Episode 28 - The Tears of Trees
Mastic trees on Chios
Sandarac
Mastic
Dammar
Italian, “Collecting Turpentine,” from Tractatus de Herbis by Pedanius Dioscorides c 40 - 90 AD, 15th century
Estense Gallery and Museum, Modena
IIllustration from the Fourth Treatise of Splendor Solis, an alchemical text attributed to Salomon Trismosin,1582
British Library, Harley 3469, fol 27
Illustration of an alembic, in The Little Rosary, 1426
Cambrai Municiple Library, MS 0918, Fol 8
Julie Caves, “Larch Venice Turpentine – a Resin not a Solvent,” 10th March 2022
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2022/03/10/larch-venice-turpentine-a-resin-not-a-solvent/
Paolo Veronese, Four Allegories of Love: Scorn, c 1575
Oil on canvas, 73 1/2 x 74 1/4 in (186.6 × 188.5 cm)
National Gallery, London
Paolo Veronese, Four Allegories of Love: Happy Union, c 1575
Oil on canvas, 73 3/4 x 73 1/2 in (187.4 × 186.7 cm)
National Gallery, London
Paolo Veronese, Four Allegories of Love: Scorn, detail
Paolo Veronese, Four Allegories of Love: Happy Union, detail
Jan Van Eyck, The Arnolfini Marriage, 1434
Oil on oak, 32 14 x 23 1/2 in (82.2 x 60 cm)
National Gallery, London
Jan Van Eyck, Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?), 1433
Oil on wood (probably oak),10 ¼ x 7 ½ in (26 × 19 cm)
National Gallery, London
Dragon's Blood
Albrecht Dürer, The Flight into Egypt, c. 1504
Woodcut print on paper, image: 11 5/8 × 8 1/4 in (29.5 × 20.9 cm)
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Dracaena draco tree to right of Joseph
Hieronymus Bosch and Workshop, The Creation (left panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights Triptych), c 1504
Oil on wood, 74 x 30 ¼ in (188 x 77 cm)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Dracaena draco tree to left of Adam
Giotto and Workshop, Pentecost, 1310-18
Egg tempera on wood (poplar, identified), 18 x 17 1/4 in (45.5 × 44 cm)
National Gallery, London
Flame possibly painted in dragon's blood
South German, House altar with reverse paintings on glass, 1560-80
19 1/2 x 7 3/4 (width with wings closed) x 5 in (49.6 x 19.5 x12.7 cm)
Corning Museum of Glass,, Corning, New York
The binding media of the paint is a combination of pine resin, larch (Venice) turpentine, and mastic. The red colorant is a combination of red lake made from cochineal and dragon's blood.
Recommended Reading
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National Gallery Technical Bulletin Vol. 17, 1996 – for Veronese allegories II and IV in which pine resin definitely identified
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David Bomford, et al, Art in the Making: Italian Painting before 1400, National Gallery, London, 1989 - for suggestion of dragon's blood in Giotto
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Simone Bretz, Ursula Baumer, Heike Stege, Johannes von Miller, and Dedo von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk, “A German House Altar from the Sixteenth Century: Conservation and Research of Reverse Paintings on Glass,” Studies in Conservation, V. 53, N. 4 (2008)
Julie Caves, “Larch Venice Turpentine – a Resin not a Solvent,” 10th March 2022
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2022/03/10/larch-venice-turpentine-a-resin-not-a-solvent/
E. René de la Rie, “The Influence of Varnishes on the Appearance of Paintings,” Studies in Conservation, 1987
Robert L. Feller, “Factors Affecting the Appearance of Picture Varnish,” Science, 1957
F.N. Howes, “Age-old Resins of the Mediterranean Region and Their Uses,” Economic Botany, V. 4, N. 4 (1950 Oct-Dec)
Gerald Kaspar, “Mastic Varnish,” The Picture Restorer, 1994
Alan Phenix, Some Instances in the History of Distilled Oil of Turpentine, the Disappearing Painters' Material, 2015
Arie Wallert and Maarten R. van Bommel, “Sanguis draconis, Dragon's Blood: The Use and Analysis of a Manuscript Illuminators' Colorant,” Dyes in History and Archaeology, Vol. 21, 2008
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Renate Woudhuysen-Keller, "Aspects of Painting Techniques in the Use of Verdigris and Copper Resinate," Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice, University of Leiden, 1995
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