The illuminated manuscript was produced between the 13th and early 16th centuries by French and Spanish artists. The image of an illuminated manuscript is designed to integrate the views of the readers into a community of people who share similar religious beliefs, devotional practices, and theological agendas. The manuscript “Two Men Before a King and a Man Speaking to a Family” is important in the history of Gothic illumination. It is the image of a man speaking with the King and then leaving the King (Panayotova, 2014). The words used in the manuscript are Latin and, therefore, which more popular with the Catholic religion. Some of the words are written in red ink, especially headings, to make it known or clear to the viewers. Some of the colours are in blue ink in the jewellery and create a difference from other scripts, and the background of the image has a different abstract as well.
However, the image relates to the expansion of Islam during the early fifteenth century, and therefore, it was argued about the existence of religions. It seems the King discusses an issue about a property and leaves. The images are used to remind the readers or viewers about the role of the Kings during the early days and also to bring a clear correlation between the role of the King and gospel meanings so that respect and audience be given to the kingship. According to Panayotova (2014), the illuminated image which portrays the blood of Christ indicates that the book signified the suffering of Christ’s body. The metaphor of the manuscript spread to different audiences through the viewing of the images during sermons and preaching to the laity. The features of different images represent views and communicate a message to a specific group. Bromberg (2013) illustrated that the creation of image cycles of the Old Testament imposes the communication between the Augustinian friars who used to work as artists in their service and the spiritual leaders.
The images in illuminated manuscripts communicate a message among groups of people, and these images mostly originated from the Old Testament. For instance, Kathryn Smith asserts that the heraldic imagery which is in the Books of Hours is meant to allow the patron to pray while arranging feudal and marital arrangements. It is also argued that the images of Christians and Muslim debating religious issues represent what happened during the fifteenth century when the expansion of the Islamic Ottoman Empire occurred. And therefore, the images are supposed to make viewers depict themselves as the audience members witnessing what took place. The images of illuminated manuscripts represent passion so that viewers of the images envision themselves as the audience of such incidents represented by the illuminated manuscripts (Bromberg, 2013).
The images are used to indicate the destruction of Jerusalem, which occurred in 70 AD, and therefore, they are supposed to motivate readers or viewers so that they can share the ideology of things which occurred in the late fifteenth century. The images of illuminated manuscripts are also used to examine the social and political situation of the community. The image of Marie de France’s Fables is designed to allow readers to have a memory of Marie’s moral commentary. The illuminated image of Marie de France’s Fable scrutinizes mnemonic devices and brings out the picture of Marie to the life of readers or viewers. However, the images of Virtues over Vices, which is located in Paris during the early 14th century and therefore, represent hope for good government; therefore, every image of an illuminated manuscript represents a different tale of history, and it is used for a specific function.
References
Bromberg, S. (2013). The Social Life of Illumination: Manuscripts, Images, and Communities in the Late. Catholic Historical Review, 4-56.
Panayotova, S. (2014). The art and science of illuminated manuscripts. Fitzwilliam Museum’s bicentenary, 2-45.
