9. It is an enormous
folio, and rather unwieldly, but a most interesting example of the new
style. Its initials are large, richly illuminated in gold and attractive
colours. It has well-executed histories within the initials, and boldly
designed border frames, elegantly adorned with foliages and conventional
or idealised flowers. Perhaps the most noticeable feature is the
beautiful, decorative foliage work in the limbs of the letters--itself a
South German peculiarity--then the alternation of colours without
interrupting the design, the profusion of foliage modelling in the
backgrounds of the letter panels outside the historiations. The next
thing is the bold use of minium side by side even with pure rose-petal
colour, pale bright cerulean blue, and bright gold. Lastly, the immense
variety of leaf-forms, based on the three, five, and seven-lobed
groupings of the typical form. The coil and spiral are freely used as
the groundwork, and the colours alternated as the coils or spirals
change from front to back of the leaf.
[39] The Lovell Psalter.
[Illustration:
MISSALE (SARUM USE)
14TH CENT. (LATE)
_Brit. Mus. Harl. MS. 2785, fol. 194 v._]
[Illustration:
HOR? E. MAR. VIESIS.
15TH CENT. (EARLY)
_Brit. Mus. Roy. Ms. 2, A.
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