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The surface of fine vellum was particularly well suited for receiving intricate
pen strokes and painted illumination. It was also a hardy material that
withstood heavy use. The two manuscripts shown here--a fifteenth-century
Hebrew mathematical text and a sixteenth-century Spanish royal document--demonstrate
the qualities of vellum that made it the preferred surface for manuscript
production. The vellum allows the fine strokes of the Hebrew text to remain
legible. In the Carta de Hidalgu’a issued by Philip II in 1563, the
pages accommodate the lavish illumination done in the Flemish style. The
document, which grants the status of nobility to Diego Gon‡lez, portrays
five members of the Gon‡lez family, clad in black, kneeling before
a monstrance placed on a canopied altar.
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