CURATOR OF RENAISSANCE AND BAROQUE ART, JOANEATH SPICER, WALTERS ART MUSEUM, BALTIMORE--PAINTED ENAMELS. SEE THEIR COLLECTION?
ORNAMENTS FOR BEDS--DAILY LIFE HISTORY--CAN YOU FIND EXAMPLES OF IMITATION HARDSTONES AND GEMS TO
REVERSE CARVING INTAGLIO?
OPTICS: MATERIAL AND MAKING PROCESS AND THE MEANING OF THE LIGHT (E.G., IN THE RELIQUARIES)
REFRACTIVE INDEX QUESTIONS
Group members: Wenrui Zhao and Ana Estrades
Manuscript folios of interest:
1. p031v
<div>
<id>p031v_4</id>
<head>Painting on glass</head>
<ab>For blue, they take some of the roughest <m>azure d’email</m> and grind it on shale, and mix in two or three rosary beads’ worth of <m>lead rock</m> or more, according to the quantity of work. And having done their drawing with “<m>noir d’escaille</m>” (which is painted towards the light with the piece of <m>glass</m> upright), they lay all their pieces down over white <m>paper</m> so that by the whiteness of the <m>paper</m> they can judge the lighting of their scenes and put down all colors of the same kind at the same time. Then they reheat.</ab>
</div>
2. p039v
<title id=“p039v_a3”>Tracing a story on glass</title>
<ab id=”p039v_b3a”>If you want to trace a story in intaglio on glass, you can do so in different ways. Place your glass pane, as thin as possible, over the printed image, and having cleaned the glass well with lye and ashes so that it is not greasy, trace over the lines visible to you with some oily black or skales black, using a brush, if you want to paint with colors in the manner of glaziers, who spread a wash of skales black all over their glasses and then scratch and uncover the areas where they want to apply colors, leaving whatever is necessary for shadows. But if you want to realize gilt stories on glass with a colored background, imitating the taille-basse of goldsmiths, gild the whole glass with gummy water or garlic juice or fig-tree milk. Then moisten your printed story with two humid linen cloths and lay it down on your gilt glass, then with a pin hafted to a small stick, follow your story lines as if you wished to pounce it, and thus you will roughly draw it on the gilt glass. And next you will uncover the background and what needs to be cleared using a very sharp steel awl, and retrace precisely the lines and complete your work and make faces and skin colors in pounded silver. Then you will fill the background with enamel azure or verdigris or fine turpentine-soaked laque platte, mixed with a little mastic larme if you want the colors to be more unified and not to flow. Next, apply on the underside of the glass and over the colors a white tin sheet. And once dry, you can cover your tin sheet with color to hide your secret. The tin sheet gives light to the colors. Thus you will be able to paint without</ab>
hardly an expert in painting. If your <m>glass</m> pane is curved as taken from the middle part of a jar, it will show better. When you apply your <m>turpentine</m> colors to your <m>glass</m> panes, first put them on a hot tile and, once they are hot, apply your colors and leave them a while on the tile. Then lay down your <m>tin</m> sheet.</ab>
</div>
Annotation Plan 1 - transfer of image from prints to glass
We are going to replicate the transfer of image from prints to glass by using the second way mentioned in p039v - 'realize gilt stories on glass with a colored background, imitating the taille-basse of goldsmiths'. This requires the following procedures:
1. prepare the glass
folio p041v also gives additional tips on how to prepare the glass:
You have to very thoroughly wash what you want to be empty and used as a surface painted with colors, because if it is not really clean of the <m>gum</m>’s <m>grease</m> and viscosity, and of other things, the colors will not be so clear on it.
2.Trace the image
3. Apply color to the background.
There are several recipes mentioning the application of color to the background of a glass, and they complement each other.
For example: folio p102v "painting on crystal or glass" mentions:
"As for the background, they do it in natural <m>azur</m> from <pl>Acre</pl> to make it more beautiful, or <m>lacquer</m> for a quickly-done red, or for a finer red, <m>dragon’s blood</m>. But it is necessary to apply it little by little so that it is smooth and of one color, and in the same way for other colors. Then they apply underneath it, a leaf of <m>topaz</m>, <m>gold</m> or <m>silver</m>.</ab>"
Also in p039v, there is another passage about how to make the color more unified and not running on the glass pane
<title id=“p039v_a2”>For laying colors on glass<title>
<ab id=“p039v_b2”>In order to stop your turpentine colors from running and to make them unified, mixina little mastic larme together with the turpentine.</ab>
Questions to consider:
-Prints as a intermediary medium/the spread of influence of religious images due to stained glass and prints
-difference between painting on panel vs painting on color (i.e., color, process, skills)
-'imitation of colored glass' in relation to gemstones: Why/how difficult
-color : azure enamel
Annotation Plan 2 - Optics of painting on glass and horn
In the manuscript, it is mentioned how one can gauge the lightness of the painted glass by "painted towards the light with the piece of glass upright" or " lay all their pieces down over white paper so that by the whiteness of the paper they can judge the lighting of their scenes" and that a curved glass pane from 'the middle of the glass jar' will achieve better effect. We would want to pay special attention to the optics in the replication process. There are also other recipes we would like to try in connection with that.
For example,
<id>p0061v_1
</id> Water to make light for painters
Distill some <m>vine water</m> and put it into a big bottle. Put your <m>candle</m> behind that, and it won’t disturb your vision.
Annotation jasper or cornelian imitation: to think about glass coloring in relation to gemstone imitation in the manuscript
Although initially the recipe p010r reads "more appropriate than doing it on glass," when we went to the original page of the manuscript, the under title claims that "thin glass looks very fine for this effect."
So, we will also be interested in studying the effects of different colors applied to horn, in comparison to glass--notice in this recipe with horn, the color is applied underneath!
While the recipe does not specify the actual colors to make (cornelian is between orange and red, and jasper occurs in many different hues, also blue), it does say which varnish to use, and describes that the colors don't have to be opaque (which is what Marjolin showed us, glaze colors, p065v)
Also, the note in the margin is very interesting (and corresponds to the same recipe, see below) I have highlighted in bold the second part on that note, which starts "To better imitate marbled jasper." It includes a silver or tin lead backing, which is also in the Tracing a story on glass recipe.
<page>010r</page>
<image>__http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b10500001g/f25.image__</image>
<div>
<id>p010r_1</id>
<head>Imitation <m>jasper</m></head>
<ab>Take <m>horn</m> as is used to make lanterns, quite thin, and underneath imitate your <m>jasper</m>, <m>cornaline</m>, and other <m>stones</m>. That will look more appropriate than doing it on glass, which is too shiny. And the <m>horn</m>gives a lustre and a fatty polish similar to <m>jasper</m>.</ab>
<ab>You know how you can imitate roses with scrapings of the said <m>horn</m>. The colors for this <m>jasper</m>need to have as a base clear <m>turpentine</m>or <m>spike lavender varnish</m>. And matte, opaque colours are not appropriate, no matter how fine they are. You have to oil the unpainted underside with<m>spike lavender oil</m>.</ab>
<note><margin>top</margin>
Thin<m>glass</m> looks very fine for this effect</note>
<note><margin>left-top</margin>
You can inlay beds with it, and on the joints you can throw <m>talc</m> or <m>metal filings</m> on the fresh cement of the said joints. You have to bond them with <m>gum amoniacum</m> soaked in <m>vinegar</m>. To better imitate <m>marbled jasper</m>, apply heavy <m>yarn</m> dyed various colors and intermingled. After applying all the colors, scrape oblique lines into them then apply <m>gold</m> and<m>silver</m>leaves. If you apply colors made of <m>turpentine</m> on the <m>horn</m>, give it a backing of<m>silver</m>or of<m>tin</m> leaf. You can also file <m>horn</m> and mix it with strong <m>glue</m> and apply it to the joints of the horn piece and finish with a joiner’s plane.</note>
QUESTIONS
-How does the recipe and margin note for jasper imitation relate to the painting glass recipe above?
-What are the possible ornamental uses of glass and horn? (inlays in furniture and decoarative objects)
-Best colors for optimal optical results: enamels and glazes versus opaque, matte colors