Clay and iron oxide pigments in the history of painting

doi:10.1016/S0169-1317(03)00076-0

Applied Clay Science

Volume 22, Issue 5, April 2003, Pages 223-236

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-1317(03)00076-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Clay minerals and iron oxides are intimately related in the process of their natural formation. Their mineralogical composition and physical properties correspond to the physical–chemical conditions of weathering, sedimentation and alteration processes by means of which these minerals are associated giving different types of laterites, ferrolites, ochres, and coloured clays and soils. Very early in human history, these and other clay materials were adopted as mineral pigments. Their structural and mineralogical features are directly related with their natural genesis and provenance and help us in the study of historical painting techniques and materials. This paper gives general information about geological sources and their characteristics, the literary evidence of use of different forms of earthy pigments on historical paintings, about analytical methods suitable in their identification within the ground and colour layers of the painting, and handling with the samples of works of art. The examples focused preferentially on the period of European mediaeval and baroque painting.

Section snippets

General outlines and terms

The fine arts and natural sciences are apparently different domains with different tasks, tools and schemes. The art of painting is a kind of the creative activity, where attenuate human ideas and visions are expressed fairly materialistically, through colour. Colour can be taken either as a sensual perception or as a physical phenomenon. But undoubtedly, colour is directly related to the chemical and structural character of the material; therefore the same question, e.g. ‘Why it looks

Earthy pigments

In a widely used art and conservation terminology, earthy pigments are distinguished on the basis of colour as yellow ochres, red earths and boles, green earths, dark yellow or brown siennas and umbers. The use of white earth, represented predominantly by China clay (i.e., high grade kaolin), is limited in the pictorial art in Europe. Sometimes it occurs as an inert pigment or extender (e.g., Huxtable and Pickering, 1979) or, because of its clarity and high absorbency, as a base for certain

White earth

Within the pictorial art, the historical use of white earth is located predominantly in Asia; in Japan, white clay pigments commonly appear up to 15th or 16th century before they are displaced by a calcium carbonate white made from pulverized oyster shells (Winter, 1981). They are documented as kaolinite-rich kaolins used in grounds (=surface coating materials), with some variation of composition, perhaps corresponding to their geographical origin. Typically, kaolin-type clays are used as

Yellow and brown ochres

Earthy pigments varying from dull yellow to red and brown are commonly called ochres in the economic geology, mining industry, and painting. Ochres are defined by Mayer (1991) as clays used to make the earth colours; in pigment terminology, the word ochre is predominantly used as a synonym for yellow ochre. Its colour is given by a presence of different iron oxyhydroxides and oxides, mainly goethite and hematite; sometimes the colour is brownish due to manganese oxides. Different shades occur

Clay minerals

In the practice of restoring art works, laboratory investigations help to identify the materials used in the original painting and describe the layer stratigraphy on cross-sections—that is, the factor critical for understanding the extent and quality of later re-paints and choosing the suitable restoration procedure. Material investigation of these rare 1- to 2-mm and extremely heterogeneous historical fragments needs selective and non-destructive techniques to be described in details. Visible

Conclusions

Clayey materials, particularly extenders, priming coats and many earthy pigments are important components of the ground and colour layers of historical paintings. Their characterisation, however, is underestimated in the examination of the colour layer. The present systematic knowledge on mineral deposits and weathering crusts and the state of art of mineralogy of clays and other microparticulate minerals offer a new challenge to focus on the detailed evaluation of the clayey pigments in

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to qualified restorers from the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Prof. Karel Stretti and his students, namely Jáchym Krejča), National Gallery in Prague (Zora Grohmannová) and others (Romana Balcarová) for their receptivity and provision of rare samples for research purposes. Special thanks should be given to our other colleagues who participated in this research—Snejana Bakardjieva for performing measurements on the electron microscope. This work was prepared on

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Clay and iron oxide pigments in the history of painting

Abstract

Section snippets

General outlines and terms

Earthy pigments

White earth

Yellow and brown ochres

Clay minerals

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Spectrochim. Acta, Part A: Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc.

J. Cult. Herit.

J. Mol. Struct.

Talanta

Appl. Clay Sci.

Spectrochim. Acta

J. Electroanal. Chem.

Eur. J. Solid State Inorg. Chem.

J. Archael. Sci.

Thermochim. Acta

Problems of conservation of wall paintings in India

Japanese wall-painting: an art historical overview

Mineral occurrence in soil environments

Practical Treatise on Painting in Oil-Colours

Wie man sol machen ein guete goltz grunndt: Anweisungen zur Glanzvergoldung in der Buchmalerei

Restauro: Z. Kunsttech., Restaur. Museumsfragen

Chemical and mineralogical analyses of Gallo-Roman wall painting from Dietikon, Switzerland

Archaeometry

Les pigments verts en peinture murale romaine: bilan analytique

Mineral fillers in paper

Pap. Conserv.: J. Inst. Pap. Conserv.

Ikonen: Restaurierung und Natur Wiessenschaftliche Erforschung; Beiträge des Internationalen Kolloquiums in Recklinghausen 1994

Prussian Blue

De Arte Illuminandi e Altri Trattati Sulla Tecnica Della Miniatura Medievale

The identification of aerinite as a blue pigment in the Romanesque frescoes of the Pyrenean region

Stud. Conserv.

Raman microscopy: application to the identification of pigments on medieval manuscripts

Chem. Soc. Rev.

Colours and pigments of the Ancient Egypt

Techne

Chemical microscopy

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The Iron Oxides. Structure, Properties, Reactions, Occurrence and Uses

Les matières pigmentés utilisés en préhistoire: provenance, préparation, mode d'utilisation

PACT

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Hyperfine Interact.

Interpretation of Mössbauer spectra of nontronite, celadonite and glauconite

Clays Clay Miner.

Dissertation sur la chlorite ou terre verte de Vérone

J. Phys. Chim. Hist.

Environmental magnetism: an introduction

Geol. Mijnb.

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PACT

Couleur, nature et origine des pigments verts employés en peinture murale gallo-romaine

Electrochemical analysis of the alterations in copper pigments using charge transfer coefficient/peak potential diagrams. Application to microsamples of baroque wall paintings attached to polymer film electrodes

Fresenius J. Anal. Chem.

Electrochemistry of iron oxide pigments (earths) from pictorial microsamples attached to graphite–polyester composite electrodes

Analyst

Isomorphous cation distribution in celadonites, glauconites and Fe-illites determined by infrared, Mössbauer and EXAFS spectroscopies

Clay Miner.

Romano–British wall-painting fragments: a spectroscopic analysis

Analyst

A monument of Byzantine wall painting—the method of construction

Stud. Conserv.

Green earth

Electrochemical analysis of solids

Coll. Czech. Chem. Commun.

Voltammetric analysis of Fe-oxide pigments

Analyst

Technické paralely deskové a nástěnné malby 14. stoletı&#x0301;

Uměnı&#x0301;

Technické paralely deskové a nástěnné malby 14. stoletı́

Uměnı́