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II - Illumination – pigments, drawing and gilding

from 5 - Technology of production of the manuscript book

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

By
Nigal Morgan
Edited by
Nigel J. Morgan  and
Rodney M. Thomson
Nigel J. Morgan
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Rodney M. Thomson
Affiliation:
University of Tasmania
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Summary

The study of the techniques of drawing and painting in English manuscripts in the period from the twelfth to the fourteenth century is hampered by the relative lack of scientific examination of pigments and media. This is in marked contrast to the state of knowledge of panel and wall paintings of these centuries which have long been subjected to close technical analysis. It is very rash to attempt to determine technique with the naked eye alone, without supporting investigations involving microscopic, spectroscopic, infra-red and ultra-violet examination, or chemical analysis of paint samples. If this can be done – and in the case of the latter approach the removal of paint samples from an illuminated manuscript is hardly ever permissable – firm evidence can be adduced to identify pigments and binding media. If it cannot, identification can only be speculative. Several manuscripts survive which were left unfinished, with the drawing and painting in various stages of production, and these enable some conclusions to be reached about techniques such as preliminary sketches, colour grounds and processes of gilding. This account of illuminators’ techniques will conclude with a discussion of two Apocalypses of the thirteenth century and a Psalter of the early fourteenth century in which these processes can be described.

Type
Chapter
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The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain
, pp. 84 - 95
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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