Scroll - Axeman vs Centaur

Scroll - Axeman vs Centaur

Description:

Two scrolls depicting the same image of a inhabited initial ‘A’, depicting a centaur spearing a man holding an axe: opening psalm 77. Inspired by folio 101r of the 12th century Hunterian Psalter.[1] Also known as the York Psalter. Gouache and ink on Fluid 140 pound, hot-pressed, cotton paper and a miniature of the same image on vellum, also with gouache and ink.

The larger image was made as a scroll blank. The smaller was made for the Shelter-In-Place Scribal War.

Details of the original image:

Vellum, 11½ x 7½, ff. 202, originally ff. 204, beautifully written in one hand (except the last 33 folios, in XIV. Cent. hand), in single cols. of 21 lines (in Kalendar 35 lines), each 8½ x 4¼, ruled and margined with plummet, 13 full-page pictures, one full-page illumination, gilt, historiated or illuminated initials begin the first verse of each Psalm, small gilt initials (ornamented in Ps. xcvi.) begin the second and following verses, no signatures or catchwords, partial foliation, modern (in pencil), the Kalendar is written in black, red, blue and green, cropped, marginalia (first three folios only), fol. sec. Martis. Cents. XII. (and XIV.) Binding: Millboards, covered crimson morocco, richly gilt-tooled inside margins, edges and sides (lines), panelled back, title (gilt): PSALTERIUM | UETUS | IN MEMBRANIS. Late Cent. XVII. [For detailed collation see: John Young and P. Henderson Aitken, A Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of The Hunterian Museum in The University of Glasgow. (Glasgow, 1908), p. 170.]

Although much of the early life of the Psalter remains a mystery, its acquisition by Glasgow University is quite clear. It came as part of William Hunter’s magnificent library in 1807, along with the rest of his wonderful collections. Dr William Hunter (1718-83) was a famous anatomist and physician, and renowned collector of books, manuscripts, coins, medals, paintings, shells, minerals, and anatomical and natural history specimens. Under the terms of his will, his library and other collections remained in London for several years after his death - for the use of his nephew, Dr Matthew Baillie (1761-1823) - and arrived at the University in 1807.

Hunter’s collection of books contains some 10,000 printed books and 650 manuscripts; it forms one of the finest Eighteenth Century libraries to survive intact. Hunter acquired this volume at the sale of the library of Louis-Jean Gaignat in Paris on 10 April 1769, along with several other books. His French agent, Jean B. Dessain, bought it at the auction on Hunter’s behalf for fifty livres and one sou; it was described in the sale catalogue as a ‘codex pervetustus’ (‘an antiquated book’). Now regarded as the greatest treasure in his library, Hunter was paying three times as much for early printed books at the time. [2]

Technique:

The initial image was a scroll blank, made with no assignment in mind. I had already made this image twice before, so I had some experience with it. I used gouache and ink on paper rather than vellum and period pigments as I do not have experience with period pigments, nor do I own any, and I did not have any vellum or pergamenta; only cotton paper. Working from a high resolution image of the manuscript, [3] I removed the background colors and printed out the image. The design was transferred to the paper by tracing over a light box. I feel that there is no shame in using a light box, as I am better at tracing than I am at drawing free-hand.

The scroll was made on Fluid 100% cotton, 140# hot-press watercolor paper. This scroll is 9x12” in size. I used gouache: Reeves and Winsor & Newton for colors and Holbein for the gold. I went heavy on the gold to give it some texture. For the figures and background, I used a very watered down base coat all over, with three or four layers over each area; each layer thicker and thus, darker, than the previous one. Once the paint was dry, I added the white work. I have found that with the gouache, the added white really makes the paint pop, especially the dark paints. I applied the paint so that if the virtual light source came from the upper, left-hand corner of the page, the darkest shades would fall into the right most corners, producing shadows.

I used a very watered down light-blue wash on the metal bits: the axe and spear heads. I have found, over the years, that the silver paint just doesn’t look good and a light wash give the appearance of if not metal than some material that is different than fabric or flesh. Leaving the metal bits unpainted gives the impression that the scroll is unfinished and using darker paint doesn’t give the impression of metal. Beside, this is a technique used in many medieval manuscripts, the Hunterian Psalter for example.

The background of the letter was painted with ultramarine blue gouache and highlighted with white dots: no highlighting or shading was used. Several layers of gold paint were used to make the objects stand out. The goal was to produce an image that would stand out and be visible when it was displayed in court.

Once the all of the paint had dried, I outlined all of the sections with black ink to make the image further stand out, then added white ink and paint to the highlights, to give the figures a sense of depth.

The second piece, made for the Shelter-In-Place Scribal War, was done on a 2x3” piece of actual vellum and was my first experience with working with the material. I scaled down the source image and traced it onto the scrap of vellum. I used the same ink and paint technique as I used on the paper version, but I prepped the vellum with a piece of fine sandpaper, followed up with some pounce, to remove any oil from the surface. A procedure not required on the cotton paper.

I kept the colors the same, except for the legs of the axeman: on the larger image I had used green, but I used light blue on the vellum piece because I wasn’t paying attention: I had started to apply the blue before I realized that I wasn’t using the correct color. Not a major mistake, but a mistake none the less. Also, due to the size of the piece, I was forced to use reading glasses in order to see the fine details. Even so, I had mistakenly applied the background paint where the centaur’s shield was supposed to be. I didn’t want to scrape the paint off of the vellum, since I had no experience with the material and did not want to damage it. I inked around the blue, I had applied, and made the shield more narrow. I think that it isn’t very noticeable when viewed full size; it is when you look at the high-res image.

Unlike paper, the ink and paint didn’t soak into the vellum, but floated on top of it until it dried. [4] This required me to apply a thin layer of gouache to all areas and let each one dry completely before moving on. Subsequent layers then sat atop the dry foundation layer and were less likely to run.

[1] Glasgow, University Library, MS. Hunter 229
[2] From the University of Glasgow’s web site: http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/search/detail_c.cfm?ID=34725
[3] Provided by the Glasgow University Library Special Collections Department’s web site: Book of the Month, May 2007, http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/may2007.html
[4] This is the same when working with pergamenta.

References:

Caballero, Rosario; Díaz Vera, Javier E. Textual Healing: Studies in Medieval English Medical, Scientific and Technical Texts. Peter Lang, 2010

Gibson, Margaret T.; Heslop, T. A.; Pfaff, Richard William. The Eadwine Psalter: Text, Image, and Monastic Culture in Twelfth-century Canterbury. Penn State Press, Jan 1, 1992

Glasgow University Library Special Collections Department’s web site: Book of the Month, May 2007, http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/may2007.html

University of Glasgow’s web site: http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/manuscripts/search/detail_c.cfm?ID=34725