RENAISSANCE FARE FLEMISH ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS SHED MUCH LIGHT AND EVEN MORE DETAIL ON LIFE IN OLD EUROPE.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

Inside the Getty manuscript exhibit, the European Renaissance lives and breathes.

Look closely, and in the tiniest of details you'll see workers on ladders picking fruit off trees, boats sailing down distant rivers and squatting peasants relieving themselves in the woods. In the trees, squirrels scamper up the trunks nearby densely populated townships.

From royal banquets, complete with musical trios, to the ``S'' links of the gold chain around a queen's neck, these little details bring to life a world that could well have been lost were it not for the art of Flemish manuscripts.

This technique of book illustrations by hand reached its zenith between 1470 and 1560 in what is now the region of Belgium and northern France.

Many of the works that survived as a result of being tucked away for safekeeping are now spotlighted in ``Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe,'' at the Getty through Sept. 7. The international exhibit of more than 130 drawings, paintings and manuscripts shed light on the courtly rituals, legend and fashions that were important to Renaissance life.

``It's definitely a mirror of the times and a rich trove of information,'' says Thomas Kren, curator of what some regard as the manuscript exhibit of all manuscript exhibits.

Kren spent years compiling this prize collection of dazzling relics from a culture steeped in courtliness and extravagance and a love for elaborate texts. Flemish manuscripts were enormously popular in their day.

Many were commissioned by wealthy collectors. In the Vienna Master of Mary of Burgundy's 15th-century image, ``Alexander Takes the Hand of Roxanne,'' both the Macedonian king and his reluctant bride are arrayed in the height of Renaissance fashion, from their hair to their hats to their gowns.

For Sylvana Barrett, the Woodland Hills artist who gives twice-weekly demonstrations on the art of manuscript illumination at the Getty, the pictures are informative in other ways.

``It's interesting because sometimes illuminators will paint paintings of themselves painting the miniatures, and you can see that the paint is in little shells and you can see what colors they're using and what their table looks like,'' she says. ``You can see the person preparing the parchment, and it's accurate enough that you can identify what they're doing. So you can just follow along and learn a lot that way.''

According to Kren, the Flemish manuscripts are among the most original imagery of the time because ``you see very beautiful and wonderful things here for which you find nothing equal in painting.''

Colors pop off the parchment, bringing the tiniest of these narrative scenes seemingly to life. A good many shimmer with flecks of real gold, silver and jewels embedded in the image.

Others, meanwhile, are framed on the page by drawings that create the illusion of, say, freshly picked flowers dropped along the margins. No detail is spared on the page.

Kren seeks out one such example a few steps into the exhibit, arriving at a miniature on loan from the Royal Library of Belgium.

On the frontispiece of the leather-bound ``Chronicles of Hainaut,'' the scribe is shown on his knees presenting the manuscript to Philip the Good, then Duke of Burgundy.

Kren points out the fine detail that went into portraying the fabled character of the duke, who is attired all in black damask with his hand on his sword.

``He was a powerful leader and was supposed to have incredible dignity, and he does,'' Kren says of the painting that is credited to Rogier van der Weyden, the great Flemish painter who wasn't known as an illuminator. It's because of this that many believe the work titled ``Presentation Scene'' is his only known manuscript.

And there are plenty of others.

``People in L.A. are really lucky that they have the opportunity to see these, because you would have to travel all over the world, and usually there will be a few on display,'' Barrett says. ``So to see all of that together is really just amazing.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

ILLUMINATING THE RENAISSANCE: THE TRIUMPH OF FLEMISH MANUSCRIPT PAINTING IN EUROPE

Where: The Getty, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles.

When: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Through Sept. 7.

Admission: Free. Parking $5 per car. [phone]; www.getty.edu.

Brush up your Flemish

So people can better understand and appreciate the Flemish manuscripts, the Getty has organized a series of related events in conjunction with the exhibit ``Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe.''

Like the exhibit, all of the events are free and require no advance registration unless otherwise noted.

Information about these events is available at the Getty Web site, www.getty.edu.

Here are a few highlights:

Artist-at-work demonstrations: Artist Sylvana Barrett offers insight into the art of making illuminated manuscripts from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays through Aug. 10 in the Museum Courtyard.

Family festival: Museumgoers of all ages can create their own Flemish paintings at one of the interactive workshops or simply take in the music, dance and theater of this Renaissance-inspired celebration. Coming to the Museum Courtyard from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 2.

Lectures: Janet Backhouse, former curator of illuminated manuscripts at the British Library in London, tackles ``A Taste for Flanders: Manuscript Illumination and the English Elite,'' at 7 p.m. July 24 in the Exhibitions Pavilion.

Point-of-view talks: Contemporary artist Tom Knechtel discusses daily life as seen through illuminated manuscripts at 6 and 7:30 p.m. July 25 in the Exhibitions Pavilion. Sign-ups begin at 4:30 p.m. at the Museum Information Desk.

- S.B.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) ``David and Goliath''

(2 -- color) ``Office of the Dead''

(3 -- color) ``Alexander Takes the Hand of Roxanne''

(4 -- color) ``The Beast Acheron, Devourer of the Avaricious''

(5 -- color) ``The Denial of Sain Peter''

Box:

Brush up your Flemish (see text)