These illuminated letter S images were first created around 600 years ago. They were part of a 16th century French manuscript which contained religious music. In between the musical score and the lyrics, the artisan included beautiful illuminated letters. The letters themselves were generally white or blue and appeared either on a beige or gilded background.
I’ve had a number of requests from folks who frequent Reusable Art to find vintage illustrations for their own artwork. They ask me if I could leave more images in their original state so that they can edit them themselves. Since all of these illiminated letter S images were drawn by hand, they seems a good choice to leave alone. That way you can decide if you want to “fix” any of the smears or little boo-boos the artist may have made when creating this work.
Gilded Illuminated Letter S Images
The two largest illuminated letter S images were both gilded and feature a blue letter S. The first one has red, green, maroon and white accents. A pair of green flowers with red petals stand out among the maroon and white leaves and vines. The red lines and black diamonds were part of the score. The second of the larger S illustrations was decorated with an almost Celtic-like tangle of lines and accented with green and golden dots.
Large Blue S Image
This illuminated letter S is slightly smaller than the first two and while the background is somewhat golden, it doesn’t look gilded to me. The blue fancy letter S drawing is surrounded by flowers, leaves and vines done in whites and shades of grey-ish blue.
Small Illuminated Letter S Images
This group of letter S images were similar in size to the text or lyrics displayed on the music. They are just as beautiful as their larger counterparts but may meet your needs better as they are a bit smaller that the first three. All of this group of illuminated letter S images include flowers – either blue or red, and green leaves. They are all on a beige speckled background with blue or white letter S drawings.
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.
