Abraham and Isaac
(Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 10525. 8½ × 6 inches)
PSALTER OF SAINT LOUIS. Gothic, 13th Century
Psalms lxviii. 1–3
(Bibl. Nat. MS. Lat. 10525. 8½ × 6 inches)
All this is interesting because this period marks the end of the needless limitations illuminators placed upon themselves. Working on vellum as a medium instead of in glass with lead outlines, should be a much simpler operation! Still, one can’t help reveling in the bright scarlet and the rich blue of the stained glass, and would be loath to give it up.
The volume is bound in old boards, covered with blue and rose material embossed with silver and reinforced with velvet. The clasps are gone.
The style of illumination in the thirteenth century shows no distinct national characteristics, for, even in England, some of the work was executed by French artists. The initial is usually set within a frame shaped to its outline, the ground being either of gold, slightly raised or burnished, or of color, especially dark blue and pale tints of salmon, gray, or violet, sometimes edged with gold.