Discuss the importance of the manuscript in Medieval art. Explain and Essay

Discuss the importance of the manuscript in Medieval art. Explain and explore issues of authorship, production, patronage, style, and technique - Essay Example echanical means ÃŽ ¿f reproduction.[23] Consistent with a long medieval tradition, contemporary sources praised the opulence ÃŽ ¿f the materials or the technical appropriateness ÃŽ ¿f the finished product in terms ÃŽ ¿f "good" images, something that pleased the eye ÃŽ ¿f the beholder as well as the Creator.[24] In his impressive two-part volume Lilian Randall (1997) describes eighty-four codices and eighty-two unbound items produced in the medieval southern Netherlands, approximately equivalent to modern-day Belgium. It follows her equally impressive coverage ÃŽ ¿f manuscripts from France (vol. I, 1989; vol. II, in 2 parts, 1992); between them they cover about two-thirds ÃŽ ¿f the Western manuscripts at the Walters. The first thing to say to anyone who does not know the previous catalogues is that the descriptions are extremely detailed: for example, the description ÃŽ ¿f the Beaupre Antiphonary (cat. nos 219A-D) fills more than thirty pages. Catalogues ÃŽ ¿f medieval manuscripts might be said to fall into two broad types: on the one hand there are those that aim to provide readers with just enough information to help them decide whether they ought to consult the original in person; and on the other hand, there are those that provide so much information that the reader either does not have to consult the original, or can be confident that it is indeed worth the cost and effort ÃŽ ¿f a visit to examine the original. Randalls catalogues lie squarely in the second camp. Like many collections ÃŽ ¿f manuscripts (as opposed to libraries) formed during the last century or so, the Walters manuscripts were acquired largely for their decoration, and it is therefore appropriate that Randall provides perhaps the most detailed descriptions ÃŽ ¿f decoration to be found in any catalogue. But her descriptions are not aimed only at the art historian: equal care is given to all the features that one would hope to find covered in a catalogue ÃŽ ¿f undecorated manuscripts, such as the identification ÃŽ ¿f