JAIC 1999, Volume 38, Number 2, Article 1 (pp. 100 to 123)

BLUE PIGMENTS IN SOUTH AMERICAN PAINTING (1610–1780)

ALICIA M. SELDES, JOS� EMILIO BURUC�A, MARTA S. MAIER, GONZALO ABAD, ANDREA J�UREGUI, & GABRIELA SIRACUSANO

NOTES

. Merret was born in 1614 and died in London in 1695. In 1642 he received the degree of doctor of medicine at Oxford University. His most famous works were the annotated Neri and a vast naturalist's compilation, including 1,400 plants of Great Britain, ordered alphabetically, collected with the help of the nomadic herbalist Thomas Willisel. We have taken Merret's notes from a French edition of Neri and his commentators, Art de la Verrerie, dated in Paris, 1752, translated from the 1679 German edition by Baron D'Holbach himself.

. Johann Kunckel was born in Rendsburg in 1630 and died in Stockholm in 1702. His father had been alchemist to the duke of Holstein. Kunckel was pharmacist and chemist to the dukes of Lauenburg. He later went into the service of the elector of Saxony and there became familiar with the manufacture of zaffer. In 1679, Frederick William of Brandenburg called him to Berlin to direct his glass factories and laboratories. In 1693, King Charles IX took him to Sweden, named him adviser on mining and granted him the noble title of Baron Loewenstern. Kunckel discovered phosphorus at the same time as Robert Boyle. His main works are the German edition of Neri-Merret, a Public letter on Phosphorus, dated 1678, and the great encyclopedia of chemistry, Laboratorium chymicum, published posthumously in 1716. He was one of the first chemists.

REFERENCES

Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes. 1991. Patrimonio Art�stico Nacional. Inventario de Bienes Muebles. Provincia de Jujuy. Buenos Aires: Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes.

Aguirre Saravia, A.1967. Acerca de las obras de reconstrucci�n del Cabildo de Salta en el siglo XVIII. Anales del Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Est�ticas, no. 20. Buenos Aires: Instituto de Arte Americano e Investigaciones Est�ticas.

Bargall�, M.1955. La miner�a y la metalurgia en la Am�rica espa�ola durante la �poca colonial. Mexico City: FCE.

BerrieB. H.1997. Prussian blue. In Artists' Pigments: A handbook of their history and characteristics, vol. 3, ed.E. W.FitzHugh. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. 191–217.

Carducho, V. [1633] 1979. Di�logos de la pintura. Madrid: Turner.

Carrillo y Gariel, A.1946. T�cnica de la pintura de Nueva Espa�a. Mexico City: UNAM, Instituto de Investigaciones Est�ticas.

Cobo, B. [1653] 1890. Historia del Nuevo Mundo. Seville, Spain: Sociedad de Bibli�filos Andaluces.

Gettens, R. J., and E. W.FitzHugh. 1993. Azurite and blue verditer. In Artists' pigments: A handbook of their history and characteristics, vol. 2, ed.AshokRoy. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. 23–35.

Haenke, T.1898. Descripci�n geogr�fica, f�sica e hist�rica de las monta�as habitadas por las naciones de los indios yucar�s. La Paz: Imprenta y Litograf�a de “El Nacional”.

Le�n Pinelo, A. 1943. El Para�so en el Nuevo Mundo, vol. 2. Lima, Per�: Porras Barrenechea.

Lewin, B., ed.1958. Descripci�n general del reino del Per�, en particular de Lima. Rosario, Per�: Instituto de Investigaciones hist�ricas, Colecci�n textos y documentos, Universidad Nacional del Litoral.

Merret, C.1667. Pinax rerum naturalium Britannicarum, continens vegetabilia, animalia et fossilis in hac insula reperta. London: n. p.

MesaJ., and T.Gisbert. 1977. Holgui�n y la pintura arirrciual en Bolivia, La Paz. Bolivia: Juventud.

Mesa, J., and T.Gisbert. 1982. Historia de la pintura Cuzque�a. Lima, Per�: Juventud.

M�hlethaler, B., and J.Thissen. 1993. Smalt. In Artists' pigments: A handbook of their history and characteristics, vol. 2, ed.AshokRoy. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. 113–30.

Neri, A. [1612] 1678. L'arte vetraria. Venice: Steffano Curti.

Neri, A., C.Merret and J.Kunckel. 1752. Art de la verrerie, trans. Baron d'Holbach. Paris: n. p.

Pacheco, F. [1649] 1866. Arte de la pintura, su antig�edad y grandezas, 2 vols. Madrid: Imprenta de Manuel Galiano.

Palomino de Castro y Velasco, A. [1723] 1988. El museo pict�rico y escala �ptica. Madrid: Aguilar.

Plesters, J.1956. Cross sections and chemical analysis of paint samples. Studies in Conservation2:110–57.

Querejazu, P.1986. Materials and techniques of Andean painting. In Gloria in Excelsis: The Virgin and Angels in Vicerregal painting of Peru and Bolivia, ed.BarbaraDuncan et al. New York: Center for Interamerican Relations.

Rua, C.1993. Angeles de Calamarca, conservacion y restauracion. La Paz, Bolivia: Museo Nacional de Arte.

Schweppe, H.. 1997. Indigo and Woad. In Artists' pigments: A handbook of their history and characteristics, vol. 3, ed.E. W.FitzHugh. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. 81–107.

Seldes, A.1994. A note on the pigments and media in some Spanish colonial paintings. Studies in Conservation39:272–76.

Semanario Economico. 1765–67. Madrid: Imprenta de Andr�s Ram�rez.

Tandeter, E.1995. Personal communication. Facultad de Filosof�a y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Tomkiewicz, C.1995. Spanish colonial paintings at the Brooklyn Museum: Some technical observations. AIC Paintings Specialty Group Postprints, American Institute for Conservation 23rd Annual Meeting, St. Paul, Minnesota. Washington D.C.: AIC. 103–14

Vargas, J. M. [1944] 1975. Manuel de Samaniego y su tratado de pintura. Quito: Santo Domingo.

Winckler, A. F. [1790] 1959. Das sachsische Blaufarbenwesen von 1790. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.

Yacobaccio, H.1995. Personal communication. Universidad de Buenos Aires.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

ALICIA M. SELDES is professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry in the Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires, senior researcher of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), and adviser in chemistry at the Fundaci�n Tarea. Her areas of research interest are the analysis of traces of organic compounds and their structure through mass spectrometry techniques and the study of biologically active natural products of both marine and terrestrial origins. Since 1988, her link to the Foundaci�n Tarea has extended her research to organic and inorganic materials used in colonial easel painting. Address: Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, Pabell�n 2, Ciudad Universitaria, (1428) Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail: seldes@qo.fcen.uba.ar

JOSE EMILIO BURUC�A studied the history of art and history of science with Hector Schenone, Carlo del Bravo, and Paolo Rossi. He obtained his doctorate at the University of Buenos Aires, where he is now chair professor of modern history. He has been the director of research at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Buenos Aires, and vice dean at the School of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires. A member of the National Academy of Fine Arts and adviser in the history of art at Fundaci�n Tarea, he has published books and articles on the history of perspective and on the historical relations between images and ideas. Address: Julio E. Payr� Theory and Art History Institute, University of Buenos Aires, 25 de Mayo 217, (1002) Buenos Aires, Argentina. E-mail: j.burucua@telebrokers.com.ar

MARTA S. MAIER is assistant professor in the Department of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, and assistant researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET). Her areas of interest include biologically active compounds in echinoderms and the synthesis of their analogues. Since 1992 she has extended her scope to research on the organic materials found in colonial easel painting. Address: As for Seldes. E-mail: maier@qo.fcen.uba.ar

ANDREA J�UREGUI teaches the history of American colonial art in the School of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires, and is a staff researcher at the Julio E. Payr� Theory and Art History Institute at the same university. She has carried out and published studies on colonial iconography. She is now participating in interdisciplinary research on the techniques and materials of Hispanic American art of the 17th and 18th centuries. Address: As for Buruc�a. E-mail: lunarejo@wellspring.edu.ar

GABRIELA SIRACUSANO is assistant professor of research methodology and of the historiography of art at the School of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires, and assistant researcher of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET). She has carried out and published studies on the relations between art and science. She is also a staff researcher at the Julio E. Payr� Theory and Art History Institute, University of Buenos Aires, and president of CAIA, Argentine Center of Art History Researchers. Address: As for Buruc�a. E-mail: siracusa@mail.retina.ar