THE MATERIALS AND TECHNICAL PROCESSES OF THE ILLUMINATOR (_continued_).
_Vehicles used._
_The coloured pigments of the illuminators._ Though mediaeval manuscripts
are splendid and varied in colour to the highest possible degree, yet all
this wealth of decorative effect was produced by a very few pigments, and
with the simplest of _media_, such as _size_ made by boiling down shreds of
vellum or fish-bones[264], or else gum-arabic, or occasionally white of egg
or a mixture both of the yoke and the white[265]. In the main the technique
of manuscript illumination is the same as that of panel pictures executed
in distemper (_tempera_). An oil medium was unsuited to manuscript work
because the oil spoilt the beautiful opaque whiteness of the vellum and
made the painting show through to the other side[266].
_Ultramarine blue._
_Blue pigments._ The most important blue pigment, both during classical and
mediaeval times, was the costly and very beautiful _ultramarine_
(_azzurrum[267] transmarinum_), which was made from _lapis lazuli_, a
mineral chiefly imported from Persia. This _ultramarine_ blue was the
_cyanus_ or _coeruleum_ of Theophrastus and Pliny. It is not only the most
magnificent of all blue pigments, but is also the most durable, even when
exposed to light for a very long period.
_Its manufacture._
The general principle of the manufacture of ultramarine is very simple;
consisting merely in grinding the _lapis lazuli_ to powder, and then
separating, by repeated washing, the deep blue particles from the rest of
the stone[268]. The process of extracting the blue was made easier if the
_lapis lazuli_ was first calcined by heat. This is the modern method, and
was occasionally done in mediaeval times, but it injures the depth and
brilliance of the pigment, and in the finest manuscripts ultramarine was
used which had been prepared by the better though more laborious process
without the aid of heat.
_Its great value._
The proportion of pure blue in a lump of _lapis lazuli_ is much smaller
than it looks; the stone was and is rare and costly, and thus the finest
ultramarine of the mediaeval painters was often worth considerably more
than double its weight in gold[269].
Both in classical and mediaeval times it was usual for the patron who had
ordered a picture to supply the necessary _ultramarine_ to the artist, who
was only expected to provide the less costly pigments in return for the sum
for which he had contracted to execute the work.
_Method of theft._
Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ XXXIII. 120) tells a story of a trick played by a
painter on his employer, who suspiciously watched the artist to see that he
did not abstract any of the precious _ultramarine_ which had been doled out
to him. At frequent intervals the painter washed his brush, dipped in the
ultramarine, in a vessel of water; the heavy pigment sank to the bottom,
and at the end of the day the artist poured off the water and secured the
mass of powdered ultramarine at the bottom.
It is interesting to note that Vasari, in his _life of Perugino_, tells
precisely this story about Pietro, who was annoyed at the suspicions
expressed by a certain Prior for whom he was painting a fresco[270]. The
Prior was in despair at the enormous amount of pigment that the thirsty
wall sucked in, and he was agreeably surprised when, at the conclusion of
the work, Perugino returned to him a large quantity of _ultramarine_, as a
lesson that he should not suspect a gentleman of being a thief.
_Ultramarine scraped off._
The library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, possesses a manuscript
which affords a curious proof of the great value of ultramarine to the
mediaeval illuminator. This is a magnificent copy of the _Vulgate_ by a
German scribe of the twelfth century, copiously illustrated with miniature
pictures, many of which had backgrounds, either partially or wholly,
covered with ultramarine. All through the book the ultramarine has in
mediaeval times been very carefully and completely scraped off, no doubt
for use in another manuscript. This theft has been accomplished with such
skill that wonderfully little injury has been done to the beautiful
illuminations, except, of course, the loss of splendour caused by the
abstraction of the ultramarine.
_Impasto._
In illuminated manuscripts _ultramarine_ is very freely used. It is
specially noticeable for the thick body (_impasto_) in which it is applied,
so as very often to stand out in visible relief. The reason of this is that
this, and some other blue pigments, lose much of their depth of colour if
they are ground into very fine powder. Hence both the ultramarine and
_smalto_ blues are always applied in comparatively coarse grained powder;
and this of course necessitates the application of a thick body of colour.
_Ancient cyanus._
_Smalto blues._ Next in importance to the real ultramarine come the
artificial _smalto_ or "_enamel_" blues, which were used largely in Egypt
at a very early date under the name of artificial _cyanus_; see Pliny,
_Hist. Nat._ XXXVII. 119. Among the Greeks and Romans too this was a
pigment of great importance, and when skilfully made is but little inferior
in beauty to the natural ultramarine.
_Vitreous pigment._
_Smalto blue_ is simply a powdered blue glass or vitreous enamel, coloured
with an oxide or carbonate of copper. Vitruvius (VII. xi. 1) describes the
method of making it by fusing in a crucible the materials for ordinary
bottle-glass, mixed with a quantity of copper filings. The alcaline
silicate of the glass frit acts upon the copper, which slowly combines with
the glass, giving it a deep blue colour. The addition of a little oxide of
tin turns it into an opaque blue enamel, which when cold was broken up with
a hammer, and then powdered, but not too finely, in a mortar.
Smalto blue is largely used for the simple blue initials which alternate
with red ones in an immense number of manuscripts. The glittering particles
of the powdered glass can easily be distinguished by a minute examination.
Like the ultramarine, the smalto blue is always applied in a thick layer.
The monk Theophilus (II. 12), who wrote during a period of some artistic
and technical decadence, the eleventh century, advises the glass-painter
who wants a good blue to search among some ancient Roman ruins for the fine
coloured _tesserae_ of glass mosaics, which were so largely used by the
Romans to decorate their walls and vaults, and then to pound them for use.
_German blue._
_Azzurro Tedesco_ or _Azzurro della Magna_, German blue, was much used by
the illuminators as a cheap substitute for ultramarine. This appears to
have been a native compound of carbonate of copper of a brilliant blue
colour. It was occasionally used to adulterate the costly ultramarine, but
this fraud was easily discovered by heating a small quantity of the pigment
on the blade of a knife; it underwent no change if it was pure; but if
adulterated with _Azzurro della Magna_ it showed signs of blackening[271].
_Indigo._
_Indigo blue._ The above-mentioned blues are all of a mineral character,
and are durable under almost any circumstances. To some extent however the
vegetable _indigo_ blue was also used for manuscript illuminations, both
alone and also to make a compound purple colour.
_Method of using dyes._
Colours of all kinds prepared from vegetable or animal substances required
a special treatment to fit them for use as pigments in solid or _tempera_
painting. Though indigo and other colours of a similar class are the best
and simplest of dyes for woven stuffs, yet they are too thin in body to use
alone as pigments. Thus both in classical and mediaeval times these
dye-pigments were prepared by making a small quantity of white earth,
powdered chalk or the like absorb a large quantity of the thin dye, which
thus was brought into a concentrated and solid, opaque form, not a mere
stain as it would otherwise have been.
These kinds of pigments are described by Pliny, _Hist. Nat._ XXXV. 44 and
46; and by Vitruvius, VII. xiv. Eraclius in his work on technique, _De
artibus Romanorum_, calls them _colores infectivi_, "dyed colours," an
accurately expressive phrase.
One method, occasionally used for the cheaper class of manuscripts, was to
paint on to the vellum with white lead, and then to colour it by repeated
application of a brush dipped in the thin dye-pigment. Many of the colours
mentioned below belong to this class.
_Terra verde._
_Green pigments._ A fine soft green much used in early manuscripts is a
natural earthy pigment called _terra verde_ or green _Verona earth_. This
needs little preparation, except washing, and is of the most durable kind;
it is a kind of ochre, coloured, not with iron, but by the natural presence
of copper.
_Verdigris green._
A much more brilliant green pigment was made of _verdigris_ (_verderame_)
or carbonate of copper, produced very easily by moistening metallic copper
with vinegar or by exposing it to the fumes of acetic acid in a closed
earthen vessel; see Theophilus, I. 37.
_Verdigris green_ was much used by manuscript illuminators, especially
during the fifteenth century, when a very unpleasant harsh and gaudy green
appears to have been popular. When softened by an admixture of white
pigment, verdigris gives a pleasanter and softer colour.
_Chrysocolla._
A native carbonate of copper, which was called by the Romans
_chrysocolla_[272], was also used for mediaeval manuscripts. It is,
however, harsh in tint if not tempered with white. Both the last-named
pigments were specially used with yoke of egg as a medium.
_Prasinum_, a vegetable green made by staining powdered chalk with the
green of the leek, was sometimes used.
Cennino Cennini also recommends a grass green made by mixing orpiment
(sulphuret of arsenic) and indigo.
One of the best and most commonly used greens was made by a mixture of
smalto blue and yellow ochre; other mixtures were also used.
_Red pigments._ Red and blue are by far the most important of the colours
used in illuminated manuscripts, and it is wonderful to see what variety of
effect is often produced by the use of these two colours only.
_Vermilion and minium._
The chief red pigments used by illuminators are vermilion (_cinnabar_ or
sulphuret of mercury) and red lead (_minium_), from which the words
_miniator_ and _miniature_ were derived, as is explained above at page
31[273].
Both these pigments are very brilliant and durable reds, the more costly
vermilion is the more beautiful of the two; it has a slightly orange tint.
_Mixed reds._
Illuminators commonly used the two colours mixed. One receipt recommends
one-third of red lead combined with two-thirds of vermilion; Jehan le
Begue's manuscript, § 177 (Mrs Merrifield's edition, Vol. I. page 141).
Vermilion was prepared by slowly heating together metallic mercury with
sulphur. Red lead (a protoxide of lead) was made by roasting white lead or
else _litharge_ (ordinary lead oxide) till it absorbed a larger proportion
of oxygen.
_Ochre reds._
_Rubrica_ or _Indian red_ was a less brilliant pigment, which also was
largely used in illuminated manuscripts, especially for headings, notes and
the like, which were hence called _rubrics_. _Rubrica_ is a fine variety of
_red ochre_, an earth naturally coloured by oxide of iron[274]; another
variety was called bole Armeniac. In classical times the _rubrica of
Sinope_ was specially valued for its fine colour.
In addition to these mineral and very permanent reds there were some more
fugitive vegetable and animal scarlets and reds which were used in
illuminated manuscripts.
_Murex._
_Murex._ One of these, the _murex_ shell-fish, has already been mentioned
for its use as a dye for the vellum of the magnificent Byzantine and
Carolingian gold-written manuscripts. The _murex_ was also used as a _color
infectivus_ by concentrating it on powdered chalk[275].
_Kermes._
_Kermes._ Another very beautiful and important carmine-red pigment was made
from the little _kermes_[276] beetle (_coccus_) which lives on the ilex
oaks of Syria and the Peloponnese. It is rather like the _cochineal_ beetle
of Mexico, but produces a finer and more durable colour, especially when
used as a dye. For the woven stuffs of classical and mediaeval times, and
in the East even at the present day, the kermes is one of the most
beautiful and important of all the colours used for dyeing. The mediaeval
name for the kermes red was _rubeum de grana_; when required for use as a
pigment it appears to have been usual, not to extract the colour directly
from the beetle, but to get it out of clippings of red cloth which had been
dyed with the kermes, by boiling the cloth in a weak solution of alkali and
precipitating the red pigment from the water with the help of alum.
The reason for this method is not apparent. Possibly it was first done as a
means of utilizing waste clippings of the costly red cloth, and then, when
the habit was established, no other method was known to the colour-makers,
who in some cases bought pieces of cloth on purpose to cut them up and use
in this way[277]. The _scarletum blanketum_ mentioned at page 234 was
bought for this purpose.
_Madder._
_Madder-red_ was also used as a pigment by boiling the root of the
madder-plant (_rubia-tinctorium_), and then using the concentrated extract
to dye powdered chalk. Various red and purple flowers, such as the violet,
were used in the same way as _colores infectivi_.
_Lac._
_Lake-red_ (_lacca_ or _lac_) was made and called after a natural gum or
resin, the _lach_ of India; see Cennino Cennini, § 44.
This is a beautiful transparent colour, which, in some fine manuscripts of
the fifteenth century, is used as a transparent glaze over burnished gold,
the effect of which is very magnificent, as the metallic gleam of the gold
shines through the deep transparent red of the over-painting. Lake was also
used as an opaque, solid pigment by mixing it with white, which at once
gave it "body," and destroyed its transparency.
_Purple_ of a very magnificent tint was occasionally made by a mixture of
_ultramarine_ with the carmine-red of the kermes beetle; this was specially
used by the illuminators of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
_Yellows._
_Yellow ochre_, a fine earth pigment coloured by iron, was the principal
yellow of the illuminators.
In late manuscripts _orpiment_ (sulphuret of arsenic), which is a more
brilliant lemon-yellow, was occasionally used; see Cennino Cennini, § 47.
_Litharge yellow_, an oxide of lead, was another important colour, but more
especially for the painter in oil, who used it very largely as a
drier[278].
Another fine ochreous earth of a rich brown colour was the _terra di Siena_
or "raw Siena"; the colour of this was made warmer in tint by roasting,
thus producing "burnt Siena."
_Use of white._
_White pigments_ were perhaps the most important of all to the illuminator,
who usually only used pure colours for his deepest shadows; all lights and
half tints, both in miniature pictures and in decorative foliage, being
painted with a large admixture of white. The use of this system of
colouring by Fra Angelico and many painters of the Sienese school has been
already referred to; see page 190.
For this reason it was very important to use a pure and durable white
pigment which would combine well with other colours.
Lime white.
_Bianco di San Giovanni_ was in all respects one of the best of the whites
used by illuminators.
This was simply pure _lime-white_, made by burning the finest white marble;
the lime was then washed in abundance of pure water, then very fine ground
and finally dried in cakes of a convenient size; see Cennino Cennini, § 58;
and Theophilus, I. 19. The medium used with it was the purest size or gum
Arabic of the most colourless kind.
Another white pigment was made of powdered chalk and finely ground
egg-shells; this was a less cold white than the bianco di San Giovanni.
_White lead._
_White lead_ (_cerusa_ or _biacca_) was also used[279], especially by the
later illuminators, but with very unfortunate results, since white lead is
liable to turn to a metallic grey or even black if exposed to any impure
sulphurous atmosphere.
Many beautiful manuscripts have suffered much owing to the blackening of
their high lights which had been touched in with white lead; especially
manuscripts exposed to the gas- and smoke-poisoned air of London or other
large cities.
_Process of manufacture._
The _biacca_ of the mediaeval illuminator was made in exactly the same way
that Vitruvius and Pliny describe; see Vitr. VII. xii.; and Pliny, _Hist.
Nat._ XXXIV. 175.
A roll of lead was placed in a clay _dolium_ or big vase, which had a
little vinegar at the bottom. The top was then luted down, and the jar was
left in a warm place for a week or so, till the fumes of the acetic acid
had converted the surface of the lead into a crust of carbonate. This
carbonate of lead was then flaked off and purified by repeated grinding and
washing.
In order to keep the white pigments perfectly pure, some illuminators used
to keep them under water, so that no dust could reach them.
_Black inks._ Two inks of quite different kinds were used for the ordinary
text of mediaeval manuscripts.
_Carbon ink._
One of these was a pure carbon-black (modern Indian or Chinese ink); this
has been described under the classical name _atramentum librarium_[280];
see above, page 27. The great advantage of this carbon ink is that it never
fades; it is not a _dye_ or _stain_, but it consists of very minute
particles of carbon which rest on the surface of the vellum.
_Iron ink._
The other variety was like modern black writing ink, only of very superior
quality. This acts as a dye, staining the vellum a little below the
surface. Unfortunately it is liable to fade, though when kept from the
light (as in most manuscripts) it has stood the test of time very well.
Sometimes the mediaeval illuminators distinguished these two kinds of black
ink, calling the first _atramentum_ and the second _encaustum_; but
frequently the names are used indifferently for either: see Theophilus, I.
40. The _encaustum_ was made by boiling oak-bark or gall-nuts, which are
rich in tannin, in acid wine with some iron filings or vitriol (sulphate of
iron). The combination of the iron and the tannin gives the inky
black[281]. Both these black inks were used with gum Arabic.
_Beauty of the plain text._
A great part of the beauty of mediaeval manuscripts is quite unconnected
with their illumination. The plain portion of the text, from the exquisite
forms of its letters and the beautiful glossy black of the ink on the
creamy ivory-like vellum page, lighted up here and there by the crisp touch
of the rubricator's red, is a thing of extraordinary beauty and charm. This
perfection of technique in the writing and beauty of the letters lasted
considerably longer than did the illuminator's art. Hence in some of the
manuscripts of the period of decadence, executed during the fifteenth
century, the plain black and red text is very superior in style to the
painted ornament; and one cannot, in some cases, help regretting that the
manuscript has not escaped the disfigurement of a coarse or gaudy scheme of
illumination.
_Red inks_ were of three chief kinds, namely the _vermilion_, _red lead_,
and _rubrica_ or red ochre, which have been already mentioned.
_Purple ink._
_Purple ink_ was used largely, not often for writing, but for the delicate
pen ornaments of the initials in certain classes of late Italian and German
manuscripts. A vegetable pigment seems to have been used for this; the
lines appear to be stained, and do not consist of a body-colour resting on
the surface of the vellum.
_Gold writing_ is usually executed with the fluid gold pigment, but in
later manuscripts very gorgeous titles and headings are sometimes done with
burnished leaf gold applied on the raised mordant, the writing being first
done with a pen dipped in the fluid mordant.
_The pencils and pens of the Illuminator._ Two quite different classes of
pencils were used for lightly sketching in the outline of the future floral
design or miniature.
_Lead point._
One of these was the silver-point or lead-point[282], very much like the
metallic pencil of a modern pocket-book. The use of the silver-point was
known in classical times; Pliny (_Hist. Nat._ XXXIII. 98) remarks as a
strange thing that a white metal like silver should make a black line when
used to draw with. It is, however, rather a faint grey than a black line
that a point of pure silver makes, especially on vellum, and so it was more
usual for illuminators to use a softer pencil of mixed lead and tin;
Cennino recommends two parts of lead to one of tin[283] for making the lead
point, _piombino_.
_Red pencil._
Another kind of pencil was made of a soft red stone, which owed its colour
to oxide of iron. From its fine blood-red tint the illuminators called it
_haematita_, _lapis amatista_ or _amatito_, hence an ordinary lead pencil
is now called either _lapis_ or _matita_ in Italy. This stone is quite
different from the hard _haematite_ which was used in classical times for
the early cylinder-signets of Assyria.
_Burnisher._
The harder varieties of the _amatista_ or _haematite_ were used to burnish
the gold leaf in manuscripts, small pieces being polished and fixed in a
convenient handle. They were also used as a red pigment, the stone being
calcined, quenched in water and finely ground; see Cennino Cennini, § 42.
Besides the hard red chalky stone (_amatita rossa_) used for outlines by
the illuminators, a somewhat similar black stone (_amatita nera_) was also
used, but not so commonly as the red.
_Reed pens._
_The pens of illuminators._ In early times, throughout, that is, the whole
classical period and probably till about the time of Justinian, the sixth
century A.D., scribes' pens were mostly made of reeds (_calamus_ or
_canna_); and occasionally silver or bronze pens were used; see above, page
29.
But certainly as early as the eighth century A.D. and probably before that,
quill-pens came into use and superseded the blunter and softer reed-pen.
_Fine quills._
Such exquisitely fine lines as those in many classes of mediaeval
manuscripts could only have been made with some very fine and delicate
instrument like a skilfully cut crow's quill or other moderately small
feather.
The pen was a very important instrument for the illuminator, not only when
his pictures were mainly executed in pen outline, like many of those in the
later Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, but also in such microscopically delicate
miniature work as that in the Anglo-Norman _historiated Bibles_ of the
thirteenth century; in these much of the most important drawing, such as
the features and the hair of the figures, was executed, not with a brush,
but with a quill-pen, which in the illuminator's skilful hand could produce
a quality of line which for delicacy and crisp precision of touch has never
been surpassed by the artists of any other class or age.
_Brushes._
_Brushes_ were, as a rule, made by the illuminators themselves, so as to
suit their special needs and system of working. Cennino (§§ 63 to 66) and
other writers give directions for the selection of the best hair and the
mode of fixing it so as to give a finely pointed brush. Ermine, minever and
other animals of that tribe supplied the best hair for the brushes required
for very minute work. But a great number of other animals provided useful
material to the craftsman who knew the right places to select the hair
from, and, a still more important thing, understood how to arrange and fix
it in a bundle of the best form.
_List of tools._
_The implements of scribes and illuminators._ The following is a list of
the principal tools and materials required by the illuminator of
manuscripts, including those which have been already described[284].
Pens, pencils and chalk of various sorts, as described above.
Brushes made of minever, badger and other kinds of hair.
Grinding-slabs and rubbers of porphyry or other hard stone, and a bronze
mortar.
Sharp penknife and palette knife.
Rulers, and a metal ruling-pen.
Dividers to prick out the guiding-lines of the text.
Scissors for shaping the gold leaf.
Burnishers, stamps, and _stili_ for ornamenting the gold.
Small horns to hold black and red ink; see fig. 53 on page 209.
Colour-box, palette, pigments, gold leaf and _media_ of various kinds.
Sponge and pumice-stone for erasures.
_Paintings of scribes._
Miniatures representing a scribe writing a manuscript are the commonest of
all subjects in several classes of illuminated manuscripts. For example the
first capital of Saint Jerome's _Prologue_ in the historiated Anglo-Norman
_Vulgates_ almost always has a very minute painting of a monastic
scribe[285], seated, writing on a sloping desk, with his pen in one hand
and his penknife in the other[286].
_The scribes' processes._
In one respect such scenes are always treated in a conventional way; that
is, the scribe is represented writing in a complete and bound book, whereas
both the writing of the text and the illuminations were done on loose
sheets of vellum, which could be conveniently pinned down flat on the desk
or drawing-board.
The processes employed in the execution of an illuminated manuscript of the
fourteenth or fifteenth century were the following;
_First_, if the text were to be in one column, four lines were ruled
marking the boundaries of the patch of text and the margin. These four
lines usually cross at the angles and are carried to the extreme edge of
the vellum[287].
_Ruled lines._
Next, the scribe, with a pair of dividers or compasses, pricked out at even
distances the number of lines which were to be ruled to serve as a guide in
writing the text. These pricked holes were, as a rule, set at the extreme
edge of the vellum, and were intended to be cut off by the binder, but in
many manuscripts they still remain. The scribe then filled the space within
the first four marginal lines with parallel ruled lines at the intervals
indicated by the pricks at the edge.
_Stilus lines._
In early manuscripts the guiding lines to keep the text even are usually
ruled, not with colour or ink, but simply traced with a pointed _stilus_,
which made a sufficiently clear impressed line on the vellum, showing
through from one side to the other.
_Lead lines._
_Red lines._
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the practice began of ruling the
lines with a _lead point_; and then, from the fourteenth century onwards,
they were usually ruled with bright red pigment[288]; this has a very
decorative effect in lighting up the mass of black text, and thus we find
in many early printed books[289] these red guiding lines have been ruled in
merely for the sake of their ornamental appearance.
This ruling was nearly always done with special metal ruling-pens, very
like those now used for architectural drawing; and thus the lines are
perfectly even in thickness throughout.
_The plain text._
The next stage in the work was the writing of the plain black text. In
early times it appears to have been usual, or at least not uncommon, for
the same hand to write the text and add the painted illuminations, but when
the production of illuminated manuscripts came mostly into secular hands,
the trades of the scribe and the illuminator were usually practised by
different people; and in late times a further division still took place,
and the miniaturist frequently became separated from the decorative
illuminator.
_Guiding letters._
Thus we find that in many manuscripts the scribe has introduced in the
blank spaces minute guiding letters[290] to tell the illuminator what each
initial was to be, and, especially in fifteenth century Italian
manuscripts, instructions are added for the miniaturist, telling him what
the subject of each picture was to be. These instructions were commonly
written on the edge of the page so that they were cut off by the binder,
but in many cases they still exist, not obliterated by the subsequent
painting.
But to return to the progress of the page, when the scribe had finished the
plain text, leaving the necessary blank spaces for the illuminated capitals
and miniatures, the work of decoration then began.
_Decoration._
As a rule the decorative foliage and the like was finished before the
separate miniatures, if there were any, were begun. First the illuminator
lightly sketched in outline the design of the ornament, using a lead point.
Next, wherever burnished gold was to be introduced, the thick
mordant-ground was laid on; the gold leaf was then applied and finished
with tooling and burnishing.
_Gold leaf._
The reason why the gold was applied before any of the painting was begun
was this; the long rubbing with the burnisher acted not only on the gold
leaf, but also naturally rubbed the vellum a little way all round it. This
would have smudged the painting round the gold if it had been applied
first. Moreover, the burnisher was liable to carry small particles of gold
on to the surrounding vellum, which would have given a ragged look to the
design, if the adjacent surfaces had not been subsequently covered with
pigment. In cases where there is an isolated gold boss there is usually a
slight disfigurement from the burnisher rubbing the vellum all round the
gold. In these cases the outline of the gold was made clean and definite by
the addition of a strong black outline, as is mentioned above.
_The painting._
When the whole of the burnished gold was finished, the painting was then
executed. If any fluid gold pigment were used, that was usually added last
of all.
_Transferred patterns._
In some cases, in the later and cheaper French and Flemish manuscripts, the
ornaments in the borders were not specially designed and sketched in for
the manuscripts but previously used outline patterns were transferred on to
the vellum by a bone _stilus_ and ordinary transfer paper, made by rubbing
red chalk all over its surface.
In some of the better class of manuscripts with the "ivy-leaf" border, the
illuminator has made the general design of one page serve for the next one
in this way; when he had drawn in the main lines of the scroll-pattern on
the borders of one page, he held the vellum up to the light and so was able
to trace the pattern through from the other side of the leaf. To prevent
monotony he varied the design by introducing different little blossoms
among the repeated scroll-work which formed the main pattern.
_Preparation for binding._
When the _scribe_, the _rubricator_, the _illuminator_ and the
_miniaturist_ (either as one or as several different people) had completed
the manuscript it was ready for the _binder_. As an indication of the order
in which the leaves of the manuscript were to be bound, the scribe usually
placed on the lower margin of the last page of each "gathering" of leaves a
letter or number.
In the earliest printed books these guiding letters, or _signatures_ as
they are called, were added by hand in the same way[291]; but in a few
years the regular and more developed system of printed _signatures_ was
introduced[292].
_Scribes' signatures._
Scribes' signatures at the end of manuscripts are comparatively rare, but
they do occasionally occur in various interesting forms. My friend Mr W. J.
Loftie kindly sends me the following:
In a Sarum _Missal_ of the fifteenth century at Alnwick Castle,
"Librum scribendo Jon Whas[293] monachus laborabat,
Et mane surgendo multum corpus macerabat."
More commonly manuscripts terminate with a vague phrase invoking a blessing
on the scribe, such as this, from a Bible in the Bodleian (No. 50),
"Qui scripsit hunc librum
Fiat collectum in paradisum."
Or this, which occurs in several manuscripts,
"Qui scripsit scribat,
Semper cum Deo vivat."
_Owner's name._
In another manuscript _Vulgate_ in the Bodleian (No. 75), the owner of the
book, who was named _Gerardus_, has recorded the fact in this fanciful
way,--
"Ge ponatur et rar simul associatur
Et dus reddatur cui pertinet ita vocatur."