The Influence Ofmedieval Illuminated Manuscripts on the Pre-Raphaelites and the Early Poetry Ofwilliam Morris Michaela Braesel

The Influence ofMedieval Illuminated Manuscripts on the Pre-Raphaelites and the Early Poetry ofWilliam Morris Michaela Braesel

When considering the influence ofmedieval book illumination on the work of Pre-Raphaelite arrists stress is generally laid upon examples from the thirreemh and fourreemh cemuries. These are the book illu minations recommended by John Ruskin, which 'in their bold rejec tion ofall principles ofperspective, light and shade, and drawing ... are infinitely more ornamental to the page owi ng to the vivid opposition of their brightcolours and quaintlines, than ifthey had been drawn by Da Vinci himself'. I He also considered that they demonstrated the basic principles ofart: 'clearness ofoutline and simplicity, without the intro duction oflightand shade'.1 Ruskin's emhusiasm for the aestheticqual ities ofilluminated manuscripts from the fourteenth cemury is evidenr from a statemem he made about the decoration ofa bookofhours in his owncollection which he described as 'notofrefined work, butextreme Iy rich, groresque, and full ofpure colour. The new worlds which every leafofthis book opened to me, and the joy I had, couming their letters, and unravelling theirarabesques asifrhey hadall been ofbeaten gold... cannot be told'..1 Comrary to the view ofcontemporaries such as Gus tav Friedtich Waagen or Henry Noel Humphreys, Ruskin considered that the most striking example ofthe demise ofmedieval book illumi nation was to be seen in the works ofGiulio Clovio (1498-1578), who had umil then been held in high esteem due to Giorgio Vasari's com parison ofhim with Michelangelo (1475-1564).4 It is miniatures from the thirreenth and fourteenth centuries, high ly valued by Ruskin because ofthe brilliance oftheir colours, which Dante Gabriel Rossetti used as a starring poinr for his watercolours from the second halfofthe 1850s, several ofwhich Morris acquired. '; He knew the manuscript collections ofRuskinand the Bri tish Library, and studied them in order to draw poetic inspiration as well as to influence his art.6 He also used as his models miniatures reproduced in contem porary publications, such as HenryShaw's Dresses andDecorations o/the Middle Ages (1843) and Henry Noel Humphtcys' and Owen Jones's 41 JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES, SUMMER 2004

Illuminated Manuscripts ofthe MiddleAges (1849). Rossetti's paintings on medieval subjects show the influence ofthese miniatures in theit use ofa crowded picture plane, the diverse and dense ornamental areas, the slightly unclear spatial treatment within the paintings, the narrow and low spatial boxes and especially in the luminous quality ofthe colours'! Rossetti liked to combine different artistic models in the sets ofhis paintings and in the costumes ofhis protagonists in order to achieve an effect as interesting and charming as possible. S Only the paintings by Rossetti and Elizabeth Siddall on a jewellery box for Jane Morris (pre 1862; now in Kelmscott Manor) are direct copies, taken from minia tures on a Christine de Pisan-manuscript from the early fifteenth cen tury (British Library, MS Harley 4431, fo1. 376 and 48).') However, Charles Allston Collins' Convent Thoughts (1850-51; Ash molean Museum, Oxford) and Berengaria's Alarmfor the Safety ofher Husband... (1850; Manchester Art Galleries) also demonstrate that illuminations from other periods, in this case the late-fifteenth and twelfth centuries, also served as models in Pre-Raphaelite paintings. 10 In contrast to Rossetti or Ford Madox Brown, who used miniatures as inspirations for single motifs within rhe painting, Collins quoted exist ing miniatures and incorporated them as illuminations into his work. 11 In the second generation of Pre-Raphaelites the influence offour teenth-century media:val manuscripts is still recognisable. Edward Burne-Jones's design for The Armingand Departure ofthe Knights, one ofthe Holy Grail tapestries (189°-95), draws on a miniature depicting the same scene in the Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add. MS 42130, fol. 202V) dating from the early fourteenth century. In the late-nine teenth century the manuscript was still in a private collection; howev er, copies ofthe miniature had been published in the second volume of John Carter's Specimens ofAntient (sic] Sculpture and Painting now remaining in this kingdomfrom the earliestperiod to the Reign ofHenry VIII (2 vols, 1780-87), accompanied by a commentary by Richard Gough,12 in the sixth volume of Vetusta Monumenta (1839) with com mentary by John Gage Rokewode, and in F. W. Fairholt's Costume in England(1846).13 It is also possible that the figure ofthe kneeling Gala had in the last tapestry ofthe cycle, The Attainment, was modelled on the figure of a kneeling knight in the Westminster Psalter (British Library, MS Roy.2.A.xxii), which was depicted in works by Henry Shaw andJoseph Strutt and is also to be found in Burne-Jones's sketch bookin Birmingham. 14 William Morris referred to illuminated manuscripts from the fifteenth century in the 1850S to research the applied arts. The minia- 42 THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS tures he used show decorated interiors as setting instead ofornament ed backgrounds. Forexample, in his Daisies embroideryof1859 for Red House (Kelmscott House) he incorporated motifs from a miniature in British Library MS Harley 4380, fol. If, which shows the Dance a/the Wodehouses, and whichwas reproduced in contemporaryworks such as HenryShaw's and Sir Frederic Madden's Illuminated Ornaments Select edfrom Manuscripts andEarly Printed Booksfrom the Sixth to the Seven teenth Centuries (183°-33, ill. 26) or George Craik's andlames MacFar lane's The PictorialHistory a/EnglandbeingaHistory a/thePeople as well as aHistory a/the Kingdom (1839, vol. H, p. 255).15 Similar motifs can also be found in a page border in British Library, MS Royal 15.E.vi (circa 1445), fol. 2V. However, for his own illuminated manuscripts ofthe 1850S and for the book depicted in his painting La Belle lseult (1858; Tate Britain)' Morris returned (in contrast to his later illuminated manuscripts ofthe 1870s), to models from 1250-[350 which Ruskin had pointed our as exemplary. Morris illuminated in 1856 his own poem Guendolen and two stanzas of a canto from Robert Browning's Paracelsus (lines 190-205, in the 1849 version; Huntington Library, California, HM 6478).1(, In the following year he started to illuminate a parchment page with the text ofThe Story o/thelronMan after the fairy tale by the broth ers Grimm (J. Paul Getty, Wormsley Library). This decoration remained unfinished. Morris also roughly sketched a frame decoration on a page with his own poem 'Think but one thought ofme up in the stars', which was published the same year in the OxfOrd & Cambridge Magazine under the title 'Summer Dawn' (Huntington Library, Cali fornia, HM 6480). Consequently, Ruskin was deeply impressed by Morris's work and recommended him to the custodian ofthe manu script department ofthe British Library comparing his 'gift ofillumi nation' to that ofa '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 any thing modern that I know - Ruskin says, better than anything ancient' .18 In these illuminated pages Morris used closely related decorative motifs, which can be traced back to examples from the late-thirteenth and early-fourteenth century: the grotesque creatures, the long point ed leaves, the frame-borders with animal bodies at the ends and the coil ing tendrils are based on English and French manuscripts dating from these times, as are the irregular borders and the asymmetrical back ground ofthe initials. This is also true for the rather dark colours cho- 43 JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004 sen, which contrast with large gold areas. Morris would have seen such manuscripts in the British Library and in the Bodleian Library.19 Morris retained this preference for illuminated manuscriprs dating from this period into his later years. In the essay 'Some Notes on the Illuminated Books ofthe MiddleAges' written in 1894, he declared the last quarter ofthe thirteenth century to be the 'climax ofillumination': 'Nothingcan exceed the grace, elegance, and beauty ofthe drawingand the loveliness ofthe colour'.20 He explained that in the fourteenth cen tury there were a number ofsignificant changes in the practice ofillu mination which led to an abundance ofmotifs and a wonderful rich ness in colour, even if, at the same time, he criticises a certain 'mechan ical redundancy' which resulted. 21 Characteristic ofthis period were richly ornamented or gilded and chased picture backgrounds, and lav ish 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 has lost nothing (in its best works) ofelegance and daintiness - qualities so desirable in an ornamented book- has lost somewhat ofmanliness and precision', a development which would continue until the end ofthe century.22 Although outstanding works were still being created in the first halfofthe fifteenth century, Morris observed an increasingsepara tion between ornament and picture which had an adverse effect on the harmony of the page. 23 Illuminated books of high quality were no longer created after 1530 and 'thus disappeared an art which may be called peculiar to the MiddleAges, and which commonly shows medi aeval craftsmanship at its best'. 24 Unlike Ruskin and Morris the authors of the numerous chro molithographic publications on illuminated manuscripts and the practical guidebooks on miniature painting in the second halfofthe nineteenth centurywere full ofpraise for fifteenth-century illuminated manuscripts. These publications provided examples, which were taken for the most partfrom manuscripts preserved in the British Libraryand which concentrated on the design of inirials and page borders. 2S Humphreys dedicated much space to the fifteenth century in his Illu minatedBooks ofthe Middle Ages and Shaw was ofthe opinion that illu mination reached its artistic culmination in the second halfof the 1400S.26 In Madden and Shaw's Illuminated Ornaments selectedfrom Manuscripts... 22 illustrations represent fifteenth-century examples, while only two reproduce thirteenth-centuryworks. Manuscripts such as the Gorleston PsaLter (1310-25; British Library MS Add. 49622), are described as 'bizarre but splendid', whereas the fifteenth century saw 44 THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS the beginning ofthe perfecrion ofthe art. 27 This could be seen, next to the'endless varietyofdesign andcolouring', in the'beautyand richness ofthe execution', which culminated in the sixteenth century.28 In the lighr ofRuskin recommending illuminated miniatures from the earlier medieval period it is perhaps surprising still to see an enthu siasm for the miniatures ofthe late-fifteenth centuryin the 'second gen eration' ofPre-Raphaelitessuch as Bume-Jonesand Morris. It is known that Bume-Jones showed friends the Roman de la Rose manuscript in the British Library, MS Harley 4425, which is dated circa 1490-1500 and since 1915 has been ascribed to the 'Master ofthe Prayer Books of circa 1500', probably active in Bruges.19 As George Price Boyce records: Jones having promised to show us some of the most beautiful illumi nated manuscripts in the collection [British Library]. First the 'Roman de la Rose', which is filled with the most exquisite illuminations, as fine as couldwell be in colour and gradation, tenderness oftone and manip ulation, and purity of colour and light: the landscapes perfectly enchanting, the distances and skies suggesting Turner's besr and show ing as well in every other parr close and long observation ofnarure.30 Bume-Jones was not the first to recognise the importance ofthis man uscript. Already at the beginning ofthe nineteenth century the cata logue ofthe Harley manuscripts stated that the manuscript contained an extraordinary array ofminiatures and that they were executed'in the most masterly Manner [... ] that is notto be exceeded by anyknown MS in this oranyotherLibrary':'IThomas Frognall Dibdinalso mentioned the manuscript in his 1817 BibliographicalDecameron, dating it to 1480, and praising the group depictions as well as its 'delicacy and strength', butcriticising the representation ofheads which he thought too large. 32 He even compared some ofthe miniatures to the works ofAntoine Watteau (1684-1721) because oftheir lovely character. Joseph Strutt, who included two couples in his illustrations taken from MS Harley 4425, fol. 14V, honoured the Hariey manuscript as being 'the most per fect and most beautiful MS I ever saw. The paintings exceed too & are finished. Many of them equal the miniatures ofthe present day' .33 Henry Shaw also reproduced several figures after miniatures in the manuscript in his Dresses andDecorations a/the Middle Ages (2 vols., 1843).34 Shaw was mainly interested in the unusual clothing of the musicians on fol. 14V.35 He stated that 'it would be impossible to point out any miniature more beautiful than the illuminations which enrich the splendid copyofthe Roman de la Rose, in MS Harley 4425, execut ed aboutA. D. 1480'.36 45 JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004

The early popularity ofthe Roman de la Rose is also to be discerned in the fact that its miniatures served as inspiration for the decoration of the chimney piece in the 'Red Room' at Scarisbrick Hall, Lancashire, decorated by A. W N. Pugin for Charles Scarisbrick around 1840. The model for the left picture is the miniature on fol. 14V. The unknown paimer isolated the couple in the foreground to the right, which was also featured in the fromispiece to Strutt'ssecondvolume ofA Complete View ofthe Dress andHabits ofthe People ofEngland, and inserted it imo a landscape featuring the Scarisbrick Hall estate. The model for the figures in the second picture was the music-making couple in the gar den ofthe miniature on fol. 12V. 37 Gustav Ftiedrich Waagen described the Roman de la Rose in his infl uential Treasures ofArt in Britain (1854), and in the earlier version of Kunstler undKunstwerke in England (Artists and WOrks ofArt in Eng land) of183T 'The invention is inspired, the movemems graceful' .3H He especially praised the well-proportioned anddrawn figures, the colours and the quality ofexecution which gave the 'wonderful ... impression ofserenity, nearness, splendour and richness'. Waagen considered the manuscript to be the equal ofone ofthe most celebrated manuscripts of his time in the Bibliotheque Nationale Paris, the Book ofHours ofAnna de Bretagne, MS lar. 9474. While the above mentioned authors honoured the Roman mostly for aesthetic reasons, Burne-Jones and Mortis used this and other later manuscripts as a source for medieval motifs. In both cases this was due to the fact that these later illuminations contained more information on living and decoration in the Middle Ages than the earlier minia tures. This was why Mortis turned in the 1860s, in connection with the tile decorations for Queens' College, Cambridge, to the miniatures of the momhs in calendars from fifteenth-century books ofhours, among them some manuscripts from the Harley collection.39 He used them in this case not for aesthetic bur for informative reasons, concerning the combination and the depiction ofthe different momhly labours. Julian Treuherz has been able to prove that Burne-Jones not only admired MS Harley 4425 but also transferted some ofthe motifs from it into his own work. He is ofthe opinion that Burne-Jones is referring to the Narcissus miniature (MS Harley 4425, fol. 20) in his Baleful Head (completed in 1887), which closes the Perseus cycle (Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart).'\O However, the onlysimilarities appear to be in the face refl ected in the water. It seems more plausible that the miniature ofPyra mus andThisbe in the Christinede Pisan manuscript (MS Harley 4431, fo1. 112V) was used as inspiration - the manuscript that Rossetti had 46 THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS aIready used as a model- as the octagon form ofthe fountain and its marble-like material show closer links [0 Burne-Jones's painting. "j'euherz further assumes that the triumph motifon the tapestry in f,aus Veneris (1873-78; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne), refers to the miniature on fo!' 138v, that the fourth panel ofthe Pyg malion cycle, The SoulAttains (1870; private collection), references the I'ygmalion miniature on fo!' 178v, and that the depiction ofthe garden in The Knights Farewell (1858; Ashmolean Musem, Oxford) is based on fiJI. I2V. It should also be noted that the colours and the depiction ofinteri ors in MS Harley 44Z5 resemble paintings by Burne-Jones such as his I'ygmalion series, which repeat the combination ofgrey s[One and red brick walls with green Aoor tiles. The shimmering character ofthe tiles in the Harley manuscript is the result ofa slightly irregular application ofcolourand never reaches thegleamingqualityofBurne-Jones's work. 'rhe small spatial section depicted ofthe interior, which contains large figures, and the view into further courts resemble Burne-Jones's paint ings and his miniatures in Morris's illuminated manuscript The Rubdiydt ofOmar Khayyam (circa 1872) for Frances Graham (private collection) .11 At the same time Morris and Burne-Jones's interest in the Harley Roman was motivated through its subject. It was treated by Geoffrey Chaucer. Morris's and Burne-Jones's favourite poet, whose rendering ofthe French original served as basis for their own version ofthe sub ject. In the 1870S Burne-Jones designed a 'Romance ofthe Rose' cycle, which was embroidered for Rounton Grange and was later woven at Merton Abbey (William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow). The tapestry The Heart ofthe Rose (Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe) is perhaps inspired by the last miniature ofMS Harley 4425, fo!' 184v, while a drawing for The Pilgrim atthe Garden ofIdleness (private collection), is reminiscent ofthe Harley Roman in its personifications:12 where the French Roman describes the lover as contemplating awall with painted recess figures ofthe virtues and the vices, the small miniatures depict them as live beings, which are positioned in the recesses. 4cl Burne-Jones transformed them into live metal figures and the material seems [0 belie the movement. Furthermore it is possible that the Harley Roman served Morris as an important inspiration for his poetry ofthe late 1850S despite his Ruskinian disregard for these later illuminations. This is interesting in that thus far the influence ofilluminated manuscripts on Morris's work has mostlybeen researched in the fields ofpaintingard the applied arts. 47 JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004

However, some literary scholars have pointed out the intensity ofthe colours, the joy in relating even the smallest details and the visual phe nomena which are obvious in Morris's early poetry.44 Carole Silver for example compared a landscape description in 'The Story of the Unknown Church' to miniatures in illuminated manuscripts.45 The description cited by her ofa cornfield containing golden ears, poppies and cornflowers is reminiscent ofthe floral repertoire which is found in the page borders of manuscripts dating from the first half of the fifteenth century. In Morris's 'Golden Wings', published in The Defence ofGuenevere, andOther Poems (1858), a very close relation to MS Harley 4425 is to be observed. 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 apples grow, is enclosed by a ditch containing 'deep green water'Y This description is reminiscent ofthe miniature in MS Harley 4425, fo!' 39r [Colour Fig. A]. The miniature depicts 'Fair Welcome', who is being held captive by 'Jealousy', shown contrary to what the textsays as an old man holding a set ofkeys, in a castle-like edifice built ofred and grey bricks and surrounded by a ditch. Red and white roses grow on the bat tlements. Although Morris changes the roses into apples, his descrip tion ofthe castle sounds like that shown in the miniature, albeit with a more idyllic touch because Morris's poem is missing the guards visible in the miniature. The colour combination ofbrick, stone and apples which Morris describes is mirrored in a different miniature ofthe man uscript, in fo!' I2V, which shows couples in a garden with apple trees where roses grow on the walls. In this miniature the apple trees are tow ered by leafless black trees in which black birds are sitting. This combi nation ofdifferent trees, theflowering ones beingnear the figures which are enclosed by the leafless ones, seems to offer a parallel to the slowly increasing mood ofdecay in Morris's poem. In 'Golden Wings' Morris focuses on what is happeningaround the ditch where there is a 'boat / Ofcarven wood, with hangings green / About the stern', wherelovers like to spend their time in summer.48 This motifoflovers in a boat is not taken from MS Harley 4425, however it was popular in the May pages ofthe calendaria in Flemish Books of Hours dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such as in British Library MS Add. 18855, fo!' 108-109 orMS Add. 24098, fo!' 22V dating from the early sixteenth century, the miniatures ofwhich are attribured to Simon Bening.49 Another poem in The Defence, 'A Good Knight in Prison', also THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

shows the possible influence ofBooks ofHours dating from the late fifteenth century in its reference to falconty.;o The Queens' College tiles depict a female falconer based on designs by Ford Madox Brown for the month ofMay. Other passages ofthe poem point more to mod els taken from illuminated books upon which Morris based his own attempts in the 1850s: 'Likedragons in a missal-book, /Wherein,when ever we may look, / We see no horrors, yea, delighr / We have, the colours are so bright; / Likewise we note the specks ofwhite, / And the great plates ofburnish'd gold'.;l This passage demonstrates which aspects ofthe earlier works Morris himselfparticularly appreciared: the fantasy ofrhe motifs, the brightness ofthe colours and the quality ofthe burnished gold. In 'Golden Wings' the couples walking in a garden who wear rose garlands in their hair and are clad in red and white garments seem to point again to the Harley Roman de la Rose.;2 Fol. I4V [Colour Fig. Bl shows respectively a round dance ofcouples in rich garments, though more lavishly coloured and without garlands. The miniature ofthe 'Dance ofMirth' was one ofthe most famous miniatures in the manu script and some ofthe figures were included by Struttand Shaw as illus trations in their volumes. This scenario, described by Wiehe as con taining references to the Garden ofEden and the garden ofearthly delights, is mirrored in the state described at the beginning ofthe poem which then dissolves into destruction and war towards the end. S:l In his poem Morris also emphasises paradisiacal narure by replacing the roses with apples. The eclectic use ofsingle motifs and the adaptarion ofmood in ele ments from miniatures shows Morris's similarly pragmatic use ofillu minated models in his poetry as in his applied art or in Bume-Jones's painting. It is interesting to observe in the case of'GoldenWings' avery close dependence on one ofthe more popular Flemish manuscripts of the late fifteenth centuryin an English collection instead ofon the early gothicexamples Morris and Ruskin so much admired. But the Flemish manuscripts, in their detailed rendering ofscenes, offered richer ideas ofa medieval world more elaborate and narrative than that in early gothic miniatures in which the narration is restricted to the essentials and the scenic room is closed with an ornamental tapestry-like back ground. For Morris, early gothic illuminations exemplified an ideal ofillu mination, while the Harley Roman showed him images ofa world he wanted engage in his poetry. The early gothic illuminations he regard ed as a designer as the ideal realisation for the medium with regard to

49 JOURNAL OF WILLlAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004 fitness ofpurpose and material, meaning that the two-dimensionality ofthe page was not to be destroyed by miniatures with a three-dimen sional conception of space. However, Morris regarded the Harley Roman as a visualisation ofthe late-medieval world, independent from its quality ofillumination. Morris referred to these miniatures in his poems because through their detailed naturalism they provided him with inspiration for find ing poetic similes. He regarded those miniatures not as illuminations but as pictures in their own right, whose messages he translated - with variations - 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 follow ing called Lib. Ed.), vol. IX, p. 285. See also John Ruskin, 'Addresses on Decorative Colour' 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 ofthe collection ofthe Victoria & A1berr Museum, London. See James S. Dearden, 'John Ruskin, the Collector, with a catalogue ofthe illuminated andother Manuscripts in his Collection', The Library 5: 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: Gustavfriedrich Waagen, Treasures ofArtin Britain: Beingan Accountof the 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; Henry Noel Humphreys, The IlluminatedBooks ofthe Middle Ages: AnAccountofthe Devel opment andProgress ofthe ArtofIllumination as a Distinct Branch ofPictorial Orna mentationfrom the IVth to the XVl1th Centuries. Illustrated by aSeries ofExamples, of the Size ofthe Originals, Selectedfrom the Most Beautiful MSS. ofthe 1&rious Periods, Executed on Stone andPrinted 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 andMissal Painting. A Guide to Modem Illuminators. Illustrated by a Series ofSpecimellS from Richly Illuminated MSS. of1&rious Periods. Accompanied by a Set ofOutlines, to Be Coloured by the Student According to the Theories Developed in the WOrk (London: H. G. Bohn, 1849), pp. 55-56. See also John Obadiah Westwood, Palaeo graphia Sacra Pictoria. Being a Series ofIllustrations ofthe Ancient Version ofthe Bible copiedfrom Illuminated Manuscripts Executed between the Fourth and Sixteenth Cen THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

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. Illus trated by Borders. Initial Letters andAlphabets 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 eccellenti pittori, 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 Damsel ofthe Sanet Grael and The limeofthe Seven Towers of1857 (Tate Britain) as well as Fra Pace and The Death ofSir Bars sam Pitie. 6 See Rosserri's lerrer to his brotherWilliam 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 stunningwords for poetry. I have found several, and also derived much enjoymentfrom the things themselves, someofwhich are tremendously fine', William Michael Rosseui, ed., Dante Gabriel Rossetti: His Family Letters with aMemoir (London: Ellis & Elvey, 1895), vol. n, p. 51. 7 Ruskin, Lib. Ed., vol. XXXIII, p. 269. 8 SeeJulianTreuherz, '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 ofthe 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, Recreating the 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 andJohn Briuon, eds., London 1838. 13 F. W Fairholr, Costume in England. A History ofDress to the End ofthe Eighteenth Cen tltry, 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 depict ed in Shaw's Dresses andDecorations ofthe Middle Ages, 2 vols. (London: William Pickering, 1843), vol. I, ill. 17; in Joseph Srrurr's A Complete View ofthe Dress and Habits ofthe PeopleofEnglandfrom the EstablishmentoftheSaxons in Britain to the Pre sent Time: illustratedby engravings takenfrom the mostauthentic remains ofantiquity to which is prefixed an introduceion, containing a general description ofthe ancient habits in use among mankindji-om the earliestperiodoftime to the conclusion ofthe sev enth 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 SocietyofAntiquaries, 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 Morriss TypographicalAdvellture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, (991), p. 60. 18 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Letters ofDante Gabriel Rossecci to William Allingham 1854-1870, ed. George Birbeck Hill, London, 1897, p. '93, quoted in ]oseph Riggs Dunlap, '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 ofthe thirteenth century), Add. 48985 (Salvin Hours, 1270-1280), Add. 17341 (French Gospel Lectionary, end ofthe 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 booksofthe MiddleAges' (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 ArtofIllumination andMissal Paillting. A Guide to Modern Illuminators Illustrated by a Series ofSpecimens}Tom Richly Illumi natedMSS. ofVarious Periods. Accompanied by a Set ofOutlines to be Coloured by the Srudentaccording to the TheoriesDevelopedin the WOrk (1849); HenryShaw'sA Hand book oftheArtofIllumination as Practisedduringthe Middle Ages with a Description of the Metals, Pigments, andProcesses Employed by the Artists at Diffirent Periods (lon don, 1866); W. R. Tymm's and M. D. Wyan's The ArtofIlluminating as Practised in Europe}Tom the Earliest Times. Illustrated by Borders, Initial Letters andAlphabets Selected & 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 Manu scripts and Early Printed Books}Tom the Sixth to the Seventeenth Centuries (London: William Pickering, 1830-33), p. 12. THE INFLUENCE OF MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS

28 Ibid.• p. 13. 29 Thomas Kren. ed.• exhib. car. Renaissance Painting in Manuscripts: Treasures ofthe British 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, afterVirginiaSurrees. The DiariesofGeorge Price Boyce(Norwich: Real World. 1980), p. 30. 31 A Catalogue ofHarleian MSS in the British Museum with Indices ofPersons, Places 6 Matters, 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 Study ofBibliogmphy(London: Cadell & Davies, 1814). vol. I, p. r31. 32 Thomas Frognall Dibdin. The Bibliographical Decameron; or, Ten Days Pleasant Dis course upon Illuminated Manuscripts andSubjects 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. Strutt1970, 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 Victorian Country House (New Haven & London: Yale University Press. 1979), figs. 85 and 86 on p. JI5. 38 Gustav Friedrich Waagen, Kunstwerke "ndKiinstler in England undParis (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, 'TheTile Decorarion by Morris & Co. for Queens' College, Cambridge: The Inspi rarion ofIlluminared Manuscripts', Apollo 149, no. 443 (January 1999), pp. 25-33. 40Treuher2, 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. Der Kampfder Geschlechter: Der neue Mythos 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;JeromeMcGann: '"A Thing 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 JOURNAL OF WILLIAM MORRIS STUDIES· SUMMER 2004

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, Bourdichon Schoo!. 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 Illuminated Page: Ten Centuries o/ManuscriptPaintingin the British Library (London: The British Library, 1997), no. 210, p. 231. 50 Verse 11, line 2: 'MyLady 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 Smith, 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 and Medievalism in theArts, ed. Lianade Girolami Cheney (Lewiston, Lampeter, Queen ston: Edwin Mellon Press, 1992), pp. 109-27; p. 109.