Illuminations

The small selection of illuminations highlighted here are details of miniature paintings that are now in private collections; most measure less than four inches in height. Nancy uses both modern and medieval materials, depending on the piece. She often prepares her own paint from hand-ground pigments and egg binders using traditional recipes, including genuine ultramarine extracted from the gemstone lapis lazuli. Gold highlights are always 23-carat gold, applied either as delicate leaf or as powdered gold. One of her favorite styles is grisaille, a monotone style executed on a colored ground. As was tradition centuries ago, Nancy often includes patron portraits, images of the work’s sponsor, in her illuminations. Many of the samples displayed here are reinterpretations of illuminations from medieval manuscripts. Click on the arrows (left and right sides of the image) to scroll through all the photographs in the gallery.