October 26, 2015
Class notes re: annotation plans
In looking for recipes related to imitation emeralds and rubies in BnF Ms Fr 640, I came across a recipe for hyacinth which mentions not only rubies but also red varnish - the two recipes with which Siddhartha and I plan to engage:
emerald:*use copper powder instead of grinding it on the surface - so we can weigh out copper powder - variable that we can play with*first polish off copper sheet to remove oxidation and then grind*can really test the variables - process has to be worked out because toxic materials
p101v
Hyacinth
It is made, like rubies, with gold; but without such intense heat. Rubies need to be heated for a whole day, and if it does not have heat for long enough, you will obtain only reddened varnish.
CHECK FRENCH FOR “VARNISH”
Hyacinth/ jacinth - yellow stone, often topaz
Siddhartha et al. have already experimented with the imitation ruby recipe once and we plan to have a second trial on Thursday
In addition to testing variables including heat levels and amounts of salt used for the BnF imitation ruby recipe, we plan to test two recipes found in Merrifield from the Bolognese Manuscript which in one case substitutes the use of lead in BnF with wine and in the other makes a kind of moldable paste as opposed to glass as in BnF
For the red varnish, there are many recipes for varnish, different kinds of varnish, and such varnishes as “Amber” and “Indian” which may be interesting to look at in comparison to our red varnish recipe on p078r
Recipes for varnish and red varnishes in particular are found in many other sources including but not limited to:BnF71v74r74v97v
Manuscript of Jehan le Begue (1431)Bolognese ManuscriptMarciana ManuscriptPaduan ManuscriptVolpato ManuscriptBrussels Manuscript
A particular point of interest for me re: varnish recipes is the application - almost all of the varnish recipes instruct the practitioner to apply the product with his/her hands - I am interested in tactility and embodied material awareness on the part of the practitioner
Other questions:
- Over which colors does the red varnish work best? To what effect?
- To what extent can general varnish recipes be adapted to the red varnish recipe in Bnf?
- Little indication in recipes themselves as to what purpose varnish fulfills - can we discern this be reconstructing the varnish itself?
- Some of the varnish recipes mention the treating of "old" paintings - how closely is a knowledge of varnish tied to what we may call conservation practices or at least a knowledge of "restoration" even in the early modern period?
- What can we make of "Indian" or "Chinese" varnish as distinguished from others?
- In the Volpato Manuscript, there is a dialogue between a master painter (it seems) and an apprentice in which varnishes are discussed - the painter explains to the apprentice that varnish can either be made or bought, depending on its intended use, but nonetheless, it is good for the painter to know how to make varnishes. What can we draw from this conversation as to the priority of knowledge within the workshop in terms of procedure but also person?
- be careful that this 17th century manuscript is produced for connoisseurs - perhaps a caricature of workshop practice
- Why are various varnish recipes seemingly unorganized within manuscripts - appear scattered slightly, not sequential
- Temporal aspect to making varnish - how long it takes to make and also how quickly varnish dries - temporality of process but also application
why long history of imitation gems - associated with elites, alchemical texts (for material reasons and representation esoteric knowledge)
dragon’s blood - long history; Martin Schoengauer nocturnal scenes and printmaking innovator, trained as a goldsmith - first person to represent the dragon tree in naturalistic formmedicinal use of dragon’s blood to stop nose bleedsmedical information traveled across eurasia very quickly and earlyPS article on vermilionHealth and pigments were first materials to come out of new world; also food crops
careful of interchangeability between minimum and vermilion
Donna:juxtaposition of gemstone and varnish re: optimalityfinal product and application - varnish vs. glaze - what are you going for with each? what are you trying to achieve?
Consider context of limoges enamels (ex. at the Frick, see PS email)http://collections.frick.org/media/view/Objects/296/4060?t:state:flow=b092970d-f8e3-4de6-80dd-16553f1954ab*set of practices that probably begins in dying and glass making - trying to produce materials that have certain optical effects*family names carried on in enamel making re: passing of practical knowledge nature of secrets/ recipes also re: Della Robbia
See what else is out there in terms of contemporaneous and earlier recipes including non-WesternRepeated recipes can be evidence of in-use workshop practiceApothecaries inventory by James Shaw and Evelyn (?)Ask Meredith Levin (library subject specialist) for help
BnF manuscript finished by at the latest 1662Try to trace genealogy of recipesHarvard archaeologist on glass texts of the 2nd century AD describing glass being made two centuries prior - no glass like that at the time the texts were written
Alexis Hagadorne (sp?) conservator focusing on pigments at Columbia re: books
look in pigment color context database
OTHER INTERESTING BODILY NOTES:-re: bad breath cracking paint surface - delicacy of the surface - could do a study of “breath” across artisanal practices, from not breathing while gilding to not cracking painting surface with bad breath-how to stop a nose bleed