It is not always in evidence, as
may be seen in many of the miniatures of the famous choir-books in the
Escorial. The sombre period began under Ferdinand the Catholic, and it
has left its mark on the schools of the fifteenth century. The sixteenth
began a new era, and under Philip II. several, both Netherlandish and
Italian, miniaturists were invited to assist in the production of the
enormous choir-books ordered by the King for San Lorenzo of the
Escorial, between 1572 and 1589. The volumes are bound in wooden boards
covered with leather, stamped and bossed with ornaments of gilded
bronze. It is said that 5,500 lbs. of bronze and 40 lbs. of pure gold
were used in the bindings. The actual dimensions of the volumes are 115
by 84 centimetres. Every volume has at least seventy folios, and every
folio is splendidly illuminated, thus affording more than 30,000 pages
covered with richly ornamented initials, miniatures, and borders. The
illuminators and copyists of these choir-books were Cristobal Ramirez,
who planned the work, fixed the size and other details of the volumes
and the character of the handwriting, Fray Andr?s de Leon, Fray Julian
de Fuente del Saz, Ambrosio Salazar, Fray Martin de Palencia, Francisco
Hernandez, Pedro Salavarte, and Pedro Gomez.
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