New Data on Orange Mineral Pigments in the Works of the Nevyansk School of Icon Painting

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate an unusual technological feature of the icons of the Old Believer mining and metallurgical Urals, that consists in the use of the minerals crocoite and realgar as artistic pigments. During the technological examination of sixty-two Nevyansk icons of the 18th – 19th centuries in the State Research Institute for Restoration (GOSNIIR) in 2019–2023, realgar was found in twenty-two icons, while crocoite was detected in eleven, which proves the widespread usage of these minerals in Ural icon painting. Chemical analysis of the paint layer samples from the icons was carried out using a set of analytical methods such as polarized microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, micro-FTIR and Raman spectroscopy. It should be noted that both mineral pigments are rare not only for Russian painting, but also for late Russian icon painting of other artistic centers and schools. Thus, it can be assumed that realgar was introduced to the Ural masters as an imported paint from Western Europe under the name Rauschgelb / Rusgeel, where it was in high demand among painters between the 16th and 18th centuries. It is also possible that it could have been brought to Russia, to the Urals, from China or Central Asia, where its large deposits are located. However, the appearance of crocoite in Nevyansk icons is undeniably due to the discovery and development of its deposits in the Middle Urals. Both minerals were first applied in Nevyansk icons in the second half of the 18th century (the lower chronological boundary of crocoite use is the first half of the 60s of the 18th century). Apparently, in the 19th century they gradually ceased to be in common use among the Ural icon painters.