Painting the flesh
Artists' Techniques
Flesh tones contain mostly lead white, with occasional additions of small amounts of earth pigments and red lead. Some figures, like the wild man (fol. 58r) and St John the Baptist (fol. 133r) have green or blue flesh tones, obtained with verdigris and indigo respectively.
Ornamental initial U with the head of a king (Psalm 12)
Poised at the bottom of the bar border is a hybrid figure with a long, white beard painted by the Anointing Master. This hybrid, with its carefully modelled flesh, is based on a workshop pattern reused later in this Psalter (fol. 162v) and in other closely related manuscripts. Its face also shows a close affinity with that of St Paul on the Thornham Parva Retable, made in the 1330s in Norwich.