Visual Analysis is the Best Kind of Analysis

There are three major elements that totally dominate the pages of Bocaccio's manuscript, the large lettering that hold the place of the first character in a section of text, the red writing placed under the last of the major elements which is the image or illustration. Together these three elements with the addition of the black text make up the page. The page itself is divided into three major parts: Image at the top, Red ink underneath, and black ink text including the large character under that. The modern organization is similar to that of a children's story book with pictures. The reader is able to clearly see the illustration while reading the text in order to create a clearer mental picture of what is being described. This is a finer manuscript so it was done on a high quality parchment, this means that the writing surface is smooth and was able to be kept well preserved. There are no clear imperfections on the work from the images I have studied from my computer, I'm sure given the chance to actually handle the work one would be able to find the slight imperfections that go along with any animal skin. The text is careful and delicate, it was clearly done by someone who spent a great deal of time getting it to look just right. It is clear enough and big enough that one would not have to strain their eyes to read the manuscript. The colour palette is an interesting topic, I look forward to finding a larger number of colour images but from what I can gather there is a wide range of colours used. This is particularly exciting for me because historically colours can represent types of fabric if it was not possible to actually name the type of fabric being depicted. It was a subtle way to show economic and social power through the use of clothing without out-right saying it. The eye is very much drawn to the illustrations that occupy the top third of the page. They are busy and engaging images causing the reader to become interested in what is going on and engage with the text.