This commission for  kobusyeen from 2020 was the spiritual successor to the Bayeux Tapestry series (you can read more about that in the next two gallery posts).

It was a simple adaptation of the concept to a more stereotypically medieval style, inspired specifically by the illuminations of the Morgan Bible (more about that later).
This is one of the pieces where I started to become dissatisfied with my linework, and that begun a whole quest of looking for a new brush and drawing software.

Jakobus wanted to be portrayed as a scottish Gallowglass (an elite mercenary warrior); thus he wears a simple tunic and chainmail, with a kilt underneath. I gave him the most stereotypical weapon I could think of for that role - a claymore; thus the entire piece is somewhat anachronistic - I haven't yet fine-tuned my ability to make things fit together both stylistically and thematically. The frame is simple, with the large text above being scottish gaelic "IS e SEO", meaning "THIS IS" - while not equivalent to latin "HIC EST" - "HERE IS", it fit the frame better than a direct translation. The arches are decorated with tiny buildings inspired by ones in the Morgan Bible, and I also managed to fit a small Saltire in the key of the arch. The background is extremely simple, and features two oversized thistles, the scottish national flower. The lettering & my signature in this one were based on classic Gothic calligraphy.

The Morgan Bible is a book of many names from the various owners and places it travelled between; ironically it's called a Bible despite only portraying a few excerpts from the text. Believed to have been made in mid thirteenth century France for king Louis IX; three and a half centuries later it somehow ended up in the hands of the Bishop of Kraków, Bernard Maciejowski; who then gave the book as a present to Shah Abbas I the Great of Persia in 1608; it then survived the royal library being sacked by the Afghans and somehow ended up in Cairo, where it was purchased by Sotheby's before being auctioned off to London book dealers; then sold to a manuscript collector, then passed to his children, before it was eventually bought by J.P. Morgan himself.
It thus has been named the Crusader Bible, Maciejowski Bible, Shah Abbas Bible and most commonly the Morgan Bible.

The detailed and colourful illuminations inpire awe to this day, and it's easy to see it's influence on my style; I am also drawn to the books convoluted and vibrant history, ontop of it's contents.
You can view the entire manuscript or individual folios in detail here: https://www.themorgan.org/collectio.....Crusader-Bible