'Fragmented Illuminations' at the V&A

There's a delightful small exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum called 'Fragmented Illuminations: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Cutting at the V&A'. The museum has quite a collection of manuscript cuttings which was a bit of a fad for the Victorians, cutting out pretty pictures and framing them or finding other uses for them. The exhibition is only in two rooms, the first looking at the cuttings in the 19th Century and the second exploring the cuttings in their original context.

The first room goes under the title of 'Copyists, Restorers and Forgers' and considers some of the educational uses of the cuttings, such as copies of 15th Century illuminated capital letters published by the Arundel Society (for the promotion of knowledge of art). Much as I liked that room, the next room was better, with medieval and renaissance works on display and this gives a wider view of illuminated manuscripts.

The exhibits were wide ranging from religious works and psalm books to books of hours and legal text books. If there was a book then it deserved to be illuminated in some way, not just religious books. Books were made by hand before printing so all things were possible. It's a small exhibition but well worth seeing if you're going to the V&A.