The author of Art of Illuminating and Missal Painting 1849, H. Noel Humphreys had a design approach well beyond of all respectable levels and amounts of decoration - almost obsessive interlacings of naturalistic form, in a heavy but crisp Germanic graphic style. When he incorporates human references, he shows how feeble are his skills in figure drawing ; so much more enticing were the twirls and tanglings of briars, fronds and blossoms.