J. J. G. Alexander

Compared to Scribes and Illuminators, Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of Work is less about the technology and more about the artists; who they were, where they worked, etc. The book is full of beautiful illustrations – many of which show how the artists copied from earlier versions. Author Jonathan J.G. Alexander marks the point that contemporary art is judged by its originality, while medieval art was judged by faithfulness to an original.

The book is set up chronologically, show more ending in the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries. I was interested to note that by then many illuminators were no longer monks; a class of secular illuminators had developed.

Well worth it for the illustrations alone, and elaborately referenced – about of quarter of the book is endnotes and bibliography. show less

Fairly dry but full of fascinating information about the artists, their methods, their patrons, and their subject matter.

Looks to have a nice selection of examples from multiple periods and to be in a very readable style. Seems to be a bit thin for the breadth of the topic trying to be covered.

I return to this book again and again when researching Insular manuscripts. The first part of the book discusses each known Insular ms, what is known about it, where it was made, the name of the scribe where known, etc. It also lists publications that have discussed this ms, particularly scholarly. The last section consists of black & white (mostly) photos of pages from these manuscripts. The photos are mostly small, but there are examples from each of the manuscripts listed earlier. The show more book seeks to be a comprehensive list, and appears to truly be so. show less