Not a day without a line drawn: Pigments and painting techniques of Roman Artists

Siddall, Ruth

doi:10.22443/rms.inf.1.4

Cited by 36 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…From wall paintings excavated from fill at ancient Corinth—the capital of Roman Greece, which was partially destroyed by the Romans in 146 bc and rebuilt in 44 bc as a Roman city, under Julius Caesar—there is a clear deterioration in manufacturing quality over a period of some five centuries (Gadbery ; Meggiolaro et al . ; Siddall ). In addition, provincial practices, in which neither this number of layers nor the high support thickness was employed, hardly reached the perfectionism of metropolitan art.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials Characteristics of Roman and Arabic Mortars and Stuccoes from the Patio De Banderas in the Real Alcazar of Seville (Spain)

2013

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This study discusses the materials and traditional knowledge used in the manufacture and application of lime mortars and stuccoes by Romans and Arabs in Seville (southern Iberian Peninsula). All of the samples studied contain calcite as a binder, combined with aggregates based on river sand from the filling materials of the Guadalquivir River's depression, located in the vicinity of the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville, Spain, where the artefacts were discovered. The Romans used high‐quality production technology, as evidenced by the careful selection of raw materials as well as by the adequate binder‐to‐aggregate ratio and the elevated homogeneity of the mortars and stuccoes. The suitable distribution of aggregates resulted in higher density values for Roman fragments than for Arabic ones. Results derived from Arabic samples suggest a decline in technology manufacture over time. This work provides useful information, particularly regarding the Roman and Arabic periods in the Iberian Peninsula. The analytical techniques employed in this study were X‐ray diffraction (XRD), X‐ray fluorescence (XRF)—using conventional and portable systems, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), petrographic microscopy, differential thermal analysis/thermogravimetry (DTA/TG), particle‐size analysis and mercury intrusion porosimetry.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Materials Characteristics of Roman and Arabic Mortars and Stuccoes from the Patio De Banderas in the Real Alcazar of Seville (Spain)

2013

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“…b). Cinnabar was often economized by mixing it with hematite, because the former was rarer and harder to find . Technically, the use of cinnabar means decoration after firing, because cinnabar starts to change above 250 °C, it becomes black HgS between 335 and 386 °C and sublimates at 584 °C .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cinnabar was often economized by mixing it with hematite, because the former was rarer and harder to find. [24,25] Technically, the use of cinnabar means decoration after firing, because cinnabar starts to change above 250°C, [26,27] it becomes black HgS between 335 and 386°C and sublimates at 584°C. [28,29] Unlike other cases where cinnabar is applied on a layer of gypsum, [7] red decoration in the vessel under study was applied directly on the ceramic surface.…”

Section: Ceramicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Micro‐Raman spectroscopy on Iberian archaeological materials

Tuñón

Sánchez

Parras

et al. 2016

J Raman Spectroscopy

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The knowledge and dissemination of the Iberian culture (6th to 1st century BC) have made great progress within the last three decades, so much so that it is now one of the main fields in the study of the Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula. Even so, certain topics remain which need further research in Iberian Archaeology, such as the processes of manufacturing and decoration of various kinds of materials, and the choice of raw materials, including pigments. This piece of research presents micro-Raman spectroscopy analysis of a set of materials dated between the sixth and the third century BC. The typology of these materials includes ceramics and coverings with and without decoration. All of them are located in various archaeological sites of the Spanish provinces of Jaén, Granada, Málaga and Ciudad Real. The use of micro-Raman spectroscopy together with energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction helped identify gypsum as the main raw material used for the inside coverings of houses and tombs, as well as for storage structures. Less frequent raw materials are calcite, dolomite and quartz. As to decoration in ceramics, the origin and elaboration of black decoration are here identified for the first time in the history of Iberian culture. Black decoration can be classified as two periods: the older period used manganese oxide and the later period used magnetite. Cinnabar has also been identified in the red decoration of ceramics retrieved as grave goods.

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“…In general, many studies have been devoted to characterize materials dating back to the Roman age from different sites around the world, some of these materials are pigments [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28], mortars [29][30][31], and plasters [32]. In contract of this, few studies were undertaken to study materials from Ptolemaic and Roman monuments in Egypt [33][34][35][36][37][38].…”

Section: Research Aimsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigations by Raman microscopy, ESEM and FTIR-ATR of wall paintings from Qasr el-Ghuieta temple, Kharga Oasis, Egypt

Mahmoud

2014

Heritage Science

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In the present work, a multi-analytical approach was used to analyze samples collected from the wall paintings of Qasr el-Ghuieta temple, Kharga Oasis, Egypt. The temple is dating back to the 27th dynasty (525-404 BC) and was completed during the Ptolemaic period. The samples were analyzed by optical microscopy (OM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) coupled with an energy dispersive X-ray analysis system (EDX), Raman microscopy and Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). The chromatic palette used in the temple was identified as Egyptian blue (cuprorivaite), red ochre (haematite), yellow ochre (goethite) and carbon black (from a vegetable origin). The green pigment was identified as green earth, however, a green tonality was also obtained through a mixture of Egyptian blue and yellow ochre, and in some samples, carbon black was also found. Several amounts of anatase and carbon black were found in the red and yellow ochre samples, respectively. The analysis showed that the preparation layer is almost made of pure gypsum, while the plaster layer based mainly on gypsum with variable amounts of quartz, calcite and clay minerals. The results showed that the painting materials and techniques used in the temple are almost the same of those used in the Egyptian temples with respect to the stratigraphy of paint layers, chromatic palette and the painting technique employed.

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Not a day without a line drawn: Pigments and painting techniques of Roman Artists

Cited by 36 publications

References 5 publications

Materials Characteristics of Roman and Arabic Mortars and Stuccoes from the Patio De Banderas in the Real Alcazar of Seville (Spain)

Materials Characteristics of Roman and Arabic Mortars and Stuccoes from the Patio De Banderas in the Real Alcazar of Seville (Spain)

Micro‐Raman spectroscopy on Iberian archaeological materials

Investigations by Raman microscopy, ESEM and FTIR-ATR of wall paintings from Qasr el-Ghuieta temple, Kharga Oasis, Egypt

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