This paper is part of a research project aiming at revealing and reconstructing the icon painting techniques of the eighteenth century and early nineteenth century in Transylvania, as well as identifying and characterising the materials used, their provenance and preparation methods. The series of studies already published within this project cover different aspects: identification and characterisation of earth pigments in the colour palette of Transylvanian icons, as well as their provenance and reproduction from local raw material sources, the study of varnishes, and a brief presentation of the materials identified with the aim to reconstruct the painting techniques using similar materials prepared from local sources. This paper focuses on documenting the origin and preparation methods of some of the pigments commonly identified in the icons painted in eighteenth- to early–nineteenth-century Transylvania, such as cinnabar, orpiment and lead- and copper-based pigments. We expect to better understand and contextualise the technique of wooden icon painting in Transylvania by correlating data collected through an integrated approach.

[1] Dumitrița Daniela Filip et al., “Local Raw Material Sources in the Color Pallete of the Transylvanian Icon Painters. The Reproduction of some Colored Earth Pigments of Local Provenience”, TS 15 (2023):335-361; Dumitrița Daniela Filip et al., “Materie și Icoană: materiale și tehnica de pictare a icoanelor pe lemn din Transilvania în secolul al XVIII-lea” [Material Matter and Icon: Materials and Wooden Icon Painting Technique in the 18^th Century Transylania], in Dumitrița Daniela Filip, ed., Materie și Icoană: materiale și tehnica de pictare a icoanelor pe lemn din Transilvania în secolul al XVIII-lea [Material Matter and Icon: Materials and Wooden Icon Painting Technique in the 18^th Century Transylania] (Alba Iulia, Cluj-Napoca: Editura Muzeului Național al Unirii, Mega, 2023), 11-94.

[2] Filip et al., “Materie și Icoană,” 29-34.

[3] A study based on experiments and the reproduction of historical varnishes followed by artificial ageing was undertaken and the research is still in progress. See Dumitrița Daniela Filip et al., “Study of Old Varnish Recipes used by The Transylvanian Icon Painters. Case study: Reproduction and characterization of varnishes used in 18th-century and early 19th-century icons from Museikon collection”, Apulum, Series Historia et Patrimonium 60 (2023): 307-327.

[4] Filip et al., “Local Raw Material Sources”; Filip et al., “Materie și Icoană,” 12-13, 27-28.

[5] Dionisie din Furna, Erminia picturii bizantine [The Hermeneia of Byzantine Painting] (Bucharest: Sophia, 2000). Vasile Grecu made an inventory of the versions and sources of the Hermeneia. See Vasile Grecu, Cărți de pictură bisericească bizantină [Byzantine Church Painting Books] (Cernăuți: Institutul de Arte Grafice și Editura “Glasul Bucovinei”), excerpt from Candela 43 (1932): 105-137; Vasile Grecu, Contribuții la studiul izvoarelor manualului de pictură bizantină [Contributions to the Study of the Sources of the Byzantine Painting Manual] (Cluj: Cartea Românească, 1931), 1-7.

[6] The Testimony of master Grigore Ranite, Documents from Blaj, no. 449, fol. 7, Serviciul Județean Cluj al Arhivelor Naționale [Cluj County Service of the National Archives]; Ioan Chindriș, ed., Icoana plângătoare de la Blaj 1764 [The Crying Icon of Blaj 1764] (Cluj-Napoca, 1997), 52-55.

[7] Dionisie din Furna, Erminia, 36-37, 50.

[8] Ibid., 48.

[9] Ibid., 58-59; Cennino Cennini, Tratatul de pictură [Painting Treatise] (Bucharest: Meridiane, 1977), 59-60.

[10] Ghenadie al Râmnicului, Iconografia – arta de a zugrăvi templele și icoanele bisericești [Iconography: The Art of Painting Temples and Church Icons] (Bucharest: Tipografia „Cărților Bisericești”, 1891), 258-259.

[11] Rutherford J. Gettens, Robert l. Feller, and W. T. Chase, “Vermilion and Cinnabar”, Studies in Conservation 17 (1972): 45-69.

[12] Elisabetta Gliozzo, “Pigments – Mercury-Based Red (Cinnabar-Vermilion) and White (Calomel) and Their Degradation Products”, AAS 13, 210 (2021): 1-53.

[13] According to Elisabeta Gliozzo, “Pigments-Mercury based,” 2, cinnabar was banned for paints in 1990 due to its toxicity, while Rutherfort J. Gettens, Robert L. Feller, and W. T. Chase, “Vermilion and cinnabar”, in Ashok Roy, ed., Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, vol. 2 (London: National Gallery of Art, Washington: Archetype Publications, 2012), 160, cited Eibner, who stated at the beginning of the twentieth century that it had no longer been available as an artist’s pigment since 1880. See also Mauro Matteini, Rocco Mazzeo and Arcangelo Moles, Chemistry for Restoration. Painting and Restoration Materials (Florence: Nardine Editore, 2017), 50.

[14] Rutherford J. Gettens, Hermann Kuhn, and W. T. Chase, “Lead White”, in Roy, ed., Artists’ Pigments, 67-81; Matteini, Mazzeo, and Moles, Chemistry for Restoration, 22-23.

[15] Dionisie din Furna, Erminia, 49.

[16] Matteini, Mazzeo, and Moles, Chemistry for Restoration, 22; Gettens, Kuhn, and Chase, “Lead White”, 69.

[17] Elisabetta Gliozzo, and Corina Ionescu, “Pigments – Lead-Based Whites, Reds, Yellows and Oranges and Their Alteration Phases”, AAS 14, 17 (2022): 17-19.

[18] Ibid., 33, 34, 40.

[19] Ibid., 58.

[20] Thomas Mafredas, Eleni Kouloumpi, and Stamatis C. Boyatzis, “Did Dionysius of Fourna Follow the Material Recipes Described in His Own Treatise? A First Analytical Investigation of Four of His Panel Paintings”, Heritage 4 (2021): 3770-3789.

[21] Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, “Orpiment and Realgar”, in Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, ed., Artists` Pigments. A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, vol. 3 (London: National Gallery of Art, Washington Archetype Publications, 2012), 55; Mihail Mihalcu, Fața nevăzută a formei și culorii. Enciclopedia îndeletnicirilor tehnico-artistice populare vechi românești de la A la Z [Beyond Shape and Colour. The Encyclopaedia of Technical-Artists Folk Craft from A to Z] (Bucharest: Editura Tehnică, 1996), 11-12; Constantin Săndulescu-Verna, Materiale și tehnica picturii [Materials and the Painting Technique] (Timișoara: Marineasa, 2000), 89.

[22] Matteini, Mazzeo, and Moles, Chemistry for Restoration, 45.

[23] Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia, “orpiment”. Encyclopedia Britannica, accessed 23 January 2023, https://www.britannica.com/science/orpiment.

[24] Dionisie din Furna, Erminia, 48-49.

[25] Silvie Švarcová et al., “Pigments – Copper-Based Greens and Blues”, AAS 13, 11 (2021): 2-11.

[26] The Testimony of Master Grigore Ranite, Documents from Blaj, no. 449, fol. 7, SJCJAN Archive; Chindriș, ed., Icoana plângătoare de la Blaj 1764, 52; Dionisie din Furna, Erminia, 36-37, 50.

[27] We extended our research, and in this study we present a larger number of Transylvanian icons investigated than those presented in Filip et al., Materie și Icoană, 49-51.

[28] For the attribution of some icons we used the proposals of Dr Ana Dumitran from the inventories and file of the icons of the National Museum of Union Alba Iulia, Museikon Department.

[29] Filip et al., Materie și Icoană, 46-48.

[30] See Filip et al., Materie si icoană, 43-45.

[31] See the instructions from the Hermeneia regarding the colours of the garments of Jesus Christ, the Mother of God etc. Dionisie din Furna, Erminia, 147-148. For their symbolism in Christian art, see Dionysus the Areopagyte, The Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy (London: Skeffington and Son, Picadilly, W., 1894), 43, 48, 53. He spoke about noble symbols (sun, moon, stars) and inferior symbols (colours). In his book The Celestial Hierarchy he explained the means/symbolism of colours: If they are white, they are an image of light; if they are red, they represent fire; if they are yellow, they symbolise gold; if they are green, they represent youth and the flower of the soul; while dark blue stands for mystery and red for fiery movement.

[32] For more details see Dumitrița Daniela Filip, Cristina Crașote, and Elena Badea, “New Insights into the Transfer and Reception of Russian Icons in Transylvania Based on the Interdisciplinary Research of the RICONTRANS Project”, in Ana Dumitran, and Dumitrița Daniela Filip, eds., Russian Icons from Transylvania (Cluj-Napoca: Mega, 2023), 81-82.

[33] For example in the colour palette of Russian mass produced icons (eighteenth-nineteenth centuries), investigated for ERC RICONTRANS project, orpiment and copper-based pigments were not identified, while cinnabar was identified on a few icons. See Filip, Carșote, and Badea, “New Insights,” 78-86.

[34] For more details see Muzeul de Științele Naturii Aiud, Registru inventar [Inventory], vol. 2, 4933-14647 (1955), 12161-13805, pages 1242-1407.

[35] Filip et al., “Local Raw Material Sources”; Filip et al., Materie și Icoană, 46-50, 51-63, 71-74.

[36] Fitzhugh, “Orpiment and Realgar”, 55; Mihalcu, Fața nevăzută a formei, 11-12; Săndulescu-Verna, Materiale și tehnica picturii, 89.

[37] Wolker Wollmann, “Exploatarea mercurului în Transilvania din epoca romană până la mijlocul secolului al XX-lea” […], AUA hist. 7 (2001): 151-152.

[38] Gheorghe C. Popescu et al., “The Gold Museum of Brad. Characterization and Classification of Native Gold Samples and Other Minerals”, Romania Journal of Mineral Deposits 86, 2 (2013): 80; Wollmann, “Exploatarea mercurului,” 151.

[39] Ibid., 156-157.

[40] Ibid., 157.

[41] Dionisie din Furna, Erminia, 48.

[42] The inventory (1878-1821) and other related documents, preserved in the History Museum of Blaj, doc. no. 1269, were studied and published by Cornel Tatai-Baltă, and Teodor Smericinschi, “Din activitatea Tipografiei de la Blaj (1787-1821) reflectată de un material arhivistic” [From the Activity of the Printing Press of Blaj (1787-1821) Reflected by an Archival Material], Apulum 19 (1981): 239-258. See also Gabriela Mircea, “Amosfera de lucru cotidiană din cadrul vechii tipografii blăjene: utilizarea curentă a unor materiale și substanțe pe parcursul anilor 1787-1807” [Daily Working Climate from the Old Printing Press of Blaj: The Current Use of Some Materials and Substances Between 1787-1807], Apulum, Series Historia et Patrimonium 37, 2 (2000): 23-35; Gabriela Mircea, Tipografia din Blaj în anii 1747-1830 [The Printing Press of Blaj Between 1747-1830] (Alba Iulia: Altip, 2008), 365.

[43] Tatai Baltă, and Smericinshi, “Din activitatea Tipografiei de la Blaj,” 251. See also the Annex with Tables I and II of the employees, 255-258.

[44] Inventory, doc. no. 1269, fol. 253 v., apud ibid., 248.

[45] See Tatai Baltă, and Smericinshi, “Din activitatea Tipografiei de la Blaj,” 240. They mentioned a document dated 14 July 1747, from fund Mitropolia Română Unită Blaj – Cabinetul Mitropolitului [Romanian Uniate Metropolitanate Blaj – The Metropolitan’s Cabinet], doc. no. 26/1747, Serviciul Județean Alba al Arhivelor Naționale [Alba County Service of the National Archives].

[46] Mihalcu, Fața nevăzută a formei, 11-12; Corina Niculescu, Icoane vechi românești […] (Bucharest: Meridiane, 1971), 20; Săndulescu-Verna, Materiale și tehnica picturii, 135, footnote 4 cited a document from Hurmuzachi collection published in Documente privind Istoria Românilor [Documents Regarding the History of Romanians], XII, 602.

[47] Fitzhugh, “Orpiment and Realgar”, 54. For orpiment occurrences in the Metaliferi Mountains see Udubașa et al., “Mineral Occurrences,” 3-35.

[48] Popescu et al., “The Gold Museum of Brad,” 81, 77.

[49] Tatai Baltă, and Smericinshi, “Din activitatea Tipografiei de la Blaj,” 248.

[50] Fitzhugh, “Orpiment and Realgar”, 55, mentioned by Robert Dossie in his book, The Handmaid to the Arts, written in 1758, who initiated discussion on the preparation of orpiment.

[51] Gliozzo, and Ionescu, “Pigments – Lead-based,” 17.

[52] See the study of Udubașa et al., “Mineral Occurrences,” 3-35.

[53] Cf. Gettens, Feller, and Chase, “Lead White,” 68.

[54] Mircea, “Amosfera de lucru cotidiană,” 25 who cited doc. no. 1269, fol. 250 v, 261 v, 281 v, 298 r, 302 v; Mircea, Tipografia din Blaj, 362-362, while Tatai Baltă, and Smericinshi, “Din activitatea Tipografiei de la Blaj,” 248 cited from doc. no. 1269, fol. 264 v, 298 r and 250 v.

[55] Daniel Dumitran, “Societate urbană în Transilvania premodernă. O tipologie a oraşelor” [Urban Society in Early Modern Transylvania. A Typology of Towns], HU 22 (2014): 117–135. See the Annexes, 134, according to the economic Censum of the social-working classes of Alba Iulia, dated 1733, winegrowers were recorded.

[56] Udubașa et al., “Mineral Occurrences,” 3-35.

[57] Mircea Borcoș, and Gheorghe Udubașa, „Chronology and Characterisation of Mining Development in Romania”, Romanian Journal of Earth Sciences 86, 1 (2012): 17-26, 21.

[58] Ibid., 20.

[59] The Testimony of master Grigore Ranite, Documents from Blaj, no. 449, fol. 7, SJCJAN Archive; Chindriș, ed., Icoana plângătoare, 52.

[60] Nicholas Eastaugh et al., Pigment compendium. Optical Microscopy of Historical Pigments (London: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2008), 78-87.

[61] Hermann Kühn, “Verdigris and Copper Resinate”, in Roy, ed., Artists' Pigments, 131.

[62] Ibid., 132.

Fig. 1. Some of the icons investigated: (a) icon GR; (b) icon AZ, for which green was made of an admixture of orpiment and copper based blue pigments; (c) icon IR, for the red background red lead alone was used; (d) icon GsI, for which copper-based pigments were identified. Credits Museikon.

Fig. 2. XRF spectra of red hues found in Transylvanian icons (icons SR, NDR, AS, IR 2, ASS 2). Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 3. Microscopic images of the red hues in Transylvanian icons (icons SR, NDR, AS, IR 2, ASS 2). Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 4. XRF spectrum of lead white (icon NDR) and its microscopic image. Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 5. XRF spectra of yellow hues (icons PIR and AS) and green colour (icon AZ). Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 6. Microscopic images of orpiment, of orpiment and ochre and of orpiment and copper-based pigment in Transylvanian icons (PIR, AS, AZ icons). Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 7. XRF spectra of copper-based pigment in icons SB1 and GsI 1. Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 8. Microscopic images of copper-based pigments in Transylvanian icons (icons SB 1, GsI 1). Credits Cristina Carșote.

Fig. 9. Specimens of local origin: (a) cinnabar from Dumbrava-Valea Dosului (Zlatna, Alba county); (b) orpiment from Moldova Nouă (Caraș-Severin county); (c) from Baia Sprie mining region (Maramureș county); (d) cerussite from Baia de Arieș (Alba county); (e) malachite with azurite from Căzănești (Hunedoara county); (f) rock with malachite from Rimetea (Alba county), the Mineral collection, Natural Science Museum from Aiud. Credits Paul Scrobotă.

Fig. 10. Aspects from the process of the preparation of (a) lead white and (b)-(c) copper-based pigments. The metals were suspended in bottles with vinegar. The pigment is respectively a white or greenish blue corrosion layer formed on the metals as a result of a complex atmospheric corrosion process. The pigment was removed from time to time and a new corrosion layer then formed. Credits Dumitrița Daniela Filip.