WHY DID MONKS PAINT BEAUTIFUL ILLUSTRATIONS IN
BIBLES IN MEDIEVAL TIMES ?
BY FRANK E. HENRICH JANUARY
2007
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| PAINTED OVER 500 YEARS AGO FOR A BRIDE OF THE MARRIAGE SCENE |
This is Frank Henrich. May I ask a favor of you?
Try to move back in time. The year is 1200 AD. You are in a world where there are few schools to attend, modern universities
do not exist; there are no jet planes and telephones, and few books exist; yes, no machine printed books. Add to this a normal
life span of only 40 to 45 years; but there is a deep reverence toward God, and there are those who hunger for a deeper understanding
of Him. You are now a part of that life where few persons read, and all written learning is in the Latin language. The Holy
Scriptures are held to be divinely inspired and are trusted as rules for living. How do you learn what the book record? If
you are one of the few who can read Latin, you are fortunate. Now, I want you to pretend that you are a young man of intelligence
and that you have been allowed to become a monk in a monastery; there you learned to read Latin and have been chosen to copy
the Holy Scriptures. Yes, imagine, you now have the privilege of reading them. You have a flare for art and as you read the
events in the holy writings, beautiful images come and fill your mind; you desire to give life to this imagery on the Holy
Scripture pages. You must not change the writing, so you take the first letter of the first word of a paragraph and make it
larger; yes, even decorate it with images of events from the Scriptures as your mind envisions them. Oh, what a joy you feel
as you praise God. For those others that lack this ability to create these colorful images, your illustrations add import
to the Scripture message as they read.
And if that isn’t enough, something even better happens. Your pictures
are seen by those who cannot read. They became the pictures on leather that tell a story just like the stained glass windows
in the churches portray their stories. Here we have an illuminated image in a capital letter D from a 1480 AD document for
a gift to a Christian devotional book for a bride so it showa a wedding taking place. And even better yet, the artwork
of that monk can be seen by thousands on this web page, 800 years later. A decorated initial is not be an image to worship
but rather a sight that inspires us to seek and worship God in spirit. Read Scripture John 4:24. Image courtesy of Denison
Library, Scripps College, Claremont, CA. Reference Denison Library, Kirby 1; Book of Hours, Flanders, ca.1480, f. 69v.
For Christmas Medieval Images, Click Here
For Easter Medieval Images, Click Here
This page is abourt medieval art history. Viewing the medieval image or illustration, one wonders why the monks painted these
Biblical initals. this one is of a wedding.
←Select
another poem or article from the column on the left to read. Tell a friend about this web site.
Image used with the permission of Ella Strong Denision
Library, Scripps College, Claremont, CA Maniscript Kirby 1, Book of hours, Flanders, ca 1480 F 69v
Here we have a medieval image of a wedding painted over 500 years ago and it is a beautiful Biblical illustration or image.
Viewing it one wonders why the monks painted these Biblical initals with great medieval pictures. This is medieval art history.
