A post-Byzantine icon of St Nicholas painted on a leather support. Microanalysis and characterisation of technique

Abstract

The pigments, organic materials and techniques used on a post-Byzantine icon of St Nicholas were determined by means of several micro-analytical techniques. The icon painter covered the leather support with silver leaf about 3 μm thick to create a smooth working surface. Animal glue was used to secure the leaf to the leather, and FTIR spectroscopy has identified another layer, 30–60 μm thick, of the same material applied as a primer above the silver. Above that, a layer of lead white covering the entire surface creates a white substratum serving the same purpose as the gesso on a wood panel. The colour palette, determined by means of scanning electron microscopy and FTIR spectroscopy, is very simple. Only seven colours were identified: lead white, caput mortuum, red and yellow ochre, cinnabar, carbon black and smalt. As far as we know, this is the first time that smalt has been found on a Byzantine icon. Since smalt was chemically synthesised only after 1500 AD, it may be concluded that this icon was painted after the end of the 15th century. Beeswax was used as a protective varnish.