The Missal of Cardinal Angelo Acciaiuoli

Temporal from the First Sunday of Advent to Holy Saturday

Texts and Images

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The small dark green leaves in the borders were painted with vergaut, a mixture of indigo blue, identified by the minimum at 660 nm in the FORS spectrum (above) with an arsenic sulphide yellow, likely orpiment, as suggested by the arsenic (As) and sulphur (S) identified by XRF (below).
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Detail of the pink robe under magnification (25x), modelled with dark pink brushstrokes over a light pink base layer. The FORS spectrum (below) shows the typical features of an insect-based dye, likely insect-based, as well as absorption bands at 1726, 1760, 2307 and 2352 nm due to the egg yolk binder.
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The pink decorations in the border were obtained with an organic dye, possibly mixed with gypsum as suggested by narrowing of the deep absorption band at 1943 nm in the FORS spectrum. No features attributed to egg yolk are identified, revealing that a different paint binder was used for this portion of the decoration.

The instruction to the right of the initial reads ‘la storia di magi’.