Modelling of draperies
Artists' Techniques
Pink, purple, green and blue draperies were modelled with gradations of colour. Orange robes, on the other hand, have a homogeneous base layer over which the artist applied a red dye. Only in a few instances were dark outlines added as a final step; in most cases, it is the contrast between white and colour – or between orange and red – which defines the drapery folds.
A particular modelling technique, observed for example on fols. 1v and 77r, involves the juxtaposition of mosaic gold and verdigris.
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Historiated initial C: Annunciation to the Shepherds, with a bas-de-page scene (Psalm 97)
The angel announces Christ’s birth to the shepherds in the historiated initial for Psalm 97, whose opening verses were interpreted as a prophecy of the Incarnation and sung at the feast of the Nativity. The Annunciation to the Shepherds was the standard subject-matter for Psalm 97 in the traditional English pictorial cycle, to which the Macclesfield Psalter conforms. The initial extends into a full bar border incorporating bearded hybrids, the head of a woman within a medallion, and an angel. A courting couple is depicted in the bas-de-page.
This page showcases the use of gold and yellow pigments in this manuscript. The historiated initial as well as the borders have gilded backgrounds, where gold leaf was applied over a chalk ground and then burnished and decorated with punched dots (hotspot 1). Yellow, used sparingly across the manuscript, was obtained here in two different ways: the light hair of the figures contains a yellow dye (hotspot 2), while mosaic gold was used in the wings of the angel playing a musical instrument (hotspot 3).