Gothic book illustration, or gothic illumination, originated in France and England around 1160/70, while Romanesque forms remained dominant in Germany until around 1300. Throughout the Gothic period, France remained the leading artistic nation, influencing the stylistic developments in book illustration. During the transition from the late Gothic period to the Renaissance, book illustration lost its status as one of the most important artistic genres in the second half of the 15th century, due to the widespread adoption of printing.

During the transition from the 12th to the 13th century, commercial book production emerged alongside monastic book production. Simultaneously, more artistic personalities gained recognition by name. Starting in the 14th century, the master became a common figure, overseeing a workshop that was active in both panel and book painting. During the 13th century, the high nobility replaced the clergy as the primary patrons of book illustration, leading to an increase in secular literature at courts. Despite this shift, the book of hours for private use remained the most commonly illustrated type of book.

Compared to Romanesque painting, Gothic painting is distinguished by a soft, sweeping figure style and flowing draperies. This tendency remained consistent throughout the entire Gothic period and culminated in the so-called "Soft Style". Other distinctive features included the use of contemporary architectural elements to decorate the pictorial fields. From the latter half of the 12th century, red and blue fleuron initials became a common form of decoration in manuscripts of the lower and middle decoration levels throughout Europe. Independent scenes were often executed as historiated initials and drolleries at the lower edge of the picture. These scenes offered space for imaginative depictions that were independent of the illustrated text and contributed significantly to the individualization of painting and the rejection of rigid pictorial formulas. In the 15th century, naturalistic realism became increasingly prevalent in art, particularly through the influence of the southern Netherlands. This style emphasized perspective, spatial depth, light effects, and realistic anatomy of depicted figures, pointing towards the Renaissance.

The Gothic period is a stylistic era in Europe, which excludes the Byzantine cultural sphere, whose art, however, greatly influenced Western European art. The style originated in France, which remained the leading European art nation until the late Gothic period.

The temporal boundaries of the preceding Romanesque period and the subsequent Renaissance are imprecise and can vary by several decades in different regions. In France, Gothic book illustration began around 1200, almost four decades after the first early Gothic cathedrals were built. In England, this change in style began around 1220, while in Germany, Romanesque forms persisted partially until about 1300. The change of style in painting was always preceded by that in architecture. Around 1450, woodcut, particularly in the form of block books, began to compete with laborious book illustrations. The rapid spread of printing and the initially hand-colored prints in the second half of the 15th century largely displaced book illustration. Engraving was developed as a printing technique that also made artistically sophisticated illustrations possible. By the end of the 15th century, engraving had surpassed book illustration in rational and artistic terms. Renaissance artists such as the Master E. S., Martin Schongauer, Albrecht Dürer, and Hans Burgkmair the Elder devoted their greatest attention to graphic techniques rather than book illustration. During the mass production of printmaking, book illustration shifted its focus to representative and sumptuous codices, which continued to be produced until the 16th century. This change in the role of book illustration occurred around the same time as the transition from the Gothic period to the Renaissance.

The introduction of paper as a writing material revolutionized the book industry. Paper was invented around 100 CE by an imperial court official in China, established in Arabia in the 12th century, and reached Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the 15th century, it almost completely replaced parchment and significantly reduced the cost of book production.

During the Gothic period, there was a rapid increase in book production. As books became more affordable for the broader classes, the usual level of decoration declined. The representative sumptuous codex with opaque color painting, in exceptional cases still with gilding and on parchment, increasingly became the exception. Instead, text illustration with glazed pen and ink drawings or merely unpretentious historiated initials became the norm.

As illustrated books became more common for private use in the 13th century, small-format utility manuscripts superseded large-format codices for monastic communities or the liturgy.