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 — John Shaqi
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 ArtLoftie, W. J. (William John)
History
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
Loftie, W. J. (William John)
Illumination of books and manuscripts
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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