In 1986 the German art historian Eberhard König advanced the theory that Johann Fust had commissioned the painting of multiple copies of the Bible by the same painter, whom he called the “Fust-Master.” This artist’s style was bushy and notable for the repetition of the crossed “fusts” or stems used in the borders. Image courtesy Biblioteca Pública de Burgos
Other Bibles were illuminated by a local workshop, probably in Mainz, which also painted elegant decorations for choirbooks for the Carmelite order. A pattern-book used by this workshop still survives, along with a Bible illuminated in that style. Images courtesy the Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen.
Fifteenth century buyers of the Gutenberg Bible chose their own styles of painted decoration, from the sober initial capitals of the copies at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz and the University of Texas at Austin, above, to the ornate English illumination of the British Library’s paper copy.
Take a ramble through the breadth of different illuminating styles online: