The use of curtains to cover illuminations is a well-known, if understudied, phenomenon of European medieval manuscript culture. Detecting the presence of curtains often proves difficult: in most cases, only a series of stitch holes remain either above or to the side of the illumination; in some cases, some thread is left behind; and in very few cases, we are able to see the fabric that would have veiled the image. Knowing when curtains were added or removed – and who by – is equally tricky to ascertain. This task is made yet more arduous by the lack of cataloguing data regarding curtains. The online manuscript illumination database Enluminures, (http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/), for instance, has hundreds of attributes to filter results by, but no record of curtains. Whether or not their primary function was to protect the gold leaf, these curtains were a fundamental part of how medieval readers experienced the book through touch. They could imbue images with a spiritual mystery linked to notions of divine revelation. They could complicate text image relations by allowing the reader to decide when, and indeed if, the veil was lifted. They could build suspense, or shield viewers from troubling images. This paper has three main objectives: firstly, to outline some of the challenges of detecting the erstwhile presence curtains in medieval manuscripts by looking at both Latin and French manuscripts of the thirteenth century; secondly, to reflect on how curtains, especially in the vernacular context, would have shaped the medieval reader's engagement with the text in several different ways; and thirdly, to consider how digital platforms should go about cataloguing, reproducing, and foregrounding this widespread, if furtive, medieval practice.