Book of Hours- Part of a leaf

Place of OriginGermany

Date15th Century

Dimensions5 3/16 x 3 3/4 in.

MediumVellum; black, gold, and colors

ClassificationManuscripts

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number

1928.180

Not on View

Label TextThis 15th-century illuminated manuscript displays a variety of colors that have endured for more than 500 years, some of them as vibrant as when they were first painted. Medieval and Renaissance artists created their own paints to illuminate manuscript leaves (pages). Colors came from natural elements such as minerals, plants, or even insects. The raw material for a given color was typically crushed or ground, then mixed with a binding agent such as egg white, oil, sap—and sometimes ear wax!—resulting in liquid pigment. Illuminators applied color with quills (feathers sharpened to a fine point) or brushes made from animal hair, such as squirrel or ermine. Colors in Illuminated Manuscripts The colors available to manuscript artists depended on their location, what they could afford, and the season of the year. Here is a sampling of materials used to make pigments for illuminated medieval and Renaissance manuscripts: Browns Ochre, sienna, and umber: soil and clay Blues Lapis lazuli: a semi-precious stone (ultra-marine blue) Azurite: a mineral Reds Minium: a mineral Madder: a plant root Cochineal: an insect Yellows Turmeric or saffron: plants Greens Malachite: a mineral Green earth (glauconite, celadonite): minerals White Lead white: residue on lead that had been suspended over a vat of vinegar Black Lampblack: derived from oil lamp soot Burnt grapevines Boiled iron filings Oak bark or gallnuts Gold & Silver Precious metals hammered paper-thin or ground into a fine dust