A pair of small illuminated letter G images is the subject of this post. Both of them are from the same vintage manuscript from the 16th Century. Within the hand-tooled leather cover was a virtual treasure trove of over 100 illuminated letter illustrations; many of which were also gilded. The French work included Biblical music and was most likely commissioned by the Church.
Luckily for us, someone donated access to their prized possession to their favorite university. The library staff had the book photographed and shared each of the page images with the world. While they were more interested in the historical value of the piece, the Reusable Art family is more focused on the lovely illustrations it contained.
The first illuminated letter G appears to have been gilded but it also has the reddish-brown speckles common among the non-gilded letters. It features a grey and white capital letter G with a red, green and glue flower.
The second drop cap letter G is done in blue with white accents. Features a red and white flower with a pair of green leaves too.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
