[Illustration]
Emblematic Illumination;
OR,
Forms, Colours, and Emblems
SUITABLE FOR
ILLUMINATING TEXTS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE
IN LARGE STYLE,
_IN OILS OR WATER-COLOURS_.
COLLECTED AND EDITED
BY F. M. R.
[Illustration]
_London_: DAY AND SON, _Lithographers to the Queen_,
6 GATE STREET, LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS.
_Price 5s. 6d._
PREFACE.
The Editor of the following pages has no desire to offer them in
competition with the numerous and useful Handbooks on Illumination
already published. All those that the writer has met with--some eight
or ten--have been almost exclusively directed to the study of Missal
Painting and Illuminating on the most _minute_ scale. The exceptions
to this rule are a few occasional remarks, merely hinting at the
larger and more popular style.
The principal omission, however, which this little book is designed
to supply, is the _emblematic_ branch of the subject. Amateurs most
generally confine themselves to illuminating texts of Holy Scripture
on a large scale, to assist in which numerous printed outlines
are now published. But, from complete ignorance of the rules of
ecclesiastical colouring, the amateur not only becomes hopelessly
bewildered as to what colour to select for particular words, but, in
falling back upon his own taste for guidance, commits errors which
destroy the emblematic beauty of his work. The significance of colour
is greater than is generally supposed, and will be found a subject of
much interest.
Such sacred symbols as could easily be introduced into illuminated
scrolls have been described, in the hope that, by their assistance,
a taste for strictly appropriate ornamentation may be more largely
cultivated, to the exclusion of those unmeaning and tawdry
decorations which offend the eye.
Instead of furnishing copies of antique capitals, of which so many
excellent collections now abound, it has been thought more useful to
supply the reader with some specimens of emblematic letters (which
may suggest other similar designs), suitable for particular texts,
several of which are also subjoined.
The instructions for the mechanical part of the work are given on
the authority of experience, while the significations of colours
and emblems have been carefully collected from larger and standard
publications.