Liber illuministarum


The Liber illuministarum is one of the largest extant late medieval collections of art technological instructions and recipes for book painting. It was gradually compiled between the end of the 15th and the beginning of 16th century in Tegernsee Abbey by eight identifiable scribes, among them the Benedictine monastery's librarian Konrad Sartori. Written on paper it was only bound and arranged into one volume in the 16th century. Having in the course of time lost several pages it extends over 231 folios and is since 1803 preserved as:
In accordance with its full title Liber illuministarum pro fundamentis auri et coloribus ac consimilibus collectus ex diversis it unsystematically assembles circa 1.500 recipes and instructions for the arts and crafts written both in Medieval Latin and Southern dialect forms of Early New High German. The principal subjects treated are:
This main body art technological instructions is supplemented by and interspersed with:
and notes on diverse matters, such as
The Liber illuministarum was published with translations, commentaries and indices:
  • ,, Stuttgart 2005, 883 pages. ISBN 978-3-515-10088-5