{"id":2488,"date":"2014-09-18T03:23:15","date_gmt":"2014-09-18T03:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=2488"},"modified":"2015-05-11T19:15:58","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T19:15:58","slug":"biggs-2013-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/biggs-2013-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Biggs (2013 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah J. Biggs<\/strong>
\nThe British Library \/ The Courtauld Institute of Art<\/em>)
\n“Poisonous Gold: \u00a0Medieval Orpiment and the Search for a Divine Yellow”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abstract of Paper at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2013)<\/p>\n

Session on “The Making of Medieval Manuscripts: \u00a0Analyzing the Materials and Methods of Scribes, Compilers, and Artists”<\/strong>
\nSponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
\nOrganized by Sarah J. Biggs (The British Library \/ The Courtauld Institute of Art<\/em>)
\n2013 Congress<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

[First published on our first website on 17 May 2013<\/em>]<\/p>\n

The colour yellow presented unique challenges for medieval artists, particularly those who worked on manuscript illumination. \u00a0Much was demanded of yellow pigments, although, according to Thompson, \u2018of all their uses, perhaps the least important was to represent yellow things.\u2019(1)<\/sup> \u00a0Yellow pigments were necessary for admixtures with other colours, but one of the vital applications was to simulate the beauty of gold, when the precious metal itself was either unavailable or too expensive. \u00a0The glint of gold was closely associated in the medieval mind with the perfection of God, and gold was believed to be near-divine, eternal and indestructible.<\/p>\n

The majority of the pigments that could represent this holy colour were not, however, so durable. \u00a0Organic pigments were derived by colour-makers from sources as diverse as fish bile, saffron, cow urine, and herbs, and constant refinements were attempted. \u00a0However, most of the resulting organic yellow pigments were subject to fading, and were therefore rejected by medieval illuminators aware of their \u2018fugitive character\u2019. \u00a0The only source of truly authentic yellow, it seemed, was orpiment.<\/p>\n

Orpiment’s colour superiority is reflected in its very name, which derives from the Latin auripigmentum<\/em>, or \u2018gold pigment.\u2019 In his Libro dell\u2019 Arte<\/em>, the 15th-century artist and author Cennino Cennini described orpiment as \u2018a handsome yellow more closely resembling gold than any other colour,\u2019 although he warned his reader to \u2018beware of soiling your mouth with it, lest you suffer personal injury.\u2019(2)<\/sup> \u00a0The injury could well be fatal; the term for orpiment in Greek \u2013 \u1f00\u03c1\u03c3\u03b5\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u1f79\u03bd <\/em>(arsenikon<\/em>) \u2013 eventually developed into our current term for orpiment\u2019s main constituent, arsenic.<\/p>\n

Medieval warnings about orpiment abound; every known recipe book in which orpiment is mentioned also features a note of caution.\u00a0\u00a0We are told that careless use of orpiment can result in the death of an unwary artist, but also that that orpiment reacts badly with many other pigments, and even that \u2018it is not good to use orpiment on parchment.\u2019 \u00a0For decades art historians have believed that these blunt warnings were evidence of orpiment\u2019s unpopularity; it has even suggested that the pigment went out of fashion in the 9th century once its true danger had been recognized.<\/p>\n

But recent scientific testing has shown that the repeated medieval warnings about orpiment were a sign not so much of its decline as of its continued and consistent use. \u00a0Raman spectroscopy has identified orpiment in manuscripts ranging from the 9th to the 16th centuries from across all of Europe and the Middle East. \u00a0This paper considers the history of orpiment\u2019s medieval use through both the books that describe it and those that include it, highlighting manuscripts such as the Lindisfarne Gospels, Paris Bibles, and Persian codices, and the Icelandic Skardsbok<\/em>, and advocates a new appreciation of the pigment\u2019s crucial importance for medieval art.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

(1)<\/sup> Daniel V. Thompson, The Materials of Medieval Painting <\/em>(New Haven:\u00a0\u00a0Yale University Press, 1932), p. 174.<\/p>\n

(2)<\/sup> Cennino d\u2019Andrea Cennini, The Craftsman\u2019s Handbook: \u00a0The Italian \u2018Il Libro dell\u2019 Arte\u2019<\/em>, translated by Daniel V. Thompson (Mineola: \u00a0Dover Publications, 1933), pp. 28-29.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Note<\/em>:\u00a0 The post by Sarah J. Biggs (30 July 2012) to the British Library blog on Medieval and Earlier Manuscripts<\/em> provides an illustrated announcement for both her session and all our sessions for the 2013 Congress, with pertinent illustrations:\u00a0\u00a0Once More Beneath the Surface.\u00a0\u00a0Call for Papers for Kalamazoo 2013<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 Pretty!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah J. Biggs The British Library \/ The Courtauld Institute of Art) “Poisonous Gold: \u00a0Medieval Orpiment and the Search for a Divine Yellow” Abstract of Paper at the 48th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2013) Session on “The Making of Medieval Manuscripts: \u00a0Analyzing the Materials and Methods of Scribes, Compilers, and Artists” Sponsored by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1023,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2488"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3570,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2488\/revisions\/3570"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}