Italian Renaissance Illuminations

J.J.G. Alexander

Chatto & Windus, softcover

The ancient art of book illumination was transformed by the intellectual, spiritual and artistic rebirth of Europe and by the revival of classical influence in Italy which occurred in the early part of the fifteenth century. There were new patrons, newartists, and a new style.
The Medici of Florence, the Visconti of Milan and the Gonzaga of Mantua all collected extensive libraries. No longer was the art of book illumination confined to the monasteries.
Giulio Clovio (whom Vasari called "the Michelangelo in miniature of our day"), Lorenzo Monaco and Mantegna enriched this vital art form from their metropolitan workshops.
A number of fresco painters, Fra Angelico and Pisanello among them, also executed miniatures. In the hands of these craftsmen, the unreal creatures of the Middle Ages became men and women of flesh and blood. From the surviving manuscripts of the period, J. J. G. Alexander has selected the masterpieces of Renaissance illumination and has provided the Introduction and Commentaries on the individual folios reproduced in Italian Renaissance lliuminations.