The art of Illumination is an ancient one, its origins shrouded in time. While we know little
of these ancient beginnings by the middle ages a well established and consistent tradition of
materials and techniques had developed in Europe and across the Middle East. The materials,
recipes and techniques described in this section on illimination are distilled from the numerous
treatises left to us from this period. The gum bound paints of manuscript illuminators have
come down to us in the form of modern watercolors.