Technical Examination of the Emerson-White Book of Hours: observations on pigment preferences and media application in a Flemish manuscript

by Debora Mayer, Hope Mayo, Erin Mysak, Theresa J. Smith, and Katherine Eremin

published in Heritage Science, Volume 6, Article number: 48 (2018)

Abstract:

The Emerson-White Hours (MS Typ 443–443.1, Houghton Library, Harvard University) is a book of hours and missal produced in Valenciennes, Bruges, and Ghent in the late 1470s or early 1480s. There are seven full-page miniatures (many more have been removed), fourteen historiated borders, 28 historiated initials, and 24 calendar illustrations in tempera and gold. Text pages have shell gold trompe-l’oeil borders. The illuminators include Simon Marmion, the Master of the Houghton Miniatures (named for this manuscript), the Master of the Dresden Prayerbook, and one of the Ghent Associates. The goal of analysis was to determine if identification of palettes supported previous stylistic attributions. Focusing on the illuminations attributed to Simon Marmion and the Houghton Master, we demonstrate that technical analysis can support attribution by identifying differences in artists’ pigment preferences, pigment blending, and technique of paint application, particularly how the artists render shadows.

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