Joueur de Guiterne - Final

Now finished. Actual size is 60 mm wide, 91 mm high. I have used watercolor and tempera (gouache with egg yolk) and lined with a homemade ink made with gum arabic and iron oxide, and a darker sepia ink. I have added oxgall to help line around the gold.

This design was made after the Cantigas of Santa Maria (a 13th century manuscript from Castille) [link] but I have reworked the face which I didn't like on the original and he had a weird translucent headdress. Other musicians in the same manuscript had better faces, so I used inspiration from the other illuminations as well.

Over all, I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out, but the hands are not my favorite part. I am getting better with characters and will make more (and the Cantigas are a wonderful source). I think I got the fabric folds better than with the archangel I have made before and I like the patterned backgroud (I was afraid it would be too busy, but the character pops out nicely). This was actually a preparation study for the same design on a piece of wood, to be applied on a Guiterne replica (the instrument) that a friend of mine is making. But I think it will need to be much smaller for the instrument...