Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts: The Work of an Angel

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, books were laboriously written by hand on parchment. The more lavish examples, illuminated with gold, and painted with costly pigments, were prized by ecclesiastical and lay patrons as the most desirable of possessions. Gerald of Wales, a late twelfth-century chronicler, was so impressed by a manuscript he saw that he exclaimed it must have been “the work of an angel”. Such volumes are equally appreciated today, in part for their intrinsic beauty as well as for the light they shed on various aspects of medieval life. The materials and techniques used to produce them reveal a great deal about the working methods of medieval craftsmen. The texts and illustrations of Bibles, psalters, books of hours, and the works of secular authors such as Pliny inform us about patterns of public worship, private devotion, intellectual pursuits and the everyday lives and leisure interests of the men and women who commissioned and used them. This course will introduce you to different types of illuminated manuscripts and give you the opportunity to get up close to a selection of manuscripts from the collection of the National Art Library.