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Page turners

Illuminated manuscripts at the Higgins

by Leon Nigrosh

ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS: A VIEW INTO THE MEDIEVAL WORLD At the Higgins Armory Museum, 100 Barber Avenue, through May 17, 1998.

Desktop publishing is nothing new, it was done as far back as the 6th century. The only difference is that the monks and nuns in the scriptoria used pens, brushes, and ink instead of a computer. In a time when few people could even read, it was very important that religious thought (and later, secular documentation) be recorded for use in religious services as well as for posterity.

For the latest Higgins Armory Museum exhibit, guest curator Ellen Kosmer has chosen to display 35 rarely seen medieval manuscripts that have survived in all their resplendent color for more than 400 years. Because of their fragility and sensitivity to light, the manuscripts are softly lighted by five-foot candles. Not only does this precaution help preserve the objects, but the low-level lighting creates a feeling similar to what conditions must have been like when the original scribes labored over each page.

Today, with Buck-A-Book stores everywhere and amazon.com selling millions of books on the Internet, we need to be reminded of the time when the written word was held in reverence. The first object provides ample evidence of such a time. This 15th-century copy of The Gospels in Armenian is encased in silver repoussé. The front panel shows a detailed image of Jesus on the cross surrounded by portraits of scribes (possibly the Apostles). On the back cover we see Jesus walking among clouds (presumably in Heaven) with angels and others in attendance. A beautifully sculpted hand acts as the book's clasp, and a fine mail strap serves as a carrying handle. This book was obviously commissioned as a private volume by someone who could well afford to pay the scribes, illustrators, bookbinders, and silversmiths needed to complete the small masterpiece.

In sharp contrast to this delicate personal book is a nearby antiphonary from the 16th century. This manuscript, with each page measuring about two-by-two feet, was lettered quite large so that when it was placed in front of them, choir members could sing from it. This book has illuminated lettering at the start of each major passage and a five-line musical staff with the appropriate notes inked in. The example from an earlier 15th-century Italian Commemoration of St. Paul has only a four-line musical staff, with much more elaborate border illumination and a detailed but imaginary portrait of Paul, highlighted in gold leaf. St. Paul's feast day is noted in red ink -- from which comes "red letter days." Other engaging manuscripts show St. Michael killing his ubiquitous dragon, Job on his dung heap, and Saints Primus and Felician having hot lead poured down their mouths.

One of the few manuscripts that has been attributed to a particular artist is Niccolo da Bologna's Common of Martyrs. This particular page contains a highly detailed -- and quite gory -- depiction of St. Stephen being stoned to death, Lawrence burning on a gridiron, Paul losing his head, and Sebastian being shot with arrows -- all on a single panel illuminated with colorful inks and a lavish sprinkling of gold leaf. As one visitor put it, "These guys were not having a good day."

But, then as now, pictures went a long way toward giving greater and more immediate meaning to the words. Compare these elaborate pages with the Book of Esther, a Hebrew megillah, or scroll, from the 16th century. Totally devoid of any ornamentation, the letters themselves set up a rhythmic pattern of lines and spaces, read from right to left, which carries the reader along with the story.

Not all of the manuscripts in the exhibit are of a religious nature. One fascinating page is from a medical treatise by a 9th-century Arabic doctor, Mohammed-abu-bekr-ibn-zakariya Razi. The work itself is a 14th-century Italian translation copied from Arabic into Latin. The small but detailed illuminated panel shows a doctor at work. It is assumed that the image is supposed to be Razi himself, but the illuminator has put him in contemporary medieval garb.

Each of the works on display deserves more than a fleeting moment of your time. Look long enough and you will begin to feel the intensity and care that the scribes poured into each letter and musical note. Let your eyes take in the myriad minuscule details of the illuminated panels, and you will come away knowing the love that the illustrators brought to the pages with their tiny brushes and long hours. As curator Kosmer noted, "The medieval illuminator created great works of art, and the book was for the Middle Ages and the Renaissance an object of great value and artistic significance."

The Higgins Armory Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Call 853-6015.