Barbara Wolff | Art & Illumination : What is Illumination

Illumination, the dictionary tells us, means "to bring light, to endow with brilliance, to adorn with burnished gold and brilliant colors as in medieval books."

These great gilded and illuminated volumes, made entirely by hand and requiring the labors of many skilled artisans in every detail of their creation were lavish works of art. For their fortunate owners they were prized objects, symbols of great wealth, power and status. These books, emblems of preciousness, were embellished with rare colors, silver and gold. Gold—as dots, leaves, letters and polished until it shone like a mirror, reflected back the light of candles and torches in dim Medieval rooms.

Burnished gold defined illumination. Together with their glowing jewel-like miniatures these golden pages became small windows into another world—an expression of faith and devotion.

Glossary

Parchment or Vellum These terms are interchangeable and refer to animal skins which have been prepared for writing and painting. The most commonly used are calf, goat and sheep skins.

Temper Temper is any substance used to bind together particles of pigment to create a paint.

Glair Egg whites are beaten until stiff and left to separate. The resulting liquid, called glair, becomes a very strong, flexible, almost waterproof binder.

Gold Leaf Gold leaf comes in various thicknesses, purities, and colors. Karat [K] is the measure of purity with 24K equaling 100 percent pure. Gold is often alloyed with silver and copper to produce other shades from reddish to almost white.

Shell Gold Pure gold ground to a fine powder and mixed with a binder to be used as paint is called shell gold. It was traditionally stored as a droplet in half of a mussel shell.