Page - 265 - in Europäische Bild- und Buchkultur im 13. Jahrhundert

265 illuminators’ matErials and tEchniquEs for parchment and its absence from illuminators’ historic texts, egg yolk seems a likelier source of the lipids identified in manuscripts. Egg yolk found in illuminations may suggest links with panel painting. Al- though not all painters-illuminators used it in their miniatures,65 those who did employed it strategically. It has been identified in nine of the fifty manuscripts featured in this study.66 In seven of them – from England (4), Germany (2) and Italy (1) – it was found with red lead, vermilion or a mixture of both, enhancing their warm lustre; vermilion with egg yolk was used for penwork initials in one case (FM, MS 12) and for red script in another (St John’s MS K.30). Red areas aside, one of the manuscripts has egg yolk with ultramarine (FM, MS 246) and another with organic purple (FM, MS McClean 101). Egg yolk was also found with vermilion in flesh-tone mixtures in two of the seven manuscripts: a Missal made in Hildesheim c. 1200‒121567 and the Breslau Psalter. In the latter, egg yolk features in six images: two by the Gaibana Master who worked on panel and four by the most accomplis- hed Central European artist whose imposing figures and elaborately tooled gold suggest experience with monumental painting.68 Conclusion The fifty manuscripts featured here are hardly sufficient for a comprehensive cha- racterisation of illuminators’ materials and techniques employed in the 1200s across Europe. The scarcity of published comparative data makes the task particularly daunting. Unlike early and late medieval material, thirteenth-century manuscripts have rarely been the focus of scientific examination and more rarely still of in- tegrated technical, codicological and art-historical analyses. It is hoped that this preliminary survey may provide a basis for further cross-disciplinary studies and statistically robust overviews.69 The mounting evidence, only a fraction of which can be presented here, ques- tions the habitual emphasis on minerals and precious metals in the art-historical literature as well as assertions that illuminators, unlike painters, favoured single layers of pure, unmixed pigments. By the 1200s multiple layers, complex mixtures (real and optical), organic colourants and glazes played a major role in manuscripts, 65 Panayotova / Ricciardi, Secrets (cit. n. 4), p. 125. 66 This survey and the table include only secure identifications of lipidic binders. They exclude cases where traces were detected, although these may suggest mixed binders, as there is no certainty about the amount of lipid present or its intentional use. The seven secure identifications are: Cambridge, St John’s College, MS K.30, Trinity College, MS R.16.2, and Fitzwilliam Museum, MSS 12, 246, 36‒1950, CFM 3, McClean 44, McClean 101, McClean 201.11d. 67 Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS CFM 3. Morgan / Panayotova, Catalogue (cit. n. 22), no. 71. 68 Panayotova / Morgan / Ricciardi, Breslau Psalter (cit. n. 30), pp. 77, 80, 82, 260, 263, 265. 69 The Pigments of British Illuminators, an AHRC-funded project (2018‒2020) undertaken by Durham University’s Team Pigment in collaboration with the MINIARE project is conducting a systematic analysis of English manuscripts, including thirteenth-century examples.