Masterpieces of Western European Illumination on View at The New York Public Library

The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library on view from October 21 until February 12, 2006, featuring rarely seen manuscripts from the Library's collection

Historiated Initial B, depicting scenes from the Life of David. Psalter (The Tickhill Psalter), in Latin. England, Worksop Priory, Nottinghamshire, after 1303-ca.1314. (NYPL SP 26)

One hundred exquisite medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts, dating from the 10th through the 16th centuries and ranging from miniature portable Bibles to oversized Gospel books, make up a new exhibition at The New York Public Library. The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library, on view from October 21, 2005 through February 12, 2006, is the first full-scale exhibition to highlight the incredible breadth of the Library's collection of Western European illuminated manuscripts, among the largest in North America. Drawn entirely from the Library's Spencer Collection [SP] and Manuscripts and Archives Division [MA], the exhibition features sumptuously illustrated Gospel books, Bibles, liturgical books, prayer books, atlases, scientific texts, and romances, some never before exhibited to the public and others virtually unknown to scholars of manuscript studies. Additionally, several well-known and acclaimed manuscripts will be on display, including the renowned 14th-century Tickhill Psalter and the 16th-century Towneley Lectionary, containing paintings by Giulio Clovio, a famed Renaissance illuminator. Curated by Jonathan J. G. Alexander (Professor of Fine Arts at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University), James H. Marrow (Professor Emeritus of Art History at Princeton University), and Lucy Freeman Sandler (Professor of Art History Emerita at New York University), the exhibition will be held in the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall on the first floor of the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. Admission to the exhibition is free. In addition, the Library will co-publish an exhibition catalogue with Harvey Miller Publishers and will host a series of free exhibition-related events throughout the fall and winter.

The fruits of labor-intensive--and sometimes decades-long--collaborations, illuminated manuscripts are dazzling works of art, combining hand-produced text with beautiful and vivid illustrations by the master artists of their day. The manuscripts' lavish designs and use of precious materials, such as gold, luminous pigments, and jeweled bindings, signal the privileged social standing of their owners, who included popes, kings, queens, nobles, clerics, and monks. Included in the exhibition is the famous Tickhill Psalter, a lavishly illustrated 14th-century Psalter (a prayer book that features the 150 psalms from the Book of Psalms) with extraordinarily vibrant pictures and figural decorations throughout. From Bibles influenced by Byzantine art to literary texts influenced by the East, the manuscripts on display offer astounding breadth in their origins, content, and design.

"It is a great pleasure to present The Splendor of the Word to the Library's many audiences," said Paul LeClerc, President of The New York Public Library. "The exhibition has been in our vision for a generation and in our plans for several years. The Library's collection of illuminated manuscripts is one of the largest and richest in North America. We are delighted to make these exquisite materials accessible to a wide audience for the first time."

"The curators, in addition to an international consortium of scholars, have produced an exhibition and catalogue of lasting scholarly value as well as of great beauty," said David Ferriero, Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries. "Scholars of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance will find much in the exhibition to advance our knowledge of illuminated manuscripts and the cultures that produced them. And all visitors will be struck by the splendid beauty that radiates from these unique treasures."

"Illuminated manuscripts provide testimony to the ways in which their owners understood the world and their place in it," said James H. Marrow, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Princeton University and a curator of the exhibition. "To call attention to the fundamental roles these manuscripts played, we have organized the exhibition thematically, beginning with the patron and the artist and followed by separate sections on Bibles, liturgical manuscripts, books of private devotion, and, finally, scientific, historical, literary, and didactic works."

Leather pouch or girdle binding. Breviary. Bavaria, 1454. (NYPL Spencer Collection 39)

The Patron, the Artist, and the Book
Fashioned from costly materials and entirely hand-produced, illuminated manuscripts required a significant investment of human and material resources. Only wealthy institutions and individuals had access to the large amounts of capital necessary to commission such books. Universities, monasteries, priories, churches, and royal courts were typical patrons of illuminated manuscripts in the Middle Ages. To highlight their patronage, private and institutional patrons often called for the incorporation of their coats of arms or names and portraits in prominent locations within the manuscript. A 14th-century prayer book (NYPL SP 56, exh. no. 46) belonging to Blanche of Burgundy, the first wife of King Charles IV of France, in which Blanche herself is depicted in miniature ten times, is such an example.

Unlike printed books, in which text is standardized, illuminated manuscripts were uniquely designed and composed. Although derived from a model or hypothetical norm, such as the four books of the Gospels, hand-produced manuscripts nonetheless exhibit a high degree of variation, with every design choice--from materials used to quantity and quality of the decorations and illustrations--influencing the meaning of the manuscript's contents.

Scribes planned for the illumination that followed the writing of the text, and artists were paid on a scale that rated the sizes of the initials, the intricacy of their details, and the scope of the illuminations. Bindings ranged from plain boards to leather coverings to the "girdle" binding (NYPL SP 39, exh. no. 5)--one of only two dozen known to exist today--that allowed the book to be carried by attaching to the bearer's belt or cincture. The sumptuousness of any manuscript was limited only by the patron's largesse and the creative abilities of the artist.

King David Praying to God. Guyart de Moulins, Grande Bible historiale complétée (“Completed version”). Paris, 1330s, with additions, Provence and elsewhere, 1460–80. (NYPL Spencer Collection 4)

Bibles and Bible History
By far the most important and culturally dominant books produced throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance were Bibles and biblical books. Recording the history of humankind, from the beginning of time in Genesis to the end of time in Revelation, the Bible was deemed the authoritative record of sacred history and a template of mankind's obligations to his creator. Biblical books provided the cornerstones of medieval theology, history, law, and philosophy, and they informed all understanding of man's place in the scheme of things.

Since the four Gospels were the authoritative source for the life of Christ, the Gospel books are among the finest and most richly made of all early Bibles. On display is the oldest Western manuscript in the Library's collection, a late-9th-early 10th-century Gospels created in Brittany (NYPL MA 115, exh. no. 6), composed in Latin, whose figures of the Evangelists are in the "beast-headed" tradition, consisting of human hands and bodies but with heads of animals. Also of note is a 15th-century German New Testament History Bible (NYPL SP 102, exh. no. 23), written in the vernacular, that is among the most extensively illustrated lives of Christ and the Virgin in all of medieval art, with no fewer than 268 tinted drawings surviving. This manuscript presents a previously unknown treasure trove of Christian iconography.

Liturgical Manuscripts
Incorporating spoken prayers, biblical readings, and chants, the liturgy is the public or ceremonial prayer of the institutional church. Embodying two rites, the Mass (normally celebrated once daily) and the Divine Office (a round of communal prayer observed eight times each day), the liturgy formed the centerpiece of a religious order's daily schedule. Liturgical manuscripts presented this complex series of prayers to the religious community. Because of their ceremonial use, liturgical manuscripts were among the most richly decorated books of the medieval and Renaissance periods, as illustrated by the missals, lectionaries, and Psalters on display in this section.

Many manuscripts were commissioned by socially prominent prelates--popes, cardinals, bishops, and abbots--and were given to ecclesiastical communities by secular rulers or other nobility. One stunning example on display is the Gospel Lectionary (NYPL MA 91, exh. no. 31). A masterpiece of Italian Renaissance illumination, this lectionary was given to the College of Cardinals for use in the Sistine Chapel by its owner, Alessandro Cardinal Farnese, upon his death. Four of its full-page illuminations are attributed to Giulio Clovio, an artist whose craftsmanship has been compared to that of Michelangelo. Although physically small, Clovio's illuminations convey a sense of monumentality and are stupefying in their brilliant detail. Also on display is one of the greatest--and oldest--manuscripts in the Library's collection, a mid-10th-century German Gospel Lectionary (NYPL MA 1, exh. no. 27) notable for the sumptuous nature of its text, with nearly fifty pages of script, initials, and frames painted in gold and silver. This manuscript--one of the most important medieval manuscripts in any American institution--was among the trove of books and manuscripts given to the Library in the 1870s and 1880s by John Jacob Astor III.

The Annunciation. Book of Hours. Besançon, ca. 1475. (NYPL Manuscripts and Archives Division 41)

Books of Private Devotion
As the purchasing power of the laity increased and as literacy spread among new sections of society during the late Middle Ages, lay and religious patronage of books of personal devotion flourished. Beginning around 1200, lay and religious patrons adopted the Psalter as a preferred book of private prayer. For those who could afford it, Psalters were illustrated, sometimes very elaborately. The Tickhill Psalter (NYPL Spencer 26, exh. no. 41), named for the English prior who wrote and gilded it, is a glorious example of English Gothic art with its intricate figural decorations and liberal use of gilding. Interestingly, the prior was dismissed from his position in 1314 for fiscal malfeasance, and it is likely that the cost of the unfinished manuscript contributed to his dismissal. A touch-screen display, showing seventeen folios from the Psalter, provides visitors with the opportunity to digitally scroll through the manuscript. Other Psalters on display include remarkable French, Flemish, and Italian examples of the genre.

Deriving their name from the Hours of the Virgin (selected psalms, hymns, lessons, and prayers to be recited eight different "hours" a day in honor of Mary), Books of Hours replaced Psalters as the preeminent illustrated books of private devotion in the later Middle Ages because they offered lay and religious patrons a wider range of devotional contents. These included prayers to be recited in honor of Christ, for the forgiveness of sins, or for the dead or those in danger of dying. Jean Colombe, a leading 15th-century illustrator, is represented here with one of his Books of Hours (NYPL MA 113, exh. no. 48) and a related type of illustrated prayer book (NYPL MA 51, exh. no. 61). The Book of Hours features Colombe's stunning double-page renderings of the Annunciation. Also among the Library's holdings are a number of Flemish Books of Hours, including one spectacular example featuring four-sided trompe-l'oeil and illustrated borders, a highlight of Flemish illumination in the late Middle Ages (NYPL Spencer 36, exh. no. 66).

The healing properties of spring water, illustrated by a woman carrying two water buckets on a pole. Health Handbook. Ferrara, after 1470-72? (NYPL, Spencer Collection 65)

Scientific, Historical, Literary, and Didactic Manuscripts
Although primarily instruments of learning, the manuscripts in this section were also sometimes read for recreational purposes. The images and decoration helped facilitate learning and stimulated the reader's imagination. The scientific manuscripts on view range in scope from those concerned with knowledge of the heavens to those focused on the earth and worldly activities, such as an almost entirely unstudied 15th-century Italian "health handbook" (NYPL SP 65, exh. no. 75) that details the healthful properties of plants and healing methods in the time of plague.

Historical manuscripts on display, in Latin and the vernacular, treat antiquity and contemporary events. Many were created for rulers, prelates, and noblemen involved in affairs of state. Among the highlights is a 15th-century French translation of Boccaccio's Of Famous Women (NYPL SP 33, exh. no. 98), an innovative collection of biographies acknowledging women's accomplishments in history and including biblical, Greek, and Roman examples. Literary and didactic manuscripts treat morality and the cardinal virtues, obligations within the body politic, and principles of childrearing, and include an especially beautiful 15th-century copy of Aesop's Fables (NYPL SP 50, exh. no. 100). Romances and other works of literature on chivalric and poetic themes employ poetry, allegory, and imaginative fiction to comment trenchantly on human sentiment and the human condition; they include an early 15th-century manuscript of Le Roman de la Rose (NYPL SP 78, exh. no. 92), the most extensively illustrated secular work from the age of chivalry.

Related Publications, Audio Tour, and Upcoming Library Events
Two publications will accompany the exhibition and will be available for sale at The Library Shop (www.thelibraryshop.org). An exhibition catalogue co-published by the Library and Harvey Miller Publishers, The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library (Publication date: November 2005; paperback), will present the 100 manuscripts in the exhibition with gorgeous four-color images and accompanying text that offers relevant historical and social context for each work. Also available as a companion to the exhibition is The Medici Aesop ($27.50; paperback), a stunning four-color facsimile edition of the 15th-century Florentine manuscript of Aesop's fables, the original of which is featured in the exhibition. The Library has also included a list of suggested reading in the exhibition brochure.

Free public tours of The Splendor of the Word are conducted Tuesday through Saturday at 12:30 and 2:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Groups of ten or more people must make reserved group tour arrangements; call 212.930.0501. Reserved group tour fees are $7 per person for adults and $5 for senior citizens; there is no charge for full-time students . An audio tour produced by Antenna Audio will be available for patrons free of charge. In addition, the Library will host a series of free public events, including symposia, lectures, movie screenings, musical performances, and children's book-making classes, throughout the duration of the exhibition.

For more information, please visit the exhibition website.

The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at The New York Public Library is on view October 21, 2005 through February 12, 2006, at The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library in the D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall on the first floor. Exhibition hours are Tuesday and Wednesday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; Sunday, 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.; closed Mondays, national holidays, and Saturday, December 24 and Sunday, December 11. Admission is free. For more information about exhibitions at The New York Public Library, the public may call 212.869.8089 or visit the Library's website at www.nypl.org.

Support for this exhibition has been provided by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily reflect those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Support for the exhibition audio guide has been provided by a generous gift from The New York Community Trust-Judith and Stanley Zabar Fund.

Support for The New York Public Library's Exhibitions Program has been provided by Pinewood Foundation and by Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III.

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Contact:    Tim Farrell   212.704.8600

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