Adam and Eve holding hands below twinkling stars, the Virgin being adored by an angel, a spectacularly detailed interior in the background, or else a tavern of promiscuity in which men and women are bathing together, enjoying food and drink… The medieval miniaturist’s imagination was inexhaustible, his skill unequalled. With fine highlights and dazzling color combinations he portrayed his world: the daily life on streets and squares, the artisans in their workshops, the construction of churches and cloth halls, conceptions of the cosmos, God, heaven and hell. People today regard these images with increasing amazement and admiration.
This richly illustrated presentation book, Flemish Miniatures, by the worldrenowned specialist Maurits Smeyers offers an impressive overview of the legacy
of numerous generations of miniaturists active in the Low Countries. Never before have so many miniatures – more than 600 color illustrations – been reproduced in one book, never before has the reader-viewer been presented with such a complete overview of the art of Flemish miniatures from the 8th to the 16th century. It is a masterpiece in the true sense of the word.
In pre-Romanesque times monasteries and monks were the privileged owners of manuscripts. Chains were attached to them in order to prevent dishonest individuals from removing them. Gospels, Sacramentaries, Lives of Saints, and Psalters were produced. In the course of the 13th century, skilled laymen also took up their brushes, the subjects portrayed were no longer exclusively religious. Bruges and Ghent became the center of the international book trade. Orders from all over Europe flowed in and manuscripts were shipped to patrons.
Flemish Miniatures presents the fascinating history of eight centuries of the art of miniatures from the Low Countries and offers a complete overview of and insight into what was then a true art industry.
Author(s): Maurits Smeyers
Publisher: Davidfonds/Leuven
Year: 1999
Language: English
Pages: 528
Tags: Medieval art, Manuscripts, Miniatures, Flemish art
Titlepage
Contents
Introduction. The Great Labyrinth
1. A short cultural history of the medieval book
2. The making of manuscripts, a complex process
3. The many facets of manuscript illumination
4. The historical setting
5. Flemish manuscript illumination
I. Sign and meaning. The Pre-Romanesque period (8th to 11th c.)
1. Monastic scriptoria
2. The first stirrings (8th to 9th c.)
3. Pre-Romanesque manuscript illumination in Flanders and Northern France
4. Pre-Romanesque manuscript illumination in the Mosan region
II. Representing the invisible. The Romanesque period (12th c.)
1. Image and sign
2. Benedictine abbeys in Northern France, Flanders, and Hainaut
3. Cistercian manuscripts, ideals of humility
4. The Benedictines of the Mosan region
5. Masterpieces from the Premonstratensian milieu
III. Courtly narratives. Early and Late Gothic (1200-1350)
1. Books for the laity, books by the laity
2. The contribution of the cities of Northern France
3. Bruges and Ghent: psalters for upper citizen class
4. Manuscripts for monastic use
5. Tournai, Hainaut, and Brabant
6. Psalters of the Mosan region
IV. The intellectual emancipation of the citizenry. The breakthrough of realism (1350-1420)
1. Pre-Eyckian realism: “After the likeness of nature”
2. Flemish illuminators in France and England
3. Manuscript illumination in Flanders
4. Bruges as an international book market
5. On the periphery: Northern France, Tournai, Hainaut, and Brabant
V. Manuscripts for cities, monasteries, and the University (1420-1475)
1. The guild system
2. Bruges and Ghent, the twin centers of Flemish manuscript illumination
3. The bordering territories: Northern France, Tournai, and Brabant
4. The heritage of Van Eyck
5. The monastic patronage
6. Leuven: Manuscripts for the university
VI. The patronage of Philip the Good and his circle. Flemish Mannerism (1419-1467)
1. A learned prince
2. Miniatures and politics
3. Manuscripts for Isabella of Portugal
4. Bibliophilia in the circle of the duke
5. Simon Marmion, “prince of illuminators”
VII. Charles the Bold and Margaret of York. Books on heroes and saints (1467-1477)
1. Illuminated manuscripts for Charles the Bold
2. Margaret of York and the devotional book
3. Renewal in Ghent
4. Manuscripts for citizens, nobles, and princes of the church
VIII. Late Gothic manuscript illumination in Flanders. Reality transcended (1475-1550)
1. Realism in three dimensions
2. Famous illuminators
3. Bibliophiles in the Low Countries
4. An internationally renowned art
Epilogue. Illuminated manuscripts versus printed books
1. Printing: a slow beginning
2. The power of handmade books
3. The second flowering
4. According to the medieval example: the 19th and 20th centuries
Bibliography
Index of manuscripts
Index of illuminators
List of abbreviations
Photographic credits
