After Class 02/10/10

Today in class we discussed Illuminated Manuscripts. They are usually pieces of religious material and over the ages the world has seen some incredibly beautiful and talented work of those who produced them. They were extremely complex, colorful and meant to grab the attention of illiterate people. Although they might not have been able to read they could see that the church or religious group was powerful and special enough to create such works of beauty that they must therefore be important. The Classical style of illuminated manuscripts was created during the "Dark Ages." It is said illiteracy was at it highest during this time, and the church was suffering because it was lacking followers. The church also recognized that they could be a source of hope and inspiration to people. The plague was infecting and killing millions of people across Europe and it was a very bleak time to be alive. The beautiful manuscripts gave people hope that the church was something they should turn to for answers. The script was unique in the sense that it was beginning to show signs of moving towards lower case lettering. The illustrations stood out because they were outlined in vivid red colors. The Celtic manuscripts were especially ornate and filled with intertwining designs and letters. They often combined letters and the first two letters of a word in a paragraph were much larger. However because the letters were extremely complex there were often misspellings in the manuscript.
The Caroline Graphic renewal was during the time of King Charlamagne. He was fed up with the comlex lettering and called on there to be a more readable font. Letters were still decorative but much more readable and included upper and lower case. Scribes hired by the king were the head designers and standardized page layout. The Spanish Illuminated Designs had influences from Islam. They included animals in their artwork. The works used mostly primary colors and were very bright. The bold imagery of the "Four horsemen of the Apocolypse" was meant to shock people ad scare them. The Romanesque and Gothic manuscripts created a renewed religious feeling. Monasticism had reached it's peak. The "Littera Moderna" was tall, sharp, narrow, and bold lettering. The Late Medieval manuscripts were most commonly of the "Book of Hours." It was Europe's most popular book at the time. The Limbourg brothers were famous Dutch painters who used atmospheric perspective to create their works. Jewish manuscripts were rare because the people were dispersed to many regions. However, the ones that were created by Joel Ben Simeon had subject matter that focused on Jewish history; the exodus. Calligraphy ad illustrations were drawn along the border. Islamic illuminated manuscripts did not contain images because that was thought to be going against the Creator himself- who was the only one allowed to "create" things. The Islamic manuscripts contained incredibly ornate calligraphy. It contained the words of their prophet Muhammad. His teachings for the individual and society were found in the Qur'an. Islamic calligraphy seems to have no beginning or end but is all interlocking letters.
The most interesting thing I learned from todays class was the idea that the Classical manuscripts were a symbol of hope for people in the Dark Ages. The church recognized that it was a very bleak time and that these images of beauty and peace could be comforting to people. They did not fret that people could not read but did the best they could with what they had; They created beautiful pictures instead.
I would be curious to learn about if manuscripts are still created today. Have the Jewish people made up any more manuscripts since theirs were limited?