LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.- Some of the most stunning works of art of the Renaissance are among the least well known. They can be found within the pages of illuminated manuscripts, books that were both written and painted by hand. Flemish illuminators transformed the appearance of the illustrated page with a new naturalism and scintillating illusionistic details that captured the imaginations of art collectors across Europe. The international exhibition Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe is the first comprehensive look at the greatest epoch in Flemish illumination. It will debut at the Getty from June 17 through September 7, 2003, in its only U.S. appearance before traveling to the Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Illuminating the Renaissance features some of the finest and most ambitiously illuminated manuscripts produced between 1467 and 1561 in the region of modern-day Belgium and northern France. The exhibition brings together more than 130 objects from a total of 50 lenders from 14 countries worldwide. This international effort assembles a large body of masterworks that have never been seen together, including dazzling manuscripts, drawings, and paintings from the Getty’s collection and the collections of the British Museum and the British Library, London; the Louvre and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; and the Metropolitan Museum and the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.  Most of the manuscripts are rarely exhibited due to their fragile nature.

"Flemish Renaissance illumination is so refined in style and so sumptuous in color that it can take one’s breath away," says Deborah Gribbon, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum. "The Getty’s collection of Flemish manuscripts is among the best in the world; and now, after years of work by curators at the Getty and at the British Library, we are able to assemble the most beautiful and important Flemish objects produced over a period of nearly 100 years. Visitors will find this exhibition a revelation. It opens up a new perspective on the Renaissance."

The remarkable period of Flemish illumination covered in the exhibition marked the last great phase of the art form, before the rise of the illustrated printed book made books produced by hand obsolete. Flemish illuminators introduced into their works a painterly mastery of light, texture, and space, and displayed an unsurpassed naturalism in their miniatures. Flowers, jewels, and other objects cast their own shadows, creating the illusion that they were laid directly onto the page. This sense of naturalism is one of the greatest artistic achievements of its time.

"Poised on the cusp between the medieval and modern worlds, Flemish illuminators bridged both eras, playing a pivotal role in an interchange between manuscript illumination and other visual art forms, particularly painting," says Thomas Kren, curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum. "In the process, they left an indelible mark on art history. This exhibition offers a rare opportunity to see the works of great illuminators and painters side-by-side, including masterpieces by such celebrated figures as Rogier Van der Weyden and Pieter Bruegel the Elder."

Innovators of this new style, including artists such as Simon Marmion, the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy, and Simon Bening, worked under the patronage of the most powerful ruling families of Europe. The pages of their manuscripts captured the glamour of court ceremony with sumptuous colors and depictions of finely woven brocades and extravagant jewels. A luxurious Flemish manuscript was a vehicle of politics, social status, and piety. In Alexander Takes the Hand of Roxanne, an image from a history of Alexander the Great that was made for the Duke of Burgundy, the artist pays great attention to the details of the magnificent court costumes, and to the exquisite features of the noblewomen portrayed in this scene of an historic royal banquet. Simon Bening’s Genealogical Tree of the Kings of Aragon reflects an ambitious attempt to trace the royal lineage of a Portuguese prince, the artist’s patron, from the time of Noah.