Annuciation I (tempera on panel)Fra Angelico (1450)

Resurrection (tempera on panel)Fra Angelico (1450)

Fra Angelico (1450) Resurrection (tempera on panel)

Crucifixion (tempera & gold leaf on wood panel)

Master of the Codex of Saint George(1340)

Pentecost (enamel on copper)Netherlands, (1150)

Visitation (tempera on panel)Fra Angelico (1450)

Birth of Virgin (tempera, gold, ink parchment)Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci(1375)

Medieval Art, Medieval Materials

Art in Medieval Era• Culturally, move from antiquity towards middle ages associated with the impact of Christianity• Medieval art largely devotional, done by monks, with a limited palette, and like alchemy, steeped in symbolism. • majority of art is religious and done by the religious: monks. Monks, who were also alchemists, learned methods of pigment handling and manufacture. • Later in Middle Ages, painting moved away from religion to secular realm. Art became associated with trades & guilds, but still tied to alchemists. As such art was considered a lowly trade, below music and poetry.

Medieval media:Wood panel surfaced with size then gesso (CaSO4=gypsum, or chalk +glue) then painted with egg tempera . p.B90Fresco also used temperaStained glassEnamels (glazes, essentially glasses, on metals)

pigments list:blues: green: red: yellow:

blues: minerals ultramarine(new!) blue not from Cu2+, but from sulfur(!) as one of the polysulfide ions trapped in silicate (SiO2)

azurite is Cu3(O3C)(OH)2 , basic copper carbonate; related to malachite Cu2(O3C)(OH)2 (Pseudomorph)

plant (organic) woad (new!) and indigo lakes

confusion in blue nomenclature: lapis armenius = azurite from armeniaconfusion for “dealers” ( apothecaries); test by heat since azurite black (what is it?), lapis stays blue.

green: mineral verdigris,

plant (organic) sap green buckthorn berry extract as lake, mixtures yellow + blue

saffron + azurite or saffron and verdigris, (but not orpiment and Cu)

red: mineralcinnabar and vermilion (synthetic cinnabar)red lead (minium)

organicmadder, carmine and coccineal lakes;

a rose pigment from Brazil tree root (logwood?)

red pigment confusion!

One person’s red lead is another’s minium; one person’s synopsis (Pliny), a red ochre, could be another’s red lake made of madder+brazil tree;one person’s sinoper (Cennino) could be …??? Cinabrese? Is that cinnabar?When it comes to medieval red pigment names, watch out!

yellow: mineral gold leaf orpiment As2S3.

synthetic lead antimonate, plant (organic)

saffron

whitelead white : basic lead carbonate

best white, brightest, most opaque until late 1700’s when barium sulfate developed (Ba too rare to be useful though) and WWI when TiO2 discovered.ancient process, bring in sample in progress“the poison in this paint written about since ancient times” Pliny

“lead white was rarely more insidious than when used in makeup In F112-113 a description of the symptoms of a devoted Bloom of Youth user.

Plumbism = Saturnism (brings gloominess)

Blackening of lead white?