Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their techniqueMiddleton, J. H. (John Henry)
History
Illuminated manuscripts in classical and mediaeval times, their art and their technique
Middleton, J. H. (John Henry)
Illumination of books and manuscripts; Manuscripts
Monastic scribes; the great beauty of their work, and the reasons for it;
their quiet, monotonous life; examples of monastic humour; no long spells
of work in a monastery; care in the preparation of pigments; variety of the
schemes of decoration; the _scriptoria_ of Benedictine monasteries; their
arrangement in one alley of the cloister; the row of _armaria_; the row of
_carrels_; the _carrels_ in the Durham cloister described in _the Rites of
Durham_; the scribes of other regular Orders. Secular scribes; the growth
of the craft-guilds; the guilds of Bruges; their rules, and advantages to
both buyer and seller; the production of cheap _Horae_; wealthy patrons who
paid for costly manuscripts; women illuminators, such as the wife of Gérard
David; the high estimation of fine manuscripts. Extract from the fourteenth
century accounts of St George's at Windsor showing the cost of six
manuscripts. Similar extract from the Parish books of St Ewen's at Bristol
in the fifteenth century, giving the cost of a _Lectionary_.
CHAPTER XIV. Page 224 to 238.
THE MATERIALS AND TECHNICAL PROCESSES OF THE ILLUMINATOR.
The vellum used by scribes, its cost and various qualities; paper made of
cotton, of wool and of linen; the dates and places of its manufacture; its
fine quality. The metals and pigments used in illuminated manuscripts;
fluid gold and silver; leaf gold, silver and tin; the highly burnished
gold; leaf beaten out of gold coins; the goldsmith's art practised by many
great artists; the _mordant_ on which the gold leaf was laid; how it was
applied; a slow, difficult process; laborious use of the burnisher; old
receipts for the mordant: the _media_ or vehicles used with it; tooled and
stamped patterns on the gold leaf; the use of tin instead of silver; a
cheap method of applying gold described by Cennino Cennini.
CHAPTER XV. Page 239 to 256.
THE MATERIALS AND TECHNICAL PROCESSES OF THE ILLUMINATOR (_continued_).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account