To make egg tempera paint, egg is mixed with water and pigment, which somewhat neutralizes the decomposition process of eggs, but it is also spread so thinly and dries so quickly that it never really has the chance to rot. Parchment can last a very long time if protected from humidity, but it does not smell. Then it was stretched on a frame so that the fibers within the skin would lie almost parallel to form a smooth sheet. The first stages of parchment preparation certainly smelled! The animal hide was soaked in lime for weeks before the excess flesh and hair were removed. The parchment used to make manuscripts was made from animal skins-so did it smell? And what about the egg in tempera paint did it smell bad or rot? At that rate, it would have taken them almost 20 years to complete the entire manuscript! In another, it took three artists two years to complete just 384 of the planned 5,112 images. The Mirror of History, two volumes of which are on loan from the University Library in Leiden and Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal in Paris, was originally composed of four volumes containing 1,000,000 handwritten words and 1,600 illuminations. It varied depending on page size, number of pages, and quantity and quality of illustrations-but a single manuscript could take several years to complete. How long did it take to make an illuminated manuscript? It was Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) who coined the term “illumination” in Purgatorio, Canto XI: Illumination took the form of decorated letters, borders, and independent painted scenes, called miniatures. The word “illumination” comes from the Latin verb illuminare (to light up), which, in this context, describes the glow created by the radiant colors of the painted illustrations and the use of gold paint and gold leaf. Painted books are referred to as “illuminated” manuscripts. Here, the answers to some of the most interesting. We’ve been getting lots of questions about the deluxe French historical manuscripts in the exhibition, so we’ve been keeping track of them. Your questions are essential to our work, because they guide us to seek out and share the information that you want to know about works of art. I like to start off my tours with a question that gets the conversation flowing: How do you define “ history”? The most frequent responses have been: “History is…a record of past events…important wars…stories written by the victorious…” It’s remarkable to find out how ideas about the past have changed-or not-since the Middle Ages.
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