Abstract
The materials used by ancient iconographers in the Southeuropean area and which are described in the painter’s manuals and in miscellanea were found in the surrounding nature (ores, local flora) or in the peasant household (beeswax, linseed oil, tallow, soap, vinegar, ethylic solutions). Some materials (pigments, resins, some solvents, siccatives, fillers, dehydrating agents, flocculants) were prepared in their workshops or in those of other iconographers, local or foreign.
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- 1.
Theophrastus of Eresos (lived around 300 AD) and is known especially for his treatise De Lapidibus (History of Stones), the earliest book on minerals.
- 2.
White or light grey mineral, occurring naturally, with the chemical formula 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2.
- 3.
Dionysius of Fourna (c.1670–c.1744) was an Eastern Orthodox author of a hermeneia (compiled at Mt. Athos 1730–1734) and painter of icons and churches.
- 4.
A red earth composed of iron oxide and clay, used in gilding (in water) as a ground. Also known as Armenian bole and poliment.
- 5.
Ferrous sulfate (FeSO4), known since ancient times as copperas and as green vitriol (due to the blue-green color of its heptahydrate). Upon heating, loses the crystallization water and becomes a dark brown solid.
- 6.
Colorless solvent obtained by distillation of pine resin in ancient Greece and Rome; it was obtained by boiling pine pitch covered by a sheepskin, fleece side down. The liquid condensed on the fleece was harvested by wringing the sheepskin periodically.
References
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Leonida, M. (2014). Materials From Natural Sources and Those Prepared in the Iconographer’s Studio or in the Peasant Household. In: The Materials and Craft of Early Iconographers. SpringerBriefs in Materials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04828-4_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04828-4_2
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