!!!Buchmalerei

Book Illumination. Book and manuscript illumination dates back to 
Antiquity, when scrolls and books were first illuminated. In the 
Middle Ages the manuscripts were often decorated with paintings and 
drawings (margin borders, initials, ornaments); different techniques 
were applied (watercolour, opaque colour, distemper, gilded ground, 
pen-and-ink drawings). In the early Middle Ages only monks did 
manuscript illumination and it was not undertaken by professional 
painters until later. Two of the oldest works of manuscript 
illumination in Austria (both are kept by the Austrian National 
Library in Vienna) are the "Wiener Dioskurides" (illuminated around 
512 in Constantinople) and the "Vienna Genesis" (illuminated around 
the mid-6%%sup th/%  century in Antioch or in Constantinople).

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The first Austrian illuminations were created in Salzburg and at 
Mondsee, where Irish and Anglo-Saxon monks set up an early Carolingian 
painting and writing school. The most important works of this school 
are the "Cutbercht gospel book" (around 800, Austrian National 
Library) and the "Codex Millenarius Maior" (illuminated at the end of 
the 8%%sup th/%  century at Mondsee, now at Kremsmuenster). The 
11%%sup th/%  century marked the beginning of a new period of 
manuscript illumination. Austrian traditions met with western and 
Byzantine styles. A masterpiece of this period is the "Book of 
Pericopes of the Custodian Pertholt" (illuminated in Salzburg in the 
2%%sup nd/%  half of the 11%%sup th/%  century, now in New York). The 
Salzburg book illuminations belong to the greatest works of Central 
European Romanesque painting of the 1%%sup st/%  half of the 
12%%sup th/%  century. Along with the "Giant Bible of Admont" (around 
1140, Austrian National Library), the "Walther Bible" (2%%sup nd/%  
quarter of the 12%%sup th/%  century, in the monastery of 
Michaelbeuern near Salzburg, miniatures have largely disappeared) and 
a book of pericopes from the Nonnberg nunnery in Salzburg (before 
1150, now in Munich), the "Antiphonary of St. Peter's" 
illuminated with around 400 initials and 50 pen-and-ink drawings 
(around 1160, Austrian National Library) is the most beautiful extant 
work of this period. It excels not only in expression but also in its 
realistic depiction of nature. The monk Liuthold worked in the 
monastery of Mondsee (documented from 1145 to 1170) where he 
illuminated an evangelistary (2%%sup nd/%  quarter of the 12%%sup th/% 
 century, Austrian National Library), a collection of canon laws 
(around 1140, now in Munich) and the "Ranshofen Evangelistary" (in 
1178, now in Oxford). The monasteries of Admont, Seckau, St. 
Lambrecht, Rein, Heiligenkreuz, Klosterneuburg, Zwettl, Kremsmuenster, 
St. Florian and Lambach also had writing and painting workshops. In 
monasteries of the province of Carinthia the "Millstatt Genesis" and 
Physiologus manuscripts (on natural studies) were illuminated (around 
1160).

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With the advent of the Gothic period the countries along the River 
Danube and Vienna became the most important centres of manuscript 
illumination. Two periods can be distinguished: the early Gothic 
period (until the introduction of paper at the end of the 14%%sup th/% 
 century) with the monasteries of St. Florian, Upper Austria, and 
Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, as centres of manuscript illumination 
and the high and late Gothic period (until the introduction of 
wood-engraving at the end of the 15%%sup th/%  century) with the court 
workshop in Vienna as the centre. In between, the Bohemian-Luxembourg 
school (Prague), which is famous for its colourful splendour, 
influenced Austrian illuminators. The "Wenceslas Bible" (around 1390, 
Austrian National Library), which comprises six volumes and is 
decorated with 651 miniatures, is of Bohemian origin. Around 1380 
Albrecht III set up the Vienna Court Miniature School, whose 
professional painters were not only influenced by Bohemian 
illuminators but also by Dutch, French and Italian artists. Its most 
important work is the "Rationale of Duranti" (1385-1406, Austrian 
National Library).

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With the advent of letterpress printing and wood-engraving the art of 
book illumination was practically reduced to lavish and expensive 
hand-written works. One of the last major clients was 
Maximilian I, who ordered the illumination of several books for 
his library by renowned artists, e.g. the "Tiroler Fischereibuch" 
(1504) and the "Ambraser Heldenbuch".

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The mid-19%%sup th/%  century saw a short revival of manuscript 
illumination (prayer-book of Empress Elisabeth, papal missal), which 
later survived only in official documents, diplomas, etc.

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At the beginning of the 20%%sup th/%  century the Wiener Werkstaette 
and the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts created outstanding 
illustrations of books, thereby founding the tradition of artists' 
books, which is still alive to the present day.

!Literature
Beschreibendes Verzeichnis der illuminierten Handschriften 
in Oesterreich, 5 vols., from 1905; E. Frisch, Mittelalterliche 
Buchmalerei - Kleinodien aus Salzburg, 1949; O. Mazal, Buchkunst der 
Romanik, 1978; A. Haidinger, Studien zur Buchmalerei in Klosterneuburg 
und Wien vom spaeten 14. Jahrhundert bis um 1450, doctoral 
thesis, Vienna 1980; A. Fingernagel, Die Heiligenkreuzer Buchmalerei 
von den Anfaengen bis in die Zeit um 1200, doctoral thesis, Vienna 
1985; O. Paecht, Buchmalerei des Mittelalter, 1985.


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