History
Sequestered in a scriptorium, painstakingly copying God’s Holy Word with a quill onto sheets of velum.
Having a quality that allows some light to pass through, the velum was further decorated with illuminated text.
The first letter of a section of text, when illuminated with gold leaf, gave the illusion of light.
The artwork continued in the form of decorative borders on the page and insets of brightly colored illustrations.
Tired eyes, cramped hands, sore backs plagued these specially trained monks who labored daily with little candlelight.
Depending on the size and amount of decoration, the Bible might take several years to create.
Noblemen might commission one of these rare books for their own, which could be a book of science, history, or literature.
Universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, also needed books for their students.
At the time, this was the only way books were made.
Only the rich could afford them. Only the literate could read them.
Revolutionizing the world in the 1450s, a German goldsmith invented a movable type printing press, allowing for mass production of broadsides, newspapers, pamphlets, and books for a citizenry who in the last couple hundred years started becoming more literate.
The world has never been the same, but that’s another story.
Our Simpler Project
We kept our illuminated manuscripts far simpler since my kids had not the 6+ hours a day to bend over beautiful artwork that the monks did.
Using ink pens since pencils smear on tracing paper, my kids each chose a favorite illuminated work to trace.
After completing the drawing, my kids used markers to color in the decorated portions.
Finally they used a gold-leaf pen I had found at Hobby Lobby to color in the capital letter of their page.
We taped the tracing paper to a piece of printer paper. When set against the window they seemed to glow.
Epilogue 2024
We’ve since seen beautifully illuminated manuscripts at the Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., while last year I got to see some at the Getty in Los Angeles.
Pictures don’t do them justice, but the header photo actually shows off the illuminated gold parts that are just beautiful.
That header photo is one I took while at the Museum of the Bible, of the Illuminated Psalter from England, 1450.
