Colorization - what was it's purpose?

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Though some people may wish that all colour-work was sloppy, false and irritating because it spoils their theories, I did not see any robust proof for the all-colours-came-much-later-by-some-childish-person-idea.

Maybe not "all" and maybe not "by-some-child", but there are at least two bits of evidence indicating that the colors were applied after the book was bound. Namely, (1) the observation (by microscope, on the physical book) by Rene and others that the green paint on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. was applied after the folio number was written; and (2) the mis-alignment of the paint on the flower of page You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and that on the bits of that flower that overflowed into f40r.

On the other hand, I know of no evidence indicating that the colors were applied at about the same time as the text and drawings were made.

[Barabe] did not mention any changes in the 'blue' chemistry

The McCrone report identified the blue pigment as the mineral You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., a copper carbonate-hydroxide. Azurite is moderately stable; in bad environments it could perhaps change to another copper carbonate-hydroxide, which is green. But that does not seem to have happened on the VMS.

I can't think of any pigment of some other color that could have been available to the Painter that could change in time to blue.  It could be a mix of azurite with some other pigment (like with yellow to make green, or with red to make purple) where the other pigment became colorless with time.  But this too seems quite unlikely.

So I think we can assume that all blue areas in the VMS were painted blue by the Painter.

However, some of the blue paint seems to have been mixed with some other substance that was (or became) dark grey to black, did not dry properly, and, over time, migrated to the edges of painted area and offsetted on the facing page.  No other paint seems to have done so.

maybe just liked the blue colour most -- it is considered as a highest valuable colour within several cultures...

Until recently there were two blue mineral pigments widely used by artists: azurite and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..  Azurite must have been more expensive than the browns, yellows, oranges, and greens we see in the VMS (which seem to have been all very common minerals), but was still much cheaper than lapis-lazuli, which gave a nicer shade of blue but was imported from Afghanistan.  McCrone did not find any of the latter in the VMS.

All the best, --stolfi