Scientific Examination of Art Modern Techniques in Conservation and Analysis (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Material Innovation and Artistic Invention: New Materials and New Colors in Renaissance Venetian Paintings--Barbara H. Berrie
Material Innovation and Artistic Invention: New Materials and New Colors in Renaissance Venetian Paintings--Barbara H. Berrie
Pages 12-26
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From page 12... ...
The phrase "Venetian palette" is used today by art historians to describe the colors used by Renaissance painters of Venice, among whom Titian, Giovanni Bellini, and Tintoretto are the most famous. There is in fact little written consensus about how to define this so-called Venetian palette, but our knowledge is continually expanding thanks to scientific research on these artists' paintings.
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From page 13... ...
There is evidence for more cross-fertilization of technological know-how and taste among artisan industries than previously supposed. In this paper we will show how the information from the inventories combined with new analytical data has been used to expand our knowledge and understanding of the materials used by painters in Venice and add to the complexity of the definition of the Venetian Renaissance palette.
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From page 14... ...
Kermes and brazilwood, organic extracts which were used to make red dyes as well as red paints, are listed. Other items in the "vendecolore" shop that relate to the dyers' craft include alum for mordanting dyes, galls (for making black dyes)
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From page 15... ...
was undertaken using a JEOL 6300 equipped with an Oxford Instruments Tetra backscatter detector. For energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS)
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The lowest layer of paint contains mercury, confirming that Lotto used vermilion for mixing the light red underpaint. Aluminum is present throughout most of the upper layers of transparent paint glazes.
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From page 17... ...
Elements that would indicate this material is a glass, for example, the fluxes sodium and potassium or the stabilizers, calcium and lead, are below detectable limits. Venetian glassmaking required pure silica, which was, in this period, provided by quartzite pebbles from the Ticino River.
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From page 18... ...
near the bottom edge, photographed in reflected light. FIGURE 5 The cross-section illustrated in Figure 4, observed using fluorescence microscopy (filter cube: Leitz I3)
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From page 19... ...
. However, the presence of silica is unexpected, and this occurrence appears to be the first finding of this material used by Italian Renaissance painters as an extender or an agent to give body in red lake paints.
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From page 20... ...
He established a family workshop that outlived him, and he worked for a wide variety of Venetian patrons. Arguably his most famous surviving work is a series of paintings executed for the Scuola Grande di San Rocco over several decades [13]
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From page 21... ...
The pigment is a green, transparent, glassyappearing pigment. The particle shape and size is similar to that of the blue glass pigment smalt (a potassium silicate colored by small amounts of cobalt)
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From page 22... ...
. An anonymous Venetian glassmaker's recipe book dating to early-mid sixteenth century has recipes for green glass that have the same general composition as blue smalts: "Per fare smalto verde bellissimo.
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From page 23... ...
23 MATERIAL INNOVATION AND ARTISTIC INVENTION FIGURE 10 Backscatter electron image of the sample in Figure 9. FIGURE 11 Energy dispersive spectrum of the green pigment in the bottom layer of the section illustrated in Figure 9.
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From page 24... ...
Among these materials there appear to be frits and colorants designed for glass-painters and majolica decorators, in addition to the powdered glass, blue smalt and lead tin yellow type II, which have been identified previously. The presence of the professional color-seller in Venice might have been the catalyst and the conduit for the transfer of materials among the arts and contributed to the emergence of the Venetian palette, a palette that cannot be precisely defined, but is characterized by its complexity and diversity of colorants.
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From page 25... ...
We benefited from discussions with members of the scientific research department of The National Gallery, London, and particularly acknowledge stimulating discussions with Jo Kirby-Atkinson.
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From page 26... ...
3. Krischel, R., Zur Geschichte des Venezianischen Pigmenthandels - Das Sortiment des Jacobus de Benedictus a Coloribus, in Sonderuch aus dem Wallraf - Richartz - Jahrbuch Band LXIII 2002.
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