The Art of Manuscript Illumination

The Decorated Letter The decorated initial emerged as an accentuated or emphasized first letter of script, providing a marker for the reader's eye in an otherwise unbroken line of text. Initials mark the beginnings of books or chapters and, in this way, offer a visual gateway into the more important parts of a book's text. Such initials became the focus of exceptional decoration clearly to draw attention and to help classify the priorities of the text. Familiar images within an initial's decoration (called historiated initials) further assisted in explaining the text visually. In an era when books contained no page numbers, decorated letters made a text easier to find. Large decorated letters also enhanced a manuscript visually by providing a look of great luxury, often sought by the book's owner.			The Annunciation in an Initial M. Cutting from an Antiphonary. Painted by Maestro Daddesco(?) Italy, Florence, about 1310-15 Tempera and gold on parchment H. 13.6 cm W. 13.4 cm. The Metroplitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975. (1975.1.2478) Photograph (c) 1986 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Choir Books A variety of music manuscripts were used throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance for the practice of the Christian liturgy and the singing of the Daily Office. The most spectacular illuminations derive from choral (or choir) books, examples of which may be seen in this exhibition. Choir books were usually made large enough to be placed on a lectern and viewed simultaneously by the members of a choir. Such books were frequently embellished with enlarged decorated letters containing sacred figures or religious scenes.
Initial M with the Annunciation: Leaf from an Antiphonary Painted by Neri da Rimini (Italian, born Rimini, active Emilia, 1300-1338) Italy, about 1310-15 Ink, tempera and gold on parchment. Private Collection Photograph (c) 2001 The Metropolitan Museum of Art	The Function of Choir Books Every church, chapel, and community of monks or nuns needed liturgical manuscripts, including choral books, without which the elaborate services of the church could not take place. Because of this large demand, the copying and "noting" (supplying the music) of manuscripts went on continuously throughout Europe, even beyond the invention of printing. The origins of liturgical music traditionally date back to St. Gregory the Great (died 604), who is credited for recording the principles of Gregorian chant. The noting of these service books, an arduous task requiring great care and precision, is an expense often found in medieval accounts. In addition, wealthy ecclesiastical foundations often assumed the additional expense of embellishing their choral books with sumptuous pigments and gold leaf--the art we know as illumination--as evidenced by the leaves displayed in this exhibition. The Temporal and the Sanctoral The church year is based on two simultaneous cycles of services: The Temporal and the Sanctoral.
Temporal, or Proper of the Time This cycle observes Sundays and festivals commemorating the life of Jesus. It opens with the first Sunday in Advent (the Sunday closest to November 30th) and continues with Christmas, Lent, Paschal Time (from Easter to Ascension eve), and the season of Ascension (which includes Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Corpus Christi, and the Sundays after Pentecost). Sanctoral, or Proper of the Saints. This celebrates the feast days of saints, including those of the Virgin Mary, and it opens with St. Andrew's Day (November 30th). A saint's name could be assigned to every day of the year. Local observances varied from place to place, and the calendars in liturgical manuscripts classified, or "graded," saints' days according to their importance: ordinary days, important or semi-duplex, and of exceptional importance or totem duplex. The Sanctoral and the Temporal were kept distinct in medieval service books and sometimes even formed separate volumes. A medieval priest, therefore, would not confuse them.			Initial A with The Last Judgment: Leaf from a Gradual South Italy or Umbria, about 1270-80 Ink and tempera on parchment. Private Collection. Photograph (c)2001 The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Initial D with Saint John the Baptist: Cutting from a Gradual Painted by Cosimo Tura (Italian, Ferrara, about 1430-1495) Italy, about 1470-80 Ink, tempera and gold on parchment. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Robert Lehman Collection, 1975	These initials not only illustrated liturgical feast days within the texts, but also served as visual aids, enabling the user to navigate through the volume. Lavish marginal ornamentation also added luster and rich visual interest. Although choral books were produced all over Europe during this period, the finest and most ostentatious were those illuminated in Italy for churches and monasteries. The commissioning of large multi-volume sets of choral books often attracted the most talented illuminators for this purpose. These beautiful books then numbered among the most prestigious treasures of a church or monastery. The two main types of choral book in the Middle Ages were the gradual, which contained the musical parts of the Mass, and the antiphonary, which contained the music for the Daily Office (matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, nones, vespers, and compline). All medieval churches were expected to have a gradual and an antiphonary (always made in several volumes), and all monasteries were certain to own them.
The Mass and the Daily Office A fundamental distinction in the services of the late Medieval Church exists between the Mass and the Daily Offices. These were completely different in function and form. The Mass is the communion service or Eucharist, one of the most solemn and important sacraments of the Church. It is celebrated at the altar, and its service book was the missal, its musical counterpart the gradual. The Mass should not to be confused with the Daily Offices performed in the choir. These are not sacramental services but, instead, are basically prayers and anthems in honor and praise of Christ and the saints, either sung or recited at the eight canonical hours: matins, lauds, prime, terce, sext, none, vespers, and compline. Their service book was the breviary or its musical form, the antiphonary. The Missal The Mass was the fundamental expression of medieval Christian worship, continued today in the Roman Catholic Church. The celebration of the Mass is the communion service (or Eucharist), one of the most solemn sacraments of the Church, believed by Christians to have been instituted by Jesus at the Last Supper. It consists of the consecration and consumption of the bread and wine that become, in the eyes of Christians, the body and blood of Christ. The Mass is celebrated at the altar by an ordained priest or higher cleric. Its service book is the missal which contains the texts necessary for the performance of the Mass, including chants, prayers, and readings, together with ceremonial directions. The musical counterpart of the missal, used by the choir, is the gradual.

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