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stElla panayotoVa
ter, contains full illuminations, tinted drawings and images combining both tech-
niques (pl. 1c).11 Nigel Morgan suggested that the artists who provided the fully paint-
ed miniatures (his style I) trained those responsible for the tinted drawings (his style
II). The technical analysis supports this hypothesis, highlighting the complexities of
artistic collaboration.12 The palette is consistent throughout the volume, regardless of
technique. The blue grounds and frames of all miniatures are painted with ultramarine
of the same grade likely procured as a single batch and applied by assistants in a single
campaign. Yet, variations in the choice of red and blue pigments in the main images
indicate individual preferences and correspond to the quire structure. Quires 2 and 3
differ from all others in having red lead as the only red pigment and ultramarine (of a
different type/grade from that used in backgrounds and frames) as the main blue, with
indigo reserved for small details and blue-grey areas. Quires 8 and 9 contain vermilion
only and, together with quires 5, 6 and 7, employ only indigo in blue areas. Quires 5,
6 and 7 contain red lead and vermilion. Quire 1 uses both reds and both blues. These
differences reveal the large number of artists involved in the Lambeth Apocalypse and
indicate that they were not operating as workshop members. Their specific pigment
choices, separate contributions to some quires and collaboration on others suggest that
independent professionals were recruited for this prestigious project.
An expanding palette and new theories of colour
Most thirteenth-century manuscripts display four main colours set against gold
grounds and often paired: dark blue with salmon pink and green with red. In the
examples studied here they have been identified as ultramarine or azurite, organic
pink, verdigris and red lead or vermilion. These dominant hues are contrasted with
small carbon-black or lead white areas and rare yellow details (organic, earth or
orpiment). Several pigments were often used for different shades of the same hue
within a manuscript.13
From c. 1250, the standard colour scheme was extended with new hues: brown,
grey and purple. This development began in a small number of deluxe manuscripts.
Some, including the Trinity and Lambeth Apocalypses (pl. 1a, 1c), were produced
in London in the 1250s and 1260s. Others were made in Paris, notably the royal
Psalters commissioned in the 1260s by St Louis14 (pl. 2a) and his sister Isabelle
(pl. 2b, c).15
11 London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 209. Nigel Morgan / Michelle Brown: The Lam-
beth Apocalypse, London 1990.
12 See the case study in Panayotova, Handbook (cit. n. 10).
13 In an English Bestiary of the 1220s red lead, red earth and vermilion provided different
red tones. Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 254. Francis Wormald / Phyllis Giles:
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Additional Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Cambridge 1982, pp. 178‒184. See table for this and further examples.
14 Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 10525; gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/
btv1b8447877n. Harvey Stahl: Picturing kingship. History and Painting in the Psalter of
St Louis, University Park, PA 2008. Patricia Stirnemann / Marcel Thomas: Der Psalter
Ludwigs des Heiligen. Graz 2011. Alison Stones: Gothic Manuscripts 1260‒1320. Part I,
vol. 2, London / Turnhout 2013, cat. no. I‒11.
15 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 300; www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/illuminated/.
Europäische Bild- und Buchkultur im 13. Jahrhundert
- Title
- Europäische Bild- und Buchkultur im 13. Jahrhundert
- Author
- Christine Beier
- Editor
- Michaela Schuller-Juckes
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- German
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-21193-8
- Size
- 18.5 x 27.8 cm
- Pages
- 290
- Categories
- Geschichte Chroniken