Text & Spirit

Illuminated manuscripts from the late Middle Ages, including psalters, breviaries, hymnals and books of hours, are among the most valuable items in the collection of the Museum Angewandte Kunst. Mostly executed on parchment with other precious materials such as gold, lapis lazuli and purple, the manuscripts captivate with their interplay of graphic and painterly forms of expression. In addition to 25 books with fine illumination, the collection includes 135 fragments–individual pages and cuttings that are an expression of the eventful reception history of the illuminated manuscripts.

As religious texts, they were initially indispensable companions of the lived Christian faith, and soon also prestigious luxury goods of the aspiring patrician class. As early as the Renaissance, manuscripts with their decorative decoration became popular collector’s items. In order to meet the high demand and maximize profit at the same time, the practice of separating pages from the overall collection and selling them individually became established in the art market of the time. The efforts of 19th century museums and collections to systematize artefacts and catalogue them according to artistic genre triggered a second wave of book fragmentation. It now became common practice to cut out individual miniatures, ornaments or initials from the pages in order to compare them side by side. These fragments were particularly in demand as sample material at European craft and art schools.

Most of the museum’s holdings on display here go back to the brothers Michael (1830–1892) and Albert Linel (1833–1916), who bequeathed their diverse collections to the city of Frankfurt in 1916. Other illuminated manuscripts in the museum’s possession come from the collection of Wilhelm Peter Metzler (1818–1904). Originally, the collection of the Museum Angewandte Kunst was even larger: 16 books of hours, two prayer books and a breviary from the Linel collection were transferred to the Frankfurt art dealer Wilhelm Heinrich by way of exchange in 1953 by decision of the Frankfurt magistrate (magistrate’s decision no. 888), who then sold them. Apart from a few exceptions, their whereabouts are unknown.

Supported by the digitisation budget of the Department of Culture and Science of the City of Frankfurt, the existing collection, which is extremely fragile due to its materiality, has been digitised and is on display as part of the exhibition Text & Spirit. Illuminated Manuscripts from the Museum Collection (13 March to 22 June 2025). The exhibition sheds light on various intersections between then and now and compares the earlier books of hours with today’s smartphones. It is about the effect of both life companions, which are at once communication media and prestige objects. Their role increases to that of fashionable, performative accessories. The exhibition thus repositions the medieval books of hours on the basis of the 21st century as a digitally communicating age.