A multimodal analysis of unusual copper-containing blue and green pigments in the early modern painter’s palette
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis presents a multi-scale, multi-modal, and multi-pronged investigation of copper- containing blue pigments in early modern English decorative wall painting dating from 1550-1650. By the late sixteenth century, large-scale decorative wall paintings were found in a wide range of buildings of different status and function. The quality and choice of materials and the way in which colour was used in these paintings was not only an aesthetic choice but a means of displaying social standing. Contemporaneous textual sources including painters’ treatises, accounts, and inventories discuss blue and green verditer, synthetically produced copper pigments with respective chemical formulae Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 and Cu2CO3(OH)2. Azurite, a naturally occurring basic copper carbonate chemically and structurally analogous to blue verditer (Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2, monoclinic), is found in high status schemes but rarely identified lower down the social scale because of its expense. Study of the materials used in surviving painting schemes provides information about the palette of early modern painters, particularly the possible introduction of synthetically produced copper pigments during this period. Pigment and degradation product identification is also important for interpretation and conservation of surviving schemes. Systematic identification of blue verditer and other copper-based blue and green pigments in this context, however, has not been carried out prior to this work. This thesis investigates the use of synthetic copper-based green and blue pigments from a group of twenty-two samples from decorative wall paintings, a subset of which are from late sixteenth and early seventeenth century middling decorative interiors. The presence of copper-containing blue and green pigments, their identities, and particularly their origin were of significant interest. Laboratory-based optical and electron microscopy and elemental analysis were used to determine the identity and origin of copper-c…
abstract: This thesis presents a multi-scale, multi-modal, and multi-pronged investigation of copper- containing blue pigments in early modern English decorative wall painting dating from 1550-1650. By the late sixteenth century, large-scale decorative wall paintings were found in a wide range of buildings of different status and function. The quality and choice of materials and the way in which colour was used in these paintings was not only an aesthetic choice but a means of displaying social standing. Contemporaneous textual sources including painters’ treatises, accounts, and inventories discuss blue and green verditer, synthetically produced copper pigments with respective chemical formulae Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2 and Cu2CO3(OH)2. Azurite, a naturally occurring basic copper carbonate chemically and structurally analogous to blue verditer (Cu3(CO3)2(OH)2, monoclinic), is found in high status schemes but rarely identified lower down the social scale because of its expense. Study of the materials used in surviving painting schemes provides information about the palette of early modern painters, particularly the possible introduction of synthetically produced copper pigments during this period. Pigment and degradation product identification is also important for interpretation and conservation of surviving schemes. Systematic identification of blue verditer and other copper-based blue and green pigments in this context, however, has not been carried out prior to this work. This thesis investigates the use of synthetic copper-based green and blue pigments from a group of twenty-two samples from decorative wall paintings, a subset of which are from late sixteenth and early seventeenth century middling decorative interiors. The presence of copper-containing blue and green pigments, their identities, and particularly their origin were of significant interest. Laboratory-based optical and electron microscopy and elemental analysis were used to determine the identity and origin of copper-c…
author: Purdy, Ellen
language: eng
keywords: heritage, chemistry, conservation
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/01a53820-8a42-47c9-bb56-9ab877f5e0ee/download
license: http://purl.org/NET/rdflicense/allrightsreserved
date published: 2024-09-19
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:21Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.118416