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| Sample pages from the Aberdeen Bestiary. See more of the Aberdeen Bestiary here. |
Comparable Far Eastern and Mesoamerican works are described as painted. Islamic
manuscripts may be referred to as illuminated, illustrated or painted,
though using essentially the same techniques as Western works.
The earliest surviving substantive illuminated manuscripts are from the period AD 400 to 600, produced in Italy and the Eastern Roman Empire.
The significance of these works lies not only in their inherent
artistic and historical value, but also in the maintenance of a link of
literacy offered by non-illuminated texts. Had it not been for the monastic scribes of Late Antiquity,
most literature of Greece and Rome would have perished in Europe.
Illumination of manuscripts, as a way of aggrandizing ancient
documents, aided their preservation and informative value in an era when
new ruling classes were no longer literate, at least in the language
used in the manuscripts.
The majority of surviving manuscripts are from the Middle Ages, although many survive from the Renaissance,
along with a very limited number from Late Antiquity. The majority of
these manuscripts are of a religious nature. However, especially from
the 13th century onward, an increasing number of secular texts were
illuminated. Most illuminated manuscripts were created as codices, which had superseded scrolls. A very few illuminated manuscript fragments survive on papyrus, which does not last nearly as long as vellum or parchment. Most medieval manuscripts, illuminated or not, were written on parchment (most commonly of calf,
sheep, or goat skin), but most manuscripts important enough to
illuminate were written on the best quality of parchment, called vellum.
Beginning in the late Middle Ages manuscripts began to be produced on paper. Very early printed books were sometimes produced with spaces left for rubrics
and miniatures, or were given illuminated initials, or decorations in
the margin, but the introduction of printing rapidly led to the decline
of illumination. Illuminated manuscripts continued to be produced in the
early 16th century, but in much smaller numbers, mostly for the very
wealthy.
Manuscripts are among the most common items to survive from the
Middle Ages; many thousands survive. They are also the best surviving
specimens of medieval painting, and the best preserved. Indeed, for many
areas and time periods, they are the only surviving examples of
painting.
This web journal primarily covers three topics of artistic interest:
- Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument. The various generic and formal historical styles of writing are called "hands" whilst an individual's style of penmanship is referred to as "handwriting".
- Calligraphy (from Ancient Greek: κάλλος kallos "beauty" and γραφή graphẽ "writing") is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument or brush (as opposed to built up lettering, in which the letters are drawn). A contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as, "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious, and skillful manner".Modern calligraphy ranges from functional inscriptions and designs to fine-art pieces where the letters may or may not be legible. Classical calligraphy differs from typography and non-classical hand-lettering, though a calligrapher may practice both.
- An engrossed or illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented with such decoration as initials, borders (marginalia) and miniature illustrations. In the strictest definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript refers only to manuscripts decorated with gold or silver, but in both common usage and modern scholarship, the term refers to any decorated or illustrated manuscript from Western traditions.
"This program showcases the calligraphy conference in 2003, the styles
and influences in the workshops; and shows the calligraphic trends. Each
year the top calligraphic and creative artists from the lettering arts
around the world get together at the Annual International Conference of
Calligraphy, to share new ideas and techniques." Narrator - Paul Jackson Producer/Director - Carl Wilson
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