WHAT ILLUMINATING SHOULD BE IN THE PRESENT DAY.
LLUMINATION, in whatever form practised, can never be properly regarded as any other than one of the genera into which the art of Polychromatic decoration may be subdivided. What was originally termed illumination, was simply the application of minium or red lead, as a colour or ink, to decorate, or draw marked attention to, any particular portion of a piece of writing, the general text of which was in black ink. The term was retained long after the original red lead was almost entirely superseded by the more brilliant cinnabar, or vermilion. As ornaments of all kinds were gradually superadded to the primitive distinctions, marked in manuscripts by the use of different-coloured inks, the term acquired a wider significance, and, from classical times to the present, has always been regarded as including the practice of every description of ornamental or ornamented writing.
Because such embellishments were, during the early and Middle Ages, and, in fact, until long after the invention of printing, almost invariably executed on vellum, there is no reason whatever why illumination should be applied to that material, or to paper, which has taken its place, only; wood, metal, slate, stone, canvass, plaster, all may be made to receive it. Again: because ancient illumination was almost entirely executed in colours, in the use of which water and some glutinous medium were the only "vehicles," there is no reason why modern illumination should not be worked in oil, turpentine, encaustic, fresco, tempera, varnish, and by every process in which decorative painting is ever wrought in these days. It is in such an extension that the most valuable functions of the art are likely to consist in all time to come. That utilitarian application which it, originally and for so many centuries, found in the production of beautiful books, copies of which could be elaborated by no other means than hand labour, has been, to a great extent, superseded by chromolithography and chromotypy. No doubt a wide field for useful, and even productive labour, is still left to the practical illuminator on paper and vellum, in designing and preparing exquisite originals for reproduction by those processes, as well as in the rich and tasteful blazoning of pedigrees, addresses, family records and memorials, and in the illustration for presentation, or for private libraries, of transcripts from favourite authors; but, at the same time, an equally elegant and useful application of the art would be to enrich ceilings, walls, cornices, string-courses, panels, labels round doors and windows, friezes, bands, chimney-pieces, and stained and painted furniture in churches, school-rooms, dwellings, and public buildings of all kinds, with beautiful and appropriate inscriptions, of graceful form and harmonious colouring. Such illumination would form, not only an agreeable, but an eminently useful decoration. How many texts and sentences, worthy, in every sense, of being "written in letters of gold," might not be thus brought prominently under the eyes of youth, manhood, and old age, for hope, admonition, and comfort. No more skill, energy, and taste are requisite for the production of this class of illumination than are essential for satisfactory work upon vellum and paper; and while in the one case the result of the labour may be made an incessant enjoyment for many, in the other, it is seldom more than a nine-days' wonder, shut up in a book or portfolio, and seen so seldom as scarcely to repay the amateur for the expense and trouble involved in its execution.
This, if I may be allowed the term, manifold application of forms, primarily available for book decoration only, has not been lost sight of in the selection and arrangement of the illustrations, both in this and in the "Historical Manual." Mr. Tymms has, with excellent judgment, so arranged them as to lead the student who may occupy himself in copying them, or enlarging from them, gradually onwards from the comparatively easy to the more difficult varieties of the art. Adopting, in all cases, the alphabet of capital letters as a starting-point, the beginner will do well to learn to write before attempting to learn to draw: he should copy the alphabet, say on [Plate I.], fig. 1, on waste paper—common cartridge, or paper-hanger's lining paper, will be best—many time; at first, in fac-simile, then twice the size as printed, then four times, then eight times, until he may be able to form letters as much as six inches high, correctly. Having so far mastered the capitals, let him try in exactly the same way to produce and reproduce the same text, or lower-case letters in which the passages from Scripture, say [Plate No. 1], fig. 2, have been written. Let him then try a sentence not given in the plates, using for it the capital and lower-case letters he has been learning how to form, and let him work out his own sentence in as many different sizes as he has previously tried Mr. Tymms's in. By the time he has drawn the enriched initial letters of the same plate several times, he will find that his eye and hand will have probably gained sufficient command to justify his attempting to copy, in outline as before, on waste paper, and both on a small and large scale, the ornaments given on [Plate No. 3]. In the intervals between his outline studies, the young illuminator may occupy himself in mastering the instructions given in this volume, so that he may have a general idea of the theory of the different processes before be commences an attempt to put them in practice. His first lesson in colouring should then commence by his attempting to colour [Plate No. 3], in fac-simile of [Plate No. 2].
It will be well to begin gilding and silvering with shell-gold and aluminium, reserving for more advanced experiments the use of gold or silver paper and leaf. The student may then with advantage copy in outline, first of all the outline [Plate No. 6], inking it in so as to produce, on fine-grained drawing paper or card, a fac-simile of the printed plate. He should next proceed to colour the printed plate to correspond with [Plate No. 5]. Avoiding any defects he may have made in this operation, he may colour his own outline as he had done the printed one; he will then find himself able to copy both outline and colour on a small scale.
In his next set of lessons a much heavier demand will be made on his capabilities.
To satisfactorily reproduce, either upon the same or upon an enlarged scale, the compact black letter of [Plate VII.], and the solid brilliant colours of [Plate VIII.], with the golden grounds, which should in this case be highly burnished, will be found a much more difficult task than any yet encountered. The student must not be discouraged by a little failure at first. The technical operations of illumination are essentially manipulative, and like the fingering of a musical instrument, must be learnt by frequent and active exercise. The mere degree of skill requisite to enable the artist to lay on a perfectly flat tint of very strong or of very delicate colour, is only likely to be acquired after he may have washed some fifty different tints, more or less cloudy and muddled. Few hands will be found capable of tracing out a pure, firm, even outline, of equal thickness and force in every part, with either pen, pencil, or brush, which have not made many a score of ragged, feeble, or blotched attempts at steadiness. To keep a number of lines perfectly upright, parallel, or evenly spaced, demands an amount of dexterity which can only be gained by laborious practice. The student must not therefore feel discouraged if at first his hand may scarcely answer to the call made upon it. The failure of to-day, with proper attention and perseverance, may become the germ of the success of to-morrow; all that is essential is never on one day to repeat the fault of its predecessor. Nothing will tend to give the beginner greater confidence than the habit of working out the same forms and processes upon various scales. Taking, for instance, such an initial letter as the P, fig. 1, [Plate X.]; it would be an improving lesson to copy it in pen-and-ink outline, exactly as it is shown, and then to copy it, say six times the size given on the plate, thickening the lines, of course, in proportion. Then let the student once again try to copy it in fac-simile, and he will himself be probably surprised to find how much better and more easily he will accomplish his task than he was enabled to do on his first trial. A corresponding experiment, involving the application of gold and brilliant colours, such as would be essential to a reproduction of figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5, of [Plate II.], on various scales, will be found probably no less useful and satisfactory.
| Technical Manual. | Plate No I. |
| IXTH Century. | |
