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A Byzantine Text on the Technique of Icon Painting

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Leading to the cross
Manuel Panselinos
1312
Vatoped Monastery, Athos (Holy Mount Athos)
The Passion of the Christ
© Prof. Dr. Uliyanov Oleg Germanovich, the Plenipotentiary Representative of the Russian on the Holy Mount Athos Hagios Panteleimon Monastery, 2000-2004

Like other volumes listed as "seors." in what was once the library of Ulrich Fugger (1526-1584), the present Vaticanus Palatinus graecus 209 must have been bought in Venice or Padua at some point between ca. 1550 and 1570. (1) Nothing is known about the earlier history of this manuscript. (2) Written on watermarked paper datable ca. 1355,3 it contains an extensive collec tion of miscellaneous texts. Since many of these start on a recto, most of folio 284 verso remained at first blank, and was subsequently filled with a short set of instructions for painters (fig. 1).4 The writing on that page is smaller, but otherwise the same as elsewhere in the book. A number of marginal drolleries may be another sign that the original owner of the Palatinus was interested in art. (5)

Vatican City, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS Vaticanus Palatinus graecus 209, fol. 284 verso. © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.

Ὑποτύπωσις χρωματισμοῦ

στολίου καὶ προσώπου

Εἰς πρῶτον πρόπλασμα τοῦ στολίου μετὰ τὸ σκιάσαι αὐτό, τοῦ ἀπανοστολίου τὸ ὀξὺν σκευάζεται οὕτως· μελάνη ὀλίγη, ψιμμύθιον ὡσαύτως, καὶ πρόπλασον. Τὸ δὲ χάραγμα -ὀξὺν καὶ μελάνη. Τὸ δὲ λάμα -ἀπὸ τὸ πρῶτον πρόπλασμα μετὰ ὀλίγου ψιμμυθίου, καὶ λαμάτισον. Τὸ δὲ ἔγγυσμα - βαλλὼν ἀπ᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ λάματος καὶ πλεῖον ψιμμύθιον, καὶ ἔγγυσον.

Τὸ δὲ κατωφόριον - ποίει κατὰ πρῶτον ψιμμύθιον καὶ μελάνην λευκήν, καὶ πρόπλασον. Εἴτα βάλλε λαζούριον καὶ ψιμμύθιον, καὶ πάλιν πρόπλασον. Τὸ δὲ τούτο χάραγμα - ἀκράτως, τὸ δὲ λάμα - ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης καταμιγῆς τοῦ λαζουρίου, ἑνώνεις δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ πλείον ψιμμύθιον, καὶ λαματίζεις. Ὡσαύτως καὶ τὸ ἔγγισμα μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ, πλὴν μετὰ πλείονος ψιμμυθίου.

Τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον - εἰς τὸ πρώτον πρόπλασμα ἑνώνεις ὦχραν πολίτικην μετὰ πρασίνης ἢ ὦχρα δὲ πλεῖων καὶ ὀλίγον κιναβάρ, ὡσαύτως καὶ βραχύτατον ψιμμύθιον, καὶ προπλάττεται τὸ πρόσωπον. Ὅταν γοῦν διαβάσῃς αὐτὸ δὶς καὶ τρὶς εἰς ὑπόστασην καλήν, τότε ποίησον ἀνοιγήν· ἕνωσον ὦχραν πολίτικην, ἀληθινὴν ὀλίγην καὶ μελάνην ὀλίγην, καὶ ἄνοιξον τὸ πρόσωπον.1 Εἶτα πάλιν ἑνώνεις ἀληθινὴν καὶ μελάνην, ὃ λέγεται καππαδόκιον, καὶ στερεοῖς τὴν ἀνοιγήν σου κατὰ τόπους, ἤγουν εἰς ὀφθαλμούς, εἰς τὰ ῥουθούνια ὑποκάτω, τὸ ἄκρον τῶν χειλέων καὶ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ πώγωνος.

Τὰς δὲ κόρας - κατάκορον μελάνη.

῾Ἡ δὲ τῆς σαρκὸς ἕνωσις ἔχει οὕτως· ὦχραν πολίτικην, ψιμμύθιον, κιναβὰρ ὀλίγον, καὶ ποίει τὸ πρόσωπον. Ἀφ᾿ οὗ δὲ ποιήσεις στερρεὸν καὶ αὐτό, ποιεῖς γλυκασμόν· πρασίνην ὀλίγην καὶ τῆς σαρκὸς τὴν ὦχραν ἑνώσας, θέτε τοῦτο εἰς τὸ μέρος τοῦ ὀλιγωτάτου μαγούλου. Ἀφ᾿ οὗ δὲ καταστήσεις τοῦτο, ποίει ἕτερον γλυκασμόν· ἑνώσας ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου προπλάσματος τοῦ προσώπου καὶ τὴς ὦχρας τῆς σαρκός, τίθει εἰς τὸ πλεῖον μέρος τοῦ μαγούλου. Εἰς δὲ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ μαγούλου πάλιν τίθει ἀπὸ τὸ πρώτον πρόπλασμα καὶ ἴσαζον αὐτό. Εἰς δὲ τὸ ὀλιγώτατον μέρος τοῦ μαγούλου, κατὰ ὤας2 - πρασίνη νεράτη [?]. Εἶτα, μετὰ τὸν ῥοδισμόν, ἐνώσας ψιμμύθιον καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὦχρας τῆς σαρκός, τίθει εἴς τε τὴν μύτην, εἰς τὰ μέρη τοῦ μαγούλου καὶ εἰς τὸ ἐπανώχειλον ἄνω, εἰς τὸ μέτωπον ἀπὸ τοῦ μέρους τῆς πρασίνης καὶ εἰς τὸν πώγωνα. Εἶτα ψιμμύθιον, καὶ ἐγγύζεις3 αὐτό.

1 Cod. πρόπωπον.

2 Cod. κατὰ ώα(ς).

3 Cod. ἐγγύζει.

Instruction for Painting Garments and Faces

For the garment's first undercoat after outlining it, the violet of the outer garment is prepared thus: [add] a little black, the same quantity of white, and lay an undercoat. For the dark folds-violet and black. For the flat surface-some of the initial undercoat pigment with a little white, and paint the flat parts. For the highlights- taking some of this surface pigment and more white, paint the highlights.

For the inner garment, first make grey [out of] white and black, and lay an undercoat. Then take blue and white, and again lay an undercoat. This undercoat, as it is, is for the dark folds. For the flat surface you take the initial blue mixture, add more white to it, and paint the flat parts. [Do] the highlights in the same manner with this [mixture], but with even more white.

The face: For the first undercoat, you mix Constantinopolitan ocher (or more ocher with a little cinnabar) and green, as well as a tiny bit of white, and the undercoat for the face is laid [therewith]. After doing this twice or thrice for a good basis, do the drawing: mix Constantinopolitan ocher with a little purple and a little black, and draw the features. Then you mix again purple and black [into] what is known as Cappadocian pigment, and strengthen your drawing at spots such as the eyes, the lower part of the nostrils, the edges of the lips, and the top of the chin. The pupils [of the eyes are done in] pitch black.

The mixture for the flesh consists of the following: Constantinopolitan ocher, white, and a little cinnabar. Paint the face [therewith]. After making it solid as well, do the tints: mix a little green with the ocher [used] for the flesh, and lay it on the narrow sides of the cheeks. After finishing this, make a second tint: mix the initial undercoat pigment for the face with the flesh color, and lay this on the broad sides of the cheeks. At the tops of the cheeks put some of the initial undercoat pigment and even it out. On the narrow sides of the cheeks, toward the edges, [use] watered-down green. After [painting] the pinks, mix white with some of the flesh color and put this on the nose, on the sides of the cheeks, above the upper lip, on the forehead (next to the green), and on the chin. Then you [take] white, and add the highlights.

The demotic vocabulary and loose syntax leave little doubt that the treatise is not a literary composition but reflects actual workshop practice. Being the oldest one of its kind (no other Greek text on iconographic technique predates the seventeenth century), (6) it is, despite its brevity, an important source for studying late Byzantine painting. (7)