Plan for Distemper and Shadows Research

Historical research
Look for the different words used for 'distemper' in various European languages and seek to understand their early usage and what materials such a term could encompass. Useful sources for this likely include early modern dictionaries.
Read through art treatises, books of secrets, painting manuals, medicinal treatises, possibly architectural manuals (since 'distemper' seems to have been used for decorating walls), also theatre (glue-based paint has been, perhaps still is, used for sets) and similar for discussions of 'distemper'.
Read through the secondary literature on distemper painting including art historical and technical/ conservation literature.
Read art treatises etc for information on shadows, specifically shadow layers beneath flesh tones. Where the term 'shadow' or its translations are used will be particularly useful. There will also be lots of literature on the use of verdaccio layers in Italian tempera painting and on under modelling with dark colours in European painting in general.
Compare Ms. Fr240 with other art treatises. It seems that there was a growing tendency for such works to discuss shadows during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Is this the case?
Read secondary literature on shadows, both art historical and technical/ conservation literature.
It may be relevant to read 'scientific' or other kinds of contemporary writing on light and optics as they may include discussions of shadows.


Object based research
Find examples of artworks thought to have been executed with a glue based medium, egg white, or gum on canvas and visit them where possible.
The unfinished Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of Pharoah attributed to Jorg Breu the Younger at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is a good example because it is currently on view and its incomplete state offers insight into the methods by which it was made. The Adoration of the Magi by Justus of Ghent also on view at the Metropolitan Museum is also 'distemper on canvas' and provides another opportunity for first hand study of this technique in New York city.
Paintings at the National Gallery London can be examined through very high resolution photographs available to the public which makes it possible to use them for object based study without visiting London - Tüchlein paintings at the NG include Dieric Bouts The Entombment and Quentin Mastys Virgin and Child with Saints Barbara and Catherine.
Study paintings from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to understand whether there was an increased in depicting shadows. I believe that there was, but widespread study is required to support this claim.
Use study of paintings to assess how shadows were painted differently in oil and distemper, and other aqueous media.

Hands-on Research
Make a distemper painting according to instructions on pg 93 of Ms. Fr 240.
Protocol to follow:
Stretch unprimed linen canvas to small stretcher
Size with rabbit skin glue according to recipe in Ms. for First Whitening of a Painting
Trace chosen image of a female face onto priming layer using charcoal transfer method, four times, to have space to experiment with different possibilities of 'distemper'
Mix rabbit skin glue with pigments selected for shadow portion of face
Wet the back of the canvas with a damp sponge (repeat as needed throughout)
Apply lowest shadow layer to face
Allow shadow layer to dry (I think one should do this, but there is no mention of this in Ms. Probably the layers dry quickly enough for this to be irrelevant)
Apply flesh tones over face including previously shadowed areas.
Allow to dry
Apply a brighter layer of flesh tones for highlighted areas
Allow to dry
Apply hatching of further shadow to the areas that need it. Using the pigments sap green, bistre and a black (yet to be determined). According to the 'Italian method' so I will make three shadows, from light to dark, and apply them gradually using hatching.

Follow this method for each face, but experiment with methods of application and variables such as warmth of glue, concentration of glue. Then try with gum arabic. Then egg white.

Change to protocol 10th April 2016
Having done the above steps with glue, and gum arabic, I realised that sizing the canvas first was probably not the correct method. In the ms. at 93v he makes no mention of a sizing layer. I will re-try the above, but with an unprepared canvas to see how this works.

Oil shadows
Use pre-primed panels from laboratory.
Trace chosen image of a male face onto priming layer.
Make up shadow colour in oil using chosen pigments and oil. Walnut oil is suggested at some points in the Ms.
I am currently unclear about whether to proceed first with the shadows, then follow with lights, or vice versa. Within a small section of the MS. the author seems to give instructions to begin with shadows, and then reverse this and suggest leaving the areas of shadow empty until the end. Could this be to do with experimentation? It does not read as though he tried this out, but perhaps.
Perhaps I could make two attempts, one that begins with shadows and the other that starts with flesh tones and leaves the shadowed areas empty until the end.
I could then assess the relative merits of both procedures.
For highlights, Aspic oil is suggested as commonly used with lead white with just a little walnut oil on p. 57v.

This will include preparing a black from jet - need to do more research to understand how to do this.