A pen and ink drawing from Garden of Pleasent Flowers.

     Methods of Illustrations

    Many methods of drawing and illustrating manuscripts were present during the Renaissance time period though the main ones included metal point styluses pen and ink or chalk. Stylus drawings were achieved by first dyeing a sheet of paper or applying a wash to color the paper. Once the paper was colored the artist would then use a metal stylus to essentially scrape away the coloring to create different shades on the page resulting in an image with differing tones of a single color[1].

     Pen and ink drawings such as those seen in the garden of pleasant flowers used quills and an ink (usually black) to draw an image usually these images would first be drafted with a less permanent substance such as graphite or charcoal. Once the outlining was done once could use hatching or cross-hatching to shade in areas creating darker or lighter areas within the drawing[2].

     Chalk drawing allowed the most diversity for the artist. Chalk drawings used either colored sticks of chalk or pastels by using differing amounts of pressure an artist could easily create seamless shading something that was not possible with stylus or ink drawings. Artist had a lot more room for creativity with chalk because of the greater variety of colors available to them as well as the ability to use multiple colors in a single drawing[3].

     Colors during the Renaissance were created with various blends of pigments that an artist could mix to create thousands of color shades. Some come pigments during the renaissance included azurite used for blues, vermillion used for orange and red, and malachite used for greens [4].  

An illustration of mistletoe from page 179 Mattioli's Discorsi.

     Comparing Illustrations

     The Garden of Pleasant Flowers and the facsimile both contain a great variety of artistic differences between the 2 texts. The Garden of Pleasant Flowers has no color and uses only pen and ink drawings[5]. The facsimile uses drawings with various colors to help the reader quickly identify the plant they are looking at. The drawings in The Garden of Pleasant Flowers are small with very multiple plants per page highlighting differences between species that would appear similar unless close together. The facsimile showcases one plant on each page but portrays the plant in various stages of growth so a reader can help identify a plant at any stage of growth. This creates the impression that the facsimile would be used similarly to a modern-day encyclopedia to help someone search up information on a single plant at a time[6].