[Zodiac Rating] VIRGO

[Jorge_Stolfi]

Using the 2004 scan and applying Principal component analysis to the image shows clearly that the collar, star, and area near the wrists are differently coloured. Maybe the hair too?

I don't know whether the paint on collar and cuffs of this figure were discussed before.  But that is a light yellow paint that is used throughout the book, including in the hair or most nymphs and either filling the stars or forming a round blob at their center.  

I suspect that it is the only paint that is original, that is, applied by the same Scribe who penned the figure outlines.

That light yellow paint is notable for being almost transparent, whereas the other color paints are opaque (like gouache or tempera)   That may be intentional, so that it could be painted over the drawings without obscuring them (which the other paints often do; and this fact is one bit of evidence indicating that these paints are not original.) 

That light yellow paint also seems to have been applied with a decent brush; whereas the other paints (even on solid color areas) seem to have been applied with a broad-tipped quill or with a very coarse brush, like a chewed-up stick.

It is possible that the light yellow paint was originally a stronger yellow, but has faded to its present state.  The transparency indicates a soluble dye rather than a suspension of powdered solid pigment.  The soluble dyes that were available at the time would have been mostly organic (like turmeric or safflower), which would be consistent with the hypothetical fading.

But that light yellow paint could also be the same as the drawing ink, but highly diluted.

In the Starred Parags section, the stars usually have alternating red and light yellow cores.  But sometimes there is a hiccup in the alternation, sometimes leaving a star unpainted.  My guess is that the stars originally alternated between yellow and unpainted, and the red blobs were applied to the unpainted ones much later, together with the other colored paints.

All the best, --stolfi