Plate XXIII. (_modern_) show a border of wild roses and climbing plants: the colour treatment in the original is very brilliant (see p. 486).
The "natural" type depends very much on the beauty and interest of its form; and a draughtsman before he had become an illuminator, might be content to decorate MSS. and printed books with pen drawings only faintly coloured or tinted; but when he had mastered the limitations which the craft would impose on his drawing for pure and bright colour, there is no degree of brilliance, even unto "barbaric splendour," which he might not lay upon his trained and delicate forms. [p204]
CHAPTER XII THE DEVELOPMENT OF ILLUMINATION[44]
The Development of Illumination -- Line-Finishings -- Initial Letters -- Borders & Backgrounds.
An art or craft is so largely dependent on the tools and materials which are used by the craftsman, that we may reasonably say that it begins with the tools and materials, through which it has been produced. Now, "illumination" can be traced back step by step to simple penmanship. And its true development is most graphically sketched by Ruskin ("Lectures on Art," No. V.) when he says--
"_The pen . . . is not only the great instrument for the finest sketching, but its right use is the foundation of the art of illumination. . . . Perfect illumination is only writing made lovely; . . . But to make writing itself beautiful--to make the sweep of the pen lovely--is the true art of illumination;_" And also that those who have acquired "_a habit of deliberate, legible and lovely penmanship in their daily use of the pen, . . . may next discipline their hands into the control of lines of any length, and, finally, add the beauty of colour and form to the flowing of these perfect lines._" [p205]
Line-finishings are used to preserve the evenness of the text when lines of writing fall short. When the space left is small, or occurs _in the middle of a sentence_, a quick stroke of the pen--often a continuation of the last letter, or springing from it--is sufficient (fig. 125); but where there are many and long gaps (as, for example, in a psalter at the ends of the verses), they may be filled in with dots (see Plate VIII.) or flourishes (_a_, _b_, _c_, fig. 126) either made in black with the script pen, or with another pen, in colour or gold.