The Psalter-Hours of Isabelle of France

Differences in palette

Artists' Materials

Despite the overall homogeneity of the palette, a few differences are apparent between the pigments favoured by different artists. Notably, Hand A did not use vermilion, which other artists mixed in some of the ‘rusty’ red draperies and which Hand B also used to paint red highlights on the cheeks of his figures. Hand B used ultramarine for shading white areas, while Hand C shaded them with indigo. Hand D used a mixture of ultramarine, organic red and lead white, shaded with indigo, to obtain a purple-grey colour which sets him apart from his colleagues.

Lightbox: 166
1
Detail of the folds in St John’s dark purple mantle under magnification (12.5x). FORS analysis (below) reveals the presence of ultramarine in the mantle (blue line) and indigo, recognised by its maximum absorbance at 660 nm, in the dark folds (black line).
Lightbox: 167
2
Detail of the chest of Christ under magnification (25x) showing the sophisticated modelling of flesh with brown shadows and white highlights over a light pink base layer.
Lightbox: 168
3
Detail of the faces of Christ and Joseph of Arimathea under magnification (16x) showing the sophisticated modelling of flesh with grey shadows and white highlights over a light pink base layer.

The deep blue and dark purple draperies (hotspot 1), skilfully modelled so as to convey the three-dimensional human anatomy beneath, and the pink flesh tones of Christ’s body (hotspots 2 and 3) characterise the work of Hand D.