Revealing Artists’ Collaboration in a 14th Century Manuscript by Non-Invasive Analyses

Abstract

In the last decades, the working methods of late medieval illuminators have been widely discussed by art historians and codicologists. Non-invasive analyses are able to characterise the painting methods of illuminators as well as investigate artistic collaborations among them. The aim of this study was to characterise the painting palettes and techniques of different artists who illuminated two leaves from an early fourteenth century manuscript. The analyses were carried out with non-invasive and portable techniques such as Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF) spectrometry, Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS) and Raman spectroscopy. The paper highlights the differences among three rich and varied palettes and examines the pigments ultramarine, azurite, verdigris, earths, orpiment, red lead, vermillion, lead white, yellow lake, indigo, brazilwood and lac, used independently or in mixtures. We have demonstrated the effectiveness of non-invasive analyses as a tool to differentiate hands of artists who have worked on the same page. Furthermore, the comparison with analyses carried out on leaves attributed to the workshop of Pacino di Bonaguida allows to investigate in-depth the production of the main illuminators active in Florence at the dawn of the Renaissance.

Cartas Ejecutorias de Hidalguía (executory certificates of nobility): a survey in materials analysis, legal, and aesthetic contexts—two case studies

“…Azurite is likely mixed with ultramarine, given the shift of ultramarine from the reported 466-485 nm-the shift can be attributed to the white pigment basic lead carbonate, as inferred from XRF (Fig. 9) [50].…”

“…XRF analysis on the Virgin's blue mantle showed weak lines for lead, and very strong lines for copper, suggesting the presence of a both lead-and copper-containing pigments. FORS showed reflectance at 485 nm, a broad absorption at 621 nm, a shoulder around 730 nm, rise in reflectance around 900 nm, absorbance at 1493 nm, and hydroxyl features at 2285 and 2355 nm indicating the presence of azurite, a basic copper carbonate [21,[49][50][51][52]. Azurite is likely mixed with ultramarine, given the shift of ultramarine from the reported 466-485 nm-the shift can be attributed to the white pigment basic lead carbonate, as inferred from XRF (Fig.…”

“…The evidence gathered from the blues on both Nuñez D. Armesto's and Carlos IV coats of arms suggested the blues include ultramarine as well, with a reflectance peak at 472 nm, followed by a broad absorption at 644 nm, and rising its reflectance again at approximately 730 nm [49,50]. Since XRF spectra in both coats of arms showed strong lines for both lead and copper and there is a shift in the ultramarine reflectance band from 466 to 472 nm, it seems plausible that ultramarine was mixed with azurite perhaps to use less of the costly pigment [50]; and lead white possibly to accelerate the drying process thus preventing cracks [53]. Further non-sampling confirmatory analyses (e.g., Raman) desirable to confirm such observations was impossible to do.…”

“…Until recently [50], this pigment had been found only on important features like depictions of Christ and the Virgin on illuminated manuscripts produced between the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries [44].…”

A combined approach to the vibrational characterization of medieval paints on parchment: Handheld Raman spectroscopy and micro‐SORS

“…11,13,14 Handheld Raman systems have found increasing application for the study of medieval illuminated manuscripts, for which researchers have described the characterization of both pure pigments and mixtures of two or more components. 11,[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] Most mixtures detected are related to green colors such as vergaut, combining orpiment and indigo, as well as red, orange, purple, and pink tones. However, two observations can be made regarding their identification: first, results from Raman analysis are typically complemented with other techniques such as energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) spectroscopy, fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), and infrared spectroscopy; second, it is often not possible to ascertain whether the pigments are present within a paint mixture or as part of distinct paint layers.…”