Journal of Paper Conservation: Special Issue in Memory of Anthony Cains, 2022
The permanence of parchment, its salvage-ability and persistence, is demonstrated by the centurie... more The permanence of parchment, its salvage-ability and persistence, is demonstrated by the centuries-long tradition of medieval parchment repair. Some conservators of rare books and manuscripts, including Anthony Cains, have recommended parchment be repaired with parchment, paper with paper. This contribution contrasts Cains’s method for parchment repair with late medieval parchment repair techniques. Medieval scarf-joinery, a technique not recommended as modern conservation practice for reasons outlined, ought to be better recognized in medieval manuscripts as interventions that go well beyond repair. With examples ranging in date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, medieval scarfjoined parchment repairs are appreciated for their invisibility and as sites for embellishment and concealment. By revealing the presence of these repairs, we might better recognize issues affecting a manuscript’s condition while understanding the purposes to which scarfjoinery methods were deployed. As expressions of craft refinement and as evident ‘workmanship of risk’, late medieval scarf-joined parchment repair techniques are appreciated not as ancillary to a manuscript’s production, but as sometimes even central to its original construction.
Manuscript Cultures of Colonial Mexico and Peru: New Questions and Approaches. Edited by Thomas B.F. Cummins, Emily A. Engel, Barbara Anderson, and Juan M. Ossio A. , 2014
New Perspectives on Flemish Illumination. Papers presented at the colloquium held in Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, November 16–18, 2011. Edited by Lieve Watteeuw, Jan Van der Stock, Bernard Bousmanne, and Dominique Vanwijnsbergh, 2018
The element‐specific distribution maps generated by scanning macro‐X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spect... more The element‐specific distribution maps generated by scanning macro‐X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy are providing cultural heritage researchers with information about the composition of materials present in works of art and, more importantly, unprecedented insight into the techniques employed by artists in their creation. One of the advantages of macro‐XRF scanning is that the X‐rays probe materials in subsurface layers, allowing, for example, visualizations of hidden paintings to be produced. Consequently, macro‐XRF scanning has found wide use in the study of paintings, but the high spatial resolution also makes it particularly well suited for the study of the small‐scale painted illustrations and decorative elements found in illuminated manuscripts. The preliminary drawings made by manuscript illuminators to plan a painted composition—known as underdrawings—provide evidence relating to artists' creative vision and working process but are difficult to examine because they are generally hidden under the surface paint layer. Traditionally, underdrawings in a carbon‐based medium are visualized using infrared (IR) imaging. In this study, results of the analysis of painted illuminations from medieval illuminated manuscripts demonstrate that macro‐XRF scanning can visualize underdrawings in other materials, such as iron‐gall ink, metalpoint, and pigmented inks/paints, thus serving as a useful complement to traditional IR imaging. For manuscript illuminations in bound books, this study also discusses the use of interleaving materials to reduce unwanted signals from underlying folios. The ability to reveal manuscript underdrawings will help elucidate artistic intent and workshop practice and provide a new way to examine the history of medieval drawing.
Illuminating Metalwork: metal, object and image in medieval manuscripts. eds. Joseph Salvatore Ackley and Shannon L. Wearing, 2022
Like other luxury objects, whether made for liturgical or personal use, medieval illuminated manu... more Like other luxury objects, whether made for liturgical or personal use, medieval illuminated manuscripts were often adorned with gold, silver, and other metals. When given the opportunity to turn the leaves of manuscripts, we get a privileged hint of the lived visual experiences of medieval viewers and users: the subtle radiance of metallic paint, the flash and brilliance of burnished gold leaf, and the shifting glints of light that vary according to how those metals have been embellished. Illuminators were fully cognizant of the visual impact and light-inducing effects their materials had on the viewer. But what do we know of their methods? Is all that glitters really gold? This essay aims to answer these questions by investigating the physical properties and surface appearances of precious metals and their substitutes in illuminated manuscripts dating from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries. Beginning with a query into how these substances were understood during the Middle Ages, the paper outlines how gold and silver were procured and how they came into the hands of illuminators. Through close looking and technical analysis, this essay will survey methods of applying gold and silver to the parchment page-as paint and as leaf-and discuss the grounds and embellishment techniques used to enliven gilded surfaces. By considering materials and methods chronologically, the author demonstrates how the nature of the materials themselves-as well as their contingencies and meanings-changed over time. While this study does not purport to be comprehensive, what will be revealed is a story of changing aesthetics, technological developments, and artistic innovations that reflect the shifting availability of materials in different geographical regions at various
An original twelfth-century binding in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles ... more An original twelfth-century binding in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles was studied by Christopher Clarkson in 1994. Unusual features caught his attention, particularly its undecorated tanned leather over-cover ('chemise') attached to bare boards by sewn-on 'turn-in' flaps and envelope pockets of white alum-tawed skin. With Clarkson's condition report of the binding as its starting point, this new study situates the binding of the Getty's Life of St Anselm into a wider context of northern French and Flemish Benedictine and Cistercian bindings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This paper highlights the binding practices of reform monastic orders and their 'spirit of thrift'.
Journal of Paper Conservation: Special Issue in Memory of Anthony Cains, 2022
The permanence of parchment, its salvage-ability and persistence, is demonstrated by the centurie... more The permanence of parchment, its salvage-ability and persistence, is demonstrated by the centuries-long tradition of medieval parchment repair. Some conservators of rare books and manuscripts, including Anthony Cains, have recommended parchment be repaired with parchment, paper with paper. This contribution contrasts Cains’s method for parchment repair with late medieval parchment repair techniques. Medieval scarf-joinery, a technique not recommended as modern conservation practice for reasons outlined, ought to be better recognized in medieval manuscripts as interventions that go well beyond repair. With examples ranging in date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, medieval scarfjoined parchment repairs are appreciated for their invisibility and as sites for embellishment and concealment. By revealing the presence of these repairs, we might better recognize issues affecting a manuscript’s condition while understanding the purposes to which scarfjoinery methods were deployed. As expressions of craft refinement and as evident ‘workmanship of risk’, late medieval scarf-joined parchment repair techniques are appreciated not as ancillary to a manuscript’s production, but as sometimes even central to its original construction.
Manuscript Cultures of Colonial Mexico and Peru: New Questions and Approaches. Edited by Thomas B.F. Cummins, Emily A. Engel, Barbara Anderson, and Juan M. Ossio A. , 2014
New Perspectives on Flemish Illumination. Papers presented at the colloquium held in Brussels, Royal Library of Belgium, November 16–18, 2011. Edited by Lieve Watteeuw, Jan Van der Stock, Bernard Bousmanne, and Dominique Vanwijnsbergh, 2018
The element‐specific distribution maps generated by scanning macro‐X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spect... more The element‐specific distribution maps generated by scanning macro‐X‐ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy are providing cultural heritage researchers with information about the composition of materials present in works of art and, more importantly, unprecedented insight into the techniques employed by artists in their creation. One of the advantages of macro‐XRF scanning is that the X‐rays probe materials in subsurface layers, allowing, for example, visualizations of hidden paintings to be produced. Consequently, macro‐XRF scanning has found wide use in the study of paintings, but the high spatial resolution also makes it particularly well suited for the study of the small‐scale painted illustrations and decorative elements found in illuminated manuscripts. The preliminary drawings made by manuscript illuminators to plan a painted composition—known as underdrawings—provide evidence relating to artists' creative vision and working process but are difficult to examine because they are generally hidden under the surface paint layer. Traditionally, underdrawings in a carbon‐based medium are visualized using infrared (IR) imaging. In this study, results of the analysis of painted illuminations from medieval illuminated manuscripts demonstrate that macro‐XRF scanning can visualize underdrawings in other materials, such as iron‐gall ink, metalpoint, and pigmented inks/paints, thus serving as a useful complement to traditional IR imaging. For manuscript illuminations in bound books, this study also discusses the use of interleaving materials to reduce unwanted signals from underlying folios. The ability to reveal manuscript underdrawings will help elucidate artistic intent and workshop practice and provide a new way to examine the history of medieval drawing.
Illuminating Metalwork: metal, object and image in medieval manuscripts. eds. Joseph Salvatore Ackley and Shannon L. Wearing, 2022
Like other luxury objects, whether made for liturgical or personal use, medieval illuminated manu... more Like other luxury objects, whether made for liturgical or personal use, medieval illuminated manuscripts were often adorned with gold, silver, and other metals. When given the opportunity to turn the leaves of manuscripts, we get a privileged hint of the lived visual experiences of medieval viewers and users: the subtle radiance of metallic paint, the flash and brilliance of burnished gold leaf, and the shifting glints of light that vary according to how those metals have been embellished. Illuminators were fully cognizant of the visual impact and light-inducing effects their materials had on the viewer. But what do we know of their methods? Is all that glitters really gold? This essay aims to answer these questions by investigating the physical properties and surface appearances of precious metals and their substitutes in illuminated manuscripts dating from the ninth to the sixteenth centuries. Beginning with a query into how these substances were understood during the Middle Ages, the paper outlines how gold and silver were procured and how they came into the hands of illuminators. Through close looking and technical analysis, this essay will survey methods of applying gold and silver to the parchment page-as paint and as leaf-and discuss the grounds and embellishment techniques used to enliven gilded surfaces. By considering materials and methods chronologically, the author demonstrates how the nature of the materials themselves-as well as their contingencies and meanings-changed over time. While this study does not purport to be comprehensive, what will be revealed is a story of changing aesthetics, technological developments, and artistic innovations that reflect the shifting availability of materials in different geographical regions at various
An original twelfth-century binding in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles ... more An original twelfth-century binding in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles was studied by Christopher Clarkson in 1994. Unusual features caught his attention, particularly its undecorated tanned leather over-cover ('chemise') attached to bare boards by sewn-on 'turn-in' flaps and envelope pockets of white alum-tawed skin. With Clarkson's condition report of the binding as its starting point, this new study situates the binding of the Getty's Life of St Anselm into a wider context of northern French and Flemish Benedictine and Cistercian bindings of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This paper highlights the binding practices of reform monastic orders and their 'spirit of thrift'.
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Papers by Nancy K . Turner
recognized in medieval manuscripts as interventions that go well beyond repair. With examples ranging in date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, medieval scarfjoined parchment repairs are appreciated for their invisibility and as sites for embellishment and concealment. By revealing the presence of these repairs, we might better recognize issues affecting a manuscript’s condition while understanding the purposes to which scarfjoinery methods were deployed. As expressions of craft refinement and as evident ‘workmanship of risk’, late medieval scarf-joined parchment repair techniques are appreciated not as ancillary to a manuscript’s production, but as sometimes even central to its original construction.
visualize underdrawings in other materials, such as iron‐gall ink, metalpoint, and pigmented inks/paints, thus serving as a useful complement to traditional IR imaging. For manuscript illuminations in bound books, this study also discusses the use of interleaving materials to reduce unwanted signals from underlying folios. The ability to reveal manuscript underdrawings will help elucidate artistic intent and workshop practice and provide a new way to examine the history of medieval drawing.
recognized in medieval manuscripts as interventions that go well beyond repair. With examples ranging in date from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries, medieval scarfjoined parchment repairs are appreciated for their invisibility and as sites for embellishment and concealment. By revealing the presence of these repairs, we might better recognize issues affecting a manuscript’s condition while understanding the purposes to which scarfjoinery methods were deployed. As expressions of craft refinement and as evident ‘workmanship of risk’, late medieval scarf-joined parchment repair techniques are appreciated not as ancillary to a manuscript’s production, but as sometimes even central to its original construction.
visualize underdrawings in other materials, such as iron‐gall ink, metalpoint, and pigmented inks/paints, thus serving as a useful complement to traditional IR imaging. For manuscript illuminations in bound books, this study also discusses the use of interleaving materials to reduce unwanted signals from underlying folios. The ability to reveal manuscript underdrawings will help elucidate artistic intent and workshop practice and provide a new way to examine the history of medieval drawing.