Renaissance illumination

[1] At the same time, new initial decorations were created, also inspired by the Carolingian manuscripts, and known as the bianchi girari (white vines in English).

Composed of white scrolls decorated with flattened knots, trilobes, and palmettes, they are usually set against a red, blue, yellow, or green background.

While some artists, such as Lorenzo Monaco, persisted in the International Gothic style until the end of their lives, others embraced these innovations both in illumination and in the other art forms they were practicing at the same time.

[3] With the development of drawing in the 15th century, quill and ink illuminations gradually began to compete with painted miniatures.

Some illuminators were also printers, such as Jean Pichore, who mass-produced printed religious works while continuing to supply an aristocratic clientele with luxurious manuscripts.

While in Lombardy the tradition of l'enluminure gothique (Gothic illumination), exemplified by the Master of the Vitae Imperatorum, endured for a very long time, it was in Padua that the new style first appeared and flourished.

In particular, he influenced the brothers-in-law Leonardo and Giovanni Bellini in Venice, but also Girolamo de'Corradi, who worked in Mantua and Siena, where he decorated several cathedral choir books (corali), and finally in Florence.

Flemish illuminators, based mainly but not exclusively in Ghent and Bruges, specialized in the creation of personal liturgical works such as books of hours or richly illustrated breviaries for an aristocratic clientele spread throughout Europe.

At first, this influence was very occasional, with a few individuals who had the opportunity to travel to Italy, such as Jean Fouquet, who later settled in Tours, or Barthélemy d'Eyck at the court of René d'Anjou.