TheInfluenceofMedieval Illuminated ManuscriptsonthePre ...Dante Gabriel Rossetti used as a starring poinr for his watercolours ... Rossetti liked to combine different artistic models

The Influence ofMedieval Illuminated

Manuscripts on the Pre-Raphaelites and theEarly Poetry ofWilliam Morris

Michaela Braesel

When considering the influence ofmedieval book illumination on thework of Pre-Raphaelite arrists stress is generally laid upon examplesfrom the thirreemh and fourreemh cemuries. These are the book illuminations recommended by John Ruskin, which 'in their bold rejection ofall principles ofperspective, light and shade, and drawing ... areinfinitely more ornamental to the page owi ng to the vivid opposi tion oftheir bright colours and quaintlines, than if they had been drawn by DaVinci himself'. I He also considered that they demonstrated the basicprinciples ofart: 'clearness ofoutline and simplicity, without the introduction oflight and shade'.1 Ruskin's emhusiasm for the aesthetic qualities ofilluminated manuscripts from the fourteenth cemury is evidenrfrom a statemem he made about the decoration ofa book ofhours in hisown collection which he described as 'notofrefined work, but extremeIy rich, groresque, and full ofpure colour. The new worlds which everyleafofthis book opened to me, and the joy I had, couming their letters,and unravelling their arabesques asifrhey hadall been ofbeaten gold ...cannot be told' ..1 Comrary to the view ofcontemporaries such as Gustav Friedtich Waagen or Henry Noel Humphreys, Ruskin consideredthat the most striking example of the demise of medieval book illumination was to be seen in the works ofGiulio Clovio (1498-1578), whohad umil then been held in high esteem due to Giorgio Vasari's comparison ofhim with Michelangelo (1475-1564).4

It is miniatures from the thirreenth and fourteenth centuries, highly valued by Ruskin because of the brilliance of their colours, whichDante Gabriel Rossetti used as a starring poinr for his watercoloursfrom the second halfofthe 1850s, several ofwhich Morris acquired. '; Heknew the man uscript collections ofRuskin and the Bri tish Library, andstudied them in order to draw poetic inspiration as well as to influencehis art.6 He also used as his models miniatures reproduced in contemporary publications, such as Henry Shaw's DressesandDecorationso/theMiddle Ages (1843) and Henry Noel Humphtcys' and Owen Jones's

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JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES, SUMMER 2004

Illuminated Manuscripts ofthe Middle Ages (1849). Rossetti's paintingson medieval subjects show the influence ofthese miniatures in theit useofa crowded picture plane, the diverse and dense ornamental areas, theslightly unclear spatial treatment within the paintings, the narrow andlow spatial boxes and especially in the luminous quality ofthe colours'!Rossetti liked to combine different artistic models in the sets of hispaintings and in the costumes ofhis protagonists in order to achieve aneffect as interesting and charming as possible. S Only the paintings byRossetti and Elizabeth Siddall on a jewellery box for Jane Morris (pre1862; now in Kelmscott Manor) are direct copies, taken from miniatures on a Christine de Pisan-manuscript from the early fifteenth century (British Library, MS Harley 4431, fo1. 376 and 48).')

However, Charles Allston Collins' Convent Thoughts (1850-51; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) and Berengaria's Alarm for the Safety ofherHusband... (1850; Manchester Art Galleries) also demonstrate thatilluminations from other periods, in this case the late-fifteenth andtwelfth centuries, also served as models in Pre-Raphaelite paintings. 10

In contrast to Rossetti or Ford Madox Brown, who used miniatures asinspirations for single motifs within rhe painting, Collins quoted existing miniatures and incorporated them as illuminations into his work. 11

In the second generation of Pre-Raphaelites the influence of fourteenth-century media:val manuscripts is still recognisable. EdwardBurne-Jones's design for The Armingand Departure ofthe Knights, oneof the Holy Grail tapestries (189°-95), draws on a miniature depictingthe same scene in the Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add. MS 42130,fol. 202V) dating from the early fourteenth century. In the late-nineteenth century the manuscript was still in a private collection; however, copies ofthe miniature had been published in the second volume ofJohn Carter's Specimens ofAntient (sic] Sculpture and Painting nowremaining in this kingdom from the earliestperiod to the Reign ofHenryVIII (2 vols, 1780-87), accompanied by a commentary by RichardGough,12 in the sixth volume of Vetusta Monumenta (1839) with commentary by John Gage Rokewode, and in F. W. Fairholt's Costume inEngland (1846).13 It is also possible that the figure ofthe kneeling Galahad in the last tapestry of the cycle, The Attainment, was modelled onthe figure of a kneeling knight in the Westminster Psalter (BritishLibrary, MS Roy.2.A.xxii), which was depicted in works by HenryShaw and Joseph Strutt and is also to be found in Burne-Jones's sketchbook in Birmingham. 14

William Morris referred to illuminated manuscripts from thefifteenth century in the 1850S to research the applied arts. The minia-

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THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

tures he used show decorated interiors as setting instead ofornamented backgrounds. For example, in his Daisies embroidery of1859 for RedHouse (Kelmscott House) he incorporated motifs from a miniature inBritish Library MS Harley 4380, fol. If, which shows the Dance a/theWodehouses, and which was reproduced in contemporary works such asHenry Shaw's and Sir Frederic Madden's Illuminated Ornaments Selectedfrom Manuscripts and Early Printed Booksfrom the Sixth to the Seventeenth Centuries (183°-33, ill. 26) or George Craik's and lames MacFarlane's The PictorialHistory a/EnglandbeingaHistory a/thePeopleas wellas aHistory a/the Kingdom (1839, vol. H, p. 255).15 Similar motifs can alsobe found in a page border in British Library, MS Royal 15.E.vi (circa1445), fol. 2V.

However, for his own illuminated manuscripts of the 1850S and forthe book depicted in his painting La Belle lseult (1858; Tate Britain)'Morris returned (in contrast to his later illuminated manuscripts of the1870s), to models from 1250-[350 which Ruskin had pointed our asexemplary. Morris illuminated in 1856 his own poem Guendolen andtwo stanzas of a canto from Robert Browning's Paracelsus (lines190-205, in the 1849 version; Huntington Library, California, HM6478).1(, In the following year he started to illuminate a parchment pagewith the text of The Story o/thelronMan after the fairy tale by the brothers Grimm (J. Paul Getty, Wormsley Library). This decorationremained unfinished. Morris also roughly sketched a frame decorationon a page with his own poem 'Think but one thought of me up in thestars', which was published the same year in the OxfOrd & CambridgeMagazine under the title 'Summer Dawn' (Huntington Library, California, HM 6480). Consequently, Ruskin was deeply impressed byMorris's work and recommended him to the custodian of the manuscript department of the British Library comparing his 'gift of illumination' to that of a 'thirteenth century draughtsman'. 17 Rossetti, too,was full ofpraise for Morris's ability as an illuminator and said in 1856:'In all illumination and work ofthat kind he is quite unrivalled by anything modern that I know - Ruskin says, better than anythingancient' .18

In these illuminated pages Morris used closely related decorativemotifs, which can be traced back to examples from the late-thirteenthand early-fourteenth century: the grotesque creatures, the long pointed leaves, the frame-borders with animal bodies at the ends and the coiling tendrils are based on English and French manuscripts dating fromthese times, as are the irregular borders and the asymmetrical background of the initials. This is also true for the rather dark colours cho-

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JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004

sen, which contrast with large gold areas. Morris would have seen suchmanuscripts in the British Library and in the Bodleian Library.19

Morris retained this preference for illuminated manuscriprs datingfrom this period into his later years. In the essay 'Some Notes on theIlluminated Books ofthe Middle Ages' written in 1894, he declared thelast quarter ofthe thirteenth century to be the 'climax ofillumination' :'Nothing can exceed the grace, elegance, and beauty ofthe drawingandthe loveliness of the colour'. 20 He explained that in the fourteenth century there were a number ofsignificant changes in the practice ofillumination which led to an abundance of motifs and a wonderful richness in colour, even if, at the same time, he criticises a certain 'mechanical redundancy' which resulted. 21 Characteristic of this period wererichly ornamented or gilded and chased picture backgrounds, and lavish trimmings with leaves, flowers, birds and animals. The motifs were'naruralistically treated (and very well drawn); there is more freedom,and yet less individuality in this work; in short the style, though it haslost nothing (in its best works) ofelegance and daintiness - qualities sodesirable in an ornamen ted book - has lost somewhat ofmanliness andprecision', a development which would continue until the end of thecentury.22 Although outstanding works were still being created in thefirst halfofthe fifteenth century, Morris observed an increasingseparation between ornament and picture which had an adverse effect on theharmony of the page. 23 Illuminated books of high quality were nolonger created after 1530 and 'thus disappeared an art which may becalled peculiar to the Middle Ages, and which commonly shows mediaeval craftsmanship at its best'. 24

Unlike Ruskin and Morris the authors of the numerous chromolithographic publications on illuminated manuscripts and thepractical guidebooks on miniature painting in the second half of thenineteenth century were full ofpraise for fifteenth-century illuminatedmanuscripts. These publications provided examples, which were takenfor the most part from manuscripts preserved in the British Libraryandwhich concentrated on the design of inirials and page borders. 2S

Humphreys dedicated much space to the fifteenth century in his IlluminatedBooks ofthe Middle Ages and Shaw was ofthe opinion that illumination reached its artistic culmination in the second half of the1400S.26 In Madden and Shaw's Illuminated Ornaments selectedfromManuscripts... 22 illustrations represent fifteenth-century examples,while only two reproduce thirteenth-century works. Manuscripts suchas the Gorleston PsaLter (1310-25; British Library MS Add. 49622), aredescribed as 'bizarre but splendid', whereas the fifteenth century saw

44


the beginning of the perfecrion ofthe art. 27 This could be seen, next tothe 'endless variety ofdesign and colouring', in the 'beauty and richnessofthe execution', which culminated in the sixteenth century.28

In the lighr ofRuskin recommending illuminated miniatures fromthe earlier medieval period it is perhaps surprising still to see an enthusiasm for the miniatures ofthe late-fifteenth century in the 'second generation' ofPre-Raphaelites such as Bume-Jones and Morris. It is knownthat Bume-Jones showed friends the Roman de la Rose manuscript inthe British Library, MS Harley 4425, which is dated circa 1490-1500and since 1915 has been ascribed to the 'Master of the Prayer Books ofcirca 1500', probably active in Bruges.19 As George Price Boyce records:

Jones having promised to show us some of the most beautiful illuminated manuscripts in the collection [British Library]. First the 'Romande la Rose', which is filled with the most exquisite illuminations, as fineas could well be in colour and gradation, tenderness oftone and manipulation, and purity of colour and light: the landscapes perfectlyenchanting, the distances and skies suggesting Turner's besr and showing as well in every other parr close and long observation ofnarure.30

Bume-Jones was not the first to recognise the importance of this manuscript. Already at the beginning of the nineteenth century the catalogue of the Harley manuscripts stated that the manuscript containedan extraordinary array ofminiatures and that they were executed' in themost masterly Manner [... ] that is not to be exceeded by any known MSin this or anyother Library':'IThomas Frognall Dibdinalso mentionedthe manuscript in his 1817 BibliographicalDecameron, dating it to 1480,and praising the group depictions as well as its 'delicacy and strength',but criticising the representation ofheads which he thought too large.32He even compared some of the miniatures to the works ofAntoineWatteau (1684-1721) because of their lovely character. Joseph Strutt,who included two couples in his illustrations taken from MS Harley4425, fol. 14V, honoured the Hariey manuscript as being 'the most perfect and most beautiful MS I ever saw. The paintings exceed too & arefinished. Many of them equal the miniatures of the present day' .33Henry Shaw also reproduced several figures after miniatures in themanuscript in his Dresses and Decorations a/the Middle Ages (2 vols.,1843).34 Shaw was mainly interested in the unusual clothing of themusicians on fol. 14V.35 He stated that 'it would be impossible to pointout any miniature more beautiful than the illuminations which enrichthe splendid copy ofthe Roman de la Rose, in MS Harley 4425, executed aboutA. D. 1480'.36

45


The early popularity of the Roman de la Rose is also to be discernedin the fact that its miniatures served as inspiration for the decoration ofthe chimney piece in the 'Red Room' at Scarisbrick Hall, Lancashire,decorated byA. W N. Pugin for Charles Scarisbrick around 1840. Themodel for the left picture is the miniature on fol. 14V. The unknownpaimer isolated the couple in the foreground to the right, which wasalso featured in the fromispiece to Strutt's secondvolume ofA CompleteView ofthe Dress andHabits ofthe People ofEngland, and inserted it imoa landscape featuring the Scarisbrick Hall estate. The model for thefigures in the second picture was the music-making couple in the garden of the miniature on fol. 12V.37

Gustav Ftiedrich Waagen described the Roman de la Rose in his influential Treasures ofArt in Britain (1854), and in the earlier version ofKunstler und Kunstwerke in England (Artists and WOrks ofArt in England) of183T 'The invention is inspired, the movemems graceful' .3H Heespecially praised the well-proportioned and drawn figures, the coloursand the quality ofexecution which gave the 'wonderful ... impressionof serenity, nearness, splendour and richness'. Waagen considered themanuscript to be the equal ofone ofthe most celebrated manuscripts ofhis time in the Bibliotheque Nationale Paris, the Book ofHours ofAnnade Bretagne, MS lar. 9474.

While the above mentioned authors honoured the Roman mostlyfor aesthetic reasons, Burne-Jones and Mortis used this and other latermanuscripts as a source for medieval motifs. In both cases this was dueto the fact that these later illuminations contained more informationon living and decoration in the Middle Ages than the earlier miniatures. This was why Mortis turned in the 1860s, in connection with thetile decorations for Queens' College, Cambridge, to the miniatures ofthe momhs in calendars from fifteenth-century books ofhours, amongthem some manuscripts from the Harley collection.39 He used them inthis case not for aesthetic bur for informative reasons, concerning thecombination and the depiction ofthe different momhly labours.

Julian Treuherz has been able to prove that Burne-Jones not onlyadmired MS Harley 4425 but also transferted some of the motifs fromit into his own work. He is of the opinion that Burne-Jones is referringto the Narcissus miniature (MS Harley 4425, fol. 20) in his BalefulHead (completed in 1887), which closes the Perseus cycle (Staatsgalerie,Stuttgart).'\O However, the only similarities appear to be in the face reflected in the water. It seems more plausible that the miniature ofPyramus andThisbe in the Christine de Pisan manuscript (MS Harley 4431,fo1. 112V) was used as inspiration - the manuscript that Rossetti had

46


aIready used as a model- as the octagon form of the fountain and itsmarble-like material show closer links [0 Burne-Jones's painting."j'euherz further assumes that the triumph motif on the tapestry inf,aus Veneris (1873-78; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne),refers to the miniature on fo!' 138v, that the fourth panel of the Pygmalion cycle, The SoulAttains (1870; private collection), references theI'ygmalion miniature on fo!' 178v, and that the depiction ofthe gardenin The Knights Farewell (1858; Ashmolean Musem, Oxford) is based onfiJI. I2V.

It should also be noted that the colours and the depiction of interiors in MS Harley 44Z5 resemble paintings by Burne-Jones such as hisI'ygmalion series, which repeat the combination ofgrey s[One and redbrick walls with green Aoor tiles. The shimmering character of the tilesin the Harley manuscript is the result ofa slightly irregular applicationofcolour and never reaches the gleamingquality ofBurne-Jones's work.'rhe small spatial section depicted of the interior, which contains largefigures, and the view into further courts resemble Burne-Jones's paintings and his miniatures in Morris's illuminated manuscript TheRubdiydt ofOmar Khayyam (circa 1872) for Frances Graham (privatecollection) .11

At the same time Morris and Burne-Jones's interest in the HarleyRoman was motivated through its subject. It was treated by GeoffreyChaucer. Morris's and Burne-Jones's favourite poet, whose renderingof the French original served as basis for their own version of the subject. In the 1870S Burne-Jones designed a 'Romance of the Rose' cycle,which was embroidered for Rounton Grange and was later woven atMerton Abbey (William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow). The tapestryThe Heart ofthe Rose (Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe) is perhapsinspired by the last miniature of MS Harley 4425, fo!' 184v, while adrawing for The Pilgrim at the Garden ofIdleness (private collection), isreminiscent of the Harley Roman in its personifications:12 where theFrench Roman describes the lover as contemplating a wall with paintedrecess figures of the virtues and the vices, the small miniatures depictthem as live beings, which are positioned in the recesses. 4cl Burne-Jonestransformed them into live metal figures and the material seems [0 beliethe movement.

Furthermore it is possible that the Harley Roman served Morris asan important inspiration for his poetry of the late 1850S despite hisRuskinian disregard for these later illuminations. This is interesting inthat thus far the influence ofilluminated manuscripts on Morris's workhas mostly been researched in the fields ofpaintingard the applied arts.

47


However, some literary scholars have pointed out the intensity of thecolours, the joy in relating even the smallest details and the visual phenomena which are obvious in Morris's early poetry.44 Carole Silver forexample compared a landscape description in 'The Story of theUnknown Church' to miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. 45 Thedescription cited by her ofa cornfield containing golden ears, poppiesand cornflowers is reminiscent ofthe floral repertoire which is found inthe page borders of manuscripts dating from the first half of thefifteenth century.

In Morris's 'Golden Wings', published in The Defence ofGuenevere,and Other Poems (1858), a very close relation to MS Harley 4425 is to beobserved. The poem begins with the description ofan 'ancient castle'within a 'walled garden' with an 'old knight for a warden' .46The castle,which has walls of 'scarlet bricks' and 'old grey stone' on which applesgrow, is enclosed by a ditch containing 'deep green water' Y Thisdescription is reminiscent of the miniature in MS Harley 4425, fo!' 39r[Colour Fig. A]. The miniature depicts 'Fair Welcome', who is beingheld captive by 'Jealousy', shown contrary to what the text says as an oldman holding a set of keys, in a castle-like edifice built of red and greybricks and surrounded by a ditch. Red and white roses grow on the battlements. Although Morris changes the roses into apples, his description of the castle sounds like that shown in the miniature, albeit with amore idyllic touch because Morris's poem is missing the guards visiblein the miniature. The colour combination of brick, stone and appleswhich Morris describes is mirrored in a different miniature ofthe manuscript, in fo!' I2V, which shows couples in a garden with apple treeswhere roses grow on the walls. In this miniature the apple trees are towered by leafless black trees in which black birds are sitting. This combination ofdifferent trees, the flowering ones being near the figures whichare enclosed by the leafless ones, seems to offer a parallel to the slowlyincreasing mood ofdecay in Morris's poem.

In 'Golden Wings' Morris focuses on what is happening around theditch where there is a 'boat / Of carven wood, with hangings green /About the stern', where lovers like to spend their time in summer.48 Thismotifoflovers in a boat is not taken from MS Harley 4425, however itwas popular in the May pages of the calendaria in Flemish Books ofHours dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as inBritish Library MS Add. 18855, fo!' 108-109 or MS Add. 24098, fo!' 22Vdating from the early sixteenth century, the miniatures of which areattribured to Simon Bening.49

Another poem in The Defence, 'A Good Knight in Prison', also


shows the possible influence of Books of Hours dating from the latefifteenth century in its reference to falconty.;o The Queens' Collegetiles depict a female falconer based on designs by Ford Madox Brownfor the month ofMay. Other passages ofthe poem point more to models taken from illuminated books upon which Morris based his ownattempts in the 1850s: 'Like dragons in a missal-book, /Wherein, whenever we may look, / We see no horrors, yea, delighr / We have, thecolours are so bright; / Likewise we note the specks ofwhite, / And thegreat plates ofburnish'd gold'.;l This passage demonstrates whichaspects ofthe earlier works Morris himselfparticularly appreciared: thefantasy ofrhe motifs, the brightness ofthe colours and the quality oftheburnished gold.

In 'Golden Wings' the couples walking in a garden who wear rosegarlands in their hair and are clad in red and white garments seem topoint again to the Harley Roman de la Rose.;2 Fol. I4V [Colour Fig. Blshows respectively a round dance ofcouples in rich garments, thoughmore lavishly coloured and without garlands. The miniature of the'Dance ofMirth' was one of the most famous miniatures in the manuscript and some ofthe figures were included by Strutt and Shaw as illustrations in their volumes. This scenario, described by Wiehe as containing references to the Garden of Eden and the garden of earthlydelights, is mirrored in the state described at the beginning ofthe poemwhich then dissolves into destruction and war towards the end. S:l In hispoem Morris also emphasises paradisiacal narure by replacing the roseswith apples.

The eclectic use ofsingle motifs and the adaptarion ofmood in elements from miniatures shows Morris's similarly pragmatic use ofilluminated models in his poetry as in his applied art or in Bume-Jones'spainting. It is interesting to observe in the case of'Golden Wings' averyclose dependence on one of the more popular Flemish manuscripts ofthe late fifteenth century in an English collection instead ofon the earlygothic examples Morris and Ruskin so much admired. But the Flemishmanuscripts, in their detailed rendering ofscenes, offered richer ideasof a medieval world more elaborate and narrative than that in earlygothic miniatures in which the narration is restricted to the essentialsand the scenic room is closed with an ornamental tapestry-like background.

For Morris, early gothic illuminations exemplified an ideal of illumination, while the Harley Roman showed him images ofa world hewanted engage in his poetry. The early gothic illuminations he regarded as a designer as the ideal realisation for the medium with regard to

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JOURNAL OF WILLlAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004

fitness ofpurpose and material, meaning that the two-dimensionalityofthe page was not to be destroyed by miniatures with a three-dimensional conception of space. However, Morris regarded the HarleyRoman as a visualisation ofthe late-medieval world, independent fromits quality ofillumination.

Morris referred to these miniatures in his poems because throughtheir detailed naturalism they provided him with inspiration for finding poetic similes. He regarded those miniatures not as illuminationsbut as pictures in their own right, whose messages he translated - withvariations - from a visual into a verbal medium.

NOTES

I John Ruskin, Collected WOrks, ed. E. T. Cook & Alexander Wedderburn, The Library

Edirion, 39 volumes (London & New York: George Alien, 1903-1912: in rhe following called Lib. Ed.), vol. IX, p. 285. See also John Ruskin, 'Addresses on DecorativeColour' I, in ibid., vol. XII, p. 481: John Ruskin, The Stones ofVenice Ill, ibid., vol. XI,

P·23·2 Ruskin, Lib. Ed, vol. XII, p. 481; see also p. 482.

3 Ruskin, Praeterita Ill, Lib. Ed, vol. xxxv, p. 490. These statements refer to a book of

hours from Northern France (circa 1300), which Ruskin bought in I8501r851 and

which is now part of the collection of the Victoria & A1berr Museum, London. SeeJames S. Dearden, 'John Ruskin, the Collector, with a catalogue of the illuminated

and other Manuscripts in his Collection', The Library5: ser., 21 (1966), pp. 124-53, no.

30, p. 139·

4 Ruskin, Lib. Ed., vol. XII, p. 491. For the opinion on Giulio Clovio by Ruskin's contem

poraries see: Gustav friedrich Waagen, Treasures ofArtin Britain: Beingan Accountofthe Chie[Collections ofPaintings, Drawings, Sculptures, IlluminatedManuscripts, etc.,4 vols. (London: J. Murray, 1854 [vol. 4, 1857D, vol. I, p. 208 and vol. 2, p. 334; HenryNoel Humphreys, The IlluminatedBooks ofthe Middle Ages: AnAccountofthe Development and Progress ofthe ArtofIllumination as a Distinct Branch ofPictorial Ornamentationfrom the IVth to the XVl1th Centuries. Illustrated by aSeries ofExamples, ofthe Size ofthe Originals, Selectedfrom the Most Beautiful MSS. ofthe 1&rious Periods,Executedon Stone and Printed in Colours by OwenJones (London: Longman, Brown,

Green & Longman, 1849: reprint London: Bracken Books, (989), commentary to

plares XXXVIJ-XXXVIll; Henry Noel Humphreys, The Art ofIllwnination andMissalPainting. A Guide to Modem Illuminators. Illustrated by a Series ofSpecimellSfromRichly Illuminated MSS. of1&rious Periods. Accompanied by a Set ofOutlines, to BeColoured by the StudentAccording to the Theories Developed in the WOrk (London: H.

G. Bohn, 1849), pp. 55-56. See also John Obadiah Westwood, Palaeographia Sacra Pictoria. Being a Series ofIllustrations ofthe Ancient Version ofthe Biblecopiedfrom Illuminated Manuscripts Executed between the Fourth and Sixteenth Cen


turies, (London: William Smith, 1843-45), p. xv; Mauhew Digby Wyau and W. R.

Tymms, The ArtofIlluminating as Practised ill Europe From the Earliest Times. Illustrated by Borders. Initial Letters and Alphabets Selected & Chromolithographed (Lon

don: Day & Son, 1860 [Isr ed. 1859]; reprint Hertfordshire: Wordsworrh Editions,

1987), p. 46. For Vasari's praise ofClovio see: Giorgio Vasari, Le Vite de'piri eccellentipittori, scultori earchitectori, ed. Paola della Pergola, Luigi Grassi, Giovanni Previtali,

10 vols. (Novara: [stituto Geografico de Agosrini, 1967), vol. VII, p. 446.

5See Ruskin, Lib. Ed., vol. XXIV, pp. 25-26. Morris acquired Rosseni's The Blue Closet,The Damselofthe Sanet Graeland The lime ofthe Seven Towers of1857 (Tate Britain)

as well as Fra Pace and The Death ofSir Bars sam Pitie.6 See Rosserri's lerrer to his brother William Michael Rossetti, dated 18 September, 1849:

'f...] having wasted several days at the Museum, where [have been reading up all

manner ofold romaunts [sic], to pitch upon stunning words for poetry. I have found

several, and also derived much enjoyment from the things themselves, someofwhich

are tremendously fine', William Michael Rosseui, ed., Dante Gabriel Rossetti: HisFamily Letters with aMemoir (London: Ellis & Elvey, 1895), vol. n, p. 51.

7 Ruskin, Lib. Ed., vol. XXXIII, p. 269.

8 SeeJulian Treuherz, 'The Pre-Raphaelites and Mediaeval Illuminated Manuscripts', in

Pre-Raphaelite Papers, ed. Leslie Parris (London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1984), p.

158; Alicia Craig Faxton, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (New York & London: Abbeville

Press, 1994 [1st ed. 1989]), pp. 92-95, 103, 111-13.

9Joanna Banham &Jennifer Harris, eds., exhib. cat. William Morris andthe MiddleAges,Manchester Art Gallery and Museums (Manchesrer: Manchester Universiry Press,

'984), cat. no. 57, pp. 120-21.

TO SeeTreuherz, 1984, op. cit., pp. 156-58. Coliins used theArdinghelli-Segni prayer book

(Soane Museum) and the initial page of the St. John's Gospel in the Arnstein Bible

(British Library, MS Harley 2799, fol. ,85v), which was depicted in Henry Noel

Humphreys and Owen Jones' Illuminated Books ofthe Middle Ages (London: Long

man, Brown, Green, & Longman, 1849), pp. 49, 50.

11 See Roy Srrong, Recreatingthe Past: British History andthe Victorian Painter (London &

New York: Thames & Hudson, The Pierpom Morgan Library, 1978), pp. 58-59;

Treuherz 1984, op. cit., pp. 154-55.

12 In a second edirion by Rush Meyrick and John Briuon, eds., London 1838.

13 F. W Fairholr, Costume in England. A History ofDress to the Endofthe Eighteenth Centltry, new enlarged edition by H. A. Dillon, 2 vols. (London: Bell, ,885; reprint

Detroit: SingingTree Press, 1968 [ISI ed. 1846]), ill. 87 on p. 112.

14 See Banham & Harris, 1984, op. cit., cat. no. '53, pp. 191-92. The miniature is depicted in Shaw's Dresses and Decorations ofthe Middle Ages, 2 vols. (London: William

Pickering, 1843), vol. I, ill. 17; in Joseph Srrurr's A Complete View ofthe Dress andHabits ofthePeopleofEnglandfrom the EstablishmentoftheSaxons in Britain to the Present Time: illustratedby engravings takenfrom the mostauthentic remains ofantiquity towhich is prefixed an introduceion, containing a general description ofthe ancienthabits in use among mankindji-om the earliestperiodoftime to the conclusion ofthe seventh century (2 vols., rev. ed. byJ. R. Planche, reprinted in London: Tabard Press Ltd.,

JO~RNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004

1970 [IS( ed. London, 1796; IS{ ed. ofthe revised edirion in 3vols. London: Henry G.

Bohn, 1842]), vo!. I, ill. LxvI.15 A. R. Dufty, Morris Embroideries: Tbe Prototypes (London: The Society ofAntiquaries,

1985), p. n, ill. 11, Ill.

16 For the Guendolen page see Alan G. Thomas-Sale, Sotheby"s, London, 21.-22.6.1993,

lot 244; published as 'Rapumel' in The Deftnce ofGuenevere (1858). For Morris's early

illuminations see: ]oseph Riggs Dunlap, 'The Road to Kelmscotr: WiUiam Morris

and the Books Am before the Foundingofthe Kelmscorr Press' (Columbia Univer

sity, Disserration 1972), pp. 109-28.

17 Quoted after William S. Peterson, The Kelmscott Press, A History ofWilliam MorrissTypographicalAdvellture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, (991), p. 60.

18 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Letters ofDante Gabriel Rossecci to William Allingham1854-1870, ed. George Birbeck Hill, London, 1897, p. '93, quoted in ]oseph RiggsDunlap, 'Morris and the Book Am before the Kelmscolt Press', Victorian Poetry 13,

3-4 (Autumn-Winter 1975), p. 142.19 See for example British Library, MSS Roy.I.D.i (Bible of William of Devon,

1260-1270), Roy.2.B.ii (French Psalter, middle of the thirteenth century), Add.

48985 (Salvin Hours, 1270-1280), Add. 17341 (French Gospel Lectionary, end of the

thirteenth century), Add. 24686 (Alphonso or Tenison Psalter, 1284); Bodleian

Library Oxford, MS Douce 366 (Ormesby Psalter, early fourteenth century). Com

pare]. W. Mackail, Tbe Lift ofWilli4m Morris (New York: Dover Publications Inc.,

1995 [1st ed. London, 1899]), vol.l, p. 276.

20 William Morris, 'Some Notes on the Illuminated books ofthe Middle Ages' (t894), in

The Ideal Book: Essays and Lectures on the Arts ofthe Book by William Morris, ed.

William S. Peterson (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University ofCalifornia Press, 1982),

p.lO.

21 Ibid., p. 12.

22 Ibid., p. 13.

23 See ibid., p. 121, note 7.

24 Ibid., p. 14·25 See for example: H. N. Humphreys's The Art ofIllumination and Missal Paillting. A

Guide to Modern Illuminators Illustrated by a Series ofSpecimens}Tom Richly IlluminatedMSS. ofVarious Periods. Accompanied by a Set ofOutlines to be Coloured by theSrudentaccording to the TheoriesDevelopedin the WOrk (1849); Henry Shaw'sA HandbookoftheArtofIllumination as Practisedduringthe MiddleAges with a Description ofthe Metals, Pigments, and Processes Employed by the Artists at Diffirent Periods (london, 1866); W. R. Tymm's and M. D. Wyan's The ArtofIlluminating as Practised inEurope}Tom the Earliest Times. Illustrated by Borders, Initial Letters andAlphabetsSelected & Chromolithogmphed (r860 [ISt ed. 1859]).

26 H. N. Humphreys, 18491r989, op. cit., p.!? Shaw, 1843, I, op. cit., Introduction, no

page nos.

27 Sir Frederic Madden & Hen ey Shaw, Illuminated Ornaments Selected}Tom Manuscripts and Early Printed Books}Tom the Sixth to the Seventeenth Centuries (London:

William Pickering, 1830-33), p. 12.


28 Ibid.• p. 13.

29 Thomas Kren. ed.• exhib. car. Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures oftheBritish Library (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1983), cat. no. 6, pp. 49-58.

30 Diary entry in George Price Boyce's diary. 14 ofApril, 1860; cired in Treuherz. 1984,

op. cic., p. 167, after VirginiaSurrees. The DiariesofGeorgePrice Boyce(Norwich: Real

World. 1980), p. 30.

31 A Catalogue ofHarleian MSS in the British Museum with Indices ofPersons, Places 6Matters, 4 vols.• London 1808-[2, vol. I 1808, preface, p. 25. For a similar assessment

which copies the exacr wording ofrhe caralogue. 'in a mosr masrerly manner', when

describing rhe miniarures see Thomas HarrweU Home, An Introduction to the StudyofBibliogmphy(London: Cadell & Davies, 1814). vol. I, p. r31.

32 Thomas Frognall Dibdin. The Bibliographical Decameron; or, Ten Days Pleasant Discourse upon Illuminated Manuscripts and Subjects Connected with Early Engraving,Tjpography, andBibliography, 3vols. (London: W. Bulmer, r8I7), vol. I, pp. ccxi-ecxii,

nore.

33 Strurr's notes in British Library, MS Eg. 888.1, fol. 16. Strutt 1970, op. cit., vol. n, fron-

tispiece. p. 271.

34 Shaw, 1843. n. op. cir., ill. 56-58.

35 Ibid., rext to ill. 57.

36 Ibid., rext to ill. 56.

37 For more infoImation abour rhe chimney piece see Mark Girouard, The VictorianCountry House (New Haven & London: Yale University Press. 1979), figs. 85 and 86

on p. JI5.

38 Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Kunstwerke "nd Kiinstler in England und Paris (Berlin:

Nicolaische Buchhandlung, 1837), vol. 1, p. 147; see also Waagen 1854, op.cir., vol. I,

p. JI8. Waagen ascribed rhe manuscripr ro rhe French School and dared ir around

r500.

39 See Morris's norebook, Brirish Library, MS Add. 45305. Compare Michaela Braesel,

'The Tile Decorarion by Morris & Co. for Queens' College, Cambridge: The Inspi

rarion ofIlluminared Manuscripts', Apollo 149, no. 443 (January 1999), pp. 25-33.

40 Treuher2, 1984, op. cit., p. 167.

41 Compare Burne-Jones's Pygmalion-cycle and rhe miniarures in MS Harley 4425, fol.

60rand 78r.

42 Barbara Eschenberg and Helmur Friedel, eds.• exhib. car. DerKampfder Geschlechter:Der neueMythos in der Kunst I85O-I930 (Cologne: DuMont, [995), car. no. 8, p. 60.

43 See for example MS Harley 4425, fol. IIV.

44 See Carote Silver, The Romance ofWilliam Morris (Athens. Ohio: Ohio Universiry

Press, 1982), pp. 2, 5, I3;Jerome McGann: '"AThing to Mind": The MaterialisricAes

rheric ofWilliam Morris', in The Pre-Raphaelites in Context, ed. Malcolm Warner

(San Marino, California: Henry E. Hunrington Library and Arr Gallery, 1992), pp.

59·45 Silver, 1982, op.cir., p. 6.

46 William Morris, 'Golden Wings'. in The Collected WOrks ofWilliam Morris, ed. May

Morris (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1910), vol. I, p. JI6, verse I, lines 3. 1,4.

53


47 Ibid., verse 11, lines 1,2,3 and verse IV, line 1.

48 Ibid., verse IV, line 4 and verse v, line 2.

49 Kren, 1983, op. cit., pp. 79-80. MS Add. 18855: Bruges, around '450, BourdichonSchoo!. The May page ofrhe MS is now in the Victoria & Albert Museum, The Salt

ing Bequest, MS 2538v. On the amibution see Janet Backhouse, The IlluminatedPage: Ten Centuries o/ManuscriptPainting in the British Library (London: The British

Library, 1997), no. 210, p. 231.

50 Verse 11, line 2: 'My Lady often hawking goes', cited in Collected I17orks, vo!. I, op. cit.,

p.82.51 Verse VII, lines 8-13, ibid., p. 83. For more information about this poem see Lindsay

Smi th, Victorian Photography, PaintingandPoetry: The Enigma ofVisibility in Ruskin,Morris and the Pre-Raphaelites (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp.

175-79·52 Morris, Collectedl17orks, vo!. t, op. cit., p. Il7, verses XII-XVI.

53 Roger Wiehe, 'Sacred and Profane Gardens: Self-Reflection and Desire in Pre

Raphaelite Painting and the Poetry of the Rossettis', in Pre-Raphaelitism andMedievalism in theArts, ed. Lianade Girolami Cheney (Lewiston, Lampeter, Queen

ston: Edwin Mellon Press, 1992), pp. 109-27; p. 109.

54

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