Green pigments and mixtures
Artists' Materials
Green hues were obtained in a variety of ways: copper sulphates, copper carbonates as well as mixtures of azurite with lead-tin yellow and an organic yellow were identified. The individual artists seemed to favour one or more of these greens, which helps define their ‘signature’ palette.
Areas painted with copper sulphates were often found to contain high amounts of silicon. This may be due to the presence of quartz and other silicates, which would be naturally mixed with mineral copper sulphates.
Acanthus initial S and border with peacock feathers (prayer Salve sancta facies)
The indulgence prayer promises admission to heaven and it could also reduce one’s ordeal in Purgatory by thousands of years, if recited while looking at the image of Christ on the facing page (fol. 13v). The text is engulfed in peacock feathers, referencing one of Christ’s symbols – the bird of Paradise whose flesh, according to legend, did not putrefy after death.
The peacock’s plumage was favoured by discriminating patrons and Flemish artists rose to the challenge of its naturalistic depiction. On this page, the peacock feathers were rendered with complex mixtures and layers of a number of colourants, including red lead, malachite, lead white, shell gold and earth pigments. The bright blue centres of the feathers were painted with smalt, a relatively uncommon pigment obtained by grinding blue glass. This is the only occurrence of smalt identified so far in this manuscript.