Early Spanish manuscript illumination

by John Williams

Spanish culture is the result of many civilizations -- Visigoth, Jewish, Berber, Arabic -- which mingled with the traditions of the Romanized Celtic-Iberian population, once colonized by Carthage. Of special interest among Spain's artistic treasure are the manuscripts produced from the seventh through the eleventh centuries, especially those masterpieces which were decorated in the Mozarabic style (the term given to the Christians who lived in the Iberian Peninsula under Moslem rule). These manuscripts present a strange vision of the world with strong, deep colors that cover the picture with vibrant bands of green, red, yellows and violet, providing the background for monsters, tempests, human figures of every description -- all displaying an incredible virile mysticism, evoking a new ideal, the antithesis of the Classic, which was to influence the art of the latter Middle Ages throughout all Europe, but which was anticipated in Spain by nearly two centuries. - Publisher.