In the past, historiated initials often contained biblical scenes, depictions of famous figures and self-portraits. Often, these images were meant to help a reader conceptualize the terms presented in a text and to invoke an emotional response which in turn would spur them to prayer. On occasion, historiated letters served as simple place-markers, helping readers to find a specific part of the text without having to read through it in its entirety.
Anyways, as you can probably guess from the title, I’m super duper excited to finally get to do some hands-on illumination! I’m really not sure what letter to do though, and I don’t know how much thought all of you are putting into it. I’ve consolidated my research on the historical historiated initial in the previous paragraph and I’m hoping to get some inspiration browsing through pictures, but I think it’s hard to come up with a good idea for a historiated letter without a supporting text, which is the case in our situation.
So, what letters are you guys going to do and why? I’d really like to hear your thoughts and ideas 🙂
At the moment I am still debating which letter to embellish. While one might assume that I would lean towards my name’s initials, I most likely will not. I agree with you point about text adding inspiration and ideas about how to embellish a letter. I will most likely search for a tale that can assist me with the embellishment.