and his critics had confequently been limited in num ber; but now, at laft, he was about to challenge the comments of the public, of his profeffional rivals, and to take his appointed place among the artifts of his country.

Under the aufpices of the prelate he was in­ troduced within the precindts of the convent; and although the ftately Abbefs fhrank a little as he bowed his graceful head low before her, and file remarked the noble beauty of his face and the manly eafe and fymmetry of his figure,

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= @ The Illuminators' Magazine. file was at once reaflured by the whifper of the Archbifliop, who, as his protege retired a few paces in order not to intrude upon their con­ ference, murmured in her ear: “ You fee, reverend mother, that he is (till but a bov, or I fhould have fcrupled to make the rcqueft with which you have fo kindly complied.” “ I cannot regret my compliance with any wifh exprefled by Monfignor,” was the meek rejoinder ; as, with a geflure intended to convey a proof of her fincerity, the lady marfhalled her guefts to an inner apartment.

T here, cluttered in groups, fat or flood the young and blooming girls configned to the care of the dignified Abbefs, whofe tall form was no fooner perceived on the threfhold than the whole fair bevy ranged themfelves filently in two ranks ;

but on recognifing the prelate, as noifeleflly fank upon their knees to receive his blefling.

This ceremony over, during which the eyes of Andrea had retted fpell-bound upon the beau­ tiful devotees, the Abbefs, turning with a fmile to the young artitt, faid courteoufly, u Thefe young ladies, fignor, are aware of the great privilege about to be accorded to fome among them — a glorious privilege indeed, and one which, I truft, will tend to redouble their piety.— Yes, my daughters, I feel fatisfied that the mere recol­ lection that your earthly likenefles are engaged in never-ending adoration, will have a blefled fpiritual effeCl upon your lives. Salute Monfig­ nor, and go to your prayers, in order that your thoughts may be fuch as will be fuited to the folemnity of your approaching avocation.’

Calendar for ;Wardh H E Calendar for this month is taken from the Mittal of Ferdinand and Ifabella, Add. 18, 851 B. M .,— a gem of art, which officers of the MS. Department juftly guard with jealous care under lock and key. T he volume is refplendent with illumination, of which, per­ haps, the Calendar is the leaft remarkable; but yet it is intrinfically interefting as well as from being a component of the Mittal. W e have here the ufual occupations of the month, pruning and grafting trees, in the border furrounding the entrees of the Calendar, which are given in the chara&er of the original, but adapted to the requirements of the prefent day.

T he moft animated word-painting would fail to convey a full idea of the beauty of defign and vivid colouring of the illuminations which adorn this volume : fpecimens of them will be given hereafter in this Magazine.

T he Mittal is about nine inches in length by fix and a half in breadth, and contains 523 leaves of fine parchment. It is written in a fmall clear Gothic charaCler, in two columns, with occafional words and fentences in red.

T

As in moft elaborately illuminated M SS., efpecially of later date, when their production was the intruded to various hands, the divifion of labour can be dittinClly traced in this volume, which combines the higheft ftyle of art with fpecimens of a much lefs finifhed ftyle. T h e illuminations confift of a profufion of miniatures enclofed within borders of elegant defign. T h e text is further decorated with initial letters, the larger letters having fome fcroll or flower within th e m ; other pages are ornamented with narrow ftripes of borders.

T he firft illumination is an allegorical fubjeCt, a group of female figures holding fcrolls infcribed with their names, Sybilla, Europa, & c.; this faces the Death of King David^ the great progenitor and type of the Saviour, whofe life and aCls are portrayed in the following miniatures ; the king wears a gold crown, and is furrounded by his phyficians and attendants ; an angel is feen above hovering over a battle-field.

T h e Nativity (fol. 29) commences a feries of miniatures which evince the fuperiority of the artitt employed upon this part of the Mittal. T he background of the

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Adoration o f the M agi poetically exhibits the fallen ftatc of that temple which the Infant God In the came to reftore by a temple in ruins.

Creation (fol. 63) the Almighty, floating in the air, wears the Papal tiara and carries a fceptre in his hand ; in the garden below are men planting trees, and various animals. At fols. 100 and 101, the night fcenes of our Lord’s Pafion are given in four fmall miniatures, preceded by a large painting of the Laft Supper furrounded by a border of de­ tached flowers, principally red rofes; the border around the Agony is compofed of white rofes. In this miniature -are the three fcenes of the agony depided, firft, the kneeling figure of our Lord on a rock, an angel holding the cup before him, in the diftance are feen a group of foldiers and the betrayer, in front our Lord watching the fleeping figures of the Apoftles. T he fubfequent ads of the Paflion are continued. Thefe miniatures ap­ pear to have been executed by a different artift; the colouring is moft intenfe, efpecially the blue in the background. They are followed by a feries of fubjeds from the Old Teftament. Fol. 252, the Rich M an and Lazarus, comprifes the whole of the Parable, which is ftrikingly depided. Be­ fore the marble palace, in which we fee the rich man banqueting in fplendour to the found of trumpets, while Lazarus meekly waits in the midfl: of the fervants ; he is reprefented falling headlong into the jaws of h ell: above this terrible fcene of felfifhnefs and retribution Lazarus repofes in Abraham’s bofom amidft a choir of angels.

After thefe fubjeds occur fpirited reprefentations of the martyrdoms of St. Andrew and St. Bar­ bara ; in the latter the faint appears in the fore­ ground, the fcene of the martyrdom in the difftance. This figure, the largeft in the volume, is finely painted ; but the gem of the whole is the St. John in the I f and o f Patmos, fol. 309. T he apoftle is fitting upon a mofly rock, writing the Revelation of the vifions pafling before his rapt

gaze; the eager eye of the Eagle, which flands befide the Apoftle, with outftretched wings, is fixed upon the waters beneath ; and, advancing to the ifland, are feen three horfemen. T he compofition and execution of this miniature are moft excellent. T he martyrdoms of the faints are now refumed, and we have the murder of St. Thomas a Becket and ads of other Saints, followed by a genealogy of the B. Virgin Mary given on a bril­ liant fcarlet ground, which age has not impaired.

A number of legendary fubjeds in an inferior ftyle ofart fucceeds this; but the borders of this part of the MS. are evidently done by another hand, they are as rich and fparkling as the precious ftones reprefented in them. T he abondance des riches is toned down by the frequent infertion of Death's heads, on which the artift has expended much Skill.

A companion miniature to the St. John is found in the AJfumption o f the Virgin, fol. 437?— a graceful compofition of the fame artift. Oppo­ site to this is a rich page of heraldic embellish­ ment containing the arms o f Ferdinand and Ifabella. In the border of a Similar page is an inscription to the effed that this book was pre­ sented by Francis de RoSas to u the potent, auguft, and Supreme Madame Elizabeth (or ISabel), Oueen of Spain and Sicily;” whence we infer that the date of this MS. is of the end of the 15th century. It was taken from the Efcurial by the French invaders, 1817, and belonged to Mr. Dent when Dibdin wrote his enthufiaftic description — which, after careful infpedion of the MS. I do not think exaggerated. T o thofe who are not exclufively devoted to the illumina­ tion of earlier centuries, this MS. has great attrac­ tions. Some lovely miniatures of Single figures, of St. Cecilia and St. Katharine, conclude the volume; which, after pafling through the hands of feveral pofleflors, is now very fitly depofited in the National Colledion.

H e Illuminators' Magazine.

©n some Ancient jMetljotis of apply ing anti C olour s, P A R T I. —

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N the beft periods of Illumination the gold it. This fmoothnefs was effefled by fcraping it was always brilliant, and laid upon a care­ with a knife, or going over it with the burnifher. fully prepared ground. One of the moft ancient Another plan was to wafli the powdered gold of thefe grounds was compofed of minium, with in a bafin with water, “ as you would wafli a third part of vermilion, ground well together minium,” and when dry to ftir it in glue made upon a ftone, and afterwards mixed or tempered with parchmen t or vellum, diffolved for ufe by with the cleareft gum-wate r. This is recom­ being placed in a veffel of hot water. mended by Theophilu s. T o grind the colours Muratori, in his great Collection of Mediaeval well, as we have faid, was a moft eftential point. Antiquities, has preferved feveral of the ancient Theophilus, of whofe firft book fully one-fourth proceffes. * Here is one: — cc M elt lead, and relates to illuminating, gives moft reiterated frequently plunge it in cold water. M elt gold, directions for the preparation of glues and fizes. and pour that into the fame water, and it will Thefe ufually confift of fifh-glues tempered with become brittle. T hen rub gold filings carefully gum-wate r. T h e fifh-glue was made by boiling with quickfilver, and purify it carefully while it the fkin or bones of certain fifh, as fturgeon, is liquid. Before you write, dip the pen in a and fimmering the glue thus obtained with a folution of alum, which is beft purified by fait third part of clear gum-wate r. W hen cold, it and vinegar.” was bottled for ufe, and it was faid to keep for T o melt gold is more eafily faid than done. a very long time.

In thofe times, when the furnace and crucible T h e method of ufing the vermilion ground were a part of the artift’s tool-furni ture,— when was, firft to prepare white o f egg by beating painting and phyfic were often praCtifed by the (with water in fummer, in winter without), and, fame perfon, by reafon of the neceflity for fimilar when fettled, to put the vermilion ground into a inveftigations and analyfes : it was, however, horn, and pour the white of egg {glarea) upon nothing out of the way. it, to ftir it with a fmall ftick, and apply it by T he next ground preparation, in point of date, means of a common hair-pencil. W hen this was one which became common throughou t was done, a portion o f the glue was to be Europe from the 14th century, but efpecially in liquefied in a “ pot over the fire,” and a little Italy ; and, in confequence, the directions given poured into the gold-fliell to wafli the gold. for making it vary but Rightly in many treatifes.

After pouring into another fhell the procefs was It was known as the “ geffo,” or gypfum ground. to be repeated, and the gold then laid on over T he method was to grind well fome gypfum the ground. T he glue was to be fparingly ufed, with pure water (until it loft its peculiar abor it would blacken the gold, and refufe to forbent quality, and became a fine white powder), polifh. W hen dry, it was to be polifhed with a and dry it. T hen to grind it with “ finople like perfectly fmooth tooth or bloodftone, upon a rofe ” (cinnabar f), and temper with fifh-glue fmooth and fhining horn tablet. diffolved in very good white wine. It was to be An important point was to fee that the ground * Lucca MS. in Antiqq. Med. Aevi. was quite fmooth before the gold was laid upon •j- Or madder lake (Eaftlake).

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'The Illuminators' Magazine. applied with a pencil, well covering the fpaces to be gilded. W hen dry, to be made fmooth with a knife, the gold laid on, and fixed and burniflied with the bloodftone.

Cennini recommends “ a kind of plafter (geflo) called affo, a little fine plafter (powdered gypfum), and a little biacca (white lead) ; lefs than onethird is to be gefio. Add fugar of Candia lefs than the biacca, grind perfectly with clean water, fcrape them together, and let dry in the fhade.

W hen ufed, cut off a piece, and temper with white of egg. Let it dry. Breathe on it or not (as it may need), and lay on the gold. W hen the gold is on burnifh it immediately. Make the furface even, if neceffary, with a knife.”

Both Cennini and Vafari fay that the beft mordant for laying gold on pictures is a mixture of white of egg, water, and Armenian bole. It will be feen from thefe inftances that the procefs was much the fame everywhere, fome preferring the “ minium” ground, others the “ geffo,” others a mixture of the two. And very often the gold was laid only with a thin fize or mordant.

W e will now pafs on to notice the preparations of colour. Thefe alfo obferve a marked famenefs in the mode of working, differing flightly, according to the traditions of the feveral fcriptoria, or the tafte of the individual artift. As to the names of colours formerly in ufe, a prima facie difficulty exifts in the facff that many of them are now quite obfolete; others doubtful, from confufion of names. T he “ Map pas Clavicula” * gives the following as a ufeful lift :— Azorium

. . . .

f Cerfufe, fmalt ? or other prepara(

tion of Cobalt.

Crimfon (not our Vermilion).

Vermiculum . . . .

Dragon’s Blood.

Sanguis Draconis .

C a r u m ........................... Yellow Ochre.

M i n i u m ...................... Vermilion.

F o liu m ............................ Purple (madder).

Auripigmentum . .

Orpiment.

Viride Graecum . . . Verdigris.

Gravetum Indicum Indigo.

B r u n u m ...................... Brown, Sepia, and Burnt Ochre.

Minium Rubeum vel ] > Red or W hite Lead.

Album . . . . j Nigrum opt. ex carbone ) Beft Charcoal, black, from burnt v i t i s ............................ j vine-twigs.

Thefe are all to be mixed with “ glarea” (white * Archaeologia, Vol. xxxii. p. 188.

39

of egg). T his is not always the cafe; fome colours (given in the treatifes) are tempered with wine, others with glaire, as above, others with gum -water.

T he laft was the moft ufual “ tempera.”

Spanifh green was to be tempered with fine wine, and for fhadows mixed with a little fap of iris, or cabbage, or leek.

Minium with glaire, cerfufe and carmine with the fame ; others with the cleared gum-water.* W hite lead, having been firft dried, was to be ground in and tempered with wine, minium with glaire. Verdigris cannot be ground, but muft be diffolved in very clear white wine.§ From the “ Clavicula” we may tabulate mix­ tures of the preceding lift :— Heightening.

Colour.

White Lead. Azure.

Indigo and W hite.

Rofe-Pink. jj Folium.

Folium and White.

Green.

Green and White. >> Green and Blue. >, Drab. n Rofe-Yellow. j, Yellow and White. »> Red Lead.

Red Lead. Yellow Ochre.

Brown.

Red Lead and Brown.

Azure.

Indigo.

Orpiment. Pure Vermilion.

Orpiment. j?

Deepening.

Indigo.

Azure.

Vermilion.

Brown.

Folium.

Black.

Green.

Green.

Brown.

Yellow Ochre.

Yellow.

Brown.

Dragon’s Blood.

Black.

Black.

Black.

Brown, or Dragon’s Blood Vermilion.

Rofe-pink is made with vermilion and w hite; rofe-yellow with yellow ochre and white.

N ote (a). Size, in early treatifes, means not only the glue, but the folid railing mixture, being literally the ground for gilding upon. The origin of the term appears in the collection of Alcherius, included in that of Le Begue, and is there called “ affifium,” in French “ affife.” (£). An inftance of the vaguenefs, to us, of fome of thefe receipts occurs in the following from the Bruflels MS. : Take (a) gold leaf with four drops of honey, mix together, (and) putin a fmall glafs vclfel. W hen ufed, diftemper with gum-water.” Here, no doubt, the fize of the gold leaf would be too well known to require ftating; to us, however, it is fufficiently uncertain to render the directions of little ufe. It may mean, to be fure, as much gold as four drops of honey will moiften, and then there is a difficulty about the drops, which depend on temperature. * Theophilus, Book I. ch. 34. j* MS. ofP. St. Andemar.

J Sloane MSS. 1754. Brit. M. § P. St. Andemar. Sloane MSS. 1754.

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Another table gives fhades only :—* Colour.

Celeft. (Blue, W hite.)

Blue (Indigo, White.)

Green (White, Gialdo Santo. ) Verdigris Pure Gialdo Santo.

Light Morello, Umber.

Dark Morello.

Cinnabar and White.

Cinnabar.

Gialdolino.

Dark Yellow.

Umber and W hite.

Shade.

Pure Blue.

Indigo.

Gialdo Santo.

Indigo, or Black.

Umber.

Dark Morello.

Black.

Cinnabar.

Lake. [and Umber.

Ochre, or Terra Gialdo Lake and Black.

Umber.

T o fee the effeCt of thefe mixtures and finifliings, we muft confult the MSS. in which the work appears. Numbers of fuch MSS. are preferved in the Britifh Mufeum. * Paduan MS. “ Treatiles,” &c., tranflated by Mrs. Merrifield.

OF

THE

FO URTEENTH

* No. A. vi. 19. (Eaftlake.)

Enlumineurs. See Dante’s Purgator. Canto XI. It may be worthy of remark that Benvenuto da Imola, in his comment on this paflage, fays that they are properly to be called miniators, from minium,” and quotes Pliny in proof.

OR

H E decline of Art at Conftantinople as the Roman power and influence loft their univerfal preftige, palled through fimilar phafes of decay to thofe which marked the decadence of Art in the W eftern portions of the Empire. But after the almoft utter extinction of Roman power in the W eft, the Roman, or rather Greek Art of the Eaft, exhibited a kind of revival; and in the mediaeval periods of modern hiftory it was diftinguifhed from all the ftyles of ornament which developed themfelves in the different countries which rofe on the ruins of the W eflern Empire by certain lingering traces of the fpirit of ancient Greek Art, mingled with a ftrong tinCture of Oriental character coming from the femi-civilifed countries of the far Eaft. This flyle was carried with miffionaries of the Greek Church to the eaftern portions of Ruflia, and eftablifhed itfelf with the Greek forms of Chriftianity in Mufcovy, Mofcow, the capital, becoming a new centre for its further development.

In Conftantinople, where it had originated, this flyle of decorative ornament was fwept away in the torrent of the

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There was a peculiar mode of preferving tints among the German illuminators, called “ clothlet colour.” Solutions of very fine mixtures of the colours being made, fmall flrips of linen were faturated with them and left to dry. W hen re­ quired for ufe, thefe flrips, or clippings from them, were put to fteep in fufficient water the evening previous to their being wanted. T he method is particularly defcribed in a MS. in the public library at *Strasburg.

At one time this mode appears to have been commonly referred to as the u manner of the Enlumineurs.” f

F IF T E E N T H

CENTURY.

Turkifh conqueft in the 16th century, but in Ruflia it fpread with the fpread of civilization in thofe vaft regions ; and it is ftill prevalent there at the prefent day, though in a modified form, in all the effential features of ecclefiaftical ornaments and architecture. T he RufTo-Greek Church is, in faCt, cultivating its revival, as a religious in­ fluence, juft as we are doing with the rich de­ tails of our mediaeval Gothic.

T he elegant and elaborate book-cover, reprefented in the oppofite Plate, is one of a feries of examples of mediaeval Ruffian Art recently publifhed by the Imperial government. It is either of gold or filver gilt, and enriched with raifed ornaments and gems ; the raifed ornaments being, for the mo ft part, partially enamelled, with va­ rious delicate and well-blended colours. T he Items, for inftance (with the little glittering fquare compartments), being green, or vermilion, or purple ; the foliage white, tinted in the centres with green or lilac, and getting pure white at the edges. T he gems engraved with fmall figures of faints, &c. are malachite.

Plate XV LI.

.Day & S o n .liith 3? tn the Queen

A

R U S S O - B Y Z A N T IN E B O O K - C O V E R , Pl-'t1 or 1 5 Century.

J

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$rt of Jlluimnatutg.

L E S S O N IV .— G IL D IN G .

H E ancient method of applying gold in illuminating has been difcuffed at fome length in thefe pages, with the hope that it help the modern artift in his attempts to imitate ancient illumination, for our beft chance of arriving at the (kill of the old illuminators is to underftand rightly their manner of proceeding.

It only remains for me to give fome Ample directions fuitable to the modern appliances of the art ; thefe are gold and filver leaf and paper (the ufe of fhell-gold and filver has been al­ ready explained), water-mat, gold fize, burnifh gold fize, and raifing preparation or ground, a “ gilder’s tip,” a fine camel’s-hair brufh for taking up the gold leaf, a gilder’s cufhion and knife.

Gold leaf and gold paper are chiefly ufed for gilding a large flat furface, and for raifed gilding, although for the latter fhell-gold may be ufed, viz. painted over a ground previoufly laid on.

Gold paper for flat gilding is ufeful and readily applied; it is fold prepared for ufe, and only requires damping on the fide that is covered with adhefive preparation, then laid upon the fpace to be gilded, and prefled down with fome fmooth flat inftrument, a piece of writing-paper being placed between to preferve the gold from being rubbed off*.

Gold-leaf requires more art in its manage­ ment, from the extreme delicacy of its texture; on this account the extra-thick gold-leaf is preferable for a beginner to work with. For flat gilding proceed as follows:— with a quill-fize fable-brufh, lay on a thick coat of the water-mat goldfize, according to the printed directions given with the bottle, keeping the furface quite level.

See that it is quite damp before laying on the gold-leaf; and if any part has dried, wet it with gum-water, pure water, or white of egg beaten up with a little water, and then lay on the goldleaf. T o do this there is but one method, viz. to take up the leaf from the book by laying the “ gilder’s tip’’ along the extreme edge of the leaf; if the tip be very /lightly damped, the leaf will adhere better, and can be fecurely transferred to the fpace prepared for it. Before removing

T

the tip from the leaf, blow it down, and then prefs it gently with a pad of cotton wool (covered may with either filk or kid) until it is quite fmooth and even ; let it be quite dry before you proceed to burnifh, which do according to the directions in my laft leffon (No. 3 of this Magazine), firfl: removing with a dry brufh the gold duff on the furface. Some gold-fize is adapted equally well for mat or dead gilding, as for burnifhing, the only addition required is a thicker ground for the gold that is to be burnifhed, which can be laid on in fucceflive coats ; if you have any difficulty in keeping the ground even, let it dry and then pare off any inequalities : it is well to follow the ancient praCtice of burnifhing the ground before laying on the gold.

For gilding a fmall fpace the gold-leaf muff be cut to the required fize thus,— remove the leaf from the book by pafling a gilder’s knife under­ neath, and place it upon your cufhion ; the length and flexibility of the knife will enable you to do this with eafe. W ith the knife, cut off a piece of the leaf a little larger than the fpace to be covered ; mark out the fize you require, and then lay the edge of the knife on the top of the mark, and bring it quickly but fteadily down as far as you wifh to c u t ; avoid fawing the gold which will make the edges ragged ; after the piece is cut off lay it upon the ground as before direCted.

For raifed gilding the ground muff be laid on in fucceflive coats to the required height, giving each time to dry before the next is applied, then cut the piece of gold-leaf, and with the c tip ’ lay it on the ground ; praCtice will enable you to do this fmoothly at once, without any prefling down i being required which is apt to damage the gold ; when dry burnifh and duff off the gold. Both flat and raifed gilding may be ornamented with engraved patterns with very good effeCt, efpecially on mat gold : this is done with the pointed agate burnifher, or tracing-point. Raifed gilding may be ufed for boffes, fprays, nimbi in facred fubjeCts, and in narrow bordering it has a beau­ tiful effeCt.

The Illuminators Magazine.

L L literary and fcientific travellers have groaned over the inextricable confufion ofEaftern libraries, whether Turkilh or Greek, where, Tantalus-like, they flood in the midft of treafures beyond their reach; but a new era has opened for the literati of Conftantinople. T he fpirit of old appears to have entered into the pre­ fent government, the Sultan has decreed that the contents of the fifty libraries attached to mofques, &c. in Conftantinople, fhall be infpeCted and cata­ logued. Thefe collections were amaffed by the Moflem fovereigns when darknefs was fpreading over Europe. If this meafure was adopted by the Greek Church, many buried treafures of the con­ vents of Afia would again fee the light, and doubtlefs fhed light upon many queftions; and we fhould no longer hear of travellers finding valuable illu­ minated MSS. ferving as covers to tobacco and jam-pots, and in the eftimation of their poffeffors thus worthily fulfilling their million.

In Europe we find occafionally in cities and peoples a fimilar negleCt of the treafures in their poffeflion. Profeftor Weftwood, of Oxford, at the meeting of the Archaeological Inftitute, Feb. 7, gave an account of a vifit to the interefting city of Treves, where the mufeum is in chaotic con­ fufion ; among its curiofities he particularly noted an Evangeliarium, the gift of the fifter of Char­ lemagne, and one written by the monks of Richenau for Archbifhop E gbert; of the fame date, the Profeffor exhibited a calling of an ivory reprefenting St. Helena entering a city in proceffion (probably Treves).

Profeffor Donaldfon very happily drew atten­

A

tion to the importance of forming a collection of ivories as illuftrative of Art, than which nothing could be more interefting to the ftudent or amateur, for there is a chafte beauty about the fimpleft ivory ornament which pleafes at the firft glance. At a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries, Jan. 30, an ivory pontifical comb of the 12th century, and Englilh workmanlhip, formed an objeCt of intereft, probably made for the purpofe of prefentation, as combs were much coveted in early days, and often prefented by the Popes to thofe illuftrious ladies whom they wilhed to attach to the Holy See, as we read that a fimilar prefent was fent to a Britilh Queen as a reward for her exertions for the faith. T h e fubjeCt of ivories can only be glanced at in an article like the prefent, hereafter greater fpace will be devoted to this interefting fubjeCt. T he fackof the Summer Palace of the Celeftial Empire has brought within reach many curiofities of A r t; of thefe, fome articles (candlefticks, &c.) in email cloijjonne, were exhibited at the fame time ; enamel-work, like ivory, was brought to great perfection by the Chinefe, and employed in a hoft of trifles, fuch as fans, one of which I have before me, where one fide has a reprefentation of a triumphal proceflion, in which the heads of all the figures are in enam el; the expreflion of the countenances is very varied and fpeaking, and their individuality ftrongly m arked; the other fide of the fan is painted with birds of brilliant plumage and flowers ; the border devices refemble much thofe of the borders of early MSS.

Place XVffl.

^tstorp of illum ination From the F arlieft Times.

C R IP T O R IA were founded in rapid fucceflion in England and various parts of the Continent through the indefatigable zeal of the Anglo-Saxon miflionaries, who, animated by the fame ardent and enterprifing miflionary fpirit which diftinguifhes the clergy of the prefent day, wandered from court to camp wherever heathenifm darkened the land, carrying with them the richly illuminated Service-books of their Church, by the pi&orial pages of which they recommended the faith to the child­ like mind of the heathen, and diffufed a tafte for art, which led to the formation of fchools of illumination in the countries of their adoption. T hus, France had her Scriptorium at Luxeuil, Italy at Bobbio, and Switzerland at St. Gall, which all owed their foundation to the Irifti monk St. Columbanus, and were famous both for the number and beauty of their MSS. long before the eftabliihment of the more celebrated Scriptorium of Charlemagne, prefided over by the Englilh monk Alcuin. Germany poflefles feveral precious volumes, carried thither by the AngloSaxon miflionary bifhops ; Willebrord, a monk of Ripon, was fifty years in Friefland, and eftablifhed the See of Utrecht, which city poflefles a beautiful fpecimen of Anglo-Saxon illumination in the Pfalter of the public library; thofe of Fulda and W urtzburg contain each a fimilar relic of St. Boniface and St. Killian.

W hile thefe miflionary bifhops thus fpread Anglo-Hibernian art on the Continent, claflical MSS. were largely imported into this country, mainly through the clofe intimacy eftablifhed between England and Rome by the appointment of St. Auguftine to the See of Canterbury, .597.

Gregory fent for the inftrucftion of the Converts a rich prefent of illuminated Service-books. O f thefe MSS. Thomas of Elmham thus fpeaks : “ One of the moft important books in the library (St. Auguftine’s at Canterbury) is Gregory’s Bible in two volumes; in the beginning of thefe volumes there are various leaves inferted, fome of a purple, others of a roie-colour, which held up againft the light, fhow a wonderful reflex ; others were bound in filver and ornamented with cryftals and beryls.” I f the Cott. MS. Vefp. A. 1. in the Britifh Mufeum, from which the initial at the head of this article is taken, is not a veritable original, it is at leaft of equal antiquity, and a valuable example of the ftyle of the miniatures of thofe Latin MSS. combined with Saxon ornamentation, and is probably one of the copies which were fo induftrioufly multiplied in the Scriptoria of the Canterbury million.* T he only accredited fragments of thefe MSS. are the Auguftinian Gofpels in the library of Corpus Chrifti College, Cambridge, and the Bodleian, Oxford.

W e rejoice that thefe two have efcaped thofe ruthlefs deftroyers of MSS. and all facred art, * In the Scriptorium, or Audio attached to each monaftery, the monks worked together at the tranfcription of MSS. while the younger pupils were employed in preparing the materials for the ufe of the illuminift, for each monaftery was its own laboratory, and the various employments were apportioned amongft the members of the community. Thus we meet with the appointment of Pergamenarius, whofe office it was to prepare for the binder the /kins of animals taken in hunting, of which Charlemagne gave to the monafteries of his empire a certain proportion.

London. Day & Son, Li th r * Lo Die Queen

The Illuminators’ Magazine. the *Danes, and in later times the Reformers.

Rothelin, a ftudent of Canterbury (afterwards Archbifliop, 735), and Benedic Bifcop, abbot of W earmouth, made repeated journeys to Rome on matters connected with the Church and learning ; on the return of the latter from one of thefe vifits, accompanied by Theodorus, Arch­ bifliop of Canterbury (668), he brought with him feveral artifts, as well as a rich ftore of MSS., relics, prieftly veftments, and pictures. In like manner, Egbert, Archbifliop of York (731), founded a noble library, of which his pupil and librarian, Alcuin, made a catalogue, and thus highly extols in his letter to the emperor Charle­ magne, written from his Abbey of St. Martin at Tours : he fays, “ I fpend my time in the halls of St. M artin, in teaching fome of the noble youths under my care the intricacies of grammar, and infpiring them with a tafte for the learning of the ancients ; in defcribing to others the order and revolutions of thofe Alining orbs which adorn the azure vault of heaven ; and in explaining to others the myfteries of Divine wifdom. In doing this, I find a great want of feveral things, par­ ticularly of thofe excellent books in all arts and fciences which I enjoyed in my native country, through the expenfe and care of my great matter, Egbert. May it, therefore, pleafe your Majefty, animated with the moft ardent love of learning, to permit me to fend fome of our youths into England, to procure for us thofe books which we want, and tranfplant the flowers of Britain into France, that their fragrance may no longer be confined to York, but may perfume the palaces of T ours.” f T h e Saxon fage emulated the zeal of the aged Cafliodorus, 480-575, who, at the age of 70, retired to his monaftery near Squillaci, to which he prefcribed the rule of St. Benedic, and enriched with a valuable library, and pro­ * The Danes, in the fliort fpace of feven years, fwept away every monaftery and trace of the Britifli Church in the kingdom of Northumbria ; it was on the reftoration of the Church under King Ofwald, who fent to Icolmkill for a million, that St. Aidan came and founded the Church of Lindisfarne, or Holy Ifland, whence Blued millions to the greater part of England, and to which the famous Scriptorium of Winchefter owed its origin. f Gildas’ Hiftoria Britonum.

Tranllated by Dr. Giles.

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vided artifts and workmen to illuminate and bind the MSS. tranferibed within the Scriptorium. At the age of 93, he wrote a treatife upon ortho­ graphy for the inftrueftion of his monks, and thus extols their labours : u In this exercife the mind is inftrudted by the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and it is a kind of homily to others ; it is preach­ ing with the hands, by converting the fingers into tongues ; it is publifhing to men in filence the words of falvation, and fighting againft the demon with pen and ink. As many words as a tranferiber writes, fo many wounds the demon receives.”

T he Latin art of this period participated in the degradation of Rome. T he ancient preftige of the imperial city was deftroyed by the conqueft of Alaric ; and from the miftrefs of the world, flie funk under repeated invafions to fuch a Rate of abjeeft mifery, as to warrant the ifliie of a de­ cree for the cultivation of corn in the wajie places within the walls of the city, to fupply the famifliing people with bread during the laft fiege of the city by Totila. Amid fuch ruin and diftrefs, illumination was not likely to meet with much patronage, yet we find the Gothic Em pe­ rors gave every encouragement to art, and the Popes, who were virtually the rulers of Rome, ftrove to revive the art, and fuccefsfully refitted the iconoclafm of the Eattern Empire ; but illu­ mination, as an inventive art, had irretrievably funk, and appears in Latin MSS. of this period (which are greatly inferior to the Byzantine of the fame date) to be confined to writing in gold and filver, and miniatures imitated from the an­ tique, in which the (kill of the illuminator was far below the artift he ftrove to imitate.

During the 7th and 8th centuries, MSS. con­ tinued to arrive in this country in great numbers, and were diligently copied by native artifts ; many were written throughout in gold on ftained vellum, thus introducing a tafte for this magnificent ttyle of illumination. Archbifliop Wilfred prefented an Evangeliarium of this defcription to his cathe­ dral of Y ork, of which his biographer, Eddius, thus rapturoufly fpeaks :— “ O ur holy prieft added alfo, among other ornaments to the houfeofGod, a work fuch as had not been heard of before our

K

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times— almoft a miracle {quoddam miraculum)— for he caufed to be written, for the good of his foul, four gofpels, in refined gold upon vellum of a purple colour ; he alfo provided a receptacle to contain thefe books, made of pure gold, or­ namented with precious ftones.” T he purple Latin Gofpels of the Britifh Mufeum (Regia 1.

E. 6.), is a MS. of this character, and the Charter of King Edgar to the Minifter at W inchefter,— a beautiful MS. written in gold on white vellum.

T he influence of claflic art, thus largely brought to bear upon the Anglo-Saxon fchool, is plainly feen in the MSS. of this period, in which miniatures unfkilfully executed are accompanied by highly elaborated and carefully executed bor­ ders, the peculiar feature of the art of this fchool.

T he four fucceeding centuries are confidered to be the darkeft of the ten which comprife the “ Middle A g e s;” doubtlefs this is true of this epoch confidered relatively to the following ages, yet though a cloud of ignorance overfhadowed the tree of knowledge, and the ftorm of barbaric ftrife bent its boughs down to the ground, yet the leaves fcattered by adverfe winds were deftined to fructify in a foreign foil.

T h e 8th century appears to be the gloomieft in the annals of Byzantine art, when Leo, the Ifaurian, 726, commenced the work ofdeftrudtion by the burning cfM SS. and the exile of the moft fkilful artifts. T his policy was further carried out by his fon Conftantine Copronycus, 754, who convened a council which anathematized thofe who reprefented the Incarnate Word by material form or colours; but the deepening darknefs foretold the coming daybreak, and this perfecution, doubtlefs, gave a new impetus to the art, and introduced new elements into the By­ zantine fchool, evinced by the increafed love for Oriental fplendour, vifible in the treatment of the fubjects of later MSS., executed during the period of the final revival of Byzantine art, which

dates from the middle of the gth century, in the reign of Bafil the Macedonian, to the conqueft of Conftantinople, 1204, the moft flourifliing period, and that from which our knowledge of this fchool of art is chiefly derived.

This epoch is alike diftinguifhed for the num­ ber and magnificence of its MSS. difperfed among the European libraries, or hidden within the recefles of the Afiatic convents. T he number of miniaturifts was confiderable, no lefs than ten were engaged upon one volume— the celebrated Menologium of the Vatican— and have infcribed their names upon the miniatures which adorn its pages.

T o Bafil fucceeded, in the 10th century, Leo the Philofopher, and Conftantine Porphyrogenitus, himfelf an author and artift, and the Emprefs Eudoxia in the n t h century, as liberal patrons of the art of illumination ; but the Comneni are more efpecially diftinguifhed for their patron­ age. This family occupied the imperial throne from 1056 to 1204, and were all, more or lefs, remarkable for their learning and tafte. I have before alluded to a magnificent MS. fuppofed to be the work of Alexius Comnenus (N o. 2 of this Magazine). T here are feveral others extant which were executed by his orders, and thofe of the Emperors John and Manuel. T h e Emprefs Irene, wife of Alexius, alfo caufed many fine MSS. to be executed for her.

In the various provinces of the vaft empire acquired by Charlemagne, the art of Illumination was flowly progrefling during this epoch under the combined influence of the Saxon and Byzan­ tine fchools ; many exifting MSS. atteft the de­ gree of excellence attained in France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Italy alone appears to have degenerated. A Ampler and bolder ftyle of art, in a great meafure, fuperfeded the Celtic in Eng­ land, and contributed to cftablifh that pre-eminence which the Englifh fchool had obtained over the nations of the W eft.

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p ro g ress of ^Botiern ^llum tnatton.

IT S

PRESEN T

STA TE

AND

FU TU RE

PRO SPECTS.

By NOEL HUMPHREYS.

A N Y works bearing upon the Art of Illu­ mination, which I have not fpace to name, appeared between the years 1845 1850. But none, I think,—and I fay it with the full dread of the ftigma of egotifm before my eyes, — had fo much adtive influence in fetting a whole public of amateur-illuminato rs to work as my little unpretending volume, entitled “ T he Art of Illumination and Miffal Painting,” which ap­ peared in 1849. I found in the Chromo-litho­ graphic prefs fuch facilities for reproducing the general effects of exquifite mediaeval borderings that had coft the monaftic penciller weeks or months of patient elaboration, that I determined to publifh in a fingle fmall volume, in a com­ paratively cheap form, a general view of the rife, development, and decline of the beautiful art which had occupied fo much of my attention, giving a feries of facfimiles of entire pages from beautiful MSS. of each well-marked epoch, as I had done in my large folio work. T o each, illuminated page, in addition to fome little hiftorical account of the book it was taken from, I appended a fliort efl'ay on the theory of the compofition of the ornaments, and the contrafts of colour; and this I followed up by fuggeftions for treating the fame defign in feveral different man­ ners, as to colour, ftrength, and general effedt.

In order to encourage the pupil to try at once fome of the effects propofed, I fupplied, at the end of the volume, outline plates of each fubjedt, to be coloured according to the diredtions given. I believe that thefe facilities afforded to the ftudent, accompanied by ample fuggeftions for making ufe of them, gave a greater general impulfe to the ftudy of illumination than any other fingle work.

This outline feries was, in fa (ft, very evidently a fuggeftive idea, for fhortly afterwards com­ menced the iffue, in various quarters, of thofe outlines of letters and ornaments for illumination, to be gilt and coloured by the purchafers, either according to their own tafte, or after a fmall por­ tion of the ornament coloured as a pattern for the reft ; a print fo prepared being purchafeable for

M

but a fmall advance upon the price of the entirely plain *outline.

T he rapid extenfion of fuch a fyftem, which and enabled young ladies, and young gentlemen too, to become illuminators at fo cheap a rate, and with fo little trouble, can be eafily conceived ; and though in many cafes it led to nothing more, yet, in other rarer inftances, it was the beginning of the development of a graceful and original talent, the exercife of which has formed a prevailing and moft charming recreation, not always left to be a a mere idle pleafure. T he defigning of graceful fcrolls, with picfturefque Gothic texts for villagefchools, has been a really ufeful adaptation of the Art, as it has not only attracted young eyes to­ wards precepts fo gracefully prefented to them, but has, at the fame time, imperceptibly cultivated a fenfe of beauty and refinement in young minds which will retain its imprefs through life. And not only among children is this influence arifing from the cultivation of this pleafing Art exerted — thofe charmingly illuminated book-marks, and a thoufand other elegant trifles, made beautiful by female fingers, which we continually receive as mementos of kindnefs on the recurrence of our little domeftic feftivals, fuch as birth-days or other favoured holidays, imperceptibly produce a certain impreflion on the tafte, which, in combi­ nation with other fimilar influences, make us feel that we are learning to acquire, in all the minor furroundings of domeftic life, beauty of form, as well as mere ufefulnefs— an influence which, as lifting the habitual tone of thought * Among which, the outlines to illuftrate “ The Idylls of the King” are beyond our praife, and worthy of the exquifite lines they enclofe. Meffirs. Winfor and Newton have alfo published a graceful “ In Memoriam” of the late Prince Confort. Meffrs.

Rowney and Son have juft iffued fome defigns of this defcription, containing a new feature very ufeful to thofe who are playing with Art. They confift of miniature and text ornamented with initial letters, furrounded by a border, all in outline Efficiently fhaded to ferve as a guide in putting in the colours, and the gold back-ground is printed, thus meeting the great want of tyros in the Art, who find fuch difficulty in laying on and burnifhing the gold leaf. The defigns are adapted from various MSS. of the 15th and 16th centuries, to illuftrate the Life of our Lord.—E d.

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above the level of mere direcSt material advan­ tage, cannot be overrated. And then fuch be­ ginnings lead to ftudy— ferious ftudy, firft, of the Art, and then of its hiftory— which hiftory is fo clofely connected with the hiftory of the books which it ferves to decorate, that it leads the ftudent into fome of thofe charming by-paths in the hiftory of literature itfelf, the exploration of which is fo full of pleafure as well as inftrudtion.

But the Art of illumination, as pradtifed by fome of its leading amateurs in the prefent day, is aiming at higher forms of decoration than Gothic fcrolls for fchool-rooms, or graceful trifles for drawing-room tables ; it is ambitioufly aiming at the reftoration of thofe mural illuminations which time and puritanical fanaticifm have erafed from the walls of our noble Parifli Churches and Cathedrals — illuminations which gave to them that polychrome fplendour and finifti which was fo eflential to the general effedt intended by their Gothic architects, and which their naked ftone walls, robbed of their purple, and gold, and quaint device, can give but a very faint idea. Succefsful reftorations of architectural colouring was firft, “ profeflionally,” achieved with real fuccefs in the Temple C hurch; and fince, in feveral other of our ecclefiaftical edifices, which remained ftill perfeCt in all but the rich original hues of their capitals and mouldings, and the quaint fcrolldevices and figure-fubjeCts which enriched the plain furfaces of their inner walls. At laft, a greater work than any previous one of this clafs, has been taken up, not by a ftill bolder profeffional artift, but by a diftinguiftied amateur.

M r. L ’Eftrange, of Hunftanton, in Norfolk, an amateur-illuminator of the higheft clafs, has, in fliort, undertaken, not a mere reftoration of the ancient work, but the decoration of the entire nave of Ely Cathedral, with a feries of archi­ tectural illuminations of entirely original defign, but ftriClly in the ftyle and feeling of real mediaeval works of a fimilar clafs and date. T he main defign of the ceiling, which is rapidly ap­ proaching completion, confifts of a Jeffe tree, the genealogy of Chrift, with gigantic figures of the prophets at the fides. T here are alfo large compofitions relative to the promife concerning the coming of the Mefliah, and a feries of heads framed in finely-defigned circles. T he whole of the work is being defigned and executed by the labour of love of Mr. L ’Eftrange and his friends, the chap­ ter being only at the coft of the materials and © = ---------------------

the fcaffolding. T he ftyle of the various details of ornamental defign is entirely founded on that of MSS. of the period— the defeCts and rudenefs, which occur in works of the period from a want of artiftic knowledge, being carefully avoided, as being the misfortune, rather than the intention of the mediaeval artift. T he figures are all drawn from life with anatomical correCfnefs, avoiding the palpable errors of artifts of that remote period, but at the fame time reproducing, as far as poflible, that naivete, or quaint fimplicity of feeling, which forms one of the chiefeft charms of early mediaeval art. T he whole work is progrefling in the moft fatisfaCiory manner ; Mr. L ’Eftrange and his friends being evidently fully mafters of the tafk they have undertaken.

T he fame enthufiaftic band of modern illumi­ nators have, in addition to the great work at Ely, undertaken the cc illumination” o f the new church in Baldwin’s Gardens (Gray’s Inn Road), the fomewhat later date of the ftyle of which — the 13th centuiy — will enable them to difplay their tafte and artiftic learning in the refinement of a ftyle which may be termed the claflic period of mediaeval art.

Among recent works on illumination, one gladly pafles over without comment a hoft of u M anuals,” &c. which have lately fprung up like mufhrooms of a hot-bed growth, and it might be added, with as little of the proper flavour, for they are, with few exceptions, almoft entirely deftitute of the qualities theyoughtto poflefs. N ot very long fince, however, a handfome volume—“ T he Art of Il­ luminating” — was iffued by the ever-enterprifin g houfe of Day & Son, which is likely to be much more ufeful. T he fpecimens of different periods, though fragmental, are extremely good, and have been feleded and executed by Mr. Tym m s, while the defcriptions, &c. are by M r. Digby W yatt.

Another work, which, from the nature of its plan, is neceflarily of a much higher clafs than the laft named, is in preparation by the fame enterprifing publifhers. It is a magnificent volume, entirely devoted to the Anglo-Hibernian and Carlovingian periods of illumination. This work will contain fome of the fineft fpecimens of the Art ever publifhed, and is the refult of the unceafins; labours of its author, Mr. J. O. W eftwood, during the laft fifteen years. It will, in its way, rival even the great work of Count Bayard, which is, in faCl, lefs comprehenfive, as being more con­ fined to works of the Carlovingian period.

------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------

'The Illuminators' Magazine.

47

Calendar for ^prtL —

O U RS of the BlefTed Virgin, Marie Addl.

MSS. 17,012 B. M. T his MS. is interefting, from its age and ftyle of art, and efpecially from the aflociations connecting it with the illultrious perfons who have at various times had it in their pofleflion. It appears to have been executed for Henry V II. during the period of reft and refufcitation of art, which followed the fanguinary contefts between the houfes of York and Lancafter, and in which Henry endeavoured to reftore and ftrengthen the wafted finews of the nation, and by vigorous and enlightened policy encouraged the influx of foreign artifts to guide and develope the capabilities of his people.

T his MS. is evidently the work of a Flemifh artift ; it is an oCtavo, containing 196 leaves, writ­ ten in a large clear character, and contains numer­ ous pictures and borders of the realiftic art of the 16th century. T he fact of the names of the Englifh faints in the Calendar being diftinguifhed by red ink, (hows the MS. to be either of Englifh workmanfhip or executed by order of an Englifh patron. T h e Calendar is ornamented, as in the fac-fimile of that for April, here given, by borders containing the ufual infignia of the month, and

H

—■

miniatures depicting the occupations and fports of the feafons. In the body of the MS. the favour­ ite fubjeCts of Englifh art are reprefented; at p. 26 b. we have the Martyrdom of Thomas a Becket, of which, however, the execution is poor and fpiritlefs compared with the dramatic nature of the fubjeCt. T he St. George and the Dragon, p. 30, b. is more carefully executed and happily conceived. Unfortunately, feveral of the minia­ tures of this MS. are much defaced. In feveral inftances they are diftinguifhed by a love of warm colour, contrafted with a profufe ufe of a ftriking green in the later pictures.

D r.

Waagen diftinguifhes four hands in the miniatures, and afcribes the MS. to a higher rank of art than its ornamentation, I think, deferves; but the faCt of its containing on a blank page the autographs of Henry V II. and his Queen, Elizabeth of Y ork, and of Henry V III. and Catharine Parr, with a later autograph, fuppofed to be that of Queen Mary, gives it a value exclufive of the ftyle o f art, of which the Britifh Mufeum poflefles many other richer fpecimens. It was purchafed by Sir Frederic Madden from the Rev. W . Mafkell, in 1847.

gitUrea M Castagiio.

A FLORENTINE LEGEND.

By

MISS PARDOE.

P art

II.

H E picture was completed, and excited the enthufiaftic admiration of the privileged few who were permitted to look upon it, in­ cluding Mafaccio,* of whom Andrea had been the favourite pupil; yet ftiil the artift difcovered

deficiencies which he urgently entreated time to fupply, until the conventual authorities found themfelves compelled to refill all further pleading for delay, and to appoint the day and hour of its final confecration, at which the venerable Arch­

* Mafaccio, known alfo as Thomas Guidi di San Giovanni, was born near Florence in 1401, and was one of the firft reformers of the art of painting, being acquainted with the fecret of forejhortening. His principal works may be feen in a Carmelite chapel

at Florence, and in that of St. Catherine in the church of St. Clement at Rome. The flneft among them are the group of Adam and Eve, and the Baptifm of St. Peter.

L

48

...

'The Illuminator s' Magazine.

bifliop of Pifa was to prefide in honour of his protege.

One conceflion was, however, made by the indulgent Abbefs, who could not deny the prayer of Andrea that he might be permitted to work upon it to the very moment of the arrival of Monfignore ; and, accordingly, the young artift Rood, palette and brufh in hand, occafionally deepening a (hade or broadening a light, but, for the moft part, gazing with an overfhadowed brow and a faddened eye, at the fair and graceful group by which he was furrounded. His cheek was pale, there was no fmile upon his lips, no flufh of confcious genius ; even his very voice was changed as he briefly replied to the queftions and comments of the fuperior. u You are fad, rna'eftro*,” fhe faid at length, as fhe faw his breaft heave with a long, ill-fupprefled figh ; “ and yet this will be to you — or I am no true prophet — a day of pride and triumph; while to us it muft be one of lading regret, as we fliall fee you no more. W e cannot fay rivederle, but we fliall often think of you, and include your name in our orifons as we kneel before this mafterpiece of your art. W e fhall hear, too, of your fuccefs beyond our walls ; and, refl: aflured, we fliall all fincerely fympathife in your juft and laudable exultation.”

T hen, turning towards the kneeling group befide her, fhe fuddenly continued, with a fhade of rebuke in her voice ; u Ifaura, why do you caft down your eyes at fo critical a moment as this ? Have you forgotten that the Signor defired you to keep them conftantly fixed upon his own, while thofe of your companions are upraifed to heaven ? ” T he fubmiflive girl lifted her tearful eyes to the face of Andrea, with a crimfon blufli which flufhed over cheek and brow, and which fcorched his very foul. “ Nay, I am not angry, filly one returned the Abbefs, as fhe witnefled an emotion of which fhe entirely mifinterpreted the caufe ; “ but you have hitherto been our friend’s beft fitter, and you muft not fail him to-day; while you, Andrea mio^ who have fo often beguiled the time by © —

........

=

relating to us paflages of your early life, cannot refufe to delight us once more by fome fimilar reminifcences.” “ Alas, madam------” commenced the foulftricken painter ; but his words were arrefted in the utterance by a cry of “ Monfignore ! M on­ fignore!” which refounded through the chapel as a lay-fifter appeared at the inner portal.

At this announcement the young girls fprang to their feet, while the Abbefs, alfo rifing, ex­ claimed, “ Monfignore is then arrived. L et us haften, my daughters, to receive him ;” and, followed by her fair young charges, (he fwept from the chapel, gathering her flowing robes about her.

One figure alone remained kneeling before the painter, with bent head and earth-bowed eyes, wordlefs, motionlefs, and almoft breathlefs. Ifaura had feen nothing — heard nothing; one fatal thought had abforbed her whole being — fhe was about to part from Andrea for ever !

Trembling with excitement and delight, the artift gazed upon her.

N ot a moving objeeft was to be feen, not a footftep could be heard, as he finally leant over her, and m urm ured; “ Ifaura, we are alone.” “ Alone ! ” echoed the young girl, gazing wildly about her, and preparing to depart in her turn. “ Yes, Ifaura,” faid her companion tenderly; “ for the firft, and it may alfo be for the laft time, we are alone. L et me, then, tell you that I love you — love you as you can never again be loved on this earth.”

Ifaura buried her face in her hands, and fank into the cufhioned chair which had juft been vacated by the Abbefs. “ Love you alike madly and hopeleflly;” purfued Andrea ; “ for you are, without doubt, both rich and noble, while I am a poor painter, peafantborn, and have not even a name fave that of my obfeure and fqualid birthplace. O h, were you only to be won by fame------ ” “ You are felf-deceived, Signor;” whifpered Ifaura, timidly; “ I am neither rich nor noble.” “ Ha ! then who are you ? Will not your £

'The Illuminators' Magazine. family defpife the humble artift whofe only wealth is centred in his eye and hand?” “ I have no family— no home fave the cloifter.” “ Tell me, at leaft, the name of your father ?” “ I never heard it.” “ T hen who placed you here, beneath this facred roof?” “ T he only friend that I poffefs on earth.” “ And his name is------ ” “ I dare not tell you.”

T h e artift reflected for a moment. “ W hy fhould I care to know ?” he afked himfelf; then, bending one knee before the blufliing girl, he faid aloud, “ Forgive me, Ifaura ?nia; I feek not to penetrate into your fecret; I only fue for your love ; and could you indeed be happy as my wife, my whole life fhall be devoted to the hope of ren­ dering your exiftence at once proud and blefted.” “ I have no pride ;” was the whifpered reply; “ vowed to religion, my only duty is humility.”

Vowed! V o w ed !” echoed Andrea impetuoufly ; “ and by whom ?” “ By my only guardian and protestor.” “ Buty^zz,— you yourfelf, Ifaura ? You have breathed no fuch vow? Only tell me th is !” gafped out the painter. “ N o :” faid the girl, with an upward glance, during which their eyes met ; “ I am yet too young; the Church would not acknowledge my vow.”

T h e artift crofted himfelf with a beaming look. “ It muft never be uttered by your lips ;” he murmured, as he took her hand and drew her gently towards him. “ T he Church already counts its hofts of angels, while I have only one, — my gentle and my beautiful Ifaura !” “ Andrea, this is facrilege ! ” exclaimed the affrighted girl. “ N ot fo, Bella e cara,— not fo” — faid her lover fondly and foothingly ; “ fee, we are here, at the very foot of the altar which has fanClified our love.

Does the bleffed Madonna look down angrily upon us ? N o, my beloved, it is, as you fee, with a kind and gracious fmile ; for well fhe knows that when you are mine own, I will, through your lovelinefs, fo multiply her divine

49

image, that her fhrine fhall be but another name for beauty and for grace. L et us kneel to her now and afk her benediction; nor need we fear that fhe will withhold it, for is fhe not the only perfeCt type of human love ? ” Blufliing, trembling, and filent, Ifaura fuffered the painter to approach the rails o f the altar, where they fank fide by fide upon their knees, and reciprocally breathed— not the vow which the young girl had looked to utter on that very fpot— but an ardent and impaflioned pledge, by which they bound themfelves each to the other.

And then they prayed— Ifaura for peace and par­ don, and the painter for the rapid advent of the blifsful hour which fliould make her his for ever.

So abforbed were the lovers in their feveral orifons, that they were unconfcious of any intrufion on their privacy, though the venerable Archbifhop and the reverend mother Degli Angeli, flood together at the open portal of the chapel, gazing with calm delight and deep edification at the fcene before them. Slowly and filently, after a moment’s paufe, they withdrew ; and as they reached the cloifter, the Abbefs faid in a tone of felf-gratulation,— “ Piety is very beautiful in the young, Monfignore, and Ifaura is one of the moft pious of my daughters. She is, in faCt, a little faint upon earth.” “ And A ndrearefponded the prelate, “ Andrea, who is expofed, as you muft be aware, to all the temptations of an enticing world, to all the allure­ ments of a high and laudable ambition, and to all the fnares of gratified vanity— look at him, my daughter — have I not reafon to be proud of my pupil and protege? Andrea is the very fon of my foul! ” “ He is deeply endeared to us all, Monfignore;” faid the Abbefs reverently; “ alike for your fake and for his own ; for did he not commence his worldly career by a miracle ? and did not that miracle fave the life of our revered prelate ?

Should he go through life as he has entered upon it, who fhall fay that he may not one day be canonized ? ” (To be continued.}

The Illuminators' Magazine.

S°

(Essay s on tlje a r t of illu m in atio n .

By N O EL

I V .— T

I

he

St a t e

of t h e

H U M PH REY S.

A rt

N m y laft E fla y I defcrib ed th e fty le w h ic h d e v e lo p e d itfe lf in th e n o r th - w e f t o f G e r ­

in t h e

T

enth

C

entury.

T h e diftincStive characfterift ics o f th is k in d o f illu m in a tio n a re , th a t th e m a g n ific e n t le tte rs w h ic h fo rm th e lea Wd in. Jg *fe aL tuU.re VU in 1V A AA th UAAeKz C aV4rlo v in AAX/V •AAkW

m a n y to w a rd s th e clofe o f th e S th c e n tu ry . I t has b e e n te rm e d th e u C a rlo v in g ia n fty le ,” as h a v in g its c e n tr e in A ix -la -C h a p e lle d u rin g th e reig n o f

g ian

th e E m p e r o r

C h a rle m a g n e

lia r c o m p o fitio n .

d e fc e n d a n ts.

W e h av e feen th a t its falhion e x ­

te x t w ith b ro ad d o u b le b a rs o f b u rn ifh e d g o ld ,

te n d e d to E n g la n d , th ro w in g in to th e fh ad e th e m o re in tric a te , and in fom e refpedls fu p erio r, A n g lo - H ib e r n ia n fchool, w h ic h , n e v e rth ele fs,

w ith in a n d a b o u t w h ic h is in te rw o v e n a c a n th u s ­ lik e foliage o f v a rio u s c o lo u rs .

T h e fpace b e ­

and his im m e d ia te

c o n tin u e d to p revail in th e n o rth o f E n g la n d and in p a r t o f W a le s , as late as th e n t h o r e v e n 12 th c e n tu rie s , th o u g h w ith m an y m o d ificatio n s.

I n G e r m a n y , a n d in d eed th ro u g h o u t all th e civ iliz e d p o rtio n s o f C o n tin e n ta l E u ro p e , th e C a r ­ lo v in g ian fty le , v a ry in g in fom e o f its details, b u t n o t lo fin g its g e n e ra l c h a ra c te r, w as pra& ifed by illu m in a to rs th ro u g h o u t th e 1 0 th , and p a rt o f th e 11 th c e n tu rie s .

I n E n g la n d , h o w e v e r, a n e w ftyle arofe to w a rd s th e m id d le o f th e 10 th c e n tu ry , o f v e ry d iftin ft c h a ra c te r , w h ic h feem s to h av e had its c e n tre a t W in c h e f te r , a c ity c e le b ra te d for th e fp len d o u r o f its relig io u s h o u fes. S om e a n tiq u a rie s have

fty le

ced e

th e ir

p re c e d e n c e

in

th e n e w

E n g lifh ftyle to a m afliv e f ra m e w o rk , o f p e c u T h i s fra m e w o rk e m b ra c e s th e

tw e e n th e b a rs is filled , in th e in te r f a c e s o f th e foliage, w ith a ric h g ro u n d c o l o u r ; b u t th e foliage, w h ic h e x te n d s b e y o n d th e b a rs , d efines itfe lf fh a rp ly

upon

th e p a le

v e llu m .

At

th e c o rn e rs , and in th e c e n tr e s o f th e fides a n d to p , a d d itio n al b a n d s o f go ld fo rm th e m fe lv e s in to c irc le s, o r o th e r fo rm s , w h ic h a re b o u n d to th e fquare fram e o f d o u b le b a rs b y th e in te rla c in g o f th e foliage, w h ic h is th u s w r o u g h t in to v e ry effectiv e d e v ic e s, o fte n difp lay in g g re a t g ra n d e u r o f ftyle in th e ir c o m p o fitio n .

O c c a fio n a lly th e c ircles a t th e to p o r fides a re filled w ith fm all p o r­ tra its o f th e E v a n g e lifts , b u t foliage w o r k is m o re com m on.

T h e c a p ita l le tte r s , as I h a v e fta te d a b o v e , b e c o m e in th is fty le q u ite a feco n d ary

fo u g h t to give th e c re d it o f its in v e n tio n to D u n ­ fta n , w h o , b o rn in 9 2 4 , w o u ld , to w a rd s th e

th e y a re ftill h a n d fo m e , w h ile e n tire ly fu b o rd in a te to th e m afliv e a n d profufe

m iddle o f th e c e n tu r y , have b e e n o f an age to d e v o te his w e ll-k n o w n g e n e ra l (kill in th e a rt to th e fpecial p u rp o fe o f illu m in a tin g copies o f

ric h n e fs o f th e fra m e o r b o rd e r.

th e G o fp e ls, w h e n he w as d riv e n from th e c o u rt o f A th e lfta n by a c a b a l, and fec u re d a te m p o ra ry r e fu s e in th e feclufion o f th e c lo ifte r.

fe a tu re , th o u g h

T h a t this g ra n d a n d p e c u lia r fty le o f illu m in a ­ tio n co u ld n o t h a v e b e e n th e in v e n tio n o f D u n f ta n is fu rth e r p ro v e d , by th e facft th a t w o rk in th e fam e ftyle e x ifted b e fo re his tim e.

F o r in fta n c e ,

B u t he c a n , u n d e r any c irc u m fta n c e s , o n ly be c o n fid e re d

th e c ro z ie r o f A rc h b ifh o p A ta ld u s , th e e n a m e l

as an im p ro v e r o f th e p e c u lia r ftyle in q u e ftio n , as it h ad o rig in a te d b e fo re th a t p e rio d , as w ill

tio n , w as b u rie d w ith him in 9 3 3 a . d . in th e C a th e d ra l of S e n s, w h e n D u n f ta n w as o n ly elev en

be

y e a rs o f a g e ,

fh o w n

ex am p l js .

in th e

d e fc rip tio n

o f th e follow ing

w o r k o f w h ic h is in th e fam e ftyle o f o rn a m e n ta ­

w o rk m a n fh ip .

and

w a s,

no

d o u b t, o f E n g lifh

'The Illuminators' Magazine.

51

T he moft magnificent exifting fpecimen of the courfe, the faults incidental to the epoch), leading Englilh ftyle of illumination in the 10th Chrift defcending to judge the world, accom­ century is, undoubtedly, the Benedidtional of St. panied by a hoft of angels bearing the inftru/Ethelwold, now in the pofleflion of the Duke of Devonfhire. It was written by the fcribe Godeman, who was, in all probability, the illuminator alfo ; and his work muft have been executed between the years 963 and 984 A.D. as fliown by the metrical dedication to TEthelwold, as Bifliop of W inchefter, written in letters of gold.

It muft, therefore, have been executed after his becoming Bifliop in 963, and before his death in 984.

T h at the caligrapher Godeman, if he defigned and executed the borders and miniatures in the magnificent volume under defcription, muft have been one of the greateft artifts of his time, there can be little doubt; for there is a breadth and grandeur, both in the ornamentation and in the miniatures, which is not approached by any other exifting work of the period.

A portion of one of the borders, fhown in w ['I® 0°//l / aj I outline at Fig.i , will give fome idea of the free­ dom and largenefs of flryle with which the foliage ° \V \ [LLy II sjk and bar-work is compofed; and the volume con­ IO O tains many other borders of at leaft equal, if not fuperior, defign, both in richnefs and ex­ cellence of compofition. T he management of the ornament is not only more rich, but in­ finitely more varied in its character in this volume than in any other of the ftyle that I have ever feen. In fome inftances angels, in­ terwoven with the foliage, bend down from the corners; in others, the corners are formed of the fimple meeting of the bars of gold, the ments of His paflion. Many others are nearly whole richnefs of the compofition being thrown as good, and all exceedingly interefting; but my into the centres of the tops, fides, and bafe. bufinefs is, at prefent, with the ornamentations Some of thefe borders form frames to very rather than with the pictures. grandly-defigned miniatures; among which may (T o be continued.) be named as efpecially fine (excluding, of

M

The Illuminators' Magazine.

Tlje Coloureti Becorattons of tin <£5rcat of 1862.

H E conftruction of a vaft, covered area, fuited to fuch a purpofe as that of a great international exhibition, is of itfelf a talk calcu­ lated to tax to the utmoft the (kill and ingenuity of the architect and engineer. T he great effentials— fpace, light, ftrength, and a ftritly eco­ nomical principle of ftructure — are effentially difficult to combine fuccefsfully, even without regard to ornamental features either in form or colour. But when to this is fuperadded the neceffity of concealing by judicious decoration the fkeleton-like nakednefs neceffarily confequent on the primal conditions of the mode of ftructure, it muft be allowed that the difficulty of attaining entire fuccefs in the completed building is greatly increafed ; efpecially when it is taken into confideration that the decorations in queftion muft be produced at fuch a rate of coft as would, under ordinary circumftances, appear to render any decoration at all impoffible. How far thefe difficulties have been met and overcome in the decorations of the prefent building, we have now a fair opportunity of judging, as they are rapidly approaching completion.

I believe it is pretty generally allowed that the exterior of the building is, as to architectural effect, as unfuccefsful as poffible. W hat, for inftance, to allude only to a fingle feature, could be found more ftrikingly illuftrative of utter poverty of invention than the circular window over the principal entrance ? Its utter wretchednefs of defign and painful meannefs of character muft ftrike unpleafantly even upon the moft un­

for tyt

critical eye; but what would the pitilefs A. W .

Pugin have had to fay, fuppofing he were ftill at work at his u Contrails,” and on the look-out for an example of the u new fquare ftyle” calcu­ lated to fet by the fide of one of the noble circular windows defigned by the Gothic architects of the 14th or 15th century? W ith what glee would he have pounced upon the prefent example, as proving the lamentable inferiority of the decora­ tive features of modern architecture, when com­ pared with that of various mediaeval periods ! T h e annexed engraving will ferve to fhow that thefe

T

I

a failure fhould e x it, in fo prominent a pofition, is to be much regretted, not only on account of the biting farcafms which, as fo confpicuous an object, this wretched piece of u defign” will have to bear the brunt of from the hofts of foreign critics who will be but too ready to depreciate, but alfo as affording fuch a wretched example of window architectural tracery as practifed in England in

1

------------

Plate XIX.

> . ftani.lu n a r fetibs, F •& Oxford Cenu (£ubs.

X (f. Balm S.imlian.

W. Bon.betoiT(faster. J u ll Woon.2b.57in.B.W.,F' ya. yues.before (faster. (fast. XatoXb eqins.

T eft. ©eb. before (fast. ’ y Sb. (rlnusJ’efoiT (Bast. Baunbu ©huts.

J_ X GooO jtribau , 1 y.

S. feist. ©ven.^t.A lpb.Abp. tbyil. ft f e V f c r w k. £u. (Hies. iu (faster iveek. ( O t.4 k o iQ c B . clIa

J . ’ & Wark

& T-

'

(lam X bey. Bis.Aliev b.)843.

a#, fa s te r

B. ($, Orf. (term begins.

Loiid.au. D ay A SQU,Lith5? to the Que*

PLATE,XX

Day Si Son, LdlhTS to the Queen,

'The Illuminators' Magazine. the 19th century. Y et fo long as that truly Britifli inftitution— the “ jo b ” — is allowed to prevail, we (hall have continued examples of art of this kind, where a wholefome, open competition might have refulted in fomething very different.

It is not, however, with the external afpedts of the building that we have to do in the prefent inftance : we will therefore enter the building at once by the doorway beneath this Angular piece of modern art. T he interior of the dome, under which the vifitor immediately finds himfelf, is ftill fo choked up with maffes of fcaffolding that its coloured decorations cannot yet be feen in fuch a manner as to enable a fpedfator to judge of their effedt. In the great roofed galleries to the right and left, however, all is in a fufficient ftate of forwardnefs to difplay the full effedt of Mr. Crace’s fyftem of colouring, both in the ground tones and the fuperadded details ; and here we have to reaffert the advantages of a competitive experiment.

Many may have formed in their minds other theories of colour and coloured ornament than thofe developed by Mr. Grace, but of their clafs and kind they muff be allowed to be good; and, after their manner, well adapted to the vaft fpace to be covered,— the plan of coloured ornament­ ation adopted, combining (in the main galleries) a confiderable amount of richnefs of detail with great fimplicity of general effect, is yet entirely free from monotony.

T he coloured ornaments of the ceilings of great mediaeval ftrudtures, where they have been fortu­ nately preferved, have evidently been ffudied by Mr. Crace to good purpofe; and not only have peculiar colours, and peculiar intenfities of colour, been adopted, in qonfequence of the fatisfadtory effedt they have been found to produce in ancient examples, but, what is ftill more important, the fcale of the ornaments themfelves muft have been well confidered in a feries of ftudies among the de­ tails of the fame examples, or others of analogous character. T he fize of the ornaments in works of this clafs is of the greateft importance; if too large, they have the effedt of contradling the fpace, to which they are rather intended to impart fize, through the medium of intricacy of effedt;

©

. . .

53

and if too fmall, the ornaments themfelves become indiftindlr, and ferve rather to confufe and deftroy the effedt of thofe features whofe limits, purpofes, and forms, they are intended to mark out with charadteriftic definition, while heightening and enriching their general effedt. Acknowledging that the fcale of the painted ornaments is in the prefent inftance felicitous, and that the relative proportions of plain furface and ornamental fur­ face are fo diftributed as to fecure great repofe of general effedt, combined with confiderable rich­ nefs, we may proceed to examine the details of colour and ornament by means of which this, on the whole, fatisfadfory effedl has been produced.

In the main galleries, which may for conveni­ ence be defignated the nave and tranfepts, the roof is not of glafs, as in other parts of the build­ ing, but folid; and the material of which it is compofed ferves as an excellent field for the difplay of the fyftem of colouring which has been adopted. This roof is fupported by lightly conftrudted arches occurring at intervals, as Ihown in the diagram on next page, which arches fpring from iron columns, the capitals of which are enriched with gilding. Fig. I in the annexed Plate will convey a tolerably complete idea o f the ftrudture and decorations of one of the arches in queftion, as it fprings from the column, fliowing the manner in which it is ftrengthened by the crofs-ties which fill the angle that forms itfelf between its lower portion and the roof. N o. 2 Ihows the top of the arch, with the angle above it fimilarly filled with crofs-ties, No. 3, which, like thofe at its fpringing, become more or lefs orna­ mental on account of the pleafing effedt of in­ tricacy which they produce, and alfo from their decorative treatment at the hands of the colourer.

It will be feen that the fweep of the arch is not continuous, but divided into a certain number of ftraight fegments, which give it fomewhat the afpedt of half of a vaft duodecagon ; or, at all events reducing it to a form which has more crifpnefs, and feems to convey, at the fame time, the idea of greater vaftnefs, than would refult from the unbroken fweep of a pure femicircle, the even line of which could be fo much more rapidly fol-

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lowed by the eye. T he fegments of this arch are coloured, alternately, blue and red ; the ground colour being pleafingly broken up by white ornaments, heightened by a fparing intro­ duction of gold touching, and the filling-in of certain inclofed fpaces with a rich chocolate tone, as fhown in the large coloured diagram, No. 4. T he nether furfaces of thefe duodecagon arches, which become confpicuous from below, are enriched with a railed rib of chocolate colour along the centre, dividing a feries of alternate broad ftripes of olive and white, bordered with gold, which produces an excellent effect, and is doubtlefs founded on fome good mediaeval ori­ ginal. Among examples of that fimple kind of ornament on the under fide of beams and arches in mediaeval buildings, a church at Genoa, and the rafters of an old ceiling at Venice, occur to me as the poflible models of the prefent fea­ ture. T he coloured diagram, No. 8, will fliow the effect better than defcription. In the top fegment of the arch the ornaments are replaced by the name of a great manufacturing town, as Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchefter, &c. in the Englifh gallery, as fhown at No. 2 in the coloured plate; the names of foreign towns appearing in thofe parts of the building devoted to foreign wares. Thefe names appear alternately on red and blue grounds. T he “ tie” work in the angles is of a warm tone of ochre, and height­ ened with a central line of blue or red ; which lines are enriched at their interfeCtions with a fmall rofette of white, having a gold centre, as fhown at No. 3. T he portion of jutting cornice, above the capital of the column (from which the arch fprings), is of a warm though rather pale olive tone, the upper moulding being gilt. T he capitals are alternately red and blue, highly en­ riched with gold; the one fhown in plate, No. 5, being a blue one. T he continuation of the cor­ nice extending between the columns is of the fame pale olive as the portion over the capitals, as fhown at figure 9. T he fhafts of the columns are alfo olive, but ftriped, as fhown, with ochre ; the combination producing a foft and warm effeCt, which is very agreeable. T he centre of the fhaft

of the column is ftrengthened with an octagonal band and mouldings ; the oCtagonal band being either blue or red, heightened with gold, the mould­ ings being ochre, as fhown in the coloured plate at No. 6. T h e bafe of the column is fhown at No. 7.

T he large portions of roof between the arched fupports, which occur at regular inter­ vals, forming fpaces fuch as thofe marked 1, 2, 3, on the annexed diagram, are of a foft pearly-

grey tone, the flight lateral rafters being ochre, and deriving an appearance of ffrength and greater boldnefs of character from a fmall ftrongly marked geometric pattern in deep cho­ colate, which runs along their whole length; the grey ground is relieved from monotony by the introduction of a fimple lineal diaper, in (which appears at a diftance to be) a ftronger grey. T he effeCt of this colouring of the ceiling and lateral rafters is fhown at N o. 10 in the coloured plate. There it will be feen, too, that the mid-rib, or central rafter, is chequered in a manner to correfpond in effeCt with the under­ furface of the great arch, though the pattern is not exadly the fame. On each fide is a moulding of fubdued pink, which forms a fharp and pleafant contraft to the annexed bordering of fcallops, con­ taining a fmall white rofette on an olive ground; the fcallops being bordered with deep chocolate.

W e have next to notice one of the chief and moft effective features in the coloured decorations of the roof, namely, the deep chocolate lines rifing from the cornice to the centre of the roof, which branch out into coiled branchwork at intervals, producing an effeCt fimilar to that of attached

The Illuminators' Magazine.

George Julius Ckfottu HE “ immortal Clovio” of Dibdin, if not the greatefl: miniature-painter and illumi­ nator of his time, is, at any rate, one of the two or three great men who, devoting their time and talents to this efpecial branch of art, have fired a lufire upon the 15th and 16th centuries. If the monarch of the firfi: day omits his name when he recounts in a kind of bibliographical rapture the names of the two Dei Libri, Francefco and Girolamo the Veronefe, Giotto, Cimabue, Oderigi, Silveftro, and Cybo, the monk of the Golden Iflands, who had diftinguifhed themfelves by their works in connexion with the adornment of Church miflals and books of de­ votion, it is only that he may the more pointedly repair the omiffion when he fpeaks of him after­ wards by himfelf. T he notices we poflefs of this eminent man are, of neceffity, few and fhort; as ufual, the records of a life of eighty years may be eafily contained in a few lines of p rin t; but we have very full accounts of his w orks; and it may be deemed not unfuitable to the fcope of a Magazine like the prefent, to collect into one article fuch notices of himfelf and of his principal works, as are within our reach.

George Julius Clovio, known afterwards among painters, as was cuftomary at the time, by the firname of Macedo, derived from circumftances conneded with the origin of his family, was, as his name indicates, of Slavonic defcent.

He was born in the town of Grifone, in the diocefe of Mancerucis, in Croatia, in T498. His boyhood was ftudious, and when, defirous of im­ proving his natural advantages, and efpecially the talent for art, which he manifefted, he came to Italy in his eighteenth year, and attached himfelf to the fervice of Marino, Cardinal Grimani ; his progrefs during the three years which he devoted to ftudy was fo rapid as to excite the aftonilhment and admiration of his teachers. It was during this period that his efpecial talent for the

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delineation of minute objeds revealed itfelf. He was employed to execute fome defigns for medals for the Cardinal ; and his drawings for this purpofe, in pen and ink, are remarkable for the amount of minute detail, and for the extreme delicacy of their finifli.

This piece of work, in fad , determined his future career. His decifion thenceforth to de­ vote himfelf to miniature-painting was confirmed by many of his friends, and among others, by Giulio Romano, from whom he learned to ufe tints prepared with gum and tempera. It mutt have been at this period, alfo, that he enjoyed the advantage of the inftrudions of Girolamo dei Libri, perhaps the firfl of miniature-painters, with the exception of Clovio himfelf.

One of his firfi: works in his new branch of art was a copy of a Madonna from a book of devotions, remarkable alfo as one of the firfi: works engraved by Albert *Durer.

T he Madonna is further noticeable as having introduced him to the notice of King Louis of Hungary, whom he accompanied to Hungary, and for whom his next works were executed.

T he death of the king, however, and the fubfequent troubles in the kingdom, compelled the return of Clovio to Rome, where he entered into the fervice of Cardinal Campeggio, the elder.

Troubles and difficulties were not, however, con­ fined to Hungary: in 1527 Rome was facked by the Spaniards, and Clovio was among the prifoners taken on that occafion.

It fliould feem as if his captivity was rendered unneceflarily oppreffive by the condud of his captors; at any rate, the old chronicles of his life record that he was during this time in fuch evil cafe, that he made a vow, ihould he efcape this mifery, that * This ftatement.is made by Vafari, and after him by Nagler in his Dictionary of Painters, Art. Clovio. It is, however, not undifputed. The lateft refearches have not found any evidence of engravings of Albert Durer after Clovio’s paintings.

from a Miniature in the Possession oftheHon .R.Curzon.

PORTRAIT OF GEORGE JU LIU S CLOVIO.

Day & Hun Lithâ&#x20AC;? to the Queen, London W C

Plate XXI

The Illuminators' Magazine. he would become a monk. He did efcape — how we are not informed ; and in fulfilment of his vow, aflumed the monaftic habit in the monaftery of San Ruffino in Mantua, being known among monks, by his fecond baptifmal name, as Brother Giulio (which name alone he appears to have retained when he again entered the world). As a fpecial indulgence he was permitted from time to time to work at his a r t ; but the works he executed during this period are unknown to fame, being probably choral and Church-fervice books for the ufe of the monaftery. T w o, how­ ever, of his pictures muft be excepted; we have records of a picture of Chrift appearing to Mary Magdalene in the Garden, and of a copy of the W om an taken in Adultery, from a picture of Titian. Shortly after the completion of this laft picture he had the misfortune, in one of the journeys to which his monaftic duties obliged him, to break his leg, and was removed for furgical care and attendance to the monaftery of Candiano. T he furgical treatment feems to have been bad, and the monkifh nurfing at leaft as unfatisfaclory. Cardinal Grimani, his early patron, heard of his misfortune, and by his in­ fluence at Rome procured permiflion for Clovio once more to enter his fervice. He threw afide the monaftic habit, accompanied the Cardinal to Perugia, where he was legate, received there all the attention which his condition required, and executed for him feveral works ; confpicuous among which are,— an Office of O ur Lady, with four illuminations (A .) ; an Epiftolary (or, more corre&ly, a Commentary on the Epiftles of Paul), with three from the life of St. Paul, one of which was afterwards fent into Spain (B.) ; a pieta and a crucifix. From Perugia he again came to Rome, where he entered into the fervice of Cardinal Alexander Farnefe, in which he re­ mained till his death, which took place in the year 1587, in the eightieth year of his age.

Before proceeding to fpeak of the numerous and fplendid works which this artift executed for Cardinal Farnefe, and for other patrons of art while in his fervice, we muft firft notice two works which he painted for King Louis of Hun-

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gary. One was a Judgment of Paris, of which the beauty and delicacy of painting were highly fpoken o f ; the other, a Death of Lucretia, ex­ ecuted to order, and faid to have been an equally magnificent work.

For Cardinal Farnefe he executed an immenfe number of works, of which we may mention a picture of the Madonna and Child, with Pope Paul III. kneeling before her, which was fent as a prefent to Charles II. of Spain ; a Madonna and Child, a St. Elizabeth, a little St. John, and a John Baptift in the Defert ; a painting of Da­ vid and Goliah, given to Margaret of Parma, who afterwards caufed the artift to execute for her a painting of Judith with the Head of Holofernes.

Befides thefe works he alfo painted a picture with figures, and a Madonna and Child for the Cardinal of T re n t; a Crucifix, with Mary Mag­ dalene at the foot of it, now preferved in the Directory of the Uffizj at Florence (in the corner, “ Jul. Macedo fee. 1553” ), for D uke Cofmo dei M edici; a painting of St. George killing the D ra­ gon, fent by Cardinal Farnefe to the Emperor Maximilian ; and an illuminated Mifial, in which are fpecially fpoken of as worthy of notice, a painting of Chrift inftruefting the Apoftles, and a Laft Judgment. (C.) His great work during this period of his life is, however, the illuminations and miniatures to an Office of the Madonna, written by Monterchi.

This appears to have been really a miracle of art, every portion of it was finifhed with the utmoft care ; and fome idea of the minutenefs of detail may be derived from the faft, that its execution occupied the artift nine years. T his, like moft of the other works of the artift, only exifts in a very imperfeft form, and Vafari’s defcription of it may therefore be fairly given here.

T he feries is divided into twenty-fix fmall ftories, arranged in pairs ; each picture, or each pair of pictures, furrounded with a delicate bor­ der of figures or fanciful ornaments, in harmony with the fubjedt reprefented. T h e firft pair, for M atins, reprefents on the one fide the Angel of the Annunciation, the border being compofed of children of wonderful beauty, and on the other

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Ifaiah addreffing King Ahaz. T he fecond, for Lauds, the Vifitation, and Judice and Peace embracing one another. T he third, for Primes, the Nativity, and Adam and Eve in Paradife ; the frame being compofed of figures, nude and draped, and of various kinds of animals. T he fourth, for the horary office called Ier%a, the fhepherds with the angels appearing to them, and the Tiburtine Sybil fhowing to the Emperor Octavian the appearance of the Virgin and Child in heaven ; among the ornaments of the frame­ work of this pidure are the heads of Alexander the Great and Cardinal Alexander Farnefe. T he fifth , for the Sefta, the Circumcifion of Chrift (in which are introduced portraits of Pope Paul I I I ., as Simeon, and of Mariana and Septimia, gentlewomen of Rome diftinguifhed for their beauty), and the Baptifm of Chrift by John the Baptift. T he fix th , for Nones, the Adoration of the Magi, and the vifit of the Oueen of Sheba to Solomon ; both in a framework, at the foot of which is reprefented the fefta of Teftaccio, the figures being of the fize of ants, yet perfed in form, expreffion, and colouring: the various liveries given by Cardinal Farnefe to his people are clearly diftinguifliable.

(This plate was among thofe preferved in the Mufeo Borbonico at N aples; it was, however, taken away by the ex-Oueen at the retreat from Naples to Gaeta, and is now in the pofleffion of the ex-royal family at Rome.) T he fevent!, for Jffpers, the flight into Egypt, and the fubmerfion of Pharaoh and his hoft in the Red Sea. T h e eighth, for Complines, the Coronation of the Virgin in hea­ ven with a multitude of angels, and the Corona­ tion of Efther by King Ahafuerus. For the mafs of the Madonna, we have a framework painted to reprefent cameos, containing Gabriel announcing the word to the M adonna: the pic­ tures being the Madonna and Child, and God the Father creating the Heavens and the Earth.

Oppofite the Penitential Pfalms is a reprefentation of the battle in which Uriah the Hittite was expofed to death, and of King David in his peni­ tence. [Q u. A duplicate of this pidure in the Office of the Madonna for Cardinal Grimani.J

“ But let him,” fays Vafari, “ who has a mind to be utterly amazed, caft an eye on the Litanies, where the artift has minutely interwoven the letters which form the names of faints ; and in the margin above is the Moft Holy Trinity in heaven, furrounded by innumerable angels, to­ gether with whom are the apoftles and faints.

Oppofite to this is the Madonna, alfo in heaven, with the holy virgins ; and in the margin be­ neath is the proceffion, with which Rome per­ forms the folemnity of the Corpus Chrifti. Here we have the various officials bearing torches, with the Bifhops, the Cardinals, and the Holy Sacra­ ment carried by the Pope, who is followed by the remainder of the court and the guard of lancers . finally, there is the Caftle of Sr. Angelo, whence they are firing falutes ; the whole being a thing well calculated to aftound and awaken the admi­ ration of even the moft acute intelled.”

At the Office for the Dead, we have Death tri­ umphing over the kingdoms of the Earth, and oppofite to this pidure the Refurredion of L a­ zarus. At the Office of the Crucifixion, Chrift on the Crofs, and oppofite, Mofes lifting up the Brazen Serpent. At the Office of the Holy Ghoft, the Defcent of the Spirit upon the Apoftles, and the Building of the T ow er of Babel. Such is a flight outline of this magnificent work. Even from this fketch we can underftand how Vafari finds it difficult to exprefs in any terms his admi­ ration of its beauty. He fays “ that the variety of the ornaments, the fanciful arrangement of the draperies, the corred attitudes of the figures, both nude and draped, the beauty of the details, the perfpedive and the colouring, tend to make the fpedator feel that there is as much divine as human in it, and that fuel) a work could hardly have been produced out of Paradife.” He fays alfo, “ that in the order of its compofition, the richnefs and variety of the veftments, and the cond u d of the whole work, Don Giulio has furpafled all artifts, both ancient and modern, and has proved himfelf the Michael Angelo in little of the day.”

(Tobe continued.}

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Cljc T t of SFHuintnating L E S S O N IV. 3

HIS leffon is a continuation of my third (No. IV . of The Amateur Illuminators' Magazine), in which the fubjeCt of colouring was treated as applicable to the example there given. I now give the inftruCtions requifite to attain to a more free and independent ufe of the illuminating colours. T he chromo-lithographs in this and former numbers of the Magazine, efpecially the Calendars for January and February (N o. IV .), will furnilh excellent examples for colouring; they are copied from a MS. of the Flemifh fchool, remarkable for its changeful ftyle of colouring: other examples of various fchools will be given hereafter. In my former leffons minute directions have been given for ufing the exaCt colours employed in the original drawing.

T his is to obviate in fome degree the difficulty felt by the beginner in the ftudy to imitate exaCtly the colouring of any example to be copied ; conftant praCtice, and fome knowledge of the proper­ ties of the colours, and the various combinations of which they are capable, can alone overcome

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this difficulty.

Before entering upon this fubjeCt, however, there are a few practical points to be attended to.

In illumination there are two kinds of colours ufed—body colours and tranfparent colours. T he firft are moft in requeft ; all ground colours are laid on in this form, but it is feldom that the finilhed illumination comprifes only this form of Tranfparent colours are ufed for colouring. glazing or ftriking a bright tint over the ground colour, and fometimes for flat-tinting ; broken hues are obtained by mixing the pure colours on the palette, and are ufed in backgrounds and (hading.

Firft, in age and praCtice, we will commence with painting in flat tints, in which the colours are neither Ihaded nor blended together in any way.

T he perfection of this ftyle of painting, or furface

decoration, confifts in the harmonious arrange­ ment of the colours, and the elegance and correCtnefs of the outlines. T here are two methods of obtaining a perfectly flat tint. Firft, the required fhade is gradually walked in, in tranfparent colours; the colour in this inftance mutt be diluted with a confiderable quantity of water, and laid on in fucceffive waflhes, giving each one time to dry before another is laid over it. Another method is to lay on the right depth of tone at once; this requires much (kill to obtain a perfectly flat, wavelefs tint. M oft' illuminators begin, even with body colours, by laying on a thin colour, and over it a fecond coat. T h e brulh muft be kept fully charged with the colour, and the paffes made from the left to the right, com­ mencing at the top of the work, and letting the colour flow downwards. T h e edges of the bands in which the colour muft be applied muft imperceptibly flow into each other, producing an uniform flat t in t; on which the delicate braiding and filagree work, fo effective in me­ diaeval illumination, may be executed in white or gold. In fome MSS. we fee the background to a miniature laid on in a flat tint, and ftudded with gold ftars or dots. Some gorgeous pages have the text written on varioufly-coloured bars — blue, green, and vermilion— ftudded with gold or filver dots. Again, in diapered groundings a flat tint effectively contrails with a burnilhed gold compartment (fee No. IV . of The Amateur Illu­ minators' Magazine). Another feature in back­ grounds is the mixing the colour with white, which gives a bloom to it not otherwife attainable.

In painting in chiaro' fcuro the procefs is fomewhat fimilar. Firft lay on the ground in body­ colour flat, and ftrike over it the fhade you with to produce in pure tranfparent colour, the lights in opaque colour. Many of thofe called tranfo

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parent or glazing colours may be ufed as body colours, by laying them on very thick, or mixing with body white. Again, body colours may be ufed for glazing by fcumbling a thin colour over the ground. T he ufe and capabilities of the co­ lours, both body and tranfparent, will become familiar with pra&ice, but tafte and experience muff guide the brufh, and they will not fail to produce many beautiful effects, not lefs charming becaufe contrary to all received formula. A knowledge of the harmony and fimultaneous contraft of colour will enable you to obtain brilliant tints moft effectively, by employing the harmonifing colour for the ground, and ftriking over it that which gives the tone to the whole.

T hus to get a brilliant fcarlet, lay on an orange ground, and (hade in the low lights with ver­ milion, in the high lights with white. T he chief charadteriftics of mediaeval illumination are the wonderfully varied character of the defign, and the vividnefs of the colours ; which laft is owing as much to the knowledge poffeffed by the illuminator of the harmony of colours as to the fuperior method of preparing them. A table of the colours, and their harmonies and contrafts, will, I think, be ufeful, and fhall be given in our next number ; but the illuminator muft exercife a natural tafte, and practice of filling up outlines with the colours which that tafte approves of in juxtapofition. I do not recommend buying par­ tially-coloured outlines; nothing is gained by it, and much is loft in the cultivation of tafte.

W hen the colours for a defign are decided upon, if an arabefque, the media or dividing colours muft be next determined upon ; for the

main colours may contraft well, yet their effedf be very much impaired by clofe juxtapofition.

T o avoid this, it fhould be remembered that the beft boundary lines, or filets, are formed of black, white, or gold ; both black and gold, or black and white, may be ufed. For grounds many colours may be ufed; but gold is fuitable in moft cafes, and may be beautifully varied by diapering with the ivory tracing point, or with filagree in umber.

Three preparations of illuminating colours and powder. have been enumerated— cake, Thefe have each their advocates among artifts : the powder form is the laft invented, and is highly recommended ; but the moift form is moft fre­ quently ufed, and a few cake colours are indifipenfable for ftriking a brilliant tint. T h e ancient artifts ufed powder colours mixed with white of egg ; this or gum-water fixes the fugitive colours, which are chrome yellows of various fhades, fcarlet, red lead, carmine, and crimfon lake.

O f the materials ufed in illuminating, in addi­ tion to thofe alluded to in the courfe of thefe leffons, the following is the fum. Vellum, which is a coftly and troublefome material to work upon, can now be bought at Meffrs. Barnard’s, ready made up into block books, and prepared for ufe, thus faving the trouble of preparation and ftretching to the illuminator. It is well, how­ ever, to have ox-gall at hand, to remove any greafinefs that may impede the flow of the colours, and pumice-ftone to fmooth the furface.

Shell-aluminium and fhell-platina are ufeful fubftitutes for filver in illuminating, lefs coftly and more permanent.

D ear work-a-day London is awaking from the ftupor of her long wintry night, broken by one convulfive fob for her ‘ blamelefs’ prince,—

T he metropolitan flumbers have been haunted by the fpe&res of roads and bridges, and the rattle and glare of the engine and train fhooting through her very bowels, to awake to the fight of ftreets in a hopelefs hate of muddy chaos, encumbered with fhafts leading

“ The fhadow of 'wboje lofs moved like eclipfe, Darkening the world.”

‘The Illuminators’ Magazine. to unfecn depths of imaginary horror — monftrous credlions for advertifing placards. In the pale light of this early fpring-time great preparations are afoot to remove all thefe obftrudlions, and give to the rcfpedlable bourgeoijle a feftival appearance, to inaugurate a fummcrlong Carnival. The fountains at Charing Crofs are un­ dergoing alterations to make them more impofing,— pray we for a clear atmofphcre in which they may difplay their aquatic attractions, and not look, as in this foggy weather, like boiling Geyfers benevolently upfprung to warm the fhivering fog-belated paflengers. The ftatue of Dr. Jenner is removed from its warlike companions to repofe in Kenfington Gardens. Thefe are fteps in the right direction, towards improving fome of the unfightly decorations of the City; but when will anything be done towards the artiftic decoration of our metro­ polis ? Art-education is progreffing with rapid ftrides, and its influence is fliown in many ways but this one eflential form. The opportunity afforded by the drinking-fountain movement was loft, in a great meafure; true, we have feveral pretty architectural erections, but the graceful and flmpF beauty of the fountain is reprefented by water-taps. How the tafte of the day will be evinced in the various memorials to the late Prince Confort, remains to be feen; one form ad­ mirably adapted from its folidity and appropriatenefs for our climate — that of the Obelifk— has been decided upon by Her Majefty in anfwer to the petition of the Committee. But the works of her late hufband are likely to form his moft appropriate and enduring memorial, efpecially the Mufeum and Schools of Art at South Kenflngton, which were the efpecial objects of his care and regard. They are models for many fimilar inftitutions in this country and on the continent. Lail month a meeting was held at Iflington, with a view of forming a fimilar mufeum of art, to be called the North London Gallery and Schools of Art. At Laufanne, in Switzerland, a fimilar inftitution is being formed, for which the Meflrs. Aubert and Linton, Regent Street, are agents for receiving donations from this country.

I n the Art-news of this month muft not be omitted the graceful compliment that has been paid to Dr. Dafent by the King and Crown-Prince of Denmark and a number of Danifli and Icelandic gentlemen, who have prefented Dr. Dafent with a fllver drinking-horn, made like thofe in ufe in olden time, embellifhed with feenes from the Njal Saga, and a Runic infeription, which fays that “ to friends the road is fliort, though the diftance be great.”

T he difficulty refpeCling the appointment of a cu­ rator of the Soane Mufeum in accordance with the proviflons of the will of Sir John Soane, is now fettled

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by the appointment of Mr. Bonomi, architect, and Alderman Copeland has fincc been appointed truftee, in the place of Sir Peter Lauric deceafed.

T he Church of St. James the Lefs, Garden Street, Weftminftcr, built at the coft of the daughters of the late Dr. Monk, Bifhop of Gloucester, as a memorial to their father, is a beautiful example of church decoration, and of the effect of the mingling of red and black bricks with ftone and marble in the conftrutftion.

The chancel apfe is lighted by windows of three lights, the centre one a little lower than the fides to allow of a rofe window in the head of each; they are filled with ftained glafs. T he groined ribs defeend between, and reft upon fliafts of marble with richly-carved capitals; the reredos is of white ftone. Over the altar is a crofs, of the Greek form, of Irifli marbles ftudded with Derbyfllire fpar. On the left are figures of the three Maries and St. Elizabeth, inlaid in black on the white ftone; on the right, four holy women of the Old Teftament, the wife of Manoah, Hannah, Ruth, and Sarah. Bands of red and yellow tiles divide thefe figures.

The chancel fcreen of iron and brafs work enclofes the two tranfept arches, which reft upon broad fliafts of polifhed granite. Over the chancel arch a frcfco-painting, by Mr. G. F. Watts, reprefents our Lord fitting be­ tween groups of angels, the four Evangelifts writing their gofpels below. A further ornamental band extends round the inner chancel arch. T he roof of the nave is painted by Meflrs. Clayton and Bell; the fubjeft is the tree ofjeffe, medallion portraits of the royal line of David: ftars and other devices fill up the roof.

The pulpit, of ftone and marble, is fculptured with figures of the four Evangelifts, and doctors of the Weftern Church— St. Auguftine, St. Gregory, St. Ambrofe, and St. Jerome. The two tranfept fhafts in the nave are carved in the capitals with feenes from the parables and miracles. The architect, Mr. G. E. Street, is alfo the defigner of the decorations.

T he art of carving in ivory— familiar to us in the ingenious intricacies of the Chinefe balls and pagodas, and the more beautiful and purely artiftic defigns of the Dieppe ateliers, which are to be found fide by fide with the almoft equally beautiful workmanfliip of our own country— is now becoming a fafhionable amufement with amateur artifts, many ladies of rank and ftation rivalling the works of their teachers N ot fo their Continental fillers, with whom art is Amply an abftraction, not a practical purfuit. We hear of nothing being done, out of the feclufion of the cloifter, in the efpecial objedt of our intereft— Illumination (except the pub­ lication in Paris, by order of the Emperor, of copies from the manuferipts in the public libraries); nothing

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of original defign is attempted by the public, but they have fuccccdcd in making fomc improvements in the proccfs of Diaphanic, by which the paper may be removed, leaving upon the glafs a good impreffion of the defign. This can be ftill more effectively done upon china. Mr. Barnard, of 339 Oxford Street, has lately brought from Paris many new defigns, and the requifite materials for reproducing them. He has alfo prepared thin plates of metal for affixing to the walls of

chapcis or fchools ; the metal receives a ground of dead white, upon which any ornament or motto may be printed in oil colour, and the gilding laid upon a per­ manent medium ; the whole can then be waflied : thus fuch ornaments become decorations of a really durable character, inftead of lafting a few weeks, like the paper fcrolls, which have hitherto been ufed for fimilar purpofes. They have the advantage, alfo, of remaining perfectly fiat when once affixed.

CoiTcsponticnce “ N aples, Dec. 21, 1861.

“ D ear Sir ,— I have been rather late in anfwering your letter dated the 6th inft., but I was anxious to make fure of many points previous to my writing this letter. “ The Flora in the Mufeo Nationale is a book 7 in. by 5, covered with a very rough binding. It contains 362 flieets of parchment, and I do not entertain the flighteft doubt it is a Clovio. I am entitled to fay fo, not by my own judgment, but by that of Signor Fornari, the Director of the Library, who is generally confidered as a very clever man in that branch. His rejecting the opinion of this work being a Beato da Fiefole is chiefly dictated by the material fad, that the Beato da Fiefole did not paint on golden ground, or, at leaft, did not indulge in that ftyle. Its date is furely the end of the 15th century, fince the letters of Gothic-Latin (not larger than three lines each) are of a round fhape— nt 11, whilft, as you know, thofe of the earlier period, fuch as I have feen at La Cava, are o f a narrower and lefs intelligible kind— ftf. This book is called the Flora from its containing a moft fplendid and rich collection of botany; nay, more, it is the fineft and minuteft re­ production of nature, throwing great light on the feientific point of botany, viz. that many flowers of which we have no natural fpecimen at prefent exifted at the time when engrafting was not known, and the fpecies of which has completely difappeared. On each flieet there are two illuminations, in the form of borders, extending on one or more fides of the page, on a golden ground. The initials are of a beautiful and minute work, and the beginning of every verfe is alfo illuftrated in different fhapes and arabefques. There are feven large miniatures, about 6 inches each, the fize of every head being about 1 inch in length, by ~ an inch in breadth; in one there are 12 figures, apparently mean­ ing the Chrift preaching to the Apoftles; in others, the Supper, the Baptifm, the Prayer in the Garden, the RefurreClion, &c.

There are about 200 fmall miniatures varying from 2 inches to i | , the minute nefs of which can be imagined, but not defcribed. 1 have counted 33 heads in one, the whole miniature

not larger than i inch 6 lines; it is the Crucifixion.

I forgot to fay the Flora is nothing elfe but the illus­ tration of the four Evangelifts, beginning by St. John.”

[W e infert this in extenfo, not venturing to difpute fo high an authority on our own opinion, but on that of two competent judges, Col. Towneley and the Hon. R. Curzon, who are of opinion that there are only three undoubted Clovios in exiftence: the Miflal in the pofleffion of Col. Towneley; the Office of the Ma­ donna, from which the inopportune flight of the ex­ Royal family of Naples prevented our obtaining a facfimile; and the Dante in the Vatican, from which a fac-fimile will be given in a future number.]

To the Editor of the Amateur Illuminators' Magazine.

. . . . I had no fooner examined the firft number than it occurred to me that a pleafant ftimulus might be given to my own energies and thofe of a few young friends, if we formed ourlelves into a little fociety for circulating the Magazine, and affifting one another in promoting its objeCts. Accordingly, I fent circulars to five young ladies, incloflng the following Rules, which I mean them fliortly to emblazon. You will excufe the liberty I have taken with your name, as I felt aflured you would accord us your patronage: — THE

* * *

AMATEUR ILLUM INATORS’ SOCIETY, I ncorporated 1862.

RUDES. 1. T he Society /hall confift of not more than Six Members.

2. The aChng Secretary /hall circulate the Magazines, and re­ ceive communications.

3. Interefting and ufeful information fhall be mutually imparted.

4. The Members /hall always have fomething in hand to pro­ mote the objeCts of their Society, and fliall not be unmindful of the calls of charity.

N.B. Three churches in debt are now looking towards them for afliftance !

Prefident of the Illuminatorii— T he Editor of The Amateur Illuminators' Magazine.

Alling Secretary— The Author of Mary Powell.

Plate 22.

D ay & Son, LitliP to the Queen.

A M E M O IR .

T he literature of France is rich in “ collected works.” It pays particular regard to private memoirs and biography; and, notwithftanding its growing wealth of books, evinces a very careful appreciation of the labours of early writers.

T he Roman de Rou of W ace, the Lancelot of Chretien de Troyes, the Provencal chanfons of William of Poitou and Arnauld D aniel; the Lais o f Marie, and even the interminable allegory of Jean de Meun, have met with learned and enthufiaftic commentators in fuch men as Rochefort, St. Pelaye, and Legrand ; but by fome ftrange omiflion, which every literary man rejects without remedying, the piquant and curioufly learned compofitions of Chret.ienne du Chattel, or, as fhe is generally called, Chriftine de Pifan, are ttill without an editor.

H er lively, pointed verfe, her erudite treatifes — moral, military, and political, are fcattered and all but forgotten among the libraries of E urope; leaving her probably lefs known, on the whole, than her predecettor Marie de Bretagne.

T here is no good reafon for this neglecft of valuable works, except that no one has hitherto taken the trouble to collecft them. There is, however, good reafon that it fliould not be perpetuated, in the facft, that they form a very interefting portion of the many contributions to the political as well as domettic hiftory of a moft eventful period. They have, it mutt be admitted, already been made fubfervient to the hittory of France, but in a very fragmentary manner.

H er u Life of Charles the Fifth,” for inttance, has been freely ufed by Michelet.

And it may be taken collaterally with the Chronicle of St. Denis, and that of Monttrelet, being equally reliable. It forms a valuable fupplement to thefe more elaborate memoirs ; and if not more interefting, is unqueftionably more truftworthy as to facts than the Herodotean hiftory of Froifiart.

As regards France, the period in which Chriftine lived, comprifed the reigns of the three Charlefe*, V. VI. and V II. — the Wife, the Well-beloved, and the Victorious.

Its events range from the conquering exploits of Bertrand du Guefclin and his free companions, to thofe of Jeanne D ’Arc, and the “ little K in g ” of Orleans. It extends through the terrible factions of Burgundy and Armagnac, the Parifian maflacres, and the aflafiinations of the Rue Barbette, and the bridge of Montereau. It includes the fhort-lived career of brave Van Arteveldt, from the rife of the Flemifh fedition again ft Burgundy to the bloody grave of the patriot on the field of Rofbecque — a field whofe fuccefs of itfelf wellnigh turned the giddy brain of the young French monarch.

It is the period of the grievous gaieties of Anjou and Orleans at the court of the ftricken k ing ; of the intrigues of the queen, beautiful, forely tried, and miferable Ifabel of Bavaria; and, in conclufion, of the great French wars of Henry V. of England, from their commencement to the death of the Regent Bedford.

In England, the extravagance of Richard II.— himfelf by birth a Frenchman, and wedded to a daughter of Ifabel and Charles — had produced a refult no lefs fatal than that of the court of Paris;— preparing the way, not only for his own difaftrous end, but for that turbulent reftlefihefs which ifliied in the wars of York and Lancafter. W e cannot fail to remark by the way, in thefe wars, the very i)a.v<C- Son Lnh? i<> die Qn<-ni Loralnn W C.

'The Illuminators' Magazine. reflex of the ducal wars of France— each a fierce ftruggle for fupremacy, and each the fad refult of a wearily long, defpifed, and helplefs kingfhip.

W ith fimilar deftruCtive bearing, events tranfpired in the reft of Europe. Under W enzel and his brother Sigifmund in Germany, turmoils with Huflites on the one hand, and conflicting Popes on the other, led to the memorable Council of Conftance. T o defend which council, and at the fame time fcreen, ifpoflible, the impracticable Huflites, we find that moft learned and Chriftian doctor, Jean Gerfon, Chancellor of the Univer­ fity of Paris, battling with his formidable pen.

V /e fhall find him on another occafion a fellow­ combatant with Chriftine du Chattel.

Indeed at this period, from Portugal to Cen­ tral Afia, there is nothing but civil confufion or rapacity of conqueft.- In the words of Michelet, u Difcorde dans chaque etat, difcorde dans chaque famille.”

It is not difficult to fuppofe, however, that the life of a woman, fomewhat given to the reading of books, and loving and dwelling in retirement, might pafs without being greatly difordered by the conflicts of political change. W e have almoft an inftance in point in the perfon of Margaret Pafton, holding on her quiet and even courfe during the very height of the Englifh civil wars fome thirty years later. Yet fuch was not the life of Chriftine. From whatever caufe, it fo happens that by every complexion of affairs, whether in politics, military matters, or theology, her life is chequered in no ordinary degree. And yet we have evidence that (he was fond of retirement, a great reader, an elegant lyric poetefs, and, above all, devoted to the welfare of her children.

From what we know of her character and la­ bours, it is to be regretted that fo little material is to be found for her complete biography.

Several interefting particulars concerning her life and family are given in her own treatife, “ The Vifion of Chriftine,” and thefe have been worked up, with fome few other notices refpeting her father, into a very interefting memoir, unfortu­ nately only too brief, by M. *Boivin. T here are biographical notices £oo, in various collections, * Acad, des Infcripc. tome II.

63

fuch as the “ Biographie Univerfelle,” but thefe contain little of importance that M. Boivin has not mentioned.

From thefe fources we learn that Thomas de Pifan, her father, was a native of Bologna, in Italy, but that forming a friendfhip for a phyfician of Forli, who had taken his degree at Bologna, he followed this friend to Venice, whither he had gone to refide. T here, marrying the phyfician’s daughter, he remained fome time, and there his daughter Chriftine was born. T he Venetian go­ vernment, fpeedily recognifing his talent for diplo­ macy, made him Councillor of the Republic.

After the birth of his daughter he made a jour­ ney to Bologna, where he had property, and had hardly arrived when he was folicited, at the fame time, by the kings of France and Hungary, to refide at their refpeCtive courts.

He had heard of the wealth of Charles V., and the magnificence in which he lived, and had a ftrong defire to vifit the Univerfity of Paris.

This defire proved irrefiftible, and he accepted the invitation of the French king, intending, in his own mind, to pafs one year only in Paris, and then to return to Bologna. Accordingly he left his wife and daughter in poffeflion of his patri­ mony, took leave of the Seigniory of Venice, and fet out alone. Charles was delighted to fee him, and immediately put him upon his Council ; but when the time came for his return, would not confent, fo the Italian politician and aftrologer fent for his family. T hey came and were gracioufly received at the Palace of the Louvre, during the Chriftmas feftivities of 1368.

Chriftine was at this time five years of age.

Her father, a man of vaft acquirement, in tru d e d her early in Latin, and the was, fays M . Boivin, u eleve a la cour, en fille de qualite.”

Italian women have had fingular fortune at the court of Paris. Chriftine had two contempo­ raries of note clofely connected with Italy. One of thefe was the queen, I fab el, defcended on the mother’s fide from the Sforzas ; the other, V a­ lentina, daughter of the reigning Duke of Milan.

T o the former was attributed much of the po­ litical diforder of her hufband’s reign ; to the latter, a kind of forcery over the king himfelf.

T he Medici, and the Mancini in later times, exercifed a fimilar queftionable but powerful fway

p

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Thomas de Pifan, as he was called, continued over French affairs, accompanied with fimilar to refide at Paris, in the capacity of “ Aftrologue uneafy diftruft on the part of the French people, du Roy,” and received for his various fervices a particularly of the ladies of the court.

It is to be expected that a lively and talented falary of one hundred francs a month, equal to girl like Chriftine fhould meet with many perfonal about feven hundred livres of prefent money. admirers, and none the fewer becaufe fhe was an T hat the education of Chriftine included many Italian. But fhe feems to have formed a marked ftudies unufual to ladies, even in thofe halfcontraft to the generality of her countrywomen feudal times, when the wife of a baron might in her character and difpofition, fo far, at leaft, be called on in his abfence to defend his cattle, as Parittan manners affected them. Both from we have evidence from the mere “ contents” of her pofition and her beauty fhe was fought by the fingle work already quoted, namely, the many perfons of diftinction, and among the reft, “ Vifion,” and ftill more clearly from the reft of

by Etienne du Chaftel, a young Picard gentle­ her productions.

Y et that it was not a whit man, of “ birth, integrity, and learning,” who too careful or elaborate is fhown from the carried her off from all competitors. Soon after­ feverity of thofe trials which called forth her wards, Du Chaftel was appointed notary and perfonal excellences.

T h e brilliancy of her fecretary, or, as we fhould fay, hiftoriographer to acquirements, if not of her genius, might pro­ the king, a poft he held with diftinction, “ aime bably never have appeared but for the unforefeen et confidere du Roy Charles fon maiftre.” Thefe bereavements and perplexities fhe was afterwards laft are the words of Chriftine herfelf, when compelled to endure. She was gifted by nature fpeaking of her marriage. She was well fatisfied beyond many of her fex,— her education had with the choice her father had made of a fon-in- been fingularly complete, and of her own tafte law, as appears from her own admiflion. On ftie had butted herfelf with long hiftorical and this point fhe fays :— claflical ftudies, even before her marriage. “ A venir au point de mes fortunes, le temps vint W hen ftie became the wife of Du Chattel fhe que je m’approchoie Page auquel on feult les filles was only fifteen. At the dawn of womanhood, aflener de mari, toute fuffe-je encore affez jeunette; full of life and hope, with every profpect of nonobftant que par chevaliers, autres nobles et riches long-continued enjoyment, fhe entered upon clercs fuffe-je plufieurs demandee (et cette verite ne her domeftic duties. And then followed a few fut de nul reputee venteuce, car l’aucftorite de l’onneur brief years of peace in the fweets of a doubly et grant amour que le Roy a mon pere demonftroi t, happy home. eftoit de ce caufe, non mie ma valeur), comme mondit But in 1380 the king died, and the “ Aftropere reputait cellui plus valable, qui le plus fcience logue du R oy” experienced the ufual lot of avec bonnes moeurs avoit; ainfi un jone efcolier gradue, royal favourites — neglect and deprivation, His bien ne, et de nobles parents de Picardie, de qui les hopes of preferment, and even of a ferene old vertus paffoient la richece, a cellui qu’il reputa comme age, thus prematurely cut off, he became fad propre fils je fuffe donnee. and gloomy, then infirm, and died at laft lefs “ En ce cas, ne me plains-je de fortune ! ” * from decrepitude than difappointment.

T his lofs, even, bitter as it mutt have been to fuch a She naively denies the attentions of fo many daughter, might in her remaining happinefs ftill worthy perfons to be due to her own attractions, have been borne, but her troubles came thick attributing them very gracefully to the king’s and faft. Ouickly afterwards, and perhaps from authority and his great love for her father. fimilar reafons, her hufband alfo ttckened and Thus fhe obtained a hufband who combined died; and at twenty-five fhe found herfelf de­ fcholarfhip with excellence of conduct and gentle prived of home and luxury and hope. birth. “ En ce cas,” fays fhe, with good reafon, T hen it was, with three young children and u ne me plains-je de fortune.” her mother dependent upon her for fubttftence, * M. Boivin, Memoir in Acad, des Infcript. tom. II. fhe fet herfelf to literary compofition.

P l a te XX

history of 3Flluininatton From the E arlieft Times.

i

E F O R E the conqueft of Conftantinople, 1204, the peculiar ftyle of the Byzantine fchool had become widely diffufed throughout the Eaft, and the cities of Lower Italy, which by mutual com­ mercial interefts were clofely allied with the im­ perial city. Unqueftionably Byzantium fupplied the various fchools of Italy with mailers, who perpetuated Byzantine art in them, and dif­ fufed it among the W eftern nations by means of thofe artifts who came to Italy to purfue their ftudies, and the nobles and merchants who vifited their cities for pleafure or profit.

W herever art found a genial foil its patrons turned to the ateliers of Conftantinople to furnilh the neceflary artificers and materials for promoting its Rudy.

W orks of art and vertu of every defcription were obtained from this emporium, which had remained undifturbed from invafion for fo many centuries. Important as this quiefeent Rate was in a great capital, where Oriental luxury was carried to the utmoft, for the prefervation of art, it had its difadvantages in the perpetuation of one peculiar ftyle. Oriental life is pre-eminently artificial, and demands technical (kill and gorgeoufnefs of colouring in preference to a free conception of fubjedt, and graceful rendering of the natural forms of life, from which Byzantine art departed more and more. T h e influence from without alfo tended to increafe the tafte for overloaded ornamentation and immobility of form.

T he Saracen, who competed with the Greek for fupremacy, was forbidden by his religious creed to reprefent any living thing, and therefore fubftituted ornament remarkable for intricacy of defign and brilliancy of colouring for the diredt reprefentation of nature. T o this tenet of the Koran we owe the elegant arabefques of mixed foliage and animals, and rich architectural fancies, which form borders and headings to the text of the MSS. of this period, and the Morefque ornamentation of the palaces and temples of the Modem.

Byzantine art in the 12th century had ceafed to be creative, a prefcribed type was enjoined by the Greek Church for the reprefentation of all facred fubje&s, while, for occurrences of daily life, antique models were reproduced under new names. Many of the MSS. of this fchool contain allegorical perfonifications. M. Seroux D ’Agincourt gives feveral engravings from MSS. of this epoch, in which “ the River Jordan,” “ Mount Sinai,” “ the city of Gideon,” are reprefented by male and female figures of truly antique conception. T he faculties of the mind, “ wifdom,” “ clemency,” “ repentance,” the powers of the body, as “ ftrength,” and the diurnal changes of night and day, are fymbolifed in the fame manner.

I hofe Northern nations which received and have retained the Greek form of Chriftianity, have Face pit.ye. 65.

London. Day & Son^ilh’-to inc Queen.

T^he Illuminators' Magazine. alfo retained the Byzantine ftyle of art intacft.

T he MSS. of of Bulgaria and the adjacent coun­ tries evince in the 14th century no advance upon the art of the 10th. Ruflia received her docftrine and art from Byzantium, and has held both equally facred and immutable, for although their churches and houfes are crowded with pictures depicting facred fubjecfts, little or no advance in real art has been made.

In like manner, the Greek art of the prefent day is identical with Byzantine art of the 12th century.

M. Didron, the diftinguifhed French archasologift, has done much to throw light upon the later condition of Byzantine art, by his obfervations made during a tour in Greece, Theflaly, and Macedonia, in 1839. T he monafteries of M ount Athos efpecially engaged his attention, here Byzantine art has maintained an unbroken exiftence for 1300 years, and retains to this day an inflexible adherence to the prefcribed forms eftablifhed by the laws of the Church, in the multitude of facred pictures which are executed by the monks, and in the frefcoes which cover the walls of their churches. Thefe are the only branches of art now purfued, and they are Amply mechanical reproductions o f ancient models, exe­ cuted with furpriflng rapidity, and entirely regardlefs o f artiftic merit, by the mafter painter and his pupils. T he illumination of MSS. has greatly declined, owing in fome meafure to the ignorance of the Greek monks and the introduction of printed books. T o thofe who have the opportunity of vifiting Italy, a concife view of Greek ^rt from the 14th century down to the prefent day is prefented by the decoration of S. Giorgio de Greci in Venice.

W e now pafs on to confider the changes which art had undergone in the W eft, and was deftined to undergo, when the conqueft of Conftantinople difperfed the numerous calligraphers and miniatorii of that city among the free and profperous cities of Ita ly ; they found a new fchool arifing, a development of the Byzantine and the Longobardian, which was peculiar for a freedom of ftyle unknown to the rigid mannerifm

of the Byzantine fchool. As in all early at­ tempts at originality, there is a certain rudenefs of compofition and daubinefs in colouring in the works of this fchool, compared with the exquifite finifh. and neatnefs of the Byzantine illuminations, but the fufion of this apparently unartiftic ftyle, with its exaggerated acftion, and the ftricft conventionality of the Byzantine, pro­ duced erewhile the Romanefque ftyle, which, fpringing up in Italy, yet attained to greater excellence in thofe W eftern countries where romanticifm fo ftrongly pervaded both art and literature, and became blended with the Gothic ornamentation, as that ftyle of architecture was perfected.

A rich collection of MSS. exifts illuftrating the rife and progrefs of the Flemifh fchool, from its eftablifliment by Charlemagne, to its culmi­ nation under the brothers Van Eyck, and the incomparable Hemling.

T he numerous and fplendid MSS. of the Carlovingian epoch atteft the activity and excellence of the fchools founded

by Charlemagne ; many o f thefe are now preferved in the Royal Library at Munich.

A beautiful example of the ftyle and manner of exe­ cution is given in a facfimile from the Ratifbon Gofpels in our fifth Part. A later feries of MSS. in the fame library (the Bamberg MSS., from the archives of the Cathedral of Bamberg) fhows the influence exercifed upon the art of this fchool by the connexion of the German and Greek courts. T he marriage of the Emperor Otho II. with the Greek Princefs Theophano, and the zeal of St. Bernard, bifhop of Hildeflheim, contributed to awaken a defire for the elegance and refinement of Byzantine art, which continued to exercife great influence upon Ger­ many, until, in the 12th century, new life was infufed into the German fchool, and a faithful reprefentation of nature was fought after. T he fuccefsful activity of the Flemifh fchools, efpe­ cially that eftablifhed at Bruges, communicated an impulfe to other localities and countries which maintained friendly relations with the Nether­ lands, or from pofition and political connexion were fubject to their influence.

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A FLORENTINE LEGEND.

By MISS PARDOE.

P art III.

H E inauguration of the u Adoration of the to do the honours of his picture to fome ftillAngels” took place with the accuftomed lingering groups, who ftood entranced before the pomp and ceremony. T he young artift ftood glorious work which he had achieved, and many in a lateral chapel, concealed by a pillar, from and fincere were the congratulations that were which he could follow with his eyes every move­ fhowered upon him. “ No, no ; we do not argue the p o i n t e x ­ ment about the altar; and his heart beat thick and faft, as, at a gefture from the Archbifhop, the claimed one enthufiaftic virtuofo, in reply to a curtain which had hitherto veiled the picture was whifpered comment from his companion ; “ I drawn back, and a loud exclamation of wonder have experience, and I tell you that there lives and delight burft from the admiring fpedbators. not a being fo faultleflly beautiful as that centre He was then compelled to abandon his place of angel who is now gazing ftraight upon us. It is refuge , and, as he knelt once more before the a pure aefthetical creation. Ha ! Signor Andrea, altar at which he had only a couple of hours Signor Andrea 1” he purfued, as he faw the previoufly plighted his faith to one far dearer to young painter pafling near him ; u truly you have him than life, the benign prelate placed upon his had a glimpfe of Paradife, which has never been brow a laurel crown; and a flufh of honeft triumph vouchfafed to us poor artifts fince il divino Cormantled his features at the confcioufnefs that all regio pafled from among us.” that was noble, gifted, and beautiful in Florence, Andrea meekly bowed his head in filence. were beftowing upon him an ovation by which u Andrea, z7 ?mo caro his very being was dignified; and that his belt faid the good Archand earlieft friend fhared in his feeling of grati­ bifhop, as, feated in his own cufhioned chair, and befide his own miflal-laden table of quaintlytude and exultation.

At that very moment, and ere the hand by carved oak, he laid his hand tenderly upon the which the artiftic chaplet had been prefled upon head of the noble-looking youth who fat, or the cluftering curls of Andrea had parted from rather reclined, upon the floor befide h im ; “ all the lips which had been convulfively faftened Florence has acknowledged to-day that file pofupon it, the fweet voices of the maiden choir fefles in yourfelf a treafure of which (he has ftruck up the Te Deum Laudamus^ and the whole reafon to be proud; but this conceflion, great as of the fpacious chapel was fteeped in melody ; it is, muft not fatisfy either you or thofe who feek but the artift-ear of the painter heard only one to fee themfelves reflected in your glory. Gra­ voice— recognifed only one outburft of triumph cious and graceful Florence ! we are grateful to and thankfgiving. He heard, he felt, he almoft her, but our ambition muft not be bounded even fa w Ifaura, and he bowed his head upon his by her plaudits ; and I feel that you will not fail breaft in a rapture too great for words. me, figlio mto^ when I tell you that I have At length the ceremony of inauguration came pledged you to a triumph far greater than even to a clofe, and the brilliant company flowly dif- that of to-day. T hus far none of your rivals perfed, while the prelate withdrew into the in­ have been able to compete with you ; but there terior of the convent; but the artift, according is a world of art beyond Florence, againft which to the courtefy of conventional cuftom, remained you have ftill to ftruggle, and wherein you have

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The Illuminators' Magazine. yet to conquer, ere you can cancel the debt to that Great Power which has fo richly gifted you with genius; while I look to you, moreover, to avenge me for an affront which I have lately received from the Medicis. T h at they do you juftice individually I will not doubt— I will not wrong them by believing otherwife — but they feek to wound me whom they diflike. They know that I love you as a fon— that I am in­ debted to you for my life— and they have ac­ cordingly fuggefted, that before your claim to be recognifed as one of the foremoft painters of Italy fhall be allowed, you fhould try your talent againft an artift feledfed by themfelves. It is a combat for life or death, my fon; the life or death of your fame, and of my pride in my young maejtro. Do you, for my fake, accept the challenge ? ” “ For your fake, Monfignore, I would give my life — a. poor offering, you will fay— but more than my life, the twilight promife of fame which already makes my cheek flufh and my pulfes throb. For you anything and all— tell me only what I have to do.” “ A ndrea;” faid the prelate flowly and folemnly; “ I recognife your noble foul in that entire felfabnegation, and I do not fear, though your trial will be a fharp one. T he Chapel of Santa Maria Novella is about to be embellifhed without flint of coft ; and I propofed, as you may believe, that the whole undertaking fhould be confided to yourfelf, but the Medicis outvoted me in the C ouncil; while the very name of the coadjutor they have chofen to fhare with you the important and glorious tafk, fhould be to you a fufficient earneft of the value which they really attach to your already-recognifed genius.” “ And his name — is------ ” faltered out Andrea, fpringing to his feet. “ T he celebrated Dominichino Veneziano.”

Andrea buried his face in his hands, and a low moan burft from his overcharged bofom, but he uttered not a word.

On the following morning the young painter was furprifed and agitated by a fummons from the reverend mother Degli Angeli, who entreated

his prefence at the convent to fuperintend the re­ arrangement of his picture, which, owing to fome negligence on the part of the workmen, had loft its perpendicular, and appeared in danger of falling.

Andrea loft not a moment in reaching the con­ vent chapel, where he found, as his heart had prophefied, his beloved Ifaura engaged in deco­ rating the altar with frefh flowers. he whif“ I have brought my offering alfo pered hurriedly as he paffed her, and placed in her hand a bunch of tube-rofes and cape-jeflamine; “ Pray for me, angela mia, for I am about to meafure my ftrength againft the great Domini­ chino of Venice.” “ Againft Dominichino ?” exclaimed the young girl, with a blufh that mantled her brow, and burnt even to the roots of her hair, “ againft Dominichino ? ” “ And why n o t? ” afked Andrea in his turn, as, quivering with jealoufy, he detected her emotion ; “ Is he to win all in this life ? and in But pardon me, fignora, I detain you the next inftant, without a fecond glance, he was on the fteps of the ladder fecuring the pic­ ture in its place.

W hen this was accomplifhed, he looked earneftly, but with apparent careleffnefs, round the chapel. Ifaura had difappeared ; and after having received the thanks of the two lay-fifters who were in attendance, he caught up his cap, and hurried into the ftreet. “ A rival? Is it fo? ” he murmured to himfelf as he ftrode along : “ W hy did (he blufh ?— why did fhe exclaim ? I fee it all ! — yes, fhe knows this Dominichino — fhe loves him — and I have been a miferable dupe ! But I do not fear him ! N o, no ; let my heart go ! why fhould I cling to a torture— to a cheat? — I will live for Fam e!

Look to yourfelf, Maeftro Dominichino !— you laugh at me now, for your laurels are w o n ; but beware, for there is a demon in every foul, and mine is aroufed and w atchful! Strive!— yes, we will ftrive ! but for a higher prize than that for which they have bidden us to contend—it fhall be a ftrife of life and death ! ” (To be continued,}

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The Illuminators’ Magazine.

Cssaps on tlje l i t of Jllumtnatton.

-- ==^2^=-- V .— T he State of the A rt in the T enth and E leventh C enturies.

O M E of the “ arch­ w ork” in the /Ethelwold Benedi6tional,fimilar to that which generally enclofes the Eufebian Canons in copies of the Gofpels of this, as well as thofe of earlier and later periods, is remarkably fine, the arches interlacing, as in the archi­ tecture of the time, and being moft profufely en­ riched with foliaged mouldings, of various colours.

T h e annexed fpecimen (fig. 2), though but an outline, will convey fome idea of the defign of one of the beft arched compofitions of the volume in which the arches are not interlaced.

T he foliaged moulding running round the arch, it will be feen, is extremely rich, though not accompanied by lefler mouldings, as in fome other cafes. T h e capitals and bafes (figs. 3 and 4) of the lateral pilafters are alfo profufely orna­ mented, as will be feen by the outlines engraved, which, however, as outlines, can convey but a flight idea of the richnefs of the originals.

Some of thefe arched compartments enclofe figures of faints {landing upon rainbow-tinted clouds, which, however, the artift has conceived in a ftyle of poetic fplendour that his pencil has failed entirely to realize.

Thefe pictures are referred to in the metrical dedi­ cation above referred to, in which it is Rated that jEthelwold commanded a certain monk, fubjedl to him, to write the prefent book; and u ordered alfo to be made in it many arches elegantly decorated and filled up with various ornamental pictures ex­ prefled in divers beautiful colours and gold.” T hat the monk moft fully and fuccefsfully carried out thefe directions, muft be allowed by all who have examined his work in this noble monument of the art of the 10th century; of the excellence of which it remains a very magnificent teftimony.

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PhhXXLV.

London Day & Son, IiChr ftoth.e Queen.

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T he public library at Rouen poffeffes two very remarkable MSS. illuminated in the Englifh manner of the 10th century. They are, in fa(ft, in the very fame phafe of ftyle as the Benedicftional of St. /Ethelwold, and, like it, they contain many large miniatures — a feature very rare in other examples of this ftyle of illu­ mination.

I have ftated that, in the /Ethel wold Bene- to fhow fymptoms of a de­ dicftional there are no large capital letters, but in cided change of manner. other MSS. of about the fame date, fine letters T he pofitive fquare of the occur, which are, however, inferior in defign to gold bar-work having been thofe of the Carlovingian ftyle. One exceptional relaxed in its feverity, and example of the period, neverthelefs, exhibits the being made to rife in the centre of the top, and peculiarity of very large letters defigned entirely in alfo at the fides and bottom. T he foliage, how­ this ftyle, and has no borders at all. In another ever, ftill exhibits the peculiar ftiftnefs and rigidity, fine MS. of a fomewhat later period, a copy of as well as the characfteriftic graces and fimple the Gofpels executed in the beginning of the grandeur of form, of the earlier periods.

11 th century, between 1017 and 1035, for our Next come the marks of pofitive tranfition, Danifh monarch Ca­ which eventually led to another, and totally difnute (or rather Cnut, tindt ftyle, which we fhall have to confider when as we find his name treating of that of the 12th century. O f the written in the vol­ tranfition-ftyle of the Englifh fchool of illumina­ ume), the ufual kind tion of the laft half of the n t h century, my border of the period is coloured example, confifting of an entire page accompanied by large initial from a manufcript of which no fpecimens have letters, of one of which, the heretofore been publifhed, will afford a tolerably accompanying figure (fig. 5) complete idea. 1 he bars.* though ftill exifting is a careful outline. It is the as a framework on which to weave the foliation, CC I ” at the commencement are denuded of their confpicuous feature — the of the Gofpel of St. John. burnifhed gold being replaced by a tint of T he borders of the “ Canute pale yellow, while moft of the colours of the book,” though executed for foliage are reduced from bright, pofitive colours, a regal patron, are by no to tones of grey, or lilac, or pink ; producing, means equal to thofe of inftead of the (harp contraft of the pofitive TEthelwold’s Benedicftional, colours of earlier fpecimens, a certain fubdued or even to thofe of feveral foftnefs which muft have been a very pleafing MSS. of fecondary rank which I novelty. In addition to this change in the key could name; but they are yet very of the colouring, the compofition itfelf exhibits fine examples of the ftyle of which ftrong fymptoms of a change of character. In ­ they exhibit all the charatfteriftics, ftead of fpringing from various detached centres, untainted as yet by any evidences of and fpreading ftiffly inwards and outwards, in a the approach of tranfitional features. more or lefs ftar-like manner, an approach to a T he outline (fig. 6), however, taken from kind of continuous fcrollwork begins to develope a MS. of this ftyle, of more recent date, begins itfelf, which, though ftarting from feveral centres,

The Illuminators' Magazine. yet blends itfelf in the intermediate fpaces fo as to produce a continuity of character very diftindt from the detached manner of the true 10th-cen足 tury ftyle, and is evidently leading towards that grand convoluted ftyle which fo fully developed itfelf in the more florid examples of German illumination in the 12th century. In this fpecimen (Plate 24), the fpaces between the foliage are larger, and the ground colour more confpicuous than in earlier examples of the ftyle.

Outfide the pale yellow bars, in order to prevent the coloured foliage from telling hardily againft the vellum, a ground colour of a foft green tone is introduced, unconfined by any band or line, which has a very pleafing effedt, foftening off in a very fkilful manner the blue ground with its yellow bands.

W e may notice, alfo, in this period, the reeftablilhment of the great initial letter, which in the prefent fpecimen is not inferior in importance to the border. It is a capital Q_ decorated profufely with fkilfully interlaced foliage and winged dragons, a large dragon forming the tail of the It fhould be noted here that in the gradual trans足 ition from the form and compofition of the great Carlovingian initials, the proper ufe of gold, and efpecially of gold interlacing bands, has been gradually abandoned, till in the prefent inflrance, and many others of the period which I might cite, no gold at all is made ufe of. After the initial Q_, the entire page is written in un足 decorated capitals, each line being, alternately, red, blue, or green. Beneath each line is a Saxon tranflation of the text.

T he names of the bilhops and other ecclefiaftical dignitaries which occur at the end of the volume, enable us to aflign a proximate date to this interefting M S.; which, by the names in queftion, evidently belongs to the clofe of the

n t h century. It was probably written within twenty-five years after the Conqueflr, and before the general ufe of the pure Saxon language, as Ihown by the interlinear tranflation, had been much diflrurbed by Norman influence which was deftined eventually to extinguilh it.

T he letter, fig. 7, is from a Continental MS. of the n t h century, and ferves to Ihow how the Carlovingian ftyle of the Continent gradually afliimed another phafe, without approaching the peculiar fchool of ornament developed in England in the 10th and n t h centuries. T h e fuperiority of Englifli illuminators during that period may be accounted for by the difturbed ftate of the Continent confequent upon the gradual difruption of the empire of Charlemagne, in the midft of devaluating inteftine wars, while in England, with the exception of the Danilh invafion of Canute, the compact kingdom formed by Athelftane enjoyed almoft uninterrupted profperity and progrefs, till the epoch of the Norman in足 vafion. After that convulfion, which proved a fevere check, for a time, to the development of Englilh art, the Continent again took the lead, as we lhall fee on examining the magnificent works of the 12th century in my next eflay.

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George Julius CloWo. PART II. — M E M O IR of Clovio would be incomplete without fome efpecial references to the works of this matter now in England. Four of thefe are efpecially well known under the refpecftive names of the Grenville Clovio (in the Britifh Mufeum), the Soane Clovio^ the Stuart de Rothefay Clovio (in the Britifh Mufeum), and the Rowneley Clovio. T h e Grenville Clovio forms part of the collection bequeathed by Mr. Grenville to the nation, and now in the Britifh Mufeum, and has long been regarded as an efpecial ornament of that collection. It is fuppofed to be a copy on vellum of a feries of engravings by Martin Hemfkirk, illuminated by Clovio at the command of Philip II. of Spain. Thefe engravings reprefent the various victories and remarkable paffages in the life of Charles V. of Spain. After having been long confidered as an undoubted work of this matter, the genuinenefs of this work has in later times been queftioned. There appears to be at lead fome confiderable ground for doubt.

A t the fame time we mutt remember that only the painting profeffes to be Clovio’s ; that he is therefore not refponfible for the drawing, nor fhould the authenticity of the work be affected by the faults of drawing and compofition, which Clovio does not profefs to have executed. T he other argument, that Vafari does not mention it among the works of Clovio, applies equally to the mafterpiece of his at Rome, Horas B, Virginis, now in the Vatican Library. On the other hand, the delicacy of the pencilling, the peculiar tints affeCted by Clovio, and the arrange­ ment of the colours, feem to point to that artift as its author.

T he work confifts of twelve plates on vellum.

Each fubjeCt bears a title or prefix (four lines of Spanifh verfe), furrounded with an arabefque bor­ der or framework of confummate tafte. T he title of each plate is on the back of the preceding plate.

A

— Subject 1.— In the centre, Charles V. feated between two pillars, with his fword in his right hand, the orb in his left, on his head a helmet and crown. Between his legs the Auftrian eagle, with a ring in his beak, attached to which is a golden cord or chain encircling the other figures. T here are, to the fpecftator’s left, Francis I. in full military drefs, and Cle­ ment V II. in full pontifical coftume ; and ftill further to the left, in the foreground of the picture, Sultan Soliman, juft outfide the chain, with a flag in one hand and a bow in the other.

T o the right of the fpecftator, are the Duke of Cleves, the Duke of Saxony, and the Landgrave of Heffe, in quiet and fubmillive attitudes, contrafting in thefe refpeCts with thofe on the oppofite fide of the picture, who are diftinguiflied by portly dignity even in their misfortunes. T h e figure of the principal perfonage is the leaft attractive, but the countenances of Soliman and the Duke of Cleves are touched with vaft fpirit and tendernefs — that of the Duke in particular is fingularly beautiful. T he background is green, reminding us of Holbein.

Subject 2. T he Battle of Pavia.— T hree Auftrian knights, in complete armour, furround Francis, and one feizes the fword of the captured monarch, the upper part of whofe face is feen above his beaver. T he houfings of the king’s horfe, in particular, give us that peculiarly rich, brilliant, and minute workmanfhip in which Clovio was confidered to be without a rival.

T he flanks and feet of the horfe in the fore­ ground are pencilled with a tendernefs and delicacy only to be properly appreciated through a powerful glafs.

Subject 3. Sacking of Rome and Death of Bourbon.

Subject 4. Pope Clement V II. treating for his Ranfom in the Cattle of St. Angelo, 1527.

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Subject 5. Railing the Siege of Vienna, 1529.

— T he foreground is occupied by Charles, com­ pletely armed, on horfeback, attended by Ferdi­ nand and others.

T he figure of Charles on horfeback, and more efpecially the houfings of the Emperor’s horfe, have fcarcely their equal in the whole feries; the variety, richnefs, truth, facility, and vigour of touch and handling throughout the whole, are perfectly marvellous.

Subject 6. Spanifh Expedition to America, 1530.— This pidlure prefents a perfect contraft to all the reft of the feries. T he Americans are here reprefented as bringing in two Spaniards as prifoners, or as dead bodies, for the purpofes of cannibal feafting, while human bodies and limbs are roafting on fpits in the foreground. T he natives are admirably coloured, and a female figure on the fpe&ator’s left is efpecially to be noted for its beauty and grace.

Subject 7. Entry of Charles V. into Tunis, *535-— A v e r y brilliant and finely coloured picture.

Subject 8. Submiflion of the Duke of Cleves to Charles V ., 154.3.— This picture exhibits the fineft whole-length portrait of Charles, who is feated, laureated, upon a throne, with the Duke humbling himfelf on his knees before him. T he brown and gold cloth, with which the throne is covered, is executed in a perfectly wonderful manner.

Subject 9. Count Egmont joins Charles with the Flemifh forces, 1546.

Subject 10. Battle of Miihlberg, 1547; Sur­ render of Frederick, Elector of Saxony.

Subject 11. Submiflion of certain cities to Charles V., 1549.— Charles, in profile, is feated on his throne; the fubmiflive cities of Hamburg, Lubeck, Brunfwick, and Luneberg, are repre­ fented by their refpe&ive deputies, kneeling with keys in their hands.

Subject 12. Submiflion of the Landgrave of Hefle, 1547.— This is the laft, and probably the moft interefting and rich compofition of the book. In the centre, feated upon his throne, is the Emperor, with the ufual infignia of royalty. ........................

.........................

In the foreground, kneeling upon the firft ftep of the throne, is the Landgrave of Hefle, drefled in a robe of black velvet fringed with gold.

T he fobriety of this drefs balances, and, as it were, mellows, the general brilliancy of the colouring. T o the right of the Emperor, ftand the Pope’s legate, the Bifhop of Arras, and the Bifliop of Nuremberg, the firft in red, the fecond in blue and gold, and the third in brown and gold, the faces admirably touched in. Oppofite, to the left of the Emperor, are four figures, of whofe identity Mr. Grenville was not quite certain, and Dibdin only guefles at. 7 he firft of thefe figures, who wears a crown, is clad in a brown cloak, gold tunic, and purple ftockings. He holds a fceptre in his right hand, and both the expreflion and colouring of his counte­ nance have hardly their equal in the feries.

T he other three figures wear cloaks and turbanned hats or caps, looking like Turkifh char­ acters. T he one on the left, with the purple and ermined robe, exhibits a countenance of fingularly forcible expreflion.

T here can be little doubt that they are intended for portraits ; indeed, Waagen fays that they reprefent the Archduke Maximilian, the Duke of Savoy, the Duke of Alba, and Duke Maurice of Saxony, who, with ambafladors from Bohemia, were * prefent.

If, however, fome doubt has been exprefled refpeCting the genuinenefs of the Grenville Clovio, there can be none regarding the other three mentioned above.

T he Soane Clovio is, with every appearance of reafon, identified with the work marked (B) above. W hat we have now is, of courfe, only a portion of the work there fpoken of. T h e whole, we are told, had three illuminations from the life of St. Paul, one of which was afterwards fent into Spain. T he portion of the work we poflefs only contains one of the remaining two illumi­ nations. T he Soane Clovio is a portion of a commentary on the Epiftles of St. Paul by Car* The above defcription is mainly Dibdin’s, modified and cor­ rected in fome refpeCts from perfonal obfervation. See the notes to the “ Bibliographical Decameron,” Firft Day.

The Illuminators' Magazine. dinal Grimani, illuminated and illuftrated by Clovio. W hat we have now is a large folio MS. volume, the text of St. Paul in gold letters, the commentary in ordinary black ink. T he writing itfelf is to be noted, and it was evidently, even from this, a MS. de luxe, W e have two prefaces alfo to the work, one a general one to all the Epiftles, the other a fpecial one for the Epiftle to the Romans. T he general preface confifts of three pages, written in gold letters.

On the firft page is a whole-page, margin narrow on the left fide and broader on the other ; on the one fide an oval medallion (figure) fubjeCt, on the other a round one (cameo), the initial (T ) a draped figure in a dignified attitude, with robe gathered round it. In the lower corner (left) a draped female figure, with diftaff in hand, poflibly a Cumaean Sibyl. T he lower part of the page is occupied by a landfcape with figures. In the centre diftance a river, in the background a harbour with fhips. T he figures in the foreground are very delicately drawn and tinted. T h e margin is of the florid Italian charac­ te r— birds, Cupids, architectural ornaments and drops. T h e fecond preface contains eight pages written in gold ; the illumination is a half border, an illuminated title above, an initial O of two figures in gold, on the margin above arabefques in gold, and a large medallion, a battle-piece in colours. T he title-page may be juftly characterifed as a moft gorgeous piece of illumination.

T he right-hand page, the title-page proper, has the title above, in gold letters on a dark ground, within a magnificent whole-page border, on gold background. Above the title is a little medal­ lion in gold, reprefenting probably the parable of the Unjuft Steward ; on the left an oval medal­ lion in gold, with a figure bearing a crook and a goblet, and the legend u Munus paftoris,” and oppofite a portrait of Cardinal Grimani, in fcarlet robe and fquare black cap. Under the title, the arms of the Cardinal, furmounted by a cardinal’s hat, and fupported by Cupids ; on the left, a Cupid armed ; on the right, a fulllength male figure in armour, reprefenting W ar.

There are alfo figures at the top corners, one

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fitting and two others in a ftooping pofture.

T he figures are all very beautiful,— the little medallion on the left is efpecially to be noted.

T he left-hand page has in the centre the Converfion of St. Paul within a fimilar margin ; the medallion above reprefents the T rin ity ; a minia­ ture on the left, in colours, St. Paul preaching at Athens, refembling Raphael’s cartoon ; on the right, a medallion in gold, a full-length of St. Paul with the fword. Beneath the principal picture is a fmaller one, reprefenting the ftoning of St. Ste­ phen, very beautifully drawn and coloured, be­ tween a Cupid on the right, and on the left a feminude female figure reprefenting Peace. T here are alfo figures, as in the oppofite page, at the top.

In the right-hand corner below is a tablet, with an infcription fetting forth that this is the work, for his patron, Cardinal Grimani, of Julius Grovata. T he great attraction of the work is, how­ ever, the centrepiece of the Converfion of St. Paul. It fuggefts immediately Raphael’s cartoon of the fame fubjed in the Siftine Chapel. In the left of the picture is St. Paul, fupine, looking up to the right-hand corner, where Chrift appears in glory; above St. Paul, his horfe, caught in his flight by an attendant; on the right, in the foreground, men and horfes, in various attitudes of furprife, or haftening to render afliftance: Damafcus in the diftance. T h e firft idea which ftrikes the fpeCtator in this picture is the admir­ able grouping, for the idea of which the artift is probably indebted to Raphael. T h e colouring, which is ufually fo attractive in Clovio’s works, is here not fo ftriking as in fome others ; and the varied expreflions of the different figures require time for obfervation before their full beauty is perceived. Pale blues, or rather clear blues, predominate, and the darker and richer colours do not appear.

St. Paul wears a helmet and cuirafs (flefh colour), and greaves (blue), with a blue mantle. T he effeCt of the head of Chrift feems to me to be flightly marred by the clofenefs of the furrounding cherub heads; it is itfelf of great beauty, both of colouring and expreflion.

(To be continued,}

T’he Illuminators' Magazine.

Ancient Cijurdj CmtrodKrp. “ Blue Jilk and purple, the work

the E?nbroiderer.”— E cclus. xiv. io.

— N E word on the general hiftory of Embroi­ dery, before we pafs to that fpecial kind which in thefe modern times we commonly call church-work. Embroidery by hand was firft in­ vented in Afia, and the introduction of gold thread is attributed to Athalus, king of Pergamus; For a long while this fpecies of embroidery was called phrygiones— apparently becaufe the Phrygians excelled in the art. T he Greeks learnt from the Phrygians; from them the art— like many an­ other— pafled to the Romans, and thence came down to us. Every nation, almoft, boafts forne peculiar kind in which it excels ; we are fpeaking now of needlework in filk, wool, gold, and filver, becaufe from the firft it has been efpecially confecrated to the embellifhment of ecclefiaftical veftments and furniture.

Like all that appertains to Decorative Art, whether facred or profane, church-needlework comes down to us from the earlieft ages. T he firft mention made of it is in that moft ancient of ancient hiftories, Holy Scripture. W hilft the men of Ifrael learnt to make bricks of their tafkmafters, the Hebrew wives were taught to ply their needle with the fame confummate (kill for which the Egyptian women were fo famed.

Scarcely had they been releafed from their heavy bondage, and were wandering forth into the wildernefs, fearching for the Promifed Land, when the art which they had acquired in the fervice of Pharaoh was put into requifition for the fer­ vice of Jehovah.

Face to face with God Mofes received inftruCtions for the folemn inftitution of Divine worfhip, and was commanded to employ all that was coftly and beautiful in nature and art for adorning the fan&uary. u And thou {halt make the tabernacle in this m anner: thou fhalt make ten curtains of fine twifted linen, and violet, and purple, and fcarlet, twice edged, div erfifled with

O

—embroidery.” * Befides the curtains which covered the Tabernacle, there was the veil dividing the Holy of Holies from the outer part of the fan&uary, the veil which was fufpended at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and the hanging before the entrance of the outer court. All thefe were to be u wrought with embroidered work and goodly variety.”

Jubinal, the great authority on ancient tapeftry, fuppofes that all thefe hangings were worked with the needle in a thread of filk, gold, or wool, in fuch a manner as to imitate the brilliancy of birds’ plumage ; but he is of opinion that the veil of the Holy of Holies, which was orna­ mented with cherubim, was produced by the (kill of the weaver. T hen came the facerdotal veft­ ments of Aaron — the jewelled ephod, the tunic, mitre, and girdle, and the rational o f judgment,— all thefe were to pafs through the hands of the embroiderer, to be ornamented and wrought in divers colours.

N ot alone were the Hebrew women employed in embroidery for the Tabernacle. Such an im­ portant part of its appurtenances was tapeftrywork confidered, that Almighty God Himfelf chofe out Aholiab, the fon of Ahifamach, of the tribe of Dan, and imparted to him a fpecial knowledge and fkill in the work of embroidery, and he was fet apart, with his companion Bezaleel, to fuperintend and carry on the decoration of the Tabernacle, and all that pertained to the veft­ ments and veflels ufed for Divine worfhip.

W e pafs on from the Jewifh law to the Chriftian difpenfation, and find that the art of Embroidery, far from degenerating, became more and more developed and perfected, efpecially in the Greek Church.

Up to the ninth century the tapeftried cur­ tains and hangings, that ufed to adorn European * Exod. xxvi. i.

Plaxe 25.

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T^he Illuminators' Magazine. churches, were all worked by hand ; and the zealous embroiderer thought nothing of fpending two, three, nay, even five years, over a piece of tapeftry or an elaborately-worked veftment. In grand and important religious ceremonies, when a church was decorated with the greateft pomp and fplendour, tapeftried hangings, on which was depicted fome portion of our Lord’s life, or the hiftory of fome apoftle or martyr, were fufpended round the walls. St. Gregoire of Tours mentions that when Clovis, the firft Chriftian kino- of France, was baptized, with 3000 of his fubjecSs, not only were the churches hung with tapeftry, but the very ftreets, and that by command of the bifhop. W hen firft St. Auguftine landed in Kent, he went in proceflion to King Ethelbert, with a filver crofs borne before him and a banner, whereon was wrought the facred image of the Redeemer. St. Maximian, Bifhop of Ravenna, in the fixth century, had a linen altar-cloth worked, on which the principal events of our Lord’s life were defcribed in needlework; and another, in filk and gold, on which all the bifhop’s predeceflors were portrayed by the needle. W e have a ftriking inftance in the feventh century of the ftore that was fet on this art. Dagobert, who fpared neither gold, nor filver, nor marble, in the erection of that gorgeous church at St. Denis, put painting and frefco afide, and hung the whole of the interior with tapeftry enriched with pearls, and even covered the beautiful marble columns with the fame. This innovation had, we are told, great influence on the ulterior decoration of churches; the ufe of tapeftry-work becoming more and more general, to the exclufion of painting and frefcoes. T he rich abbeys prided themfelves on the magnificence of their em­ broidered altar-carpets, the refult of many an hour of bufy labour, done within the u convent’s cloiftered fhade.”

But this fpecies of needlework was not con­ fined to the inmates of religious houfes. Royal and noble ladies vied with each other in the amount of (kill and ingenuity which their fingers difplayed.

Befides the famous and well-known tapeftry

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prefented to the church of Bayeux by Mathilda, queen of William the Conqueror, and which it is afterted fhe helped to embroider, we read of a richly worked chafuble and antipendium for the altar, wrought by the queenly hands of Adelaide, wife of Hugh Capet, for the Cathedral of St. Denis. Oueen Bertha, likewife, diftino-uifhed herfelf by her work for the altar. T he fair dames of England were not backward in fhowing their zeal fo foon as the art became known in this country— that was in the 7th century. In his youth, we are told, St. Dunftan tinted a facerdotal veftment for a noble lady, who afterwards embroidered it with threads of gold. Again, a rich widow gave to the church of Ely a veil or curtain, on which fhe had depicted the deeds of her late hufband— a warrior, no doubt, who had fallen in his country’s fervice. Thefe kind of memorials are very common. I f a gallant knight fell in battle, his feats of valour were immor­ talized by the fkilful needle of his wife, his filters, or, maybe, his ladye-love, and hung in the parilh church or cathedral,— where, perhaps, he had received baptifm as a child, and knelt as a youth, but where his alhes were not permitted to reft, for they lay fcattered upon fome diftant flhore. W hen a great victory had been gained, the bufy fingers of the defigner and embroiderer were put into requifition, and the battle-fcene pictured in glowing colours to grace the walls of fome church or private chapel. Tapeftry, then, in a certain fenfe, comes under the head of church-work. But we will confider fome em­ broidery that is more eflentially ecclefiaftical,— viz. facerdotal veftments, with the altar-furniture of ancient times.

T he defign here given is copied from an an­ cient chafuble, in the South Keniington Mufeum, which was worked in the 15th century. T he material is oriental figured filk, and it is fuppofed to be Englifh work ; a Latin crofs is embroidered, in applique,* down the back, with figures of the Apoftles, &c. T he chafuble is the upper gar­ ment worn by a prieft when celebrating mafs.

T he embroidery generally confifts of a crofs down the centre of the back, on which the crucifixion

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The Illuminators' Magazine. the addition of white, we call the tones fo ob­ tained, tints ; thofe which refult from the addition of black, jhades, while hue applies to the modifi­ cations which a colour undergoes by the addition of another colour, as blue violet, red violet, which are different hues of the fame colour ; it is obvious that thefe tones may be very much varied by the quantity of white or black which the pure colour receives. T o thefe variations confecutively arranged the word “ fcale ” is applied, which comprifes all thefe tones, from the pure colour until it is loft in black. W e may contraft two pure colours, either the primaries red and blue, blue and yellow, or one primary and one fecondary, as red and green ; the contraft of green and blue is very harmonious, efpecially when divided by a narrow filet of grey or gold ; blue and orange, yellow and violet, this is the more agree­ able contraft, or different tones of the fame fcale, which has a good effedt in backgrounds, where a geometrical pattern is put in one tone on a ground of another ; or equal tones of different fcales.

T h e affortment of the colours I leave to indi­ vidual tafte. Moft beautiful and perfect har­ mony is produced with a very limited number of colours : we may confine ourfelves, like the ancients, to the primaries, with black and white, and the occafional ufe of green, ufing either vermilion or carmine for the red, and gold for the yellow pigment, or extend our range to all the tints of which thefe are fufceptible.

T he effecft of the whole muft depend upon the fymmetrical arrangement of all the colours ; if any one predominates, all the others muft be arranged in reference to the effecft which that dominant tone has upon them — whether to heighten, or neutralize; and to preferve the fymmetry, thefe colours muft be heightened or lowered in a correfponding degree : if orange is the prevailing tone, blue muft be fubordinate.

Thefe two colours are a perfedt contraft of warmth and coldnefs ; but as orange advances in the fcale towards yellow, violet tones of equal ftrength contraft better than blue with i t ; when it recedes towards red, green is the contrafting colour. Crimfon, another warm colour, is effec-

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tive as a ground for borders of flowers, birds, infedts, and brown fcrolls, heightened with gold, par exemple, fome lovely borders in the MS. of Ferdinand and Ifabella, in the Britifh Mufeum.

T he pleafing cffedt produced by a true work of art may be explained by a few Ample rules, which are apparent in every part, but fo fubordinated, as to be imperceptible, except in the har­ monious effedt of the whole. In looking at it, we are pleafed, but we do not know why we are pleafed, until careful ftudy reveals the fecret fprings of our enjoyment. Many lovely effects are produced by the alternation o f colours ; in the celebrated Memling u H ours” (B.M . Addit.

17,280), one of the moft charming borders is compofed of alternate bands of grey, fcarlet, and blue, over which a foliated brown fcroll is carried, heightened with gold ; the flowers, &c., are fcar­ let on the blue ground, blue on the fcarlet; the bands of colour are divided by bars o f fhaded grey, by which a too violent contraft is avoided, an J at the fame time each ground colour is heightened. Attention to the intermediate tints is very neceffary in contrafting colours, as by them we heighten or diminifh the intenfity of their tone.

If two bands of colour are placed fide by fide, of equal tone, we ftiall find that each lofes fome of its intenfity — there is a degree of harflinefs in the contraft ; but by feparating them with an intervening tint, they each appear more diftindt.

This intermediate link, when it is intended to circumfcribe all the colours, ihould be either white, black, grey, or yellow (which may be either pigment or gold). W hite heightens the tone of any colour near it, making it brighter and purer, and is therefore a peculiarly agreeable contraft to dark tones or fombre colours, fuch as blue and violet, it preferves to each colour its character, and yet by its own brilliancy is fo dominant as to form an harmonious contraft.

Black, on the contrary, lowers the tone of the contiguous colours, and impoverifties them unlefs they are of a deep luminous nature. A pure grey, which is compofed of black and white, has a ftill greater contrafting power, the colours con-

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tiguous gain in brilliancy and purity, and the foft tone of the grey is more agreeable than the bril­ liancy of the white. Black is a very valuable colour in producing eft'efts which pleafe by their furprife, and in toning down warm colours ; the ancient decorators and early illuminators were

awake to the importance of this colour ; an inftance is given in the initial S in our number for March of its happy effedt in illumination. M. Chevreul, in his valuable treatife on “ ContraJi o f C o lo u r particularly calls the attention of artifts to the value of this colour.

jlotes on &rt.

A further Decoration, to that already noticed in our laft Number, of the Picture Galleries in the Inter­ national Exhibition, is in progrefs, viz. ornamenting the exterior with mofaics. The work will be done under the fuperintendence of a committee of artifts, by the ftudents of the South Kenfington School of A rt; it is propofed to execute two defigns, already furniflied, in feparate tablets, inclofed in a metal frame, fo as to allow of their being removed without much coft, or any difturbance of the teflerae; various experiments have been made under the direction of Mr. Mulready, to decide upon the form of the teflerae — which feems likely to refult in the choice of the triangular— and of the ftyle of colouring. No doubt great care will be taken in the feleftion and execution of the defigns to render the ornamentation worthy of the 19th century, and to correfpond with the other tafteful decorations o f' the building; but I think a continuous defign would be preferable to a feries of dift inft compofitions.

T he Arundel Society has contributed to the illus­ tration of our art par excellence, fome alphabets of initial letters, from the choral books preferved in the libraries of Florence and Siena. They are publifhed in outline, on paper and copper; one letter illuminated

by Fra Angelico is alfo publifhed in fac-fimile. The next feries of chromolithographs of frefcoes from the churches of Italy will confift of thofe of the Brancacci Chapel, by Mafolino, Mafaccio, and Lippe.

T he learned Societies of London are vieing with each other in offering to the public, during the feafon, facilities for feeing the treafures in their pofleflion, or preparing new attraftions for them. The Britifli Mu-

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feum, after the 5th of May, will be open daily, except on Thurfdays and Sundays, from 10 in the morning till 8 in the evening, until the 16th of Auguft: — to enable our international vifitors to fee the libraries without in any way interfering with the ftudents, they will be open from 5 until 8 in the evening.

The Soane Mufeum, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, will be open from 10 in the morning till 4 in the evening every Wednefday, Thurfday, and Friday, until September; vifitors muft firft apply at the Mufeum for cards of admifllon: — very fhortly fome of the valuable works of art preferved there will be more available to the public when the bill authorifing their loan has pafled the Houle. On Eafter Monday one of the new A rt Courts, for the exhibition of works on loan, at the South Kenfington Mufeum, was opened; a faft we can only juft glance at, referving a more detailed account for our next number. The Archaeological Society promifes an exhibition in June of fpecimens of the arts of niello and enamel; illuftrating their rife and progrefs, and efpecially the {kill attained in thefe arts in England. An interefting paper on the fubjeft was read by Mr. Waterton, at the Meeting of the Society on the 4th of April.

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W e remarked in our laft Number upon the unfightly appearance of the Drinking Fountains erefted in the Metropolis and its fuburbs, a more tafteful one, how­ ever, is in courfe of ereftion at Iflington, which is to ferve as a memorial of Sir Hugh Myddleton__ who gave health and refrefhment to the Illingtonians by bringing the New River to London.

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Illuminators ' M agazine.

Ctnistme tie A MEMOIR. PART II.

R O IS S A R T occafionally indulges in a kind Charles the Wife failed to organife a plan for of Rory which reads much more like a keeping the elements of feudal fovereignty to­ chapter out of Orlando or the Morte d' Arthur gether in his decaying realm. A time of greater than a piece of veritable hiRory. Such we are anarchy, confufion, bloodRied, and injuRice, could at firft tempted to fuppofe is his defcription of not be found in the whole range of hiRory— a the entertainments given in honour of the entry thorough breaking up of the old Rate of things — of Queen Ifabella of Bavaria into Paris in *1390. the beginning of Modern France and modern It happens, however, that this fcene was real, affairs generally.

Such was the time in which the lot of ChriRine and not only is Froiffart’s Rory fubRantially cor­ rect, but thoroughly in keeping with the character was caR. W e cannot attempt to piClure it, of Mediaeval life. being both too great and too terrible to deal W hen Ifabella made her grand entry into Paris with in mere outlines. Y et it was among the to be crowned Queen of France, Rie was only leading characters of this time that ChriRine found nineteen, and furpaflingly beautiful. And there her patrons. Among thefe we find the names was a fpeCtacle that makes even FroiRart appear of Louis, duke of Orleans ; the Duke of Anjou, to outdo himfelf. At this very time the city of who went to recover N aples; the Dukes of Bur­ Paris was clofe upon Rarvation. T he contraR gundy, father and fon; the Duke of Berri, and is worth remarking, as it is charaReriRic of the Charles II. But, perhaps, Rill more conRantly times of which ChriRine writes, and in which in than all thefe, Ifabella of Bavaria, the Queen. part Rie lived. Nothing, in faCl, can be conceived W e have no room to difcufs the characters of thefe more wretched than the long and gloomy reign perfonages, many of them are bad enough in all of Charles V I., then a robuR and gay young confcience, as recorded in hiRory; and moR pro­ monarch, but very fliortly afterwards plunged bably, ChriRine, RriCtly moral in her own conduCt, into the fad darknefs of infanity, with, only brief was deceived as to the true character of more and folitary gleams o f reafon wherein to regulate than one of her patrons. T h at is, the character the affairs of his ruined and diflraCled kingdom. handed down by the general teRimony, though T he fliort intervals o f blefling which thefe mo­ not unquefiionable authority, of hiRory. It is fo ments of reafon beRowed upon the people, won adverfe to her general behaviour to be obfequious for him the title of Well-beloved. T he refpon- to perfons of rank merely on that account, that fibility of royalty had fallen upon him much too we are Rrongly induced to fufpeCt the influence early; and, befides, events were tranfpiring of party malice in deepening the tones, efpecially which no amount of forefight or kingcraft of the portrait of Ifabella of *Bavaria.

T he Queen was certainly kind to her houfecould poffibly overrule or avert. T he time for change had com e; and even the fagacity of hold, and had a tafle for elegant Rudies as well as for frivolous pageantry. And we muR accord * There is a picture of the fet-ou t from St. Denis, in the to ChriRine, at leafl, the merit of perfonal obfervFroiflart of the Libr. Colbert, Paris, and Montfaucon gives inter-

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efting plates of the ceremony, pl. 23, p. 105. (Monrf. Monum. de la Monarchic Franc, tom. iii. Paris, 1731.) Pl. 25, p. 1^9, gives a portrait of Ifabella in her robes.

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* See an inftance of her outfpoken independence in her letters to the Provoft of Lille, refpe&ing the Roman de la Rofe.

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The Illuminators' Magazine. ation when fhe fpeaks of Ifabella as one u in whom there was never found no cruelty, nor ex­ tortion, but always in good love and benignity to her fubjedts.”

If we believe this, there muft be a doubt about fome other matters in the character of Chriftine’s miftrefs, for the quotation is from old Henry Pepwell’s tranflation of Chriftine’s Cite des DameS) and occurs, not in a dedication, but in the body of the work, and in concluding an account of the worthieft ladies of antiquity of facred and profane literature, fumming them all with a feleft lift of the nobleft ladies of France. This very book, by the way, is a curiofity well worth perufal. In the Englifh of Henry V III. heavy yet fimple, it has almoft the intereft of the French original for quaintnefs, and, let alone its antiquated look, contains curious views and verfions of claflic and mediaeval biography.

It will be remembered that when Chriftine was married, being then fifteen years old, fhe had already made great progrefs in her ftudies. In the courfe of her memoir, as given in the Vifoii) fhe expreflly ftates how (he became fo diligent a ftudent. Praying not to be looked upon as prefumptuous in fearching thus deeply into the myfteries of fcience, fhe fays : — <c Ainfi comme l’enfant qu’au premiere on met a l’a, b, c, d, me prit aux hiftoires de Ebrieux, des Aflyriens, et des principes des fignouries, procedant de l’une a l’autre, defcendant aux Romaines, des Francois, des Bretons et autres plufieurs hiftoriographes : apres, aux dedudions des fciences felon ce que en Fefpace du temps que y eftudiates en pos comprendre: puis me pris aux livres des Poetes.”

And thus fhe went on from work to work, with fpecial fondnefs, however, for poetry and fidion. On her hufband’s death fhe carefully preferved his and her father’s books, and made it her bufinefs to perufe them. W e cannot wonder, therefore, that fhe fhould be learned in hiftorical and military, and even aftrological fcience. Even when writing controverfial treatifes among learned dodors of the Univerfity, fhe holds her own with truly feminine tenacity; while, at the fame time, fhe defends her opinions with dignity, fo as © -•

to compel the refped of thofe to whom fhe addrefles herfelf.

W hen Richard II. married the child Ifabella in 1396, Chriftine was introduced to the great Earl of Salifbury, who, with true kindnefs and delicacy, claimed the feudal privilege of taking her eldeft fon to educate with his own family.

T he boy accordingly pafled over to England, and remained in this country till his patron’s death, when he was transferred into the houfehold of Philip of *Burgundy.

N or was Chriftine herfelf without invitations to fpend the remainder of her days in affluence. Henry IV . tried to tempt her to refide in England ; the Duke of Milan wifhed to get her back to Italy.

But fhe chofe to remain in France, moft probably as being beft for the profpecfts of her children.

She never got rich, with all her ftudies and invi­ tations. She had long charge of her aged mother, a fon without occupation, and poor relatives.

Her daughter retired into the convent of Poifly.

Between 1399 and 1405, Chriftine fays that fhe compofed about fifteen large works, befides fmall tracfts and u didtiez,” and about feventy u quayers (cahirs) de grant volume.”

She had been given to compofing fhort pieces in verfe, Iove-fongs, and the like, for a long time, and on the ftrength of thefe rumours got afloat of her fo-called amours. It is not furprifing that the tendernefs of fome of thefe fweet little poems fhould miflead thofe who read them to fuppofe them fragments of her own experience, as indeed in a purer fenfe they doubtlefs were. But the ftories current about her gave her ferious grief, and fhe takes occafion in the Vijion to deny their truth.f Notwithftanding the place of Chriftine among the poets of her day, and very juftly for the fweetnefs and refinement of her chanfons, the moft important of her works are in profe. T he firft and greateft is the Life o f Charles 7.^ un* Jean du Chattel, Chriftine’s eldeft fon, became afterwards a poet of fome diftindtion, contemporary with the accomplifhed Charles Duke of Orleans, one of the moft celebrated o f early French poets.

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"The Illuminators' Magazine. dertaken at the requeft of Philip of Burgundy, who died before its completion. It was finiflied in November *1404.

Next, perhaps, in importance to this is the Vifion, which contains fo much of her autobiography.

It is compofed of three parts, or treatifes. Part I. treats of L'lmage du Monde, one of the favourite fubjedls of the time ; II. De POpinion ; I I I . Con­ fections de la Philofephie. Boethius was one of her favourite authors, and doubtlefs fhe had feen Gerfon’s Confelations o f Theology, another treatife on the fame plan.f T h e next work of note is her Epifles againf the Ro?nance o f the Rofe, which we had hoped to have time and fpace to treat of at fome length, in connexion with that celebrated poem, and the magnificent copy of it in the Britilh Mufeum.J Thefe letters, as they ftand in the fine copy of Chriftine's works in the Harleian collection, are addrefled to the queen, “ a tres excellant, tres haulte et tres redoubtee principe ma dame Yfabel de baviere par la grace de dieu royne de France.”

T h e fubfcript, “ Efcripte et complete par moi xpine de pizan, le ije jour Octobrc, l’an mill cccc et deux.’” T h e controverfy contained in them is carried on between Chriftine and the Provoft of Lille, who had taken her to tafk, it feems, for prefuming as a woman to take up fuch a fubjecft. In her firft reply, fhe gives a very fair fpecimen of her fpirit, “ Oue fauve fa reverence, ce grand louange,” (which the Provoft had beftowed on J. de M eun, the author of ths Romance} “ ne lui appartenoit aucunement felon fon avis.”

In reply to another letter of remonftrance from * Livre des Faits et Bonnes Mceurs du fage Roy Charles, MS. 9968, Imp. Lib. Paris. + Date about 1405, MS. 7394. + Harl. 4431, fol. 239, and MS. 7217, Imp. Lib. Paris.

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a great perfon, Maiftre Gontier, (he contends that the work of J. de Meun, great doctor though he might be, was not theological, not teaching virtue,but “ paflions charnaulx, mondaines,” &c., and concludes by faying, that although this may not altogether pleafe him, or fuit his “ fubtil entendement, philofophique ftile es fcience,” fhe does not think him right in charging her fex with the faults he names of being ruled by her paflions and led by folly, and ot prefumption in daring to correct fo great a doctor as Jean faying fhe talks like a woman. She reminds him of great women in days gone by. She denies that a work fo full of peril to human nature, leading men to “ folie amoureufe,” will, as the Provoft thinks, lead men to fee the folly, and quotes St. Paul, Auguftine, Seneca, and even Terence, and ends with pious wifhes for grace to guide her in this little work, and to render it duly underftood. “ O u’il veuille toy et tous ceulx par efpecial qui aime fcience et noblece, que eftre puiflent conduis a la joye celeftiale. Amen . . . . “ T a bien vueillant “ Aime de fcience xpine.”

Such is a flight indication of the character of the celebrated letters which brought down upon her fo much animadverfion. In the battle of morality, ftie was encouraged and aided by her friend the Chancellor of the Univerfity of Paris, by letters and pamphlets, particularly by the 1 radiatus contra Romantium de Rofa, a treatife that fliould be read to be appreciated. One would hardly imagine the Latin language, even after Juvenal, to contain fuch abufive and vilify­ ing power, unlefs he left claflic times for the irate controverfies of the middle *ages. * Jchann. Gerfoni Opera.

Paris, 1606. Vol. II. part 4, p. 922.

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M nea tsel Castagno.

A FLORENTINE LEGEND.

O R the firft time in his life Andrea learned to diffemble. He had experienced mortifica­ tion, and even infult, in his upward career, for had infpired envy; and, however fondly Ihielded in his adopted home from the trials without, the anxious affection of his illuftrious patron was neverthelefs powerlefs to tear away every bramble from his path. Andrea afpired, and Andrea loved. W hat wonder, then, that he had gradually refumed his old taciturn and felf-centred nature ; and that a reticence, fo unufual at his age, and above all in a nation fo demonftrative as Italy, Ihould be attributed by his companions to pride in his own genius, and contempt for thofe at whofe rivalry he could afford to frnile? Poor, ftruggling heart I Poor, yearning fpirit! grafping at the clue which leads to an earthly immortality of fame, and yet ready and eager to forfeit all— all — for the love of one whofe belt affedlions were, as he began to dread, devoted to another! and that other — oh! the pang was almoft too great to bear and Jive — his rival, not only in public celebrity, but alfo in the beft and holieft infpirations of his inner life.

It is unhappily certain that at this crifis of his career the nature of our artift underwent a fearful change. He fcarcely knew himfelf; but he cared not, he was becoming reckiefs. And thus he met the light and generous - hearted Dominichino with a frnile and an extended hand, even while his heart burned within him. Rapidly, almoft fuddenly, he had become a hypocrite; and the blufh of a pure young girl had fufiiced thus to change his once grateful and confiding nature.

T he Venetian painter, however, never for an inftant fufpedted the fincerity of his new col­ league ; but rather admired in the earned and handfome Florentine the elevation of foul, which enabled him to forget, or to defy, the difparity of

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years and reputation, which might well have led him to flirink away in dread from the trial to he which he was about to be fubjedted, in a confcioufnefs of genius fufficiently reaffuring to juftify his hopes in the refult; and the noble nature of Dominichino accordingly expanded like a funbloffom to his young, and, as he believed, in­ genuous and frank-hearted competitor. From the commencementof their joint labours it became evident to the more praftifed and veteran painter that his own creative power and manual dexterity could fuffer no difparagement in the ftruggle with fuch an antagonift (for he at once decided that the genius of Andrea was of no common order) ; yet ftill he was confcious that he himfelf was poffeffed of a fecret which muft, under all and every circumftance, render the ultimate triumph in this race for fame impoflible to the ardent Florentine.

About the year 1460 this important fecret had been imported into Italy by Antonello da Medina, a Neapolitan artift, who, having vifited the Netherlands in order to ftudy the peculiarities of the Flemifh fchool, had learned it from Johan van Eyk, whofe friendfhip he had fecured during his refidence in that country, and who had in his turn imparted it to his gifted contemporary D o­ minichino. T his difcovery, which, when once known, appeared fufficiently fimple, was the fubftitution of oil for water in the preparation of colours, by which they acquired a beauty, bril­ liancy, and, above all, a durability hitherto ungueffed at. O n more than one occafion, ere they had worked together many weeks, the maejlro galantuomo felt forely tempted to com­ municate to his companion the myfterious fource of that purity and vividnefs of colouring which caufed his own frefcoes to contraft fo brilliantly with thofe of A ndrea; but a certain pride of art filenced the words upon his lips, as he watched

The Illuminators’ Magazine. the harmonious conceptions of his antagonifl grow into a depth and beauty which compelled his admiration ; even while, with apparent hu­ mility, the young man fought his advice, and even challenged his cenfure. T he firfl was freely accorded ; but no word of criticifm efcaped the generous Venetian, who gave all due en­ couragement to his talented competitor with a wholenefs of heart which fhould have fecured his everlafling gratitude. And meanwhile the Florentine public looked on, and wonderingly applauded fo generous a rivalry of art combined with fo clofe a perfonal friendfhip. Each had his zealous partifans ; and each heard the felici­ tations addrefled to his rival without the quivering of a pulfe or the contraction of an eyebrow ; while both appeared equally to feel that their glorious art was ennobled to their own fouls by the praifes poured forth upon the fhrine of one of its worfhippers.

Alas for A ndrea!

Meanwhile the works at Santa Maria Novella progrefled with wonderful rapidity ; Dominichino was impelled by zeal, artiflic pride, and that fpirit of religious enthufiam, which made him almofl inclined to bow down before the faints and angels of his own creation ; while Andrea was devoured by a jealoufy of heart and brain, that rendered repofe and inadlion impoffible to him ; although from day to day he became more and more aware that his groups, manipulate them as carefully and as laborioufly as he might, were faint and flat when compared with thofe of his brother artifl. “ W hy is this ?” he one day afked defpairingly, as Dominichino flood on the platform befide him. “ You are yourfelf my witnefs that I fpare no pains; and yet, feen even from a fhort diflance, my frefcoes are cold and as if faded, when con­ trafled with your own.”

T he Venetian fmiled, this tone of utter felfdepreciation faddened him: “ You do not render yourfelf juflice ; ” he faid kindly. “ But come; I, in my turn, need your opinion.”

T he Florentine fullenly confented ; he felt that his queflion had been artfully evaded, and he inwardly refented the flight; but his anger was

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transformed into rage, when, as Dominichino with extended finger pointed to a female head of exquifite beauty and finifh, demanding triumph­ antly, “ W hat fay you to this Virgin, to which I have juft given the finifhing touch ? ” he recognifed the likenefs of Ifaura. “ I fa y ;” he gafped out, wild with jealoufy; “ that either angel or demon mufl have aided you in your work, for earth never held its model.” “ And y e t; ” retorted the Venetian ; “ it feems to me that your kneeling angel of the Convent Degli Angeli and my Virgin of Santa Maria Novella have a common origin. But, more fortunate than myfelf, you were enabled to paint from life, while I have been compelled to trufl to memory.” “ You know Ifaura then ?” “ I do more.” “ Do you love her ? ” “ I dare fwear that you do, Andrea.” T here was no reply, but the young Florentine fprang towards the fpeaker fo abruptly that the fcaffolding upon which they flood, and which was raifed more than an hundred feet above the floor of the chapel, trembled beneath their weight. A fearful impulfe flafhed acrofs the brain of Andrea, but he refilled it, although not without fome difficulty.

He could no longer doubt that Dominichino was his rival. How, had he not loved Ifaura, could he have fo perfectly portrayed her features and the very expreffion of her face from memory alone ? T he Virgin of the Venetian was herfelf.

— her almofl breathing felf— and even as a painter the unfortunate Andrea was compelled to admit himfelf vanquifhed. As he flood before the frefco of Dominichino motionlefs, fpeechlefs, and with large tears fwimming in his dark eyes, his companion threw his arms about his neck, afking in a low whifper ; “ Are you not glad that we have met, my friend,— and met, moreover, in fo glorious a flrife as this ? ” T he Florentine anfwered with a fhudder as he turned afide his head, and gently difengaged him­ felf from the embrace of his colleague; after which he collected his brufhes, ground fome frefh colours, and refumed his work. W ith a firm and u

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Ready hand he traced an outline boldly on the Rones of the vault; and then, as by degrees his tints blended, and his idea took the form he fought to give it, a wild and fombre light flalhed from his fixed and flraining eyes, and a fearful fmile of triumph contracted from time to time his pale and quivering lips.

In the midfl of all the beautiful and heavenly faces which adorn the dome of Santa Maria Novella there is one dark and menacing countenance, which feems as though it had wandered there from a realm of mifery and woe,— a fallen angel, who is in the aft of retreating into fliadow— and whofe pitilefs look purfues the fpeftator like that of a fpirit of menace, as he moves beneath the dome of the marble bafilica. This awful head, of which the outlines are pure and correft, and yet fo little in harmony with thofe by which it is furrounded, cannot be contemplated without a feeling of awe which amounts even to pain; we cannot forget it when it is once feen, for it poffefles a fpecies of fafcination againfl which it is in vain to flruggle, though it chills the very foul.

Such was the paflion-infpired work of Andrea del Caflagno. “ Io Pho dipinto!” he exclaimed in an accent of proud defpair, as he daflied away his bruflies and palette, the latter of which fell in a thoufand fragments on the floor of the fanftuary.

In an inflant Dominichino was befide him.

He had watched the labours of the young artift with melancholy admiration, and now he affeftionately exclaimed in his turn, “ T hat is fine, Andrea, — very fine. By O ur Lady! you are a great painter ! But where found you this infpiration of the Evil One ?”

T he Florentine prefled his hand upon his heart, and a deep fob made its way to his lips ; but for all reply he looked once more at the wondrous portrait of Ifaura, between which and himfelf flood his rival gazing at him with earneft and tender intereft. “ Your fpirit is overwrought, amico m io” he faid kindly; “ Go and take fome reft, Your hand, cunningly as it has obeyed your will, is death-cold. G od guard you ! ” As the noble Venetian uttered his accuftomed

farewell greeting, Andrea mechanically turned and left him, flowly defcended from the plat­ form, and for a while wandered through the deferted church until the twilight deepened about him. T hen kneeling upon the fteps of the altar, and with his head bowed down upon the railing, he ftrove to pray. In his turn Dominichino proftrated himfelf before the image of the Madonna ; and, unconfcious that he was not alone, he whifpered audibly, “ Holy M o th er! pray for my Ifaura, and for me.”

He heard not the fcarce-audible voice which anfwered, “ N o! not here — invoke not prayers while curfes are heaped upon your head.”

His orifon concluded, the Florentine bent his way to the Convent Degli Angeli, nor marked he that a dark and noifelefs figure, rapidly travers­ ing the nave of the church, followed clofely upon his fteps. T he figure was that of Andrea. T h e evening Iky was clear and cloudlefs, and the moon was already riling behind the lofty houfes of Florence, which were flrongly outlined againfl the ftarry heavens. T h e dome of Santa Maria Novella, and the gilded crofs which furmounted its cupola, caft their long Shadows acrofs the open fpace which extends before the periftyle; and in the diftance was audible the harmonious murmur of the Arno ; while the fcent of the orange-trees, as they were fwept by the night-breeze, embalmed the air. Never had Florence looked more calm or more beautiful. But at the moment when D o­ minichino, on leaving the convent, where he had remained only a few moments, pafled the corner of a narrow flreet leading to his home, he heard a hafty footftep behind him ; and, as he turned at the found, he felt the chill of a dagger-flab in his cheft. “ Help ! Help ! ” cried the unfortunate painter, as the aflaflin fled from the fpot; then, ftao’o-erino’ a few paces forward, he fell upon the fteps of the Strozzi Palace. Scarcely an inftant elapfed ere a crowd gathered about him ; and as the light of the torches borne by fome among them revealed his identity one common wail was heard. “ Alas, alas for Florence ! It is the great maejlro Domi­ nichino of Venice who has been aflaflinated !”

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W hile the men vented their execrations on the murderer, the women wept, and the flames of the torches played over the death-pale coun­ tenance of the fufferer, whofe head refted upon the fhoulder of Count Strozzi, two of whofe attendants were endeavouring to Ranch the blood which was flowing from his wound. “ It was by no pradtifed hand that he was faid the noble ; “ there is hope for you flruck yet, Signor Dominichino. My furgeon is (kilful, and, by the aid of the Saints, we fliall not lofe our great painter.” “ Thanks, my lord C ount;” murmured the dying man in a hollow whifper; “ I feel that my race will foon be run, and I have folemn duties to perform. Caufe me, I entreat you, to be carried to the houfe of my friend Andrea: I would fain die in his arms.”

Beneath the flickering rays of a Angle lamp, which failed to light up his vaft atelier, the wretched Florentine was pacing to and fro in the midfl: of fragments of antique flatues, and walls covered with hafly (ketches, the normal creations of his own proliflc genius, but his Rep was faltering and unfleady, and his look almoR that of one in delirium. After a while, borne down by fatigue and exhauRion, he approached a window, and falling upon his knees he clung to the iron framework for fupport. All was Rill about him ; and the clear moon dropped her fliower of filver over the gardens and palaces of the city. So­ bered unconfcioufly by the calm without, the miferable youth felt the cold moiflure which had gathered upon his brow drying beneath the balmy breath of the night; and then, chancing to glance towards the Rreet of the Pifani, he faw in the diRance a vague and trembling light, which, as it drew nearer, became brighter and more diflindl; and ere long, he diflinguiflied that fome men carrying torches were moving along with a fwift but filent tread, bearing between them what ap­ peared to be a corpfe Rretched upon a bier.

A horrible fenfation, more rapid even than thought, prefled upon the heart of Andrea. He could not withdraw his gaze from the advancing group, although he felt his hair rife ere<R, and

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his legs totter beneath him. After a moment he would have fled, but he could n o t; he feemed rooted to the fpot.

And Rill the melancholy proceffion approached until it flopped at his own door, beneath the very window at which he Rood ; and then a deep fad voice twice repeated, “ Andrea — Andrea— your friend Dominichino, who has been murdered by fome unknown mifcreant, is come to die in your arms.”

In another moment the men, Rill bearing their ghaflly burden, crowded into the atelier, and knelt befide the bed of the young painter, upon which they had carefully depofited the dying Venetian; and for a moment there was filence, as a priefl, by whom they had been accompanied, leant over the pillow of the fufferer to receive his lafl confeflion.

Meanwhile the wretched Andrea, with his hands tightly clenched, and his head bowed down upon his breafl, flood motionlefs on the fpot to which he had been driven by the preffure of the crowd, immediately befide his vidtim. “ Padre ?nio; ” murmured the latter with difficulty, as the holy man was preparing to depart; “ I have a duty to perform before I die.

Say, I entreat of you, to the reverend Superior Degli Angeli that the painter Dominichino of Venice is defirous, ere he expires, to fee once more the young girl whom he confided to her care— his dear and beautiful Ifaura.”

As he ceafed fpeaking, his pain-dimmed eyes were raifed to thofe of Andrea; and his cold hand, grafping that of his foul-Rruck affaffm, drew him convulfively towards him, while he gafped out; “ Bend down lower — lower Rill, friend of mv heart. Liflen ! you fhall have my fecret: it is one of my lafl bequefls, for I have yet another to make you. You are already a great painter, Andrea mio, but you fhall Rill be a greater.

Lean clofe to me, for no other ear mufl catch my words — Mix your colours with oil, Andrea ; — with oil, il mio caro ami co I — N ay; ” he con­ tinued after a paufe, on eliciting no refponfe; “ you mufl not grieve fo deeply. I have already for­ given my affaflin, and you mufl forgive him like-

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wife. I die, but you will live to be a great and a happy man.”

As the words paffed his lips Ifaura appeared on the threfhold of the apartment, and a fmile of ineffable tendernefs and joy gleamed over his countenance, when, half railing himfelf from the bed, he placed her hand in that of the young Florentine, and faid tenderly; “ You will make her happy, will you not, when I am gone ?

Take her, Andrea, and with her my laft farewell.

I leave you, indeed, that which is deareft to me

Cssaps on tlje

on earth — my Ifaura— my beloved daughter!”

As he fpoke, his grafp relaxed, and he fell back upon the bed a corpfe. “ My father! can it be? my father! ” exclaimed theagonifed girl as fhe threw herfelf upon his body; but her words were arretted on her lips ; for, as (lie was about to fob forth her forrow and her furprife at this difcovery, (he heard a heavy fall behind her, and beheld the wretched Andrea ftretched fenfclefs at her feet.

[To be continued.}

of ’J llumtnatio n.

V I.— O n the D ecorative F oliage of the T welfth C entury .

N this epoch a more continuous character clofed by the convolutions of the. ornament, of decorative foliage developed itfelf, which, the only two colours employed for this purpofe in its moft marked and complete phafes, is only being a pale blue and a light delicate green. found in examples of Illumination executed Thefe coloured grounds give an effedt of ivory between the laft half of the 12th and the firft whitenefs to the letter and its ornaments, which quarter of the 13th century. is very foft and pleafing, though the red pen­ It may be obferved that the grand borderings cilling is extremely bold, and occafionally almoft of the 10th and n t h centuries almoft entirely rough in its boldnefs. difappear in the 12th, whilft the prominence of As very illuftrative of the art of illumination large and highly-decorated capitals, which had in the 12th century, I have felected a mag­ declined in the preceding epoch, became one of nificent initial from a noble folio volume in the the great characteriftics of the new ttyle. Very Britifli Mufeum, containing the four Gofpels, a marked fpecimens of the more continuous ttyle portion of the Old Teftam ent, &c. It is, how­ of foliaged ornament occur in a noble feries of ever, only the initial letters of the Gofpels which large capitals executed about the year 1140 or are remarkable. Thefe, which are truly gigantic 1150, in an immenfe folio MS., received, with compofitions, exhibit the art of illumination of other fine MSS. of the Harleian colled ion, from the 12th century at the moft florid period of the convent of St. Mary and St. Nicholas at its development, and before any features which Arinftein. T he letters of this feries are compofed ftridtly belong to lucceeding ages had begun to and drawn with extraordinary facility and free­ appear. At the commencement of the Gofpel dom, in a bold red outline, Rightly (haded and of St. John, the two firft letters are grouped relieved with fecondary lines of red ; the letter together in a kind of monogram, after the itfelf, with its appended ornamentation, having manner of fome of the firft Anglo-Hibernian no other colour or (Fading whatever. But great works of the 6th and 7th centuries, and thofe of effect is imparted to thefe compofitions by the the Carlovingian fchool of the 8th and 9th ; but infertion of coloured grounds in the fpaces en- the details of the ornament, and even the treat-

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T^he Illuminator s' Magazine. ment of the forms of the letters themfelves, are in a ftyle belonging exclufively to the 12th century. I do not know any other MS. of this period in which thefe large monogrammatic compofitions occur, at all events in fuch a ftriking form and of fuch gigantic dimenfions.

T he defign (plate 27) fele&ed for our illuftration is not ftriCtly a monographic compofition, like that commencing the Gofpel of St. John, the principal feature being Amply a gigantic Q_, richly embelliflied with convolutions of foliaged branch-work, in the ftyle peculiar to the epoch.

It is, however, grouped with a feries of fmaller capitals, completing the firft and two following words of the text. T h e tail of the Q J s formed by a dragon (a common device for this purpofe both of the 12th century and earlier periods), from the mouth of which iflues the ornamental fcrolling which fills the entire letter, with the ex­ ception of a fmall fpace left in the centre for the figure of the Evangelift, St. Luke. This was an epoch in which decorative ornamentation pre­ dominated, leaving the figure-fubjedts to occupy fpaces and pofitions of fecondary importance; and thus we find the figure of the Evangelift, which in earlier manufcripts frequently occupied an entire page, facing the commencement of the text, reduced in the prefent inftance to a mere acceflory in the compofition of the initial letter

itfelf; the large feparate pidlure of former periods being omitted altogether. T his mag­ nificent letter fhould be carefully ftudied by young illuminators, as prefenting combinations of form and diftributions of colour fuch as even the beft examples of the celebrated ftained glafs of the period do not furpafs. It prefents, in­ deed, delicately contrived contrafts, fuch as the two diftindt tones of warm and cool red in the main form of the letter, which, with rare ex­ ceptions, are not found at all in the rival art of window-decoration at this period.

T he other volumes of this M S., which, to­ gether with the one under defcription, complete the Bible, are placed by the authorities of the Mufeum among their feledt books, in a fpecial cabinet, the initial letters which they contain being, though much fmaller, more finely wrought in point of finiflh; but they are by no means fo remarkable in compofition as the four grand illuminations of the volume from which our example is taken. Thefe great folio volumes were brought to England, with feveral others, from Arinftein, in North Germany, by agents fent to all parts of the Continent by the founder of the Harleian collection, that magnificent feries of MSS. which now forms one of the chief features in our great national library.

George Julius CWo. P A R T I I .— Continued,

H E Stuart de Roth efay Clovio^ in the Britifh Mufeum, from the collection of this noble­ man, is a MS. in vellum, containing 172 leaves, and meafuring 5 inches by 3^. It is an Office of the Madonna, executed, as is evident from the title-page, where the arms of the Cardinal are confpicuous, for Cardinal Grimani, and is the one referred to above as (A.) T he firft 12 leaves are occupied with the Calendar, written

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in black and red, with blue and gold capitals.

On leaf 14 is a double-page illumination. On the left-hand page, within a border of flowers, fruits, and medallions, the Annunciation, treated in the ufual manner. T he Virgin, in red tunic and blue mantle, receives the Angel, who enters from the door with the flowering lily,— a very Raphaelefque Virgin, both in face and attitude.

Under this is a fmaller picture, Jofeph and Mary x

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -— ----------------------- — 88 The Illuminators' Magazine. adoring the Infant Chrift. On the left of this is a medallion in gold, reprefenting a number of perfons at one end of a table, to whom a female, kneeling at the other end, appears to prefent fomething in a box. Under this a head of Ifaiah in blue, with the words (in Latin), “ Behold a virgin fhall conceive,” on a tablet. T he title­ page is in coloured letters on a white ground, with a blue border an inch wide, containing figures, flowers, birds, and a medallion in gold reprefenting the Adoration of the Magi. T he centre is an initial D , with a Madonna and Child, and underneath the arms of Cardinal Grimani, furmounted by a Cardinal’s hat. On leaf 28, at the commencement of Lauds, an initial D, letter gold on green ground; figure blue and gold on red.

O n leaf 41, at the commencement of Primes, an initial D : letter gold on gold-bronze ground; figure blue and red. O n leaves 46, 50, 58, and 66, gold initial letters, D and C. On leaf 92, at the commencement of the Penitential Pfalms, a double-page illumination. On the left-hand page, King David, in his penitence, kneeling, with arms and feet bare, in a long grey (fackcloth) robe : the infignia of fovereignty behind him, and a bowl of afhes befide his right hand. Border of military weapons, Cupids and other figures ; and in it a medallion of Bathfheba brought to David. Under the principal picture is one of David cutting off the head of Goliath, very fpirited and with good expreflion. On the oppofite page, within a very fimilar border, an initial D , head of David : the ground blue (pale), the letter red and gold, and the head upon a dark blue ground w ithin,— a very beautifully con­ ceived head : underneath, a piTure reprefenting the battle in which Uriah the Hittite was flain ; a cavalry fkirmifh, with feveral figures. On leaf 120, at the commencement of the Office for the Dead, a double-page illumination. O n the left­ hand page, within a gold border, ornamented fpecially with figures of various fizes, Chrift raifing the W idow’s Son. Chrift in blue and red on the left, with beautiful attitude and expreffion; before him, kneeling, the mother of the dead; and juft in front of her, in the centre of the picture,

the dead man’s fifter or bride ; a crowd behind the principal group. T h e kneeling girl is efpecially good: fhe is drefled in green, flefh (or falmon) colour, and gold ; and the face is quite a ftudy. Underneath, Death in the form of a fkeleton, overthrowing various armed horfemen, the knights better drawn than the fkeleton. On the oppofite page, within an exactly fimilar border, an initial D , reprefenting the head of Lazarus after his refurrecftion,— to my mind the gem of the whole work. T h e ground is gold, the letter purple with narrow gold edge, and the head of Lazarus on a pale blue ground. T he touch and finifh of this head are perfectly beau­ tiful ; and the artift has fucceeded in giving to the features that kind of unearthly expreffion, as if of one who had feen things beyond the grave, which the circumftances fuggeft, in a wonderful manner.

Underneath is a picfture of Lazarus laid out: the filters, friends, and hired mourners, lamenting round the bier. On leaf 166, at the commence­ ment of the Office of the Crofs, a double-page illumination. O n the left-hand page, within a border of fruits, flowers, and figures, containing alfo a lozenge-fhaped medallion, Chrift Crucified.

On the right (of the crofs), the Virgin M other, in red drefs and blue mantle over her head, ftands in an attitude of dignified and reftrained, but not hopelefs grief: on the left, Mary Magdalene, in a dark green drefs, light green and gold mantle, and with difhevelled reddifh hair, reprefents in her attitude overpowering and inconfolable forrow. Underneath, in gold, Chrift bearing his crofs, fuggefting, though not exa&ly refembling, Raphael’s celebrated pifture. T h e medallion reprefents Chrift praying in the garden, the difciples fleeping. O n the title-page, in the initial letter, the head of the Crucified, crowned with thorns (very like the “ Ecce H om o” ): the letter green with gold edge on a marbled ground, the head on a ground of black. T he medallion in this page reprefents Chrift rifing from the tomb; the figure of Chrift is exceedingly fpirited. On leaf 172, as a concluding picture, is an Angel leading a child along the path of life. T he angel is the conventional angel, in red and gold, with

The Illuminators' Magazine. blue floating fcarf, the child apparently about three years old. T he border is dark green with a gold ornament in the form of a double curve, of fome width. As a rule, in the more finiflhed parts of the MS. all the capital letters at the commence ment of each MS. are coloured, a few red, but the large majority blue or gold.

T he Towneley Clovio is one of the mod mag­ nificent fpecimens of this artift’s work, and, confequently, one of the mod fplendid fpecimens of miniature-painting in exiftence. It is the pro­ perty of Charles Towneley , Efq., who, with much courtely, has permitted me to infpeCt it for the purpofes of the prefent article. It is a portion of the celebrated Farnefe Miflal, noted above, and called (C .) ; and is apart of that portion of it which contained the Gofpels, arranged for chanting at the mafs. It confifts of io leaves, and contains fix large illuminations, befides many initial letters, borders, and half-borders. T he text is written on vellum, in large letters, with fome words here and there rubricated and underlined, with refer­ ence doubtlefs to the chanting of thefe portions.

Among the ornaments of the borders, the fleurde-lis of the Cardinal is everywhere confpicuous; and in one picture we find his armorial bear­ ings, or, fix fleurs-de-lis crzure, three, two, and one, furmounted by a Cardinal’s hat.

T he firfl: picture reprefents the Nativity. In the upper part of the picture, cherubs and angels rifing gradually in pyramidal form up towards the centre. Below, in the centre of the fore­ ground, the Infant Chrift, with Mary kneeling before him, and Jofeph feated behind. Round about many other figures, and behind Jofeph the ox and the afs. Shepherds are entering from the open country on the right. Mary in red and blue, Jofeph in blue and orange; the head-drefles of fome of thofe prefent, and efpecially of the Ihepherds, to be noted. T he border is an inch and a half wide, gold, with many figures in gold, and three medallions below, one reprefenting the Circumcifion, and the two others, the Adoration of the Magi and the Prefentation in the Temple.

T he fecond is the celebrated picture of Chrift inftruCting the Apoftles. Chrift is feated fomewhat to the left of the fpeCtators in the foreground ; round him, but nearly in front, the Apoftles. In front, John and Andrew (or Peter); in a row be­ hind John, and to the left, Judas, James and

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John, the fons of Zebedee; and the reft, two clofe behind Chrift, and two at his back. Further back in the picture, another row of heads, and fome female heads among them. In the back­ ground, to the left, a temple with columns ; to the right, open country and landfcape. T he paint­ ing of all the heads is remarkably beautiful; moft efpecially the head of Chrift, and thofe of John and of the other apoftle in the foreground.

Below, in the centre, the arms of Cardinal Farnefe /lightly obliterated , furmounte d by a Cardinal’s hat.

T he third reprefents Chrift’s charge to Peter, “ Feed my fheep.” This picture is either by an­ other hand, or is unfinifhed — probably the latter.

T o the extreme right, Chrift ftanding; immediately in front of him, Peter kneeling (with a very clearly defined tonfure), with his hands clafped, and the keys depending from one hand ; behind him and the Saviour ftand the other apoftles. Seen under Peter’s upraifed hands are a flock of fheep, to which Chrift is pointing. T h e evidence that this picture is u not full m ade” is to be found, firft of all, in the border, which is very imper­ fectly gilded ; and there is the want of finifh of the faces, and efpecially of the backgroun d. T h e picture appears to have been laid afide for a time half finifhed, and never to have been refumed by the artift.

T he fourth picture is the RefurreCtion, a mag­ nificent piece of work. In the centre the open tomb, with the foldiers grouped around it in various attitudes of terror and furprife, and all looking upward. T he coftumes and expreflions are very good ; but the figures of the foldiers are efpecially to be noticed, for the manner in which they, as it were, lead up and direCt the eyes of the fpeCtator to the figure of Chrift floating upwards (no other word feems to exprefs the idea fo well) with a white flowing drapery apparently falling from the body. Around him angels in various attitudes, and above a perfeCt fea of cherub-heads.

T he face and figure of Chrift are fplendid ; and the attitude, which of itfelf almoft gives the idea of lightnefs and of afcent, is well worthy of par­ ticular notice. T he border, as in all the pictures, is gold, with figures alfo in gold. Underneath are two fmall medallions : one reprefenting the three Maries at the fepulchre : the other Chrift appearing to Mary Magdalene in the garden.

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T he fifth picture reprefents the Defcent of the Holy Ghoft. In the centre below is Mary, in blue robes and linen head-drefs, with upraifed face and clafped hands : around her, on each fide and behind, the Apoftles. John Hands Rightly in front: upon all are the conventional tongues as of fire. Above, the dove defcends in a glory; and round about are innumerable cherub-heads.

T he face and attitude of Mary are worth notice, as differing confiderably from the conventional ty p e: and even the features are unlike thofe ufually given to her by artifts.

T he fixth is the univerfally celebrated Laff Judgment. Could Vafari have been thinking of this picture when he fpeaks of Clovio as the Michael Angelo in little ? T he picture may even now be faid to merit all the praife that has been beftowed upon it. As a mere work of art, it might fairly take its place befide any known Laff Judgm ent: and when, in addition, we confider its efpecial excellencies as a miniature, we begin to underftand the encomiums lavifhed upon it in an­ cient and modern times. High up in the centre Chrift is feated as the Judge in royal robes, hold­ ing in one hand, not the fceptre, but the crofs, and in the other the orb. Around him are again the countlefs cherub-heads this artift has fo often introduced in gold, produced by only a few dots of gilding, and yet with immenfely varied expreffion. Below, the angels, in various attitudes, with trumpets, fummoning the rifen to the judgment­ feat. Immediately before thefe are the company of faints, apoftles, and martyrs, all the righteous of the earth, on each fide of the throne, in atti­ tudes of pious thankfulnefs or hopeful expectation, looking up to the Judge. Here, too, the varying expreflions are wonderfully rendered. Below the faints is a kind of lodge, or divifion, occupied alfo by angels or cherubs with trumpets : and below thefe, on the ground of the picture, are the con­ demned, or rather the finners of this world.

Thefe are on a larger fcale, and the expreflions in their faces are, of courfe, ftill more completely given. W e have here the dead raifed with the various afpedts of fear, of doubt, of defpair, or of utter horror and fhrinking. T he ftudies of the heads are intenfely interefting; and this portion of the picture alone requires deep and careful obfervation. In the border are pictures of Adam (on

the left fide) and Eve (on the right) in attitudes of grief and fhame. No defcription can at all convey the variety of expreflion, of attitude, of colouring in this wonderful picture, — the gem of this book: but even a flight account of it, aided by the imagination of the reader, may do fomething towards it. At the commencement of each portion of Scripture is a heading in gold letters on dark blue ground, u Dominus uobifcum : the por­ tion of the gofpel according to M atthew,” or otherwife as the cafe may be : and at the com­ mencement of the text are initial letters (nearly all are T s), with an evangelift within — thus we have, Matthew, Mark, and John ; and round the various headings is a margin more or lefs com­ plete, generally refembling thofe of the pictures, but in one cafe confifting of a fcroll of fruits and flowers with birds above.

This is one of the three celebrated Clovios of the world : the others being the Naples Clovio, already fpoken of as the Farnefe Office, and the Vatican Clovio, an illuminated copy of Petrarch’s Sonnets. It is a work of which any collector may well be proud : and it is no fmall advantage to writers upon fuch fubjeCts when poffeflbrs of fuch mafterpieces are enabled to combine the proper care and prefervation of fuch a work with the courtefy which affords to others an infpeCtion of its treafures of art.* Mr. Towneley does fo in an eminent degree: and I wifh to acknowledge publicly my obligations to him in this refpeCt, and my thanks for the favours accorded. * In connexion with this artift and his works, a curious pam­ phlet by one William Bonds, was printed in 1733 on a number of leaves (unpaged) on one fide of the leaf only. It is a defcription of a Pfalter faid to be executed by Clovio for John III., king of Portugal, and an earneft appeal to John V. to purchafe it, or, as the writer fays, to redeem it from captivity and exile. T he pam­ phlet is written in a very elaborate and bombaftic ftyle 5 and is interefting rather for fome details of the artift and his mode of working, than for its arguments or its internal value. Thus he tells us that the artift frequently occupied feveral years in com­ pleting one work (as, indeed, we have feen in the cafe of the Farnefe Office), even as many on fome occafions as ten or more ; that he had conftantly in his employment feveral inferior artifts who worked under his direction (a faft about which I am rather fceptical), and that he paid them in one year as much as 400 Roman crowns ; and that for one of his works — a faft equally creditable to the king who paid it and to the artift to whom it was paid — he received 2000 gold crowns : a fum, Mr. William Bonds adds, which if it had to be paid in our day, would be confidered altogether immenfe; but then, indeed, about the year 1733, fums were not frequently paid for works of art.

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July,mowing; Augud, reaping; September, hunt­ ing, or leading pigs to the woods to feed ; O cto­ ber, hawking; November, bonfires; December, winnowing: the fame fubjeds are repeated in the MSS. of the Flemifh fchool: in thofe of the French, fometimes the life of man is divided into twelve dages, beginning in January as an infant, February a fchoolboy, with “ Alining morning face, creeping like fnail unwillingly to fchool: ” March a hunter, April a lover, and clofing in December as an aged man.

T he revival of art is afcribed to an earlier period in the north than in Italy and the fouth ; the earlied indication of the new dyle is in the MS. of T rid an by Gottfried of Strafburg, pre­ ferved in the Royal Library of Munich, and defcribed by Dibdin *; it was executed in the early part of the thirteenth century: the illuminations confid of pen-and-ink drawings, with the grounds and fhadows put in with colour. T he poems of the M inne-Singers were favourite fubjeds for illudration. One fuch MS., date 1300, is now in the Bibl. Imp. at Paris, and is fully defcribed

by Dr. Waagen.-f- T he Cologne fchool, and its M eider, Stephan, is celebrated by the early German poets ; thefe works were preparatory to the full burd of the Renaiflance, when a dill dronger feeling for the delineation of nature was fliown, and landfcape was fubdituted for the gold and diaper backgrounds of the Mediaeval epoch.

T h e court of Rene of Anjou is an example of the art-loving, romantic fpirit of the age; all are familiar with the pidure there prefented, of the king’s abforption in his art, and the devotion of knights and troubadours to his beautiful and high-fpirited daughter, in whofe caufe noble deeds of chivalry were performed, while poets fang the knightly feats of love and arms, and illuminatorii fought to portray their deeds in fitting King Rene, as an and graceful compofitions. artid, belonged to the Flemifh fchool; by him the manner of that fchool was zealoufly promoted in Naples, at that time under the dominion of the Houfe of Anjou. He is faid to have indruded Colantonio del Fiore, a Neapolitan, in the Flemifli dyle.

T he influence of the Low Countries was * Bibliog. and A ntiq. Tour in France and Germany, iii. p. 263.

-f- W aagen’s Kunjl'tverke und Kunjller in Paris, p. 308.

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very great upon the French fchool in this epoch.

Jean Fouquet, court-painter to Louis X L , a native of T ours, is one of the mod celebrated of French enlumineurs, and founder of a fchool of a r t; another and more Flemifh fchool was con­ temporary with him, of which the illuminations in the Hours of Anne of Brittany are a fair fpecimen.

T he Van Eycks, Jan, Hubert, and Margaretha, commence a new era in the art of the Low Countries; and the fchool of Bruges, to which they belonged, widely influenced art in Germany and England. T h e Bedford Miflal in the Britifh Mufeum, with its numerous minia­ tures— more than a thoufand, and the Breviary of the Paris Library, are afcribed to thefe artids, as alfo a MS. in the fame library containing 510 miniatures. Their mod eminent fcholar was Jan Hemling, or M em ling; he is faid to have pafled fome time in Venice — where his bedauthenticated MS., a Breviary richly illuminated, is preferved — and alfo in Spain, from the fad of a Jean Flamenco (John the Fleming) having refided there between 1496 and 1499. W e imagine that we poflefs a MS. illuminated by him, the Memling Hours (Addl. 17,012, B. M .)

T he Englilh fchool was greatly influenced by Flemings who vifited this country, while a fucceflion of noted artids pradifed the art of the Netherlands and Germany, and refleded the dyle of the Van Eycks. T o enumerate the various fchools of Germany, Bavaria, W edphalia, &c., and their charaderidics, would be to write a hidory of painting; fuffice it to mention that of Nuremberg, as a city dear to the antiquarian and artid. Its mod celebrated mader, Albrecht Durer, executed the border decorations of the Miflal of the Emperor Maximilian, preferved in the library at Munich, which refled the peculiar charaderidics of that artid, of mingled gaiety and feverity, playfulnefs and dignity. A Miflal in the convent of Afchaffenburg, illuminated by Nicholas Glockenthon, whofe family were renowned artids, and the centre of a group of illuminators, is a rich fpecimen of the Nuremberg fchool. In the fame library a MS. illuminated by Hans Sebald Behan is preferved, for a defcription of which fee *W aagen. * Kunjlzverke und Kunjiler in DeutJ'cbland, i. p. 387.

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T he later artifts of Germany were influenced by the Italian fchool. T he revival in Italy was inaugurated by Innocent III., who placed the holy fee upon the topmoft pinnacle of temporal glory. T he enthufiafm aroufed by the preaching of St. Francis of Affifi, founder of a new religious order, diftinguifhed beyond others in promoting art, greatly affetfted its progrefs. T he church at Aflifi, dedicated to their founder, is a remarkable monument of their enlightened z e a l: built in the early part of the 13th century, by foreigners, in a foreign flyle— the G othic— it confifts of two erections ; and both the upper, and lower, or fepulchral church, are covered with paintings by Grecian and native artifts ; among whom Giunta da Pifa and Cimabue are pre-eminent.

Literature at this time fpoke out irrefiftibly in the vernacular tongue, and confequently art fought a more natural mode of expreflion, carried on by the prevailing enthufiafm. Henceforth the hiftory of illumination is that of painting, as we find the fame artifts engaged upon both branches of art. T h e Tufcan fchools of Flo­ rence, Pifa, and Sienna, were the firft to take advantage of the movement of the 13th century.

Sienna took the initiative, and the libraries of that city contain a large collection of MSS. illuftrating the art of Ita ly ; the earlieft, an Office book of the Cathedral, bears the date of 1213; it was illuminated by Oderico, canon of the Cathedral.

W e may count among the illuminatorii, Cima­ bue, the eminent mafter of the Florentine fchool, and fuppofed founder of the modern ftyle of Italian painting. His pupil Giotto,born i276,exercifed a wide influence upon the art of the 14th century, which was not confined to Tufcany, or even Italy; but wherever he travelled,— to Avignon, whither he went in the fuite o f Clement V ., and other cities, his works were highly efteemed and eagerly coveted.

He illuminated for one of his patrons, Cardinal Stefanefchi, a life of St. George, with fcenes from the life of Pope Celeftine, now in the archives of St. Peter’s.

Giotto was invited to the court of Robert, king of Naples, and illuminated for him a M S., now

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in the Britifh Mufeum, which difplays admirably the ftyle of the mafter, both in execution and the allegorical ftyle which he adopted fo largely, and which has been confidered his peculiar charadteriftic, as it was of Dante, his contemporary and friend.

Giotto’s greateft contemporary and imitator, Simone Mennini, head of the Siennefe fchool, fucceeded him at the Papal court at Avignon, in 1336, where he remained until his death in 1344. During this period he executed the minia­ ture of Virgil, and an allegorical figure of Poetry in the Virgil preferved in the Ambrofian Library at Milan, and the illuminations of a Bible in the Imperial Library at Paris. T h e fame of thefe two artifts is commemorate d by the two poets of Italy, Dante and Petrarch, their friends and fellow­ labourers in the education and enlightenment of their compatriots. As connecting links between thefe two fchools, we have firft, Taddeo Gaddi, the pupil of Giotto, to whom are attributed the illuminations in a MS. of the Speculum Salva­ tionist in the Library of the Arfenal at Paris; his pupil, the Fra Silveftro of the Camaldolefe Monaftery, St. Maria degli Angeli, 1350, united diftinguifhed talent as a miniatore to great talents as a theologian, hiftorian, and p o e t; his fame, coupled with that of the caligrapher Fra Jacopo, is chronicled by the art-hiftorians of Italy ; and their works, though loft to us, except in fragments, were highly prized by their contemporarie s, and efpecially by the *brotherhood. * A MS. in the Bibi. Imp. at Paris is attributed by Waagen to Fra Silveftro, and fuppofed to be the one purchafed by Philip the Bold of Burgundy, for fix hundred gold crowns, in 1398.

Cybo, the monk of the Golden Ifland, belongs to the fchool of Florence; he was born in Genoa, 1326 ; he illuminated a MS. of the Provencal poets, with initials and miniatures, and preiented it to King Rene, and to the King of Arragon, brother of King Rene and Earl of Provence — the chronicles of the vidories of the Kings of Arragon. In the next century, 1414, Fra Lorenzo, of the fame monaftery, advanced the art which his contemporary, Beato Fra Giovanni Angelico da Fiefole (born 1387, died 1455, a Dominican monk of the convent of St. M ark, Florence), fpiritualifed and elevated to the pureft form. Vafari fpeaks highly of his illumi­ nations, of which, however, few genuine are known, even the genuinenefs of thofe in the library of St. M ark is difputed ; the cathedral of Sienna poffeffes fome MSS. richly adorned with illu­ mination, by this artift.

Plate XXVIII.

g tsto rp of ^Humiliation • From the Farlieft Fimes.

N Y glorious outburft of talent or national .revival, like that of the Renaiflance, is, we know, only the embodiment of latent thought,— an under-current of freedom, more or lefs pervading all clafles, at length finds exprefiion in words or forms ; but we are apt to overlook the" determining caufes in admiration of the refult.

In the thirteenth century all nations were afpiring to greater freedom of thought and action,— throwing off the trammels of feudalifm ; in art the ideal and Sym­ bolical was in fome meafure laid afide, and nature minutely ftudied, and an attempt made to portray every emotion of which the human foul is lufceptible, with more or lefs happy effect. This awakening fhowed itfelf in all art and literature ; the glorious Gothic fabrics of that age rofe as by enchantment, and in their embellifliment called forth the talents of various artifts ; in litera­ ture, the romantic element, the caufe and the refult of the chivalrous feeling of the age, contributed alfo to the advancement of art, and efpecially of illumi­ nation, which was employed more extenfively than hitherto, in the decoration of romances, chronicles, and poems, and fuch Arrange medleys of truth and ficftion as are contained in the Beftiarics, or treatifes on natural hiftory ; the MSS. of this epoch are interefting memorials of the art of the age and of the tafte of its patrons, who are in many inftances known to us from the infertion of their portraits, or their heraldic devices, which were frequently emblazoned in the volumes executed for them — we have an inftance in the annexed border.

In a movement fimultaneoufly taking place in fo many countries, and among peoples of fuch oppofite temperaments, a great diverfity of exprefiion mu ft be manifeft, notwithftanding the intercourfe and interchange conftantly occurring between them, accordingly a marked individuality is apparent in the illumi­ nations of each fchool ; this is feen in a remarkable degree in two MSS , in our national library, of the latter part of the thirteenth or beginning of the four­ teenth centuries; Addl. 17,431, is a fpecimen of finifhed Parifian art, com­ bining the refinement, piquancy, and grace, fo characfteriftic of all French ornamentation (fee Plate 14. Part IV.). This MS. is written in two columns, one or both bordered by a ftrip of ornament fimilar to the one there given ; but in place of the diaper-work which occurs only on this page, the border is filled up with miniatures depicting the events of Holy W rit, tenderly coloured and highly finifhed, but often conftrained and exaggerated in action.

Regia 2, b. 7, is an example of Englifh art of the fame ftyle and date, yet wanting in the refinement and exquifite finifh of the other, but in the miniatures it difplays fuch richnefs of fancy, keen fenfe of humour, and power of exprefiion, and life-like reprefentation of exifting manners and cuftoms, as mark it for the work of an artift, in thefe qualities, fecond to none of his time.

In the calendar the fondnefs for grotefques is largely fhown, as in that for June, where two fifhermen are catching an enormous crab, and endeavouring to drag it into their boat. T he general fubjedls of the calendars to Englifh MSS., are the feafonal occupations, as in January, ploughing; February, pruning trees; March, digging and fowing the grain; April and May, fhepherds leading their flocks, or in the latter month, gay pleafure-parties going a-maying ; June, felling timber; Djv X- Son Lith"to the Qinvn LondonWC

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H E Bifliops of Rome were always liberal patrons of the art of embroidery. In the 8th century Pope Leo III. gave to one of churches in Rome a purple veil for the high altar, on which he had caufed the hiftory of the Annunciation, Nativity, and Prefentation to be embroidered ; another veil, alfo, for the Church of St. Laurence, bearing the hiftory of the Pafiion and Refurreftion ; and to the altar of St. Peter s he gave a veil of purple, decked with gold and precious (tones.

Early in the 9th century, Pope Pafcal gave, amongft other veftments, an altar-cloth of Tyrian purple,—that colour of which it feems but a dream now to fpeak. O n it was worked the facred face of our Lord, with the martyrs Cofmos and D am ian; the crofs was wrought in gold, and had a border of olive-leaves round it. Another veil, likewife prefented by Pope Pafcal, had the Divine Image furrounded by the twelve apoftles, of wonderful beauty and riclmefs, being ornamented with pearls. T h e fame Pontiff had a robe worked in gold and gems, reprefenting the parable of the wife and foolifh virgins. W reaths and garlands of olive-leaves were much ufed, as the emblem of peace; indeed, one of the great beauties of ancient embroidery was its appropriate defign.

Every leaf, every flower, every device, had their fignificant meaning with reference to the feftival to which each veftment belonged.

Mifs Lam bert *fays, —“ From the few fpecimens left of the veftments executed in the middle ages, we are but little acquainted, in general, with the extreme beauty of the work of thofe times. T he countenances of the images were executed with perfect expreflion, like minia­ tures from illuminated manufcripts.” There is not a doubt that thefe were often the models from which the embroiderer copied : the great

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fimilarity of form and colour confirms this opinion.

In thefe modern days, when embroidery has, we muff in forrow acknowledge, degenerated, we the have but fmall conception of the coftly mag­ nificence of the needlework confecrated to the fervice of the fandtuary. One inftance we give, from which an idea may be formed of what thofe veftments were, fuch as we have been defcribing.

Oueen Ifabella, wife of Edward the Confeffor, fent a cope to the Pope, embroidered and ftudded with large pearls, and the value fet on it was three thoufand pounds.

W e have remarked before that England, during the middle ages, was never behindhand in her embroidery. W hen Robert, Abbot of St. Albans, went to Rome, he took with him, amongft other things, as offerings to the Holy Father, a pair of richly-worked fandals and three mitres, all the work of Chriftina, Abbefs of Markgate. T he Pope was fo enchanted with their beauty that he could not refufe them, though, from a fpirit of poverty, he declined ac­ cepting all the other prefents brought by Robert.

T he veftments, too, belonging to the Englifh clergymen who accompanied the Abbot fo excited his admiration, that he gave orders to have fimilar ones worked and fent to Rome. In the 10th century Englifh embroidery by hand was brought to great perfection, and became veiy highly prized on the C ontinent; the Opus Anglicum always meant fomething of more than ordinary beauty and workmanfhip.

It now remains for us to notice more par­ ticularly, yet in as few words as poflible, thofe church veftments and furniture upon which the labour of the embroiderer was chiefly beftowed.

For the fake of order, we (hall clafs them alpha­ * betically.

Albe.— A long, white linen garment with * W e are indebted for all the following information to Mr. Pugin’s GloJJ'ary of Ecclefiaftical Ornament.

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Reeves, formerly always ornamented with ap- and rich orphreys, ftand on either fide of the crofs, parells, confifting of pieces of embroidery in and with them the Bleffed Virgin and St. John. gold, filk, and facred imagery, fometimes en­ In the lower circle is a group of ecclefiaftical, riched with pearls and other jewels. royal, and other perfonages, in the habits of their A?nlce.— A white linen napkin, or veil, worn by various degrees. the clergy in the celebration of mafs. This was Doffel or Dorfal.— An embroidered piece of embroidered in gold, &c. fo as to form a collar. cloth, hung at the back of an altar or throne. In Banners.— Ufed in proceflions and hung up in funeral fervices on the Continent there is always churches as ex votos after victories ; often having one fufpended over the altar where the requiem the different incidents of the battles worked on mafs is faid, made of black cloth, with a white them, but more frequently the defigns were of a crofs and other emblems ftamped on it. more facred character.

Frontals, or Antipendiums.— T he hangings or Canopies were borne in proceflions over the panel in front of the altar : ufually enriched with bleffed Sacrament, relics, or diftinguiflied perfon- gold embroidery and other decorations, fuited to ages ; and were made of velvet, filk, or cloth-of- the feftivals on which they were ufed. gold, richly embroidered with appropriate devices, Funeral Pa Ils, Girdles, Epifcopal Gloves, Hang­ and often jewelled. ings ^Mitres.— Thefe require no further comment.

Carpets.— For the altar-fteps, fanctuary, &c.

Maniple, Stole.— Correfponding with the cha­ were termed tapets, coverlets, or pede cloths. fuble.

Chafubles.— T he upper garment of a prieft for Veils.— For benedictions, for the chalice, and celebrating mafs. T he embroidery part confifted for hanging acrofs the choir, during Lent. Thefe generally of a crofs, on which the crucified Saviour laft were as commonly called altar-curtains. was reprefented , with angels receiving the facred blood in cups or chalices.

W e conclude this brief notice of church work Cope.— A veftment worn at vefpers, procef- done by our forefathers. Before the clofe of the fions, benedictions, and other folemn ceremonies, 11 th century its nature had greatly changed ; the in form of an exact femicircle. Along the ftraight loom had fuperfeded the needle, and all larger edge in front runs a band of embroidery, or or- kinds of tapeftry, hangings, and carpets, were phrey. T he hood, likewife of femicircular fhape, produced by the hand of the weaver. In France, is worked in imagery, facred and fymbolical, and the art of weaving tapeftry is fuppofed to have often jewelled. In the 13th century they were been borrowed from the Saracens; hence the the moft coftly of veftments, and thofe upon weavers were called Sarazins, or Sarazinois. M a­ which the moft fkill was exercifed, and the nufactures were eftablifhed oftentimes in monafgreateft labour fpent. teries, and the monks began to divide their time Corporal cafe.— A fquare flat bag, generally between the loom and the arts of the illuminator . ornamented to correfpond with the chafuble, &c. In nunneries, alfo, weaving of tapeftry was intro­ Curtains. See Veil. duced, but the needle ftill continued to be princi­ Cujhlons.— For kneeling, and for raifing the pally emploved. miffal on the altar.

O f late years a fpirit of inquiry and refearch Dalmatic.— A long robe, with fleeves, partly has led to fome kind of revival of church needle­ open at the fides; the peculiar veftment of work in England. But how far the efforts made deacons, and fometimes worn by bifhops. T he have fallen fhort of what was done in centuries dalmatic of Pope Leo III. was remarkable. In gone by, perhaps thefe few words may tend to the front, within a circle, is our Lord, feated on (how. They have, however, been written with a rainbow ; with his right hand extended, and in a view to emulation, and not to difcourage ment; his left an open book; the emblems of the four and that, amidft increafed intellectual purfuits and Evangelifts alfo fkilfully introduced ; immediately mental culture, fome falutary hours may be fpent over our Lord is a crofs, with a crown of thorns on an Art fo honoured and fo hallowed. and the four nails. Five angels, with white robes M. G. S. St . J ohn . © ---------------------------------------------------------------------

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t a a p s on tlje T t of Jllununation VII. (Conclufion)— T he State of the A rt in the 13™, 14TH, 15TH, and i 6th C enturies.

H E Art of Illumination in the 13th cen­ tury, when it had worked itfelf entirely free from the moft marked features which diftinguifhed it in the 12th, and developed charac­ te rise s of its own, may be confidered, on the whole, the moft perfect and idealiftic phafe of the art. W hat may be termed merely parafitic ornamentation difappeared to a very great extent; as did the exaggerated fize of the capital letters, formerly ufed at the beginning of marked divifions of a book. In the copies of the Bible, for inftance, which belong to that epoch, the gigantic letters which, in the 12th, and the early part of the 13th centuries, are found at the commencement of the Pfalms, the four Gofpels, &c., were fucceeded towards the middle of the 13th century by a much fmaller and lefs in­ tricate kind of capital letter. Thefe letters, however, though generally reduced in fize and intricacy, were often made to form the frame­ work of a miniature,— which, in fome inftances, became a very highly-finifhed picture, the burnifhed gold nimbus round the heads of apoftles, or canonized faints, often forming a very marked feature in the competition. "1 he fmall letters of the period, at the lower corner (to the right) of Plate IV ., may convey fome idea, though a very inadequate one, of letters of the kind alluded to. T h e capital, and the word of which it formed the initial, were often placed upon a folid ground of fome rich colour,— blue or fcarlet being more commonly ufed, but fometimes a rich green. T h e letters were frequently of fome light colour, delicately pencilled, or more com­ monly of highly-burniflied gold ; the light pencil tracery being in fuch cafes transferred to the background, on which it formed a delicate lace­ work of white lines on the fcarlet, blue, or green, which happened to have been adopted.

In this period, the defeending tails of the capital letters often form an attenuated marginal border

to the page,— a feature more fully developed in the leaf-work bracket of the next century, which appears, in its turn, to have been the groundwork of the rich borderings, open or folid, which form the chief glory of the illuminated MSS. of the 15th century.

T h e peculiarly crifp outline and final turn of thefe tails or pendents of the capital letters in the 13th cen­ tury are highly worthy of the careful ftudy of either the hiftorian or art-ftudent of the various phafes of mediaeval ornamentation. A fmall letter in Plate IV .— the third from the top to the extreme right— will ferve, on a fmall fcale, to fhow the effect of the peculiar play of line alluded to. A larger example may be examined at Plate X IV ., which, however, does not, in the detached form in which it is there ufed, convey a very complete idea of the effect which fuch brackets or borders fpringing from letters produced in the MSS. themfelves,— the proper letter belonging to which ornament, and forming afeending and defeending finials, having been cut out, in order to fit the border to its prefent purpofe.

In illuminated ornaments of the 13th century another remarkable feature may be obferved,— a feature confiding in a much greater amount of merely mechanical fkill than is exhibited in the works of any former period. Some of the breadth and grandeur of the earlier works is, in fact, loft in the fuperior neatnefs of the pro­ ductions of the epoch now under defcription.

It is a period, however, to which no pofitive and general definition can be applied. Its various details, in different hands and in different coun­ tries, occafionally difplay fuch widely diftinctive characteriftics, as almoft to confer upon each variety the rank of a diftinct ftyle. T he Hours o f St. Louis.* for inftance, in the Bibliotheque Imperiale, is a volume illuminated in a ftyle not found precifely repeated in any other known

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I ’he Illuminators' Magazine. work of the period. It accords more efpecially with architectural art, as we find it difplayed in the fculpture and minor ornaments of the cathedrals of the period ; and was, poflibly, defigned by an artift who was at the fame time a mafonic as well as a pictorial artift.

This leads me to fay a few words on the fculpturefque character of nearly all the beft minia­ tures found in the higheft clafs of MSS. belonging to this interefting period. T he figures have a ftudied and almoft exaggerated grace of u pofe ” and outline, which efpecially diftinguifhes the contemporary fculpture. T here is what may be called (by a tranfpofition and extcnfion of the term) a clafic elegance about the drawing of the figures of this period which is very remarkable.

But it was deftined to be the final development of a peculiar kind of idealiftn, which difappeared in the following century, under the influence of a more fervile attempt to imitate all the effeds of ordinary nature.

T h e art of Illumination in the 14th century continued to make great advances in mechanical excellence of treatment, while it loft ftill more of the freedom, grandeur, and breadth of former periods. T h e gigantic capitals, which had been already on the decline, both in fize and fre­ quency during the 13th century, may be faid to difappear entirely in the 14th ; their place being fupplied by a fyftem of marginal ornamentation which developed itfelf very rapidly. T he highly wrought bracket, fpringing from a principal initial, fpread into delicate branchwork, which terminated at every extremity with ivy or holly­ leaves, generally of folid and burniflied gold. By degrees a few flowers or leaves were introduced, of fome arbitrary colour, to vary the gold; and examples of this kind of ornament exift which are extremely elaborate and beautiful.

T he piece of ornament, No. 1, in Plate X ., will convey fome idea of the ftyle referred to ; while the more common ftyle of capital letter that accompanied it may be illuftrated to fome extent by the fmall D in Plate IV ., which forms the principal feature in the plate to the extreme left, and may be diftinguiflied by the leafy branchlets fpringing from it towards the margin. Thefe branchlets would, in larger and more highlydeveloped examples, fpread upwards and down­

wards into an elaborate bracket embracing nearly three-fourths of the page of text. T he letter in the fame plate at the centre of the top, is proba­ bly of a fomewhat later period, and is a ftyle in which the tail of the initial letter is made to extend with a bracket, which fometimes fpreads into an exterior border or frame, refembling in general character Plate *V. of this work — that border being, in fad, an example of a peculiar ftyle of the 14th century, diftind from the more lacy open branchwork, but with which it is fometimes made to form a veryeffedive mixture, as in the celebrated “ Church Service-Book” executed for the cathedral of Salifbury, and now in the Britifh Mufeum, and of which I have engraved an entire folio page as an example in my Illuminated Books o f the Middle dges. No. 7, in Plate V III., is another example of the folid narrow framework of the 14th century.

T he miniatures of the 14th century become more elaborate than thofe of the 13th? and e x ~ hibit, in fome refpeds, a greater amount of neatnefs and high finifh. Some of the grand illu­ minations of the period belonging to the early part of the century, are indeed very remarkable works, exhibiting the lateft ftyle of illumination in which that interblending of ornament and pidure is found, where the ornament plavs a part as eflential as the pidure-fubjed, and a d u ally blends into its compofition. Another re­ markable feature of this period is the conftant introdudion of a fmall mofaic chequer as the groundwork or background of miniatures. T he arrangement of the pidorial teflerae in thefe background patterns is often very original and curious ; and fliould the ufe of mofaic be revived, either in internal or external decorations, very valuable hints might be derived from the back­ grounds of thefe illuminated miniatures of the 14th century. Another kind of arbitrary back­ ground was introduced about the fame time, which confifted of a kind of arabefque pattern, fuch as might be painted on leather or woven on filk. Thefe arabefques, however, generally confift of only two (hades of the fame colour — as a rich blue on which a darker or lighter pattern of the fame colour is painted.

Some of thefe * Which is, by an error, left unnumbered.

I7he Illuminators' Magazine. monochrome patterns are exquifitely beautiful, the fineft examples I have ever feen being thofe in the volume known as the Hours of the Duke o f Anjou, in the French Imperial Library.

T he writing of this period, from its extreme neatnefs and upright character, in the beft work of the epoch accorded very felicitoufly with the ftyle of ornamentation adopted in the moft richly adorned MSS., which form, in many inftances, very perfect monuments of the higheft development of what has been termed Gothic art. T he 14th century was a period in which that phafe of art, characterized by angularity of form and richnefs of detail, had attained to its greateft perfection ; and in all works of art, from the cathedral to the miffal, every ornamental detail appeared to agree moft thoroughly with the general plan. Both the human figure and every foliaged detail were ftill more or lefs idealized, as in previous epochs; but the figures were lefs fo, and lefs fuccefsfully fo, than in the laft century; while the foliaged ornament re­ ceived a certain peculiar imprefs of ideal treat­ ment, that will be revived again and again as long as a fingle model of the ftyle remains. T he exaggerated undulations, the pidurefque bulging or embofling of the leaves, and the fymmetrical arrangement of all correfponding forms, as worked out ideally in the artift-work of the 14th cen­ tury, poffefs a peculiar charm which more realiftic treatment has not yet effaced ; and perhaps never will. In a realiftic fyftem of treatment, except of the very higheft order, there is no originality; we fee in it only poor imitations of familiar natural objects. But in artiftic ideal­ izations, there is not only originality, but a kind of effeeft which we have not the immediate means o fteftin g b y comparifon with the original types from which they have fo far and fo fuccefsfully diverged. It is true, that in the art of Illumina­ tion of this epoch, the idealiftic treatment is lefs ftronglv marked than in other branches of contemporary art, but it is, neverthelefs, fufliciently evident to the ftudent both in modifications of form and in the arbitrary ufe of colour.

T he illuminations of the 15th century were, at firft, in the fyftem of ornamentation, merely de­ velopments of the ftyles of the 14th. T he lacy border of minutely branching foliage, and the more

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folid frame-work above alluded to, were both gradually enriched in all their detail, and then applied in a more profufe manner. T he number of illuminated capitals was greatly multiplied; every line fparkling with their purple and gold, or with the rich colouring of the decorative bars, or u flops,” which at that period were made to fill up incomplete lines. In fhort, every device was feized upon to crowd the page with deco­ rative ornament of fome kind or o th er; and inflead of the more fober richnefs of the MSS. of earlier periods, in which the enriched letters and other ornaments were fparingly introduced, ex­ cept in a few pages, the principal ones in the work, we find in MSS. executed towards the clofe of the 15th century, that each page has be­ come a blaze of purple and gold, in the midft of which the text itfelf plays quite a fecondary part.

T he open-work of the lacy borderings becomes rapidly more and more intermixed with maffes of folid ideal foliage, of more or lefs of heraldic character, founded upon the ancient treatment of the acanthus-leaf in foliaged fcrollings ; groups of natural flowers in their natural colours, found, too, their place, mingling with the ideal gold branchwork and leafage of the ivy and holly : the columbine, the daify, the grape-vine, or the rofe, being the moft frequently introduced in this manner.

T he next variation attempted was giving to thefe objects a folid background of gold, then of fome other colour ; afterwards the border was divided into fymmetrical compartments, one fet of which was left open on the uncoloured vellum, while the alternate compartments had a folid background, either of gold or fome rich colour.

T he examples Nos. 3 and 10 in Plate V III., afford fair illuftrations of borders of the 15th century, partly open, and partly on folid grounds.

Both examples are, however, taken from works of an inferior clafs, and can therefore give but a flight idea of what has been produced in a precifely fimilar ftyle by the pencil of able illuminators.

T he miniatures of this period began, very early in the century, to affume a greater degree of im­ portance than at any recent period ; and towards its clofe they had become, in works of a high clafs, very remarkable performances both for

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The Illuminators' Magazine. their great fize and their fulnefs of detail.

Realifm was, in thefe works, carried out to the fulleft extent ; the different idealifms of all former types of treatment, both ancient and mediaeval, being difcarded, and a direct fyftem of literal imitation adopted. This manner had many ad­ vantages. T he artifts of that day had not fufficient artiftic knowledge to give great value to a fyftem of idealization bafed on their own obfervation in fubjecfts where the form and ex­ preflion in the human model were the principal features; yet they had a very extraordinary, Chinefe-like power of clofe imitation, which has given to us an abfolute reflex of the ordinary men and women of the time, in their drefles as they lived, which in an antiquarian point of view is beyond price. T he compofitions, too, from the quaint fimplicity of their realifm, com­ bined with high Anifli, poflefs a peculiar charm, common alfo to the higher pictorial works of that age, which has led, in fad , to the founda­ tion of a band of modern admirers, and, to a certain extent, imitators of this Ample realiftic fchool — the modern imitators calling themfelves pre-Raphaelites ; that is, adherents of the purely imitative fchool of art which preceded the grace­ ful idealizations of Raphael, upon which an entirely modern fyftem of idealifm was bafed, and which went on developing itfelf in various manners till within a very recent epoch. W hat­ ever be their defers, which are many, the vivid colouring and the careful flnifh of thofe book miniatures of the 15th century, will caufe them always to be fought with avidity as moft interefting and beautiful links in the ftory of artprogrefs.

A ftyle of book-ornamentation fprang up in Italy in the 15th century which is very remark­ able in its features, as were all the Italian ftyles of the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, moft of them poffefling fome peculiarity of feature which renders them eaflly diftinguifliable from the illu­ minations o f the north and weft of Europe. I have not fpace to difeufs them here, but ought perhaps juft to hint that while in the reft of Europe, the illuminators were ufing pofitive colours — red, blue, yellow— the Italians were more addicted to grays, buffs, fubdued pinks, and browns. 1 he ftyle of ornament, however, to 1-

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which I intend more particularly to allude, is one formed of interlacing white branches, the inter­ faces between which are Ailed up with various colours, generally powdered with minute fpecks of white. T he border of the title-page iffued with the prefent and laft number of this work, which completes the volume, will convey fome idea of this ftyle, though, as only reproduced by means of two tint colours, the effect is by no means fo brilliant as in the originals.

T he border to the right is taken from a manufeript copy of the Satires of Juvenal, and the border to the left from a copy of the Sonnets of Petrarch, both good examples of the ftyle. At a rather later period this ftyle was varied by colouring the branchwork itfelf with richly contrafting colours, by which means a very gorgeous effect was fometimes produced.

Illumination reached its higheft point of pic­ torial pretenflon towards the clofe of the 15th, and in the beginning of the 16th century. Con­ ventional ornament almoft entirely difappeared ; and even the borders were entirely compofed of beautiful natural objects reprefented upon varioufly coloured or on gold grounds, the effect of which was often very charming.

Examples of this ftyle are, however, too well known to require defcription here ; but I cannot clofe this brief analytic fummary of the ftyles of illumination without referring to the late Italian ftyle, repre­ fented by Giulio Clovio and his followers. In this ftyle the borders were entirely compofed of a feledtion of carefully-drawn animals, human flgures, highly-wrought medallions, or ihields of gold and filver, and other ornaments ; thefe were ingenioufly arranged, fo as to form a homo­ geneous defign, in which all the parts appear to group together with a natural kind of order, that leems the refult of true decorative genius. T o the middle of the 16th century this ftyle — though very rapidly declining, in confequence of the too-fuccefsful rivalry of the printing-prefs— continued to prevail. After that period illumi­ nation rapidly difappeared ; and the few fpecimens that belong to the beginning and middle of the 17th century, fuch as the Miflal of Verfailles, the Prayer-book of La Valliere, &c., are un­ worthy of notice as works belonging to the hiftory of the true art of Illumination.

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fltforta M Ostagno.

A FLORENTINE LEGEND.

By

MISS PARDOE.

C oncluding P art .

O R a little time the midnight affaflination the large tears falling unheeded down her cheeks of the celebrated Venetian ma'ejlro formed as flie remembered the happy hours in which (he the principal topic of converfation in all the circles had dreamt her firft brief dream of love ; and of Florence ; but, as every attempt to eftabliflh heedlefs of the prefence of her young companions, the identity of the murderer failed, other fubjedts who talked cheerfully in whipfers as they dreffed of comment and curiofity fucceflively offered the fhrine with flowers. themfelves; and the fatal tragedy gradually be­ T hen, upon her ear came a low, faint mur­ came, if not altogether forgotten, at leaft lefs an mur, “ Ifaura— Ifaura— I am here.” objedt of intereft and conjecture. T he fympathies “ At la ft; ” was the fad, hopelefs reply. of the population, however, never ceafed to be “ Know you, Andrea, that a week has pafled awakened for a moment as a pale, emaciated, fince I have heard your voice,— a whole dreary and forlorn - looking young man occafionally week, although our Holy M other has never, fince appeared, traverfing the ftreets of the city at a our betrothal, forbidden you to fee me ?”

At thefe words a fhuddering emotion flhook rapid pace, always alone, and with his tangled and matted hair heaving heavily in the breeze, the fragile frame of the painter, and a fpafm of his drefs difordered, and his dark, wild eyes fixed pain croffcd his features as he remembered the glaringly on a diftance, which he did not feem to bitter hour of that unbleffed betrothal; while the young girl, appalled by his utter dejecftion, penetrate. “ Sad— fad, indeed, is it to fee the poor painter pafled her fmall fingers careflingly through the Andrea in fuch a wretched plight; ” would feme maffes of dark hair in which threads of filver kind-hearted looker-on exclaim as he pafled by. were beginning to (how themfelves, and mur­ “ Poor y outh! to think that the lofs of his friend mured gentle words of peace and hope to which and comrade fhould have fo troubled his reafon, her own crufhed heart gave no refponfe. “ It is in vain, Ifaura he faid, as he flirank that he has never even had fenfe to feel that he from her light touch ; “ pray for yourfelf, and fhould have worn mourning for the dead.” “ Aye ; ” would feme dark-eyed beauty reply; him; pray not for me ; I am beyond the reach “ and worfe ftill, that he fhould have fo long left of prayer. All that I afk is to die.” “ And who then,” fhe demanded, “ is to watch his betrothed bride — a bride beftowed upon him, too, by her dying father,— to break her heart over me ? to be my guardian and my flay ? Is it within the gloomy walls of her convent. Poverina! thus you would fulfil your laft promife to my poor may the Madonna of Santa Maria Novella take murdered father,— that father no fooner found than loft ? Roufe yourfelf, Andrea, for my fake ; pity on h e r!”

At intervals it would chance that the name of demand from the refources of your art a renewed Ifaura reached the ears of Andrea, when he would exiftence ; be worthy of your genius, and of the paufe for an inftant in his headlong career to affedtion of him who loved you as a fon ! ” Frightful, frightful moments thefe, when, like liften, and then, as though actuated by feme new impulfe, he would hurry to the Convent Degli his own dark fpirit within the dome of the baA ngeli; where he almoft invariably found the filick, Andrea fled away from the good angel by pale and heart-ftricken orphan, kneeling in the his fide into the darknefs of his fin-laden folitude, chapel before the picture painted by his hand, with the wild, fhrill cry of defpair upon his lips.

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Then came another phafe of incipient madnefs, during which the miferable young man, in obe­ dience to the wifhes of Ifaura, (hut himfelf into his atelier, and toiled early and late at his vo­ cation ; laughing loudly and mindleflly while he worked up his colours with the precious oil as Domenichino had taught him to d o ; and it was during this period of his mental malady that Pope Sixtus IV ., the enemy of the Medecis, formed in conjunction with Ferdinard King of Naples, the Count of Urbino, and the Siennefe, a league againft the Rate, by which it was placed in confiderable p eril; while, at the fame time, the powerful families of Pazzi and Salviati, alfo confpired againft that of the Medecis, when one of the former murdered Julian, the brother of Lorenzo, in the church of Santa Reparata. T he latter, however, fucceeded in accompliftiing his efcape with merely a flight wound ; and fubfequently (in 1480) effected a reconciliation with both the Pope and the King of Naples, who had openly encouraged the confpirators. Thefe were, how­ ever, lefs fortunate, the whole of the miferable men having been tried and executed two years previoufly ; and among the reft the venerable Francifco Salviati, Archbifliop of Pifa, the early friend and patron of Andrea del Caftagno, who was hanged, dreffed in his epifcopal garments, from a window of the Hotel-de-V ille of Florence.

T his execution, which attracted all the popu­ lation of the city and its environs, was witnefled with mingled rage and defpair by the unhappy young painter; but his difordered brain was too hot for tears : and when he was commanded by the Republic to paint a picture in commemora­ tion of the event, he obeyed without remonftrance or reluCtance; while, fo vivid had been the effeCt of the fatal fpeCtacle upon his difeafed imagination, that the terrible and vivid truth of his delineation fo covered his canvafs with ghaftly and repulfive objeCts, that, in their indignation, the Florentines— who were for the moft part ftrongly incenfed againft the miferable young man for undertaking a work in which his gene­ rous and untiring benefaCtor occupied fo confpicuous and fo frightful a prominence — thence­

forth knew him by no other name than that of Andrea the Hangman.

Little did thofe who thus vituperated him comprehend the agonizing and excited feeling under which the tafk had been accomplifhed.

In his portrayal of the dying victims, Andrea had effayed to reproduce every pang, and to per­ petuate every fuffering, as a lafting teftimony againft the unrelenting cruelty of their tyrants : but even the Medeci themfelves failed to deteCl his purpofe; and fo fully impreffed were they by the zeal as well as by the genius of their new protege^ that frefli orders flowed in from thofe princely patrons fo rapidly as to tax alike the phyfical energies and the artiftic powers of the painter. None, however, were refufed ; but it was remarkable that, after his great picture of the execution was completed, he forthwith aban­ doned all the advantages of that fecret which had been bequeathed to him by the noble-hearted and ill-requited Domenichino,— a circumftance which did not, neverthelefs, militate againft the fa(ft, that upon the appearance of his laft work the enthufiafm of the public rofe to fuch a height, that, with the fanCtion of Lorenzo, it was decided that he fliould be invefted with the laurel crown.

This honour failed, however, to aroufe his bruifed and broken fpirit : he liftened to the plaudits of his powerful patron, to the acclamations of the citizens, and to the felicitations of his brotherartifts, with a dull eye and a firmly-compreffed lip. But, fuddenly, a new idea feemed to flafh through his brain ; and as, at the conclufion of the ceremony, according to cuftom, the proceflion hade him farewell on the threfhold of his own home, with a joyous Ihout of a riverderle, while they haftened to prepare for the banquet to be given in his honour, he tore the chaplet from his brow, concealed it beneath the ample folds of his mantle, and, after one long look around to fatisfy himfelf that he was not obferved, he turned haftily in a direction which led through obfcure ftreets and lanes to the Convent of Degli Angeli. It was long fince he had vifited Ifaura.

T he undying remorfe which gnawed away his foul was always aggravated by the prefence of

& The Illuminators' Magazine. the unfufpecfting child of his viftim ,— of that idolized bride befide whom he dared not ftand at the altar : for would not a dagger— his own dagger— reeking with her father’s blood, lie upon the marble pavement between them ? And thus he fhrank from all contact with her who was ftill the only being dear to him upon earth.

But to-day— the day of his great triumph— he felt that he muff lay his trophy at her feet. He dare not give her his hand, but he could, at leaft, offer to her the proud emblem of his fuccefs, and thus juftify in her eyes the affedion which fhe had lavifhed upon him.

Poor Andrea ! He had forgotten that if time had not ftood ftill while he laboured with head and hand in order to crufh down the mighty and tumultuous heavings of his guilt-laden foul, neither had it been more tardy in fapping away the life-blood of the breaking; heart which he had, with apparent caprice, flung ruthleflly away.

T his was a truth which he was now to learn.

He entered the chapel with a hafty ftep. All was ftill. A white veil hung over his own pic­ ture of the Angels in Adoration ; a few pale lilies bloomed in a vafe before the effigy of the Virgin ; a fpotlefs banner trailed upon the altar-fteps.

Andrea fliuddered ; and rufhing to the convent­ parlour, he demanded, in a hufky voice, to fee the fuperior. “ W here is Ifaura ? ” he afked, without pre­ face or greeting of any fort.

T h e reverend mother took his cold hand in hers. “ Come with me,” was all fhe faid in reply.

T h e painter turned one glance upon her grave and forrowing countenance, and followed without a word.

O n a bed, furrounded by curtains of fnowy whitenefs, lay extended the angelic daughter of Domenichino, the beloved of Andrea, the peerlefs beauty of the convent. W axen tapers fent up their pallid light; the odour of fweet flowers was heavy on the atmofphere; and a group of

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maidens, the beloved companions of her fecluded youth, knelt in prayer around her. T here was a fad, fweet finile upon her lips ; her long, dark eyelafhes drooped like a fhadow upon her pallid cheeks, and her fmall hands were folded above her bofom.

And was this — could this— be all? Andrea ftood befide the rigid form, himfelf almoft as ftony and as rigid : not a figh, not a tear efcaped h im ; until the reverend mother, grafping his arm, whifpered in a faint and trembling voice : u Pray ! even now fhe is praying for you.”

Pray ? W hat would not the painter at that moment have given to have poffeffed the bleffed power of prayer? but he dared not— he could n o t— pray.

He caft one look of ineffable mifery on the fuperior, a fecond upon the corpfe; and then, crufhing between his convulfed and (training hands the laurel crown, he tore it into fragments which he fcattered over the bier, and with a yell, more like that of a wild animal than a human creature, fled from the fpot.

Lorenzo the Magnificent fat at the head of the fplendid board whereon was fpread the ban­ quet in honour of the hero of the day. A blaze of light, loud ftrains of mufic, the glitter of coftly plate, the flafhing of jewels, the ruftle of Aiks and velvets, the breath of a thoufand flowers, all awaited him ; and yet he came not. A cloud gathered upon the brow of the Prince, which was not unobferved by thofe about him ; and a few of thofe whofe fympathies were ftill enlifted in the caufe of the unhappy painter, haftened to rebuke him for his tardinefs. T hey went hurriedly, but they arrived too late. In front of an eafel, upon which ftood the original fketch of his famous pidure of the Angels, lay the lifelefs body of Andrea. In his right hand he grafped a dagger; and, by a Angular accident, a Angle laurel leaf which muft have been lodged in one of the folds of his cloak during his tranfit from the convent, refted upon its blade.

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CIjristtne Tie $tsain A MEMOIR. -------------

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E can only notice, very briefly, the chief of her numerous poems, &c., which remain. And, perhaps, the better way for us to take even thefe will be to glance at the contents of the volume of her works in the Harl. Library.* This fine MS. is an example of the Rate of illu­ mination in Chrifline's lifetime. Almoft every fubjedt has one or more miniatures, fuppofed to be illuftrative, and in moft cafes richly curious and amufing. T he firR page has the fplendid miniature, copied in our laft Part of the Maga­ zine. Page 2. “ Chrifline writing her works.”

After the introduction and dedication, come va­ rious lays, roundeaux, &c., then “ Une Complainte Amoureufe,” 4 with a miniature. After this, the “ EpiRre au dieu d’am our;” J then “ Une autre Complainte Amoureufe ” with a fine miniature, &c. It begins,

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“ Doulce dame vueilles ouyr la plainte De ma clamour car penfee diftraite,” &c.

After this, on fol. 60, commences, “ Le livre du debat des deux amans.” This was originally dedicated to Louis, Duke of Orleans.

Fol. 73, rev. A fhort piece, called “ T he Book of the T hree Judgements,” addrefled to the “ bon fenefchal de haynau.”

Fol. 97, rev.

T he “ Roman d c Othea et H edtor;” a letter of CO T hea (the goddefs) Pru­ dence (“ peut-etre,” fays Chriftine, “ la fagece de femme” ), to Hedtor, when he was fifteen years of age ; § probably compofed for the inftrudtion of the young duke Charles of Orleans. It begins with a miniature of the goddefs, in deep blue, feated on a cloud, a diapered background behind her. Hedtor, not a youth but a mannikin, is receiving a letter from her. He is attired in a * 4 + §

Hark 4431.

On p. 48. lb* P» 53> a n d MS. 7217. Imp. Lib. Paris.

Alfo in MSS. 7223 and 7399, Bibl. Imp. Paris.

PART III. t?------ ■ ---------------

blue robe, and wears a coronet and plumes, a hawk on his left wrift. Several perfons are in attendance.

Fol. 98, 100, 101, 102, &c. contain minia­ tures of various deities who are mentioned in the text. Beneath thefe are generally feated numbers of perfons affedled by the peculiar attributes of the deity above. Beneath Saturn, for inRance, are certain wifeacres fitting in confultation ; beneath Apollo, poets and minflrels ; beneath Luna, lunatics in various Rages o f in­ fancy ; beneath Mars, a b attle; and beneath Mercury, a converfation-party. “ M ercurius,” fays Chrifline, “ eR dieu de lengage.” And fo on, through moR of the gods, demi-gods, and heroines of the mythology of Greece.

Fol. 131. Fortune and her wheel ; a king on the top, a poor man holding on by his legs at bottom.

But we muR pafs on.

Fol. 145 begins, “ Le livre . . . des vrais amans,”* with five good miniatures with landfcape backgrounds, fhowing a tranfition to the incoming Flemifli fchool of Illumination.

Fol. 180. “ Ci com ce le livre du chemin de lone eRude,” with eight miniatures having dia­ pered backgrounds again. T his was compofed in March 1402,4 and tranflated into French profe by J . Chaperon, in 1549.

Fol. 223. “ Le livre de la PaRoure,” com­ pofed in May 14034 Fol. 239. “ Les epiflres fur le Romant de la Rofe,” the twenty-firfl in order of the fubje&s compofing the volume. It is dedicated feparately to the queen, as already Rated.

After a feledion of “ Proverbes, moraulx,” * In Harl. Cat. v. 3, p. 144, it is entitled “ Le due des vrais amans.”

4 MS. 7217, Bibl. Imp. and I. C., Paris, 1549. i6mo.

J MS. 7216, fol. 48, Bibl. Imp.

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Mais lors n’ara foulz les cieulx, &c., with three miniatures fhowing great imFeme qui fe comparage provement in the faces, backgrounds ftill diaA moi quant ver ray des yeulx Le corps et le doul% vifage, pered, and “ Livre de prudence en l’enfeigneDe ell qui me tient ombrage ment de viere (vivre),” comes on, • Tant defir a le tenir Fol. 292. T he once much-read “ Livre de Es bras felon mon ufage Dieu lui doint brief revenir. la cite des dames.”

Part I. O f the building of the walls and “ Ha quant fera ce voyage cloifters about the city.

Miniatures, three Accomply figne avenir, Puiffe au mien a heritage, ladies appearing to Chriftine in one divifion; in Dieu lui doint brief revenir.” the other, the fame three building the wall.

T here is a fomewhat fimilar miniature, roughly One fpecimen from the lover and we have engraved, in Pepwell’s tranflation at this part. done.

Part II. How and by whom the city was No. 60. L’AM ANT. built and peopled. Miniature of the queen and “ Or fuisje joyeux et hault Puis je nel vois au retour feven ladies entering the city.

Vers celle en qui n’a deffault Part I II. How and by whom the defences of De grace et en tout atour the city were completed, and what noble ladies De corps et de doulz viayre Paffe toutes avoir dire were ordained to live in the palaces and donjons.

Ha de beaulte l’exemplaire Miniature of the Virgin and faints entering the Tant a veoir vous defire. city 5 the queen kneels to admit them.* * * * * * * Dieux me doint toft vers vous traire Laft of all, we come to the “ Poems,” properly Rien tant ne me fuft fuffire, fo called, viz , Fol. 276. “ Cent balades d'amant Ha de beaulte l’exemplaire et de dame.”

Tant a veoir vous defire.”

Many of thefe ballads have the fame line at As to the MS. itfelf, it has a curious hiftory. the end of every verfe. Song 21, “ L ’amant,” is a fair fpecimen of the plaintive mufical ditty, It is evidently contemporary in execution with of which fo many make up this once attractive the lifetime of Chriftine, and was moft probably little book of ballads. T he lover and lady take .written and illuminated for her miftrefs the it in turn to fing. Here is part of one of the Queen, fomewhere between 1410 and 1420; and poffibly even under the fuperintendence of lady’s :— John Van Eyck, who was long attached to the brilliant court of Philip of Burgundy, Chriftine’s No. 59. generous patron. <£ Il me va un petit meulx T he work may have been executed in part by Puis qu’il m ’eft venu meffage Du bon, bel, et gracieux, feveral afliftants, and afterwards put together in Qui ala par mer a nage.

Paris. There are indications of this divifion of c< Puis que fcav louez foit dieux, labour, not only in the different ftyles obfervable Qu’encombrier n’a ne dommage, in the MS., but alfo in the difference of artiftic Au moins n’avoit quant du lieux (kill. One part is entirely in the French manner Le parti le porteurfage with diaper backgrounds; another, in the Flemifh, Des letres, ce m ’eft fuffrage Grant mais jufqu’a fon venir, with landfcapes fuch as the Van Eycks are faid N ’aray droit joyeux courage. to have introduced into illumination. After­ Dieu lui doint brief revenir. wards, with feveral other volumes from the library of Ifabella, the MS. came into the hands * Thofe who have accefs to the Reading-room of the Briti/h of lohn Duke of Bedford, the Regent of France Mufeum will find feveral tranflations or copies of this curious for Henry V I. perhaps through his fecond wife treati fe.

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Jacquette of Luxembourg, to whom he was married in 1432.

Her autograph is written on the firft leaf. It feems very likely that it came by conqueft rather than by gift, among the volumes feleCted by the Duke from the Royal collection of France.

T he Duchefs Jacquette furvived her hufband, and was married, in 1437, two years after his death, to Sir R. Wydville, created Earl Rivers in 1466. She bequeathed the volume to their fon Anthony, the celebrated Lord Scales, after­ wards fecond Earl Rivers, whofe autograph ap­ pears on the left of his mother’s with his motto, M N

u lle l a v a u l t ,

RIVIERES.

Sir Fred. Madden, from whofe interefting ac­ * count of the MS. thefe particulars are chiefly derived, calls attention to the faCt of Lord Rivers poflefling this volume as being the more intereft­ ing, from the probability that it was from this very MS. his tranflation of the Morals, Proverbs, &c. of Chriftine, into Englifti verfe, was made.

It was printed by Caxton at the command of the noble tranflator, 1478.

It appears from the fucceeding autograph, that the MS. palled next into the pofleflion of the Seig­ neur de la Gruthuyfe, — who had a magnificent collection at Bruges, — as a prefent from Lord Rivers.

How it came into the hands of the Duke of Newcaftle, whofe autograph, dated 1676, appears on the fly-leaf, is unknow n: but from him it pafled to the Earl of Oxford, founder of the Harleian library, and is thus at prefent one of the treafures of that invaluable collection.

W e have really extended our remarks on the Harleian c W o rk s’ until we have not room left to fpeak of thofe in the Imperial Library at Paris.

T he principal of her political treatifes are thefe. T he Livre de la P aix, a kind of fup* Archaologiay vol. xxvi. p. 271, &c.

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plcment to the Life of Charles V, already mentioned. Alfo Le Corps de Policie, addrefied to the three clafles of the realm ; and the Letter to Ifabella, in which Chriftine adjures that princefs to re-eftablifh peace ; and her book of Lamentations on the Miferies of the Wars, written in the heat of the great ftruggle between Burgundy and Armagnac.

Several of thefe were trandated into Englilh, and published by Caxton and his fucceftors.

Among the firft of Caxton’s productions, was the book of Armsand *Chivalry, which the good old tranflator thought needful for degenerate Englifhmen to read. It was tranflated and printed by order of Henry V II. in 1489. W ydville’s tranflation of the Morals has been referred to ; others we have not fpace to mention.

T he time of Chriftine’s death is not known.

It is thought that (he was ftill living when Joan d’Arc created the great ftir in France by her vifions. She died, however, during the fifteen years of Englilh rule, that is, before 1436, per­ haps ten years before, as is generally fuppofed.

Several miniatures’of her exift befide the one in Harl. 4431. T he moft perfect is faid t'o be one in MS. 7395, Paris, at the beginning of her Cite des Dames, She is feated at a writing-defk (on a dais), her head retting on her left hand : her elbow on a bureau. T he vifage is round, the features angular. Her eyes are fhut as if dream­ ing. On the whole, flie was a very pretty woman, her countenance expreflive of fweetnefs, her eyes and forehead of dignity mingled with melancholy, as we might expeCt from what we know of her hiftory.

W e cannot conclude without a hope that while fo much is being done for other half-for­ gotten authors fome benevolent admirer may take the trouble to collect and edit her numerous, and in many cafes interefting works.

J. W . B R A D L E Y . * Harl. 4605. In four books, each with a miniature prefixed.

The firft a portrait of Chriftine, fimilar to thofe in 4431.

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Day& Sffib.Lbthrs Lu(Jvt

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T lx Origin of tlx jfleur4x4te.

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th e

A uthor

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“ M ary P owell .”

N E wonders at the audacity of thefe old faid Clovis, who was dill a heathen. “ Come, monks. I acquit them of any intentional give it me for my (hare of the fpoil, and he (hall irreverence ; but they could take frightful liberties have it ! ” u T he lot is for all,” faid one of his foldiers, with holy perfons and things.

There is a very note-worthy inftance of this moodily, u let all abide by it or none.” u If it comes to that,” faid Clovis, “ I claim in the old illuftration of the origin of the fleurde-lis. They were only taking a leaf out of my my right to choofe, let alone the lot.” book, or perhaps I have taken a leaf out of T he warrior, without another word, raifed his theirs — in fpinning truth and fidlion together, axe on high with both hands, brought it down warp and woof— fymbolizing thoughts — para­ with a mighty crafti on the vafe, and fhivered it bolizing morals — garlanding ruins of old me­ in a thoufand pieces. mories.

Clovis glared at him, but faid nothing,— the Here is an angel receiving the fleur-de-lis from vafe was gone. A year afterwards, reviewing heaven. A little (hepherd-boy in the field be­ his troops, he fingled out this man, pretended low, watching his flocks by night, hard by a that his arms were not in proper order, and village church on a hill, is dazzled by the unufual {hatching his axe from him, threw it on the radiance of the firmament, and (hading his eyes; ground. As the man (looped to recover it, while the fheep appear aware of fomething un­ Clovis, with his own axe, fplit his fkull, ex­ common, and a wolf takes the opportunity of claiming, “ Remember the vafe at Soiffons I ” running off with a lamb.

It was very important that fuch a man fhould T he angel next appears hovering with evident be brought under the yoke of Chrift. While pleafure over a venerable faint,— St. Remi, I con­ cautious in yielding too ready a belief to aftumpclude,— who has received the holy cloth or tions of the miraculous, every thoughtful Christ­ kerchief, on which the fleur-de-lis is portrayed, ian mud trace in the events of hiftory, as of his and who is prefenting it, kneeling, to Oueen own life, providential interpofitions.

Nations Clotilda. L et us look up the hiftory of this are not at the mercy of blind chance: “ what God foreknew, He alfo did predeftinate,” without good Princefs.

About the year 500 the king of the Franks arrefting the power of free-will.

It pleafed God that France (hould be Chriftwas C lovis: he and his people were pagans.

But Chriftianity had been introduced into Gaul ianized, and through the inftrumentality of a woman. There was a princefs of Burgundy— two centuries before.

Clovis is the fame name as Louis. I have we doubt not that (he was young, that (he was feen, in an old Englilh hiftory of France, the fair. Good (he was, pious (he was. Her name name of Louis fpelt Lovis throughout; fo that was Clotilda, and (he was a Chriftian.

There is no better way of making territorial the only difference was adding the initial letter.

He feems to have been a brave, impulfive acceflions than by peaceful alliances. Clovis character, rough and fierce, of courfe,. but that thought he (hould like to be king on the fouth fide of the Loire as well as on the north, and no was the charadteriftic of his time.

On one occafion, a rich vafe having been more promifing way occurred to him than by taken in the plunder of a church at Rheims, marrying Clotilda, daughter of the late, and St. Remi, the bifhop of that fee, fent to beg it niece of the prefent king of Burgundy.

Gondebart, king of the Burgundians, had might be reftored. “ T he old man has reafon for his requeft,” cruelly murdered Clotilda’s parents, and ufurped

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On this, Gondebart reluctantly confented to Clotilda’s departure ; and fhe quitted the court of a dreaded and unprincipled uncle for that of a bridegroom impatient to welcome her.

Scarcely had fhe begun her journey, with fuch equipage and outfit as fhe had been able to obtain, when the greedy Gondebart repented he had let her go, purfued her, and feized on the baggage which contained her dowry.

Clotilda herfelf narrowly efcaped being cap­ tured : fhe was under the care of Aurelian, Clovis’s ambaffador, who, defcrying the Burgun­ dian king in purfuit, placed her on a fleet horfe, and leaving bag and baggage to fatisfy the cupidity of her uncle, galloped off with her to Soiffons, where he triumphantly prefented her to the king.

T hey were married, though what were the marriage rites we know not, for Clovis con­ tinued a pagan for three years ; doubtlefs not altogether infenfible to the gentle perfuafions and arguments of Clotilda. He yet halted between two opinions, however, when a crifis in his life led him to ffake all on the turn his affairs fhould take.

An irruption of the Alemanni into Gaul fummoned him to the field in defence of his allies the Bifmarian Franks. He encountered the foe in the plain ofT olbiac, not far from Cologne ; the battle raged fiercely, and his troops appeared likely to give way. T he entreaties and example of his gentle wife flafhed upon his mind. “ O God of Clotilda ! ” exclaimed he fervently, “ grant me victory, and I will renounce idolatry and become a Chriftian ! ” W hen we confider the mighty interefts that depended on this prayer, it is as confiftent with reafon as with faith to conclude that the victory which enfued was its diredt anfwer. It was accepted as fuch by the grateful Clovis, who was foon afterwards baptized by St. Remi, with three thoufand of his fubjedts ; and this change of the religion of the nation feems to have been effected

with no more difficulty or difturbance than any common matter of political regulation. It was, indeed, probably more a fubmiffion to ecclefiaftical authority and adoption of the church ritual at firft, than a change of heart and life ; but it opened the way for them, and, in fadt, was an adtual fubverfion of the old idolatry and an acceptance of the dodtrine of the crofs. “ T hat which I fee not, teach thou me.”

How fweet muff it have been to Clotilda, to fee Clovis with unaffected folemnity kneeling at the font. However imperfedtly he compre­ hended the fcheme of falvation and the myftical wafhing away of fin, he liftened with abforbed attention to the gofpel narrative; and when he heard of Chrift dying on the crofs, exclaimed with emotion, “ Had I been there with my brave Franks, I would have revenged His injuries !”

Clovis was at this time twenty-feven years of age. He was the only Catholic living in Europe, for all the others were Arians ; fo it is no wonder he has always been a favourite of the Church.

T he tradition is that a phial of holy oil — the Sainte Ampoule— was brought from heaven by a dove, to be ufed in anointing him at his coro­ nation as prieft and k ing; and the fame oil is fuppofed to be drill ufed in the /acre of the French fovereio-ns. o Not content with this, the monkifh chroniclers affert that the fleur-de-lis, the cognizance of France, was alfo of heavenly origin. Perhaps they meant this rather for graceful poetry than for a cunningly devifed fable. T hey fay, that in anfwer to a prayer of the pious Clotilda for fome fign which fhould be all-convincing to him, an angel appeared, bearing a lily, the emblem of virgin purity, and called on him to acknowledge the true God ; and that therefore Clovis adopted it for the royal cognizance when he was con­ verted. This is the tradition followed in our Here is Clotilda prefenting him illuftration. with a fhield emblazoned with three fleurs-de-lis, the weight of which feems in reality to be fupported by an angel crowned with amaranths.

A fquire or herald is fattening on the king’s fpurs ; another is clafping his hands in ecftafy ; Clovis himfelflooks complacent; the coflume of the group may be that of the period of the artift rather than of the Frankifh king..

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^tstorp of Jllumtnation From the Earlieft Times.

group of illuminatorii graced the court of the Medici, and have left MSS. decorated in the higheft ftyle of art. Gherardo and Attavanti were the leading artifts, the latter exe­ cuted a Miffal for Mathias Corvinus, king of Hungary, on which the Regents of the Nether­ lands (who largely employed the Florentine illuminatorii) at one time took the official oath.

In the Laurentian library are preferved many volumes ornamented with the beautiful borders of mingled garlands and genii fo well known as the Italian ftyle, whether of book-decoration or frefco-painting. In connection with the Floren­ tine fchool of illumination we find a fociety of illu­ minators called the “ Corporation of St. Luke,” which originated in Florence, and thence fpread throughout Italy and other nations. Other focieties, as u T he Brothers of a Common Life,” were likewife formed in imitation of the monaftic orders.

T h e fchools of Upper Italy participated in the impulfe communicated by Giotto. In Bologna there was already a vigorous fchool eftablifhed, and the work of the calligraphift and illuminaturift aCtively purfued. It was the cuftom to expofe lifts of MSS. containing the number of pages and the terms on which they might be bought, confulted, or copied. Bologna was cele­ brated for the fidelity of its copies. In the 13th century the price of a Bible was eighty livres, an illuminated Miffal two hundred florins. belonged to this fchool; he was a * Oderigi native of the city of Agubbio in Umbria, a difciple of Cimabue, and companion of Giotto ; with whom Baldinucci fuppofes him to have been affociated in illuminating fome MSS. for the Vatican Library. He was a miniatore of fome note himfelf, and mafter of Franco Bolognefe, the head and founder of the Bolognefe fchool.

T he vignettes of a Juftinian Codex in the Bibl.

Imp. Paris, are afcribed to him.

Padua, like Florence, had the advantage of being governed by a race diftinguiflied as lovers of art. T he family of Carrara, Dukes of Padua, cheriflied and greatly aided the development of the fchool of painting in the ducal city. This fchool was an offset of that of Florence ; here in later times Squarcione founded a fchool fecond only to that of Giotto in widely-fpread and enduring influence ; his houfe was one of the chief attrac­ tions of Padua, and a perfect mufeum of art, which he had acquired during his travels in Greece and Italy. He is not fo much known by his own works as by thofe of his fcholars, to whom he gave Squarcione died in his numerous *commiflions.

1474, but his fcholars perpetuated his ftyle; and three of them became famous as heads of fchools,— Giacomo Bellini at Venice, Marco Zoppo at Bologna, and Andrea Mantegna at Mantua.

In Verona, illumination was praCtifed by a long line of celebrated artifts. Liberale, Francefco Veronefi (called dei Libri, from his marvellous {kill in miniature-painting), and his fon, Giro­ lamo, whofe names recall the ecftatic raptures of Dibdin, and the exquifite miniatures which excited his delight; Girolamo is infeparably con­ nected with his ftill more celebrated pupil, Giulio Clovio. Vafari’s defcription of his manner is equally true of that of his pupil,— “ Nothing like his miniatures in the imitation of cameos was ever before feen, many of his figures are no larger than ants, yet in all every limb and mufcle could be diftinguifhed :” this tallies with the defcription, by our correfpondent at Naples, of the Dante of Clovio in the National Library. Giulio Clovio worked from 1523 to 1578, during the pontifi­ cates of Clement V II. and Paul III. Like

* This is probably the Oderigi of Dante, “ Oderifi, l’onor d’Agubbio, e l’onor di quell’arte, ch’alluminare chimata in Parifi ?”

* They are fuppofed to have executed the illuminations of the Book of Anthems in the Church of Mifericordia, which were afcribed to Mantegna.

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moft of the artifts we have mentioned, he parted fome part of his life in a convent. In the conven­ tual ertablifhments of Italy were produced the greateft works of their refpedtive ages, efpecially in thofe of the Benedidtine order; to our day many have preferved the treafures intruded to them. T he nucleus of the order, Monte Caflino, was from the firfl: a noted fchool; but, although its library contains a valuable collection of MSS., the illuminations now in them, with the exception of one fmall Breviary, are not very choice. At Perugia and Ferrara, on the contrary, an invalu­ able collection is preferved, extending from 1260, when the monk Serrati “ orno i libri corali di figure nobiliflime,” to Fra Girolamo Fiorius and his pupil *Cofme.

O f illumination in Spain very little is known, but this much we gather, it appears to be an epitome of the art of the Netherlands and Italy, with which countries the court of Spain was fo intimately connected; and its courfe was fimilar to that of art in thofe countries. Starting- from the dominion of the Saracen, when it was fubjecd to the influence of Byzantium, it gradually at­ tained to freedom of ftyle. A few names of the illuminators of the 10th century are preferved, but little or nothing is known of their works.

A Bible tranfcribed by Pedro of Pampeluna, of the 13th century, is in the cathedral library of Seville. T he abfurd ftritftures of the Inquifition greatly retarded the development of art in Spain ; and thofe foreign artifts who vifited the country were obliged to work by line and rule, fubjeCt to the regulations of the commiflion of public decorum, which was, in the 17th century, intrufted to Pachecho, who gives minute advice for the reprefentation of every fubjeCt, and flridt injunctions agataft drawing the nude. He encumbers the artift with matters * To the Apoftolic Chamber an official illuminator was always attached, among whom we.meet with names of celebrated artifts as late as 1689. The Doges of Venice alfo retained their illumi­ nators, who, with fome of the greateft painters, produced the “ Ducales.” A Miflal of this fchool, dated 1420, is in the Bibl.

Imp. at Paris, and defcribed by Waagen. Kugler places in connexion with this fchool Gentile dei Fabriano, who in chara6ter and ftyle refembled Fra Angelico da Fiefole.

of doCtrine, as in the cafe of The Lajl 'Judgment of Michael Angelo, where he deprecates the placing of the loft in the air, becaufe “ it is a matter of faith that they want the gifts of glory, and cannot therefore poflefs the requifite lightnefs or agility— the impropriety of this mode o f exhibiting them is felf-evident.” * From fome of his admonitions we gather that the concep­ tions of the Spanifh fchool were very trivial.

Artifts from Italy and the Netherlands parted into Spain; we hear of two Florentine “ eagles or great painters,” having done fo in the 14th century ; and in the 15th, Roger of Bruges, the pupil of Van Eyck, was fettled in Spain. In 1428 Van Eyck himfelfaccompanied the embarty of Philip the Good, of Burgundy, to the Portuguefe court, to folicit the hand of Ifabella, daughter of John I., and painted the portrait of the Princefs for the Duke.

T he fame romantic fpirit influenced the nobility of Spain which we have feen pervading fociety generally. Don Diego de Mendoza, who united the profeflion of arms with poetic feeling, col­ lected many ancient M SS., and himfelf wrote feveral romances and poems. M uch of the foreign influence brought to bear upon the Spanifh fchool is attributable to this feeling and to the acquifitions of conqueft. Cardinal Burgos tranfplanted many of the treafures of the Siennefe libraries into Spain. Thofe Spanifh MSS. which we have in this country, fuch as the Miflal of Ferdinand and Ifabella, are unmiftakeably Flemifh, a ftyle which, in the 15th century, prevailed over all others.

As illumination became more detached from its firft profeflors, more a fecular art, it ftill found warm patrons in the ducal families of Italy and the nobles of other lands : its gradual decline may be dated from the invention of printing, which led to the accumulation of many books rather than the coftly embellifhment of a few. In the court of Verfailles, it was faintly cherifhed, after which it lay dormant for a time, to awake in our own day, we truft, to an undying exiftence.

* Arte de la Pintura.

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jBotcs on We international dfyintntion T is not poflible to condenfe into any brief fhaded gold, with chains o f pearls worked in notice the volumes that dwuld, and doubt- diamond pattern, and fo wonderfully tinted as to lefs will, be written on thofe many works of art give the appearance of being raifed like a frame ; contained in the great wonder of our day, the in the centre of each diamond is a crimfon flower.

International Exhibition, and which come more T he drapery is likewife of crimfon, and is a very efpecially within the range of this publication. exaft reprefentation of filk. T he ground is of a Y et as we make our way amidd the admiring peculiar colour, and bed defcribed as verdigris, and wondering crowds that flock hither and though not driftly partaking of that tint. T h e thither, up and down, in and out of thofe various three groups are divided by candelabra columns, courts, on which (land two white flamingoes trimming “ In this great manfion, . . . their fnowy breads. Over the flames hover blue So royal, rich, and wide,” butterflies. Garlands of flowers are taftefully fes­ and feel dashed with the fight of fuch countlefs tooned around the piftures, and are very true to monuments of art and indudry, certain individual nature in their execution. T his beautiful piece objefts drike the eye as bearing direft reference of tapedry is woven in the loom, and is of the high to any purpofe which the mind may have in view. warp like the Gobelins. It was manufactured at In walking down the nave, thofe who have an Aubuflon, a place which, before the French Revo­ eye for tapedry are immediately druck by a lution, was equally noted for its manufacture of fplendid piece, fufpended from the gallery over tapedry with Beauvais and Paris. T his fpecimen the French Court, and remarkable for its beauty gives tedimony to the revival of the art, in all its perfection, and, we might add, improvements. of defign and execution.

In the Mediaeval Court we And two anti• T he fubjeft is the well-known French fable of u La belle au bois doremant,” by Perrault. The pendiums worthy of notice, exhibited by Meffrs.

Jones and Willis of Birmingham. One having in panel is 9 by 40 French metres broad, by 5 metres high, and is compofed of three groups. T hat a centre medallion the Crucifixion, with the Blefled on the left reprefents the wicked fairy vowing Virgin and St. John Handing beneath the crofs, revenge on the child who is ju d born, for the in- worked by hand in long ditch on gold ground; the fult offered to her by the parents in not inviting border is of trees, worked in gold filk, and variousher to be prefent at its birth ; whild the young coloured birds on crimfon-velvet; purple and green fairy holds the child in her arms, covers her with duffs are likewife introduced with good effect.

T he other is more elaborate and heavier. Curiher magic wand, and promifes to proteft her from oufly fhaped fleurs-de-lys, embroidered on white the aflaults of the wicked fairy.

T o the right we fee the child, now grown into corded material, alternate with Maltefe erodes in a girl, ju d as fhe has wounded her hand with her various colours. T he lower part is a Van Dyke fpindle, and falls afleep, not to awaken for one pattern and gold dars, with ultramarine profufely hundred years,— and an old companion-fpinner introduced. Both thefe frontals are embroidered by hand, and evince much evennefs of execution. feized with fright at fight of the accident.

W hen we remember what painted glafs was T he middle group piftures the awaking of u La Belle” by the prince, who is kneeling before fome twenty or thirty years ago in England, and her : “ A touch — a kifs! the charm was fnapt.” look on the many trophies of this art difplayed T h e perfeft harmony of the colours is thoroughly now by our countrymen, we have indeed reafon artidic, and evinces that the manufafturers have to feel proud — albeit, that, generally fpeaking, it an entire appreciation of the point to which this does not take much to call forth that little weakbranch of decorative art may be carried. It is nefs in an Englifhman.

In England, after the 16th century, glafsnot tapedry, but a lovely pifture.

T o defcribe it more in detail, the border is of painting came to a perfeft danddill, and only of

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'The Illuminators’ Magazine.

later years has there been any effort made to emulate or imitate the productions of Continental nations. W hat the beft fpecimens of painted glafs windows were during the early part of this century, even when artifts of high (landing were engaged to make the defigns, let the windows of New College Chapel, Oxford, and of Trinity College library, *tell. L et us think of thefe as we (land beneath the painted windows exhibited in this Exhibition of 1862, and the contraft will ftrike vividly on our minds. Hardman’s great window, in the north end of the Eaft Tranfept, from Doncafter Church, is a chef d' oeuvre of its kind. It contains 24 principal groups reprefenting fcenes in the life of our Lord in the 15th century ftyle. W onderful (kill is difplayed in the grouping of the figures ; the delineation of the countenances is well marked, but evidently the difficulties with regard to tints which are met with by the artift, have hindered him from throwing anything beyond the ordinary wooden-like expreffion generally feen in windows. T he colouring is remarkably pure and harmonious. One group deferves efpecial notice : namely, the betrayal of our Saviour by Judas in the garden. O11 either fide of this window are two fine fpecimens of painted glafs by Meffrs. Chance of Birming­ ham. T h a t on the left being a facred fubjeCI, and that on the right the legend of Robin Hood’s laft fhot, which runs thus :— T he great robber­ captain fell fick, and fought his coufin the priorefs of Kirkleys,— who, like all religious ladies in thofe days, was a fkilful leech,— and begged her to bleed him. But Robin’s mortal enemy, Sir Roger of Doncafter, had the ear of the priorefs, and made her promife that (he would leech Robin to fome purpofe, even unto death.

T h e lady-doctor therefore, having bled Robin, left him with the bleeding unftaunched. Feeling himfelf grow weaker and yet more weak, he blew a feeble blaft on his horn, which brought faithful Little John to his fide. W hen he found in what a plight his beloved mafter was, in his indignation he would have killed the perfidious priorefs there and then; but Robinftayedhis hand, and taking the bow and arrow from Little John, he fent a farewell (hot into the wood through which he had roamed fo blithely. T hen turning to his old companion, he faid, “ Little John, fee * The former were defigned by Sir Jofliua Reynolds, and painted

by Jarvis; whilft the latter were defigned by Cipriani!

.‘where the arrow has fallen, there do thou bury me.” And Robin never fpoke more.

T h e depth and richnefs of colourin gin this beautiful window cannot be furpaffed.

The crimfon, green, and purple, are of the fulleft tint that can be taken by glafs. T h e conception of Robin Hood in the aCt of drawing his bow for the laft time, is majeftic and powerful, whilft the ineannefs of the fcene between the craven knight and falfe priorefs is admirably depicted. In this fpecimen, colour and defign are equally telling.

Paffing on to the north-eaft tranfept gallery, we come upon the fpace devoted to fpecimens of illuminative painting by Englifh artifts. And here we muft confefs to fomewhat of difappointment. T h e works exhibited are comparatively few, if we confider how widely fpread the tafte for this beautiful art has become of late years, the vaft field that has been opened, and the per­ fection to which it has been brought. W hat have the profeffors of illuminative painting been doing, that the art fhould, en gros, be fo poorly reprefented ? But our laments are now vain ; let us caft a glance upon what material there is to notice. Some highly-finifhed defigns for illuminated court cards, by Mr. John Franklin, are very fine ; the expreflion of the kings’ faces is vigorous and life-like.

Defigns from the Sermon on the M ount, of the 14th century, by Audfley, will repay examination. T h e beautiful defigns of F. S. A. from the Idyls o f the King, are not managed as effectively in the colouring as we have feen them elfewhere.

A. Ao-lio has a fine defign, treated by a mafterly hand.

W hilft on this fubjeCI we muft not fail to notice a little gem exhibited in a writing-cafe of elabor­ ate workmanfliip by Meffrs. Howell and Jam es.

It is a fmall illuminated calendar defigned and painted by Mifs Louifa W in g ; the minutenefs of the work, fo exquifitely delicate in its finifh, merits a (bort defcription. It is written on gold ground, the border confiding of groups of flowers on blue ground. T h e figns of the zodiac under each month in medallions ; the dividing columns are formed of various flowers, fupported by che­ rubim. T h e reverfe fide varies in defio-n.

T o conclude thefe few notes, which want of fpace renders all too brief and infufficient, fome highly fuccefsful fpecimens of that elaborate procefs, chromo-lithography, fliown by Meffrs.

Rowney and Son, deferve attention.

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