IDENTIFICATION OF THE MATERIALS OF PAINTINGS

Abstract

According to Lucas [21] azurite may have been employed as a paint pigment as early as the Fourth Dynasty in Egypt. It was not widely used, however, in Egypt or the classical world apparently because of the availability of the synthetic copper pigment, Egyptian blue. Azurite was the most important blue pigment in European painting during all the Middle Ages, in spite of the fact that the more exotic and costly ultramarine got greater mention. There is evidence that Hungary [20, 29] was the principal source of azurite in Europe until the mid-seventeenth century when that country was overthrown by the Turks and supplies cut off. This is substantiated in part by the fact that Hungary is reported as a present-day locality for azurite [Io, 32]. Other sources may have been Chessy, near Lyon in France, and Sardinia, both also modern localities. Azurite was also the most important blue pigment in the paintings of the Far East. It was used widely in the wall paintings of the Sung and Ming dynasties in Central China. It was also used in Japan, especially on paintings of the Ukiyoe School, and it is still employed by Japanese artists. It was used to a limited extent by PreColumbian Indians of the American Southwest and later in Spanish Mission Church paintings [26].