| To make the Size stick to the Surface. | Probable Causes of Size not sticking to Parchment or Paper. |
|---|---|
| Clean and pounce thoroughly: roughen if necessary (pp. 146, 167). | Dirty Surface. |
| Greasy Surface. | |
| Horny Surface or | |
| Non-porous Surface. | |
Procure or make a proper composition, mix thoroughly always, and
stir frequently when in use. If composition is at fault, add—
|
Size not sticky enough |
| Size not tough enough (and crumbling off) | |
| Both causes due to faulty composition, or mixing. [p163] | |
| To make the Gold-leaf stick to the Size. | Probable Causes of Gold-leaf not sticking to Size. |
| Breathe on thoroughly and avoid delay in laying the gold (p. 154). | Size not damped enough due to
|
| Do not allow size to dry too long (p. 151). | |
| More, and more careful, rubbing and pressure (p. 156). | Not sufficient rubbing and pressing on of gold. |
| (See above.) | Size not sticky enough. |
| Raise the size sufficiently (p. 150). If not enough when dry, roughen surface and add another coat. | Not enough size, particularly in thin lines and edges. |
| Try re-gilding (p. 157), or, if spots persist, scrape them gently and try again: failing that, gently scrape off all the gold and try white of egg (dilute), or a slight re-sizing (as above). | The gold may refuse to stick in spots with no apparent reason, but probably from one or other of the above causes. Or the size may have been touched accidentally and have become greasy or dirty. |
| If the spots are very small and there is not time to spare for re-gilding, they may be touched with powder gold and dilute white of egg, and burnished when dry. | |
| To make the Gold-leaf smooth and bright. | Probable Causes of Gold-leaf’s not burnishing properly. |
| a. Allow longer time (p. 151). | Size too sticky. Due to—
|
| b. Allow longer time (p. 151). | |
| c. Remove size and re-size with proper composition. | |
| Sometimes this difficulty may be overcome by using several coats of gold-leaf (p. 157). | |
| Scrape smooth with sharp knife. (Sometimes the size itself is burnished before the gold-leaf is laid.) | Size rough surfaced. |
| Clean burnisher frequently. | Burnisher becoming dirty. |
Both paper and parchment when much wet with size are apt to cockle. Generally it is not possible, or desirable (see p. 174), to guard against this by first stretching the material, but the size may be used with less water, so that it will dry sooner. In cases where there is a gold background it may often be divided into small parts (to be sized at different times) by the pattern (see p. 191). For large unbroken patches of gold several thin coats may be put on, one after the other.
Some sizes have a tendency to crack: this is difficult to guard against. But, if the cracks are very minute—such as may be seen in many instances in the best early MSS.—they do not constitute a serious blemish.
Burnished gold is often damaged by careless handling or insufficient protection.
GOLD WRITING
The page (having been ruled as for ordinary writing) is thoroughly pounced all over.
The pen has an extra long slit, and the size is made a little more fluid than usual to allow of its flowing freely and making true pen-strokes (p. 63).
The desk is lowered (fig. 46, b), or flat, so that the size may flow freely.
The nib sometimes makes only a wet down-stroke on the parchment, but, by lightly pushing the pen up again, the stroke will be filled by the size which flows out from under the nib. Simple pen-strokes in small writing hold but little, and so ought to be filled as full of size as possible (pp. 150, 184). They will be found to dry much more [p165] quickly than larger forms, and may be gilded within a few hours of writing. Half-a-dozen or more letters are gilded together (see p. 156).
OTHER METHODS & RECIPES FOR GILDING
Gold-leaf may be cut with a “gilder’s knife” on a “gilder’s cushion,” and picked up with a “gilder’s tip.”
Water, white of egg, or alcohol may be used to make the gold-leaf adhere to the size.
“Transfer gold-leaf” is convenient, but the greasiness of the transfer paper is apt to dim the gilding.
Gold-leaf is made in many shades, from “red” (gold + copper) to “green” (gold + silver); though these may be used very effectively, they are liable to tarnish, and it is best to begin with pure gold (see pp. 152, 169).
Silver-leaf oxidises and turns black; platinum (a good substitute) costs about 2s. 6d., and aluminium (not so good) about 6d. per book.
“Gold Ink” has been made with powdered gold: its effect is inferior to raised and burnished writing.
The following is from “The Book of the Art of Cennino Cennini” (written about the beginning of the fifteenth Century): Translated by Christiana J. Herringham, 1899:—
“Chap. 157.—How you must do miniature-painting and put gold on parchment.
“First, if you would paint miniatures you must draw with a leaden style figures, foliage, letters, or whatever you please, on parchment, that is to say, in books: then with a pen you must make the delicate permanent [p166] outline of what you have designed. Then you must have a paint that is a sort of gesso, called asiso, and it is made in this manner; namely, a little gesso sottile [see chap. 116, below], and a little biacca [whitelead], never more of this than equals a third part of the gesso; then take a little candy, less than the biacca; grind these ingredients very finely with clear water, collect them together, and let them dry without sun. When you wish to use some to put on gold, cut off a piece as large as you have need of, and temper it with the white of an egg, well beaten, as I have taught you. [The froth is allowed to stand for one night to clear itself.] Temper this mixture with it; let it dry; then take your gold, and either breathing on it or not, as you please, you can put it on; and the gold being laid on, take the tooth or burnishing-stone and burnish it, but hold under the parchment a firm tablet of good wood, very smooth. And you must know that you may write letters with a pen and this asiso, or lay a ground of it, or whatever you please—it is most excellent. But before you lay the gold on it, see whether it is needful to scrape or level it with the point of a knife, or clean it in any way, for your brush sometimes puts more on in one place than in another. Always beware of this.”
“Chap. 116.—How to prepare gesso sottile (slaked plaster of Paris) for grounding panels.
“You must now prepare a plaster for fine grounds, called gesso sottile. This is made from the same plaster [plaster of Paris] as the last, but it must be well purified (purgata), and kept moist in a large tub for at least a month; renew the water every day until it almost rots, and is completely slaked, and all fiery heat goes out of it, and it becomes as soft as silk. Throw away the water, make it into cakes, and let it dry; and this gesso is sold by the druggists to our painters. It is used for grounding, for gilding, for working in relief, and other fine works.” [p167]
APPENDIX: ON GILDING
(By Graily Hewitt)
Success with raised gilding can only be expected when practice has rendered attention to the details of the process automatic and there is no need to pause and think. Even then the results must be somewhat uncertain and experimental. For our own preparations of size are usually unsatisfactory, and the ingredients of the best we can buy are unknown to us. And our vellum is certainly not of the quality we find in the old books. Some one is badly wanted to investigate the chemistry of the one and an appropriate preparation of the other. But we can take as much care as our time allows, passing nothing as “good enough” which we have not well examined, and bringing to the business all the patience and deftness available.
Vellum is too stiff, or too dry, or too greasy. When stiff, it is too thick for books; when dry, too apt to crack or cockle; when too greasy, exasperating. And yet the soft and rather greasy sort can be rendered more agreeable than the rest with labour. It should be rubbed by the flat of the hand with powdered pumice (or even fine sandpaper on the rough side) and French chalk, especially on its split (or rougher) side, until it is serviceable. A few trials will teach how long to give to this. Five minutes for one side of a lamb’s skin would not be too much. It can then be beaten with a silk handkerchief, but not rubbed with this until the size has been laid. It may be rubbed cleaner between the laying of the size and the gilding. Especially must those parts of pages be thoroughly rubbed clean which in the book, when made up, will lie upon and be pressed against gold letters on the page opposite; or the pumice left behind will scratch them. On the other hand, if the vellum has not been thoroughly pumiced on both pages, the greasiness in [p168] it will dim the gold in time, both from above and below; or even make the size flake off altogether. The size is often blamed for faults of the vellum and its want of preparation.
Again size, or “raising preparation,” is too sticky or too dry. If the former, the gold will not burnish well; if the latter, it will burnish, but will not stick at the edges, and will crack sooner or later. And though the essential quality of gilding is brightness, one may be content to fail of this rather than have letters ragged in outline or broken on the surface.
The size in use should be just liquid enough to flow evenly from the pen. More water makes it dry too brittle, and tends to cockle the vellum also; less tends to blobbiness and unevenness. Even when it is put on fairly an uncomfortable groove is apt to form as it dries down the centre of letters; but this can be either filled up as soon as the first layer is dryish, or the sides of the groove can be scraped (when the letter is quite dry) down to the level of the groove itself with a sharp knife. The knife must be sharp. As this scraping does not affect the extreme edges the power of the size there to hold the leaf is not impaired by it; and certainly a well-scraped surface is extremely even and pleasant to gild. If the surface, however, be burnished and not scraped before laying the leaf, it will not hold the size well, and remains lumpy also where lumps were there originally; while scraping gets rid of these. During use the size should be kept thoroughly mixed; and a small sable brush serves well for this purpose, as soon as it can be used so carefully as not to cause bubbles.
To know the exact time to allow between laying and gilding one had need to be a meteorologist, so much “depends on the weather.” Very dry and very wet weather are equally unkind. Generally an interval of about twenty-four hours is right; but it is better to gild too soon than too late, provided one can be content, on testing the naked surface of the gilded letter with a [p169] burnisher, and noting that the glitter is reluctant to come, to leave the burnishing for a while, and only lay the leaf, pressing it well home to the outline of the letters. The burnishing can then be done in a few more hours. But if the size be too dry, the difficulty will be to make the leaf stick to it at all. In this case the leaf adhering can be scraped off, the size scraped down further, and another thin coat added and gilded after a shorter interval. If the letter be so fouled that such repairs are difficult, it should be entirely scraped away and the size relaid altogether. In doing this care is needed that the vellum be not injured round the letter.
The best gold-leaf for ordinary work costs about 3s. for twenty-five pages. More expensive leaf, being thicker, does not stick so well to the edges; cheaper is too thin to burnish well. Two kinds may be used together with good results, the finer leaf being put on next the size, and the thicker at once on to the top of that. The letter is then pressed and outlined as usual through paper, and the thin leaf will be found of considerable assistance towards the making of a clean cut edge. Generally, however, the piling on of several leaves is inadvisable, as bits are liable to flake away as the letter goes on drying, leaving dim specks where they have been. Yet if, after the outlining through the paper, the leaf is seen to be very dull or speckled with the colour of the size, this means that the size has been partly pressed through the leaf; and another laid immediately will have enough to stick to, and will burnish well. The best result comes of one moderately thick leaf laid and burnished at the right time as quickly as possible. Thicker leaves need only be used for large surfaces, where the edge can be scraped even and clean, or where a black outline is to be added.
As soon as the leaf is laid, and from that point onward, the breath must be kept from the letter with a shield (of cardboard or tin) held in the left hand or otherwise. Inattention to this is responsible for many failures. Not [p170] only should the actual letters under operation be so protected, but where a quantity are sized ready for gilding on the page these should be protected also, as well as any parts already finished; for breath not only moistens but warms, and on warm size moisture condenses less easily. If the work to be done presently is so warmed, it will be found more difficult to deal with when its time comes. The first work done in the day is often the best, and for this reason, that the size for it is cool; but in gilding this portion one almost necessarily warms that to be done later. Two pages, where possible, should therefore be gilded alternately, one cooling while a portion of the other is gilded. Or thin plates of metal, or even cardboard, may be placed about as shields to protect all surfaces not under actual operation.
Superfluous gold is best removed by dusting lightly with an old and very clean and dry silk handkerchief. Indiarubber will certainly remove gold from the vellum, but it will as certainly dim any part of the gilding it touches. If the vellum was properly pounced to start with the silk will easily remove all the leaf unstuck, except little odds and ends, and these are safeliest taken away with the point of a knife.
As the pressure of burnishing helps the leaf to stick, it is best to wait till the letter has been burnished before this dusting. Such spots as are visible ungilded may be afterwards treated with a slight breath and transfer gold-leaf, or gold dust, may be painted on them. In the latter case the spots must be most carefully burnished, if burnished at all, or their surroundings will be scratched.
When a gold letter is to be set on a coloured background, or in the neighbourhood of colour, it is best put on after the colour; as may be observed was the method occasionally with the old books. If the gold is put on first, it will certainly be dimmed by warmth and breath during the colouring. On the other hand, if it is put on last, great care must be taken that the gold-leaf shall not stick to the coloured portions. Where possible, a stencil [p171] pattern of the parts to be gilded should be cut out of paper. This is easily made from a pencil rubbing taken after the size is laid, the raised pattern being of course cut out carefully a trifle larger than the outline so obtained. The paper is then laid over all the work, and the sized portions showing through the cuttings can be gilded without injury to the colour.
All gilded work should be retained, if possible, for a week or more, and then re-burnished. And in burnishing generally the burnisher should not be used, even when the size is hard, with any great force or pressure at first. For the size in drying sets as if moulded, and this mould cannot be squeezed about or actually crushed without being loosened or cracked. Throughout the whole process a gentle and vigilant alacrity is required. Success will come easily if it means to come. It cannot be forced to come.
The binder of a book with gilding in it should be warned to press the sheets as little as possible, and to use all his care in handling it, so as to keep moisture, warmth, and fingering from the gold. The folding of the sheets, when left to him, should also be done rather differently from usual, for all gilded pages need to be kept as flat as possible. None of the sizes in use seem capable of resisting bending of their surfaces without crimping or cracking. Where there is much gilding, the book will be the better for being sewn with a zigzag32 through the sections, as this helps to “guard” the gilded work. [p172]
CHAPTER X THE USE OF GOLD & COLOURS IN INITIAL LETTERS & SIMPLE ILLUMINATION Tools & Materials for Simple Illumination — Parchment, “Vellum,” & Pounce — Colours — Simple Colour Effects — Matt Gold — Burnished Gold — Burnished Gold Forms, & Outlines — Background Capitals — Applying the Background — Ornament of Backgrounds.
TOOLS & MATERIALS FOR SIMPLE ILLUMINATION
TOOLS, c., FOR GILDING.—See Chapter IX. (pp. 145–6).
IVORY TRACING POINT.—This is useful for various purposes, and for indenting patterns in burnished gold (see p. 191).
BRUSHES.—Red Sables are very good. A separate brush should be kept for each colour—or at least one brush each for Reds, Blues, Greens, White, and gold “paint”—and it is convenient to have a medium and a fine brush for each.
PENS FOR COLOUR.—Quill pens are used: “Turkey” or “Goose.” The latter is softer, and is sometimes preferred for colour work. For very fine work (real) Crow Quills may be tried. A separate pen should be used for each colour.
COLOURED INKS.—Brown ink (tempered with black if desired) may be used for fine outlines: if the outlined forms are to be coloured afterwards, it is convenient if the ink be waterproof. [p173] Coloured inks seldom have as good a colour as the best paint colours (see Colours for Penwork, p. 176).
COLOURS.—(p. 175). MATT GOLD (see p. 183).
PAINT-BOX.—The little chests of drawers, sold by stationers for 2s. 6d., make very convenient “paint-boxes”: pens, &c., may be kept in one drawer; gilding, tools, &c., in another; and colours and brushes in another.
PAPER (see pp. 51, 98, 103).—PARCHMENT, VELLUM, & POUNCE (see below).
PARCHMENT, “VELLUM,” & POUNCE
(See also Appendix on Gilding, p. 167
and pp. 98, 356)
The name “Vellum” (strictly applicable only to calf-skin) is generally given to any moderately good skin prepared for writing or printing on. All the modern skins are apt to be too stiff and horny: chemical action (substituted for patient handling), followed by liberal sizing and “dressing,” is perhaps responsible. The old skins have much more life and character, and are commonly much softer. Their surface is generally very smooth—not necessarily glazed—often with a delicate velvety nap, which forms a perfect writing surface.
Parchment (sheep-skin), as supplied by law-stationers, though rather hard, still retains the character of a skin, and is in every way preferable to the Vellum33 which is specially prepared for illuminators. A piece of parchment about 26 inches by 22 inches costs about 2s. 6d. Lambskin is still better.
“Roman Vellum” is a fine quality of sheep or [p174] “lamb” skin, made in imitation of the Vellum used in the Vatican.
The surface of a modern skin may be greatly improved by “pouncing” but there seems to be a danger of its becoming rough or porous.
Pounce.—Fine powdered pumice (as supplied by drysalters) is very good. It is rubbed on with the hand (p. 167), or with a pad or a piece of rag. Law-stationers use a pounce in which the main constituents are chalk (or “whiting”) and powdered resin. The latter, when used before gilding, is apt to make the gold-leaf stick to the surrounding parchment. (Before Writing, see Note 7, p. 359.)
Chalk, “Whiting” “French Chalk,” and Powdered Cuttlefish Bone might be used as substitutes for pumice, or as ingredients in preparing a pounce. Sandarach (a resin) rubbed on an erasure appears to prevent ink spreading when the surface is written over.
A skin of parchment has a smooth (whiter) side—the original flesh side—and a rougher, yellower side—the original hair side. The penman will find the smooth side preferable for writing on (though, of course, both sides must be used in a book: see p. 110). This side is more easily damaged, and erasures have to be very carefully made with a sharp knife, or by gentle rubbing with indiarubber. On the rough side, erasures cause little or no damage to the surface. A piece of rubber—or a paper stump—dipped in pounce may be used. It is better—as it is more straightforward—to avoid erasures if possible, and to correct mistakes frankly, as in ordinary writing (see p. 344).
For ordinary purposes parchment should be cut to the size desired, and be held on the desk by the [p175] tape, guard, &c. (see p. 50). It is generally a mistake to pin it down, or to damp and stretch it on the drawing-board (see p. 356).
Parchment is stained a fine purple with “Brazil-wood”: this may be obtained from a “store chemist.” Three teacups full of Brazil-wood are stewed in about two pints of water, with two teaspoonsful of alum (which acts as a mordant). The colour of this liquid is brownish-red, and to make it purple, carbonate of potash is added (very carefully, or it will become too blue). The liquid is poured into a tray, and the parchment skin is placed in it for half a day or a couple of days. The colour dries lighter, so it should be prepared rather dark, and diluted if necessary: strips of parchment should be used to test it; they are taken out and dried at the fire.
The parchment skin is stretched on a frame, the edges being caught up over little buttons or pegs, and tied at these points with string. It is allowed to dry slowly.
COLOURS
POWDER COLOURS are the purest: they may be mixed with gum arabic and water. Yolk of egg and water is sometimes used as a medium (or white of egg) (see pp. 166, 179). It is more convenient for the beginner to use prepared colours, which are ready and dependable.
CAKE COLOURS rank next to powder colours for purity: they seem to need tempering with a little gum or honey or glycerine (or egg—see above) for use on ordinary parchment.34 Used [p176] plain with water, they are apt to flake off when dry.
PAN COLOURS are very safe for ordinary use.
TUBE COLOURS sometimes seem to have too much glycerine; they are, however, very convenient for preparing mixed colours in any quantity, because of their semi-fluid condition, and because the amount of each colour in the mixture may be judged with considerable accuracy by the length which is squeezed out of the tube (p. 178).
COLOURS FOR PENWORK, &c.—For simple letters or decoration it is well to use a pure
- RED—neither crimson nor orange tinged:
- BLUE—neither greenish nor purplish:
- GREEN—neither bluish nor “mossy.”
A little “body colour” is generally used with blues and greens to keep them “flat” (p. 118). These colours should be mixed as required, and be diluted to the right consistency with water (see p. 118). Colour which has been mixed and in use for some time—especially if it has been allowed to dry—is best thrown away (see mixing size, p. 148).
If there is much rubricating to be done, a quantity of each colour sufficient to last several days may be mixed, and kept in a covered pot. A little pomatum pot is convenient—the smaller the better, as it keeps the colour together, and does not allow it to dry so quickly.
The filling-brush (a rough brush kept for filling the pen) may rest in the pot (see fig. 112), being given a stir round every time it is [p177] used to prevent the settling of the heavy parts of the colour. A drop of water is added occasionally as the liquid evaporates and becomes too thick.35
TINTS FEW AND CONSTANT.—Red, Blue, and Green (and perhaps purple) with Gold, White, and Black, are sufficient for everything but the most advanced type of Illumination. And it is in every way desirable that, until he has become a Master Limner, the Writer and Illuminator should strictly limit the number of his colours (see p. 215).
It is one of the “secrets” of good “design” to use a limited number of elements—forms or colours or materials—and to produce variety by skilful and charming manipulation of these.
It is well to follow the early Illuminators in this also: that these few colours be kept constant. When you have chosen a Red, a Blue, and a Green—as pure and bright as you can make them—keep those particular tints as fixed colours to be used for ordinary purposes. For special purposes (pp. 182, 202) paler tints may be made by adding white, and varied tints may be mixed, but even when your work has advanced so that you require a more complex “palette,” you should stick to the principle of constant tints and modes of treatment for regular occasions: this is the secret of method.
RED.—Vermilion is prepared in three forms: “Vermilion,” “Scarlet Vermilion,” and “Orange Vermilion.” For ordinary use “Scarlet Vermilion” is the best (it may be tempered with a minute quantity of white). “Vermilion” is not quite so bright, and tends more to crimson, but, mixed with [p178] “Orange Vermilion” it gives the “scarlet” form. The pan colour is generally most convenient.
Where scarlet is in juxtaposition with gold, their effect may be harmonised by having a large proportion of blue in the neighbourhood: sometimes a more crimson colour than vermilion may be used.
Chinese Vermilion is a fine colour, but difficult to obtain; it is even said that the genuine pigment is reserved exclusively for the Chinese Emperor (whose edicts are written with “The Vermilion Pencil”).
GREEN.—Verdigris is a very fine colour, closely resembling, and possibly the same pigment as, the green in early MSS., but I believe that it has not been rendered permanent in modern use.
Green Oxide of Chromium (transparent) (or “Veridian”) is a very good permanent green. It is rather a thin colour, and requires body, which may be given with lemon yellow, or with white and yellow ochre; being a rather bluish green, it is the better for a little yellow. This (mixed) green is most conveniently prepared from tube colours.
BLUE.—Ultramarine Ash (whole tube about 4s.) is a very beautiful colour. It is rather pale and transparent (and a little “slimy” to work) when used alone. A mixture (preferably made with tube colours) consisting of Ultramarine Ash and Chinese White and (a very little) Prussian Blue makes an extremely fine, pure blue. A similar mixture with cobalt as a base makes a very good blue.
Ultramarine or Powdered Lapis Lazuli (unfortunately known as “Genuine Ultramarine”36) is a fine colour; it may have a slightly purplish tint and need [p179] tempering with green to make a pure blue (whole cake about 18s.).
The Blue in common use in early MSS. (before Ultramarine came into use) has a fine, pure colour, and considerable body: it is more raised than any other colour; it is often seen to be full of little sparkles, as though there were powdered glass in it. It is supposed to have been prepared from a copper ore.
The following note on this blue has been given to me by Mr. C. M. Firth:—
“The blue is Native Carbonate of Copper finely powdered and tempered with white of egg (Vermilion is tempered with the Yolk).”
“The ore is of two kinds, a crystalline of a medium hardness found in France at Chessy, and hence called Chessylite, and a soft earthy kind which is obtained in Hungary, and largely now from Australia. The latter is from its ease of manipulation the best for paint making. It should be ground dry till it is no longer gritty and is of a sky blue (pale) colour.”
“The Blue in MSS. was liable to wash off, but the oil in the Yolk prevented a similar result with the Vermilion. The Blue is identical with the Azzuro della magna (for d’allemaigne) of the Middle Ages. The frequently advanced hypothesis that the blue was due to a glass is based on the accounts of (I.) The Vestorian blue copper ‘frit’ for enamels probably; (II.) on the accounts in sixteenth century of the Manufacture of Smalt, which owes its colour to a glass tinted with Cobalt. This Azzuro is the oldest known Western blue, and was probably employed on Egyptian walls, where it has gone green, as also in Italian Frescoes.”
“The Green tint of the chemical change in the Copper is seen in initials in books too much exposed to the damp. These exhibit a bright green tint in places where the colour was thinly applied.” [p180]
It appears that Yolk, besides being unsuited in colour for tempering this blue, changes it to a greenish colour (the effect of the oil, which forms about 30 per cent. of Yolk of Egg).
WHITE.—The tube Chinese White37 is the most convenient to use when tempering colours.
“White Line or Hair Finishing” (see p. 183). Various tools have been recommended for this. A sable pencil with the outer hairs cut away, “the smallest brush” made, and even a fine steel pen. I am inclined to believe that some of the early Illuminators used a fine quill—such as a crow quill, or a goose quill scraped thin and sharply pointed.
PURPLE is seldom used in simple pen-work, lettering, &c., but largely and with very fine effect in complex illumination. A reddish-purple is to be preferred. A good colour can be made from the purple stain described on p. 175, or from Ruby madder and a little Rose madder, with a very little Ultramarine.
SIMPLE COLOUR EFFECTS
Simple “Rubrication” (see p. 127).—Red letters were most commonly contrasted with blue (the “warmest” and “coldest” colours),38 in some MSS. with green alone, but more commonly the three [p181] colours were used together, the alterations being generally—
| Red cap. | in columns of Versal letters (see fig. 93) |
RED | in lines of Caps. (see fig. 89). |
| Blue cap. | BLUE | ||
| Red cap. | RED | ||
| Green cap. | GREEN | ||
| &c. | &c. |
Repetition and Limitation of Simple Colours (and Forms).—The uniform treatment of a MS. necessitates that no colour (or form) in it should be quite singular, or even isolated if it can possibly be repeated. If, for example, there be a Red capital on the “Verso” page, the “opening” is improved by some Red—a capital, a rubric, or even a line-finishing—on the “Recto” page. Very often the one piece of colour is very small, and, as it were, an echo of the other (compare Line-finishings and Initials, pp. 205, 193). While it is not always possible or desirable so to treat both pages of an opening, yet, in the book taken as a whole, every colour used should be repeated as often as there is a reasonable opportunity. And, therefore, where the opportunities for colour in a book are few and far between, it is well to limit the “colours” used to two, or even one.
This necessity for repetition applies to simple rather than to complex “Illuminated” Forms—e.g. a book need not have more than one Illuminated Initial—but within such complex forms themselves [p182] repetition is recognised as one of the first principles of “decorative design” (see p. 215).
Proportions of Colours.—In Harmonious Illumination, Blue very commonly is the predominating colour; but no exact proportions can be laid down, for the combined colour effect depends so much on the arrangement of the colours.
Effects of Neighbouring Colours.39—When blue and red are in juxtaposition, the blue appears bluër and greener; the red appears brighter and more scarlet. With Red and Green, the Red appears more crimson, and the green, greener and bluër. A greenish blue will appear plain blue beside a pure green; a blue with a purplish tinge will appear more purple. Experiments might profitably be made with simple arrangements of Red, Blue, Green, Black, White, and Gold in combinations of two or more.
Tempering Colours with White.—Forms such as flower petals, &c., may be painted in Blue or Red, paled with White, and then be shaded with the pure colour; this gives considerable richness, and the effect may be heightened by very careful white line work (q.v.). Green leaves, &c., may be made very pale and then touched with Yellow—this gives a brilliant effect.
Black Outlines.—The effect of these is to make a bright colour appear brighter and richer, to define, and, to a certain extent, harmonise, neighbouring colours and shapes, and to keep the design flat [p183] (see p. 186). For one or more of these reasons, all coloured forms—patterns, charges, &c.—in a compound colour scheme have an outline—strong or delicate, according to the strength or delicacy of the work (see pp. 188, 187, 202, 221, 165).
White Lining.—A black outline is often separated from the colour by a fine white line (see fig. 129). White lines also are used to harmonise colours, one or more commonly being painted (or “penned”) upon the colours. This tends to make the colours appear paler and lighter—brightening them if they are dark. Care must be taken not to overdo the white lining, or it will make the colours chalky and cold. White is also used in groups of dots, and in fine patterns on backgrounds (see pp. 213, 430).
Gold is even more effective than white or black for harmonising colours. It is commonly Burnished in bars or frames (see p. 481), and in spots (pp. 481, 187), or in large masses (p. 191). Matt Gold (see below).
MATT GOLD
Matt gold, or gold “paint”—the pure gold powder with white of egg is best—is generally painted upon colour. It was much used in old miniatures for “hatching” and lighting landscapes, houses, costumes, &c.; and stars, rays of light, and outlines of clouds were painted in delicate gold lines upon the blue of the skies. Such gold lining has a very mellowing and pleasant effect upon colour, but it can easily be overdone. Matt gold may be used besides, for letters, ornament, and patterns painted upon colour. Such forms have either no outline, or a very faint one: their effect depends upon their lightness, and they are not made to appear solid. [p184]