J
X(
<•
IN S T R U C T O R
ROYAL
TO T H E —•>I (
F A M IL Y
1 ~ ~ > )l«
Mb -
LONDON.
B A R N A R D AND SON. 3 3^. Oxford Street.
A G U ID E TO
B E G IN N E R S IN THE /
ART OF ILLUMINATION BY
ALBERT H. WARREN INSTRUCTOR TO THE ROYAL FAMILY
LONDON BARNARD AND SON 3 3 9 OXFORD STREET
JtJi* If* i L Central Blbliotbeek ..ST, U R S U LA ” ROERMOND
LONDON: PRINTED BY ADAMS AND GEE, 2 3 , MIDDLE STREET, WEST SMITHFIELD, E.C 6
J
$
REA D ER,— Permit me to intro/
duce to your notice thefe few pages of pre
liminary inftruction and advice in the “ Art of Illuminating/’ or Miffal Painting, as it is often termed ; and alfo to beg your kind indulgence, fhould there be any fubjects of importance to a beginner which I may have neglected to treat of; or if, in thofe I have treated of, there fhould unfortunately be fuch want of clearnefs as to make it difficult of comprehenlion. It is impoflible, in a little work like this, to enter more fully than I have done into the details of this •g art, and the expenfe of coloured plates
■<i ©C*£5®C'
on the gold it is abfolutely neceflary that the wate r as well as the brufh with whic h it is ufed be perfectly clean, as the sligheft impu rity in eithe r would materially detra ct from its bril liancy.
The gold can be had in (hells or faucers, and is ufed like any of the colours, that is to fay,
wetted with a little wate r and painted on with a brufh. The brufh should be fmall, and of red fable, as the red fable is flronger than the blac k; and the gold being a very heavy metal, will naturally fink towards the point of the brush and expand it. It may be found fometimes that the gold has been infufficiently prepared or mixed with glutinous
A Guide to the Art o f Illuminatio n. matter, fo that when touched it will rub off.
19
To
remedy this, ufe a little gum with the water in the shells, but it muft be very little indeed, or the gold will appear dull. Avery beautiful and enriched effeft may be given to the gold ground by ufing the fmall agate burnisher, which is enclofed with all other neceffary implements in Meffrs. Barnard and Son’s Boxes of Illuminatin g Colours.
The gold for this
purpofe should be ufed thickly, and when thoroughly dry may be enriched by engraving or indenting Readily with the fmall agate, lines, dots, or leaves and flowers, of courfe in the fame ftyle as the reft of the defign.
As an example, I give the letters
differently ornamente d; the three firft may be either red or blue, on gold grounds, and the laft letter m aybe gold, or coloured ground; that portion within the letter may be red, and the outfide blue or green, with floral ornamentation,
is acknowledged and admitted as an eftablished law, that there are but three primary and independent colours; independent becaufe they cannot be produced by combination, and they are for that reafon termed primaries. The acknow ledged proportions of the colours, taken of courfe in equal intenfity, are three of Yellow, five of Red, and eight of Blue; and thefe primaries will be found to neutralize each other according to the proportions juft name d; and if mixed together ac cording to thefe proportions, they would nullify each other completely. For example, take a cir cular piece of cardboard and divide and mark it
A Guide to the Art o f Illumination.
*7
equally into fixteen parts, thus and paint any three of the divifions yellow , and five of the divifions red, and the remain ing eight b lue; infert a pin in the centre of this circula r piece of card, and caufe it to rotate or fpin round fwiftly, and you will find that the eye in watching its rota tion will be fimultaneously imprefled with the fucceflion of colours, each deftroying each, the refult being white or the abfence of all. The fame refult would be evident were you to take the fecondary colours, viz. Orange, Green, and Purple, in their relative proportions, that is, eight of orange, eleven of green, and thirteen of purple.
So alfo
with the tertiaries, viz. Citrine (compound of orange and green), Ruffet (compound of orange and purple), and Olive (compound of green and purple), in the due proportions of citrine ninetee n, ruffet twenty one, and olive twenty -four. Thefe colours muff of courfe be ufed in their prifmatic intenfities, for the tone of each colour becomes materially altered when mixed with white or black; fo that when a
A Guide to Beginners according to my own arra ngemen t of the co lours. It is impoffible, confidering the price at which this work is publiflied, to give coloured plates, or illuftrations; I muff, therefore, confine myfelf to Heraldic methods of expreffing colours, and^ as many of the readers of this little book may be un acquainted with heraldic terms, I will give a key to the methods ufed in a fimpler phrafeology. The colour Red is charaHerifed by a fucceffion of lines running downwards, thus Blue, by parallel lines, thus Black, thus
Gold, thus— crreen, tnus—1 |||||
ancl
Purple
thus—■
I cannot, of courfe, by thefe means attempt to give different fhades or tones of colour, that muft be left entirely to the ftudent’s discretion.
the reader now wifh to make a copy of any one of the examples given, his procefs
>