Lessons in the Art of Illuminating Part 3

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VIII.

No book on this subject would be complete without something more than a pa.s.sing reference to the earliest of all the fas.h.i.+ons in illumination which have prevailed in our islands. This Plate gives some examples from the very curious ma.n.u.script in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, known as the "Book of Kells." This venerable volume contains the four Gospels in Latin, and, it is sometimes a.s.serted, dates from the seventh century, but more probably belongs to the ninth. The late Sir M. D. Wyatt says of it: "Of this very book Mr.

Westwood examined the pages, as I did, for hours together, without ever detecting a false line, or an irregular interlacement. In one s.p.a.ce of about a quarter of an inch superficial, he counted, with a magnifying gla.s.s, no less than one hundred and fifty-eight interlacements, of a slender ribbon pattern, formed of white lines, edged by black ones, upon a black ground. No wonder that tradition should allege that these unerring lines should have been traced by angels."

The examples before us are purposely taken from a less complicated page, but will be found sufficient to try the skill and patience of even the most painstaking student. The colors are rather more vivid than in the original, which has now greatly faded through age and ill-usage. There is little to be said as to the beauty of the design.

Grotesques have an attraction in spite of their ugliness: but we can hardly expect the most enthusiastic admirer of antiquity to imitate these extraordinary complications of form and color, except as an exercise of skill and patience. In one respect, however, early ma.n.u.scripts and especially ma.n.u.scripts of this cla.s.s, are well worthy of imitation. The writing is very clear and distinct. It is easier to read a charter of the seventh or the eighth century than one of the seventeenth. Illuminators might do worse than learn the old Irish alphabet, if only on this account.

There is no gilding in the Book of Kells, but some occurs in the contemporary, or nearly contemporary Book of Durham. The effect depends wholly on the skill of the scribe in using a very limited palette so as to make the most of it. The modern student would do well to remember this. A wide range of colors does not always conduce to bright or good coloring. Harmony is often found to follow from a sparing use of the more brilliant pigments at our disposal, with a careful eye to effect. The beginner too often imagines that he can make his border or his initial look well if he puts enough gold or vermilion on; but he should remember that the more sober and simple his scale of coloring the more splendid will the bright colors look when he does employ them. It is well to remember that absolute harmony is obtained by the use of blue, red, and yellow in these proportions:--blue, eight; red, five; yellow, three; and that all good pictures or illuminations must depend on this principle. White and black, and also in some cases gilding, may be treated as neutrals.

There is usually a sufficiency of black in the lettering of a page.

White, in the shape of dots and as heightening, may be largely employed if there is any want of harmony detected. Gold should not be used for this purpose, except in certain styles; and the student may rest a.s.sured that a design which does not look well without gold will not look better with it.

A few other specimens, without color, will be found on the back of Plate VIII. It might be good practice for the student to tint them in the style of the colored examples.

The Byzantine style, as it is called, prevailed about the same period in the countries of eastern and northern Europe. The books are of a very different but equally ungraceful character. The work is not so minute or complicated, but the lavish use of gold distinguishes them.

Sometimes a page is written in gold letters on vellum stained purple; sometimes the page is entirely gilt. None of the examples in the British Museum are worth the trouble and indeed expense of copying, but they are curious as specimens of barbaric splendour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Heraldic Lion.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE VIII.--EXAMPLES FROM THE BOOK OF KELLS, 9TH CENTURY.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: EARLY IRISH INITIAL LETTERS.]

DESCRIPTION OF PLATE IX.

(FRONTISPIECE.)

Such measure of perfection as had been attained by English illuminators in the latest period is well ill.u.s.trated by this Plate.

It is from a Book of Hours in the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth. Leave to copy it was kindly accorded to us by His Grace the late lamented Archbishop Tait. The volume is square in shape and rather thick, the vellum not being of the fineness seen in the Bibles of the thirteenth century, already noticed. It is numbered 474 in the Catalogue, and is described by Mr. S. W. Kershaw, F.S.A., in his book on the _Art Treasures of the Lambeth Library_, who a.s.signs it to the early part of the fifteenth century.

The illuminations in this book are admirable examples of what is known as the English flower pattern, a style, as we have already observed, which was as peculiar to our insular artists as the Perpendicular style in architecture. It was used for all kinds of ma.n.u.scripts, and even law deeds are sometimes to be seen thus ornamented. Even after the invention of printing it continued to flourish for a while; and books are sometimes found printed on vellum abroad, and illuminated in England with the beautiful native flower pattern in borders and initials.

Mr. Kershaw observes regarding the book from which the present page has been taken: "This, a very nice example, is fairly written, and ornamented with a profusion of beautiful illuminated initials of English art. The volume contains but two miniature paintings, the remainder usually found in MSS. of this cla.s.s having been abstracted.

The initial letters vary in size and pattern; they are all upon backgrounds of gold, and frequently form with their finials short marginal ornaments of elegant tracery work. Pink, blue, and orange brown are the prevailing colors, the blue being often heightened on the outer edge with flat white tints. The larger initials are rich in design and varied in their coloring, and would supply the artist or amateur with abundant materials for study."

I would desire to call the student's attention to one or two points of importance. In imitating or copying work of this kind it is well to observe that though the artist appears to have used the utmost freedom of line and direction, he has really been most careful in his composition. The initial O comes well out from among its surroundings, and is not overpowered by the weight of its dependent ornament. The scroll-work requires especial attention. That which fills the centre of the letter appears to press tightly against the edge, and is so arranged as to fill completely the vacancy for which it is intended.

There is nothing limp about it. Too often modern work can be detected by its want of what I must call the crispness of the original.

With regard to the writing, it will be observed that a great change in the form of the letters has taken place since the thirteenth century.

The difference between u and n is often hardly perceptible, and has led to many curious mistakes. Nevertheless, if the student is careful about such particulars, this is a very beautiful style, and admirably suited for modern requirements. The colors used by the artist who copied this page were as follows:--for the blue, Prussian, lined and dotted with Chinese White; for the pink, Lake and Chinese White, shaded with the same color darker; the deepest shadows are Lake; for the orange, pale Indian Yellow for the lights, shaded with Burnt Sienna, and Lake for the deepest shadows.

In some books illuminated in this style the centre of the letter is occupied with a scene containing figures, and occasionally a picture extends across the page, the initial fitting close up to it. The picture, in this case, is always surrounded with a double line or framework of blue, or red, and gold; and the color has a delicate white line on it, and occasionally gives out a branch which, crossing the gold line, bursts into flower in the margin. This style was largely used for official doc.u.ments for a long period, and many excellent facsimiles representing examples are to be found as frontispieces to the volumes of the Roll Series. It lasted with more or less modification until the reign of Charles I.

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SIMPLE LESSONS IN FLOWER PAINTING.

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STUDIES OF TREES.

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