This
exhibition, as the name suggests, focuses on colour, in particular 8 colours. At the
entrance, the first room is based on primary, secondary colours and colour wheels.
We can learn that the theory of primary colours was first published by an
Austrian physician in 1601.
‘Colour
wheels have been of great value to painters, yet there is a crucial difference
between colour in light and in pigments. Combined colours in light create
white, but those in pigments turn black when mixed.’
Reading
information next to ‘Portrait of a woman from a Roman Mummy’ 138-93 AD we can
learn that melted wax was added to a pigment.
Then we go
to the room ‘The Quest of Blue’
In this room above the paintings there are five names of blue colour: synthetic blues, Prussian Blue, Smalt, azurite and ultramarine.
We read
that natural ultramarine was really special as it means ‘beyond the sea’, it was
made from semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli, imported from Afghanistan and it
was really expensive.
In Wester n
art, the Virgin Mary is usually dressed in blue as it is a colour appriopriate
for the humble girl who became Queen of Heaven. This tradition began when
ultramarine was more expensive than gold, and the use of such a precious
material in a religious image was a sign of devotion.
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It was
painted directly onto a slab of lapis lazuli mounted on slate.
Room 3 - GREEN
Here we learn that the natural materials that produce a strong green paigment for painting are: verdigris (the corroded green crust that appears on the surface of copper and bronze), green earth (mineral clay), and pigments that were discovered by the 19th century were emerals green and viridian.
Room 4 - YELLOW / ORANGE
Realgar - Titian was using realgar for his paintings, it contained arsenic and sulphur, and was also known as 'ruby of arsenic'.
Room 5 - RED
The colour of blood, passion, danger, kings, cardinals and revolution. The strongest red pigments are extracted from the bodies of certain insects, such as kermes and cochineal. Cochineal is still used for lipsticks and food colouring today.
Natural vermilion was traditionally made by pulverising a mineral called cinnabar, which is the principal ore of mercury. A manufactured variety obtained from mercury and sulphur was made in Europe from the 9th century, based on methods developed in the Islamic world. Both mineral and artificial vermillion occur in Western paintings.
Edgar Degas used 3 pigments in this painting: a strongly coloured red earth, vermilion and the orange-toned red lead.
Silk velvets were among the most luxurious textiles available in the late Medieval and Renaissance periods. At this time, laws restricted extravagant clothing. In 14th century Florence embroidery and trim were only allowed on the sleeves of dresses, not the bodice or skirt.
Natural sources of red dyes:
- Brazilwood
- Madder
- Stic lac (Female lac insectsproduce dye and also secrete a sticky resin-like protective coating, which covers the twigs of their host tree. This is the source of the traditional wood finish, 'shellac'. The dye is extracted from the hardened coating, with the insects embedded inside.)
- Kermes (Dye can be extracted from the dried bodies of female kermes, a Mediterranean scale insect that lives on the sap of the evergreen kermes oak.)
- Cochineal
Room 6 - PURPLE
Purple has been the colour of nobility and luxury since Antiquity. Queen Victoria dressed her entire family in purple.
Room 7 - GOLD and SILVER
Artists often decorated particular gilded details, such as haloes or borders, but Botticelli has ornamented the entire background on this exquisite picture. Using two slightly different punches (one with six points, one with five), he has further adorned the incised pattern so that Saint Francis seems to stand against a backdrop of glittering golden stars.
Fungai developed a technique of skillfully combining real and painted gold. In the lighter areas of the Virgin's robe, real gold is revealed where the cream coloured paint has been scraped away (a technique known as 'sgraffito'). Meanwhile in the shaded areas he used paint. The combination of these two methods creates a far more 3D effect than is usually possible with just real gold. This illusion would have worked particularly well in candlelight.
I really enjoyed that exhibition, I learnt a lot and it is always a pleasure to see all those incredible paintings.
