Fraktur in Szczecin

 Szczecin is a city in what is now north-western Poland but for centuries was the capital of the principality of Pomerania. In its principal museum I found a framed picture which basically contained just calligraphy. Possibly a part of a bigger epitaph, it is the genealogy of Andreas Franz Bulgrin, who died in 1658, which is likely the approximate date of this picture.

Pictures like this, containing only calligraphy, were not unusual in this part of Europe with its strict Protestant ethics (in fact the church in Luckau, presented below in this blog, is not very far from Szczecin, although now in Germany). In the 17th century churches in the Catholic part of Europe had illusionist paintings of the open Heaven on the ceiling, whereas in the Protestant part there were no pictures, just calligraphy.

In the presented example most of the calligraphy in in the German Fraktur style, with a few names written in something that looks like Capitalis Quadrata but does not keep the classical proportions of that script. In fact the calligrapher seems to have struggled with this script, whereas his Fraktur is of much better quality.

There is a book available, based on this blog.  

On the blog there is, so to speak, more room, one can show more illustrations there. Blogs, however, come and go, there is no certainty that it will be there ten years from now. The book, on the other hand, once you acquire it, will last, one can be sure of that.

Cancellaresca at St Michael's Mount

St Michael's Mount in Cornwall looks very much like its more famous French namesake over The Channel - an island in high tide but accessible dry shod in the low. It used to be (like the namesake) a monastery, after king Henry's dissolution it became an aristocratic residence and now is a tourist attraction. It is certainly impressive, both the monastic church and the palatial rooms, and well maintained rockery garden around.

With all the attractions I guess few people notice stained glass windows in one of the rooms. I guess even fewer people notice any calligraphy there. But I did. They are not windows from the time of the monastery and in fact they are not proper stained glass, they are really paintings on glass. I found one with an inscription in cancellaresca. The inscription is not in English, seems to me to be in Dutch, which would suggest it was brought here from somewhere else. The style of the painting above would suggest it was created sometime in the 17th century.

There is a book available, based on this blog.  

On the blog there is, so to speak, more room, one can show more illustrations there. Blogs, however, come and go, there is no certainty that it will be there ten years from now. The book, on the other hand, once you acquire it, will last, one can be sure of that.

Mediaeval documents in Czartoryski Museum in Cracow

While in Cracow most tourists go to the museum of Czartoryski family. It was an aristocratic family of collectors of art and not only art. The best known object in the museum is the picture of a lady with an ermine by Leonardo, but there are some things for calligraphy freaks there as well.

     There are royal charters there given in the end of 14th century and beginning of 15th century by kings Ludwik (a king of Poland and Hungary) and Jagiello (a king of Poland and Lithuania). The document called in Polish "Unia Horodeska" was the document that started the united kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, an union that lasted several centuries. All these are excellent examples of chancery hand of that time. All documents are written in Latin, which was official language of all three kingdoms involved.

Charter of Koszyce, 1374

Union of Horodlo, 1413

Union of Horodlo

Charter of Jedlna, 1430

Charter of Jedlna

Royal grant to Czartoryski family, 1442

Royal grant to Czartoryski family

There is a book available, based on this blog.  

On the blog there is, so to speak, more room, one can show more illustrations there. Blogs, however, come and go, there is no certainty that it will be there ten years from now. The book, on the other hand, once you acquire it, will last, one can be sure of that.

Bible of Saint Louis in Toledo

Most people visit Toledo to see pictures of El Greco, but a calligraphy enthusiast will find there something interesting, too. The Bible of Saint Louis, created in 13th century, is exhibited in the cathedral there. The book itself is exquisite, although its textura quadrata calligraphy is perhaps not the finest one can see. Still it a mediaeval book exhibited for everyone to be seen is not a common sight.

There is a book available, based on this blog.  

On the blog there is, so to speak, more room, one can show more illustrations there. Blogs, however, come and go, there is no certainty that it will be there ten years from now. The book, on the other hand, once you acquire it, will last, one can be sure of that.

Calligraphy in Cuzco

Few people would go to Cuzco to look for baroque calligraphy, but you can see it there, and not quite hidden.

In the museum of the Santa Catalina convent there are many pictures of the so called escuela cuscena. Some of them have comments in the corner in large baroque italics fashionable in European writing at the time.

There also are some documents on display there, written in baroque copperplate, with strangely filled high loops of some letters, which gives them club-like appearance. Apparently also fashionable in Spanish-speaking countries at the time.

There is a book available, based on this blog.  

On the blog there is, so to speak, more room, one can show more illustrations there. Blogs, however, come and go, there is no certainty that it will be there ten years from now. The book, on the other hand, once you acquire it, will last, one can be sure of that.

Leonard Cohen calligraphies

This is not something one can see cycling around anywhere. In fact these pieces are not publicly displayed at all. I found them in my loft buried among some old papers. These are scraps of old paper, sometimes just old brown envelope, on which I once practiced calligraphy. I just couldn't resist the temptation to look for them having heard the news. I always thought that quotations from Cohen are perfect subject to practice calligraphy. I don't do this any more and anyway this web site is not there to publish my own stuff. I just couldn't resist having heard the news. It is a homage to the great bard.

You know, neither James Joyce nor Leo Tolstoy ever got a Nobel Prize, instead some obscure writers hardly remembered today, like Mikhail Sholokhov or Winston Churchill (Nobel for literature!)

Grafitti at Pompeii

Most people travel to Pompeii to see the ancient murals hidden among the ruins. However, there are surprises for anybody interested in calligraphy. There are places where ancient Roman grafitti have been preserved. They seem to be either in ancient rustics script or in something in between rustics and capitalis elegans. This certainly is not quadrata, as the letters are very narrow but they have serifs similar to capitalis elegans rather than to rustica proper. Anyway the rustica we know from manuscripts might have crystallised later.