The Use of
Gold &
Colours in
Initial
Letters &
Simple
Illumination

Used with Background Capitals, etc. (pp. 154-
163)i vermilion is apt to be less happy. Large,
adjacent areas in Blue, and patterning of surfaces,
will help j but many such experiments, and also
the old use of Pink or Lake reds for backgrounds
must be tried.

Chinese Vermilion is a fine colour, but difficult to
obtain; it was said that the genuine pigment was
reserved exclusively for the Chinese Emperor (whose
edicts were written with “The Vermilion Pencil

GREEN.—Verdigris is a very fine colour, closely
resembling, and possibly the same pigment as, the
green in early MSS., but I believe that it has not
been rendered permanent in modern use.

Green Oxide of Chromium (transparent) (or “ Viri-
dian”) is a very good permanent green. It is rather
a thin colour, and requires body, which may be
given by a little Chinese White; being a rather bluish
green, it is the better for some yellow—Aureolin is
the safest. This (mixed) green is most conveniently
prepared from tube colours.

BLUE.— Ultramarine Ash Blue is a very beauti¬
ful colour. (Powder Ultramarine Ash—\ oz. about
4s- with a little gum, is best. The preparations are
made unpleasantly slimy.) It is rather pale when
used alone. A mixture consisting of Ultramarine
Ash Blue and Chinese White and [a very little') Prus¬
sian Blue makes an extremely fine, pure blue. A
similar mixture with cobalt as a base makes a good
blue.

Ultramarine or Powdered Lapis Lazuli (unfortu¬
nately known as “Genuine Ultramarine”1) is a fine
colour; it may have a slightly purplish tint and need

coloiifrenCh UUramarine" is an artificial compound, and a poor

14+

tempering with green to make a pure blue (whole
cake about 18s.). . . ..cc r

The Blue in common use in early MbS. (betöre
Ultramarine came into use) has a fine, pure colour,
and considerable body: it is more raised than any
other colour; it is often seen to be full of little
sparkles, as though there were powdered glass in it.

It is supposed to have been prepared from a copper
ore.

The following note on this blue has been given
to me by Mr. C. M. Firth:—

“ The blue is Native Carbonate of Copper finely
powdered and tempered with white of egg (Vermilion

is tempered with the'Yolk).” m

“ The ore is of two kinds, a crystalline of a medium
hardness found in France at Chessy, and hence called
Chessylite, and a soft earthy kind which is obtained m
Hungary, and largely now from Australia. The latter
from its ease of manipulation the best for paint making.
It should be ground dry till it is no longer gritty and is

of a sky blue (pale) colour.”

“The Blue in MSS. was hable to wash off, but the
oil in the Yolk prevented a similar result with the Ver¬
milion. The Blue is identical with the Azzuro della
magna (for d’aliemaigne) of the Middle Ages. The
frequently advanced hypothesis that the blue was due to
a glass is based on the accounts of (I.) The V“10““
blue copper ‘frit’ for enamels probably; (II.) on the
accounts in sixteenth century of the Manufacture of
Smalt, which owes its colour to a glass tinted with Cobalt.
This Azzuro is the oldest known Western blue, and was
probably employed on Egyptian walls, where it has gone

green, as also in Italian Frescoes.

“ The Green tint of the chemical change in the Copper
is seen in initials in books too much exposed to the damp.
These exhibit a bright green tint in places where th
colour was thinly applied.”

145

The Use °f
Gold &
Colours in
Initial
Letters &
Simple
Illumination