Once upon a time, I read through a modern English translation of a pre-1600 instructional manual regarding painting. It was an interesting read. However, no where did the book clarify such things as obscure pigments and colors referenced in the book. What, then, was I to do if I wanted to recreate the look of a Medieval book with the paints available to me?
Here is what I have been able to discover up to this point in time. This article is going to be many years in the making, for I haven't yet found all the answers I want. I am certain, however, that somewhere out there are people who are also curious to know. Rather than wait another ten years to become an "expert", I thought I would share what I have learned thus far.
The following list contains the period name of the paint, followed by commentary on making a modern equivalent from commercially available items.¹
Aurum musicum (also, Mosaic Gold)--a medieval imitation gold, chemical formula SnS2. Modern equivalent would be a gold gouache.
Azurite--a blue. Substitute Ultramarine, Cobalt Blue, or Cerulean Blue.
Blue Verditer (or Bice)--similar to Azurite, but with a greenish cast; now obsolete. Try Phthalocyanine Blue or Phthalocyanine Green (as verditer could also be quite greenish, depending on its manufacture), according to the piece; also, try the substitutions suggested for azurite, especially cerulean and cobalt, as they have a greenish undertone.
Brazilwood--a synthetic dye is available; it is a deep, cherry red. In the Middle Ages, Brazilwood made a wider variety of colors, depending on the additions or ommissions of various substances in the course of making the paint. The colors ran from brown to rose. Alizarin paints are of similar colors.
Cinnabar--an obsolete pigment, dark orange-red. Use the Cadmium reds.
Cochineal (or Carmine Lake)--I have found and ground cochineal (it's a bug), but in the tube... well... Substitute the synthetic Carmine or Alizarin Crimson or Alizarin Carmine.
Cologne Earth (Or Cullen's Earth)-- a brown known today as Vandyke Brown. Not in use until late period.
Dragon's Blood--a darkish red, made from a resin produced by a palm tree. I recently discovered this as a watercolor in the "Maimeri" line; this watercolor is the same in hue as Venetian Red or English Red. I have also found it as a dry pigment. The Dragonsblood pigment is slightly lighter than Venetian Red, and, if not available, may be imitated by the addition of white to Venetian Red should you desire an opaque paint. Be aware that in period, this color was often extremely faint and was used to tint gold a slight red, for the Medieval eye preferred a reddish cast to gold. You would be closer in approximating dragonsblood by thinning a mix of Venitian Red and Alizarine Crimson to wash consistancy and brushing it over your gold. In fact, the modern use of dragonsblood is still pretty much the same; the resin is dissolved by being heated in Damar varnish and used to give a red tint to metals.
Exudra--a brown; mix from Lamp Black and Red Ochre.
Flesh-color--In Theophilus, generally mixed from lead white, cinnibar, and massicot. Modern equivalent would be Flesh.
Gallstone--a deep, transparent yellow. Try Gamboge or New Gamboge.
Gamboge--a yellow still available as a watercolor; however, Winsor & Newton makes a color called "New Gamboge" which is of similar appearance and greater opacity and lightfastness.
Indigo--a very dark blue, still available, initally used as a substitute for woad.
Lead White (or Ceruse)--as an oil paint, available by the name of Flake White. In illumination, substitute Chinese White for mixing and Titanium White for painting.
Malachite--a green, no longer available. Substitute Viridian Green mixed with Cadmium Yellow.
Minium (aka Red Lead)--a bright red-orange, no longer available; mix Venetian Red with a little Cadmium Yellow.
Massicot (or Litharge)--a yellow, no longer available. Use Naples Yellow, or mix yellow orchre with white and perhaps a touch of light red.
Ochers--a variety of earth pigments, still available; Yellow Ocher and Red Ocher (also called, in the Middle Ages, Burnt Ochre) are the most useful in the medieval palette.
Orpiment--a yellow that is "obsolete", but you can still get the dry pigment. This is among the most dangerous, poisonious of all pigments, so you might want to go with Hansa Yellow (aka Permanent Yellow), Cadmium Yellow, or Gamboge, depending on what you can find.
Ostrum (or Byzantium Purple or Grecian Purple or Tyrian Purple)--purple produced from mollusk shells. A synthetic form was developed in 1904, and is currently available.
Realgar (or Red Orpiment or Sandaraca)--another obsolete red-orange which may be mimicked by use of the Cadmium Reds.
Rose--per Theophilus, a mix of medieval "flesh-tone" plus more cinnabar and minium. You can try mixing it from scratch with the various colors suggested in this article, or try mixing modern Flesh with Cadmium Red.
Saffron--a brilliant yellow, too expensive to get much use as an independent color, but occassionally used in inital letters, to give a warmer tone to some paints, and to cover tin to make an imitation gold leaf. Substitute a yellow appropriate to your piece.
Sap Green--is still available as a watercolor.
Siennas--easily available earth pigments. Raw Sienna is a yellowish brown and Burnt Sienna is a dark reddish brown. Siennas don't come into use until late period.
Sinopia--a somewhat obscure red; no one is quite sure which color this is, except to speculate that it is an earth-type red. Try any of the earth reds, then: Red Ochre, English Red, Indian Red, Venitian Red. It will be a nice experiment for you, actually, as each of the above earth reds is a distinctly different color.
Smalt--made from ground colbalt glass. Hilliard didn't much care for this color, as it was a bit grey in comparison to true Lapis blue. Use Ultramarine, perhaps with a touch of white to grey the color.
Smoke Black--use Lamp Black in the modern era, or Vegitable Black if you can find it.
Terre Verte (or Terre Verde or Green Earth)--a green, still available. Can be imitated by mixing Chromium Oxide with white. In Cennini, terre verte, when mixed with white gives "sage green", which, if to be lightened, must be lightened with yellow.
Ultramarine Blue--originally made by grinding Lapis Lazuli, it is now produced synthetically.
Umbers--easily available earth pigments. Raw Umber is a yellowish brown, and Burnt Umber is dark reddish brown. Umbers don't come into use until late period.
Venda--a gray. Mix Lamp Black with Chinese White, or use one of the neutral grays available in most lines of gouache.
Verdigris--a light, bluish green, no longer made. Mix Cobalt Blue with Viridian Green. Salt Green and Spanish Green are both types of Verdigris, and so may be imitated as if Verdigris.
Vermilion--a brilliant, light red. Substitute Cadmium Red Light if you can't find vermilion. However, do remember that real vermillion blackens upon exposure to sunlight, and requires special disposal procedures--you can't dump the waste water down the drain.
It should be mentioned that the following sources are limited by the ability of scanners and cameras to accurately reproduce the colors involved. Nonetheless, the two following sources are the only ones I know of that name the paints displayed.
1. I found a book containing a color picture of what I think of as a paint test page; that is, a chart made by the artist to represent the colors on hand. The color plate in the book is a color chart/paint page from the Italian Renaissance. It is in the book The Medieval World: Civilization from 1000 to 1500 AD by David Nicolle, on page 27 and as the book's endpapers.
2. The Göttingen Model Book is the only book step-by-step illumination guide that includes painting of the steps (other medieval instruction books are either pictures only or text only).
The following web site has a color chart of all the colors sold; please do not construe this as an endorsement of the company, for I have never used this particular company. That, however, does not stop the online color charts from being useful. The link below will take you to the page containing the watercolor lines carried by this company. Check them all, for not all lines have the same colors. Many of the above mentioned colors are imitated amongst the various lines of gouache (not sold at this store) and watercolor. The store: Dick Blick, Inc.
Anonymous. The Göttingen Model Book. See main bibliography.
Anonymous. The Arte of Limming. See main bibliography.
Cennini, C. Il Libro dell Arte. See main bibliography.
Folsom, Rose. The Calligrapher's Dictionary. Useful dictionary of calligraphic terms and techniques.
Hilliard, Nicholas. The Arte of Limming. {Note: This is not the same as the above-mentioned anonymous work} See main bibliography.
Jarman, Christopher. Illumination for Calligraphers. See main bibliography.
Murrell, Jim. The Way Howe To Lymne. Study of portrait miniatures and the way in which they were made.
Taubes, Frederic. The Painter's Dictionary of
Materials and Methods. Similar to The Calligrapher's Dictionary, above, but including a broader scope of methods and, consequently, a lesser focus on the scribal arts.
Theophilus. On Divers Art. See main bibliography.
Thompson, D.V. Medieval Painters and Their Methods of Work. See main bibliography.
----------. The Practice of Tempera Painting.
Thompson, J. Medieval Inks. See main bibliography. The glossary of obsolete chemical terms from this book can be found here.
¹ It is possible to obtain many of these colors in dry pigment form from specialty merchants. The focus of this article, however, is on identifying medieval colors still available and substituting available modern colors for medieval paints no longer commercially made.
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