From the Charlemagne Bible, British Museum, Add. 10,546.
| Technical Manual. Outline for coloring. | Plate No III. |
| IXTH Century. | |
From the Charlemagne Bible, British Museum, Add. 10,546.
The special convenience of illuminating upon canvass is, that instead of the operator having to work either from a ladder or scaffold, or on a vertical or horizontal surface, he may do all that is necessary at an easel or on a table on terra firma. His work when completed may be cut out of the sheet of canvass on which it has been painted, and may be fastened to the wall, ceiling, or piece of furniture for the decoration of which it may have been intended. All that is essential, with respect to the designs which may be wrought upon it, is, to take care that they are fitted for the situations they may be ultimately intended to occupy. Thus it must be obvious that it would be an entire waste of time to elaborate designs destined to be fixed many yards from the eye, as minutely as those which would be in immediate proximity to it. No branch of designing illuminated or other ornament requires greater experience to succeed in than the adjustment of the size of parts and patterns to the precise conditions of light, distance, foreshortening, &c., under which they are most likely to be viewed.
Illumination on plaster may be executed either in distemper, if the walls or ceiling have been sized only, or in oil if they have been brought forward in oil-colours. The former is the most rapid, but least durable process. Hence decoration is usually applied in oil to walls which are liable to be rubbed and brushed against, and in distemper, to ceilings, which are, comparatively speaking, out of harm's way. Very pretty decorations on plaster may be executed by combining hand-worked illumination with diapered or other paper-hangings. Thus, for instance, taking one side of a room, say about eleven feet high, to the under-side of the plaster cornice, mark off about a foot in depth on the wall from the bottom of the cornice, set out the width of the wall into three or more panels, dividing the panels by upright pilasters of the same width as the depth of the top border. At the height of about four feet from the ground mark off the top edge of another horizontal band, which make also one foot deep; continue on the lines of the pilasters to within six inches of the top of the skirting, and draw in a horizontal border, six inches high, running all round upon the top edge of the skirting: then paint, in a plain colour, a margin, three or four inches wide, all round the panels formed by the bands and pilasters, and let the paper-hanger fill in the panels with any pretty diapered paper which may agree with the style and colour in which you may desire to work your illumination. The side of your room will then present two horizontal lines—one next the cornice, and one at about dado-height, suitable for the reception of illuminated inscriptions. In setting these out, care must be taken to bring a capital letter into a line with the centre of each pilaster, so that a foliated ornament, descending from the upper inscription, and ascending from the lower one, may meet and intertwine on the pilasters, forming panelled compartments for the introduction of subjects, if thought desirable.[[99]]
It is by no means necessary for the sides of these pilasters, or the bounding lines of the bands containing inscriptions, to be kept straight; they may be varied at pleasure, so long as they are kept symmetrical in corresponding parts, and uniformly filled up with foliation emanating from, or connected with, the illuminated letters. Agreeable results may be produced by variations of such arrangements as the one suggested. Frequently round doors, windows, fireplaces, &c., inscriptions may be executed with very good effect, either on label-scrolls or simple borders, and with greater or less brilliancy of colour, according to the circumstances of the case. Often simplicity and quiet have greater charms than glitter or brilliancy; thus black and red, on a light-coloured ground, the most primitive combination in the history of writing, is always sure to produce an agreeable impression: blue, crimson, or marone on gold, or vice versâ, are no less safe: black, white, and gold, counterchanged, can hardly go wrong.
Few amateurs will be likely to attempt illuminations upon plaster ceilings, owing to the great difficulty they will experience in working overhead with a steady hand. They will generally do wisely—to execute the principal portions on paper, tracing-paper, or canvas,—to fasten them up, as will be hereafter directed,—and to confine the decoration actually painted on the ceiling, to a few panels, lines, or plain bands of colour, which may be readily executed by any clever house-painter or grainer, even if altogether ignorant of drawing and the art of design. The most beautiful illuminated ceiling of mediæval times I believe to be that of the chapel in the celebrated Jacques Cœur's house, at Bourges, in France. It is vaulted, and each compartment contains inscribed labels held by floating angels. The white draperies of the angels are relieved on a delicate blue ground only, so that the stronger contrast of the black writing on the white labels gives a marked predominance to the inscriptions; which, being arranged symmetrically, produce in combination agreeable geometrical figures.
Most of the preceding remarks apply equally to stone; but in reference to that material, there is one point to specially enforce,—namely, the advisability of not covering the whole of the surface with paint. There is about all stone a peculiar granulation, and in many varieties a slight silicious sparkle, which it is always well to preserve as far as possible. Illuminate, by all means, inscriptions, panels, friezes, &c., colour occasionally the hollows of mouldings, and gild salient members sufficiently to carry the colour about the monument, whether it may be a font, a pulpit, a tomb, a reredos, a staircase, a screen, or a doorway, and prevent the highly-illuminated portion from looking spotty and unsupported; but by no means apply paint all over. It is not necessary to produce a good effect; it destroys the surface and appearance of the stone, making it of no more worth than if it were plaster, and it clogs up all the fine arrises and angles of the moulded work or carving. Wherever stained glass is inserted in stonework, the application of illumination, or at any rate of coloured diaper-work of an analogous nature, is almost an imperative necessity, in order to balance the appearance of chill and poverty given to the stonework by its contrast with the brilliant translucent tints of the painted glass. In illuminating stonework, it seldom answers to attempt to apply decoration executed on paper or canvass; it should in all cases (excepting when it is at a great distance from the eye) be done upon the stone itself. The only exception is the one to which I shall allude in speaking of metal.
Slate, although from its portability and non-liability to change its shape under variations of temperature, a convenient material for filling panels, and forming slabs for attachment to walls, is not to be recommended to the amateur, owing to the difficulty he will experience in effecting a good and safe adhesion between his pigments and the surface of the slate. In what is called enamelled slate, an excellent attachment is secured by gradually and repeatedly raising the slate to a high temperature; but the process would be far too troublesome and expensive for practice by the great majority of amateurs.