Naples Yellow Revisited: Insights into Trades and Use in 17th-Century Sicily from the Macro X-ray Fluorescence Scanning of Matthias Stomer’s ‘The Mocking of Christ’
Abstract
:1. Introduction
1.1. Lead Antimonate Yellow through the Ages
- 1456–1526: The Calabranci Code contains six different recipes for the preparation of yellow ceramic pigments using both Pb and Sb compounds. It is later included in Dionigi Marmi’s Segreti di furnace (seventeenth century, Montelupo, Tuscany) [11];
- 1540: Vanoccio Biringuccio’s Pirotechnia (Venice) provides the first evidence of the use of antimony for the manufacture of yellow pigments for pottery making, particularly for enamels and glass [6];
- 1548: Cipriano Piccolpasso, a potter from Casteldurante—now Urbania (the Marches), gave the first recipes for yellows from lead and antimony related to the main centres of glazed ceramics in the area comprised within current Tuscany, Umbria and the Marches;
- 1644: the first recipes for yellows containing lead, tin and antimony are found in the Ricettario Darduin of Murano (Venice), Secreti per far lo smalto et vetri colorati, with sources from 1523 [12].
1.2. Matthias Stomer: The Sicilian Period
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. The Mocking of Christ
2.2. Macro-XRF Scanning
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Evidence of Naples Yellow
3.2. Overview of Stomer’s Technique and Later Interventions in the Mocking of Christ
3.3. Naples Yellow in Seventeenth-Century Italy
4. Conclusive Remarks
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
- dos Santos, H.C.; Caliri, C.; Pappalardo, L.; Catalano, R.; Orlando, A.; Rizzo, F.; Romano, F.P. Real-time MA-XRF imaging spectroscopy of the Virgin with the Child painted by Antonello de Saliba in 1497. Microchem. J. 2018, 140, 96–104. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Romano, F.P.; Caliri, C.; Orlando, A. Uno sguardo oltre il visibile: Studio dei dipinti di castello Ursino mediante tecniche non invasive di Imaging ai raggi X. In Pitture in Collezione: Venti Opere del Museo Civico di Castello Ursino; Mancuso, B., Pinto, V., Eds.; Magika: Messina, Italy, 2018; pp. 190–201. ISBN 978-88-89525-44-9. [Google Scholar]
- Dik, J.; Hermens, E.; Peschar, R.; Schenk, H. Early production recipes for lead antimonate yellow in Italian art*. Archaeometry 2005, 47, 593–607. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Kühn, H. Lead-Tin Yellow. In Artists Pigments, A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics; Roy, A., Ed.; National Galleryof Art/Oxford University Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1993; Volume 2, pp. 64–83. [Google Scholar]
- Eastaugh, N.; Walsh, V.; Chaplin, T.; Siddall, R. Pigment Compendium—A Dictionary and Optical Microscopy of Historical Pigments; Elsevier Ltd.: Oxford, UK, 2016; ISBN 9780333227794. [Google Scholar]
- Roy, A.; Berrie, B.H. A new lead-based yellow in the seventeenth century. Stud. Conserv. 1998, 43, 160–165. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Wainwright, I.N.M.; Taylor, J.M.; Harley, R.D. Lead antimonate yellow. In Artists’ Pigments, a Handbook of Their History and Characteristics; Feller, R.L., Ed.; Oxford University Press: Washington, DC, USA, 1986; Volume 1, pp. 219–254. ISBN 0894680862. [Google Scholar]
- Sandalinas, C.; Ruiz-Moreno, S. Lead–Tin–Antimony Yellow—Historical manufacture, molecular characterization and identification in seventeenth-century Italian paintings. Stud. Conserv. 2004, 49, 41–52. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hradil, D.; Grygar, T.; Hradilová, J.; Bezdička, P.; Grűnwaldová, V.; Fogaš, I.; Miliani, C. Microanalytical identification of Pb-Sb-Sn yellow pigment in historical European paintings and its differentiation from lead tin and Naples yellows. J. Cult. Herit. 2007, 8, 377–386. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Seccaroni, C. Giallorino, Storia dei Pigmenti Gialli di Natura Sintetica; De Luca: Rome, Italy, 2006; ISBN 88-8016-687-5. [Google Scholar]
- Chiarantini, L.; Gallo, F.; Rimondi, V.; Benvenuti, M.; Costagliola, P.; Dini, A. Early Renaissance Production Recipes for Naples Yellow Pigment: A Mineralogical and Lead Isotope Study of Italian Majolica from Montelupo (Florence). Archaeometry 2015, 57, 879–896. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Sandalinas, C.; Ruiz-Moreno, S.; López-Gil, A.; Miralles, J. Experimental confirmation by Raman spectroscopy of a Pb-Sn-Sb triple oxide yellow pigment in sixteenth-century Italian pottery. J. Raman Spectrosc. 2006, 37, 1146–1153. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Agresti, G. I Gialli di Piombo, Stagno e Antimonio: Colore e Materia Dell’opera D’arte; Università Degli Studi Della Tuscia: Viterbo, Italy, 2013. [Google Scholar]
- Agresti, G.; Baraldi, P.; Pelosi, C.; Santamaria, U. Yellow pigments based on lead, tin, and antimony: Ancient recipes, synthesis, characterization, and hue choice in artworks. Color. Res. Appl. 2016, 41, 226–231. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Kühn, H.; Zocher, C. Feature cards for the storing of technical data which result from the scientific examination of works of art. Stud. Conserv. 1970, 15, 102–121. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- McMahon, A.P.; Thompson, D. V Cennino Cennini: Il Libro Dell’arte. Parnassus 2006, 4, 24. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Wharton, S. What you see is what you get: Colour in Italian Renaissance “istoriato” ware. Renaiss. Stud. 2005, 19, 592–603. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Zalapì, A. Matthias Stom e il mecenatismo dei Principi di Villafranca nel Seicento. In Matthias Stom, un Caravaggesco Nella Collezione Villafranca di Palermo; Zalapì, A., Caramanna, S., Eds.; Congregazione Sant’Eligio, Museo Diocesano di Palermo: Palermo, Italy, 2010; pp. 13–35. [Google Scholar]
- Zalapì, A. Il Soggiorno Siciliano di Matthias Stom tra Neostoicismo e “Dissenso”. Nuove Acquisizioni Documentarie Sull’ambiente Artistico Straniero a Palermo. In Porto di Mare 1570–1670, Pittori e Pittura a Palermo tra Memoria e Recupero; Abbate, V., Ed.; Electa: Napoli, Italy, 1999; pp. 147–157. [Google Scholar]
- Facchinetti, S. Il rompicapo della luce dipinta: Da Antonio Campi a Matthias Stom. In L’eredità di Caravaggio, Capolavori in Luce; Facchinetti, S., Ed.; GRAFICA & ARTE: Bergamo, Italy, 2018; pp. 5–9. ISBN 978-88-85478-07-7. [Google Scholar]
- Nicolson, B. Stomer brought up-to-date. Burlingt. Mag. 1977, 119, 230–243+245. [Google Scholar]
- Mancuso, B. Castello Ursino a Catania: Collezioni per un Museo; Kalós: Palermo, Italy, 2008; ISBN 978-88-89224-55-7. [Google Scholar]
- Mancuso, B. La fortuna della pittura nelle collezioni catanesi: Un recupero. In Pitture in Collezione: Venti Opere del Museo Civico di Castello Ursino; Mancuso, B., Pinto, V., Eds.; Magika: Messina, Italy, 2018; pp. 9–37. ISBN 978-88-89525-44-9. [Google Scholar]
- Romano, F.P.; Caliri, C.; Nicotra, P.; Di Martino, S.; Pappalardo, L.; Rizzo, F.; Santos, H.C. Real-time elemental imaging of large dimension paintings with a novel mobile macro X-ray fluorescence (MA-XRF) scanning technique. J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 2017, 32, 773–781. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Kirby, J.O.; Spring, M.; Higgitt, C. The technology of red lake pigment manufacture: Study of the dyestuff substrate. Tech. Bull. 2005, 26, 71–87. [Google Scholar]
- Sotheby’s, Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale, Lot 10. Available online: https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/old-master-british-paintings-evening-sale-l15033/lot.10.html (accessed on 11 December 2023).
- Norton Simon Museum, Christ Crowned with Thorns c. 1633-39. Available online: https://www.nortonsimon.org/art/detail/M.1977.25.P (accessed on 11 December 2023).
- Stols-Witlox, M. Grounds, 1400–1900. In The Conservation of Easel Paintings; Stoner, J.H., Rushfield, R., Eds.; Routledge: London, UK, 2012; pp. 161–188. [Google Scholar]
- Capriotti, S.; Medeghini, L.; Mignardi, S.; Petrelli, M.; Botticelli, M. The blue road: Provenance study of azurite samples from historical locations through the analysis of minor and trace elements. Heliyon 2023, 9, e19099. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Heydenreich, G. Issues in Contemporary Oil Paint; Springer: New York, NY, USA, 2014; ISBN 9783319100999. [Google Scholar]
- Rosi, F.; Burnstock, A.; Van den Berg, K.J.; Miliani, C.; Brunetti, B.G.; Sgamellotti, A. A non-invasive XRF study supported by multivariate statistical analysis and reflectance FTIR to assess the composition of modern painting materials. Spectrochim. Acta Part A Mol. Biomol. Spectrosc. 2009, 71, 1655–1662. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed]
- Learner, T.J.S.; Smithen, P.; Krueger, J.W.; Shilling, M.R. Modern Paints Uncovered: Proceedings from the Modern Paints Uncovered Symposium; Getty Publications: Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2007; p. 318. [Google Scholar]
- Burnstock, A.; Ormsby, B.; Schar, M.; Carlyle, L. Conservation of Modern Oil Paintings; 2019; ISBN 9783030192532.
- Hradil, D.; Hradilová, J.; Lanterna, G.; Galeotti, M.; Holcová, K.; Jaques, V.; Bezdička, P. Clay and alunite-rich materials in painting grounds of prominent Italian masters—Caravaggio and Mattia Preti. Appl. Clay Sci. 2020, 185, 105412. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- de Massoul, C. A Treatise on the Art of Painting; Baylis, T.: London, UK, 1797. [Google Scholar]
- Mérimée, J.-F.-L. De la Peinture à l’huile; M.me Huzard Libraire: Paris, France, 1830. [Google Scholar]
- Agrò, F. Ceramiche e ceramisti nelle Madonie tra tardomedioevo e postmedioevo: Dalle fonti archivistiche alla ricerca archeologica. In Storie di Ceramiche 5, Tecnologie di Produzione; Giorgio, M., Ed.; All’Insegna del Giglio: Firenze, 2019; pp. 53–58. ISBN 9788878149335. [Google Scholar]
- Daidone, R. La Ceramica Siciliana. Autori e Opere dal XV al XX Secolo; Edizioni d’arte Kalós: Palermo, Italy, 2005; ISBN 8889224053. [Google Scholar]
- Ragona, A. La Maiolica Siciliana dalle Origini All’ottocento; Sellerio: Palermo, Italy, 1975. [Google Scholar]
- Goldthwaite, R.A. The economic and social world of Italian Renaissance maiolica. Renaiss. Q. 1989, 42, 1–32. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Brown, D.A. The early works. In Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance; Brown, D.A., Humfrey, P., Lucco, M., Eds.; National Galleryof Art: Washington, DC, USA, 1998; pp. 69–100. ISBN 2013206534. [Google Scholar]
- The National Gallery, London, Lorenzo Lotto’s Portrait of Giovanni della Volta with His Wife and Children (NG1047). Available online: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/lorenzo-lotto-portrait-of-giovanni-della-volta-with-his-wife-and-children (accessed on 24 November 2023).
- Ruiz-Moreno, S.; Pérez-Pueyo, R.; Gabaldón, A.; Soneira, M.-J.; Sandalinas, C. Raman laser fibre optic strategy for non-destructive pigment analysis. Identification of a new yellow pigment (Pb, Sn, Sb) from the Italian XVII century painting. J. Cult. Herit. 2003, 4, 309–313. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ruffo, V. Galleria Ruffo nel secolo XVII in Messina (con lettere di pittori ed altri documenti inediti). Boll. d’Arte Minist. P. Istr. 1916, 9–10, 284–320. [Google Scholar]
- Napolillo, V. Mattia Preti, Artefice del Seicento; Edizioni Orizzonti Meridionali: Cosenza, Italy, 2013; ISBN 8889013591. [Google Scholar]
Disclaimer/Publisher’s Note: The statements, opinions and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s). MDPI and/or the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to people or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content. |
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Botticelli, M.; Miliani, C.; Ravan, E.L.; Caliri, C.; Romano, F.P. Naples Yellow Revisited: Insights into Trades and Use in 17th-Century Sicily from the Macro X-ray Fluorescence Scanning of Matthias Stomer’s ‘The Mocking of Christ’. Heritage 2024, 7, 1188-1201. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7030057
Botticelli M, Miliani C, Ravan EL, Caliri C, Romano FP. Naples Yellow Revisited: Insights into Trades and Use in 17th-Century Sicily from the Macro X-ray Fluorescence Scanning of Matthias Stomer’s ‘The Mocking of Christ’. Heritage. 2024; 7(3):1188-1201. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7030057
Chicago/Turabian StyleBotticelli, Michela, Costanza Miliani, Eva Luna Ravan, Claudia Caliri, and Francesco Paolo Romano. 2024. "Naples Yellow Revisited: Insights into Trades and Use in 17th-Century Sicily from the Macro X-ray Fluorescence Scanning of Matthias Stomer’s ‘The Mocking of Christ’" Heritage 7, no. 3: 1188-1201. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage7030057