Page - 232 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment

232 The miniatures of the Vienna Genesis: colour identification and painters’ palettes Like painter A, painter D used gold, which appears to be shell gold. The bed columns of the bed of the wife of Potiphar were painted in gold with shading in ochre on top. The garment of Potiphar’s wife on folio 16, page 32, was decorated with gold as well. The incarnate parts show mixtures of lead white, red lead and madder. Shades seem to be painted with red ochre and a brown earth pigment. Darker shades were carried out in blue, with indigo and ultramarine blue mixed with Egyptian blue. On the IRR images, the black lines and paint layers in iron gall ink appear grey, which is a striking difference to the IRR images of folios with carbon black. Only a few definition points in eyes, noses and mouths on faces seem to be painted with the addition of carbon black on folio 15, page 29. The black crosses, a latter addition, were done in carbon black, see for example the IRR image of folio 16, page 32 (Fig. 36). The use of a mixture of ultramarine with Egyptian blue as blue pigment differentiates painter D from the previous painters (Table 2). In addition, iron gall ink as black pigment constitutes a striking feature of the palette. Palette of Painter E: folios 17–18, pages 33–36 On folios 17 and 18 painter E depicts Joseph in prison and his meetings with the pharaoh (Gen. 40, 14 to 41, 32). Similar to painter D painter E also used a mixture of ultramarine blue, Egyptian blue and lead white. Highlights have a higher proportion of lead white. Shades seem to be painted with the addition of indigo. Ultramarine blue, the presence of a copper containing pigment and lead white are confirmed by XRF. FORS and VIL images indicate the presence of Egyptian blue, as described above. A distinctive feature of painter E is the use of green earth as green pigment. Painters A to D all used mixtures of blue and yellow to create green tones. For light greens artist E mixed green earth with orpiment. Shades were applied with ultramarine/Egyptian blue or indigo. Very dark green shades, which are typical for painter E, were achieved with the addition of carbon black. XRF spectra of green paint layers on folio 17, page 33 and 34 show significant iron (Fe) signals (Fig. 37), which indicates green earth. The presence of arsenic (As) confirms the use of orpiment. The identification of green earth by means of FORS is given by the absorption maximum at 750 nm (Fig. 5). The miniature on folio 17, page 33, depicts Joseph in prison (Fig. 38). A detail of the green paint layer shows particles of orpiment and blue pigments added to the green earth (Fig. 39). Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0