Looking into Georg Bocskay’s Scripts
I discovered a 16 century illustrated manuscript in Getty Museum’s Online Collection and was immediately drawn to the shape of the letterform included in the book.
Mira calligraphiae monumenta
fols. 1-129 written 1561–1562; illumination added about 1591–1596
“In the 1500s, as printing became the most common method of producing books, intellectuals increasingly valued the inventiveness of scribes and the aesthetic qualities of writing. From 1561 to 1562, Georg Bocskay, the Croatian-born court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, created this Model Book of Calligraphy in Vienna to demonstrate his technical mastery of the immense range of writing styles known to him.”
--Getty Museum
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Work in Progress
I’m interested in reviving the letters on a specific page and developing it into a new typeface. Since I don’t understand the meaning of the script and the illustration was added by another artist after the script is written, I’m curious if the catapillars are the illustrator’s artistic interpretation of the letter or if the content is really related to catapillar. However, limited information could be found online regarding Georg Bocskay and there are hardly any material related to his typography style and other work. So my question remained unanswered.
While I was taking this page apart and grouping letters, I found 30% of the alphabet missing. Therefore, I tried to find letters that have similar structures in Mira calligraphiae monumenta, and using those as references.
Page: Catapillar
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Grouping Letters + Analyzing
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Intial Sketches & Attempts
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Draft
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I discovered a 16 century illustrated manuscript in Getty Museum’s Online Collection and was immediately drawn to the shape of the letterform included in the book.
Mira calligraphiae monumenta
fols. 1-129 written 1561–1562; illumination added about 1591–1596
“In the 1500s, as printing became the most common method of producing books, intellectuals increasingly valued the inventiveness of scribes and the aesthetic qualities of writing. From 1561 to 1562, Georg Bocskay, the Croatian-born court secretary to the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, created this Model Book of Calligraphy in Vienna to demonstrate his technical mastery of the immense range of writing styles known to him.”
--Getty Museum
Work in Progress
I’m interested in reviving the letters on a specific page and developing it into a new typeface. Since I don’t understand the meaning of the script and the illustration was added by another artist after the script is written, I’m curious if the catapillars are the illustrator’s artistic interpretation of the letter or if the content is really related to catapillar. However, limited information could be found online regarding Georg Bocskay and there are hardly any material related to his typography style and other work. So my question remained unanswered.
While I was taking this page apart and grouping letters, I found 30% of the alphabet missing. Therefore, I tried to find letters that have similar structures in Mira calligraphiae monumenta, and using those as references.
Page: Catapillar
Grouping Letters + Analyzing
Intial Sketches & Attempts
Draft
