Christian Cyclopedia

Illumination (brightening, or illustration) of MSS is their artistic decoration with colors and/or gold (rarely silver); usually connected with ornamental letters, chap. openings, and page borders. “Miniatures” (from Lat. minium, “red lead”) originally referred to illumination of MSS.

The earliest surviving illuminated papyrus roll is the Ramesseum Papyrus from Egypt ca. 1900 BC Christian illumination arose in Constantinople ca. AD 500. E monasteries preserved the practice during the Iconoclastic* Controversy. Anglo-Saxon and Irish illumination flourished 7th–8th c. Noted scriptoriums (see Scriptorium) were founded in the Carolingian renaissance.

The 1st schools of illumination in S Fr. were est. in the 11th c. The It. renaissance revived the classical style. With the invention of printing the number of MSS copied by hand decreased, and the art of illumination disappeared, though Ger. was slow to give it up.

In the 16th–17th c. small portraits came to be called miniatures. JEG