There were 7 illuminated letter I images included in the manuscript that I’ve been working with. They all have beige backgrounds with reddish-brown spots; except one, that one was gilded and is even more lovely.
The manuscript was created in the 1500s, probably as a commission by the Catholic church as it was clearly done by hand, more than likely very expensive to produce and contained religious music. The letters were included with they lyrics. Some of the letters were large and introduced a page and others were smaller and a similar size to the lyrics.
Gilded Illuminated Letter I Image
The first of the letter I images that I’m sharing with you today is the golden one. This gilded and illuminated letter I features a white and grey letter I that looks like two small pillars stacked on top of each other.
Surrounding the letter are a series of blue and white vines. At the end of the vines are blue, red and white flowers.
Large Blue Letter I Illustration
Seems almost insulting to call these beautiful illuminated letters images.
They are hand-drawn works of art and illustration just seems a more appropriate name. Though, most of use would search for letter images rather than letter illustrations. So, I thought I would use a bit of both in hopes of getting people to honor these illustrations for the achievement that they are.
This second letter I image has a blue and white letter image. It is decorated with flowers drawn in shades of blue-ish grey with white accents.
Small Letter I Illustrations
There were four small letter I illustrations included in the manuscript that I’ve been working with. Three of them have grey and white letters and the fourth has a blue letter with white decorations.
All four have flowers and leaves.
The white ones have one or two blue and white flowers on stems with pairs of green leaves. The blue one has a red, poppy-like flower with a pair of green leaves. All four appear on a beige background with reddish-brown speckles.
More Letter I Images
When I wrote this post, there were over 40 letter I images already here on Reusable Art. If these illuminated letters don’t fulfill your vision for your project, perhaps you should check out the others and maybe one of them will. You will find them here.
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.
