История письма и чтения. Асафова Г.К. - 77 стр.

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UNIT 12

GOLDEN LETTERS THAT LIT UP THE PAGE

How Medieval artists Illuminated Manuscripts

The word “illumination” aptly describes the art of medieval book

illustration: the elegant, handwritten texts are complemented by brilliant images

that light up the pages with a dazzling mixture of delicacy, colour and imagination.

Applying gold and precious stones

Illumination generally took place only after a scribe had finished writing the

text. It was usually carried out by one or more specialist artists – although some

scribes were also illuminators. Some were monks, others professional artists, and a

few were women.

Using the spaces left blank by the scribe, the illuminator would draw a

delicate outline of the design, employing compass and ruler for geometric shapes.

Next, the artist would apply gold leaf by painting gum or gesso onto the areas to be

covered, then rubbing a delicate sheet of the thinnest beaten gold onto the page

with a smooth stone.

After this, the artist applied paint with brushes, usually in two or more

stages. First he put on a layer of background colour, then the final colour at full

strength. The colours were made up of natural plant and mineral pigments, such as

iris sap (green) and madder root (deep red). Some were imported from afar:

ultramarine blue, for example, was made from semiprecious lapis lazuli, which

came all the way from Afghanistan. To make the pigments stick to the page, and to

make the colours fast, they were mixed with water and egg white.

Illumination was already a highly sophisticated art by the 8

century AD;

later in the Middle Ages wealthy private clients created a demand for ever more