We use the most authentic materials and techniques possible.
Painting – We work with egg tempera, oil and other period mediums on gessoed panels, canvas, parchment and linen paper.
Writing – We use period papers, parchment skins, oak gall and walnut inks and can recreate the handwriting and formal letters of the period; from personal letters to royal appointments.
In the 15th century a wide range of tools and materials – pens, brushes, and knives for example – were available to its artisans from expert craftsmen (parchment manufacturing for example) or were prepared by the artists themselves (such as quills for writing) and were part of their daily lives. From the writing to the final binding of a book, from the preparation of a wood panel with gesso to the fine painting with oil, there was a wide variety of artisans working for the same purpose – a fine work of art.
In the Guild of St. Luke we try to keep our work as close as possible to the originals we draw our inspiration from, by using replicas of tools that were available at the time, made by expert modern craftsmen , and by using the pigments and mediums that an artist is the 15th century would be familiar with.