The collection of books on display at the library today had a range of pieces, from lists of cattle written on papyrus to books printed with a printing press. So far in class we have been focusing on illuminated manuscripts. The manuscripts shown today were beautiful, with historiated letters and some marginalia colored in with pigments from different plants. One of the hymnal books on display featured many pictures with gold and bright colors, although not all of the pictures were filled in. It is possible that the pictures were left blank by mistake, but it was interesting how closely they resembled the pictures that were found in the books that came from the printing press.
One point made in the discussion today was that some nobility had the pictures in their printed books filled in with color after the book was complete. Out of the printed books on display, I was only able to find one picture that was actually colored in. It seems that the art of illumination shifted with the creation of the printing press. Now, instead of enhancing images with gold and brightly colored paints, the quality of the image could be enhanced by adding extra detail to the plate used to make the image. Additionally, the medium used to create the plate played a large role in determining how fine the details in the image could be. As the class progresses, it will be interesting to examine how illumination evolves in the presence of new technologies.
Becca – Your observation about the evolution of the emphasis from illumination to detail is an interesting aspect that I hadn’t thought about before. But it certainly makes sense with the shift in priorities depending on the function of the book. In books that depicted cities or scenes from Biblical stories, artists were most likely made to emphasize and prioritize the the detail of these pictorial representations over the illumination of certain figures. This could have been due to a lack of sufficient resources which was already most likely a laborious and expensive process.
If we think about animation as being a technological advancement of another type of story-telling , then “The Secret of Kells” is a prime example of the confluence of both illumination and detail. Not only are certain illuminated shades used to emphasize certain emotions or important actions, but intricate details in the lines and their movement throughout the animation are also used for this purpose. The screenshot below is an example of this illumination in the animation, the golden hue originating from the “crystal” or magnifying glass that Brendan uses during his enlightening artistic process, as he is trained by Brother Aidan in the craft of illumination.