During the Medieval time period, illuminated manuscripts were considered marvels and modern-day pieces of graphic art. With precision and carefulness, these manuscripts were “illuminated” and “enlightened” with bright, bold, and very vibrant colors, such as golds, reds, and silvers. An illuminated manuscript could not considered as such, if gold was not present in the illustration because gold was a way of “exalting“ the text.
Today most books are mass-produced and the hard work that was once put in, somewhat lacks originality and it‘s own unique appeal. Back then, it took patience and skill to come up with a layout incorporated with color, decoration, and text. The Limbourg Brothers were great examples of artists who took the time to actually exercise patience. They were contracted by the Valois duke of Burgundy, Philip II, to work on illuminating a bible and it taking them four years to complete. Coincidentally, Philip II ended up dying before the illustrations were complete.
It is evident that photographs were not present back then, so it made since that men and women of power would go out there way to make sure that they had an artist(s) who was able to record and illustrate their life’s accomplishments because they knew that their story would be told centuries and centuries to come. For instance, Simon Marmion’s “Grandes Chroniques de France” recalls the history of France; beginning under the reign of Saint Louis and chronologically progressing through his successors until 1461. It’s safe to say that we’ve came a long way and owe many of our advancements to the artists and innovators in earlier civilizations.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/book/hd_book.htm
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