Sophie Theodose

Manuscript illuminator

©Marion Saupin

©Nicolas Vercellino

©Marion Saupin

The path to illumination

Illumination is a medieval technique of painting on parchment
Materials include extra fine pigments, gouache and gold leaf
Sophie uses parchment that is typically made of goatskin

Sophie Théodose always loved history and romanesque art, so she came across illuminations at an early age. However she decided to study fashion and worked in the fashion industry for close to 15 years. One day, visiting a local exhibition, she chanced upon a woman exhibiting a few illuminations. Certain this was what she wanted to do, in 2005, Sophie abandoned the fashion industry and contacted Benoit Cazelle, an illumination artist in Normandy, who took her on as an apprentice. She flourished in the exercise of this secular art transmitted down from the Middle Ages. Each work is unique, depending on the particular mix of the materials, the irregularities of the parchment and the shimmer of the pigments. “For me it was obvious. This was what I wanted to do. It just took me a while to get there,” she says.

Interview

©Marion Saupin

©Marion Saupin

Do you remember the first object you made?: There was a piece that I did for my teacher that I still have. At the end of my training, to test me and see what I was capable of, he made me copy a page from a work of Jean de Berry onto lambskin. It was quite a job, and took me three weeks to do. I will never sell it because this is the piece that launched my career.
What are your sources of inspiration?: Romanesque art, history… the whole world inspires me. I can go shopping and find sources of inspiration. It’s actually a disaster. When I go to a museum I get information overload, too much comes to me, and afterwards I want to do too much. I’m also captivated by the sea and coral – even though I can hardly swim!
What do you like most about your job?: All the projects, the ideas that I get, the sketches I make. It's actually everything I used to do with my teacher and I still do now – the thinking, the organising, the testing of colours and materials… I love all that, because it’s about discovery.
What might people not realise about what you do?: Few people know what parchment is. It’s actually a dead goat spread out, there’s even hair on it. People are surprised to realise it’s not paper. Some quickly realise the sensuality of it, and that’s great, but others get hung up on the fact it’s the skin of a dead animal and then I can’t do anything for them.

Sophie Theodose is a master artisan: she began her career in 2005 and she started teaching in 2009