The History, Theory, and Practice of Illuminating / Condensed from 'The Art of Illuminating' by the same illustrator and author

by Sir M. Digby Wyatt

PART II.

HOW ILLUMINATING MAY BE PRACTISED.

On analysis it will be found that this section of my Essay resolves itself into three divisions, embracing respectively, 1stly, the ancient processes; 2ndly, the modern processes; and, 3rdly, the possible processes, not yet introduced into common use. Of the last, I do not propose speaking in the present work. Notices of the first of these might of course have been presented in the historical manual; but, upon reflection, I considered it would be most useful to the student to introduce them, in a collected form, in this place; and for the following reasons:—1stly, In order that they might not interrupt the thread of the narrative; and, 2ndly, because I considered it desirable to put the ancient and modern processes in direct contrast, so that the amateur might be the better enabled to reject what is obsolete in the former, and to revive any which might appear to promise greater technical excellence or facility than he might be enabled to obtain through the employment of the latter.

I commence, therefore, with the Ancient processes.

Sir Charles Eastlake, who has profoundly studied the history and theory of the subject, has justly remarked[^[102]] the intimate relation which, in the classical ages, existed between the physician and the painter,—the former discovering, supplying, and frequently preparing, the materials used by the latter. This ancient connection was not broken during those ages when almost all knowledge and practice of either medicine or art were limited to the walls of the cloister. The zealous fathers not only worked themselves to the best of their ability, but delighted in training up their younger brethren to perpetuate the credit and revenue derived from their skill, knowledge, and labour, by the monasteries to which they were attached. "Nor was it merely by oral instruction that technical secrets were communicated: the traditional and practical knowledge of the monks was condensed in short manuscript formulæ, sometimes on the subject of the arts alone, but oftener mixed up with chemical and medicinal receipts. These collections, still more heterogeneous in their contents as they received fresh additions from other hands, were afterwards published by secular physicians, under the title of 'Secreta.' The earliest of such manuals serve to show the nature of the researches which were undertaken in the convents for the practical benefit of the arts. Various motives might induce the monks to devote themselves with zeal to such pursuits. It has been seen that their chemical studies were analogous; that their knowledge of the materials fittest for technical purposes, derived as it was from experiments which they had abundant leisure to make, was likely to be of the best kind. Painting was holy in their eyes; and, although the excellence of the work depended on the artist, it was for them to ensure its durability. By a singular combination of circumstances, the employers of the artist, the purchasers of pictures (for such the fraternities were in the majority of cases), were often the manufacturers of the painter's materials. Here, then, was another plain and powerful reason for furnishing the best-prepared colours and vehicles. The cost of the finer pigments was, in almost every case, charged to the employer; but economy could be combined with excellence of quality, when the manufacture was undertaken by the inmates of the convent."

All that is asserted in this passage with respect to painting, holds equally good with regard to the materials requisite for the practice of the Art of Illumination; and the same treatises which are illustrative of art generally, almost invariably include specific instructions with regard to the particular branch of it that I am now endeavouring to illustrate.

Fortunately, the series of these "Secreta" both commences from a remote date, and is tolerably complete from that to a quite recent period. Scattered allusions to the processes of art and industry may be met with in the writings of several authors of the Alexandrian Neo-Platonic school in the early ages of the Church, from whom the Byzantine Greeks, no doubt, learnt much; but the most ancient collection on the subject is the treatise of Heraclius, or Eraclius, "de Artibus Romanorum."[^[103]] It would appear not to have been written earlier than the 7th or later than the 10th century,[^[104]] its art being, as Mr. Robert Hendrie, the learned translator and editor of the essay of Theophilus, of whom mention will presently be made, observes, "of the school of Pliny, increased, it is true, by Byzantine invention, but yet essentially Roman."[^[105]] The next collection, in point of age, is that published by Muratori,[^[106]] and well known as the "Lucca Manuscript," ascribed by Mabillon to the age of Charlemagne, and by Muratori himself to a period certainly not later than the 10th century. Its Latinity is barbarous, but I scarcely think I can do wrong in following the translation of so careful a writer as Sharon Turner in the following extracts, which treat of illumination, and give us a clear insight into the practice of the school founded under the patronage of the great Frankish emperor of the West.

The first I select refers to the preparation of the calf-skin.

"Put it under lime and let it lie for three days; then stretch it, scrape it well on both sides, and dry it; then stain it with the colours you wish."

The second directs how skins may be gilt.