Oh my goodness, what pretty letter O images I have to share with your today. They are from a 16th Century manuscript that included around 100 different hand drawn letters. This group of three illuminated letter O images are but some of the letters some unknown artisan drew, painted and even gilded.
There were only three O drawings among the group but I think they are quite lovely and could be a grand addition to your creative projects.
I didn’t want to edit these too much to allow you to decide for yourself how much you want to edit them. Some have a more squared frame and others clearly show they were draw without using a straight edge guide. I like the bits where it shows it was hand drawn but I would probably trim off the other page elements.
The little letter O image to the right was in the smaller size used within the manuscript. It features a nice white letter O, a blue and white flower, four green leaves on a beige background.
Gilded & Illuminated Letter O Images
These two letter illuminated letter O images were gilded.
The one on the left is less colorful but I think the photographer really captured the shimmer and shine of the gold leaf. The letter itself is done in blue with white accents. It is adorned with grey and white flowers, leaves and vines.
The illuminated letter O image on the right is far more colorful and includes a pair of creatures more generally associated with mythology than theology. This manuscript was full of religious music and it does seem the two creatures are a bit out of place. The letter O is quite elaborately done in shades of grey, white and browns. Green vines with Celtic overtones create the illusion of a fountain with two blue sea creatures coming up out of the spray. The base of the fountain is a reddish orange which matches part of one of the accents on a grey flower.
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.
