It is illustrated with diagrams.
Speaking of fourteenth-century illumination brings us to notice a very
striking change which takes place in the reign of Richard II. in the
character of English illumination. In the British Museum (Roy. 20 B. 6)
is a MS. entitled an Epistle to Richard II., written, it is said, in
Paris, in which the illuminations and foliages are purely French, but
which are the type of all the English work of the same date. Take, for
example, the MS. already spoken of (Roy. 2 A. 22), produced in the
scriptorium at Westminster Abbey. Compare with it a Bible written for
the use of Salisbury, and dated 1254. Then add the Tenison Psalter, the
Arundel Psalter, illuminated 1310-20. If these MSS. be compared,
however, with Lansd. 451, or Roy. 1 E. 9, the least accustomed eye must
notice the entire and almost startling change in the luxuriance and
character of the flowers and foliages which constitute the initial and
border decorations. It is not merely a development. There are additional
features, but that these features are added, as usual, from France, is
contradicted by reference to Roy. 20 B. 6, mentioned above. The new
features are not French. The question is, where did they come from?
CHAPTER V
THE SOURCES OF ENGLISH FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ILLUMINATION
Attributed to the Netherlands--Not altogether French--The home of Anne
of Bohemia, Richard II.
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