Livre d

’Heures,” by Guillaume Roville (1551), a composition in the style of the school of Lyons, with Caryatides representing female Saints semi-veiled.]

The ink was black, bright, indelible, unalterable, penetrating deeply into the paper, and composed, as already were the colours, of oil-paint. The paper, which was certainly rather grey or yellow, and often coarse and rough, had the advantage of being strong, durable, and was almost fit, in virtue of these qualities, to replace parchment and vellum, both of which materials were scarce and too expensive. Editors contented themselves with having struck off on _membrane_ (a thin and white vellum) a small number of copies of each edition; never exceeding three hundred. These sumptuous copies, rubricated, illuminated, bound with care, resembling in every respect the finest manuscripts, were generally presented to kings, princes, and great personages, whose patronage or assistance the printer sought. Nor was any expense spared to add to typography all the ornaments which wood-engravings could confer upon it; and from the year 1475, numerous illustrated editions, of which an example was found in the first “Specula,” especially those printed in Germany, were enriched with figures, portraits, heraldic escutcheons, and a multitude of ornamented margins (Figs. 412 to 415). For more than a century the painters and engravers worked hand in hand with the printers and booksellers.

[Illustration: Fig. 415.--Border employed by John of Tournes, in 1557, ornamented with Antique Masks and Allegorical Personages bearing Baskets containing Laurel Branches.]

The taste for books spread over the whole of Europe; the number of buyers and of amateurs was every day increasing. In the libraries of princes, scholars, or monks, printed books were collected as formerly were manuscripts. Henceforth printing found everywhere the same protection, the same encouragements, the same rivalry. Typographers sometimes travelled with their apparatus, opened a printing-office in a small town, and then went on elsewhere after they had sold one edition. Finally, such was the incredible activity of typography, from its origin till 1500, that the number of editions published in Europe in the space of half a century amounted to _sixteen thousand_. But the most remarkable result of printing was the important part it played in the movement of the sixteenth century, from which resulted the transformation of the arts, of literature, and science; the discoveries of Laurent Coster and of Gutenberg had cast a new light over the world, and the press made its appearance to modify profoundly the conditions of the intellectual life of peoples.

[Illustration: Fig. 416.--Mark of Bonaventure and Abraham Elsevier, Printers at Leyden, 1620.]

LONDON: PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., CITY ROAD.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Dorserets_, covers to backs of chairs, beds, &c.

[2] Richard I., surnamed _Sans-peur_, third Duke of Normandy, was natural son of William I., and grandson of Rollo. He died in 996.--[ED.]

[3] Charles le Brun, a distinguished painter of the French school, flourished during the seventeenth century. The son of a sculptor, who placed him under Simon Vouet, the young artist made such progress that at the age of fifteen he painted a remarkable picture, “Hercules Destroying the Horses of Diomede,” which brought him at once into public notice. Le Brun’s patron, the Chancellor Seguier, sent him to Italy, with an introduction to Nicholas Poussin, whose pure and correct taste, however, seems to have had little influence on the French artist, who, though possessing an inventive and somewhat elevated genius, often showed himself a mannerist.--[ED.]

[4] “Historical Topography of Ancient Paris in the district of the Louvre and Tuileries.” By Berty and Legrand.

[5] Probably an abbreviation, or corruption, of cap-mail.--[ED.]

[6] Or _brassarts_--pieces to protect the upper part of the arms.--[ED.]

[7] This title is not chronologically correct. Henry of Bolingbroke had been created Duke of Hereford nearly a year before his intended combat with Norfolk, at Coventry, in 1398; when the king, Richard II., interfered, and banished both nobles from the kingdom.--[ED.]

[8] _Anglicè_, partisan--a kind of pike or lance.--[ED.]

[9] _Martel-de-fer_--a weapon combining a hammer and pick; used by cavalry in the Middle Ages, to damage and destroy armour. It was generally hung at the saddle-bow.--[ED.]

[10] _Tassets_--parts of the cuirass.

[11] _Morion_--a kind of helmet, usually worn by foot-soldiers.--[ED.]

[12] So called, it may be presumed, from its form and make.--[ED.]

[13] Latin, _Luteus_--muddy.--[ED.]

[14] Quincunx order is a method of arranging five objects, or pieces, in the form of a square; one being in the centre, and one at each corner.--[ED.]

[15] _Limousine_--a term applied to enamelling, and derived, as some writers assume, from Leonard Limousin, a famous artist in this kind of work, resident at Limoges. It is, however, more probable it came from the province Limousin, or Limosin, of which Limoges was the capital; and that Leonard acquired the surname of Limousin from his place of birth or residence; just as many of the old painters are best known by theirs.--[ED.]

[16] _Ogivale_--a term used by French architects to denote the Gothic vault, with its ribs and cross-springers, &c. It is also employed to denote the pointed arch.--GWILT’S _Encyclopædia of Architecture_.--[ED.]

[17] This is a literal rendering of the text of M. Labarte; but the artists to whom allusion is made were only two, Niccola and Giovanni, sculptors and architects of Pisa. According to Vasari, Niccola, father of Giovanni (Jean or John), first worked under certain Greek sculptors who were executing the figures and other sculptural ornaments of the Duomo of Pisa and the Chapel of San Giovanni.--[ED.]

[18] Andrea di Cione Orcagna.--[ED.]

[19] _Autochthone_--relating to the aboriginal inhabitants of a country: the use of the word here is not very intelligible.--[ED.]

[20] _Gnomon_--literally the upright piece of wood or metal which projects the shadow on the plane of the dial.--[ED.]

[21] This clock, as many readers doubtless know, was removed some years ago, when St. Dunstan’s Church, in Fleet Street, was rebuilt.--[ED.]

[22] The reader will notice a discrepancy between this description of the _chorus_ and that given in a preceding paragraph. We have retained both, mainly because it is now impossible to determine what the instrument really was: no mention of it appears in any book we have consulted.--[ED.]

[23] _Nabulum_--a name evidently derived from the Hebrew word _nebel_, generally translated in the Scriptures as a psaltery.--[ED.]

[24] The Welsh or Scotch _Crwd_.--[TR.]

[25] In German _Geige_, “fiddle.”--[TR.]

[26] Henry IV., born at Pau, in the Béarn.--[ED.]

[27] The English “knave” is only our old equivalent for the German _knabe_, and had originally the same meaning of _servant_; it is also nearly similar in sense to the French _valet_.--[TR.]

[28] _Paul, the Silentiary_, is so named from holding in the court of Justinian the office of chief of the Silentiarii, persons who had the care of the palace. He wrote a poem on the rebuilding of St. Sophia, at Constantinople, which was translated from Greek into Latin, and published with notes, by Du Cange, of Paris, in 1670. It is this to which M. Lecroix refers in the text.--[ED.]

[29] _Amandaire_--almond-shaped. Strictly speaking, the aureola is the nimbus of the whole body, as the nimbus is the aureola of the head. In Fairholt’s “Dictionary of Terms in Art” is an engraving showing a saint standing in the centre of an almond-shaped aureola--[ED.]

[30] _Grisaille_--white and black.--[ED.]

[31] Probably Alfonso is thus designate!.--[ED.]

[32] This is obviously a misconception. Lanzi, alluding to the picture, says, “Had Leonardo desired to follow the practice of his age in painting in distemper, the art at this time would have been in possession of this treasure. But being always fond of attempting new methods, he painted this masterpiece upon a peculiar ground, formed of distilled oils, which was the reason that it gradually detached itself from the wall,” &c. And a later authority, Kugler, thus writes: “The determination of Leonardo to execute the work in oil-colours instead of fresco, in order to have the power of finishing the minutest details in so great an undertaking, appears to have been unfortunate.” Distemper differs from fresco in that it is painted on a dry, and not a damp, wall; but in both the vehicle used is of an aqueous, and not an oily, nature.--[ED.]

[33] Deacon of the Church at Aquila, and afterwards attached to the court of Charlemagne. Paul, who died about the year 799, was distinguished as a poet and historian.--[ED.]

[34] Or San-Gemignano, a small town between Florence and Siena.--[ED.]

[35] Giorgione studied under Giovanni Bellini, younger brother of Gentile, and son of Jacopo. M. Lacroix does not even mention Giovanni Bellini, though he is generally esteemed before his father and brother, besides being the master of two of the greatest painters of the Venetian school, Titian and Giorgione; who, however, soon cast aside the antiquated style of their early instructor.--[ED.]

[36] The famous picture, an altar-piece, representing “Christ bearing his Cross,” known by the name of _Lo Spasimo di Sicilia_, from its having been painted for the convent of Santa Maria della Spasimo at Palermo, in Sicily. It is now in the Museum of Madrid.--[ED.]

[37] We can find no authority to support this statement.--[ED.]

[38] Holbein died of the plague which prevailed in London in 1554.--[ED.]

[39] This name is generally written Jeannet, and, according to Wornum’s “Epochs of Painting,” seems to have been applied indiscriminately almost to the two painters, Jehannet or Jehan Clouet, father and son. M. Lacroix appears also to include François under the same general cognomen; which, indeed, appears to have been a species of surname.--[ED.]

[40] _Buziack_ is the name by which this old wood-engraver is generally known.--[ED.]

[41] The legend which accompanies this engraving is in old Italian; it relates to the famous prophecy of Isaiah as to the birth of Christ (Isaiah vii. 14).

[42] We presume this plate to be that commonly known among collectors of prints as “Death’s Horse;” it represents a knight on horseback followed by Death. The best impressions of this plate are prior to the date 1513. It is also called “The Christian Knight,” and “The Knight, Death, and the Devil.”--[ED.]

[43] That Marc Antonio studied painting under Raphael, as is here implied, is more than doubtful, though he engraved a very large number of his various compositions, and was highly esteemed by the great master.--[ED.]

[44] Giovanni B. B. Ghisi; Giorgio and Adams, his two sons; and Diana, his daughter.--[ED.]

[45] This engraver, generally known by the single name of George, usually signed his plates with the surname Peins or Pentz.--[ED.]

[46] He was born at Prague, although most of his works were executed in England.--[TR.]

[47] Ambons--a kind of pulpit in the early Christian churches.--[ED.]

[48] Strasbourg spire is 468 feet in height, the highest in the world. Amiens, the next, a mere _flèche_, is 422 feet.--[TR.]

[49] M. Lacroix uses the word _Romane_ throughout, with reference to this style of architecture: we have adopted _Norman_ as that most commonly associated with it, and because it is a generic term comprehending Romanesque, Lombardic, and even Byzantine.--[ED.]

[50] _Oculus_ (eye).--This word is not known in the vocabulary of English architects; but it is evidently intended to signify a circular window.--[ED.]

[51] Officers who had jurisdiction over, and were inspectors of, works of masonry and carpentry.

[52] The word is derived from _vellus_, which merely signifies the skin of any beast, not of a calf only.--[ED.]

[53] The word is derived from the Latin _uncialis_, and is applied to letters of a round or hook-shaped form: such were used by the ancients as numerals, or for words in abbreviated inscriptions.--[ED.]

[54] _Minuscule._--Less or little. The term is evidently here intended to distinguish small letters from capitals.--[ED.]

[55] _Palimpsest_--a kind of parchment from which anything written could easily be erased.--[ED.]

[56] Librarian probably; though _libraire_ means only a bookseller, _bibliothécaire_ being the French for a librarian.--[TR.]

[57] _Translation_: “This is Monseigneur St. Louis’ Psalter, which belonged to his mother.”

[58] _Antiphonaries_--books containing the responses, &c., used in Catholic church-services.--[ED.]

[59] “Garni de deux fermaulx d’argent, dorez, armoiez d’azur à une aigle d’or à deux testes, onglé de gueulles, auquel a ung tuyau d’argent doré pour tourner les feuilles, à trois escussons desdites armes, couvert d’une chemise de veluyau vermeil.”

[60] Probably this “pilgrimage” refers to some one of the great European Councils or Diets held in the city during the Middle Ages, as were Congresses in later times.--[ED.]

[61] _Sic_; but it should evidently be the fifteenth century.--[ED.]

[62] _Anglicè_, Stephens, by which name this illustrious family of scholars and printers is most popularly known in England. They were ten in number, who flourished between 1512 and about 1660. Anthony, the last distinguished representative of the family, died in poverty at the Hôtel Dieu, Paris, in 1674, at the age of eighty-two.--[ED.]