The Materials of a Group of Late Fifteenth-century Florentine Panel Paintings

Jill Dunkerton and Ashok Roy
Technical Bulletin Volume 17, 1996

Abstract

Two panels by Botticelli, one by Filipino Lippi, one each by Domenico and Davide Ghirlandaio, and two others are discussed. All have vegetable black underdrawings on gesso primings, and all have many pigments in common, such as azurite, natural ultramarine, artificial malachite, discoloured copper resinate, lead-tin yellow (type I), vermilion, and red lake in egg medium (mostly lac but on occasion kermes). Mixtures for black, purple, and flesh tones have similarities. Malachite was used in egg or an egg/oil mixture, as was the paint for light colours. The mordant gilding was generally similar, that on the Filipino Lippi panel being the least like the others.

Keywords 

Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi Botticelli, artists' materials, Davide Bigordi Ghirlandaio, Domenico Bigordi Ghirlandaio, Filippino Lippi, gilding, Italy (Florence), panel painting

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To cite this article we suggest using

Dunkerton, J., Roy, A. 'The Materials of a Group of Late Fifteenth-century Florentine Panel Paintings'. National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol 17, pp 20–31.
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/technical-bulletin/dunkerton_roy1996

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