Illuminated Manuscripts

Handwritten Embellished Texts

What is an illuminated manuscript

anyway?

• An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as the initials, border, and miniature illustrations.

• A manuscript is any document written by hand.

History• Earliest surviving manuscripts

are from AD 400-600• Most of the surviving

manuscripts are from the Middle Ages

• Most are religious in nature• Most were written by scribes

in monasteries• All were written, illustrated,

painted and embellished by HAND

• If copies were made, they were made by hand as well

Materials• Parchment, vellum, or leather• Sharpened quill feather or

reed pen• Paints: red, yellow, green,

blue, black, & white• Gold leafing or gold dust• Silver leaf or silver dust• Tin leaf or tin dust• Lots and lots of TIME

Illuminated Initial Examples

Your Project Instructions:

Review project guidelines to the right

Get out your sketchbook so you can do thumbnail sketches

You will do at least 2 thumbnail sketches

Close and put away your computer!

Guidelines: Must use the first initial of

your first or last name-no “random” letters

1” CLEAN border on paper The design must take up the

majority of the space in the inside rectangle-it cannot just be floating in the middle of the page

The initial is the focus, not the designs around it

Design must be colored-little to no white space

Gold accents (with paint) added to initial

Signature on bottom Name & period on back Neat