Emilie Foyer – Annotation
“GOLD WITHOUT GOLD”
Recipes for Annotation:
p029v_1
Couleur d’or sans or sur l’argent
<ab>Colore ton <m>argent</m> de foeille apliqué avecq de la <m>terre emerita</m>,<lb/>
et estant sec donne une main de vernis d’<m>aspic</m> et de <m>sandaraque</m>. Et<lb/>
il sera plus beau qu’<m>or bel</m></ab></div>
Color of gold without gold on silver
<ab>Color your <m>silver sheet</m> by applying some <m>terra emerita</m> and once dry spread a handful of <m>aspic</m> varnish and <m>sandarac</m> and it will be more beautiful than fine <m>gold</m>.</ab></div>
p056v_1 (057r)
Le vernis blanc de <m>tourmentine</m> ou d’<m>huille daspic</m> et de <m>tourmentine</m><lb/>
se colore avecq de la <m>terra emerita</m> pulverisée, la faisant bouillir ensemble.<lb/>
Il donne couleur d’<m>or</m> sur l’<m>argent</m> et plus beau s’il est bruny. Il est sec<lb/>
en ung quart d’heure. L’<m>aloe</m> feroit bien plus couleur haulte, mais il est long<lb/>
à seicher & l’aultre est sec en ung quart d’heure l’yver aussi bien que l’este.</ab>
…
White <m>turpentine</m> varnish or <m>aspic oil</m> and <m>turpentine</m> is colored with powdered <m>turmeric</m> boiled together with it. It gives a <m>gold</m> color on <m>silver</m> which is even more beautiful when burnished. It dries within a quarter of an hour. <m>Aloes</m> would made an even brighter color but it takes time to dry whereas the other one dries within a quarter of an hour in winter as well as in summer.</ab>
Material Needed:
Material for Gilding (pillow, burnisher etc)
Gesso Panel
Ingredients:
- In Lab - Needed
Aspic oil – Lavender Spike Oil
terra emerita / turmeric
sandarac gum
Pulverized Mastic
turpentine
Aloes?
Amber? (finely ground)
Silver leaf
Gold leaf
Ground for gilding
Glue for Gilding
Tin Sheet
Saffron
Week 9: Gilding and experiments week 1
MONDAY: Gild Silver onto Panel (text from Marjolin Bol)
- gold and silver
- gilder’s cushion
- gilder’s tip
- burnisher (agate)
- gilder’s brush for removing excess gold/silver
- we can gild directly onto our smooth gesso grounds, or apply red bole ground layer (red bole + rsg in various layers made smooth)
Recipe red bole
Grind red clay with water until it is a viscous paste. Now mix with rsg water solution (1:15). Apply with soft (minnever for instance) brush. Apply about four layers smoothly. polish last layer with your agate burnisher until shiny and very smooth.
Recipe gilding size:
5 ml of ethanol + 20ml of water and a drop of 1:15 rsg solution
Need at least 6-8 squares of silver.
One square of gold to compare.
Monday OR Later in the Week
< p003r_a2" Varnish for paintings
<ab id="p003r_b2">Take a pound of Veniceturpentine and heat it in a pot until it simmers, put in half a pound of the whitest turpentine oil you can find and stir all together well on a charcoal fire and take it off immediately after, and it is done. But if you find it too thick, add more oil, whereas if it is too clear, you can thicken it by putting a little turpentine. And so you will give it whatever consistency you want. It could be made without fire, but it is more desiccative when heated. It is appropriate for panel paintings and other painted things, without distorting the colors or yellowing, and dries both in the shade and under the sun, overnight, and during the summer as well as in the winter. It is usually sold 15 sols a pound
<note id=”p003r_c2a>You need a little more turpentine than turpentine oil to thicken the varnish, which you need to apply with your finger in order to spread it thinner and less thick because when it is thick, it turns yellow and gathers [together]. Varnish is not used to make paintings shine, because it just takes the light out of them.</note>
Recipe:
- Take a pound of Veniceturpentine (2 to 1 ratio)
- Heat in a pot until it simmers,
- put in half a pound of the whitest turpentine oil you can find
- stir all together well on a charcoal fire (constant heat? Lack of flame?)
- If too thick add more oil. If too thin, add more turpentine.
Apply turmeric using Turpentine Varnish in two different ways.
- Apply turmeric first
- Mix in with varnish
Time the drying. Should be 15 min.
Also try applying Auripetrum to Silver
- Mix in Saffron rather than turmeric
Do same thing to Tin Sheet
Do the time indications hold up? Would this pass for gold? Why or Why not?
Week 10:
Make Aspic Varnish
<id>p004r_1</id>
Aspic oil varnish
<ab>One must heat <m>lavender spike oil</m> and, as it begins to simmer, put in powdered <m>sandarac gum</m> so that it soon melts. And stir continuously over a <m>charcoal</m> fire until the <m>sandarac</m> is well melted, which you will know by taking a little of the said varnish on a plate and, if it is fat enough when you handle it with a finger, it is ready. And for one pound of <m>lavender spike oil</m>, you should put five ounces of ground <m>sandarac</m>. Some only put in four ounces but this is not as good, nor as fat. The former dries promptly. To avoid the trouble of polishing their <m>ebony</m>, <pro>framemakers</pro> varnish it with this. So do <pro>guitarmakers</pro>. This [varnish] is not as fitting for paintings as fine <m>turpentine varnish</m>, though it is good for the paintings’ moldings. When <m>linseed varnish</m> was in use, one would not commonly varnish the landscape of a painting because it would turn the landscape yellow. But with <m>turpentine varnish</m> one varnishes everywhere. Instead of <m>sandarac</m>, you can add to it pulverized <m>mastic</m> drop by drop or otherwise, and it will dry more quickly.</ab>
<ab>If you want to varnish <m>plaster</m> or a wall, first put on your <m>glue de retaille</m>, very hot, because if cold it would not penetrate the wall at all. And when you would have put your varnish on, it would come off.</ab>
Recipe
- heat lavender spike oil
- as it begins to
simmer put in powdered sandarac gum so that it soon melts.
- stir continuously over a charcoal fire until the sandaracis well melted,
- you will know by taking a little of the said varnish on a plate and, if it is fat enough
when you handle it with a finger, it is ready.
- For one pound of lavender spike oil you should put five ounces of ground sandarac (5 to 16 ratio)
Apply turmeric using Aspic Varnish in two different ways.
- Apply turmeric first
- Mix in with varnish
Time the drying. Should be 15 min.
Also try applying
Auripetrum to Silver
- Mix in Saffron rather than turmeric
Do same thing to Tin Sheet
Do the time indications hold up? Would this pass for gold? Why or Why not?
What are the difficulties encountered?
Other tasks: Talk to people in the field. Explore the Met collection for clues.
Week 11:
Observe differences. Repeat if needed.
Write-up results and background research.
Week 12:
November 30-
Write-up annotation and keep observing for changes.
Take pictures.
Week 13: December 7
Edit Annotation. Continue with Background research.
Help David with annotation.
Do supplemental experiments if needed.
Week 14:
December 16: Annotation second drafts due
Related recipes from the Manuscript:
<id>p148r_1</id>
<head>Beautiful color for <m>brass</m></head>
<ab>Having cleaned it well, as is stated, and brushed it well, boil it in water with <m>curcuma root</m> or <m>terra merita</m>, and it will become very beautiful.
</ab>
<id>p029v_4</id>
<head>Layer of <m>gold</m></head>
<ab>Ground <m>terra emerita</m> with some <m>saffron</m>, altogether mixed with some strong very white <m>glue</m> and sieved through a <m>cloth</m>.</ab></div>
<id>p076v_1</id>
<head>To make a very beautiful and inexpensive golden color</head>
<ab>First of all take a very yellow <m>orange peel</m> and carefully remove the white parts, and pulverize it very well it in a very clean mortar. Take the same amount of <m>sulphur</m>, grind all the ingredients together, pour the mixture into a glass vial, and store it in a cellar or other damp place for eight or ten days. When you want to apply it, you must warm the mixture and apply it wherever you like and you will see a very beautiful color. </ab>
<id>p076v_4</id>
<head>Gilding iron or tin</head>
<ab>First you must wash whatever you want to gild in wine lees. Then wash it once again with white wine. Take three ounces of terra merita and one choppine of white wine. Boil the matter for half an hour, and apply your colors over your iron or tin, or whatever else. Then leave to dry on a sheet of paper and do not put your hand in your materials.</ab>
<id>p073r_3</id>
<head>For orange color</head>
<ab>Take the <m>water</m> where the <m>quicklime</m> will have soaked and some <m>turmeric</m>, and put them one with the other, and then you will put them on your <m>wood</m>.</ab>
<title id=”p098r_a1”>Varnish for lutes</title>
<ab id=”p098r_b1”>They take a little
turpentine and some
turpentine oil, or
spike lavender [oil], and some
amber pulverized and very finely sieved & proceed as with that of
mastic, & they add some
dragon’s blood to color it and turn it red. And others some
terra merita to turn it yellow.</ab>
CONCEPTS TO THINK ABOUT FOR BACKGROUND RESEARCH
Trade with Spain AND Moorish tradition from Spain
Is there any indication of use of turmeric in Spain?
Issues with Time:
Why would you want to save time? (Consult Hugh Platt?)
Research Auripetrum
Auripetrum is a Varnish made from mixing varnish and saffron that was spread over tin (or silver is also mentioned in
Merrifield)
Kevin McCloud's Complete Book of Paint and Decorative Techniques By Kevin McCloud, Michael Crockett
Painting Materials: A Short Encyclopedia By R. J. Gettens, G. L. Stout
Medieval and renaissance treatises on the Arts of Painting
Use of Turmeric
Turmeric is an odd ingredient to use. It was not often used as a dye or coloring agent outside, though was sometimes used medicinally.
Trade in artists' materials - Kirby, Cannon and Nash
Dictionnaire classique des origines, inventions et découvertes dans les arts
https://books.google.com/books?id=wbJfAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=curcuma+usage+commerce+renaissance&source=bl&ots=feytneX1i1&sig=GzXDc5firfuwZis01MyNbn7ZGes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CFcQ6AEwB2oVChMIs73Fp8ngyAIVQ1oeCh1uVwsi#v=onepage&q=curcuma&f=false
Turmeric as “Safran des Indes” or “faux Safran”
à Used as replacement for saffron?
à But one recipe says to mix the two so cannot be saffron ?
Aspic Varnish
Aspic varnish has also been difficult to find in other sources.
Other kinds of "Gold without Gold" recipes.
Most use mercury as an ingredient.
Both the sources bellow have extensive information on artificial gold.
- Medieval and renaissance treatises on the Arts of Painting
- The Materials and techniques of Medieval Painting
Making Yellow
Issues of Time (Why is time of the issue?)
What are different types of Yellow?
Bibliography of Other related MANUSCRIPTS, ARTICLES and BOOKS:
About the Spice trade:
La quête des épices, moteur de l’histoire E. Birlouez
History of Dyes Used in Different Historical Periods of Egypt (2012)
http://www.zjff.net:81/files/20131210/1386658317631_7.pdf
Color in ancient and medieval East Asia
https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/11399623?counter=1
Manuel du peintre en batimens, du fabricant de couleurs,du vitrier,du doreur,du vernisseur, et de l'argenteurhttps://books.google.com/books?id=WrYNAAAAYAAJ&dq=curcuma+usage+peinture&source=gbs_navlinks_s
Materials (including Auripetrum)
Painting Materials: A Short Encyclopedia
By R. J. Gettens, G. L. Stout
https://books.google.com/books/about/Painting_Materials.html?id=X09r_D3mpFgC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q=auripetrum&f=false
Use of Auripetrum:
San Francesco d'Assisi (Apulia, South Italy): Study of a manipulated 13th century panel painting by complementary diagnostic techniques
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1296207408000228
Riffault des Hêtres, J. René Denis. (1850). Nouveau manuel complet fabricant de couleurs et de vernis: contenant tout ce qui a rapport a ces différents arts. Nouvelle éd. Paris: Roret.
Greilsamer, L. (1908). Le vernis de Crémone: étude historique et critique. Paris: Société française d'imprimerie et de librairie.
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100071474
Benhamou, Reed. 1991. “Imitation in the Decorative Arts of the Eighteenth Century”. Journal of Design History 4 (1). [Oxford University Press, Design History Society]: 1–13. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1315861.
On use of Turmeric:
Periple of the Red Sea, 24; J. Gil (Eds.),
El Libro de Marco Polo, De Consuetutinibus et Conditionibus Regionum Orientalium, Madrid (Alianza) 1992, 2,44;
D. Cardon & G. du Chatenet, Guide des Teintures Naturelles, Neachâtel/Paris (Delachaux & Nestlé) 1990, 129.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1296207409000892?np=y
Traité théorique et pratique sur l'art de faire et d'appliquer les vernis
Pierre François Tingry
G.J. Manget, 1803
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008632879
Watin, J. (1774). L'art du peintre, doreur, vernisseur: ouvrage utile aux artistes & aux amateurs qui veulent entreprendre de peindre, dorer & vernir toutes sortes de sujets en bâtiments, meubles, bijoux, équipages, &c.. Seconde édition revue, corrigée & considérablement augmentée. A Paris: Chez Grangé, imprimeur-libraire, au Cabinet Littéraire, Pont Notre-Dame.
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100236418
Martel, J. (1688). Tarif des droits de douanne, des espiceries & drogueries, venans des parties de Levant, Italie, que ailleurs, entrans en ce royaume par le Port & Havre de la Ville de Marseille ... A Montpellier: Chez Jean Martel ....
Courcume ou Terra Merita 10 sols/fols (p.6)
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009273142
Briseux, C. Étienne. (1743). L'art de bâtir des maisons de campagne: où l'on traite de leur distribution, de leur construction, & de leur decoration ... : avec l'explication de ses projets, et des desseins de menuiserie, de serrurerie, de parterres, & d'autres ornemens propres à la decoration intérieure & extérieure ....A Paris: Chez Prault pere ....
Use of Terra emerita to produce a jonquil impression
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100236547
Le Camus, A. (1168117017541756). Abdeker ou l'art de conserver la beauté. [Parigi]: s.n..
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009279783
Use to dye hair Blond
Delormois, M. (1786). L'art de faire les Indiennes: et de composer les plus belles couleurs, bon teint, à cet usage, de peindre les étosses de soie, & en miniature : de laver les desseins, plans, cartes géographiques &c. : de teindre le bois, la paille, le crin, les fleurs artificielles, &c. : avec plusieurs secrets pour faire toute sorte de couleurs qui n'altérent point les étosses & qui sont à l'épreuve du grand air & due soleil. A Paris: Chez les libraires associés.
http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100817925
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