Illuminated Manuscripts in Hungary

Fülszöveg

Narrowly surviving the ravages of war, pillage and fire, Hungary's collections of illuminated manuscripts have long existed beyond the ken of Western scholars and art historians. This exquisitely illustrated volume marks the first definitive study of the subject to appear anywhere. Distinguished by painstaking scholarship and exacting aesthetic criteria, this book supplies new and much-needed documentation about a brilliant time in European cultural history. Ilona Berkovits' text spans the most vigorous and fertile periods of illuminative art in Hungary, including eras from which few or no examples survive. The beginning of miniatűré painting in Hungary coincideswith the introduction of Christianity early in the eleventh century by King Stephen I (St. Stephen), whose patronage of the arts, in the author's view, "actually marked the beginning of Hungárián art." Historically, this period alsó marked the entry of Hungary into the cultural mainstream of the West, a movement in which the... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Narrowly surviving the ravages of war, pillage and fire, Hungary's collections of illuminated manuscripts have long existed beyond the ken of Western scholars and art historians. This exquisitely illustrated volume marks the first definitive study of the subject to appear anywhere. Distinguished by painstaking scholarship and exacting aesthetic criteria, this book supplies new and much-needed documentation about a brilliant time in European cultural history. Ilona Berkovits' text spans the most vigorous and fertile periods of illuminative art in Hungary, including eras from which few or no examples survive. The beginning of miniatűré painting in Hungary coincideswith the introduction of Christianity early in the eleventh century by King Stephen I (St. Stephen), whose patronage of the arts, in the author's view, "actually marked the beginning of Hungárián art." Historically, this period alsó marked the entry of Hungary into the cultural mainstream of the West, a movement in which the production of books for ecclesiastical use was of crucial importance. The author carefully surveys the periods leading to the masterful achievements of the sixteenth century. Periods characterized by the absorption of Carolingian, Byzantine, Irish, French and Italian influences are traced to the point when techniques developed by Hungary's native masters began to radiate abroad. Miss Berkovits examines individually the artists and schools that were active at crucial times in Hungary's artistic development. The author gives glowing treatment, both pictorially and ( continued on back flapJ
textually, to the Renaissance manuscripts produced at the workshops of Matthias Corvinus and King Wladislas II. Portions of the IlluminatedChronicle and manuscripts from the Bibliotheca Corviniana, both representing pinnacles of achievement in Hungárián illumination, have been faithfully reproduced from the originals in Budapest. Ilona Berkovits, an acknowledged authority on medieval manuscripts, has created a text rich both in insights into non-Hungarian traditions and in references to the generál cultural and social awakening that accompanied the development of illumination in Hungary. The profound humanity and charm of the works reproduced attests to the high quality of Hungárián self-assertiveness and establishes Miss Berkovits' book as an important source for bibliophiles, historians, and collectors. Vissza