Lessons in the Art of Illuminating

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

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. 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. 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 palography 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. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 40423
Author: Loftie, W. J. (William John)
Release Date: Aug 6, 2012
Format: eBook
Language: English