Seite - 234 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment

234 The miniatures of the Vienna Genesis: colour identification and painters’ palettes Like on the other palettes red lead was used as red pigment. Pink was painted with a mixture of madder and lead white. The way highlights and shades were applied is similar to previous artists. Violet tones are a mixture of ultramarine blue, Egyptian blue, madder and lead white. Yellow tones were painted with orpiment or yellow ochre. Painter E used yellow ochre for light browns, e.g. for the throne or for cloth. Highlights were set with mixtures of yel- low ochre with lead white. Shades seem to be applied with brown ochre. Dark brown areas were painted with a brown earth pigment. XRF confirms the use of earth pigments and of lead white, FORS additionally the use of yellow ochre. The prison walls on folio 17, page 33, or the arch on folio 18, page 36, were painted grey with a mixture of lead white, indigo, ultramarine blue and Egyptian blue. Tones that are more violet were achieved by the addition of madder. Shades were painted by adding car- bon black. Artist E vividly painted the shadows of trees black. It seems that carbon black was used on top of green earth as indicated by XRF and FORS. The boots on folio 18 seem to be painted with a brown earth pigment and with carbon black on top. FORS spectra indicate the presence of iron gall ink. No cracks of the paint layer and no degradation of the parch- ment are visible compared to folios 15 and 16. Nonetheless, also on these folios, carbon black could be mixed with iron gall ink. The incarnate parts seem to be painted with mixtures of lead white with red lead. Shad- ing was created with the addition of green earth and a brown pigment. Sometimes blue pigment particles are visible. The greenish shades give some figures an unhealthy appear- ance that has been remarked earlier in art historical literature (Fig. 40). Darker incarnates were painted with a higher proportion of red lead. On the IRR images, the tree shadows on folio 17 appear as vivid black brush strokes. This indicates the use of carbon black and highlights the way of painting. Contours and folds were painted with thin black brush lines. Some black areas or lines appear grey on the IRR image. This could indicate a mixture of carbon black and iron gall ink. Fig. 40: Microscopic image, 10x magnification, of the face of the flute player on folio 17, page 34, with green shades. Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0