Illumination

Illumination, the decoration of a handwritten text with ornamental design, letters, and paintings, often using silver and gold leaf. Illumination flourished between the 5th and 16th centuries A.D. The art was highly developed in the Middle East, the Orient, and in Christian Europe, where monks and others skilled in calligraphy and painting often devoted their lifetimes to embellishing manuscripts of all kinds, particularly religious. Among the most celebrated manuscripts are the Irish Book of Kells, the Carolingian Utrecht Psalter, and the Très riches heures commissioned by Jean, due de Berry, from the Limbourg brothers.