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Heaven and Earth – ‘Madonne col Bambino’ and ‘Rustiques figulines’

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Abstract

Analyses of the productions of della Robbia and Palissy, two masters of Renaissance ceramics in France and in Italy, have enlightened their contributions to the improvement of the glazed terracotta technique. Della Robbia used very homogeneous materials: marly clay for the bodies, and tin-opacified coloured glazes. The technique is here very robust and very mastered. Palissy used different types of clay with different colours and physical properties, associated with specific productions. So far, we have identified seven pastes. Concerning the glazes, he played with transparency and opacity, with lead glazes and with tin-opacified lead glazes. He added traditional colouring oxides as well as specific pigments (lead–tin yellow, haematite, etc.). The mixed-earth technique is specific to his palette. So, the materials used by both artists are completely different and illustrate their different philosophical approaches. To perform the different analyses, new methodologies have been developed: ICP/AES-MS, petrography and X-ray diffractometry for the bodies, PIXE and micro-PIXE, SEM coupled with EDS and Raman spectrometry for the glazes.

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  1. Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, UMR CNRS 171, 6 rue des Pyramides, 75041, Paris, Cedex 01, France

    A. Bouquillon

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  1. A. Bouquillon
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PACS

82.80.-d; 81.05.Je; 61.43.Fs

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Bouquillon, A. Heaven and Earth – ‘Madonne col Bambino’ and ‘Rustiques figulines’. Appl. Phys. A 79, 161–166 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-004-2507-3

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