Illustrious Illuminations: Christian Manuscripts from the High Gothic to the High Renaissance (1250-1540)

Illustrious Illuminations presents a selection of illuminated Christian manuscripts from the McCarthy Collection. Ranging in date from the High Gothic to the High Renaissance (1250–1540), the miniature paintings give evidence of the talent and culture connected to the art of book illustration. Many of the vibrant hand-copied volumes contain some of the finest illustrations ever produced across Europe, well before Johannes Gutenberg introduced the printing press around 1454. These particular illustrations were chosen from Bibles, books of hours and psalters in order to exemplify a shift in style, from Gothic to Renaissance lines, which likewise was apparent in the architecture and paintings produced under the auspices of the Church. The often harder, more contrasting, lines of the Gothic give way to the Renaissance's altogether natural contours, as well as to softer and increasingly personal facial features.