Unlike the mass-produced books of our time, one copy of which differs not in the slightest from another, original illuminated manuscripts were handmade objects, each possessing its own special set of characteristics. Produced in an era that had not yet seen the advent of mechanized printing, these were handwritten books, and much more besides; they were writings abundantly adorned with intricate, colorful images and highly stylized fonts. In its structure, layout, script, and decoration, the illuminated manuscript bears the signature of all those who collaborated in its creation. In it is contained a record of the unique set of processes and circumstances involved in its production as it moved successively through the hands of parchment maker, scribe, and possibly as many as three or four decorators or "illuminators." It was these last contributors who imparted the work's main distinguishing characteristic—small images that often looked very much like miniature oil paintings interspersed throughout the text. These images were, quite appropriately, given the diminutive size, known as miniatures.
What exactly should be referred to as an illuminated manuscript has changed over time and is still easily confused today. Originally the term designated any piece of writing that was decorated with gold or silver leaf. With the passing of time the definition came to include writings decorated in more elaborate ways. There is an important, though not always immediately obvious, distinction to be made between illuminated manuscripts and their more modem descendent the illustrated manuscript. In illustrated works, the pictures have a more pragmatic purpose; they generally serve to clarify the meaning of the text. The various adornments scattered throughout an illuminated text are just that - adornments and nothing more. If they are related to the content at all, there is only the most distant of connections. Their role is to embellish rather than to elucidate; to beautify, rather than to inform.
The earliest illuminated manuscripts were made in monasteries and were nothing less than a labor of passion and pious devotion. These works of art were intended by the monks who created them more as a means of glorifying God than of conveying information. The monastic source of the earlier works undoubtedly accounts for the overwhelmingly religious nature of the subject matter. Illuminated works with a more secular theme did not become commonplace until the 13th century.
France, with more than its share of monks and monasteries, initially took a leading role in the production of illuminated manuscripts. Paris had achieved renown as the foremost center of illumination by the early fifteenth century, but it did not remain unchallenged in that position for long. B y the 1440s, the status Paris held was under assault by a book industry that was prospering in the urban centers of the Netherlands. It was at this time that the illuminated manuscript reached its peak both with respect to its level of artistic development and its popularity.
The use of the word "popularity" in connection with illuminated manuscripts demands qualification. Even at the peak of their development and their popularity, lavishly illuminated manuscripts were rare, costly and highly treasured items. So much was this true that they were frequently given as diplomatic gifts or to celebrate royal marriages. Unlike modern books, even lavishly illustrated ones, ownership of illuminated manuscripts would never have been financially accessible to anyone but the rich and the noble. Not even oil paintings enjoyed such rarefied standing. That art form achieved a status similar to that of illuminated manuscripts only in the latter half of the fifteenth century.
Though they are very different forms of artistic expression, a number of artists were adept at both oil painting and manuscript illumination. This required considerable versatility, as the techniques used by illuminators working in egg tempera on parchment differed substantially from those used by painters working in oil on wood or canvas. Manuscript illumination was probably the most technically challenging of the two art forms, if only because of the space limitations imposed by it. In spite of the difficulty involved in producing fine detail on such a small scale, many of the artists who created the images that graced the pages of illuminated manuscripts were remarkably successful in infusing their miniatures with a sense of breadth, dimension, and realism. The profound skill involved no doubt explains the relative rarity of examples and the exclusivity of their ownership.
