Do Herbal A and Herbal B correspond to differences in imagery?

[DONJCH]

Large iron ore mines may be rare in germany but ochre is not.

More info re ochre in Germany than you ever want to read:-
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Sources such as Harz Mountains, Swabian Jura and Black Forest have existed since pre history.
This ambitious study attempts to form a database for studies of provenance of ochre in prehistoric rock paintings!

Harz Mountains seems to supply a particularly good red.

I wonder what the authors would make of the VMS colours!
Also, how many of their analytical methods are non-destructive?

[Anton]

My point is that if we find a region where ochre is rare, then...

[DONJCH]

Sure, and it was a great point.
My point could be that when we find where the sources ARE, then we know where they are not!

But also I am intensely curious about what an ochre geek could tell us about the VM colours.

[Koen G]

Sure, and it was a great point.
My point could be that when we find where the sources ARE, then we know where they are not!

But also I am intensely curious about what an ochre geek could tell us about the VM colours.

Definitely! If we find someone I wouldn't mind mailing them.

[Searcher]

Maybe they used it all while preparing the mixture according to the recipe on page f116v? I mean miltos, which is red ochre 

[Anton]

I believe ochre is iron oxide, while minium (Greek miltos) is lead oxide.

[Searcher]

I believe ochre is iron oxide, while minium (Greek miltos) is lead oxide.

I think that's not so unambiguous.
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[Koen G]

Yeah if there's anything I've learned reading about pigments it's that they got their terms mixed up all the time. Imagine the marginalia being a complaint about the lack of red paint

[LisaFaginDavis]

There's a lot of evidence of minerals traveling quite far from their place of origin to be used as pigments in manuscript decoration (e.g. lapis), so knowing where the ochre originated wouldn't really tell us much.

I've just read Koen's blogpost, which is quite interesting. The stylistic differences in the way the plants are drawn/colored could certainly indicate artistic distinctions, although that level of distinction can be very difficult to make with precision. The attachment of roots to stem is just the kind of detail that could be a stylistic feature of a particular artist, though.

If the original sequence of bifolia did indeed comprise quires entirely written by a single scribe (which seems quite likely), it would not be entirely surprising to learn that each quire was illustrated by a single artist. In other words, in the same way that mixing scribes by bifolia is unexpected, so, too, is the mixing of artistic styles by bifolia.