Episode 23 - Glue and Blues
Dirk Bouts, The Entombment, c 1450s
Glue tempera on canvas, 34 ½ x 29 in (87.5 × 73.6 cm)
National Gallery, London
Dirk Bouts, The Annunciation, c 1450-55
Distemper on linen, 35 7/16 × 29 3/8 in (90 × 74.6 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Dirk Bouts, The Resurrection, c. 1455
Distemper on linen, 35-3/8 x 29-1/4 in (89.9 x 74.3 cm)
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
Scalloping of canvas along top edge of The Annunciation
Nail holes in the canvas along top edge of The Entombment
Detail of texture and crisp details of The Resurrection.
Reverse of The Annunciation
Reverse of The Entombment
Johan Maelwael (Jean Malouel), Madonna with the Butterflies, c 1410
Possibly tempera and oil on canvas, 42 ¼ x 32 in (107.5 x 80.9 cm)
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Dirk Bouts, The Annunciation, c 1450-55
Distemper on linen, 35 7/16 × 29 3/8 in (90 × 74.6 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Gerard David, The Deposition, c. 1495 - 1500
Oil on canvas, 56 1/8 x 44 1/4 in (142.6 x 112.4 cm)
The Frick Collection, New York
The Entombment: visible light detail
Dirk Bouts, The Entombment, c 1450s
Glue tempera on canvas, 34 ½ x 29 in (87.5 × 73.6 cm)
National Gallery, London
The Entombment: x-radiograph detail
Painted with azurite: the sky, the collar of the man in a red cap, and the tabard of the man at the right
Early Italian Madonna with a darkened azurite mantle
Master of the Straus Madonna, Virgin and Child, c 1400
Tempera and gold leaf on panel, 35 1/2 × 19 in. (90.2 × 48.3 cm)
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Patchiness in the light colors caused by abrasion
Macro detail of abrasion - paint remains only in interstices of canvas (image from
article in bibliography)
Man's collar and Mary's robe are both painted with azurite, but her robe is also glazed with ultramarine and smalt
Blue robe glazed with ultramarine and smalt. Where that has flaked away, the lighter layer below is revealed.
Venetian manuscript using mixture of ultramarine and smalt
Master of the Murano Gradual, Saint Jerome, c 1450
Tempera and gold on parchment, 8 1/4 × 6 1/2 in (21 × 16.5 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum
Master of the Murano Gradual, Saint Blaise, c 1450
Tempera and gold on parchment, 6 3/16 × 4 3/4 in (15.7 × 12 cm)
The J. Paul Getty Museum
Landscape painted with indigo and lead tin yellow; at the side edges, the indigo has been protected from fading
Recommended Reading
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David Bomford, Ashok Roy, and Alistair Smith, “The Techniques of Dieric Bouts: Two Paintings Contrasted,” National Gallery Technical Bulletin
Vol. 10, 1985
Explanation of effect of refractive index of medium on the translucency of a paint on p. 47
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Paola Ricciardi et al, “Use of standard analytical tools to detect small amounts of smalt in the presence of ultramarine as observed in 15th‑century Venetian illuminated manuscripts,” Heritage Science, V. 10 (2022)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s40494-022-00671-z
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Rutherford J. Gettens and Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, “Azurite and Blue Verditer,” in Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 2, Ashok Roy, ed., 1993
https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/artists-pigments-vol2.pdf
Bruno Mühlethaler and Jean Thissen, “Smalt,” in Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 2, Ashok Roy, ed., 1993
https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/artists-pigments-vol2.pdf
Joyce Plesters, “Ultramarine: Natural and Artificial,” in Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 2, Ashok Roy, ed., 1993
https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/artists-pigments-vol2.pdf
Helmut Schweppe, “Indigo and Woad,” in Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. 3, Elisabeth West Fitzhugh, ed., 1997
https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/artists-pigments-vol3.pdf
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