Illumination
4 materials · 5 steps
Manuscript illumination
Painting and gilding on prepared animal skin, page by page, in books made by hand.
Folio from the Belles Heures with a framed miniature and foliate border
Materials & tools
- Parchment or vellum
- Iron-gall and carbon inks
- Gold leaf on gesso or glue
- Mineral and plant pigments in egg or glue tempera
Medieval books were written and painted on parchment or vellum, prepared from animal skin. After the scribe had ruled and written the text, an illuminator drew the miniatures and borders, laid and burnished gold leaf, and built up colour in layers of tempera. Books of hours, made for private prayer, became the most common illuminated books of the later Middle Ages.
The Met: The Art of the Book in the Middle AgesThe process
Step by step
- 1
Prepare and rule the skin
- 2
Write the text, leaving spaces for pictures
- 3
Draw the design in leadpoint or ink
- 4
Lay and burnish gold leaf
- 5
Paint colour in layers, from base tones to highlights