The examples of Italian fifteenth-century work in Plates [XVIII.] and [XIX.] show a related type of illumination, known as the “white vine pattern.” Very carefully and beautifully drawn, it strongly suggests natural form.
“NATURAL, OR LIMNER’S,[42] ILLUMINATION”
(See also pp. [212], [219]–[21], [227], [423]–[24], [426]–[28], [486]; figs. [131a]–[141]; Plates [XV.], [XVI.], [XXIII.])
This, the finest type of illumination, has very great possibilities; and it is to be hoped that some craftsmen, who have the necessary skill, will find an opening for their work in this direction. [p203]
[Plate XV.] is a thirteenth-century example of the transition from the “barbaric” to the “natural.” The dragon-tailed initial with its wonderful scroll-work and “ivy-leaf” being the perfection of barbaric form, carrying brilliant colour and serving to support and frame the delicate and beautiful drawing which it contains.[43] But in the drawing itself the skill of a fine illuminator combines with the fancy of a cunning draughtsman to satisfy an æsthetic taste and appeal to the imagination.
[Plate XVI.] shows a rare, and singularly beautiful, treatment of an Italian fourteenth-century MS. decorated with plant and insect forms (p. [427]).
[Plate XXIII.] (modern) show a border of wild roses and climbing plants: the colour treatment in the original is very brilliant (see p. [486]).
The “natural” type depends very much on the beauty and interest of its form; and a draughtsman before he had become an illuminator, might be content to decorate MSS. and printed books with pen drawings only faintly coloured or tinted; but when he had mastered the limitations which the craft would impose on his drawing for pure and bright colour, there is no degree of brilliance, even unto “barbaric splendour,” which he might not lay upon his trained and delicate forms. [p204]
[CHAPTER XII] THE DEVELOPMENT OF ILLUMINATION[44] The Development of Illumination — Line-Finishings — Initial Letters — Borders & Backgrounds.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ILLUMINATION
An art or craft is so largely dependent on the tools and materials which are used by the craftsman, that we may reasonably say that it begins with the tools and materials, through which it has been produced. Now, “illumination” can be traced back step by step to simple penmanship. And its true development is most graphically sketched by Ruskin (“Lectures on Art,” No. V.) when he says—