The Birth of Christ and the Proclamation. Sample of the Bamberg Apocalypse

Illuminated manuscripts from the Ottonian period produced in the monastery of Reichenau (Lake Constance).

Above: a particularly large Christ the Child is lying in a wall-like crib in front of a gable-roofed architrave with an ox and an ass. Mary is pointing to her son from an almost vertical trough-shaped mattress. Joseph stands on the other side and is also pointing to the Son of Man. In the lower zone three half-figure angels in front of the crib are proclaiming the good news to the shepherds.

Below: a shepherd standing next to the central tower-house (turris gregis) leans on his staff and gazes up at one of the proclaiming angels. In front of him two sheep are grazing, guarded by a dog, and on the other side there are two more sheep. Only the head of the fifth sheep can be seen looking out of the door of the tower-house. The two shepherds sitting on the mount of clods show their astonishment by raising their hands.

These manuscripts epitomize book illustration from when Germany achieved artistic pre-eminence in Europe in the 9th-10th centuries, for the first time ever. The decline of the Carolingian Empire, political consolidation, renewal of the idea of the empire, and reform of the church all contributed to a period of cultural rise. The illustrations reflect the spirituality of the time and were influenced by paintings from Late Antiquity, the Carolingian period, and Byzantium; yet their intention was not imitation but creative new design. The manuscripts expansive cycles of miniatures on the life of Christ influenced art of subsequent centuries.