The Royal Anjou Bible

"By any definition, it is one of the supreme Bibles of the gothic period"
[Christopher de Hamel*, Cambridge]

"The House of Anjou ruled over Central and Southern Europe for two centuries. The different areas gradually became close-knit states boasting efficient institutions, lucrative trade and a flourishing cultural life. It was the era of great artists and writers like Giotto, Simone Martini, Boccaccio and Petrarch. Music was also given a new lease of life at the Neapolitan court: even under Charles of Anjou (1226-1286), investments were made in more and better musicians.

This healthy artistic climate provided scope for musical experimentation. One of the most gifted musicians at Charles’ court was undoubtedly the trouvère Adam de la Halle, who wrote the celebrated musical pastoral play Le Jeu de Robin et Marion while in service in Naples.

Charles’ successor, Robert of Anjou, was a particularly well-read and sophisticated sovereign and [a] supporter of Pope Benedict XII and patron of numerous musicians from the latter’s entourage in Avignon. [..] The numerous musical instruments and musical scenes in the Anjou Bible are a unique, artistic externalization of this heyday of music." [source]

"The 14th century Anjou Bible, was created at the court of Robert I of Anjou, King of Naples. After peregrinations in royal circles, in 1509 the book ended up on Brabantine soil. During the course of the next 500 years, this unique manuscript fell into oblivion. Until 2008. On March 10th the bible was officially recognized by the Flemish Community as 'a Masterpiece' and that year a major project was launched which involved researching and conserving the book and making it accessible to the public." [source] ::
[The manuscript now resides in the strongroom at the Maurits Sabbe Library of the Theology Faculty at K.U.Leuven]

I recommend (more than usual, let's say) seeing this magnificent parchment manuscript online via the (often tri-lingual) Anjou Bible site [direct link to a flash zoom presentation of 91 illuminated folio pages that allows you to see the details at high magnification]

The manuscript decoration work is said to have been carried out (or overseen) by Cristophorus Orimina, the leading illuminator in Naples, whose signature appears in the Anjou Bible.

'The Anjou Bible: A Royal Manuscript Revealed. Naples 1340 (Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts)' 2010, edited by J van der Stock & L Wateeuw was released at the time of the exhibition last year.













{all the images in this post were spliced together from screencaps : the full page images - after clicking through - are at 25% magnification and the details towards the end of the post were spliced from 50% zoom captures}

China Court Service

Scenes of Service from a small album known as 'Chinese Drawings: Court and Society', hosted by the John Rylands University Library in Manchester.

We are told that these illustrations (scanned from colour transparencies) depict 19th century Chinese society and costumes and that these (slightly cropped) illustrations are bordered by blue silk.

This collection of delicate hand-painted scenes is part of a much larger set of Chinese cultural material owned by the Rylands Library [Chinese Collection description]. About fifty of these items are hosted on the Rylands' Luna Imaging site. Some of these sketches are just exquisite.

• The full Rylands Luna Imaging site hosts more than 60,000 items.
• The John Rylands University Library homepage.
• Previously: China ::: costumes.

Blake Illuminations

Example pages from William Blake's:

• Songs of Innocence
• Songs of Experience
• The Book of Thel
• Visions of the Daughters of Albion

"If a method of Printing which combines the Painter and the Poet is a phenomenon worthy of public attention, provided that it exceeds in elegance all former methods, the Author is sure of his reward." WB 1793

"The great advance in Blake's printmaking occurred in 1787, following the untimely death, probably from tuberculosis, of the artist's beloved younger brother Robert [..]. Blake reported discovering his wholly original method of "relief etching" — which creates a single, raised printing surface for both text and image — in a vision of Robert soon after his death.

Relief etching allowed Blake to control all aspects of a book's production: he composed the verses, designed the illustrations (preparing word and image almost simultaneously on the same copper printing plate), printed the plates, colored each sheet by hand (where necessary), and bound the pages together in covers. The resulting "illuminated books" were written in a range of forms — prophecies, emblems, pastoral verses, biblical satire, and children's books — and addressed various timely subjects — poverty, child exploitation, racial inequality, tyranny, religious hypocrisy." [source] [Also see: Illuminated Printing]

"William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757 [d. 1827], to James, a hosier, and Catherine Blake. Two of his six siblings died in infancy. From early childhood, Blake spoke of having visions—at four he saw God "put his head to the window"; around age nine, while walking through the countryside, he saw a tree filled with angels.

Although his parents tried to discourage him from "lying", they did observe that he was different from his peers and did not force him to attend conventional school. He learned to read and write at home. At age ten, Blake expressed a wish to become a painter, so his parents sent him to drawing school. Two years later, Blake began writing poetry. When he turned fourteen, he apprenticed with an engraver because art school proved too costly. One of Blake's assignments as apprentice was to sketch the tombs at Westminster Abbey, exposing him to a variety of Gothic styles from which he would draw inspiration throughout his career. After his seven-year term ended, he studied briefly at the Royal Academy." [continued]

• The William Blake images seen above were sourced from the Houghton Library at Harvard University: Songs of Innocence and Experience :::: The Book of Thel :::: Visions of the Daughters of Albion.
• Via Houghton Library blog and John Overholt.
• The William Blake Archive.
• The Blake Society.
• Wikipedia :: Amazon.
  

The Danse Macabre Collection

Title: Der Tod von Basel : acht Holzschnitte von Rudolf Schiestl zu dem alten Volksliede [LINK]
Author: Rudolf Schiestl, 1924




Title: Ein moderner Totentanz : dreiundzwanzig Blätter aus dem Bilderbuch des Todes [LINK]
Author: Tobias Weiss, 1913






Title: La Danse des Morts à Bâle [LINK]
Illustrator: (after) Hans Holbein, 1846




Title: The dance of death on the Muhlenbruke at Lucerne [LINK]
Author: Caspar Meglinger, 1893








Title: Ein Totentanz [LINK]
Authors: Walter Draesner & Max von Boehn, 1922









Title: Bilder des Todes oder Todtentanz für alle Stände [LINK]
Illustrator / Author: Johann Gottfried Flegel / Carl Merkel, 1850





Title: Auch ein Todtentanz [LINK]
Author: Alfred Rethel & Robert Reinick, 1902





Title: Daud un Düwel [LINK]
Author / Illustrator: Karl Wagenfeld / August Heumann, 1919




Title: Schau-Platz des Todes oder Todten-Tanz in Kupffern und Versen vorgestellet [LINK]
Author: Salomon van Rusting, 1736



The Heinrich Hein University of Düsseldorf recently uploaded the Graphiksammlung „Mensch und Tod“ (Danse Macabre Collection). There are more than ninety books available, many of them from the later (lesser known) Totentanz / Death's Dance period. The complete books are available for all but one or two of the entries.


Previous related entries (the first 3 in particular have a lot of background and links about the Death's Dance genre):
Heidelberger Totentanz ::: Death's Dance ::: Totentanz Blockbook ::: Ars Moriendi ::: Los Calaveras de Posada ::: The Day of The Dead - Papercuts ::: The Antikamnia Chemical Company ::: Speculum Musico-Mortuale.

UPDATE: See the Wurzeltod post: A Mid-November's Dance of Death in which the inimitable Suzanne puts some personal flesh on the bones of 'Bilder des Todes oder Todtentanz für alle Stände' by Carl Merkel & Johann Gottfried Flegel.