| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
A 13th century manuscript illumination, the earliest known depiction of Thomas à Becket's assassination
Illumination was a complex and frequently costly process. As such, it was usually reserved for special books: an altar Bible, for example. Wealthy folk often had richly illuminated " books of hours" made, which set down prayers appropriate for various times in the liturgical day.
In the making of an illuminated manuscript, the text was usually written first. Sheets of vellum, animal hides specially prepared for writing, were cut down to the appropriate size. After the general layout of the page was planned (eg initial capital, borders), the page was lightly ruled with a pointed stick, and the scribe went to work with ink-pot and either sharpened quill feather or reed pen.
The script used depended on local customs and tastes. The sturdy Roman letters of the early Dark Ages gradually gave way to cursive scripts such as Uncial and half-Uncial, especially in the British Isles, where distinctive scripts such as insular majuscule and insular minuscule developed. Stocky, richly textured Gothic scriptGothic script is a kind of handwriting, comparable to Roman script. Roman was and is the kind of handwriting used throughout most of western Europe, but the distinctly different Gothic style was used in Germany and parts of Eastern Europe through the mid- was first seen around the 13th century and was particularly popular in the later Middle AgesThe Middle Ages formed the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly dated from the end of the Western Roman Empire ( 5th century) until th.
When the text was complete, the illustrator set to work. Complex designs were planned out beforehand, probably on wax tablets, the sketch pad of the era. The design was then traced onto the vellum (possibly with the aid of pinpricks or other markings, as in the case of the Lindisfarne GospelsGospel of Matthew. The Lindisfarne Gospels are an illustrated Latin edition of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The manuscript was produced on Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and is generally regarded a).
The mediæval artist's palette was surprisingly broad:
| Color | Source(s) |
|---|---|
| Red | CinnabarCinnabar ( German Zinnober , sometimes written cinnabarite is a name applied to red mercury (II) sulfide (HgS), or native vermilion, the common ore of mercury. The name comes from the Greek, used by Theophrastus, and was probably applied to several distin in its natural mineral form or synthesized (also called vermillion, mercuric sulphide); " red lead " or minium (Pb3O4); insect-based colors such as cochinealCochineal Coccus cacti or Dactylopius coccus is an insect in the order of Homoptera found in Mexico and Central and South America. These insects live on various cactus plants and are parasitic. They feed on the juices from the cactus leaves. Cochineals ar and kermesKermes (or chermes is the dried bodies of the females of a scale insect ( Coccus ilicis), allied to the cochineal insect, and found on several species of oak near the Mediterranean. They are round, about the size of a pea, contain coloring matter analogou; iron oxideThere are a number of iron oxides Iron oxides Iron (II) oxide or ferrous oxide (FeO) The black- coloured powder in particular can cause explosions as it readily ignites. Iron (III) oxide or ferric oxide (FeO) known in its natural state as hematite or haem-rich earth compounds |
| Yellow | Plant-based colors, such as saffronFor the lead singer of Republica see Saffron Saffron is the name given to the dried stigmas and part of the style of the saffron crocus, traditionally called Crocus sativus which are harvested, dried, and used for cooking. Saffron has a pleasant spicy sme; yellow earth colors ( ochre); orpiment (As2S3, Arsenic Sulfide) |
| Green | Plant-based compounds such as buckthorn berries; copper compounds such as verdigris and malachite |
| Blue | Ultramarine (made from the mineral lapis lazuli); azurite; smalt; plant-based substances such as woad, indigo, and folium or turnsole |
| White | Lead white (also called "flake white", basic lead carbonate (PbCO3)); chalk |
| Black | Carbon, from sources such as lamp black, charcoal, or burnt bones or ivory; sepia; iron gall |
| Gold | Gold, in leaf form (hammered extremely thin) or powdered and bound in gum arabic or egg (called "shell gold") |
| Silver | Silver, either silver leaf or powdered, as above; tin leaf |