Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice

Table 1. White pigments on jifleenth-to
eighteenth-century Jain miniatures.
Accession No. Da" Pigments

IS 2-1972 c. 1460 Kaolin, mica

Isacco 1 15C Calcium white

Isacco 2 15C Tin while

IS 46-1959 f26 16C Tin white

IS 46-1959 f45 16C Tin white

IS 46- 1959 f47 16C Tin white

IS 46-1959 f49 16C Tin white

IS 84-1963 fl5 16C Tin white

IS 82·1963 16C Hindu Calcium white, mica

Private owner 17C Hindu Tin - lead white

IS 2-1984 18C Lead white

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therefore, to say that the pigment is a tin white (Table 1). A mixed tin-lead

white was identified on a seventeenth-century Hindu miniature; much ov­

erpainting with zinc white conf used the picture.

It has not been possible to determine the constitution of the Indian tin white;

the size and delicacy of the miniatures prohibits the removal of a sample. The

pigment is a clean, brilliant white and appears reasonably opaque. It is prob­

ably tin oxide.

Although the date of these miniatures falls into the same period in which

the pigment is said to have been used in Europe, it seems unlikely that the

Jain school was using the Western pigment. It is probable, however, that it

developed from the use of tin oxide in ceramics, ultimately deriving, as it did

in Europe, from the Near East or neighboring Persia.

Burnt green earth

Green earth in its various fo rms has been used as a pigment through much

of Eurasia fo r 2,000 years. Vitruvius wrote of it in the first century B.C.E.

Burnt green earth seems to be mentioned first in the sixteenth or seventeenth

centuries. The Paduan manuscript lists it as a color fo r miniature painting and

also records that "the shadows of the flesh are made with terra 'ombra, terra

verde burnt, and asphaltum" (18). The Volpato manuscript gives the method

of preparation (19). Merrifield quotes Lomazzo, who directs that shadows on

flesh should be made with burnt terra verde and nero di campana or umber

(20). She says that "modern writers do not mention this colour, but the use

of it has been revived by an eminent English artist, under the name of 'Verona

Brown' "(21).

Linton mentions it briefly with terre verte: "When calcined, it fo rms another

beautiful pigment called Verona Brown" (22).

To ch says Verona brown is a "fancy name" fo r a mixture of burnt umber and

burnt or raw sienna (23). At the time of the Constable and Turner research

projects in England, the author examined two paint boxes of the relevant

period in the Victoria & Albert Museum collections. One was said to have

Figure 4. Pa int box, said to have belonged to William Tu rner, with bladders of oil paint, including

Gebr. Terra di Verte and Gebr. Griine Erde. W. 65-1920. Courtesy of the Victoria & Albert Mu­

seU/t!.

Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice