Byzantine illuminated manuscripts

During the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine art was centered on a Christian society based in Constantinople after the fall of Rome. Religious or holy icons were used throughout Byzantine Art in many different forms: mosaics, paintings, statues and illuminated manuscripts.^[1] Monasteries helped produce many of the illuminated manuscripts devoted to religious works using the illustrations to highlight specific parts of text, a saints' martyrdom for example, while others were used for devotional purposes similar to icons. These religious manuscripts were most often made possible at request of patrons and were used for private worship but also gifted to churches to be used in services.^[2]

Not all Byzantine illuminated manuscripts were religious text, secular themes are represented in works such as the Vienna Dioscurides.

Subject Matter

Devotional Manuscripts

The Greek Bible was produced in small segments during the Byzantine period for private study and use during church services. The Old (Septuagint) and New Testaments were separated into the Octateuch, also known as the eight books from Genesis to Ruth, the Psalter and the Four Gospels.^[3] Manuscripts specifically created for Mass (liturgy) included the sacramentary, the gradual and the missal. The pages were ornately decorated with gold paint and reddish-purple backgrounds.

6th century page from Rossano Gospels. The oldest surviving illuminated New Testament manuscript.

Prophet or Gospel Books

One of the earliest known illuminated New Testament manuscript is the 6th-century Rossano Gospels. The Illuminated Prophet Books are another example of illuminated manuscripts depicting major and minor prophets through portraiture along with narrative miniatures. The style of illustrations follow somewhat of an icon model but a title noting the name of the prophet was needed to prevent confusion. None of the prophet books contain a date but based on the style of the miniatures and script they approximately range from the mid tenth century to the mid thirteenth century.^[3]

The Chronicle of John Skylitzes of Madrid

In the twelfth century, The Chronicle of John Skylitzes of Madrid documented Byzantine history from the ninth to eleventh century with over 600 illustrated scenes placed throughout the text.^[4] The illustrations are placed on each page many of the compositions repeating themselves. In order to create many images, illuminators made a model to copy instead of crafting new narrative compositions each time.^[5] The repeated images show the possible use of models with the artist changing the paint colors in order to represent another group of people or scene taking place. The integration of text and image was important within this manuscript in order to illustrate the Byzantine history effectively by highlighting key events.

Patronage

During the Byzantine Empire, religious art was produced with the help of patrons who provided the funds needed to produce these works.^[1] Some of the Byzantine illuminated manuscripts were created at the request of patrons and were used for both for private viewing and church services. Requesting the illuminating lectionary, Gospel books, was a way for patrons to show their devotion to Christianity and religious institutions.^[2] Dionsyiou cod. 587 is an example of an illuminated Gospel made for the patriarch of Constantinople to read during mass. The illustrations were created to enhance the passages of the Gospel and bring the word of God to the viewer. The four Gospels, John, Mathew, Luke and Mark take the reader through the year from Easter to Easter.^[6] This manuscript also made use of models depicting similar figures with minor alterations or color variations. The models were not always accurate since the artists had to create these images from memory of past texts allowing for some altering of iconography.^[7]

Gallery

• 
  6th- 7th century London Canon Tables which were bound with 12th-century Byzantine Gospel Book.
• 
  7th-century manuscript illustrating plants and their medicinal use.
• 
  9th-century page from Chludov Psalter, a volume containing the Book of Psalms.
• 
  10th-century illumination of the Paris psalter which depicts the life David, author of the Book of Psalms. In total there are 14 images throughout the psalter.
• 
  11th century the writings from the beginning of the Gospel of Luke with illumination.
• 
  12th century from the Skylitzes Chronicle depicting Emperor Theophilos and his court.
• 
  13th-century illumination depicting the Crossing of the Red Sea.
• 
  14th-century Greek manuscript depicting the life of Alexander the Great.
• 
  15th century miniature from the Louvre MS. Ivoires 100 manuscript, depicting the Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, Empress Helena and three of their sons.

Notes

References

• Betancourt, Roland. "Faltering Images: Failure and Error in Byzantine Manuscript Illumination." Word & Image 32, no. 1 (2016): 1-20.
• Cormack, Robin. Byzantine Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Dolezal, Mary-Lyon. "Illuminating the Liturgical Word: Text and Image in a Decorated Lectionary (Mount Athos, Dionysiou Monastery, Cod. 587)." Word & Image: A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry 12, no. 1 (1996): 23-60.
• [null Jeffreys, Elizabeth., Haldon, John F, and Cormack, Robin. The Oxford Handbook of Byzantine Studies. First ed. Oxford Handbooks. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.]
• Kazhdan, A. P., Talbot, Alice-Mary Maffry, Cutler, Anthony, Gregory, Timothy E, and Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.
• Lowden, John. The Octateuch : A Study in Byzantine Manuscript Illustration. University Park, Pa.: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.
• Morgan, Nigel J. "Chronicles and histories, manuscript." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed October 24, 2017, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.pdx.edu/subscriber/article/grove/art/T017516.
• Ross, Leslie. Text, Image, Message: Saints in Medieval Manuscript Illustrations. Contributions to the Study of Art and Architecture; No. 3. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1994.

External links

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