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

by W. J. Loftie

Gamboge.	Crimson Lake.	Burnt Umber.	Prussian Blue.
Indian Yellow.	Sepia.	Lamp Black.	Burnt Sienna.
Vermilion.	Emerald Green.	Chinese White.	Cobalt.
Yellow Ochre.

A little experimental practice with the colors will do more to show the various combinations of which they are capable than any lengthy exposition. Various portions of color may be tried, particularly for the more delicate tints, for greys, neutrals, and quiet compounds, where great purity is required, and the most pleasing noted for future use.

There are two methods or styles of coloring, which are used either alone, or in conjunction. In the Celtic, and other early styles, including that of the fourteenth century, where the colors are used flat—no relief by shading being given—it is purely a surface decoration, the colors well contrasted, merely graduated from deep to pale, and outlined with a clear, black outline. The masses of color or gold are here usually enriched by diapers, while the stems, leaves, &c., are elaborated by being worked over with delicate hair-line finishings on the darker ground. The other method of treating ornamental forms embraces a wide range of style of illuminating, approaching more nearly to Nature in treatment, the ornament being more or less shaded naturally, or conventionalized to some extent. It is important to lay the color evenly in painting, not getting it in ridges, or piling it in lumps, as the amateur is apt to do. This will be best attained by painting as evenly as possible with the brush, mostly in one direction, and not too full of color, and refraining from going back over the parts just painted, if it can be avoided. Patches always show, more or less, and can hardly ever be made to look smooth.

Gold, Silver, &c.—To the inexperienced, the laying on of gold or silver may seem a difficult affair; but it is really comparatively easy, especially when gold and silver shells, sold by artists' colormen, are used. These contain the pure metal ground very fine with gum, and need no preparation. When a drop of water is added, the gold can be removed from the shell, and used with the brush in the ordinary way as a color. One brush should be kept for painting gold or other metallic preparations. As silver is liable to turn black, we would advise the use of aluminium instead, which is not affected by the atmosphere. It can be had in shells in the same manner. In applying gold, or other metal, it should be painted very level and even, especially if it is to be burnished, which make irregularities more prominent. Gold that is to be burnished should be applied before any of the coloring is begun, as the burnisher is apt to mark and injure the effect of the adjoining parts. When the gold is laid on, put a piece of glazed writing paper over it, and, with the burnisher, rub the paper briskly, pressing the particles of gold into a compact film: this gives it a smooth even surface. In this way it is principally used, and is called mat gold. For burnished gold, the paper is removed, and the agate rubbed briskly upon the gold surface, not dwelling too long upon any one part, until a fine, evenly-bright metallic surface is produced. Rubbing the gold lightly with the finger, after touching the skin or hair, facilitates the action of the burnisher.

Preparing for Work, &c.—The vellum or paper having been strained, the surface will, when dry, be perfectly flat and smooth. If the paper or vellum is to be much worked upon, it will be found advantageous to fasten it to a board by drawing-pins or by glueing the edges, having previously damped the back; when this is dry, the surface will be perfectly level, and not apt to bag in working. Paper so mounted should be larger than the size required, to allow for cutting off the soiled margin when completed. To prevent the margins being soiled, a sheet of paper should now be fastened as a mask over the page, with a flap the size of the work cut in it, by folding back portions of which any part of the surface may be worked upon without exposing the rest.

It is almost impossible to erase pencil lines from vellum. The black lead, uniting with the animal matter of the skin, can never be properly got out—India rubber or bread only rubbing it into a greasy smudge. It is, therefore, better to prepare a complete outline of the design upon paper first, which can afterwards be transferred to the strained sheet. For this purpose tracing paper is required, possessing this advantage, that corrections upon the sketch can be made in tracing, and, in placing it upon the vellum, if the sheet has been previously squared off for the work, its proper position can be readily seen and determined. The tracing paper should be about one inch larger each way, to allow of its being fastened to the mask over the exposed surface of the page. A piece of transfer paper of a convenient size is then placed under the tracing. When the tracing is fixed in its proper position by a touch of gum or paste at the upper corners, slip the transfer paper, with the chalked side downwards, between the vellum and the tracing, and tack down the bottom corners of the tracing in the same way, to prevent shifting. Seated at a firm table or desk of a convenient height, with the strained paper or drawing board slightly on an incline, the amateur may consider all ready for work. All the lines of the tracing are first to be gone over with the tracing point, or a very hard pencil cut sharp will answer the purpose. A corner may be raised occasionally to see that the tracing is not being done too firmly or so faintly as to be almost invisible. A piece of stout card should be kept under the hand while tracing, to avoid marking the clean page with the prepared transfer paper underneath, by undue pressure of the fingers.

For larger work, not requiring such nicety of detail, the sketch may be transferred direct—especially if the paper is thin—without the use of tracing paper, by merely chalking the back of the drawing, and going over the lines with the tracing point; but the other method is best, and the transfer paper may be used over and over again.

When the subject is carefully traced on the prepared page, and the tracing and transfer paper removed, it will be best to begin with the text. The experienced illuminator will generally, after arranging his designs and spacing out his text, with the initial letters in their proper places, transfer all to his vellum, and do the writing before he begins coloring, covering up all the page except the portion he is working upon. When the lettering is complete, it will in its turn be covered, to prevent its being soiled while the border is being painted.

Work out the painting as directed under "Colors," beginning with the gold where it is in masses, burnishing it level when dry, as before explained: smaller portions can more readily be done afterwards. Paint each color the full strength at once, keeping in mind that it becomes lighter when dry, and finishing each color up to the last stage before beginning another.

Outlining and Finishing.—When the work is at this stage, the colors will have a dull and hopeless appearance; but, as the outline is added, it changes to one more pleasing. The addition of the fine white edging and hair-line finishings (as in fourteenth-century style), still further heightens the effect, giving the appearance of great elaborateness and brilliancy to the coloring, and beauty and decision to the forms. In the conventional style of treatment in coloring, a careful outline is an imperative necessity, and, in this part of the work, practice in the use of the brush is essential. Sometimes objects are outlined in a deeper shade of the local color—as a pink flower or spray with lake, pale blue with darker blue, &c.; but this is not very usual. In the real or natural treatment of the objects forming the subject of the illumination, an outline is seldom used, everything being colored and shaded as in Nature. Lamp black with a little gum water will be found the best medium, being capable of making a very fine or a firm line, at the same time retaining its intense glossy black appearance. A little practice will enable the learner to know the best consistency to make the ink. As it evaporates, a few drops of water may be added, and rubbed up with the brush or finger. For hair-line finishing, either light lines upon a darker ground or vice versâ, the same kind of brush will be used as for outlining. For diapers of a geometrical character, the drawing-pen and small bow-pen will be of great use, either upon color or gold grounds. The ivory tracing point is used to indent upon gold scrolls or diapers. Sometimes there is put over the entire back-ground a multitude of minute points of gold, but not too close together, and punctured with the point of the agate or tracing-point, producing a beautiful glittering effect.