MINIATURE. 



MIXIATURB, 



We will notice first the former kind of miniature*. The practice of 

 enriching manuscripts with small paintings is very ancient. Many o 

 the Egyptian papyri exhibit in their coloured hieroglyphic* what are 

 in their way admirable example* of miniature painting. These are 

 painted in very vivid colours, and often display much artistic skill in 

 their execution. From the marvellous skill and patience shown by the 

 Greeks in the engraving of email figure* on gem*, we may conclude 

 that they could paint with equal skill on a small scale, but we do not 

 know that they practised this kind of painting to any extent. Among 

 the Roman*, book* were occasionally adorned with small paintings in 

 a very costly style for noble and wealthy persons. Pliny 

 xxxv. 2.) relate* that Marcu* Varro'i work entitled ' Hebdomade* ' 

 mnsrrttii of brief biographies of 700 illustrious men, from Homer 

 downwards, each being accompanied by a portrait. There has been 

 considerable discussion a* to the manner in which these portrait* were 

 executed, some, and Muller amongst them, supposing that they were 

 produced by a reproductive process a sort of engraving and print- 

 ing in fact which enabled them to be repeated in each copy of th? 

 work. It is more probable that they were drawings or paintings 

 though perhaps not of a very elaborate description. Seneca, Martial, 

 ami other writers refer to the practice of adorning manuscript* with 

 painted illustrations. 



In the decline of art the practice wag preserved by the artists of 

 Byzantium. Some writers believe that in the existing Byzantine 

 miniatures we have in fact the connecting link between ancient and 

 modern painting. But there is nothing in the character of these 

 work* to support the suggestion that the artists had inherited the 

 traditions of the painters of ancient Greece. The earliest works were 

 uncouth in drawing and barbarous in design, and owe both in general 

 style and colour something to oriental taste. Yet they are of exceed- 

 ing value as indicative of the character of the earliest dawning* of the 

 revival of art under Christian influence. And as long as the practice 

 continued of adorning manuscripts with these works they retain then- 

 value as documents in the history of art representing on the whole 

 faithfully it* condition at the various periods, and in its earlier stages 

 being almost the only example* of painting that have come down to 

 u*. These illuminations are also of great value, apart from their worth 

 as works of art, as illustrating the costume, weapons, and even the 

 architecture of their time. 



The oldest existing manuscripts with miniatures are Byzantine, and 

 of the Utter part of the 4th, or beginning of the 5th century. During 

 the first centuries, pictorial representations were studiously discouraged 

 by the bishops of the church ; but this was .'changed in the 4th 

 century, and thenceforward we find the practice of illuminating manu- 

 scripts to have generally prevailed the painters, being for the most part, 

 monks, and a scriptorium, or establishment for writing and illumina- 

 ting manuscripts, being attached to almost every wealthy monastery. 

 The earliest extant illuminated Byzantine manuscripts are a book of 

 Genesis in the Imperial Library at Vienna ; one similar in subject and 

 character, but fuller of miniatures, which formed one of the treasures 

 of the Cottonian collection, but was unhappily almost destroyed by the 

 fire at Ashbumham House ; and a Virgil in the Vatican. The Vienna 

 manuscript has the text chiefly in gold and silver, and is adorned with 

 88 miniatures; the Vatican Virgil contain* 50 miniatures, tli 

 bong written in capital letters and in black ink. The Vatican Virgil 

 was engraved by P. 8. Bartoli (1677), at the. expense of Cardinal C. 

 IJMsimi, but the engraver corrected both the drawing and chiaroscuro, 

 in accordance with the taste of his day, and the engravings are con- 

 sequently valueless for any historical or critical purpose. More accu- 

 rate outline* of them are given by D'Agincourt, ' Hist, de 1' Art par les 

 Monumcns,' Print, tab. 20-25. In the same work are given outline 

 tracings of the miniatures of the best known manuscripts, which will 

 enable the student to follow the fluctuating progress of the art in the 

 hand* of the Byzantine miniatori, to its greatest excellence about the 

 10th century, and thence trace its decline to the 13th century, and its 

 temporary revival and termination, as far a* Greece is concerned, in 

 the 14th. Outline illustration* are also given in the same work of the 

 miniatures of Italy, France, Ac. A good notion of the style of colour 

 of the different schools of mediieral miniatori will be obtained from the 

 drawings by -Mr. Owen Jones in the splendid work of Mr. 11. N. 

 Humphreys, ' The Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages ' ( foL, 

 18411). 



The manner of the Byzantine miniatori was naturally imitated by 

 those of the Italian monasteries, who followed very closely the types 

 of their predecessor* in their representations of the Saviour, the Virgin, 

 and the Saints. A* late a* the 13th century the miniatori of Italy 

 wwt men feeble imitators; but by the beginning of the ISth century, 

 Unry had assumed a higher place than their Greek masters, and works 

 ww. produced fa the Italian monasteries which in their way have 

 M*w bMn surpaawd for devotional feeling, elevation of sentiment, 

 "1.V 1 * "baion of a oerUin mystical grace and tenderness with 

 rrcnty. In their technical qualities these Italian miniatures 

 art aU of high excellence. The drawing, though still stiff, i pure and 

 ~et harmonious, and the pencilling siugu- 

 has given a particular account of several 

 lives in this line of art, which though 

 fa th. monasteries, was, in the ISth and 18th 

 xcluaively so. Oderigi da Oubbio, Oiotto, Giral- 



Wj 







aino dai Libri, Oiulio Clovio, Fra Angelioo da Fiesole, AtUvante, and 

 several other painters, were also celebrated for their miniatures. Not 

 only were illiiuiinaUxi manuscripts prepared for i 

 meiits, but the best artists found ample employment in the illumina- 

 tion of both secular and religious manuscripts for the chief* 

 princely houses'of Italy. As the painting of larger pictures im; 

 however, miniature* became leas in request, and in Italy as elw 

 the production of illuminated manuscripts rapidly declined after the 

 invention of printing. 



The earliest school of miniature painters in the west of 1 

 appear* to have been that founded at Fiuian in Ireland, in the first 

 half of the 6th century, by St. Columba, who somewhat later founded 

 a still more celebrated monastery at lona, which was transferred a few 

 year* after to Lindisfarue. Several illuminated manuscripts, the work 

 of Irish miniatori, are in the library of Trinity College, Dublin ; one at 

 least of them, a book of the Gospels, known as ' the Book of Kells,' 

 being regarded a* contemporaneous with Columba, if not the work of 

 his hands. These Irish manuscripts are most remarkable for their 

 borders, and other ornamental work, which are drawn with surprising 

 delicacy and freedom, and are full of a playful and ingenious fancy ; 

 while the drawing of the human figure is ungainly and diaproportioned, 

 and the colour crude and conventional. It seems to be agreed that the 

 other schools of the west of Europe derived their first impulse more 

 or less immediately from that of Ireland. The art tlouri- 

 Knglaud during the Anglo-Saxon period, and the peculiarities of the 

 Irish style of ornamentation are in it unmistakeably evident. The 

 perfection to which the art had arrived at this time in England, is 

 shown in the splendid manuscript of the Latin Gospels, known as the 

 ' Durham Book,' executed between 69S and 720, and which is now in 

 the British Museum ; and in the no less famous Benedictioual of St. 

 Ethelwold, now the property of the Duke of Devonshire. It was an 

 Anglo-Saxon monk, Alcuin, who, at the invitation of Charlemagne, 

 established the earliest schools for missal painting in the Prankish 

 empire, the most important being those of St. Martin, at Tom 

 Aix-la-Chapelle. Several of the early productions of these schools are 

 extant, and show manifest traces of their origin. One of these, the 

 Bible found in the tomb of Charlemagne, and now in tin- monastery of 

 San Calisto, at Home, is one of the most magnificent works of the kind 

 in existence. Later, the art was prosecuted with eminent success in 

 France, and a thoroughly national style was developed which attuned 

 its greatest perfection in the latter part of the 13th century. 



In Germany and the Low Countries, the art took root somewhat 

 later; but it ultimately attained a high degree of excellence. The 

 museums of Germany and Brussels are rich in illuminated manuscripts 

 of native production. By many, Memmling, the Flemish painter, is 

 regarded as the greatest master of miniature painting, not excepting 

 those of Italy. In England the art was a good deal modified air, r the 

 Norman conquest by the prevalence of the French taste introduced by 

 foreign monks ; but the national spirit resumed its predoin 

 the English illuminations of the 13th and 14th centuries will bear 

 comparison with the best contemporary productions of any other 

 country. One of the finest remaining English manuscripts 

 Willoughby, or Queen Mary's Psalter, painted early in the 14th cen- 

 tury a work full of life and spirit, admirable alike in design, drawing, 

 colour, and execution. The art appears to have been practised in 

 England down to the reign of Henry Nil. 



In the miniature painting of different ages and countries, there is of 

 course, great diversity, not merely of style, but of modes of execution. 

 Generally, however, it may bo said, that the miniatures were painted 

 on the vellum or paper with colours very finely levigated, and rendered 

 opaque by being, for the shadows as well as the lights, mixed with 

 white the usual vehicle being gum, glue, or white of egg. D'Agin- 

 court notices some miniatures, the colours of which are insoluble in 

 water, and Dr. Dibdin speaks of others which seem to have been 

 mixed with oil ; but this is proU-il >ly a mistake. In some manuscripts 

 the artists appear to have covered their finished miniatures with a 

 transparent wash of glue or varnish, which has materially assisted in 

 their preservation. The colours used were not only selected anil pre 

 pared with great care, but of the brightest hues, and applied :tn<l 

 combined with much skill. Gold is freely used, gold back-grounds 

 being frequent at must periods. 



ithstoudiug the large number which must have perished from 

 accident or neglect, or have been wilfully destroyed, the number of 

 richly illuminated manuscripts still existing is surprisingly great. 

 Most public, and many private collections contain numerous e\ 

 Mid copies are eagerly purchased at very high prices uhcnc\ei- ottered 

 for sale. The Vatican, the Imperial Libraries of Vienna and Paris, and 

 the liritish Museum are especially rich in examples of tin- various 

 schools and periods; the monasteries of Italy, and the libraries of 

 Oxford, Cambridge, and Trinity College, Dublin, also possess numerous 

 and important, though less various collect 



We have now to apeak of what are popularly knov, r 



the small portraits executed on ivory, either for decorative purposes, or 

 to place in cabinets, lockets, or brooches. Miniatures paint. .1 in 

 enamel are n. IKLS. 



Although of later date than the works of which we have been 

 speaking, portrait miniatures are by no means of recent ; 

 Portraits were among the embellishments introduced by the mediaeval 



