To start, please know that I am a novice researcher. I am looking for resources regarding what we would now call the "artists" and their supporting "craftsmen" of medieval illuminated manuscripts, especially those produced in Ireland. This would include not only the illuminators and copyists, but the brushmakers, ink grinders, paper makers, leather workers, bookbinders, and conservators. I will be studying in Ireland for several weeks later this year. Most material I have found is about the extant objects themselves, and not about those whose gestures formed the objects. (I do realize that artisans of that period are often considered anonymous.) References to abbeys, monasteries, or cloisters who might be willing to share information, especially those in the countryside, could also be useful.
Hello,
I think a great start would be to look at the recently published first volume of the Art and Architecture in Ireland series, dedicated to all things medieval, edited by Rachel Moss. It is an amazing resource, extremely useful, beautifully illustrated and it has at the end, as appendix 1, a long list of artists and craftsmen. And I'm sure you'll find that many entries in it are a good starting point.
Best,
Catherine
Many thanks, Catherine--I have requested a copy from the library.. I also got a recommendation for J. J. G. Alexander's Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work.
It has been too many years for me to recall this precisely, but I seem to remember allusions to an article from the early 20th century on notes made by scribes in Irish manuscripts. If you have a look at Leonard Boyle's bibliography on paleography you will find it there.
Splendid (and unimaginably expensive) facsimiles have been produced of insular MSS - Book of Kells, Lindisfarne Gospels. These usually have fine, scientific introductions (I have a vague memory of a piece on the pigments in the Intro. to the Book of Kells). Don't forget Early English MSS in Facsimile and their introductions. In addition, there are British and Irish (and other) websites that offer digital images off insular MSS == after some reading in the codicological and paleographical literature, the best thing you can do is spend your time examining the MSS themselves, and of course, informed use of Google search can take you to images of MSS and secondary literature.
Thank you, Daniel, you're right: I checked my copy of the Thames & Hudson facsimile of the Book of Kells, and its essay by Françoise Henry has two pages on the painters and a separate bit on their techniques, including information on the pigments. (My mother brought me this wonderful book in the late '80s, and I had forgotten it had more than images in it.) I know of the Lindisfarne Gospels but have not yet found a related text with similar scholarly information (having reviewed some books received through inter-library loan). And, yes, I have already located several wonderful websites with digital images, but it is less the image than the maker which holds my interest. But thank you also for adding "paleography" to my vocabulary.
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