historiated initials
Illuminated manuscript capitals
Historiated initials are large decorative letters in medieval manuscripts that contain miniature scenes or figures within the letter's form.
Unlike simple illuminated letters with abstract ornament, historiated initials depict people, animals, or narrative episodes: The historiated initial showed David playing his harp inside the curve of the letter D.
They appear most often in religious texts, where the image relates to the text that follows.
- marginaliaNotes in page edges
- Lindisfarne GospelsDecorated early medieval evangeliary
- pigmentsColor-giving compounds
- saintsCanonized religious figures
- narrative artArt that depicts events
illuminated manuscript · scriptorium · medieval manuscripts · bestiary · psalter · Gothic period · biblical scenes · grotesques · Book of Kells · miniatures · codex · gilding · incunabula · calligraphy · parchment · vellum · uncial · monks
- medieval arttapestry, ivory carvings, Book of Kells, fresco, Lindisfarne Gospels
- illuminated manuscriptsilluminated manuscripts, illuminated manuscript, illuminated letters, illumination, illuminations
- illuminationillumination, illuminated manuscripts, illuminators, miniature, rubrics
- scriptoriascriptorium, copyist, scribe, calligrapher, amanuensis
- calligraphyChinese calligraphy, Japanese calligraphy, Arabic calligraphy, Islamic calligraphy, blackletter
- classical authors manuscriptsilluminated texts, vellum, scriptorium, parchment, codex