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diff --git a/40423-0.txt b/40423-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6656c02 --- /dev/null +++ b/40423-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1827 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40423 *** + + LESSONS IN THE ART OF ILLUMINATING. + + + [Illustration: PLATE IX.--FACSIMILE PAGE OF A BOOK OF HOURS, + 15TH CENTURY.] + + + _VERE FOSTER'S WATER-COLOR SERIES._ + + + LESSONS IN THE ART OF ILLUMINATING + + A Series of Examples selected from + Works in the British Museum, + Lambeth Palace Library, + and the South Kensington Museum. + + With Practical Instructions, + And A Sketch Of The History Of The Art, + + By + + W. J. LOFTIE, B.A., F.S.A., + + AUTHOR OF "A HISTORY OF LONDON," + "MEMORIALS OF THE SAVOY PALACE," + "A CENTURY OF BIBLES," + "A PLEA FOR ART IN THE HOUSE," ETC. + + LONDON: BLACKIE & SON; GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN. + + +THE COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS ARE PRINTED BY W. G. BLACKIE & CO., GLASGOW, +FROM DRAWINGS BY J. A. BURT. + +_The Ornamental Border and Initial of the Title-page are interesting +examples of Italian work of the fifteenth century. They are from the +Harleian Collection, British Museum (3109 and 4902) different works, +but evidently executed by the same hand. The Colors are represented in +the engraving by means of lines (as explained on page 18), so that by +the aid of these directions the student can reproduce them in the +colors employed in the original MSS._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + TITLE-PAGE--Border and Initial, Italian Work of fifteenth century. + + GENERAL SKETCH OF THE ART OF ILLUMINATING, + Example of Illumination by Giulio Clovio, + Sixteenth-century Writing, from "Albert Durer's Prayer-Book," + + PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS AS TO MATERIALS AND MODES OF WORKING, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE I.--Initials by English Illuminators of the twelfth + and thirteenth centuries, + Description of Plate I., + French Initials, from an Alphabet of the fifteenth century, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE II.--Twelve Initial Letters from French Manuscript + of the fifteenth century, + Description of Plate II., + Large Initial Letter of the twelfth century, from Harleian MSS. + 3045, British Museum, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE III.--Examples of thirteenth-century work from two + Manuscripts in the British Museum, + Description of Plate III., + Outline Drawings of two pages of a Book of Hours of the fourteenth + century, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE IV.--Facsimile page of a Manuscript in Lambeth + Palace Library--fifteenth century, + Description of Plate IV., + Outline Drawings of two pages of a Book of Hours of the fourteenth + century, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE V.--Ornaments and large Initial from Manuscripts of + the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the British Museum and + South Kensington Museum, + Description of Plate V., + Outline Drawings of Bands and Border Ornaments of the fourteenth + century, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE VI.--A full page and separate Initials from a Book + of Hours (Low Countries, fifteenth century), and Border from + Manuscript in British Museum, + Description of Plate VI., + French Initial Letters and Border Ornaments of the fourteenth + century, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE VII.--Borders of Thirteenth and Fourteenth + Centuries,--and Heraldic Designs, from Manuscripts in British Museum + and Heralds' College, + Description of Plate VII., + Outline Drawing of Border and Text, with Adoration of the Three + Kings, sixteenth century, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE VIII.--Examples from the Book of Kells (ninth + century), in Library of Trinity College, Dublin, + Description of Plate VIII., + Outline Drawings of Early Irish Initial Letters, + + ILLUMINATED PLATE IX.--Facsimile page of a Book of Hours in Lambeth + Palace Library--early in fifteenth century, + Description of Plate IX., + + + _The outlined initials on pp. xv, 9, 13, 21, 25, 29, and 33 are + taken from a manuscript of the fifteenth century, preserved at + Nuremberg. The originals are very highly but delicately + colored, the ground being gold; the body of the letter, black; + and the scroll work and foliage pink, blue, green, and yellow. + The book, which is dated 1489, is a treatise entitled the + "Preservation of Body, Soul, Honour, and Goods." The tailpieces + throughout represent heraldic animals, from the Rows Roll and + other authentic sources._ + +[Illustration: HERALDIC BOAR.] + + + + +THE ART OF ILLUMINATING. + +GENERAL SKETCH. + + +Perhaps the art of Illumination, although it is closely connected with +that of Writing, may be entitled to a separate history. Men could +write long before it occurred to them to ornament their writings: and +the modern student will find that what he looks upon as genuine +illumination is not to be traced back many centuries. True one or two +Roman manuscripts are in existence which may be dated soon after A.D. +200, and which are illustrated rather than illuminated with pictures. +But the medieval art, and especially that branch of it which +flourished in our own country, has a different origin, and sprang from +the system, not of illustration, but of pure ornamentation, which +prevailed in Ireland before the eighth century, but which reached its +highest development among the Oriental Moslems. The works of the Irish +school were for long and are sometimes still called "Anglo-Saxon," and +there can be no doubt that the Irish missionaries brought with them to +Iona and to Lindisfarne the traditions and practice of the art, which +they taught, with Christianity, to the heathens of England. I will +therefore refer the reader who desires to know more of palæography in +general, and of the principal foreign schools of the art of writing, +to the great works of M. Sylvestre, of Messieurs Wyatt and Tymms, of +Henry Shaw, and Miss Stokes, and to various isolated papers in the +Transactions of the Antiquarian Societies; and I will begin with the +earliest practice of the art in our own country and by our own +ancestors. + +During the eighth century rivalry to Irish art sprung up in the south; +and the immediate followers of St. Augustine of Canterbury founded a +scriptorium which produced many fine specimens. In less than two +centuries a very high standard had been reached, and many of my +readers will remember the Utrecht Psalter, as it is called, which, +though it is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon MSS. now preserved, is full +of spirited drawings of figures and of illuminated capital letters. +The volume formerly belonged to England, but was lost, and +subsequently turned up in Holland. By the tenth century the art had +reached such a pitch of perfection that we find a charter of King +Edgar wholly written in letters of gold. The Duke of Devonshire +possesses a volume written and illuminated for Ethelwold, bishop of +Winchester from 963 to 984, by a "scriptor" named Godemann, afterwards +Abbot of Thorney, the first English artist with whose name we are +acquainted, if we except his more famous contemporary, Archbishop +Dunstan, whose skill in metal work is better remembered than his +powers as an illuminator. The wonderful Irish MSS. the Book of Kells, +which is in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, the Book of +Durham, and others more curious than beautiful, belong to a slightly +earlier period, perhaps to the ninth century, as Miss Stokes has +suggested. + +Many schools of writing throughout England were destroyed in the +Danish wars, and the princes of the Norman race did little to +encourage literary art. Though one or two interesting MSS. of this +period survive, it is not until the accession of the Angevins that +English writing makes another distinct advance. By the beginning of +the thirteenth century the art had risen to the highest pitch it has +ever reached. The scriptorium of St. Albans was the most celebrated. +The works of Matthew Paris written there are still extant, and +testify, by the character of the pictures and colored letters, to a +purity of style and to the existence of a living and growing art which +has never been surpassed in this country. It is believed that the +numerous little Bibles of this period were chiefly written at +Canterbury, and certainly, as examples of what could be done before +printing, are most marvellous. One of these MSS. is before me as I +write. The written part of the page measures 2-5/8 inches in width and +3-3/4 inches in height, and the book is scarcely more than an inch +thick, yet it contains, on pages of fine vellum in a minute almost +microscopic hand, the whole Bible and Apocrypha. The beginning of each +book has a miniature representing a Scripture scene, and a larger +miniature, representing the genealogy of the Saviour, is at the +beginning of Genesis. Although this is the smallest complete Bible I +have met with, others very little larger are in the British Museum, +and with them one, of folio size, exquisitely ornamented in the same +style, which bears the name of the artist, "Wills. Devoniensis," +William of Devonshire. Besides Chronicles and Bibles the thirteenth +century produced Psalters, the form and character of which were +eventually enlarged and grew into the well-known "Horæ," or books of +devotional "Hours," which were illuminated in the fifteenth and +sixteenth centuries. + +Placing side by side a number of Psalters and Hours, and tracing by +comparison the prevalence of single sets of designs--all, however, +originating in the wonderful vitality of the thirteenth century--is a +very interesting study, though seldom possible. It was possible to +make such a comparison, however, in 1874, when a large number of +magnificently illuminated books were exhibited together at the rooms +of the Burlington Club in London. It was then seen that when the form +and subject of a decoration were once invented they remained fixed for +all generations. A Psalter of the thirteenth century, probably of +Flemish execution, which was in the collection of Mr. Bragge, was +ornamented with borders containing grotesque figures, and had a +calendar at the beginning, every page of which represented a scene +appropriate to the month, with the proper sign of the zodiac. Thus, +under January there was a great hooded fire-place, and a little figure +of a man seated and warming himself. The chimney formed a kind of +border to the page, and at the top was a stork on her nest feeding her +brood. This MS. was so early that some good judges did not hesitate to +assign it to the end of the twelfth century. Close to it was a Book of +Hours, written in the fifteenth if not early in the sixteenth century, +and under January we have the self-same scene, though the +grotesqueness, and indeed much of the quaint beauty of the design has +disappeared. It is the same with scriptural and ritual scenes. The +Bibles always had the same set of pictures; the Psalter and Hours the +same subjects; and the same arrangement of colors was handed down as +suitable for the representation of certain scenes, and was unvaried. + +It may enable the reader to form a clearer idea of what these highly +ornamented volumes were like if I extract the full description of one +which was lately in the catalogue of an eminent London bookseller:--It +was a Book of Hours, written in France at the beginning of the +sixteenth century, or, say during the reign of our Henry the Seventh, +1485 to 1509. It consisted of seventy-seven leaves of vellum, which +measured about seven inches by five, with an illuminated border to +every page. There were twenty miniatures, some the size of the full +page and some smaller. The borders were composed of flowers and fruit, +interspersed with grotesque animals, birds, and human figures, most +eccentrically conceived. Both the capital letters and the borders were +heightened with gold, sometimes flat, and sometimes brilliantly +burnished.[1] This is, of course, an unusually rich example. About the +same period great pains were taken to ornament the calendar with which +these books usually commenced. Some of these Calendars consist simply +of a picture in a gold frame, the composition so arranged that it does +not suffer by a large blank space being left in the middle. In this +space the calendar was written; and the rest of the page was occupied +with an agricultural scene, emblematic of the season. In the sky +above, painted in gold shell on the blue, was the sign of the zodiac +appropriate to each month. In some the border was in compartments. One +compartment contained the name of the month in gold letters or a +monogram. Another contained an agricultural scene, another the +zodiacal sign, another a flower, and the rest the figures of the +principal saints of the month. + + [1] The miniatures were as follows:--1. The Annunciation, a + beautiful miniature with the border painted upon a gold ground; + this is the case with all the borders containing miniatures. 2. + The Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. 3. The Infant Jesus lying in + the manger at the Inn at Bethlehem, Joseph and the Virgin Mary + kneeling in adoration. 4. The Announcement of the Birth of the + Saviour to the Shepherds by night. 5. The Worship of the Magi. + 6. The Presentation in the Temple. 7. The Journey into Egypt. 8. + The Coronation of the Virgin. 9. The Crucifixion. 10. The + Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. 11. Saint + Anthony; a small miniature. 12. The Martyrdom of Saint + Sebastian; a small miniature. 13. King David at his devotions in + a chamber within his Palace. 14. The Raising of Lazarus. 15. The + Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus, guarded by angels; a small + miniature. 16. The body of Jesus taken down from the Cross. 17. + Saint Quentin the Martyr. 18. Saint Adrian. 19. Mater Dolorosa. + 20. The Virgin and Child. The four last were small. + +The student turns with relief from this comparative monotony to +Chronicles in which historical scenes are given. One of the oldest is +among the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, and relates to +the deposition of Richard II. It has been engraved in _Archæologia_, +vol. xx., so that it is accessible wherever there is a good library. A +little later French romances were similarly decorated, and we have +innumerable pictures to illustrate the manners and costumes of the +knights and ladies of whom we read in the stirring pages of Froissart. + +Illumination did not decline at once with the invention of printing. +On the contrary some exquisite borders and initials are found in books +printed on vellum, one very well known example being a New Testament +in the Lambeth Library, which was long mistaken for a manuscript, +though it is, in reality, a portion of the Great Bible supposed to +have been printed at Mentz before 1455, and to be the earliest work of +the press of Fust and Schoyffer. A few wealthy people had Prayer-books +illuminated for their own use down to a comparatively recent period. +The celebrated Jarry wrote exquisite little volumes for Louis XIV. +and his courtiers. A very fine Book of Hours was in the Bragge +Collection, and must have been written in the sixteenth century, +perhaps for some widow of rank in France. It contained sixteen +miniatures which closely resembled Limoges enamels, the only decided +color used being the carnation for the faces, the rest of the design +being in black, white, gold, and a peculiar pearly grey. Each page had +a border of black and gold. From another manuscript, a Book of Hours +written in France in the fourteenth century (and exhibited at the +Burlington Club by Mr. Robert Young), we have some outline tracings of +the ivy pattern (see page 12). The famous illuminations of Giulio +Clovio (a native of Croatia, who practised in Italy 1498-1578) hardly +deserve the admiration they receive. They are in fact small pictures, +the colors very crude and bright, and without the solemnity which +attaches to ancient religious art. An illuminated work by Clovio was +recently sold in London for the enormous sum of £2050. It had been +long in the possession of an old Lancashire family, and is believed to +have been illuminated for Cardinal Alexander Farnese, and by him +presented to his uncle Paul III., who was pope between 1534 and 1550. +In England the latest illuminators became the first miniature +painters; and the succession of English artists is carried on from +Godemann and Paris, through Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) and Isaac +Oliver (1556-1617), to the school of Cooper (1609-1672) and Dobson, +whose portraits are on vellum. + +[Illustration: CONVERSION OF ST. PAUL, BY GIULIO CLOVIO. +From "St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans," in the Soane Museum.] + +Short as is this survey of the history of Illumination, it will not do +to omit all reference to Heraldry. Heraldic manuscripts, it is curious +to remark, are rarely illuminated with borders or initials; but in the +Chronicles of Matthew Paris shields of arms are frequently introduced +with good effect. Occasionally in Books of Hours the arms of the +person for whom the work was undertaken are placed in the border. Some +fine examples of this kind are to be found in the so-called Bedford +Missal, which is really a Book of Hours, and was written for John, +duke of Bedford, the brother of Henry V. Most of the manuscripts now +extant on the subject are of late date and rude execution, consisting +chiefly of rolls of arms, catalogues with shields in "trick"--that is, +sketched with the colors indicated by a letter, or lists of banners, +of which last a fine example is in the library of the College of Arms. +Heraldry may be studied to advantage by the modern illuminator, who +should endeavour to become so conversant with the various charges that +in making a border or filling a letter he may be able to introduce +them artistically without violating the strict laws of the "science." +A late but very beautiful MS., in four little square volumes, which +belongs to Mr. Malcolm of Poltalloch, has been identified as having +been written for Bona of Savoy, duchess of Milan, who died in 1494. +This identification has been made by means of the frequent occurrence +of her badge and mottoes in the borders, many of which contain other +devices of a semi-heraldic character, such as a phoenix, which is +known to have been a favourite emblem of the duchess, an ermine, a +rabbit, and a child playing with a serpent or dragon, all of them +allusive to the heraldry of the lady and her husband. The study of +heraldry has a further advantage in offering certain fixed rules about +the use of colors which may help the student to attain harmony, and +also in accustoming the eye and the hand to adapting certain forms to +the place they have to fill, as for instance, the rampant lion within +his shield, so as to leave as little vacant space as possible. + +Some examples of animals treated in heraldic style will be found +interspersed in this work as tailpieces. One of these, at the end of +the Contents, represents a wild boar, to whose neck a mantle, bearing +a coat of arms, is attached. It will be understood that what are +called in heraldry "supporters" were a knight's attendants, who +disguised themselves as beasts, and held their master's shield at the +door of his tent at a tournament. The figures cannot, therefore, be +too much conventionalized. (See the examples shown in Plate VII.) Some +of the other designs are from the Rows Roll, a heraldic manuscript of +the time of the Wars of the Roses. Some beautiful heraldic designs are +to be found in Drummond's _Noble Families_. They were drawn by Mr. +Montagu, the author of a charming volume on _Heraldry_. + +Our facsimile reproductions of ancient manuscripts have been selected +with a view to supply such examples as are most likely to prove useful +to the student. For this purpose we have preferred in several +instances to present the whole page with its writing complete, so that +the modern illuminator may see how the ancient one worked, and how he +arranged his painting and his writing with respect to each other. + +To this we may add, that for the rest we have chosen our examples as +much as possible because they were pretty, instructive, and of English +workmanship, a majority of our pictures being copied from manuscripts +written in our own country. I need only call attention to the well +known but very beautiful style usually called the "English flower +pattern," which admits of an endless series of variations and even +improvements, and which is as characteristic of our mediæval painters +as the Perpendicular style in Gothic is of our architects, both having +flourished here and here only during a long period. + +And in conclusion I should be inclined to advise the illuminator +against stiffness. We are too fond of a vellum which is like sheets of +ivory, and of working on it with mathematical precision. The old +illuminators used a material much more like what is now called +"lawyer's parchment," but perfectly well adapted for taking color and +gold. A moment's inspection of our examples will show the freedom and +ease of the old work, and the dislike evinced by almost every ancient +book painter to having his work confined within definite lines. Such +freedom and ease are only attained by careful study combined with +experience. Every one has not the ability to originate, but without +great originality it may still be found possible to avoid servility. +"Who would be free himself must strike the blow;" but those who aspire +to climb must first be certain that they can walk. The thing that most +often offends the eye in modern illumination is that the artist, to +conceal his own want of style, mixes up a number of others. +Incongruity is sometimes picturesque, but this kind of incongruity is +always disagreeable, from the staring and inharmonious evidence of +ignorance which it betrays. + +[Illustration: HERALDIC BEAR FROM THE ROWS ROLL.] + +[Illustration: SIXTEENTH-CENTURY WRITING--FROM "ALBERT DURER'S +PRAYER-BOOK."] + + + + +PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS. + + +Unless when intended for mere practice, all illuminated work should be +executed upon _Vellum_; its extreme beauty of surface cannot be +imitated by any known process of manufacture, while its durability is +well known. _Bristol Board_ approaches nearest to it in appearance, is +equally pleasing to work upon, and for all practical purposes of the +amateur is quite as good. But, if even that is not attainable, +excellent work may be done on any _smooth grained drawing paper_. + +BRUSHES.--_Red Sable Brushes_ are preferable to all others for +illuminating purposes, and are to be had in goose, duck, and crow +quills,--the larger for laying on washes of color, or large grounds in +body color,--the duck and crow for filling in the smaller portions of +color, for shading and general work. One of the smallest size should +be kept specially for outlining and fine hair-line finishings. For +this purpose all the outer hairs should be neatly cut away with the +scissors, leaving only about one-third of the hair remaining. + +DRAWING-PEN--CIRCLE OR BOW-PEN.--For doing long straight lines or +circles these instruments are indispensable; they give out ink or +color evenly, making a smooth, true line of any thickness required for +lining any portion of the work, as in border margins, or any part +requiring even lines, unattainable by the hand alone. It is necessary +to put the ink or color into the pen with the brush after mixing it to +the proper consistency for use. Ink or _body color_ may be used with +equal facility. Before starting, the pen should always be tried upon a +piece of loose paper, to test the thickness of the line, and also to +see if the ink in the pen is not too thick or too thin: if too thick, +it will not work evenly, while, if too thin, it will flow too rapidly, +and _run_ upon a color ground as if on blotting paper. + +STRAIGHT-EDGE, PARALLEL-RULER, &C.--A thin wooden straight-edge, or, +what is better, a parallel-ruler, and also a set square (a +right-angled triangular piece of thin wood), will be found necessary +for planning out the work. + +BURNISHER AND TRACER.--_Agate Burnishers_ are to be had at the +artists' colormen's, either pencil or claw shaped; the former will be +most useful to a beginner. An ivory _style_, _or point_, is requisite +for tracing, and useful for indenting gold diapers. + +[Illustration] + +PENS.--For text or printing, either the quill or the steel pen may be +used; both require special manipulation to fit them for the work. It +will be most convenient, however, for the amateur to use the quill, as +being more easily cut into the shape required; though a steel pen, +once made, will last for years if taken care of. The point must be cut +off slightly at an angle, such as may be found most convenient. If a +steel pen is used, it will be necessary, after cutting off the point, +to rub the pen carefully on an oilstone to smooth the roughened edges, +and prevent it from scratching the paper. The text pen, when properly +made, should work smoothly, making every stroke of equal thickness. It +is well to have text pens of different widths, to suit for lettering +of various thicknesses of body stroke. The pen should be held more +upright than for ordinary writing. A broad, almost unyielding point, +will give a fine upward and a firm downward or backward stroke with +equal facility. For finer writing the pen should be cut with a longer +slope in the nib. Fine-pointed pens, for finishing and putting in the +hair lines into the text, should also be provided. For this the fine +_mapping_, or _lithographic_, pen, made by Gillott and others, is most +suitable. + +TEXT OR PRINTING LETTERS.--This is a kind of penmanship which the +amateur will, at first, find very difficult to write with regularity, +as it requires much special practice to attain anything like +proficiency in its execution. But as much of the beauty and excellence +of the illuminating depends upon the regularity and precision of the +text, it is well worth all the application necessary to master it. The +styles of text usually introduced within the illuminated borders are +known under the names of "Black Letter," "Church Text," "Old English," +and "German Text." + +INDIAN INK and LAMP BLACK are the only paints generally used for black +text; the difference being that Indian Ink is finer, and therefore +better adapted for writing of a fine or delicate character. It works +freely, and retains a slight gloss, while Lamp Black gives a full +solid tint, and dries with a dull or mat surface;--a little gum-water +added will help the appearance in this respect. Some illuminators +recommend a mixture of Indian Ink and Lamp Black, with a little +gum-water, as the best for text of a full black body, working better +than either alone. The mixture should be well rubbed together in a +small saucer with the finger before using. If a portion of the text is +to be in red, it should be in pure vermilion. If in gold, it must be +shell gold, highly burnished with the agate, as hereafter described. + +COLORS.--Not to confuse the learner with a multiplicity of pigments, +we will only mention such as are essential, and with which all the +examples in the following studies may be copied. As experience is +gained by practice, the range of colors may be increased as +requirements may dictate. + + GAMBOGE. CRIMSON LAKE. BURNT UMBER. PRUSSIAN BLUE. + INDIAN YELLOW. SEPIA. LAMP BLACK. BURNT SIENNA. + VERMILION. EMERALD GREEN. CHINESE WHITE. COBALT. + YELLOW OCHRE. + +A little experimental practice with the colors will do more to show +the various combinations of which they are capable than any lengthy +exposition. Various portions of color may be tried, particularly for +the more delicate tints, for greys, neutrals, and quiet compounds, +where great purity is required, and the most pleasing noted for future +use. + +There are two methods or styles of coloring, which are used either +alone, or in conjunction. In the Celtic, and other early styles, +including that of the fourteenth century, where the colors are used +flat--no relief by shading being given--it is purely a surface +decoration, the colors well contrasted, merely graduated from deep to +pale, and outlined with a clear, black outline. The masses of color or +gold are here usually enriched by diapers, while the stems, leaves, +&c., are elaborated by being worked over with delicate hair-line +finishings on the darker ground. The other method of treating +ornamental forms embraces a wide range of style of illuminating, +approaching more nearly to Nature in treatment, the ornament being +more or less _shaded_ naturally, or conventionalized to some extent. +It is important to lay the color evenly in painting, not getting it in +ridges, or piling it in lumps, as the amateur is apt to do. This will +be best attained by painting as evenly as possible with the brush, +mostly in one direction, and not too full of color, and refraining +from going back over the parts just painted, if it can be avoided. +Patches always show, more or less, and can hardly ever be made to look +smooth. + +GOLD, SILVER, &C.--To the inexperienced, the laying on of gold or +silver may seem a difficult affair; but it is really comparatively +easy, especially when gold and silver shells, sold by artists' +colormen, are used. These contain the pure metal ground very fine with +gum, and need no preparation. When a drop of water is added, the gold +can be removed from the shell, and used with the brush in the ordinary +way as a color. One brush should be kept for painting gold or other +metallic preparations. As silver is liable to turn black, we would +advise the use of aluminium instead, which is not affected by the +atmosphere. It can be had in shells in the same manner. In applying +gold, or other metal, it should be painted very level and even, +especially if it is to be burnished, which make irregularities more +prominent. Gold that is to be burnished should be applied before any +of the coloring is begun, as the burnisher is apt to mark and injure +the effect of the adjoining parts. When the gold is laid on, put a +piece of glazed writing paper over it, and, with the burnisher, rub +the paper briskly, pressing the particles of gold into a compact film: +this gives it a smooth even surface. In this way it is principally +used, and is called _mat gold_. For _burnished gold_, the paper is +removed, and the agate rubbed briskly upon the gold surface, not +dwelling too long upon any one part, until a fine, evenly-bright +metallic surface is produced. Rubbing the gold lightly with the +finger, after touching the skin or hair, facilitates the action of the +burnisher. + +PREPARING FOR WORK, &C.--The vellum or paper having been strained, the +surface will, when dry, be perfectly flat and smooth. If the paper or +vellum is to be much worked upon, it will be found advantageous to +fasten it to a board by drawing-pins or by glueing the edges, having +previously damped the back; when this is dry, the surface will be +perfectly level, and not apt to bag in working. Paper so mounted +should be larger than the size required, to allow for cutting off the +soiled margin when completed. To prevent the margins being soiled, a +sheet of paper should now be fastened as a _mask_ over the page, with +a flap the size of the work cut in it, by folding back portions of +which any part of the surface may be worked upon without exposing the +rest. + +It is almost impossible to erase pencil lines from vellum. The black +lead, uniting with the animal matter of the skin, can never be +properly got out--India rubber or bread only rubbing it into a greasy +smudge. It is, therefore, better to prepare a complete outline of the +design upon paper first, which can afterwards be transferred to the +strained sheet. For this purpose _tracing paper_ is required, +possessing this advantage, that corrections upon the sketch can be +made in tracing, and, in placing it upon the vellum, if the sheet has +been previously squared off for the work, its proper position can be +readily seen and determined. The tracing paper should be about one +inch larger each way, to allow of its being fastened to the mask over +the exposed surface of the page. A piece of _transfer paper_ of a +convenient size is then placed under the tracing. When the tracing is +fixed in its proper position by a touch of gum or paste at the upper +corners, slip the transfer paper, with the chalked side downwards, +between the vellum and the tracing, and tack down the bottom corners +of the tracing in the same way, to prevent shifting. Seated at a firm +table or desk of a convenient height, with the strained paper or +drawing board slightly on an incline, the amateur may consider all +ready for work. All the lines of the tracing are first to be gone over +with the tracing point, or a very hard pencil cut sharp will answer +the purpose. A corner may be raised occasionally to see that the +tracing is not being done too firmly or so faintly as to be almost +invisible. A piece of stout card should be kept under the hand while +tracing, to avoid marking the clean page with the prepared transfer +paper underneath, by undue pressure of the fingers. + +For larger work, not requiring such nicety of detail, the sketch may +be transferred direct--especially if the paper is thin--without the +use of tracing paper, by merely chalking the back of the drawing, and +going over the lines with the tracing point; but the other method is +best, and the transfer paper may be used over and over again. + +When the subject is carefully traced on the prepared page, and the +tracing and transfer paper removed, it will be best to begin with the +text. The experienced illuminator will generally, after arranging his +designs and spacing out his text, with the initial letters in their +proper places, transfer all to his vellum, and do the writing before +he begins coloring, covering up all the page except the portion he is +working upon. When the lettering is complete, it will in its turn be +covered, to prevent its being soiled while the border is being +painted. + +Work out the painting as directed under "Colors," beginning with the +gold where it is in masses, burnishing it level when dry, as before +explained: smaller portions can more readily be done afterwards. Paint +each color the full strength at once, keeping in mind that it becomes +lighter when dry, and finishing each color up to the last stage before +beginning another. + +OUTLINING AND FINISHING.--When the work is at this stage, the colors +will have a dull and hopeless appearance; but, as the outline is +added, it changes to one more pleasing. The addition of the fine white +edging and hair-line finishings (as in fourteenth-century style), +still further heightens the effect, giving the appearance of great +elaborateness and brilliancy to the coloring, and beauty and decision +to the forms. In the conventional style of treatment in coloring, a +careful outline is an imperative necessity, and, in this part of the +work, practice in the use of the brush is essential. Sometimes objects +are outlined in a deeper shade of the local color--as a pink flower or +spray with lake, pale blue with darker blue, &c.; but this is not very +usual. In the _real_ or natural treatment of the objects forming the +subject of the illumination, an outline is seldom used, everything +being colored and shaded as in Nature. Lamp black with a little gum +water will be found the best medium, being capable of making a very +fine or a firm line, at the same time retaining its intense glossy +black appearance. A little practice will enable the learner to know +the best consistency to make the ink. As it evaporates, a few drops of +water may be added, and rubbed up with the brush or finger. For +_hair-line finishing_, either light lines upon a darker ground or +_vice versâ_, the same kind of brush will be used as for outlining. +For _diapers_ of a geometrical character, the drawing-pen and small +bow-pen will be of great use, either upon color or gold grounds. The +ivory tracing point is used to indent upon gold scrolls or diapers. +Sometimes there is put over the entire back-ground a multitude of +minute points of gold, but not too close together, and punctured with +the point of the agate or tracing-point, producing a beautiful +glittering effect. + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE I. + + +Designed by English illuminators of the twelfth and thirteenth +centuries, the initials on this Plate must be separately described. +Those at the left top corner are the oldest, and show a certain +stiffness of form and dulness of color which contrasts strongly with +the spirit and lightness of the letters to the right side of the +Plate. These letters, which may be found in manuscripts of many +different periods, should be carefully studied. There are some +examples in which the initial is simply red or blue, as the case may +be. Next it is red and blue combined, the two colors being carefully +kept apart by a narrow line of white, which the student will do well +not to mark with white paint but to leave out by delicate +manipulation. Next the edge of the letter both within and without is +followed with a line of red or blue drawn a little way from it and +never touching. Then the space so marked within the letter is filled +by a tracery of slight flourishes in red and blue, the latter always +predominating in the whole design so as to obtain the more harmony of +effect. The blue and gold letters are very sparingly treated with red. +The blue is Prussian, but very deep in tint in the original. (Addl. +MSS. 11,435.) + +The initial S in the lower left-hand corner is of earlier date. It +will probably, like the letters above it, be seldom used for +ornamental purposes, and it will suffice here to mention that the +colors used are as follows:--Cobalt raised with Chinese White for the +blue parts; for the red, Vermilion shaded with Lake; and for the cool +pale olive tint, Indigo and Yellow Ochre, toned with Chinese White. + +The large initial E shows a sacred scene, and is of English late +thirteenth century work, in a private collection. The harmony is +studiously correct, and the original, which is slightly larger, glows +with color. It is rather more than four inches square. The figures are +firmly outlined, as are their draperies. The gold is leaf, the +architectural portion being left very flat, but the nimbus and the +border are burnished. It has been found impossible to reproduce +exactly the pattern of the ground in chromo-lithography, but as it may +readily be done by hand, a description taken direct from the original +will be acceptable to the pupil. The blue ground within the letter is +dark: on it is ruled a square cross-bar of deep olive lines of great +fineness. Intersecting them, and so to speak keeping them down, is a +net-work of very fine nearly white lines, the points of intersection +being marked by minute circles. Within the little spaces thus divided +are minute circles of vermilion. The outer groundwork is of olive +diapered with a deeper shade of the same color. The ground outside the +letter is pink divided into squares by brown lines, each square having +a little red circle in it. The edges of the draperies are marked by +minute white lines, and there is less shading than in the +reproduction. Altogether this letter represents the best work of the +period, and is an admirable example of the painstaking care by which +alone great effects are produced. Even a genius, such as was the +artist who produced this little picture, must condescend to take +infinite trouble if he would obtain an adequate reward. + +[Illustration: HERALDIC POPINJAY.] + +[Illustration: PLATE I.--INITIALS BY ENGLISH ILLUMINATORS, 12TH AND +13TH CENTURIES.] + +[Illustration: LETTERS FROM AN ALPHABET OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY. +(The remainder of the alphabet is shown in colors in Plate II.)] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE II. + + +Executed in the fifteenth century, probably in the north of France, +the small manuscript from which the twelve initial letters are taken +is in a private collection. It consists of twenty-four leaves of +rather stout vellum, measuring 4-3/8 inches by 3 inches, and has +evidently been a sampler or pattern book for a school of illumination. +It contains two alphabets. The letters in the plate are selected from +one of them. Outlines of the rest of this alphabet are on the back of +Plate I. In copying them for color the student will remember that +those letters which contain blue flowers are red, and _vice versâ_. +Each letter is painted on a ground of leaf-gold highly burnished, and +is ornamented with a natural flower. We may recognize the rose, the +pansy, the strawberry, the columbine, the wall-flower, the +corn-flower, the sweet pea, the iris, the daisy, the thistle, and +others. Pinks, dog-roses, and forget-me-nots also occur, and the +little volume forms, in this respect, a curious and interesting record +of the produce of the flower garden so long ago as the time of the +English "Wars of the Roses." + +The second alphabet is of a wholly different character, the letters, +not the ground on which they are placed, being gilt, and the ground +colored red or blue. Over the red and the blue is a scroll pattern in +white, but the red is sometimes decorated with a pattern in +body-yellow, which produces an exceedingly gorgeous effect. In two or +three cases the ground is green, worked over in a darker olive tint +heightened with yellow. In one, a flower or scroll of grey is placed +on a ground of blue dotted all over with minute gold spots. + +The blue used in copying these initials for the plate was Prussian, +mixed with Chinese White, and shaded with pure color. The green is a +mixture of Indian Yellow and Prussian Blue. The pink is Lake and White +shaded with pure Lake. The red terminals which appear in some of the +letters are of Vermilion, shaded with Lake. Chinese White body color +is largely used in working diapers over the letters of both colors. + +These letters are good examples of the form chiefly in use for +illuminated manuscripts and in ornamental sculpture all over northern +Europe from the twelfth century to the sixteenth. They are generally +called "the Lombardic character," from some real or fancied connection +with Lombardy. Such names must be cautiously accepted. "Arabic +numerals," for example, have been proved to be somewhat modified Greek +letters. But the Lombardic capitals, whatever their origin, lend +themselves readily to the exigencies of the illuminator, and are all +the more effective from the contrast they present to the text. + +It is now almost universally acknowledged that all the forms of the +mediæval and modern alphabet may be traced to Egyptian hieroglyphics. +A very interesting passage in Mr. Isaac Taylor's learned book on "The +Alphabet," shows us the development of the letter M from the Egyptian +picture of an owl. "It will be noticed," he says, "that our English +letter has preserved, throughout its long history of six thousand +years, certain features by which it may be recognized as the +conventionalized picture of an owl. In the capital letter M the two +peaks, which are the lineal descendants of the two ears of the owl, +still retain between them a not inapt representation of the beak, +while the first of the vertical strokes represents the breast." It +would be easy to show the same ancient origin for many other letters, +and for most of those in the Greek alphabet. F was a horned snake. G +was a basket with a handle. K was a triangle. L was a lion seated. N +was a zigzag line, of which only three strokes have survived. P was a +faggot of papyrus. There is no perceptible difference between the long +S still sometimes in use and the hieroglyphic form. U was a quail. Z +was a serpent. + +The initial E at the beginning of the previous page is of English +work, and represents Edward the Black Prince receiving a charter from +the hands of his father King Edward III. The prince places one knee on +his helmet, and has on his head only the ornamental cap called a +"bonnet." His arms and those of the king are colored on their +respective "tabards." + +The large letter M on the back of Plate II. is from a volume now in +the British Museum (Harl. MSS. 3045), which was written in Germany in +the twelfth century. It is illuminated in three colors. The ground is +emerald green; the letter itself red; and the scroll-work also in red +outline, a pale purple ground being substituted for the green in the +circular spaces. It would be instructive to the student to color the +outline from this description. + +[Illustration: PLATE II.--INITIAL LETTERS FROM FRENCH MANUSCRIPT, 15TH +CENTURY.] + +[Illustration: LARGE INITIAL LETTER OF TWELFTH CENTURY. +HARLEIAN MSS. 3045, BRITISH MUSEUM.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE III. + + +The beauty of the work executed in the thirteenth century in England, +and that part of what is now France which then belonged to England, +can hardly be exceeded. In this Plate are gathered a few examples of +the period. They are from two books, both in the British Museum, but +one probably written in France and the other at Canterbury. The +initials from the French manuscript may be readily distinguished. The +scroll-work is irregular and even wild, and in some examples the +artist seems to have aimed at nothing less than startling the reader +by his eccentricities. The volume is numbered in the Catalogue, +Additional MSS. 11,698, and contains a treatise on the art of war. The +letters numbered in the Plate 6, 7, and 8, are from this book. The +student will observe the simple scale of harmonious coloring, blue +predominating, as is necessary, and both yellow and also gold being +used to heighten the effect. In copying them the artist used these +colors, besides Chinese White and shell gold: namely, Prussian Blue, +Lake, Indian Red, Emerald Green, Indian Yellow, shaded with Burnt +Sienna, and Burnt Umber, with Sepia for the outlines. In imitating or +copying these initials, the student will find a firm but delicate and +even outline of the greatest importance. If the hand is very steady it +may be put in with a small brush, which is particularly useful in the +erratic flourishes in which this writer rejoiced so much. + +The English letters are much more sober and rectilinear in character. +The T (fig. 5) commences the prologue of the Book of Wisdom, for the +volume is a Bible (Bibl. Reg. 1 D. 1), and a small portion of the text +is given with the initial as a guide to the arrangement. The colors +are the same as in the French examples. The lines and dots in white +are very delicate, and may be closely imitated by the use of Chinese +White with a very fine brush, care being taken not to disturb the +underlying color. This is the book mentioned in the General Sketch as +being the work of a writer named "Wills. Devoniensis," or William of +Devonshire. It is a small folio in size and is written in double +columns. At the commencement of the book of Psalms there is a +magnificent illumination covering the greater part of the page, and +showing, with much scroll-work by way of border, a series of small +vignettes, which include a crucifixion, and a number of scenes from +the life of St. Thomas of Canterbury, better known in history as +Thomas Becket. + +A somewhat similar Bible, but not so delicate in workmanship, is also +in the British Museum (1 B. 12), and was written at Salisbury in 1254 +by William de Hales. + +The writing of the thirteenth century differs considerably from that +of the two following centuries. It is not so stiff, but much more +legible. The distinction will be apparent from a comparison of this +Plate with those two which are copied from manuscripts at Lambeth +(Plates IV. and IX.) Modern illuminators seem to have preferred the +later style, but the advantages of the early should recommend it. The +Chronicles written at St. Albans by and under the superintendence of +Matthew Paris are all in this style. Facsimiles of several pages are +given in the volumes published under the direction of the Master of +the Rolls. + +The initial T on the previous page is from a beautiful Nuremberg +treatise of 1489 on the "Preservation of Body, Soul, Honour, and +Goods." + +On the back of Plate III. are two pages in outline from a small Book +of Hours in the collection of Robert Young, Esq., Belfast. This kind +of work is known as the "Ivy Pattern." It was exclusively practised in +France in the fourteenth century. The coloring is usually of a very +sober character: the prevailing colors being blue and gold only. + +[Illustration: HART, BADGE OF RICHARD II.] + +[Illustration: PLATE III.--EXAMPLES OF THIRTEENTH-CENTURY WORK.] + +[Illustration: PAGES FROM A BOOK OF HOURS OF FOURTEENTH CENTURY.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IV. + + +Our next Plate is from a manuscript in the Lambeth Library. Leave to +copy it was readily granted to us by the lamented Archbishop Tait. It +is No. 459 in the Library Catalogue, and contains no fewer than twenty +miniatures, as well as borders like this one. It belongs like Plate +IX. (the Frontispiece) to the English flower pattern style of the +fifteenth century, and is remarkable for the sober effect of the +gorgeous colors employed, and for the delicacy of the scroll-work in +black. + +A great deal of this effect is due to the application of gold. The +illuminators employed both what we call "shell gold" and leaf. They +attached the greatest importance to skill in gilding, and the result +is that their "raising" survives after centuries, when that executed +at the present day often cracks off after a few weeks or months, if +not very carefully handled. Many books, containing the secret of +making these preparations, and sizes of all kinds, are in existence; +and show that while the same end was attained by many different kinds +of processes, one ingredient was never omitted, namely, great care and +pains, and the gradual gathering of skill through experience. + +It is difficult to explain the method of using gold-leaf without an +actual demonstration: and the student will learn more in ten minutes +by watching a competent gilder than by reading a library of books on +the subject. The "raising" is to be obtained from any artist's +colorman, and nothing but practice long and assiduous can secure the +power to use it. The same rule must be laid down for burnishing, which +is an art not to be acquired in a day. It might be well to commence +with the dotted work, common in the fourteenth century, and when we +have learned to make a burnished dot with our agate point we may go on +and burnish a larger surface. The effect of burnished leaf gold cannot +be given in chromo-lithography, but it may be worth while to remark +that all the gilding in the original illumination from which this +Plate is copied is burnished on a raised surface, even the small +letters in the text. + +The colors employed by the copier were of a more mixed and complicated +character than those for the other page from the Lambeth Library. The +reason is apparent in a moment on comparing the two. In this page the +brilliancy is so tempered as to produce a comparatively subdued +effect. In the General Sketch mention has already been made of +miniatures in which the artist restricted himself to the use of +certain colors, so as to insure a peculiar and delicate effect. Here +there has been no such restriction, but each color has been softened +and so worked over with patterns and lines in body white or in pale +yellow, that there is no glare or contrast. The student should be +careful how he obtains harmony by this method, as he may find all his +work weakened and paled; but, skilfully used, the system may be made +to produce the most charming results. + +The blue is Prussian, over which are dots and lines of Chinese White. +The pink is obtained by mixing Lake and Chinese White, shaded with +darker Lake, and also heightened with white lines and dots. The orange +is pale Indian Yellow shaded with Burnt Sienna, and with an admixture +of Lake in the deeper shadows. The green in this example is obtained +by mixing Prussian Blue and Indian Yellow in different proportions. + +On the back of Plate IV. are two more outlines from Mr. Robert Young's +little French Book of Hours. They are admirable models of a kind of +work which for fully half a century was to France what the "flower +pattern" was to England. The branches are generally dark blue +delicately lined with white. The leaves are sometimes gold, that is +where there is not already a gold ground, and sometimes yellow, red, +and blue. The prevailing tint is blue, and in some pages no other +color, besides the gilding, is employed. + +Some outline borders and ornaments of the same period and style are to +be found on the back of Plates V. and VI. The coloring of some of them +will be indicated by a reference to Plates III. and I. + +[Illustration: BULL, BADGE OF NEVILLE.] + +[Illustration: PLATE IV.--FACSIMILE OF MANUSCRIPT IN LAMBETH PALACE +LIBRARY, 15TH CENTURY.] + +[Illustration: PAGES FROM A BOOK OF HOURS OF FOURTEENTH CENTURY.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE V. + + +Plate V. shows three ornaments from manuscripts of late date, all in +the National Collections. + +The border with the raspberries is from a Missal of the sixteenth +century in the British Museum (Addl. 18,855), and was probably written +and illuminated in the Low Countries. We have already mentioned the +extraordinary freedom and ease of the Flemish work of that period. +Every beautiful object was made use of for pictorial effect. Children, +birds, jewels, shells, as well as fruit and flowers, are to be found. +They particularly excelled in painting pearls. One border is green, +with chains and ropes of pearls strewn all over it. The calendar +represents domestic scenes, each strongly surrounded with a double +gold line, the written part being simply left out in the middle, so +that the scene forms its border. The gold ground presents a slightly +different appearance from that shown in our engraving, as it is flat, +being painted with shell-gold not put on very thickly. The shadows are +of Burnt Umber, which has a very transparent effect on the gold +ground. + +Beside this border is a fine letter of somewhat earlier date from a +chorale book, German work in all probability, which, with many others, +Italian and Flemish as well as German, were ruthlessly cut up into +fragments, perhaps at the Reformation, perhaps more recently, and are +now in the Art Library of the South Kensington Museum. They are much +rubbed and faded, and our chromo-lithograph represents this initial C +as it appeared when first finished. In much of the northern work of +this period--about the middle of the fifteenth century, say +1450--there is a beautiful style of ornamental scroll-work, which some +have proposed to call the "Leather Pattern." It may represent the cut +leather work of the mantling of a knight's tilting helmet. A small +specimen of it is shown in the turned-back petals of the flowers in +this letter, but whole volumes are to be seen entirely decorated with +it, and some of the best work of the period was accomplished in it. + +The third of these ornaments is also from the collection in the South +Kensington Museum. In this design the thing to be most noticed is +perhaps that which is least prominent, namely, the gold spots, with +black filaments, as it were, floating from them. They serve to eke out +and fill up the composition, and in some books are used with fine +effect on almost every page. They should be thickly gilt on a raised +surface, and should have dark outlines, and the filaments rapidly and +lightly drawn, either with a pen or with a very fine brush, pruned +down almost to a single hair. Many other pretty effects may be +obtained by early training the hand and eye to draw single lines in +this way. The letters in one of our other Plates (No. I.) are entirely +filled with tracery of the kind, and the patterns principally in use +are easily learned. Anything free is preferable to servile imitation +and tracing, and these diapers in particular lose more than almost +anything else in the whole art of illumination by direct copying. The +student should learn to adapt his delicate lines--chiefly in red and +blue--to any form of letter, and while drawing them should not let his +hand falter or hesitate for a moment. It is the same with the +lace-like patterns in white which were so much in vogue for +heightening the edges of letters in the thirteenth and fourteenth +centuries. They are very necessary to the effect, but must be painted +in with a light touch and great rapidity, or they lose all spirit. + +The initial P on the previous page, and also the initials in pages +vii. and 1, have been taken from MSS. illuminated with the "English +flower-pattern." An attempt has been made to represent the colors +employed by means of lines. This system was first applied to heraldry +in the first half of the seventeenth century. Horizontal lines +represent blue; vertical, red; cross hatching, black; dotting, gold or +yellow. Green is denoted by lines "in bend dexter," and purple by +lines "in bend sinister." + +The bands and borders on the back of Plate V. are of the fourteenth +century, but similar ornaments were common at all times. They are +chiefly red or blue, with patterns in white lines and dots, and in +highly burnished gold. They are employed both as borders and to fill +up incomplete lines of writing. + +[Illustration: PLATE V.--ORNAMENTS AND LARGE INITIAL, 15TH AND 16TH +CENTURIES.] + +[Illustration: BANDS AND BORDER ORNAMENTS--FOURTEENTH CENTURY.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VI. + + +A page of writing and five separate initials from a book of "Hours," +written in Flanders or Holland at the end of the fifteenth century, +are here shown, with a border of the same period from another volume. +The first book, which is in a private collection, affords an example +of the kind of illumination which is styled by the French "grisaille," +a word which may be translated "grey-work." In this style, which +consists usually in the artist restricting himself to certain colors, +or to black, grey, and white only, very few books were ever written. I +have already, in the General Sketch, mentioned one which had pictures +in imitation of Limoges enamels. A volume apparently illuminated by +the same hand as those in our MS. is in the Burgundian Library at +Brussels. The figure pictures in both look as if they were not painted +by the same artist as the writing and illumination of the letters, and +it is probable two or more were employed in the production. + +There was great activity in all the arts in the Low Countries during +the fifteenth century, and the most gorgeous books ever illuminated +were written there at that period. At Dortrecht, at Bruges, and other +places there were schools of illuminators, and the practice of the art +was not confined, as in England, to ecclesiastics and the cloister. +The books written were, however, mainly religious; and the same +designs were used over and over again. It would, in fact, be easy to +identify each guild of miniature painters by their employment of the +same set of forms. This eventually led to deterioration, and only the +introduction of oil painting, by turning the minds of the artists into +a wider channel, saved Flemish art. The masters of the Van Eycks, of +Memling, of Matsys, of Van Romerswale were undoubtedly the teachers of +illumination in books. + +The artist in "grisaille" always took especial pains with his +draperies. He had so little wherewith to produce his effect that he +sometimes almost reached the _chiaro-scuro_ of a later period. Some of +the pictures of this school which I have seen look as if they were +intended to represent moonlight views. In the present volume the +effect of the soberly coloured figure subjects is greatly enhanced by +the rich colors of the border, and the brilliantly burnished gilding. +The ground on which the letter O is gilded in Plate VI., is quartered +into red and blue, and the outer part "counter-changed," as they say +in heraldry. A delicate pattern is worked over the colors in +body-white. The small leaves are painted with thick coats of Emerald +Green. + +The border is from a Book of Hours in the British Museum. The gilding +in the original is laid on with shell, worked very flat and very thin, +so as rather to impart a yellow tone to the ground than to give it any +special lustre. There are other borders in the book of a similar +character, and some which, on a green or a purple ground, show jewels +of various kinds, especially pearls, sometimes strewn irregularly over +the ground, sometimes worked up into ornaments, or made to look as if +they were mounted in richly designed gold settings. In fact, at that +age the artist let nothing escape him that would go to enhance the +beauty or brilliancy of his page. In the original this border enclosed +a very elaborate miniature. These miniatures are very carefully and +delicately painted, but perhaps by a different hand, as they are not +equal in refinement to the borders. The Office for the Dead is +ornamented with a black border, on which is architectural tracery in +gold on which skulls are arranged, one of them with a pansy or +heartsease and forget-me-not, beautifully painted, growing out of the +hollow eyes. The border of the picture of the Annunciation is made +with a tall lily growing from an ornamental vase at the side. + +The Dutch and Flemish illuminators at this period excelled in +manipulation, and many of the books which they painted have all the +merit and almost all the importance of pictures. Anything and +everything was used as ornament. In some no two pages are even in what +can be called the same style; but delicacy of workmanship, the faces +especially being finished as real miniatures, is characteristic of +all. It is probable that whole schools of artists worked on a single +volume, dividing the labour according to the skill of each artist. + +On the back of Plate VI. will be found some further examples of the +ornaments, letters, and "line finishings" of the thirteenth and +fourteenth centuries, chiefly from French books. The A and the Z are +from the same MS. as Nos. 6 and 7 on Plate III. The KL united form the +heading of the Calendar in a book with ivy pattern borders. + +[Illustration: PLATE VI.--PAGE AND INITIALS (LOW COUNTRIES, 15TH +CENTURY). BORDER FROM MS. IN BRITISH MUSEUM.] + +[Illustration: FRENCH INITIAL LETTERS AND BORDER ORNAMENTS--FOURTEENTH +CENTURY.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VII. + + +Pictorially considered the illustrations on Plate VII., it must be +admitted, are more quaint than beautiful. All the subjects on this +page are, with the exception of the thirteenth and fourteenth century +borders (6), (4), more or less heraldic in character. It will be best +to take them in the order in which they are numbered. + +The lady seated (1) holds in either hand the arms of the Duke of +Burgundy, slightly varied as to quarterings. The picture is taken from +the famous "Bedford Missal" in the British Museum, which is not a +missal at all, but a Book of Hours, illuminated in France for the Duke +of Bedford, one of the brothers of Henry V. It therefore belongs to +the fifteenth century. The lady is sitting on what in heraldry is +called "a mount vert," which in turn is supported by the little half +architectural scroll-work below; her dress is purple, shaded with +grey, in opaque color; the arms are painted in Prussian Blue and +Vermilion, the gold being shell. + +The gentleman to the right (2) is Sir Nele Loring, a Knight of the +Garter. Some time in the fourteenth century a monk of St. Albans, +Thomas Walsingham, compiled a list of the benefactors of the abbey, +and as far as possible presented his readers with a portrait of each. +They are rather rough but eminently picturesque. The book is +particularly interesting from the curious particulars it gives us as +to the expenses of the illuminator. One Alan Strayler, it tells us, +"worked much upon this book," and the editor or compiler ran up a debt +with him of the comparatively large sum of three shillings and +fourpence, equal to at least £3, 10_s._ 0_d._ of our money, for the +colors he had used. The book came into the possession of the great +Lord Verulam, better known as Lord Chancellor Bacon, and by him it was +given to Sir Robert Cotton, who collected the Cottonian MSS. It is +known in the British Museum as "Nero D. vii." from its place in the +book-case of Sir Robert Cotton which bore the effigy of that Cæsar. +Sir Nele, or Nigel, Loring died in 1386, having given the abbey many +gifts, and as he was K.G. he is represented in a white robe diapered +with "garters." + +Our next picture (3) is from a very curious and beautiful, but much +injured manuscript, reckoned the number ii. in the collection at +Heralds' College. By the kindness of "Somerset Herald" we are allowed +to copy it. The book is a list of banners used probably at a +tournament in the reign of Henry VIII. Heraldry became more or less +the kind of "science" it still is under the last of the Plantagenet +kings, and was kept up in great glory by their successors, the first +two Tudors. The banner here given is that of Henry Stafford, who was +made Earl of Wiltshire in 1509. It shows the swan, the crest of the +Staffords, with a crown round its neck and a chain, and the ground, +partly black and partly red, the colors of the family, is powdered +with "Stafford knots," their badge. Across, in diagonal lines, is the +motto "D'Umble et Loyal." These banners, which might well be imitated +in modern illumination, are made up of livery colors, with crests and +badges, and are usually accompanied by the coat of arms of the person +to whom each belonged. + +The last of the heraldic features of the page (5) is also the +earliest. It represents part of the border of a Psalter made, it is +believed, in honour of the intended marriage of Prince Alphonso, the +son of Edward I., with a daughter of the King of Arragon. He died at +the age of ten years in 1282; but it is possible that the +illuminations refer to the intended marriage of his sister, the +princess Eleanor, with Alphonso, the young King of Arragon. In any +case the manuscript certainly belongs to the middle of the thirteenth +century. To the right we see a knight in the chain armour of the +period with his shield hung over his arm. Small gold crosses, +alternating with "lions rampant" on a blue ground, form part of the +border, the other part consisting of "lions passant" on a red ground. +Two shields bear, one, the arms of the son of King Edward, "England, +differenced with a label, azure," and the other, those of Leon. Crests +and mottoes had not been invented, and the artist had little scope for +his fancy. But it may not be out of place to call attention to the +fact that even at this early period heraldry was made use of for +ornament, as in this border, and that it answered the purpose +admirably. + +On the back of Plate VII. is the outline of an illumination of the +Adoration of the Magi, from a French MS. of the 16th century. Borders +of this type though very rich seldom occur in books ornamented in +England. The branch work is in delicate black lines, with leaves and +berries in gold or color. The scrolls are generally in blue, turned up +with gold, red, or pink; blue being, however, always the predominant +color, so as to insure a certain measure of harmony. The effect, +however, depended more on the skill with which the branch work in +black was disposed. + +[Illustration: PLATE VII.--BORDERS OF THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH +CENTURIES, AND HERALDIC DESIGNS.] + +[Illustration: BORDER AND TEXT, WITH ADORATION OF THE THREE +KINGS--SIXTEENTH CENTURY.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VIII. + + +No book on this subject would be complete without something more than +a passing reference to the earliest of all the fashions in +illumination which have prevailed in our islands. This Plate gives +some examples from the very curious manuscript in the Library of +Trinity College, Dublin, known as the "Book of Kells." This venerable +volume contains the four Gospels in Latin, and, it is sometimes +asserted, dates from the seventh century, but more probably belongs to +the ninth. The late Sir M. D. Wyatt says of it: "Of this very book Mr. +Westwood examined the pages, as I did, for hours together, without +ever detecting a false line, or an irregular interlacement. In one +space of about a quarter of an inch superficial, he counted, with a +magnifying glass, no less than one hundred and fifty-eight +interlacements, of a slender ribbon pattern, formed of white lines, +edged by black ones, upon a black ground. No wonder that tradition +should allege that these unerring lines should have been traced by +angels." + +The examples before us are purposely taken from a less complicated +page, but will be found sufficient to try the skill and patience of +even the most painstaking student. The colors are rather more vivid +than in the original, which has now greatly faded through age and +ill-usage. There is little to be said as to the beauty of the design. +Grotesques have an attraction in spite of their ugliness: but we can +hardly expect the most enthusiastic admirer of antiquity to imitate +these extraordinary complications of form and color, except as an +exercise of skill and patience. In one respect, however, early +manuscripts and especially manuscripts of this class, are well worthy +of imitation. The writing is very clear and distinct. It is easier to +read a charter of the seventh or the eighth century than one of the +seventeenth. Illuminators might do worse than learn the old Irish +alphabet, if only on this account. + +There is no gilding in the Book of Kells, but some occurs in the +contemporary, or nearly contemporary Book of Durham. The effect +depends wholly on the skill of the scribe in using a very limited +palette so as to make the most of it. The modern student would do well +to remember this. A wide range of colors does not always conduce to +bright or good coloring. Harmony is often found to follow from a +sparing use of the more brilliant pigments at our disposal, with a +careful eye to effect. The beginner too often imagines that he can +make his border or his initial look well if he puts enough gold or +vermilion on; but he should remember that the more sober and simple +his scale of coloring the more splendid will the bright colors look +when he does employ them. It is well to remember that absolute harmony +is obtained by the use of blue, red, and yellow in these +proportions:--blue, eight; red, five; yellow, three; and that all good +pictures or illuminations must depend on this principle. White and +black, and also in some cases gilding, may be treated as neutrals. +There is usually a sufficiency of black in the lettering of a page. +White, in the shape of dots and as heightening, may be largely +employed if there is any want of harmony detected. Gold should not be +used for this purpose, except in certain styles; and the student may +rest assured that a design which does not look well without gold will +not look better with it. + +A few other specimens, without color, will be found on the back of +Plate VIII. It might be good practice for the student to tint them in +the style of the colored examples. + +The Byzantine style, as it is called, prevailed about the same period +in the countries of eastern and northern Europe. The books are of a +very different but equally ungraceful character. The work is not so +minute or complicated, but the lavish use of gold distinguishes them. +Sometimes a page is written in gold letters on vellum stained purple; +sometimes the page is entirely gilt. None of the examples in the +British Museum are worth the trouble and indeed expense of copying, +but they are curious as specimens of barbaric splendour. + +[Illustration: Heraldic Lion.] + +[Illustration: PLATE VIII.--EXAMPLES FROM THE BOOK OF KELLS, 9TH +CENTURY.] + +[Illustration: EARLY IRISH INITIAL LETTERS.] + + + + +DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IX. + +(FRONTISPIECE.) + + +Such measure of perfection as had been attained by English +illuminators in the latest period is well illustrated by this Plate. +It is from a Book of Hours in the library of the Archbishop of +Canterbury at Lambeth. Leave to copy it was kindly accorded to us by +His Grace the late lamented Archbishop Tait. The volume is square in +shape and rather thick, the vellum not being of the fineness seen in +the Bibles of the thirteenth century, already noticed. It is numbered +474 in the Catalogue, and is described by Mr. S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A., +in his book on the _Art Treasures of the Lambeth Library_, who assigns +it to the early part of the fifteenth century. + +The illuminations in this book are admirable examples of what is known +as the English flower pattern, a style, as we have already observed, +which was as peculiar to our insular artists as the Perpendicular +style in architecture. It was used for all kinds of manuscripts, and +even law deeds are sometimes to be seen thus ornamented. Even after +the invention of printing it continued to flourish for a while; and +books are sometimes found printed on vellum abroad, and illuminated in +England with the beautiful native flower pattern in borders and +initials. + +Mr. Kershaw observes regarding the book from which the present page +has been taken: "This, a very nice example, is fairly written, and +ornamented with a profusion of beautiful illuminated initials of +English art. The volume contains but two miniature paintings, the +remainder usually found in MSS. of this class having been abstracted. +The initial letters vary in size and pattern; they are all upon +backgrounds of gold, and frequently form with their finials short +marginal ornaments of elegant tracery work. Pink, blue, and orange +brown are the prevailing colors, the blue being often heightened on +the outer edge with flat white tints. The larger initials are rich in +design and varied in their coloring, and would supply the artist or +amateur with abundant materials for study." + +I would desire to call the student's attention to one or two points +of importance. In imitating or copying work of this kind it is well +to observe that though the artist appears to have used the utmost +freedom of line and direction, he has really been most careful in his +composition. The initial O comes well out from among its surroundings, +and is not overpowered by the weight of its dependent ornament. The +scroll-work requires especial attention. That which fills the centre +of the letter appears to press tightly against the edge, and is so +arranged as to fill completely the vacancy for which it is intended. +There is nothing limp about it. Too often modern work can be detected +by its want of what I must call the crispness of the original. + +With regard to the writing, it will be observed that a great change in +the form of the letters has taken place since the thirteenth century. +The difference between u and n is often hardly perceptible, and has +led to many curious mistakes. Nevertheless, if the student is careful +about such particulars, this is a very beautiful style, and admirably +suited for modern requirements. The colors used by the artist who +copied this page were as follows:--for the blue, Prussian, lined and +dotted with Chinese White; for the pink, Lake and Chinese White, +shaded with the same color darker; the deepest shadows are Lake; for +the orange, pale Indian Yellow for the lights, shaded with Burnt +Sienna, and Lake for the deepest shadows. + +In some books illuminated in this style the centre of the letter is +occupied with a scene containing figures, and occasionally a picture +extends across the page, the initial fitting close up to it. The +picture, in this case, is always surrounded with a double line or +framework of blue, or red, and gold; and the color has a delicate +white line on it, and occasionally gives out a branch which, crossing +the gold line, bursts into flower in the margin. This style was +largely used for official documents for a long period, and many +excellent facsimiles representing examples are to be found as +frontispieces to the volumes of the Roll Series. It lasted with more +or less modification until the reign of Charles I. + + * * * * * + +VERE FOSTER'S WATER-COLOR BOOKS. + +"We can strongly recommend these volumes to young students of +drawing."--_The Times_, Dec. 27, 1884. + + +PAINTING FOR BEGINNERS.--First Stage. + +Teaching the use of One Color. Ten Facsimiles of Original Studies in +Sepia, by J. CALLOW, and numerous Illustrations in Pencil. With full +instructions in easy language. In Three Parts, 4to, 6_d each; or one +volume, cloth elegant, 2_s._ 6_d._ + +PAINTING FOR BEGINNERS.--Second Stage. + +Teaching the use of Seven Colors. Twenty Facsimiles of Original +Drawings by J. CALLOW, and many Illustrations in Pencil. With full +instructions in easy language. In Six Parts 4to, 6_d._ each; or one +volume, cloth elegant, 4_s._ + +SIMPLE LESSONS IN FLOWER PAINTING. + +Eight Facsimiles of Original Water-Color Drawings, and numerous +Outline Drawings of Flowers. With full instructions for Drawing and +Painting. In Four Parts 4to, 6_d._ each; or one volume, cloth elegant, +3_s._ + +"Everything necessary for acquiring the art of flower painting is +here; the _facsimiles_ of water-color are very beautiful."--_Graphic._ + +SIMPLE LESSONS IN MARINE PAINTING. + +Twelve Facsimiles of Original Water-Color Sketches. By EDWARD DUNCAN. +With numerous Illustrations in Pencil, and Practical Lessons by an +experienced Master. In Four Parts, 4to, 6_d._ each; or one volume, +cloth elegant, 3_s._ + +"Must prove of great value to students. Nothing could be prettier or +more charming than these sketches."--_Graphic._ + +SIMPLE LESSONS IN LANDSCAPE PAINTING. + +Eight Facsimiles of Original Water-Color Drawings, and Thirty +Vignettes, after various artists. With full instructions by an +experienced Master. In Four Parts 4to, 6_d._ each; or one volume, +cloth elegant, 3_s._ + +"As a work of art in the book line we have seldom seen its equal; and +it could not fail to be a delightful present, affording a great amount +of pleasurable amusement and instruction, to young people."--_St. +James's Gazette._ + +STUDIES OF TREES. + +In Pencil and in Water-Colors, by J. NEEDHAM. A Series of Eighteen +Examples in Colors, and Thirty-three Drawings in Pencil. With +descriptions of the Trees, and full instructions for Drawing and +Painting. In Eight Parts 4to, 1_s._ each; or First Series, cloth +elegant, 5_s._; Second Series, cloth elegant, 5_s._ + +ADVANCED STUDIES IN FLOWER PAINTING. + +By ADA HANBURY. Twelve beautifully finished Examples in Colors, and +numerous Outlines in Pencil. With a description of each flower, and +full instructions for drawing and painting by BLANCHE HANBURY. 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K 3 Shaded Landscape. K 4 Advanced Landscape. + +MARINE, by CALLOW, &c. M 1 Boats, Foregrounds, &c. M 2 Fishing Craft, +Coasters, &c. M 3 Yachts and other Vessels. M 4 Drawing of Waves. + +HUMAN FIGURE. Q 1 Features. Q 2 Heads, Hands, &c. Q 3 Rustic Figures, +by Duncan. Q 4 Figure from the Antique. + +ANIMALS, by H. WEIR. O 1 Birds and Quadrupeds. O 2 Poultry, various +breeds. O 3 British Small Birds. O 4 British Wild Animals. O 5 Horses +(Arab, Hunter, &c.). O 6 Horses (Racer, Trotter, &c.). O 7 Dogs +(Seventeen Species). O 8 Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, &c. O 9 Lambs, Ass, +Foal, &c. O 10 Foreign Animals, &c. + +PRACTICAL GEOMETRY. R 1 Definitions and Simple Problems. R 2 Practical +Geometry. R 3 Applied Geometry. + +PRACTICAL MECHANICAL DRAWING. T 1 Initiatory. T 2 Details of Tools, +&c. T 3 Models for Working Drawings, &c. 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Cloth elegant. + +=The Wigwam and the Warpath:= Stories of the Red Indians. By ASCOTT R. +HOPE. With 8 full-page Pictures. Cloth elegant. + +=By Sheer Pluck:= A Tale of the Ashanti War. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 +full-page Illustrations. Cloth elegant. + +=Stories Of Old Renown.= Tales of Knights and Heroes. By ASCOTT R. HOPE. +With 100 Illustrations by GORDON BROWNE. Cloth elegant, olivine edges. + +=Facing Death:= Or the Hero of the Vaughan Pit. By G. A. HENTY. With 8 +full-page Illustrations. Cloth elegant. + +=Nat the Naturalist:= Or a Boy's Adventures in the Eastern Seas. By GEO. +MANVILLE FENN. With 8 full-page Pictures. Cloth elegant. + + +_Price 3s. 6d._ + +=Cheep and Chatter;= Or Lessons from Field and Tree. By ALICE BANKS. +With 54 Character Illustrations by Gordon BROWNE. Cloth elegant. With +gilt edges, 4s. + +=The Wreck of the Nancy Bell:= Or Cast away on Kerguelen Land. By JOHN +C. HUTCHESON. Illustrated by 6 full-page Pictures. Cloth extra. + +=Picked up at Sea:= Or the Gold Miners of Minturne Creek. By JOHN C. +HUTCHESON. With 6 full-page Pictures in Tints. Cloth extra. + +=Dr. Jolliffe's Boys:= A Tale of Weston School. By LEWIS HOUGH. With 6 +full-page Pictures. Cloth extra. + +=Traitor or Patriot?= A Tale of the Rye-House Plot. By MARY C. ROWSELL. +Illustrated by 6 full-page Pictures. Cloth elegant. + +=Brother and Sister:= Or the Trials of the Moore Family. By ELIZABETH J. +LYSAGHT. With 6 full-page Illustrations. Cloth extra. + +=Dora:= Or a Girl without a Home. By Mrs. R. H. READ. With 6 full-page +Illustrations. Cloth extra. + +=Garnered Sheaves.= A Tale for Boys. By MRS. EMMA R. PITMAN. With 4 +full-page Illustrations. Cloth extra. + +=Florence Godfrey's Faith.= A Story of Australian Life. By MRS. PITMAN. +With 4 full-page Illustrations. Cloth extra. + +=Life's Daily Ministry.= A Story of Everyday Service for Others. By MRS. +EMMA R. PITMAN. With 4 full-page Illustrations. Cloth extra. + +=My Governess Life:= Or Earning my Living. By MRS. EMMA R. PITMAN. With +4 full-page Illustrations. Cloth extra. + + +_Price 2s. 6d._ + +Each book is beautifully illustrated, and bound in cloth extra. + +=Brothers in Arms:= A Story of the Crusades. By F. BAYFORD HARRISON. + +=Jack o' Lanthorn:= A Tale of Adventure. By HENRY FRITH. + +=Winnie's Secret:= A Story of Faith and Patience. By Kate WOOD. + +=A Waif Of the Sea:= Or the Lost Found. By KATE WOOD. + +=Hetty Gray:= or Nobody's Bairn. By ROSA MULHOLLAND. + +=Miss Fenwick's Failures:= Or "Peggy Pepper-pot." By ESMÉ STUART. + +=The Ball Of Fortune:= Or Ned Somerset's Inheritance. By CHARLES PEARCE. + +=The Family Failing.= By DARLEY DALE. + +=Stories of the Sea in Former Days:= Narratives of Wreck and Rescue. + +=Adventures in Field, Flood, and Forest:= Stories of Danger and Daring. + +A complete List of Books for the Young, prices from 4d. to 7s. 6d., +with Synopsis of their Contents, will be supplied on application to +the Publishers. + + +LONDON: BLACKIE & SON, 49 & 50 OLD BAILEY, E.C.; + +GLASGOW, EDINBURGH, AND DUBLIN. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lessons in the Art of Illuminating, by W. J. Loftie + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40423 *** |