Illuminated letter D from Lincoln Cathedral manuscript MS147 f.202v

This twelfth century design is described in the literature simply as ‘a major initial in colours and gold in the Channel Style (coiling foliage, ‘white lions’ etc); at the top left a naked man fighting a dragon’.

It was the most complex illuminated letter I attempted for this exhibition and took me three attempts to achieve the necessary accuracy to align the concentric circles – a fact which makes the achievement of the original illuminator, working in much worse conditions than I, all the more remarkable.

All the pigments used would have been available in the twelfth century – lapis lazuli, vermillion, terra verte, burnt umber, yellow ochre, red ochre, white and black.