Plethora

This individual illuminated manuscript initial (spliced together from screencaps) exists as a fragment and was probably produced in Italy in about 1500. It is one of three vellum cuttings taken from choirbooks on sale as a set next month.

Quoting from the Sothebys* catalogue :

"very large historiated initial 'E', 200mm. by 178mm., in burnished gold and coloured acanthus-leaf sprays and an ornamental face, enclosing eight popes and bishops, all on black grounds heightened with liquid gold scrolls and surrounded by naturalistic flower-cuttings, a butterfly and a peacock, all within a rectangular burnished gold frame"
*requires registration to view their sales brochures




This 22-karat gold leaf and egg tempera illumination on hand made paper comes from the 'Hanukkah Illuminated: A Book of Days' project, © Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation, where there are a number of very interesting modern works featuring manuscript techniques of old on display.




The Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem have a site devoted to the Mahzor Worms, a two-volume parchment festival prayerbook from the 13th century, featuring Ashkenazi calligraphy, with illumination and decoration in ink and color. [Also see this Metafilter post with links to a variety of Judaica manuscripts]

"The Mahzor was in use in the community of Worms until the synagogue’s destruction on Kristallnacht, November 1938. It was rescued by the city’s archivist, who hid it in the cathedral. In 1957, following legal proceedings in Germany, the manuscript was transferred to the Jewish National and University Library in Jerusalem."

The tetragrammaton - יהוה (Yod, He, Waw and He) - is the Hellenised Hebrew spelling of the name of God - without vowels - in the Old Testament, rendered as Yahweh or Jehovah or Adonai or Lord.

The old fellow in the image is 'holding' the Tree of Life or Kabbalah of Judaism, the ten-stage (sephiroth) path in the physical and metaphysical planes to God. The symbology has been co-opted, with mystical permutations, in various branches of the esoteric systems such as Hermeticism, Gnosis and the like. ['Portae Lucis' means the doors of light]

The book is recorded at the Bavarian State Library as: 'Giqatila, Yôsef Ben-Avraham / Ricius, Paulus: Portae Lvcis H[a]ec est porta Tetragra[m]maton iusti intrabu[n]t p[er] eam, Augustae Vindelicoru[m] 1516 [VD16 J 954]'. Joseph Giqatila was a 13th century Spanish Kabbalistic philosopher.
















These rather eccentric illustrations come from 'Historia Naturae, Maxime Peregrinae, Libris XVI.', 1635 by Spanish philosopher and scholar, Juan Eusebio Nieremberg. The work, which features more than one hundred and fifty illustrations (they are not all as unusual as these examples), was said to be based largely on an earlier book by Francisco Hernandez, who had been sent to study the fauna and flora of New Spain. Hence, some of the Aztec names for species persist in Nieremberg's book. It is regarded as an important early source work for the Americas, and particularly Mexico. {Some few of the illustrations I have seen before from other sources - eg. Gesner mid-1550s}
The detail images above were sourced from Strasbourg Universities Library (click folder icon top left once inside to load thumbnails).

However, I would now (after just discovering it) very much advocate looking at this book in the excellent flash/turn-the-pages site at the Library of Congress (click 'explore' then 'contents') [part of the Exploring the Early Americas web exhibition]










"Johannes Müller von Königsberg, called Regiomontanus, was arguably the most important astronomer of the fifteenth century. [..] It is often said, and justly, that Regiomontanus set the agenda for the reform of astronomy to which Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Kepler all contributed." [Cambridge University; nb. multiple pages]

"Printed calendars and almanacs became extremely popular in the fifteenth century and provided ordinary people with the basic knowledge required to plan their daily routines. The market for calendars was first tapped by Gutenburg, who published a calendar which calculated the times of new and full moons and planetary positions, with readings every two to three days. All earlier calendars, however, were superseded by those of Regiomontanus (1436-1476) whose calculations were far more accurate[.]" [University of Glasgow Library Book of the Month]

The images above were found in the 1512 edition of the Regiomontanus 'Kalendar' come from Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.





This ~1920s advertisement comes from a newish French regional site, Archives Départementales de l'Hérault, about which I have approximately zero recollection.




From HAB: 'Gymnasium Patientiae' - by Jeremias Drexel, a Jesuit writer of devotional literature and Professor of Rhetoric/Humanities. [1662 Ed.]
"In this work, Drexel compares the sorrowful life to a school, which man has to pass through. Drexel had been treating this matter before as a preacher to the Bavarian electoral court. The German translation by Joachim Meichel was published in 1630 under the title "Creutz-Schul"." [source]
{There is the odd mention of this being an emblem book, although it only has a few engravings, none more striking that this bewildering example.}





From the early 1950s Persian book of bedtime(!) stories: 'What did Flower do to the Weed', kindly submitted by Kristen Alvanson, an artist living in Shiraz, Iran. She has posted more of the book images to her blog, Lumpen Orientalism: one, two, three.










Gottfried Benjamin Hancke was a Silesian baroque lyricist and these images come from his book of poems from 1731 (1750 Ed. shown), 'Nebst denen Neu kirchischen Satyren' 'Gedichte erster Theil, nebst..' at HAB (something like: Beyond the new Satyr Church). Hancke's books have contributed quite a few ornaments to the set as I recall.










From BSB Cod.icon. 48 a(2 - 'Aquarellzeichnungen von Reptilien II', an anonymous album of watercolour sketches of reptiles from 1805-1808.




The frontispiece from Athanasius Kircher's third and final book on magnetism, 'Magneticum Naturae Regnum', 1667 at HAB, Wolfenbüttel.

"Ultimately, Kircher saw magnetic attraction and repulsion as the lingua franca of all creation, governing friendship, love, sympathy, hatred, chemical reactions, planetary action, heliotropic and selenitropic plants, medicinal plants and stones, the wind, hydraulics, the tides, musical harmony; even the nature of God himself, whom Kircher deemed 'the Central Magnet of the Universe'". [source]

One of Athanasius Kircher's earliest books was his treatise written in Avignon on sundials and published in 1635, 'Primitiae gnomonicae catoptricae', available at HAB. The Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte has some commentary in Italian [translation]. {They have some nice large - unrelated - frontispieces too, as part of their exhibition site.}




Codex Vindobonensis 1856, published in Vienna in 1930 - "This is a facsimile of Vienna Codex 1856, a Burgundian Manuscript of c.1470 written and illuminated on black vellum." [nb. 1856 is a number, not a date] D & D Galleries have all the illuminated pages out of this unusual manuscript available. I did some cursory searching the other day but failed to turn up further examples of illumination work on black parchment or vellum. Update: read the comments below.

[Also see UPDATE at end of post below]

The ever excellent Princeton Graphic Arts blog posted some images from an intriguing specimen in their collection: "a scrolling panorama made up of 12 unsigned, hand-colored etchings, with a narrative in verse, attributed to [Thomas] Rowlandson and titled 'Mister O’Squat'.

Update (June 2011): The whole scroll is now viewable in a zoomify frame (via).




The whole of this exquisite miniature illuminated manuscript, the Queen Claude Prayer Book, is available at The Morgan Library and Museum website. It is definitely worth it to zoom in using the (good!) flash magnifier.




One of the benefits of alerting Aeron (of Monsterbrains) to significant new websites (in this case, the Bodleian Manuscripts collection, mentioned the other day) is the sure knowledge that he will unearth twisted gems such as the image above:

'Fifteen Signs of the Last Judgment'. Manuscript page from the Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, dated 1450-1470.'

Speaking of Aeron, Drawn! points out his 1000 Beasts set on flickr and they are for sale.








'Fautorum & Clientum Ministrorum Vota & Mele Natalem ... Dn. Augusti, Ducis Brunovici Et Lunaeburgi ... In aula avita Guelphorum Decimo nempe Aprilis Avide & devote Septuagies & sexies excipientia Anno Christi, M.DC.LIV.' 1654 at HAB.

This intriguing work relates to Augustus the Younger (Duke of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel) and was produced in the last decade of his life. He is another of the great bibliophiles and cultural patrons of the Renaissance/Early Modern periods. His large collection of books formed the basis of the Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel so he is a favoured historical figure with respect to BibliOdyssey. Not so favoured, however, that he will be usurping the mantle of (unofficial) patron of BibliOdyssey from Ottheinrich any time soon. Despite his many good qualities, Augustus is also known to have sent seventy witches and sorcerers to their deaths between 1590 and 1610 in his capacity as Chief Judge of his estate.

The top image is particularly worth seeing in larger format. It seems to be something of a religious homage to Augustus, and packed full of symbolic imagery. The figure in the second image appears to be the spitting image of the Duke.


But wait! there's more: recent bookmarks and the link list.

UPDATE: The Morgan Library Black Book of Hours has been digitised in full (Oct. 2011)

Archetypal Nature

At first blush, Jacob Hoefnagel's book of fifty two engravings of insects, flowers and small animals from 1592 is anything but archetypal in its depiction of nature. The highly contrived arrangements are at times more like the scene of an infestation following a wedding banquet than an accurate portrayal of natural history specimens.

But for the era in which they were published, Hoefnagel's depictions were - for those plants and animals not simply imagined or embellished - an important step towards the recording of flora and fauna in proper perspective and as a fair representation of reality. The book proved influential for still life artists in the 17th century and indeed, Maria Sybilla Merian (from the other day) is thought to have 'borrowed' the stag beetle illustration seen above for one of her exceptional watercolour sketches.

This suite of Hoefnagel engravings was published by Christoph Weigel in Frankfurt and is based on the paintings of Jacob's father, Joris (Georg) Hoefnagel, a renowned Flemish manuscript illuminator. The final image above - 'Allegory of Winter' (1589) from Le Louvre - is one of the original Joris Hoefnagel works which gave rise to the engraved series.

The plates are accompanied by didactic biblical, classical and contemporary humanist epigrams and mottoes - connecting the series to the emblemata genre* - and there is said to be religious symbolism attached to the way in which some of the individual elements are organised in the illustrations.

It seems fairly obvious that at least some of the engraved plates above have been cut out and remounted. Some of the marginal handwriting noting species name and the like can be seen to disappear under the border of the illustrations at times.

The full title of the work is: 'Archetypa studiaque patris Georgii Hoefnagelii Jacobus F. genio duce ab ipso scalpta omnibus philomusis amice D. ac perbenigne communicat'
[roughly: Archetype and verses by G Hoefnagel, his father, are presented, engraved in copper under the guidance of his genius and communicated in friendship to all lovers of the Muses by his son Jacob]

• 'Archetypa Studiaque Patris' (1592) was posted online this week by the Universities of Strasbourg Digital Library {click 'See digitalized document' and then click the folder icon at top left on the page that loads to see thumbnail images}
• This post at Giornale Nuovo is highly recommended and features a selection of images - mostly different to those above - from a modern reprint of the work. Mr H has provided background commentary on the artists which I have not sought to repeat here. Although some of the links are broken (a couple are below), the links in the last paragraph are definitely worth following.
• The Internet Archive version of this page provides some analysis of 'Archetypa Studiaque Patris'.
• Updated link to the Joris Hoefnagel biography at the Getty Museum - note the images in the margin.
• A couple of used 1994 reprints are available at Amazon.

Cannon Fodder

The often obscure and complex path to the development of the cannon (and associated rifles, guns and artillery) is irrevocably linked to the invention of gunpowder. The modern consensus appears to regard the mixture of saltpetre (Potassium nitrate), sulphur and charcoal - gunpowder - as having first appeared in 9th century China. Ironically, the compound was produced by alchemists in their quest for immortality, although it's likely that trial and error experimentation brought them to this stage over centuries.

There is evidence that gunpowder was used in China in crude explosives and incendiary projectiles - such as the fire lance - for warfare in the 10th and 11th centuries, but the progression towards the modern version of the cannon was only made possible once the recipe for gunpowder had been exported along the trade routes of the Silk Road. The first (foreign) written references to gunpowder appeared in Europe in the 13th century in the respective works of philosopher theologians Roger Bacon and Albertus Magnus, and in the Islamic world by way of Syrian scholar, Hassan Al-Rammah.

"The place and time of the invention of the cannon is unknown, but its evolution from the fire lance among the Turks, Arabs and Europeans can hardly be doubted. In 1304, Edward I made no use of cannon at Stirling, although he ordered saltpetre for Greek Fire, but by 1341 the castle was defended by the Scots with guns. Edward built what is reputed the largest trebuchet ever made, called War Wolf, for the 1304 siege of Stirling, which threw 300-pound stones. The English fortress of La Réole in Gascony fell after a month's bombardment by cannon in 1324. Guns are reported at Crécy in 1346, but in a minor role.

The Venetians are said to have used cannon for a siege in 1380, as did Alfonso XI about the same time against the Moors in Spain. Poudre à canon is recorded in 1338. The Osmanli Turks used large cannon at the final siege of Constantinople in 1453, by which date the innovation was widely known in the West. The bombard of 3 ft calibre throwing a 600lb stone at Constantinople seems very large for the time, but apparently such large guns actually existed. The last battle of the Hundred Year's War, at Castillon in Gascony in 1453, where John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, died, was decided by 300 cannon commanded by Jean Bureau. This was the first battle in which cannon were the deciding factor."

The splendid illustrations above are from a 500+ page paper and parchment manuscript produced between 1495 and 1515. It details the arsenal and artillery innovations of the Habsburg monarch, Kaiser Maximilian I, who was something of an enthusiastic scholar and patron to a wide range of intellectual as well as military pursuits. He is credited with the development of the portable cannon and the establishment of the respected mercenary pikemen regiments - seen in a few images above - known as Landsknechts.

If I've understood correctly, the manuscript was produced by Bartholomaeus Freysleben in the Regensburg district of Bavaria. The vast majority of this (unfinished) work displays cannon illustrations -- the sampling above is skewed towards showing the variety of images available rather than being a representative group, if you follow -- and many of the individual weapon types appear to be repeated with only minor background or cosmetic changes. Towards the back of the manuscript there is more in the way of decorative initials, elaborate marginal motifs and rare instances of gold leaf illumination.

• 'Zeugbuch Kaiser Maximilians I. - BSB Cod.icon. 222' (the Book of Things or the Book of Stuff) - Table of Contents - is online at Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum.
• The catalogue reference page has background information (in German) [translation]
• 'Cannons and Gunpowder' by Dr James B Calvert is a rather lengthy and scholarly article but wasn't really my favourite background piece to read, despite the quoting above. (I haven't looked around his site yet but I sense there is a lot in there)
• 'Handgonnes and Matchlocks - A Preliminary Essay in the History of Firearms to 1500' is a well illustrated and interesting page with an extensive link list.
• Gunpowder Weapons of the Late Fifteenth Century is another very useful page with timeline and crude graphics and practical explanations of the workings of the various types of proto-artillery.
• Wikipedia articles worth a look: Cannon in the Middle Ages; History of Gunpowder; Cannon; Fire lance; Bombard; Landsknecht.
• Gun and Gunpowder at Silk Road.
• I quite like the brief synopses (referenced) at New York University's The Medieval Technology Pages.
• Kaiser Maximilian I (1911 Encylopedia)
• In passing: Remember the Knights of Malta? See: 'History's Bloodiest Siege used Human Heads as Cannonballs' in reference to the 1565 Siege of Malta.
• Equally tangential: Cannon Mania deserves a guernsey here. It's an old site but has a lot of interesting material (and lots of photographs) within. Also: Human Cannonball.