A Gilded Pilgrimage: Reimagining the Bayeaux Tapestry

About this course

Participants will develop an illuminated vellum panel showing a symbolic horse and rider linked to the cosmic or seasonal cycle. The panels will later be assembled into a shared procession, reinterpreting the Bayeux Tapestry as an allegorical pilgrimage through time. Teaching covers vellum preparation, controlled drawing, gold-leaf application and burnishing, and painting with historically informed pigments. The work also examines stylised figures and horses, decorative borders, and Romanesque ornament associated with manuscripts such as the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells.

What you'll learn

• Prepare vellum for illuminated artwork
• Apply and burnish gold leaf
• Paint with historically informed pigments, including natural pigments where appropriate
• Draw stylised horses and figures
• Develop decorative borders and symbolic Romanesque ornament

Is this course right for you?

The course is listed as suitable for all levels. Participants work on an individual vellum panel while contributing to a collaborative final artwork, with the project combining traditional techniques and shared composition.

• Includes both individual panel-making and collaboration on a larger assembled work
• Participants engage with historical manuscript and tapestry sources

Before you go

• Work uses vellum and historically informed materials, including natural pigments; woad-derived blue may be used where appropriate.
• Registered students receive complimentary admission to the accompanying lecture and must confirm their attendance.