Making the
Blue
“For as long
as there have been painters, there have been color men. For years it was
thought that the true painter, a master painter, would gather his own pigments,
the earths, ochres, insects, snails, plants, and potions that went into making
color, and combine them in his studio. But the truth is, the ingredients for
colors were often hard to find, difficult to prepare, and rare. To be a master,
a painter needs to paint, not waste the light by searching for and preparing
pigment. It was the color man who delivered the rainbow into the hands of the
artist.
Ultramarine,
true blue, the Sacre Bleu, is made from crushed lapis lazuli, a gemstone, and
for centuries, it was rarer and more valuable than gold. Lapis lazuli is found
in one place in the world, the remote mountains of Afghanistan, a long,
dangerous journey from Europe, where the churches and palaces were being
decorated with the Blessed Virgin wearing a Sacred Blue gown.
It was the
color men who sought out the lapis and pulled the color from the stone.
First they
pounded the lapis with a bronze mortar and pestle, then that powder would be
sifted until so fine the grains were not visible to the naked eye. The dull
bluish-gray powder was then melted into a mixture of pine rosin, gum mastic,
and beeswax. Over a period of three weeks, the putty would be massaged, washed
with lye, strained, then dried, until all that was left was pure, powdered
ultramarine, which a color man could sell as dry pigment, to be mixed by the
artist with plaster for fresco, egg yolk for tempera, or linseed or poppy oil
to use as oil paint.
There are
other blues, blues from plants, indigo and woad, which fade with time, and
inferior blues from minerals like copper and azurite, which can go black with
time, but a true blue, a forever blue, ultramarine, was made in this exact way.
Every color man knew the recipe, and every color man who traveled Europe from
painter to painter with his wares could swear to his clients that this was the
process he had used.”
From Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d’Art by Christopher
Moore
No comments:
Post a Comment