Illumination

The embellishment of a manuscript with luminous colours (especially gold and silver).

Illumination, from the Latin illuminare, 'to enlighten or illuminate', is the embellishment of a manuscript with luminous colours (especially gold and silver). In the past, the colouring of maps and prints was also called illumination. A miniature is sometimes referred to as an illumination.

  • Arabic:
    تزيين; زخرفة
  • Armenian:
    լուսանցազարդ
  • French:
    Enluminure
  • Italian:
    Decorazione
  • Portuguese:
    iluminura
  • Spanish:
    Decoración; Iluminación

Michelle Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts (Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum in association with the British Library, c1994).

Raymond Clemens and Timothy Graham, Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2007), 33-34.