Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

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The understanding of an icon and its appropriate restoration according to its role and spiritual meaning in the church requires not only modern conservation training and scientific apparatus, but also a certain degree of theological sensitivity and awareness. The symbolism with respect to the actual process of icon painting used to have a fu ndamental significance. What was common knowledge to contemporaries must be reinterpreted after centuries of oblivion (19, 20). The icon cannot be understood apart from the wider cultural and theological context to which it belongs, as local traditions differ. With these typically Egyptian traditions in mind, the author wonders but cannot scientifically prove, if the twin beam icons might have been made from wood of an ancient sycamore from some sacred Coptic place, such as Matariyya. This would perhaps explain why the quality of timber was deemed unimportant. The construction of panels and the use of sycamore, as well as the distinctive Coptic iconography, all strengthen the attribution of these sacred pictures to the Nile valley. Future comparative study of the ancient Egyptian beliefs and technologies, and their survival through icon painting in the Nile valley, may enrich our knowledge about one of the oldest and most conservative pictorial traditions in the world. Acknowledgments The training program, "Conservation of Coptic Icons," in Egypt was made possible by the generous support of the Netherlands Directorate General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Egyptian Antiquities Organisation. The author, an art historian specializing in the conservation and restoration of icons, has been working since 1989 as the Field Director of the Coptic Museum in Cairo. Notes 1. Skalova, Z. 1990. Conservation problems in Egypt: icons, preliminary classification and some case studies. In ICOM Committee fo r COl/servation Preprints, 777- 82. 2. Skalova, Z. 1991. A little noticed thirteenth-century Byzantine icon in the church of St. Barbara in Old Cairo, "The Virgin with Child Enthroned." Bulletin de la Societe d'Archeologie Copte, xxx. Cairo, 93-103. 3. Butler, A. 1884. The Anciel/t Coptic Churches of Egypt, Vol I. Reprint 1970. Oxford, 104. 4. These and other medieval icons in Egypt will be studied and included in my Ph.D. dissertation, Mediaellal lcol/s ill Egypt, at the University of Leiden. 5. I anL very indebted to Paolo and Laura Mora, who, when in Egypt as directors of the Conservation team of the Nefertari Wall Painting Conservation Project 1986-1992, kindly shared their experience and advised me in this matter. 6. Rutschowscaya, M-H. 1986. Catalogue des bois de l'Egypte copte. Paris. See also Rutschowscaya, M-H. 1991. Coptic Woodwork. Coptic EI/cyclopedia, Vol. 7, 2325-47. To my knowledge, the research on Coptic wood and carpentry is limited and until recently there has been little scientific investigation on medieval icon panels extant in the Nile valley. 7. Mouriki, D. 1990. Icons from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. In Sinai: Treasures of the MOl/astery of St. Catherine. Ed. K. A. Manafis. Athens, 385, note 25. 8. This conclusion is based on my observations of the beam icons hanging in the church of the Transfiguration in St. Catherine Monastery at Sinai and various medieval icons in the European collections. 9. Lucas, A., and J. R. Harris. 1962. Allciel/t Egyptiar/ Materials and Illdustries. 4th ed. London. 10. Sawirus Ibn al-Mukaffa. 1970. History of Patriarchs of the Egyptian Church. Translated by A. Kather and 0. H. E. KHS-Burmester. Cairo. Vol. III, Part II. 11. [ am very grateful to Prof. dr. P Baas, Onderzoekinstituut Rijksherbariuml Hortus Botanicus, Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, fo r identifying these species. 12. Rutschowscaya, M-H. 1990. Le bois dans l'Egypte chrt:tienne. In Artistes, artisal/s et productiol/ artistiqlle au Moyel/ Age, [I. Colloque international. 2-6 Mai 1983. Ed. Xavier Barral I Altet. Paris: Universite de Rennes, 214-1 5. See the discussion following her article about difficulties encountered when analysing wooden objects from Egypt at the Louvre by the carbon-14 method and dendrochronology. Skalova 89
13. MacCoull, L. S. B. 1993. The Apa Apollos Monastery ofPharaon and its papyrus archive. In Museon. Tome 106, note 11. MacCoull cites Les Sycamores, a book about the accomplishments of 1930s Coptic cultural figures that was published in 1978 in Cairo. 14. Baum, N. 1988. Arbres et Arbrusles d'Egypte ancienne. Orientalia Lovainiensis Analecta. Leuven, 17-75. 15. Moftah, R. 1959. Die Heiligen Baume im Altem Agypten. Ph.D. diss. Gottingen: Georg-August-University. 16. My thanks to Egyptologists Ramses Moftah and Michael Jones in Cairo fo r encouraging this line of interdisciplinary inquiry. OlafE. Kaper provided suitable illustration. 17. Zanetti, U. 1993. Matarieh, La sainte famille et les baumiers. In Analecta Bollandiana (1 11):21-68. 18. Moftah, op. cit., 23. 19. These are concepts that belong to religious tradition and are transm.itted in a way that cannot always be scientifically investigated, which should not dim.inish their sign.ificance. I would like to thank the priests of the church of St. Mercurius Abu's-Saifain for their kind support in the project, as well as my senior trainees Magdi Mansour Badawy, Hanan Nairouz, and Mona Hussein, for their assistance. 20. Abu-el-Makarim, a Coptic priest from the church Harat Zuweilah in Cairo, left a manuscript dated 1206 that describes the monasteries and churches of the Nile Delta. He mentions that in the church of St. George at Netel near Port Said, one icon of St. George is painted on a piece of the very wood used to torture the martyr saint himself. See Father Samuel. 1990. Icons et iconographie en Egypte au XIIe siecle d'apres Ie manuscrit d'Abu-el-Makarim, publie en Arabe en Caire en 1984. Le Monde Copte, No. 18. Limoges. 90 Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice
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Historical Painting Techniques, Mat
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Contents vii viii Foreword Preface
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Foreword One of the first events or
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The discussions in this volume pres
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Plate 2a, above right. Attributed t
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Plate 4a, above. Jacques Louis Da
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Plate 7a, above. Valerio Mariana da
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Plate 9. Marco Palmezzano, Mystic M
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Plate 13, right. Surya in his Chari
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Plate 16. The Fifth King of Shambha
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Plate 20. Cross section oj Sample 3
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Plate 26, top. Titian, Venus and Ad
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Plate 29. Cross sections of the St.
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Plate 33. Paul Delaroehe, The Execu
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Plate 35, right. Detail Jrom the lo
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Abstract This paper argues for an i
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we find a description of the affini
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2. A Practical Treatise on Painting
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knowledge and understanding of the
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Table 1. Scientific methods used Jo
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the painting together, share backgr
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y distance with "the aid of the air
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ected, shadows would appear matte a
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The differences in saturation, clea
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19. White, R. Personal communicatio
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occupation agreable pour charmer l'
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DE PEJN'FURE PRATIQUE. Par demit::
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In spite of the laments of certain
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While cooking their eggs, two young
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some used for painting (i.e., amber
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ange of artists' materials, books o
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Figure 3. Personal account book, 18
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paper resulted in a volume of corre
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4. HKI MS 865-1993, 497. The move i
Page 72 and 73: [1] How to make a gold ground. Take
Page 74 and 75: into a glass, and put in a bit of w
Page 76 and 77: [37] To make crude verzino for writ
Page 78 and 79: it on what you are working, with a
Page 80 and 81: 28. On these "clothlet colors," see
Page 82 and 83: it also includes instructions fo r
Page 84 and 85: Ricordi di belli colori Initially i
Page 86 and 87: Figure 4. Gherardo Cibo, "Fusaina [
Page 88 and 89: The treatise is typical for the lat
Page 90 and 91: Filza CXLIII, fols. 1122r, 1125v, 1
Page 92 and 93: that is, plaster of Paris, which ha
Page 94 and 95: 100 80 60 40 a 3500 30.00 2500 2000
Page 96 and 97: process described by Cennini for ge
Page 98 and 99: Abstract The frequent use of verdig
Page 100 and 101: strating that spreading this glaze
Page 102 and 103: 10. Thompson, op. cit., 61. 11. Ber
Page 104 and 105: Tingry, in 1830, gives a recipe for
Page 106 and 107: elonged to William Mallord Turner (
Page 108 and 109: 500 450 As Ph As 400 350 Fe Co 300
Page 110 and 111: 19. Merrifield, op. cit., 745-6. 20
Page 112 and 113: Table 1. Tibetan color names, trans
Page 114 and 115: J Figure 3. Three-dimensional spect
Page 116 and 117: Figure 5. Detail IR-reflectogram fr
Page 118 and 119: Abstract Icons preserved in the Nil
Page 120 and 121: I )--------------------------1 I i
Page 124 and 125: Abstract As part of a five-year sys
Page 126 and 127: later transferred to an artificial
Page 128 and 129: Winchester Cathedral Holy Sepulchre
Page 130 and 131: Gilding. Gold leaf was applied for
Page 132 and 133: Winchester Cathedral Holy Sepulchre
Page 134 and 135: scanning electron microscopy I ener
Page 136 and 137: Notes 1. Park, D. 1983. The wall pa
Page 138 and 139: Abstract It is rare for ancient ext
Page 140 and 141: Sa. Location : Salisbury west front
Page 142 and 143: sheltered eye on the southernmost c
Page 144 and 145: Abstract Extensive examination of A
Page 146 and 147: create surface gloss and could be v
Page 148 and 149: Figure 3. Andrea Mantegl1a, The Pre
Page 150 and 151: Abstract In September 1992 the J Pa
Page 152 and 153: arrow in Adonis's right hand ends a
Page 154 and 155: For the early works are executed wi
Page 156 and 157: J Figure 3. Fluorescence spectrul1'
Page 158 and 159: This property was deliberately used
Page 160 and 161: Abstract The St. Anne Altarpiece (N
Page 162 and 163: Figure 3. Infrared reJlectogram ass
Page 164 and 165: Figure 5. Irifrared niflectogram as
Page 166 and 167: followed by modeling layers and gla
Page 168 and 169: Abstract Based on extensive informa
Page 170 and 171: o . (Vv..-.< 1 2. underdrawing, and
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The key position of Lamentation in
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Figure 1. Workshop of Jan Bruegel,
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Figure 3. Camelis Vroom, Landscape
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Figure 5. Infrared photograph of Es
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at the beginning of the seventeenth
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artist like Vermeer had to use all
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Figure 1. Perspective drawing of Ve
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Hague, 1996). The author is also gr
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Abstract The paper presents some re
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Summary We can conclude after this
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the product, a salesman motivated b
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complaints, have been strictly adhe
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F(gure 8. Illfrared rriflectograph
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13. Hunt, W. H. 1905-1 906. Pre-Rap
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Figure 1. The Execution of Lady Jan
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Figure 3. The Execution of Lady Jan
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Figure 5. Detail of Lady Jal1e Grey
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Figure 6. Paul Delaroche, The Execu
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38. Merimee,J.-F.-L. 1830. De la pe
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F(gure 1. J. M. W. Turner, Goring M
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Figl/re 3. Detail if lower left, s/
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Figure 5. J. M. W. Tumer's The Dawn
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TabLe 1. Dates of manufa cture of i
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Kennedy of the Ulster Museum, Viola
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Figure 2. James Whistler, Nocturne
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5). There are many such examples of
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Abstract This paper discusses aspec
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1960s in North America. Requiring b
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2. Eder, ]. M. 1945. History of Pho
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Figure 1. Jan Baptiste Collaert, Co
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sudden increase in the dimensions o
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lacks. Passages painted with mixtur
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8. It is not clear when people firs
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Errata for Historical Painting Tech
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PAGE 159 Figure 2. Image source: Pe
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