The illumination work done in this manuscript are attributed to the Master of the Antiphonar of Padua. Illuminations are in gold and appear throughout the entirety of the manuscript. There is illumination in decorated letters, illustrations, and sometimes the text itself. This indicates that this manuscript must have been relatively expensive, in addition to the other components we have discussed. For example, a significant amount of gold leaf must have been used to illuminate the backgrounds of many illustrations in addition to chunks of text.
In the illustration above, the illumination appears in gold behind Dante and Virgil. This contrasts the black background that appears behind the This is an example of the kind of illumination that is characteristic of this manuscript. It often serves as the background in many illustrations.
In addition, since this poem incorporates religion, gold illumination frequently depicts things that are deemed holy. For example, gold illumination is used for halos that appear on angels.
In the image that appears below, the staircase leading up to the seventh Heaven is illuminated in gold. This is meant to be represent a holy staircase, so the illuminated really brings it to the attention of the reader. In addition, there is an elaborate, grid-patterned background that is lined with gold illumination. The design inside consists of red and blue flowers. Please note that when artists illustrated a manuscript, the illumination would come before pigments.
Gold was also used to write some of the main text (pictured below). This differs from the black ink that was used for a majority of the text throughout.
Divina Commedia 