Medieval Religious Illumination as a Source of Information for the Faithful

Extract

[...] From left to right, the first concerns the dove (symbolic of the holy spirit). The second concerns prayer, while the third concerns the baptism of the child in the presence of the lord. Is the second illumination divided horizontally in the center into two equal parts. In the first, in the upper part of the frontispiece, we observe the benediction, and finally the second the ascension of Jesus on earth. The more or less extended dimensions of its parts symbolize the greater or lesser importance of the event being told. [...]

[...] The latter, under the cover of the story of Jesus, recounts the episodes after the death of Christ and his resurrection, and especially his ascension on earth. The date of conception of these illuminations remained unclear for a number of years; the translation and study of the missal made it possible to estimate it to be around the 13th century, going up to the 14th. But it was necessary to wait for the meticulous study by F. Gille in order to situate with exactness the date of this missal around 1297, because Saint Louis was canonized that year and does not appear on the said calendar. [...]

[...] The number of each character is thus similar on one side as on the other, which amplifies even more the sensation of order previously established in the construction of the scenes. This tradition of classical correspondence goes back to a pictorial tradition widely anchored by artists such as Duccio, Giotto. The slightly illustrated border is largely made up of the paper background of the parchment, which serves both as a frame and as a background to the frontispieces of the life of Jesus. [...]

[...] The apostles in ceremonial attire, just like Jesus and the characters present in the two illuminations, are painted in a saturated, restricted, and extremely codified chromatic range in the art of medieval illumination. The blue, obtained recently in the 13th century AD through the discovery of Lapis Lazuli. White is the color widely used in the context of religious painting; indeed, this color is associated with divine powers, the Immaculate Conception, and also with the absolute purity of the Virgin, her chastity. [...]

[...] The illuminations are both in portrait format, on parchment paper already well yellowed by time. The two retain a similar layout, that is to say a frame, in the form of a border, and a central frontispiece intended to illustrate the moments of the life of Jesus. In the art of illumination the frontispiece maintains a close link with the object of the work since it illustrates its main theme addressed. This illustration space dedicated to the life of Jesus is both organized and symmetrical. [...]