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+--- Thread: Why does the blue paint look like this? (/thread-2622.html)
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RE: Why does the blue paint look like this? - Koen G - 11-12-2023
Maybe, it's hard to tell. So often in the thick, blue paint there is a greenish yellow undershine. Is this an indication of overpainting, or one of the ingredients of the paint that separated out? Or an artistic attempt to get a certain shade by layering colors? The latter feels unlikely since the blue is so very thick and highly saturated.
RE: Why does the blue paint look like this? - Anton - 11-12-2023
To me it looks like overpaint, with some pieces of blue having kinda flaked off indeed. Because look at the two topmost leaves to the left - same thing. Initially painted light green (as evident from the rightmost and leftmost portions of the topmost leaf), then overpainted with more saturated green.
RE: Why does the blue paint look like this? - ReneZ - 12-12-2023
The blue pigment consists of tiny crystals, but there is some kind of a liquid medium needed to apply it to the parchment. I have the feeling that this medium is changing or has changed colour, and went through dark green to dark grey. It has also stained opposite pages more than any other pigment.
I suppose there can be different reasons for this frequent staining, but I lack the knowledge to explore that.
(Image removed, I already posted it before)
RE: Why does the blue paint look like this? - merrimacga - 12-12-2023
Regarding both the original discussion about the yellow and the blue and the new one with the green under the blue, we may never know without further scientific analysis on the VM, hopefully non-invasive, as the McCrone analysis was based on a single sample and didn't conclude the binder used but only estimated it was a gum and didn't identify which one (gum arabic being only one of the gums in use at the time of the VM). But there have been a number of studies concerning the effect of binders, particularly aging, on azurite pigments. Below are three of those and I thought their abstracts and conclusions were interesting in relation to this discussion:
An Investigation into the Use of Blue Copper Pigments in European Early Printed Books by Alexis Hagadorn, The Book and Paper Group Annual 23 (2004) 41: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was Conservator for Special Collections Columbia University Libraries at the time of publication and she is currently Head of Conservation there. I found her figures 11 and 13 on PDF page 8 particularly relevant.
Azurite in medieval illuminated manuscripts: a reflection-FTIR study concerning the characterization of binding media by Wilfried Vetter, Irene Latini and Manfred Schreiner, Heritage Science, April 2019: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
The Blackening of Paint Containing Egyptian Blue by Vincent Daniels, Rebecca Stacey and Andrew Middleton, January 2004, Studies in Conservation 49(4):217-230: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Also interesting is the Williamstown and Atlanta Art Conservation Center's Art Conservator series of articles on Illuminated Manuscripts by Brook Prestowitz. Part II in the series, Medieval Culture of Bookmaking in Paris, may be the most relevant to this discussion: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. The article provides insight into underdrawings, pigments, binders and the mixing process.
The above article also mentions Cennino Cennini's early 15th century manuscript Il libro dell'arte on painting materials, tools and techniques, which could also be informative, though it's anyone's guess if the VM's author was familiar with it, let alone used its techniques. The original manuscript is lost but I looked for one of the four surviving contemporaneous copies online and haven't found any of them yet (click You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. for an English text version online).