Painting the flesh
Artists' Techniques
The materials and techniques used by each of the artists to paint flesh tones are amongst their most characteristic traits. Hands A, B, C and D all painted a blue base layer for flesh tones with woad, which is one of the most distinctive features of the decoration. The subsequent pink surfaces, red outlines and white highlights were applied as distinct layers. This is especially visible in the figures painted by Hand C, whose facial features are angular and exaggerated.
The Gaibana Master used earth pigments in flesh tones, which have a greenish rather than blue undertone. His Associate employed large amounts of azurite instead. The careful blending of paint layers by both artists results in much smoother modelling of faces compared to that found in faces painted by the other illuminators.
-
Folio 15 v
-
Folio 16 r
-
Folio 17 v
-
Folio 18 r
-
Folio 19 v
-
Folio 20 r
-
Folio 23 v
-
Folio 39 v
-
Folio 40 r
-
Folio 41 r
-
Folio 49 v
-
Folio 50 r
-
Folio 51 r
-
Folio 54 r
-
Folio 59 v
-
Folio 60 r
-
Folio 64 r
-
Folio 72 v
-
Folio 73 r
-
Folio 74 v
-
Folio 75 r
-
Folio 85 v
-
Folio 86 r
-
Folio 87 v
-
Folio 100 v
-
Folio 101 r
-
Folio 104 r
-
Folio 115 v
-
Folio 116 r