Shedding light on the colours of medieval alabaster sculptures: Scientific analysis and digital reconstruction of their original polychromy

Pereira-Pardo, Lucia; Tamburini, Diego; Dyer, Joanne

doi:10.1002/col.22323

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…For the white color, in the visible, the reflectance spectra recorded on the alabaster support, on the white of the Virgin's halo, on the dots of the daisy pattern, and on the red lining of the cloak of the elder king give a flat spectrum, which indicates a white pigment. The white is probably lead white, which was identified on the other panels studied in our project by FORS‐NIR, and by other teams …”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 57%

“…Cinnabar (mercury[II] sulfide, HgS) was the most extensively used red pigment. This is also true of the English alabaster panels studied by Sarmiento et al and Pereira‐Pardo et al…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…With the exception of red, which may be composed of cinnabar or red ochre, there do not seem to exist different hues of the same color on a given panel Blue objects are painted by using indigo or azurite pigments, but both never occur on the same slab.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is true for the panels kept at the Musée de Cluny at Paris, the Musée départemental de la Seine‐Maritime at Rouen, the Musée des Augustins at Toulouse, the church of Montgeard near Toulouse, or the altarpieces of Nailloux, Saint‐Nicolas‐du‐Bosc, etc. The Kettlebaston alabasters of the British Museum in London, the polychromy of which has recently been reconstructed, constitute a notable exception On all the three panels, the Virgin's cloak is covered with gold leaves.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For each of the panels, as well as for the statue, the team proposed a reconstruction of the initial polychromy. Thanks to sophisticated equipment and analyses carried out in their laboratory, the team obtained very complete and interesting results (presence of oil, vermilion, red lead, red ochre, verdigris, copper resinate, green glaze, gold leaf, lead white, carbon black, and kermes) …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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In search of the lost polychromy of English medieval alabaster panels in the Southwest of France

Mounier

Schlicht

Mulliez

et al. 2020

Color Research & Application

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Summary Polychrome alabaster carvings, representing religious scenes, constitute England's major contribution to European mediaeval sculpture. During the period between 1350 and 1550, large number of alabaster carvings were produced in the Midlands. Despite their massive destruction during the English Reformation (ca.1534), more than 2500 of them still survive, either legally exported or sold clandestinely to the Continent. With more than 100 panels still existing, the Bordeaux region holds one of the largest concentrations of these reliefs. Most of them have unfortunately lost their medieval polychromy, but 20 can still provide valuable information. They are currently studied in our multidisciplinary research program “ALBATRES” (Polychromie, pigments, perception: les albâtres anglais de la fin du Moyen Âge conservés sur le territoire aquitain. Labex LaScArBx project [2018‐2020]). Focused on the panels' polychromy, the project links art history, archaeometry, optical and 3D engineering, and experimental archeology. The first aim is to obtain complete information on the materials and techniques used by medieval painters. The second consists in studying the functions of polychromy and its perception, by determining and interpreting the selection criteria and aesthetic uses of colors and gilding. The polychrome remains of the Aquitaine corpus are studied by means of visual examination, macrophotographic documentation, and noninvasive portable spectroscopic analyses (reflectance spectroscopy by fiber optics in visible and infrared ranges, fluorimetry, etc.). They reveal, among others, the presence of cinnabar, red lead, red ochre, copper green pigments, yellow ochre, gold, lead white, and others. The results allow the production of model samples to help understand the medieval color organization before proposing the coloring of a real copy of one of the studied panels (Virgin's Assumption, Musée d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux). The shape and the appearance of the color rendering could be improved thanks to a special device built at the IOGS to develop a shader that approximates as closely as possible the appearance of the panels. Finally, all information will be integrated on 3D model panels for better appreciation of the carvings and the artistic taste of medieval spectators.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 57%

“…Cinnabar (mercury[II] sulfide, HgS) was the most extensively used red pigment. This is also true of the English alabaster panels studied by Sarmiento et al and Pereira‐Pardo et al…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

In search of the lost polychromy of English medieval alabaster panels in the Southwest of France

Mounier

Schlicht

Mulliez

et al. 2020

Color Research & Application

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show abstract

From Frescoes to Paintings

Edwards

Vandenabeele

Colomban

2022

Cultural Heritage Science

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Pigments—the palette of organic colourants in wall paintings

Aceto

2021

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The present contribution deals with the use of organic colourants in wall paintings, polychrome pottery and painted stone artworks, i.e. painted artworks on inorganic supports. The term organic colourants is referred to the chemical nature of these compounds but not to the way of application; therefore, organic colourants can be dyes, lakes or pigments. The use of organic colourants in wall paintings has been given little attention in the past, perhaps on the assumption that they were rarely used by ancient artists. Recent diagnostic studies, however, brought evidence that their use was not fragmentary; on the contrary, there seems to be continuity in the centuries, at least with regard to the most widely used such as madder, Tyrian purple and indigo. Sources, alteration phenomena, identification methods and analytical evidence is given for the main organic colourants with concern to red, yellow, green, purple and blue hues. Drawbacks and issues are discussed with concern to the identification techniques.

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Shedding light on the colours of medieval alabaster sculptures: Scientific analysis and digital reconstruction of their original polychromy

Cited by 10 publications

References 37 publications

In search of the lost polychromy of English medieval alabaster panels in the Southwest of France

In search of the lost polychromy of English medieval alabaster panels in the Southwest of France

From Frescoes to Paintings

Pigments—the palette of organic colourants in wall paintings

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