The colours of the Middle Ages

The colours used in the Middle Ages were mostly a continuation of the palette from antiquity and dependent on the access of raw materials. Most colourants were obtained directly from nature, but there were also synthetically produced pigments, such as lead white. Plant-based dyes were primarily used to dye textiles, such as madder and dyer’s woad. For paint, colouring agents could also derive from plants, as well as animals, but most were made from rocks (clay and minerals). The minerals were ground into a fine powder (dry pigment) with a mortar or a grindstone on a slab of hard stone. The pigment was then mixed with a binder into paint. An assistant ground the pigments, and the master did the painting. The painting was applied with a brush made of animal hairs. Mineral pigments contain metal compounds, they have a strong colour intensity and usually good chemical stability.

Inside the books, the colours were protected against bleaching and alteration. Some pigments were highly toxic, as they contained lead (red lead), mercury (cinnabar), and arsenic (orpiment). Pigments could be exclusive, such as blue from lapis lazuli, which was imported from the East and was more expensive than gold. It was only used to paint the holiest figures, like the Virgin Mary. Much of the church art, such as altarpieces and figures of saints, was imported, but there were also local masters. The exhibited altar frontal from Nedstryn is an example of high-quality work produced by Norwegian artists. Manuscript illustrators, called illuminators, made beautiful illuminations. Each pigment was mixed with binders (adhesives) such as egg white, parchment glue, or gum arabic, a sticky plant sap. Gold could be applied as thin leaves or as a powder mixed into paint. A shell was often used as a painting cup, and gold powder for illuminations is still called “shell-gold” today.