Illuminated Manuscripts

 

The beauty of Spanish manuscript coats of arms—popularly and often imprecisely called "cartas ejecutorias de hidalguía"—has led to their being the most popular type of Spanish illuminated manuscript across a wide swath of the book and art collecting public. Because they are an art form, the method of execution changes little over time but the style does. Those of the16th century have elaborate Renaissance borders on the first text leaf, usually have a "heroic" scene depicting an ancestor in battle, rarely have any historiated initials, and have their texts simply accomplished in a gothic hand. Such cartas are what are usually on display in libraries, museums, and book and manuscript dealers' shops.

Spanish calligraphers, illuminators, and miniaturists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries created heraldic manuscripts at various levels of quality and at varying costs to those commissioning them, together with a genealogy and explanations of the various ancestor families' coats of arms and of their own. An unusual inclusion in some manuscripts is a large folding genealogical tree at the end—handsomely done in multiple colors in imitation of a real tree.

Mexico inherited, beginning in the 16th century, the continental love for gold on vellum, for elaborately painted and gold-burnished manuscripts.  Each conquistador sought from the King recognition of doughty deeds via land and other grants, including a patent of nobility, the latter artfully calligraphed, adorned with paintings, and eye-dazzlingly highlighted in 24k gold.  For its part, the Church benefited from the newly created wealth via substantial bequests and donations, some of which resulted in the famously beautiful choir books of the city’s cathedral. All of these seekers of handsome illuminated manuscripts had available European- and locally-trained artists and artisans: By 1557 there was actually a formal organization for painters in Mexico ( Ordenanzas de pintores y doradores), which provided for the establishment of workshops with apprentices.