1
Script and Illumination in Italian Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts.
The scribe is normally the senior partner in the combination of script and
illumination in Italian Renaissance manuscripts. Almost always he (or occasionally she,
for instance the nuns of Le Murate, Florence wrote manuscripts) does his work first, and
thus dictates what space is left for the illuminator to insert the illustration or decoration.
In the Italian Renaissance scribes and illuminators are mostly professionals earning a
living, and it is rare for the same individual to both write and illuminate a manuscript.
They worked, therefore, separately. One who, exceptionally, combines both roles is
Ioachinus de Gigantibus of Rothemburg in Germany, who signs the colophon of a copy
of the so-called Psalter of St Jerome, formerly in the J. R. Abbey Collection, London
(Fig. 1).1 Gioacchino, the Italian form of his name as it appears in the Naples Royal
accounts, writes after his name ‘propria manu exscripsit et depi(n)xit die X Iulii 1481’.
The capitals are in purple ink. The incipit page of the Psalter, the present fol. 1, is written
in gold, blue and red capitals, and below in the centre are the della Rovere arms of Sixtus
IV with papal tiara and crossed keys above. The text opening, fol. 2, also shows
Gioacchino’s typical style of white-vine and putti with a bust portrait of St Jerome in an
initial ‘V’. The centre roundel below contains the first fourteen verses of St John’s
Gospel as a piece of virtuoso microscript in a circle less than half an inch in diameter.
Originally a miniature of St Jerome on the verso opposite fol. 1 formed a frontispiece to
the manuscript. It was detached at an unknown time, and is now in the Victoria & Albert
1
J. J. G. Alexander, A. C. de la Mare, The Italian Manuscripts in the Library of Major J. R, Abbey,
London, 1969, catalogue no. 29 , pp. 79-81 [by A. C. dlM], pls. XXXV, XXXVIa and on p. 80. The
manuscript, J.A. 6765, was sold at Sotheby’s, 1 December 1970, lot 2887, and bought by Olschki. I do not
know where it is now.
2
Museum, London.2 No-one could claim that Gioacchino though a competent scribe was
outstanding as an illuminator. The phraze ‘manu propria’ may be significant, but I have
not been able to establish how common or uncommon it may be.3
Another example of a scribe/illuminator is Raphael Berti of Pistoia in a
manuscript of Juvenal’s Satires written in Parma in 1464, also formerly in the Abbey
collection.4 He signs his colophon twice, above ‘scripto et miniato’, and below ‘scripsit
atque miniavit’, and he gives the date 1464. The illumination consists of conventional
white-vine borders and initials for each of the Satires. A third example is the much more
prolific and successful Bartolomeo Sanvito. Sanvito’s colophons of the Epistolary and
Evangeliary, which he wrote towards the end of his life in 1509 for the Collegiate Church
of Santa Giustina at Monselice near Padua, of which he was a Canon, read ‘manu sua
impensaque conscripta ornataque’, ‘by his hand and at his expense written and
ornamented’ (Fig. 2).5 The extent of Sanvito’s activity as an illuminator is a disputed
question, but in my opinion more normally Sanvito collaborated with other artists,
especially with Gaspare da Padova (or ‘Romano’) in the later 1470’s and 1480’s, when
both men were part of the household of Cardinal Francesco Gonzaga. Gaspare died at an
unknown date, but probably c. 1493, due to a fall from the scaffolding of the palace on
2
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Box I 34a (5721). T. De Marinis, La Biblioteca Napoletana dei Re
d'Aragona, I, Milan, 1952, pp. 61-2 and pl. after p. 150. A colour image is available on the Museum web site.
3
It is not found for example in R. Goffen, ‘Signatures: Inscribing Identity in Italian Renaissance Art’,
Viator, XXXII, 2001, pp. 303-70.
4
J.A. 6769. Alexander, de la Mare (as in n.1), 1969, catalogue 55, pp. 151-2 [J.J.G.A], pls. LXXb and p.
152. Sold Sotheby’s, 1 December 1970, lot 2882, now Rome, Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele, Ms.
1429
5
A. C. de la Mare, L. Nuvoloni, with contributions by S. Dickerson, E. C. Erdreich, A. Hobson,
Bartolomeo Sanvito. The Life and Work of a Renaissance Scribe, The Handwriting of the Italian
Renaissance Scribes II, ed. A. Hobson, C. de Hamel, Association Internationale du Bibliophile, 2009, cat.
121. pp. 368-71.
3
which he was working for the Cardinal Riario (cr. 1477, d. 1521), later to become the
Cancelleria.6
I would hypothesize that it was probably in the early to mid 1480’s that Sanvito
began to act himself as an illuminator and in a more ambitious way. It has always seemed
to me that the ‘Sanvito illuminator’ as I called him in the Abbey catalogue in 1969, alias
Sanvito himself, as opposed to the ‘Master of the Vatican Homer’, alias Gaspare da
Padova, is distinguishable by his weaker figure drawing as it can be seen in the signed
Epistolary and Evangeliary.7 Though Ellen Erdreich has argued for Sanvito being
responsible for both oeuvres, the two styles occur in my view not only in the same
manuscript but on the same page. This can be clearly seen in the frontispiece of the Ps.Aristotle, de animalibus, with the arms of Pope Sixtus IV. This was written by an
anonymous scribe but with one line of small blue capitals written by Sanvito himself, and
it was dated c. 1480-83 by Albinia de la Mare.8 The main illumination on fol. 8r is
attributable to Gaspare, but the much weaker angels supporting the Papal arms are by
Sanvito in my opinion. By the time Sanvito illuminated the twelve miniatures in the
Virgil for Lodovivo Agnelli, c.1483-5 he was already more practiced, but the stylistic
weaknesses remain.9
Obviously the size of a manuscript was in a major degree dictated by the length of
the text or texts it was to contain. A larger folio will be written in two or occasionally
For the documents on Sanvito and Gaspare in the cardinal’s household see D. Chambers, A Renaissance
Cardinal and his Worldly Goods: the Will and Inventory of Francesco Gonzaga (1444-1483), London,
1992. See also G. Toscano, ‘Gaspare da Padova e la diffusione della miniatura “al antica” tra Roma e
Napoli’, in exhibition catalogue La miniatura a Padova dal Medioevo al settecento, a cura di G. Baldassin
Molli, G. Mariani Canova, F. Toniolo, Padua, 1999, pp. 523-31.
7
Padua, Biblioteca Capitolare, Mss. E. 26-7. de la Mare, Nuvoloni (as in n. 5), pp. 368-71, cat. 121.
8
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 2094. Exhibition catalogue, The Painted Page. Italian
Renaissance Book Illumination 1450-1550, Royal Academy of Arts, London, Pierpont Morgan Library,
New York, 2004-5, cat. 38 (J. J. G. Alexander). de la Mare, Nuvoloni (as in n. 5), p. 205.
9
London, British Library, King’s 24. de la Mare, Nuvoloni (as in n. 5), pp. 266-7, cat.74.
6
4
three columns. In some manuscripts ruled for two columns of script the central space
between the columns becomes an additional location for ornament which is usually quite
narrow. An example is the Breviary of Leonello d’Este. The illumination of this is very
fully documented between 1441 and 1449 in the D’Este accounts, and it is therefore all
the more tragic that soon after being sold at auction in London in 1958 the manuscript
was dismembered in America. Single leaves are now widely scattered. They continue to
turn up in libraries and collections, and still appear sporadically on the market [Fig. 3].
Federica Toniolo has inventoried those so far known and suggested attributions to the
four illuminators named in the payments.10 These are Giorgio d’Alemagna, who was paid
for fifty-three ‘quinterni’ (gatherings), Matteo de’ Pasti, better known as a medallist,
Guglielmo Giraldi, and Bartolomeo di Benincà.11 The manuscript had a total of five
hundred and twelve folios when sold, and if, as seems to have been the case, all pages
were illuminated it was an extremely ambitious project. It is not uncommon for such
projects to be left incomplete, often no doubt for lack of funds.
A Breviary is a long text and thus a thick volume, but it needed to be portable, so
it is commonly relatively restricted in height and width, and written in small script.12 Too
long a line is uncomfortable for the eye, but too short a line makes the eye jump
unnecessarily frequently to the next line. The size of the letters also obviously makes a
difference in calculating the size of the page and the length of the manuscript. In some
Christie’s, London, 8 December 1958, lot 190. Ten leaves of the beginning of the Sanctorale were
acquired by Philip Hofer and are now Cambridge, Massachusetts, Houghton Library, Ms. Typ. 301. They
measure approximately 272 x 202mm. For colour reproductions see the exhibition catalogue, Cosmé Tura
and Francesco del Cossa. L’Arte a Ferrara nell’età di Borso d’Este, Ferrara, 2008, cats. 31-2.
11
F. Toniolo, ‘Il lungo viaggio del Breviario di Lionello d’Este tra le due sponde dell’Atlantico’, Medioevo:
arte e storia (Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Parma, 18-22 settembre 2007), a cura di A. C.
Quintavalle, Milan, 2008, pp. 564-77.
12
My friend, Professor Nigel Morgan, who has been working on the catalogue of the Italian illuminated
manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, to be published shortly, commented in discussion
after this paper on the very complex problems of textual lay-out faced by a scribe writing a Breviary.
10
5
books, for example twelfth-century monastic lectern Bibles and especially the choir
books for the sung parts of the Mass and Office, which had to be read by members of the
Choir grouped around the badalone, both the page and the letters are significantly larger.
Such manuscripts did not need to be portable in the same way as a Bible for private use,
or as a Book of Hours. This also required the illuminator to insert larger miniatures and
initials. His work becomes nearer in scale to that of a panel painter. It is the other end of
the scale to the process of miniaturization in small manuscripts such as Books of Hours.
The text obviously also affected both the type of script used and the forms of the
decoration in a manuscript. In the Renaissance the liturgical texts, especially Missals and
Breviaries, are always in the fifteenth century, so far as I know, written in gothic script
(gotica textualis).13 They normally also have the traditional style of foliage borders and
initial decoration, similar to that used in the preceding century and even earlier. Books of
Hours which are not used in the liturgy and which were owned in large numbers, though
not exclusively, by the laity, are in the main also written in gothic script and decorated
with Gothic style ornament. Humanistic script is used later in the century, for example by
Sanvito and by Pierantonio Sallando of Bologna to name only two prominent scribes. I
know of no statistics as to relative numbers, and in the examples I know of I am not
aware of this affecting the type of illumination used. A typical Book of Hours in formal
Gothic script with ‘Gothic’ style borders is that illuminated by the Florentine artist,
Zanobi Strozzi, now in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.14 In this example Strozzi
13
Exceptions are some service books written in the cancelleresca formata newly introduced in the 16th
century. An example is the Towneley Lectionary illuminated by Giulio Clovio for Cardinal Alessandro
Farnese perhaps about 1550-60. The identity of the scribes is unknown. See Nicolas Barker in J. J. G.
Alexander et al., The Townely Lectionary, Roxburghe Club, 1997, pp. 38-49.
14
Baltimore,Walters Art Museum, W. 767. Exhibition catalogue, Painting and Illumination in Early
Renaissance Florence 1300-1450, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1994, cat. 53 (C. B. Strehlke).
6
uses the ornamental style traditional for liturgical manuscripts in Florence known as the
‘Angeli’ style, but in another Hours, also written in Gothic script, white-vine borders are
found, though whether by Strozzi himself or another seems uncertain.15 Neither Hours is
dated but both are likely to be of c. 1445-55.
As to statistics of Renaissance non-liturgical and non-religious manuscripts
written in humanistic script as opposed to Gothic script, they would be an even harder
task to compile, and I am not aware of any even limited attempt to gather relative
numbers for either a particular text or for a particular geographical area. Nor can one
quantify the prevalence of white-vine illumination in such texts. I think in any case it is
likely that there are too many ancillary factors to make any such statistics meaningful.
However, in Florence, as Albinia de la Mare observed, there was a change of fashion
from about 1465 to 1470 whereby the white-vine borders gave way to hairspray borders
with foliage, flowers and fruit similar to those in liturgical and religious manuscripts.
These are what Albinia de la Mare called ‘flower borders’.16 They usually also include
numerous animals, birds and humans, especially putti, but also classical mythological
figures such as centaurs and satyrs.
One can, therefore, risk a generalization that the illuminators generally followed
the lead given by the scribe in choosing a style of script, whether ‘gothic’ or
‘humanistic’, in choosing their own style of decoration, but then qualify this immediately
by saying ‘but not always’. The illuminator evidently retained a certain freedom and
15
16
Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, Ms. 457. Painting and Illumination (as in n.14), Fig. 133.
A. C. de la Mare, A. C., ‘Vespasiano da Bisticci as Producer of Classical Manuscripts in Fifteenthcentury Florence’, Medieval Manuscripts of the Latin Classics: Production and Use, eds. C. A. ChavannesMazel, M. M. Smith, Los Altos Hills, 1996, p. 194.
7
independence in his decoration, even if, as already stated, he is necessarily confined by
the space left to him on the page for his miniatures, borders or initials.
Albinia de la Mare was, of course, mainly concerned with scribes writing
humanistic script. Anything she has to say about illumination should be taken seriously,
however, for she was always prudent and cautious in expressing her opinion on art
historical matters. We worked closely together as colleagues in the Department of
Western Manuscripts under Richard Hunt, the Keeper, while I was at the Bodleian
Library from 1963-1971. And she was especially involved in the second volume of Otto
Pächt’s catalogue of the illuminated manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, the Italian
volume, which came out in 1970. When we collaborated on the catalogue of Major J. R.
Abbey’s manuscripts, published in 1969, the collaboration was even closer, since though
we signed our entries she wrote most of the descriptions of script in the individual entries
and I of the illumination.
The areas of the manuscript in which the work of the scribe and the illuminator
approach each other most closely and may even overlap on the page are, first, textual
beginnings (incipits), especially title-pages and the headings to sections within a text, and
secondly, and less often, endings (explicits). These include the initials which mark the
beginning of a book or a chapter or a sentence. The scribe very often gave guidance for
an initial in the form of a small guide letter written either in the margin or in the space
left open. It was meant to be erased or painted over, but not infrequently that was not
done. In any case mistakes sometimes occur either by the scribe or by the illuminator.
Decoration at the explicit is less frequent. Sanvito and other antiquarian minded scribes
were fond of finishing the explicit as an inverted pyramid and then drawing a small leaf
8
copying that often found on Roman carved inscriptions [Fig. 2].17 Giulio Clovio painted a
more ornate frame to surround the scribal colophon in the Farnese Hours [Fig. 4].18 I
would suppose, however, that the actual letters in white were written by the anonymous
scribe, who, as Vasari fortunately tells us since he does not sign his own name, was
Francesco Monterchi. Catchwords for gatherings, which were sometimes ornamented by
scribes, would be included in my category of endings.
At the beginning of this paper I stated that the scribe made the primary decisions.
But that is a little too simple. We need to take into account assumptions which grew up
from practices which were established by custom. They hardly needed to be articulated,
therefore. For instance illuminators commonly used the ruling lines drawn by the scribe
for his text as a basis for the frames of their miniatures. Secondly, we need to think of the
possibilities of additional dialogue with the cartolaio (stationer), either with or without
the patron’s consultation. The patron might also have an intermediary agent to give
instruction to the scribe and illuminator, or the agent might instruct the cartolaio. In other
words there were many ways in which oral instruction might have reached the
illuminator and left no trace. Money must surely have entered the discussion at some
point, since the patron, however rich, must have needed to know, even if only
approximately, what he was going to have to pay, when he initially commissioned a
manuscript. Though we have a few surviving contracts they are very few, and even
allowing for many being destroyed, I think in most cases agreements must have been
17
18
J. Wardrop, The Script of Humanism, Oxford, 1963, pls. 2, 9, 21, 52.
New York, Morgan Library, M. 69. Farnese Book of Hours with illuminations by Giulio Clovio Croata
(Complete colour facsimile edition of the MS M.69 of the Pierpont Morgan Library New York), commentary
W. M. Voelkle, I. Golub, preface M. Begović, Zagreb, Graz, 2001.
9
verbal.19 Where contracts do exist the matters most stressed are completion on time, and
the use of good materials. Directions as to illumination are infrequent, and hardly ever
specific as to content. We have two forms of surviving physical evidence which shed
light on the process in addition to the few surviving contracts. The first are records
regarding payment found in the actual books themselves. The second are the financial
accounts of individuals, for example the Kings of Naples, and institutions, for example
the Opera of the Cathedral of Siena. From these we get an idea of terminology and of
rates of payment
We know from these sources that the title-pages or frontispieces, which were not
necessarily at this stage such distinct entities as they later became in the printed book,
were referred to as a ‘principio’. For example in the contract for the Bible of King
Manuel of Portugal, which was drawn up in Florence by the Florentine merchant
Chimenti (Clemente) di Cipriano di Sernigi with the illuminator Attavante in 1494, each
of the eight volumes was to have ‘un principio colla rubrica a riscontro” [Fig. 5].20 I
understand the word ‘principio’ to mean the verso and facing recto, what we should call
an ‘opening’. These were to cost twenty-five ‘ducati XXV larghi d’oro’.
19
J. J. G. Alexander, Medieval illuminators and their methods of work, New Haven, London, 1992, Appendix
1.
20
Lisbon, Arquivos nacionais, Torre do Tombo, Ms. 161/1-8. The opening of volume 6 is attributable to a
different Florentine illuminator, Monte di Giovanni di Miniato, who is not mentioned in the contract. The
Painted Page (as in n. 8), cat. 1 (J. J. G. Alexander). A publication with good colour reproductions of each
principio unfortunately does not reproduce volume 8 containing the Sentences of Peter Lombard. M. de
Albuquerque, A. C. Cardoso, A Bíblia dos Jerónimos, Milan, Lisbon, 2004. For the contract see Alexander (as
in n. 19), pp. 181-2. I am most grateful to Alice Wohl for discussing the Bible with me, for sharing her
knowledge of Portugese history of the period, and for help in translating literature in Portugese. She has
convincingly suggested to me that the Sernigi brothers, Clemente and Girolamo, intended the Bible as a gift to
curry favour with Manuel who was not yet king when the project started. Their aim was to participate in the
extremely lucrative trade opening up between Portugal and India. See in particular P. Peragallo, La Bibbia dos
Jeronymos e La Bibbia di Clemente Sernigi. Studi Comparativi, Genoa, 1901.
10
The eight volumes are kept to-day in the Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo in
Lisbon. Albinia de la Mare commented on this Bible in an article published in 2000.21
The contract specifies as the scribe of the Bible Frater Jacobus Carmelitanus, whom she
identified as probably the scribe who signed a volume written for Matthias Corvinus,
King of Hungary, in Apri 1490.22 She attributed the script of volume 5 of the Bible to
him. Volume 1 was signed by the scribe, Sigismondo dei Sigismondi on 11 Dec. 1494
and volume 2 was signed by Alessandro da Verrazzano in August 1495. Albinia de la
Mare also attributed the script of volumes 4 and 6 to Alessandro and that of volumes 3
and 7, unsigned but dated respectively 1496 and 1497, to Niccolò Mangona, a productive
Florentine scribe whom she had identified from a single signed manuscript.
The openings of each volume follow the arrangement of volume 1 of the Bible in
that on the verso there is a form of architectural structure with a space on which the
contents of the volume is written in gold capitals in blue. On the opposite recto a quarterpage miniature shows St Jerome, in most of the volumes as a scribe at work in his study,
but in volume 2, in prayer outside his cave before a Crucifix, and in volume 6 presenting
his finished work to Pope Damasus. In volume 8, the Peter Lombard, there is a miniature
of the Trinity. The borders match in design across the openings, and in each the arms of
Portugal are prominently placed in the middle of the lower border. The scribes began the
biblical text, which is combined with the gloss of Nicholas de Lyra, under the miniatures
on the rectos, writing it in two columns. The scribes probably copied one of the Bibles
recently printed in various editions in Italy, which similarly combined text and gloss.
This, incidentally, demonstrates how a manuscript is still at this point in time a much
A. C. de la Mare, ‘Notes on Portuguese patrons of the Florentine book trade in the fifteenth century’,
Cultural links between Portugal and Italy in the Renaissance, ed. K. J. P. Lowe, Oxford, 2000, pp. 167-81.
22
Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, 21.18. de la Mare Ias in n. 21), 60, n. 60.
21
11
more prestigious gift than a printed book. The artist filled the space between the columns
with a narrow band of foliage ornament. Therefore on these pages the script and the
illumination are combined and it is unclear to me exactly what the sequence of operation
would have been. I would suggest as a hypothetical sequence that a first stage was a
drawing rather similar to one in the Morgan Library [Fig. 6],23 or to another, now in
private hands which has been attributed recently by Pier Luigi Mulas to the Milanese
artist, Giovanni Giacomo Decio.24 Then in the Bible the illuminators coloured blue the
relevant spaces and handed the leaves back to the scribes to insert the written parts on
verso and recto, the incipits being written in capitals and the text in humanistic
minuscule, and both being written in gold. Then presumably the remaining leaves of the
gathering were written before the opening was handed back to the illuminator, Attavante
or Monte, to complete any remaining illumination needed in the gathering. The
miniatures of the principio could have been executed before or after the text was written
on the verso and recto. There is a let-out clause for Attavante should the scribes fall
behind on their deadlines.
Interestingly the contract mentions that on the completed sample which had been
provided the arms were still to be included, and it also implies that Attavante is going to
insert them. In this and most other cases it remains uncertain whether a model was
provided of the blason. In manuscripts quite frequently space is left for coats-of-arms
which were never inserted, and it has generally been assumed that such manuscripts are
for speculative sale, rather than made for a specific patron. This seems probable enough,
23
New York, Morgan Library, 1979.13. The Painted Page (as in n. 8), cat. 107 (J. J. G. Alexander).
Sold Les Enluminures, Paris, 1998, cat. 41. P. L. Mulas, Giovanni Giacomo Decio, il miniatore dei corali
di Vigevano, Vigevano, 2009, p. 193.
24
12
but, like so much else about the processes of illumination, cannot be certain in any
particular case.
The initials in the Bible are listed in the contract by the number of lines they fill
and were to be paid accordingly, which is quite normal. A recently discovered example is
in a printed book, a copy of Orosius, Historiae adversus paganos, printed by Herman
Lichtenstein in Vicenza c. 1475.25 It contains a principio attributable to the illuminator,
Giovanni Vendramin, who was active in Padua where his father was bidello to the
University, and in Ferrara. The list is written on the last verso of the printed text of the
Orosius [Fig. 7] and specifies: ‘140 lettere, 7 doro et uno principio’. These respectively
are the initials to the chapters, which are capital letters in coloured ink of two, three or
four lines in height, the initials to the books of the text, which are of seven lines and in
burnished gold on coloured grounds, and the architectural frontispiece, or ‘antiporta’ as
scholars in Italy term it.
In an earlier article I have argued that Bartolomeo Sanvito as scribe may have
sketched the faceted initial letters in certain manuscripts whose illumination was left
incomplete, whether intending them for coloring by himself or by someone else.26 It
seems likely enough that this would have happened in other Renaissance manuscripts. It
25
Cambridge, Trinity College, Grylls 3.349, where it was kindly brought to my attention by Dr David
McKitterick. J. J. G. Alexander, ‘A Copy of Orosius Historiae adversus Paganos’, printed by Herman
Lichentstein in Vicenza ca. 1475 with illumination attributable to Giovanni Vendramin’, Viator, XLIII,
2012, pp. 289-300. Unfortunately I have so far been unable to identify the arms inserted on the architectural
frontispiece painted by Vendramin. For an excellent general account of the economics of manuscript
production see A. Melograni, ‘The illuminated manuscript as a commodity: production, consumption and
the cartolaio’s role in fifteenth-century Italy’, The Material Renaissance, eds. M. O’Malley, E. Welch,
Manchester, 2007, pp. 207-227.
26
J. J. G. Alexander, `Initials in Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts: the Problem of the So-called
‘littera mantiniana', in Renaissance- und Humanistenhandschriften, ed. J. Autenrieth, U. Eigler (Schriften
des Historischen Kollegs, Kolloquien, 13), Munich, 1988, pp. 145-55. de la Mare, Nuvoloni (as n n. 5), p.
194.
13
would have as it were extended the practice of inserting guide letters mentioned above.
Another instance of either overlapping roles or some other form of collaboration between
scribe and illuminators occurs in several manuscripts whose titles are painted as if carved
inscriptions on wall-plaques. A copy of Martial’s Poems, another manuscript formerly in
the J. R. Abbey collection, is an example [Fig. 8].27 The question is whether the
illuminator, who has not been identified, designed the letters here as well a painting them,
or whether he followed letters drawn in the space by the scribe. Unfortunately there is
some later damage to them in this particular manuscript.
Another type of initial, which occurred very commonly in illuminated
manuscripts and which can be said to lie between calligraphy and illumination in both
technique and execution, is the so-called penwork initial. In their simplest forms these
were no doubt normally executed by the scribes, or perhaps by apprentices or assistants
of the illuminators. Sometimes, however, they were clearly executed by specialists
known for this particular skill. One such was Guiniforte da Vicomercato, that is
Vimercate a place near Milan, and he has left us a signed pattern-book of such initials. 28
He also signed his name in initials in various choir books.29 Exceptionally beautiful and
imaginative penwork borders and initials including animals and human figures occur in a
Missal dated 1463. These have been attributed to a well-documented illuminator, Franco
27
J.A. 3223. Alexander, de la Mare (as in n. 1), pp. 114-5, cat. 48 (A.CdlM), colour pl. D, pl. LVIIb. Other
examples of similar such fictive inscriptions are listed there. The Martial was sold at Sotheby’s, 4 June 1974,
lot 2932. Its present whereabouts is unknown to me.
28
Bloomington, Indiana, The Lilly Library, Ms. Ricketts 240. The Painted Page (as in note 8), cat. 109 (J.
J. G. Alexander).
29
Guiniforte also signed initials in choir books from Ferrara. Bartolomeo di Boniforte da Vimercate, who
signed penwork for the Badia in Fiesole, and in choir books from Santa Maria in Porto, Ravenna,
Biblioteca Classense, Cod. 598-9, was no doubt his son. See Biblioteca Classense Ravenna (Le Grandi
Biblioteche d’Italia), a cura di A. Dillon Bussi, C. Claudiani, Florence 1996, pp. 128-31. Dizionario
biografico dei miniatori Italiani. Secoli IX – XVI, a cura di M. Bollati, Milan, 2004, pp. 62-3 (M. Bollati),
and pp. 338-42 (G. Z. Zanichelli). Contemporary documents refer to ‘letere di penna fiorite’ equivalent to
the French term ‘fleuronée’ and the English term ‘flourished’.
14
dei Russi, who was born in Mantua and worked on fully painted miniatures, borders and
initials in the great Bible of Borso d’Este, which was started in 1455 and completed in
1465. In 1463 Franco may still have been in Ferrara or have moved to Venice. Later still
he worked in Urbino.30
The danger of setting up a binary as I have done here of script and illumination is,
of course, oversimplification. Many other examples of co-operation and overlapping
between scribes and illuminators could be given, and we should also acknowledge that
much of the evidence of their working procedures is irretrievable. My aim has been,
however, to emphasize how the two professions, even though they were generally
separate at this time, of necessity overlapped. It can be argued in fact that this dynamic
interaction was one of the most creative features of the hand produced book throughout
its history.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander. Sherman Fairchild Professor of Fine Arts emeritus. Institute of
Fine Arts. New York University.
[de la Mare Publication
May 8, 2012
5084 words including footnotes.]
Illustrations: Alexander, ‘Script and Illumination’
Fig. 1. Whereabouts unknown. Former J.A. 67665, fol. 29r. Psalter of St Jerome.
Colophon of Gioacchino ‘de Gigantibus’. Rome, 1481.
30
New York, New York Public Library, Spencer Collection, Ms. 61. The Splendor of the Word. Medieval
and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, J. J. G. Alexander, J. H.
Marrow, L. F. Sandler, New York, 2005, pp. 182-6, cat. 37 (F. Toniolo).
15
Fig. 2. Padua, Biblioteca Capitolare, Ms. E. 27, fol. 34v. Evangeliary of Monselice, near
Padua. Colophon of Bartolomeo Sanvito. Padua, 1509
Fig. 3. Private collection, U.S.A. Breviary of Leonello d’Este. Detached leaf. Ferrara, c.
1441-9.
Fig. 4. New York, Morgan Library, M. 69, folio 112v. Farnese Hours. Colophon of
Giulio Clovio. Rome, 1546.
Fig. 5. Lisbon, Arquivos nacionais, Torre do Tombo, Ms. 161/1, fols. 3v-4r. Opening of
Bible of King Manuel of Portugal. Signed by Sigismondo dei Sigismondi. Florence, 1495.
Fig. 6. New York, Morgan Library, 1979.13. Preliminary sketch for a frontispiece of a
manuscript or printed book. Rome(?), late 15th or early 16th century.
Fig. 7. Cambridge, Trinity College, Grylls 3.349. Orosius, Adversus Paganos.. Flyleaf with
totals of decoration for payment. Printed by Herman Lichtenstein. Vicenza or Padua, c.
1475.
Fig. 8. Whereabouts unknown. Former J. R. Abbey collection, J.A. 3223, fol. 1r. Martial,
Poems. Ferrara (?), c. 1467.