Class Notes Fall 2015 Colormaking
Discussion of literature for September 28

Notes on pigments in different readings
*exotic connotations of places
Ultramarine = overseas,
lapis lazuli, biggest mines in the pre-modern world in what is now Afghanistan - see detailed preparation process in Cenino Cennini

*indexical qualities = they are in themselves precious objects

articles/book by Ann-Sophie Lehman, Ingold
materials train skills, how materials grow skills

shift from appreciation of precious materials contained in paintings to appreciation of artistic skill in naturalistic representation of materials, cf. use of gold

Stockholm Papyrus
contains a lot of information on imitation gems, counterfeit
what does substitute for value mean? It does not mean simply false?
Think also about the term "craft" , cunning, german "Kraft" = power, imitation, counterfeit, can mean a deception as well as a recreation of a natural process.

looking at the materials to understand about the meanings of materials in that time.

article by Marcia Hall
role of taste in practices of conservation

article by Brigitte Buettner
'painting as reconstruction' -

-> compare to ceramic artist Palissy - contemporary to our MS
Understood hiThe art of the earth, giving inside into the actual processes of generation in the earth
appropriating the transformative powers of nature

*medical connotations
*religious connotations

connections between heaven and earth. metals connection to planets
gold = sun
silver = moon
copper= venus
tin = jupiter
lead = saturn

gems are understood to have astral powers
Florentie humanist Maricillio Ficino
gems have certain virutes, in the sense of powers/ active ingredients of a medicine
astral powers that you would share in by wearing those stones

Coexistence of understandings of nature, eclectic sets of beliefs on nature are very common vs today's very hegemonic understanding of nature

*binary thinking = cf. Bucklow on black/white binary in understanding of lead/lead white

modes of painting
sfumato, painting techniques contributes to the meaning of the painting.

what are the sources available (pre-1580s)
Lapidaries
treatises on metal working in alchemy
Medicinal Herbals
Pliny
Albertus Magnus De Mineralibus 13th century source for all kinds of ideas about stone, colors, gems (elite and university source, think whether your author would have access to this sort of sources)
Pegalotti, italian example for merchants manuscript, eg. ways of knowing materials and their values
inventories
apothecary inventories particularly useful for pigment sources
The Bible
Medieval enzyclopedia
travel books
Aristotle's physics (see above, elite source)
Marbode, Liber de lapidibus (edition in class readings) - gives you an idea about the material imaginary