"[Illuminated Leaf]", Hardouin, Gilles

This leaf is from the brief transitional period when the new technology of printing with movable type was combined with the more labor intensive methods of hand painting. The earliest printers were trained in the manuscript tradition and incorporated the conventions of historiated initials and illustrations into their early work. At first they left those spaces blank for the illuminator to complete entirely by hand. Later they developed printing methods (using woodcuts or iron engravings) to decorate the leaves.

Attractive vellum leaf from the transitional period. The text is from the Hours of the Virgin, psalms 8, 18, and 23. Both sides include numerous initials highlighted by hand in red, blue and liquid gold.

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Condition: A

Light soil in margins.