The Structure of a Medieval Manuscript

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Brief History of Illuminated Manuscripts
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The artistic aims of medieval painters often found their purest expression in manuscript illumination, one of the primary media of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Illuminated manuscripts contain most of the finest surviving examples of medieval painting and therefore constitute the most complete record of its development. Learn about the different periods and styles of illuminated manuscripts.

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Making Manuscripts
0:01:03
An illuminated manuscript is a book written and decorated completely by hand. Illuminated manuscripts were among the most precious objects produced in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance, primarily in monasteries and courts. Watch this video to follow the steps to make a manuscript: making parchment, writing, illuminating, and binding.

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Looking at Manuscripts: Lesson Plans
0:01:15
The J. Paul Getty Museum's collection of manuscripts spans the eighth through the 16th century and constitutes a veritable history of medieval and Renaissance manuscript illumination. Engage your students in the investigation of illuminated manuscripts, books written and decorated entirely by hand. Discussion questions and lessons in this curriculum offer an in-depth exploration of how these books were made, who made them, and why they were made.

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What is an Illuminated Manuscript?
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Illuminated manuscripts are books written by hand and painted with precious pigments. Manuscripts contain most of the finest surviving examples of medieval painting. The word manuscript is derived from the Latin words manus (hand) and scriptus, from the verb scribere (to write). Today the term is used to describe any handwritten text. The word illumination comes from the Latin verb illuminare (to light up), which, in this context, describes the glow created by the radiant colors of the illustrations, especially gold and silver.

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Manuscripts in the Getty Museum's collection
0:01:55
Explore manuscripts in the Getty Museum’s collection.

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Channels: Medieval
Themes: Materials and ProcessObjectsTime

For more than a thousand years all manuscripts were written and illustrated by hand. By the Middle Ages, books were being made by folding sheets of parchment, arranging them into gatherings, and assembling and binding them together. This animation illustrates how medieval books were constructed—a feat of engineering that remains essentially the same today.

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LaughMel's picture
Submitted by LaughMel on Sun, 03/18/2012 - 05:32.
Great video! It's very interesting, useful and informative. I'm going to watch more videos, 'cause being a fan of Art, I'm striving to learn more. Thank you!
LaughMel's picture
Submitted by LaughMel on Fri, 03/16/2012 - 15:09.
The problem with illuminating a page on both sides is that the color bleeds through the page, messing up the design on the next page. My illuminated manuscript of the New Testament is full of pages where the color bleeds through the page. So when I made the Gospels I decided to make them all on one side of the page and the result can be seen in this video by the Television show "American Bible Society Presents" on my work in making an illuminated manuscript of the Bible, "The Pepper Bible" and the website is at http://pepperbible.com/ Many years ago I was in contact with the Getty in trying to figure out how to image the bible, to photograph it. The problem was the illuminations were reflecting back light. After various discussions with them and with the Met in New York and experimenting with the Met's suggestions to use Polaroid filters (which didn't work), I developed a method that preserved the color, especially around the reflective surfaces.
Anonymous's picture
Submitted by James G Pepper on Sat, 02/11/2012 - 22:24.
Most useful. Thank you!
Anonymous's picture
Submitted by hans on Wed, 09/07/2011 - 15:09.
Great to hear! Thank you :)
mgilbert@getty.edu's picture
Submitted by mgilbert@getty.edu on Wed, 04/21/2010 - 01:54.

Great to hear! We have lots more making art videos on our Web site.

You check them out here:
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/videoCategory?cat=2

mgilbert@getty.edu's picture
Submitted by mgilbert@getty.edu on Tue, 02/02/2010 - 19:08.

VERY impressive!!

This is a GOOD intro into the ART & process of manuscripts/ illumination
I am going to use ALL videos of this series for
my History of ART classes this year!!

Going to toy with the idea of replicating the process digitally.

D. Adonis's picture
Submitted by D-Man on Fri, 01/01/2010 - 15:17.

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