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PENTATHALON ENTRY: DIVISION 4, STUDIO ARTS: ILLUMINATION Prayer Book In the style of A Fifteenth Century Book of Hours
1-4. The current entry is the illumination portion of a small prayer book. It is meant to be a personal devotional for someone with a bit of money. Books of hours, upon which this project was partly modeled, were the bestseller of their day, and most people with status wanted to own one. Other sorts of prayer books were also available, such as breviaries and Psalters. This book is based primarily on the sort of work seen in the Low Countries during the first quarter of the 15th century. 5. Items used in creating this piece include: Vegetable Parchment: this is a pH neutral paper product, chosen for its translucence and hard surface; much more like vellum than many papers. I wanted a paper that I could afford and would still look and (as for as writing and painting goes) work like vellum. Ferrogallic Ink: Typical ink made from oak galls and an iron source. A receipt for this ink is attached after the annotated bibliography. Mechanical Pencil: I experimented with my lead point on this paper for this project and discovered that the vegetable parchment did not take a mark from the leadpoint. Because I wanted to draw directly to the paper, I chose the pencil. In terms of "periodness," though, all is not lost! Graphite, the marking component in pencils, was in use by the 12th century, according to JJG Alexander; certainly Cennini mentions a black, soft stone that can be sharpened for drawing, and, by 1565, Konrad Gesner has included a woodcut illustration of a sharpened bit of graphite within a wooden holder within his book. Many other methods of drawing existed; the more typical method would be metal point, diluted ink, so forth. Straight edge: I used a square for this; there are many period depictions of this tool in illuminations of the era. See attached copy of one such illumination after the annotated bibliography. This was the only drafting tool that I used. Pen: The most frequently used writing implement in period was, of course, the ubiquitous quill. I did try to cut a feather down but eventually became frustrated with the constant sharpening to keep a very fine point, and so switched to a crow quill inserted in a penholder. However, again, all is not lost! Quills, while the most ubiquitous of writing implements, were not the only things used! Bone, reed, and, yes, metal pens have been found in 15th century archeological finds; thus, the Mitchell nib serves as a modern equivalent. See the article "On Metal Pens" attached after the annotated bibliography if you would like more information. Eraser: In period, I might have erased the drawing after reinforcing with ink with bread, but to save wear and tear on the paper, I chose to use a vinyl eraser. Some period things are good to know, but not so good to practice, and the bread method simply does not work on this paper. Paints: I used both commercially purchased paints and handmade paints; I haven’t enough money to purchase pigments in every shade I might need, so a compromise is necessary, alas. The hand made paints are gum arabic based. Brushes: used to apply the paint. While many period manuals give instruction for making brushes, I purchase mine; even if I could get sable for the making of the brush, I am not yet able to make brushes as nice as those I can purchase. So I used the instructions in Hilliard’s Arte of Limming to choose appropriate brushes. Windsor and Newton Gold Ink: There are two golds in this piece, actually, and the ink is the one used most though the piece. For some reason, the gum arabic based gold doesn’t stick well to this paper. I wanted the ease of gold paint for this project, but also wanted something that looked good. In fact, it was not unusual for period artists to use "arum musicam" as a deliberate pigment; there are examples of leaf, shell, and imitation (arum musicam) gold all on the same book, indicating a deliberate choice of the pigment for its effect. (Vinas, 1999) Burnisher: used to improve the appearance of the gold ink. Pricking tool: used to set up the margins.
6. To create this piece, I first pricked the outermost margins with the pricking tool, to make sure that all the pages would line up. After the calligraphy was done, I drew the design directly on to the paper. I then used the crow quill and ink to outline the drawing. After erasing, I began to paint, one color at a time, all the way through. My first color down was, of course, the gold, for it had to be burnished. Thereafter, I painted the flowers and so forth, finally whiteworking. The two opening miniatures were painted last. It’s not usual for books to have the exact same design to both verso and recto, but I wanted my book that way. It was good practice in painting the same design in different ways, that no two were the same, and it avoided the show-through of one page’s design to the other side. This is a look I find unappealing, so I modified my book to suit my taste. As a note, this binding is modeled after a belt book but is not intended to be permanent. As I make more sections, I will add them to the book, and do not want the binding to be permanent until I have made all the sections. The signature of the book currently sewn together is bound with linen thread. It is a 5-hole, single signature binding, with the knot against the spine. The paper required scoring before it could be folded, but has otherwise been a delight to bind.
Appendix Annotated References
PRIMARY SOURCES Book of Hours, leaf from. Utrecht, circa 1475. A single leaf from a period manuscript that I had purchased. Attached is my report on the leaf, to give you some idea of what it was like. Boucher, E. transcriber. The Arte of Limming. 1573. Draft transcription, http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/2036/LIM1.HTM. Most material methods come from this book. A copy of the most recent draft is among the books provided as supporting documents. Marrow, J., et al. The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting. Braziller. NewYork:1990. Exhibition catalogue containing a number of the pages used as primary sources, in facsimile publication, used as examples in illuminating this prayer book. I have prepared a supporting booklet containing pictures of the pages I used under separate cover rather than listing each page individually in this bibliography. Merrifield, M., Original Treatises on the Arts of Painting. 1849. Reprint edition. Dover. NewYork:1967. A lengthy text on period painting practices plus a compendium of period (and a couple of post-period) painting manuals, including the original and Merrifield’s translation printed side by side. Covers approximately 12 books. Thompson, D. V., Translator. De Arte Illuminandi. Yale UP, New Haven, CT: 1933. Translation of an anonymous fourteenth century manuscript on illumination. Thompson, J., transcriber. A Booke Of Secrets. In J. Thompson, editor. Medieval Inks. Caber Press. Portland, OR:1996. Transcription of a sixteenth century manuscript on the making of inks and paints. Used to compare processes in other books. Also, has receipts for both mosaic gold and mosaic silver.
SECONDARY SOURCE Vinas, S. & E. Farrell. The Technical Aspects of Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts from the Historical Library of the University of Valencia. Harvard UP. Cambridge: 1999. Excellent book on the scientific analysis of pigments and processes on some period books and documents located in Spain. Most notable for the pictures comparing the appearance of mosaic gold versus shell gold, and showing mosaic gold in use as a deliberate pigment choice rather than a cost saving substitution.
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