Encyclopaedia Britannica Online
Calligraphy
Table of Contents
Introduction
Early Semitic writing
Arabic calligraphy
Indic calligraphy
Greek handwriting
Latin-alphabet handwriting
calligraphy sampleThe word Calligraphy written using calligraphy.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Exemplaires du Sieur de Beaulieu (1599; “Exemplars by the Lord of Beaulieu”), a rare book of calligraphy exemplars.The Newberry Library, Gift of Robert Williams, 2005 (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Calligraphy, the art of beautiful handwriting. The term may derive from the Greek words for “beauty” (kallos) and “to write” (graphein). It implies a sure knowledge of the correct form of letters—i.e., the conventional signs by which language can be communicated—and the skill to make them with such ordering of the various parts and harmony of proportions that the experienced, knowledgeable eye will recognize such composition as a work of art. Calligraphic work, as art, need not be legible in the usual sense of the word.
In the Middle East and East Asia, calligraphy by long and exacting tradition is considered a major art, equal to sculpture or painting. In Western culture the plainer Greek- and Latin-derived alphabets and the spread of literacy have tended to make handwriting in principle an art that anyone can practice. Nonetheless, after the introduction of printing in Europe in the mid-15th century, a clear distinction arose between handwriting and more elaborate forms of scripts and lettering. In fact, new words meaning “calligraphy” entered most European languages about the end of the 16th century, and in English the word calligraphy did not appear until 1613. Writing books from the 16th century through the present day have continued to distinguish between ordinary handwriting and the more decorative calligraphy.
Spieghel der Schrijfkonste (“Mirror of the Art of Writing”) by Jan van de Velde, 1605; in the Columbia University Libraries, New York City.Courtesy of the Columbia University Libraries, New York
It has often been assumed that the printing process ended the manuscript tradition. This is not quite true: for example, most of the surviving books of hours (lavish private devotional manuscript books) date from the period after the introduction of printing. Furthermore, certain types of publications, such as musical scores, scientific notation, and other specialized or small-audience works, continued to be handwritten well into the 19th century. Thus, although handwritten books could not be reproduced in quantity or with complete uniformity, they did survive the introduction of printing. Printing and handwriting began to influence each other: for example, modern advertising continues to incorporate calligraphy, and many calligraphers have through the years designed typefaces for printing.
Two-page spread from Geoffroy Tory's Book of Hours (1531).Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Ray Nash
Robert Williams
Early Semitic writing
During the 2nd millennium bce, various Semitic peoples at the eastern end of the Mediterranean were experimenting with alphabetic writing. Between 1500 and 1000 bce, alphabetic signs found in scattered sites showed a correspondence of form and provided material for sound translations. Bodies of writing from this period are fragmented: a few signs scratched on sherds or cut in stone. Few of these are celebrated in terms of aesthetic value.
One interesting set of Semitic inscriptions was discovered in 1905 at an ancient mining site on the Sinai Peninsula. A sphinx from that discovery yields the taw, nun, taw, or t, n, t, meaning “gift.” It is evident that the nun, or n, sign is a rendering of a serpent. Most of the early Semitic alphabetic signs were similarly derived from word signs of more ancient vintage.
The several Semitic peoples in the Middle East area spoke languages that were closely related, and this enabled them to use the same set of alphabetic signs. After some experimentation the alphabet was reduced to 22 signs for consonants. There were no vowel signs. The tribes of Canaan (Hebrews, Phoenicians, and Aramaeans) were important in the development of alphabetic writing, and all seemed to be employing the alphabet by 1000 bce.
The Phoenicians, living along a 20-mile (30-kilometre) strip on the Mediterranean, made the great sea their second home, giving the alphabet to Greeks in the mutual trading area and leaving inscriptions in many sites. One of the finest Phoenician inscriptions exists on a bronze cup from Cyprus called the Baal of Lebanon (in the Louvre, Paris) dating from about 800 bce. The so-called Moabite Stone (also in the Louvre), which dates from about 850 bce, has an inscription that is also a famous example of early Semitic writing.
Phoenician writingPhoenician text inscribed on stone, 1st millennium bce.Francois Guillot— AFP/Getty Images
Old Hebrew
Old Hebrew existed in inscription form in the early centuries of the 1st millennium bce. The pen-written forms of the Old Hebrew alphabet are best preserved in the 13th-century-ce documents of the Samaritan sects.
The exile suffered by the Israelites (586–538 bce) dealt a heavy blow to the Hebrew language, since, after their return from exile, Aramaic was the dominant language of the area, and Hebrew existed as a second and scholarly language. Aramaic pen-written documents began to appear in the 5th century bce and were vigorous interpretations of inscription letters. Typically, in the surviving documents, the pen was cut wide at the tip to produce a pronounced thick and thin structure to the line of letters. The writer’s hand was rotated counterclockwise more than 45 degrees relative to vertical, so that vertical strokes were thinner than the horizontal ones. Then, too, there was a tendency to hold these strong horizontals on the top line, with trailing descenders finding a typical length, long or short on the basis of ancient habits. The lamed form, which has the same derivation as the Western L, resembles the latter and can be picked out in early Aramaic pen hands by its characteristic long ascender.
The traditional square Hebrew, or merubbaʿ, pen hand was developed in the centuries preceding the Common Era. This early script may be seen in the famed Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947. These scrolls are associated with a group of dissident Jews who founded a religious commune on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea about 180 bce. The commune had an extensive library. Pens were the instruments of writing, and, as in earlier Aramaic documents, leather provided the surface. In these documents the lamed form remained visually prominent.
Chapter 49 of the Isaiah Scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls; in the Shrine of the Book, D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Centre for Biblical Manuscripts, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.Courtesy of the Shrine of the Book, the Israel Museum, Jerusalem
Hebrew Sefardic script, before 1331; in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City (7. Vat. Heb. 12. Hagiographa). Courtesy of the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Hebrew Ashkenazic script, 1295; in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (6. Urbinas Heb. 1. Biblia). Courtesy of the Biblioteca Apostolica VaticanaThere are no Hebrew manuscripts from the first 500 years of the Common Era. Most of the development in the square Hebrew script occurred between 1000 and 1500 ce. The earliest script to emerge from the Dead Sea writing was the Early Sefardic (Spharadic), with examples dating between 600 and 1200 ce. The Classic Sefardic hand appears between 1100 and 1600 ce. The Ashkenazic style of Hebrew writing exhibits French and German Gothic overtones of the so-called black-letter styles (see below Latin-alphabet handwriting: The black-letter, or Gothic, style [9th to 15th century]) developed to write western European languages in the late Middle Ages. German black letter, with its double-stroked heads and feet, was difficult for the scribe. Hebrew scripts from this period exhibit some of the same complicated pen stroking and change of pen slant within individual characters. Some decorative qualities of medieval French writing are seen in this Hebrew script.