The Breslau Psalter

Underdrawing

Artists' Techniques

Underdrawing, probably drawn with a dry medium, can be detected in the infrared images of many folios, particularly to define drapery folds. It is especially apparent in the compositions painted by Hand A – most strikingly in Christ’s flowing robe on fol. 87v.

The position of the miniature’s outer frames was also sketched on the page prior to painting, as is apparent especially on fols. 49v and 51r.   

Lightbox: 207
1
Detail of Christ’s face under magnification (7.5x).

This depiction of Christ announcing his pending death to the Apostles is the only full-page miniature painted by the Gaibana Master’s Associate. It shows the artist’s intimate familiarity with his master’s iconographic compositions, as it resembles the miniature for the Common of Saints painted by the Gaibana Master in the Paduan Epistolary.