16c. Italian Scroll

The theme of the illumination Arts and Sciences competition at Night on the Piazza is “late-period Italian.” With that in mind, I searched for manuscripts from Italy that were produced any time after 1500 A.D. The British Library maintains an online catalog of illuminated manuscripts, and as I browsed their collection I found the “Martyrdom of Sebastian” illuminated miniature, painted by Pietro de Cristoforo Vannucci (b. 1450, d. 1523) in Bologna right around 1500. This appealed to me not only because it fits the theme, but also because it can be easily adapted into a scroll blank for an archery award. Archery is near and dear to my heart, and so I decided that this miniature would be the inspiration for my work.

The original measures 185mm by 135mm and is painted in oils on parchment leaf. I have copied the border and the archers from the original and incorporated the badge of the Order of the Golden Arrow, which is the archery award bestowed by the Barony of Lochmere. I hope someday it will be calligraphed and awarded, and then hang proudly on a fellow archer's wall!

I began the project by sketching out an outline on graph paper to get an idea of the actual size based on the aforementioned measurements of 185mm by 135mm. This is quite a bit smaller than the size of a standard piece of modern paper, and I wanted my work to fill a page. Therefore, I increased the measurements by a factor of 1.4, bringing the final dimensions of my piece to 260mm by 190mm. In the original, the border's width was 16mm. My adjusted measurements bring my border's width to 22.5mm. Likewise, the archers grew from their original height of 65mm to a new height of 90mm.

Using these new measurements, I sketched out a rough draft on graph paper of the border and a few key elements of the design. I then inked over the sketches in heavy, black ink. When the sun rose, I taped the inked-over sketch and a piece of 22.9cm by 30.5cm 100-pound Bristol paper to my sliding glass door, which would function as a makeshift light table. I lightly traced my design onto the Bristol in pencil.

To paint this project, I opted for acrylic instead of oil because it is what I already have on hand for my leatherwork projects. The colors are bright and the paint is durable, making it a desirable choice for an SCA award scroll. For this project, I needed red, green, blue, white, black and gold paint. In all elements of the piece, the red, blue and green were applied first and allowed to dry before the gold, black and white were added.

I am very frustrated and disappointed in the borders--they didn't come out at all as I had envisioned. They don't look like swirly leaves. They don't look like much of anything, really.

I am pleased with the corners of the borders, and with the archers. Especially with the archers. It's funny--going into the project, I had thought that the archers would be so hard and the borders easy. How the opposite proved itself to be true!

This project was very eye-opening for me. In the past, I've looked at scrolls completed by others and noted glaring imperfections. Arrogantly, ignorantly, I've thought to myself, "Even I could do better than that, and I'm no illuminator!" I would never have said that to an artist, but oh, I thought it.

Well ... no. No, I can't do better than that. This is HARD. I have a whole new level of respect and appreciation for beginner scrolls, and so much more so for those pristine, gorgeous works of art that come from hands that have been dedicated to learning and perfecting this skill for so many years.
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Entered In
Night on the Piazza, Barony of Lochmere, Atlantia: Adult Novice Scroll Competition (Winner)