• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Lovable history

... untangling German family trees - branch by branch

  • Start
  • German Genealogy
    • German Countries & History
    • German Sources
    • German Script & Language
    • German customs & traditions
  • Resources
    • Software & Tools
    • Literature
  • Meet the mom
    • About me
    • Family History
    • Crafts

Painting miniatures for a medieval girdle book

30/11/2017 Leave a Comment

divider [www.lovablehistory.com]

This article is part of the series “How to make a medieval girdle book“. 

divider [www.lovablehistory.com]

Painting one of the miniatures

First of all you need to find templates for painting miniatures, this one’s a painting from the Codex Manesse. The colours are water colours, mixed with egg white – if you keep them in small bottles with droppers in the fridge, the colour keeps fresh for several days.

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

It would certainly have been more authentic if I had used colour pigments manufactured after old recipes. You can obtain those historical pigments in specialised shops. However, some of those pigments require a special permit because they are highly toxic, e.g. lead- or mercury-containing pigments (e.g., lead white). Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose” spontaneously came to my mind – then I decided on my simple watercolour pigments.

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

I drew the first guiding lines in pencil and transferred the original, tracing it with a very fine brush and thorn ink. Then I coloured the persons’ clothing and hair once with basic colours. The colours are translucent at first. After a few coatings they become more and more opaque so that you can get really nice shadings.

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

I then added details, like the belts and garlands in gold,

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

then I added the trees with pencil first, then with thorn crust ink.

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

I repeated that with the second half of the picture (which actually is a separate painting out of the Codex Manesse): tracing the outlines first…

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

then colouring the clothing, hair and similar…

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

… and at last I added the fine details and contours. The whole picture is approximately 10 inches wide and 6 inches high and took me about two and a half hours to paint.

divider [www.lovablehistory.com]

Just recently I found a few colouring books for adults, and guess what I saw in there? Medieval-ish artwork very similar to my painting above… Those books of course save you the hassle to convert the medieval painting into an outlined colouring page. Just give it a try, some of the books contain really really beautiful sceneries 🙂

How to make a medieval girdle book, pt. 2: painting miniatures [www.lovablehistory.com]

Lovable History - Signature

Filed Under: Crafts

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Featured posts from “German Genealogy”

Sankt Martin, Karneval and Halloween [www.lovablehistory.com]

What do Sankt Martin, Karneval and Halloween have in common?

Recent postings

  • “SCHULTE” as profession and surname 15/01/2020
  • What do Sankt Martin, Karneval and Halloween have in common? 28/10/2019
  • Painting miniatures for a medieval girdle book 30/11/2017
  • Start
  • Terms and conditions
  • About me

Copyright © 2025 · Sherri On Genesis Framework · WordPress

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Yes, I'm happy with it.