and red was the selected colour to give this additional life to the
evenly written page. The red pigment was known as "minium." The
artist who applied this was called a "miniator," and from this,
was derived the term "miniature," which later referred to the
pictures executed in the developed stages of the art. The use of
the word "miniature," as applied to paintings on a small scale,
was evolved from this expression.

[Illustration: A SCRIBE AT WORK: 12TH CENTURY MANUSCRIPT]

The difficulties were numerous. First, there was climate and temperature
to consider. It was necessary to be very careful about the temperature
to which gold leaf was exposed, and in order to dry the sizing
properly, it was important that the weather should not be too damp
nor too warm. Peter de St. Audemar, writing in the late thirteenth
century, says: "Take notice that you ought not to work with gold
or colours in a damp place, on account of the hot weather, which,
as it is often injurious in burnishing gold, both to the colours
on which the gold is laid and also to the gilding, if the work
is done on parchment, so also it is injurious when the weather
is too dry and arid." John Acherius, in 1399, observes, too, that
"care must be taken as regards the situation, because windy weather
is a hindrance, unless the gilder is in an enclosed place, and
if the air is too dry, the colour cannot hold the gold under the
burnisher." Illumination is an art which has always been difficult;
we who attempt it to-day are not simply facing a lost art which
has become impossible because of the changed conditions; even when
followed along the best line in the best way the same trials were
encountered.