Working small is completely different from a "normal" scroll.  However, in period this would be normal.  The orginial folio is 13.1 x 9.3 cm - that is around 5 x 4 inches.  I had to take my contacts off in order to really see what I was doing.  (Yes! I am blind as a bat  )

Section A: The Sforza Hours Background

Folio 258:  Folio 258 is a page in the Sforza Hours from the section called the Office of the Dead.  The Office of the Dead was a set of prayers which were said over a coffin during the vigil before burial.  (Evans)  The Sforza Hours was completed by Giovan Pietro Birago around 1490 for Bona Sforza.  Upon her death, the book was inherited by Margaret of Austria, who commissioned Gerard Horenbout around 1517, to compete 16 additional miniatures to replace pages which had been lost. (Evans)  Folio 258 was complete by Birago and contains a decorated border with vignette of a putto (the nude chubby child figure) holding a skull. (Evans) 

Entry:  My Entry is a reproduction of folio 258.  I selected this folio because of the rich details and putto contemplating death.  I have used period materials and painting techniques with only a few substitutions fully explained in each subsection. 

Section B: Vellum and Parchment

Folio 258:  Folio 258 is 13.1 x 9.3 cm in size and was completed on vellum.  (Evans)  Vellum and parchment are both made of animal skin. 

            From Thompson:

“We know that calf skin was sometimes used for making pergamenum vitulinum, that is, veal parchment, which we call vellum.  …  A curious tendency has become established in modern times to think of the word vellum as somehow more elegant and complimentary than the word parchment.  Etymologically, ‘vellum’ means calf skin and nothing else, while parchment is a general term applicable to any kind of skin, including vellum” (Thompson.)  

Vellum and parchment were made from the same lengthy process, which involved:

·         Washing to clean the pelt of blood, dirt and debris

·         Soaking to ensure even distribution of the lime throughout the pelt

·         Soaking in a lime bath to loosen the dermal from the epidermal layer which prepared the pelt for dehairing.

·         Dehairing occurs after the lime bath and is rinsed then placed on a beam, hair side up, the hair is then pushed off with a blunt knife.

·         A second stronger lime bath completes the dehairing process and assist in the degreasing process.  A second rinsing is required prior to stretching.

·         Stretching occurs by tying a cord to the edges of the pelt and stretching the pelt on a frame via these cords, which are wound around pegs.  The pegs adjusted to even the tension over the whole skin.

·         A final scraping removes flesh from the pelt and was done with care so as not to damage or ruin the parchment.

·         Degreasing of the pelt occurred on the frame with a series of chalk applications to both sides of the wet pelt.  This repeated dusting with chalk controlled the drying of the pelt as well as leached out oils from the flesh.

·         Pouncing removes flesh; smoothes over small irregularities caused by the knife and degreases the pelt.

·         The pelt is dried and stretched on a frame.

(Yeager)

Entry:  I used a sheepskin drum head, given to me as a gift, in place of expensive vellum obtained from vendors such as Talas.  The drum head was already stretched and the hair removed, however, it did require some processing in order to be used as parchment.  I rubbed fine sand paper and finely ground pumice stone over the surface of the drum head to obtain the needed smooth surface for the illumination and to remove any oils that might have been on the surface. 

Section C: Drawing

Folio 258, Entry and substitution:  From Cennini:

“If you want to do illuminating, you must start by drawing the figures, foliage, ornaments, letters, or whatever you want, with a little lead on parchment, that is, in books; then you must crisp up your drawing carefully with a pen.” (Cennini)

            From The Arte of Limning:

“First you shall with a pencil of black lead [3], or with a tool made sharp at the point trace all your letters, and set your vignette or flowers, and then your imagery if you will make any.”  [3] "Black Lead" is graphite. …. Graphite was in use for lining and drawing by the eleventh century, and by 1573, graphite chunks, sharpened and wrapped in string, were commonly in use for drawing in England.” (Pendray)

I substituted a 2B graphite pencil in place of the lead to transfer the drawing to the parchment.  I then crisped up the drawing by using a quill and iron oak gall ink using folio 258 as a reference. 

            From Cennini:

“And if you want your drawing to come out a little more seductive, put some little washes on them, as I told you before, with a blunt minever brush.  …

fix it [the drawing] with ink at the points of accent and stress.  And then shade the folds with washes of ink; that is as much water as a nutshell  would hold, with two drops of ink  in it; and shade with a brush made of minever tails, rather blunt, and almost always dry.”

I used a medium size shell, since Cennini is silent on the size and type of the shell, to hold the water.  I then added two drops of iron oak gall ink.  I applied the ink wash using a brush of sable fur made following Cennini’s instructions. 

From Cennini:

“Take minever tails and take the straightest and firmest hairs out of the middle of the tail; and gradually make up little bunches of them; wet them in goblet of clear water, and press them and squeeze them out….put enough together to make up the size you want your brushes. … When you have made these types, putting them together evenly, with each tip on a line with the other, take thread or waxed silk, and tie them up well with two bights or knots…Then take your feather quill which corresponds to the amount of hairs tied up, and have the quill open, or cut off, at the end; and put these tied up hairs into this tube or quill.  … Then take a little stick of maple or chestnut, or good wood and make it smooth and neat, tapered like a spindle, and large enough to fit tightly in this tube…”

I gathered sable fur in bunches and tied them with linen thread waxed with bees wax.  I cut a tip of goose quill to create a tube and inserted the bunch into the tube.  I then substituted a small dowel rod in place of the little stick of maple or chestnut.  However, it was still good wood.  Once the stick was inserted into the quill and the sable fur pulled through, I tied them all together. 

Section D: Calligraphy Hand and Ink

Folio 258 and Entry:  Folio 258 is written in Latin, with two calligraphy hands.  The top section held by the angel contains three lines of text in Roman Square Capital, probably done in flat gilding.  The Roman Square Capital style contains very precise lettering with no spacing.  The letters are large, wide and require maximum space.  (Drogin)  The bottom section of the folio contains seven lines of text written in a rounded gothic hand (Evans) such as Rotunda minuscule.  There are four capitals, a “P” in flat gilding, a “Q” in flat gilding with a red background, and the highly decorative capital. 

Roman Square Capitals:  I used folio 258 as a guide and the Calligrapher’s Bible as a technical reference.  I applied gold leaf using flat gilding, which is gold laid on top of a mordant of fish glue, gum ammoniac, garlic juice, hide glue, gum arabic, or other glues; for the letters. 

From The Arte of Limning:

“Take the new shreds of glover's leather or of new parchment for that is best, and seethe them in fair water from a quart to a pint that the liquor be somewhat thick and clammy between your fingers, then strain the liquor from the shreds and put it being hot in some stone vessel and so work it forth before it be cold, and when you lay on your silver or gold, see that your size be neither too moist nor too dry, but in a mean between both for dread of (appayring) your work. The like size may you make (without heating them at the fire) of glue water made of parchment glue for that is best, or with water gummed somewhat thick with gum Arabic or good old glair, or with the milk of green figs alone, or with the milk of spourge, or of wartweed, or with the yellow milk of green salendine, or with the juice of garlic or of onion heads or with the water and grease of snails. Upon every of these may you lay your leaves of silver or gold having regard that your ground be neither too moist nor too dry, when you shall lay or settle the same there upon.” (Pendray)

For the mordant, I used gum arabic dissolved in water with a few drops of honey added.  I added a little red gouache to the mixture in order to see the mordant as I applied it to the borders, the Roman capitals, the “P” and “Q”.  Once the mordant had dried, I breathed on small sections of the mordant and applied the gold leaf, allowed it to set and then burnished it. 

Round Gothic:  I used folio 258 as a guide and the Calligrapher’s Bible example of Rotunda minuscule hand, the closest calligraphy hand to the Sforza, as a technical reference.  I used a quill to write the text which I cut according to Cennini instructions. 

From Cennini:

“get a good firm quill, and take it, upside down, straight across the two fingers of your left hand; and get a very nice sharp penknife, and make a horizontal cut one finger along the quill; and cut it by drawing the knife toward you, .... put the knife back on one of the edges of this quill,…pare it and taper it off toward the point.  And cut the other side to the same curve, and bring it down to the same point.  Then turn the pen around the other side up, ... and carefully, pare and cut that little tip.”  (Cennini)

I used iron oak gall ink, which would have been used in period for the calligraphy. 

From Ink Corrosion: 

“A very early recipe for iron gall ink can be found in the Encyclopedia of Seven Free Arts by Martianus Capella, who lived in Carthage in the fifth century.  In it, Capella describes "Gallarum gummeosque commixtio" as a writing ink.  Although the exact date of the transition from carbon ink to iron gall ink is not known, it can safely be stated that by the end of the late Middle Ages iron gall ink was the primary ink.  There are examples of manuscripts in which both inks were used.  However, iron gall ink had some distinct advantages which led to the eventual displacement carbon ink.  Iron gall ink was easier to manufacture, generally did not clog the writing tool, and was hard to remove from the surface on which it was applied - a valued characteristic for official record keeping.  Boiling crushed or ground galls in water (wine, beer, etc.) extracted most of the gallotannic acid and gallic acid from the galls.  Addition of an acid (vinegar, hydrochloric acid) also serves to increase the percentage of the gallic acid. After the tannic acid was obtained, it could be mixed with vitriol and gum Arabic. Other ingredients could also be used to modify the characteristics of the ink. (Eusman)

Section E: Pigments

Folio 258, Entry and Substitutions:  The paint used for folio 258 is a mix of ground pigments, water and a binder such as gum arabic.  Determining which specific pigments would have used is a difficult process because the colors of many pigments are similar.  Using Cennini as a guide, I have tried to match the colors to folio 258.  I have substituted some grounds for different ones due to the toxicity of the particular ground. 

From Cennini: 

“It is true that you may use on parchment any of the colors which you use on panel; but they must be ground very fine. … To work it up [pigments] properly, take a slab of red porphyry,…Then get a stone to hold in you hand …Then take a portion of this black, or of any other color, the size of a nut; and put it on this stone, and with the one which you hold in hand crush this black up thoroughly.    Then take some clear river or fountain or well water, and grind this black for the space of a half an hour, or an hour, or as long as you like … The get a thin wooden slice three fingers broad; and it should have an edge like a knife; and scrape over the slab with this edge, and gather the color up neatly; and always keep it liquid, and not too dry…. So that you may be able to grind it thoroughly… then put it into the little jar; and put enough of the aforesaid clear water in with it to fill up the jar; always keep it under water in this way.”      (Cennini)

·         Soot Black: “Know that there are several kinds of black … take a lamp full of linseed oil, and fill the lamp with this oil, and light the lamp…put… underneath a good clean baking dish and … the smoke which comes out of the flame will strike the bottom of the dish, and condense in a mass…. This soot … does not have to be worked up or ground, for it is very fine color.”

·         Sinoper:  “A natural color known as sinoper, or porphyry, is red; and this color is lean and dry in character.”  According to Daniel Thompson the translator of Cennini’s Handbook sinoper could be one of many perfectly good earth reds, all of which Cennino would unhesitatingly have called sinopia. 

·         Vermilion:  “Vermilion is red; and this color is made by alchemy. … it stand up better on panel than on wall; because in the course of time … it turns black.”  It is vermilion that is used for the flesh tones by Cennini. 

·         Red Lead:  “A color known as red lead is red, and it manufactured by alchemy.”

·         Ocher: “A natural color know as ocher is yellow.”

·         Orpiment:  “A yellow know as orpiment is yellow.  This color is artificial one.  It is made by alchemy, and is really poisonous.  And in color it is a handsome yellow more closely resembling gold than any other color.”

·         Terre-Verte:  “A natural earth color which is called terre-verte is green. … It is good for use in faces, draperies, buildings, in fresco, in secco, on wall, on panel, and wherever you wish.   

·         Malachite:  “A half natural color is green; and this is produced artificially, for it is formed out of azurite.”

·         Orpiment and indigo:  “A color which is made of orpiment, two parts, and one part indigo, is green; it is worked up well with clear water.”

·         Green made with Ultramarine blue:  A color which is made of ultramarine blue and orpiment is green.  You must combine these colors prudently.  Take orpiment first, and mix the blue with it.” 

·         Verdigris: “A color known as verdigris is green. It is very green by itself. And it is manufactured but alchemy from cooper and vinegar.”

·         White Lead:  “A color made alchemically from lead is white, and it is called white lead. This white is very brilliant… it is compatible with any tempera.” 

·         Ultramarine:  “Ultramarine blue is a color illustrious, beautiful, and most perfect, beyond all other colors.  … to begin with get some lapis lazuli.” 
(Cennini)

The pigments I used for this project came finely ground.  I used the following pigments:

·         Soot Black

·         Sinoper:  Based on the color of folio 258 I have decided to use Burnt Sienna which is an earth red.

·         Vermilion:

·         Hematite

·         Ocher: I used a golden ocher

·         conite or Terre-Verte

·         Malachite

·         White Lead:  White is lead is toxic over time if ingested.  However, I use some of this color for the pure white highlights needed. 

·         Titanium white:  I used this in place of the white lead in order to limit my exposure to lead. 

·         Ultramarine: Ultramarine is made from lapis lazuli and is very expensive.  I am using a synthetic ultramarine. 

I only worked up the pigments with distilled water and tempered them with gum arabic.  The gum arabic I used is made from the sap of the acacia bush.  I dissolved the gum in distilled water.  

From The Arte of Limning:

“To make gum water to temper colors withal [6]. Take clean water and do it in a vessel and put thereto a portion of gum Arabic and let it stand until the gum be well dissolved and molten in the water, but look it not be over thick of gum then will the color fade and fall off, therefore keep a mean and temper your colors therewith such as it serves best. Note the best gum is clear and brittle that in stamping it, it becomes powder easily without cleaving together.”  (Pendray)

Section F:  Shell Gold

Folio 258 and Entry:  Along with the flat gold leaf already mentioned, the folio used shell gold as accents through out.  Shell gold is powdered gold mixed with gum Arabic and sometimes honey or sugar, and then painted on to the page. 

From The Arte of Limning:

Take five or six leaves of beaten gold or silver and grind them well and finely on a painters stone with a little honey, then put it into a glass with a quantity of fair water and let it stand one night, then drain the water and the honey afterward form the gold, and put to the gold gum water, and then write with it, and when it is dry burnish it with an ox tooth, also if you grind your leaves of gold with glair only without honey putting to it you may well write therewith in adding to it a little gum water, and with your gold tempered in manner above said you may diaper with a small pen or brush upon colors. If you will buy at the Apothecaries shell gold or shell silver, with the which (being tempered with gum water) you may very well write with a pen, or paint with a brush.  (Pendray)

From Thompson:

“Pure gold, or nearly pure gold, is almost as hard to powder as wax would be, and for very much the same reason: the little particles, as they are formed, tend to weld themselves together… A coarse powder of gold can be made by sawing or filing… The coarse powder of gold filings was sometimes mixed with honey or salt and ground fine. Then the honey or salt could be washed away with water, and the powdered gold left behind” (Thompson)

I purchased shell gold to use through out the page as indicated by folio 258.

Section G:  Painting Technique

Folio 258, Entry, and substitution:  Folio 258 was produced during the 15th century around the same time that Cennino d’Andrea Cennini wrote the Craftsman’s Handbook, “Il Libro Dell’ Arte.”  Therefore, it is very likely Birago would have used the same the techniques outlined by Cennini.  I used the painting techniques outlined by Cennini for the angel, putto, water, and grass.  I used the brush I made myself where possible but did substitute a commercial brush when I needed finer lines and more control. My first attempt at Cennini’s painting techniques was done on Bristol board with modern gouache and is displayed.

• Angel and horse skull background:  I started with the background of the angel and horse skull area, I applied a layer of Malachite.  Then using folio 258 as reference, I applied small thin strokes of soot black over the Malachite to give the background the blackish green effect of the folio.  This created the depth that is found in the folio.  I applied the ultramarine and earth red to the side panels where indicated.  I used ochre for the vases and dolphins and shaded them with burnt sienna.  Shell gold was applied last. 
• Horse Skulls:  I painted the horse skulls as you would a dead man as instructed by Cennini.

 From Cennini: “…lay it in as usual, as you were taught for a colored or live face; and shade it with the same verdaccio[1], as usual.  And do not apply andy pink at all … but take a little light ocher, and step up three values of flesh color with it, just with white lead, and tempered as usual; laying each of these flesh colored in it place … make another still lighter flesh color from this light one, until you get the major accents of the relief up to straight white lead. And mark out all the outlines with dark sinoper and a little black.”

[1]  According to Daniel V. Thompson the translator of Cennini book: “The mixed color, verdaccio, likewise, is not a definite quantity, but merely a dark, greenish or brownish tone for outlining and shading.” (Cennini)

Once the base coat was dry, I made three tones of burnt sienna mixed with Titanium white to over paint terre-verte.  I worked from the darkest value to the lightest, I then added white lead for highlights.  I then cleaned up the horse skulls with burnt sienna and soot black mix. 

• Birds and ornaments:  The birds where given a base coat of Malachite and ultramarine.  The ultramarine was mixed with some white to create the sky blue of the folio.  Small thin strokes of cadmium yellow and lead white were applied over the base coat to give the birds their feathers. 
• Mountain, grass, and foliage: 

From Cennini:

“If you want to do mountains…make a verdaccio color, one part of black, the two parts of ocher. … And apply to them the same system of shadow and relief that you apply to a figure.  And the farther away you have to make the mountains look, the darker you make your colors; and the nearer you are making them seem, the lighter you make the color.”  (Cennini)

For the mountain in the putto area, I used one part soot black and two parts sienna based on the folio.  Using the folio as a guide I applied the paint as instructed by Cennini. 

From Cennini:  “If you want to embellish … with groves of trees or with plants, first lay the trunk of the tree with pure black, … then make a range of leaves with dark green but using malachite… then make up a green with giallorino,[1] so that it is a little lighter, and do a smaller number of leaves…Then touch in the high lights on the ridges with straight giallorino...” (Cennini)

[1]  Daniel V Thompson states: “There are a few materials which cannot be identified as yet with perfect certainty.  Among these are giallorino and arzica both yellows: the former a fairly bright, opaque one; the latter transparent and fugitive.”  (Cennini)

Since it is not known what giallorino is I substituted cadmium yellow since it is a bright yellow.  I used the malachite as instructed by Cennini.

I then mixed ultramarine and Titanium white to make three tone values for the sky and water.

• Putto and Angel: 

From Cennini: 

“Take a little terre-verte and a little white lead, well tempered; and lay two coats all over the face, over the hands, over the feet, and over the nudes.   When you are putting on the first pinks, do not have it straight vermilion – have a little white lead in it, … make three values of flesh color, each lighter than the other, laying each flesh color in its place on the areas of the face…  Pick out the forms of the face making it gradually lighter, in a careful way, until you finally come to touch in with pure white lead … over the eyebrow or on the tip of the nose.  Then outline the upper edge of the eyes with an outline of black with a few lashes as the eye requires, and nostrils of the nose.  The take a little dark sinoper and a trace of black; and outline all the accents of nose, eyes, brow, the hair, hands, feet, and everything.”  (Cennini)

I used terre-verte and white and applied two coats as instructed by Cennini.  Once the under painting was dry, I used mixed vermillion and Titanium white for the three tone values of the flesh.  Based on the color of the folio and color chart, I used burnt sienna for the sinoper because Daniel Thompson the translator of Cennini’s Handbook states that sinoper “could be one of many perfectly good earth reds, all of which Cennino would unhesitatingly have called sinopia.”  (Cennini)

• Angel’s Clothes: 

From Cennini:

“Get three little dishes… put into it whatever color you choose.. [make three tones of the color.]  Take some of the first one, that is the dark one and with a rather large … brush go over the folds of your figure in the darkest areas; and do not go past the middle of the thickness of your figure.  Then take the intermediate color; lay it in from one dark strip to the next one, and work them in together and blend your folds into the accents of the darks.  … Then take the lightest color, and just exactly as you have shaped up and laid in the course of the folds in the dark, so you do now in the relief, adjusting the folds.    Shape up the tops of the folds, and put on lights.”  (Cennini)

I made my three values of ultramarine mixed with Titanium white for the clothes of the angel and applied them instructed by Cennini.  I then used pure white lead to added the lights. 

Complete Bibliography

• Cennini, Cennino d'Andrea. The Craftsman's Handbook Il Libro dell' Arte, Translated by Daniel V Thompson Jr. New York: Dover Publications Inc, 1960.
• Drogin, Marc. Medieval Calligrpahy Its history and Technique. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1980.
• Eusman, Elmer. Ink Corrosion site. <http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/ink/html/ink.html>.
• Evans, Mark. The Sforza Hours. New York: New Amsterdam, 1992.

• Harris, David. The Calligrpher's Bible, 100 Complete Alphabets and How to Draw Them. London: Quarto Publishing, 2003.

• Pendray, Merouda. (tanslator) A Very Proper Treatise: The Arte of Limming. 1573. <http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Library/2036/LIMI.HTM>.
• Thompson, Daniel V. The Materials and Techniques of Medieval Painting. New York: Dover Publications, 1956.
• Yeager, Nicholas. An Analysis and Review of Parchment Making Literature and Recipes. Out Law Pres, 1996.