For reasons forthcoming, I have found myself in need of some Lamp Black. Lamp Black is the ‘soot’ or carbon let off from a flame such as a candle or oil lamp, when the fire is unable to burn it off completely. It is used to create a warm black color in inks and dyes.
Now I was just going to place a metal spoon into a candle flame and scrape off the resulting product as one does but, it just so happens that we recently received a copy of ‘Theophilus, On Divers Arts’ ¹ and if I was going to make some, lets see what the source has to say.
On Divers Arts was written c. 1122 and is a manual describing twelfth century artist techniques for painting, glasswork, and metalwork. This copy is of course a translation of that work from the original in Latin.
I was excited as I opened the book and dove straight to the index in search of Lamp Black. Ladle… Lamb of God… lance… Ok… too focused, lets try just Black. Ahh yes: Black Pigment… Black for glass painting… Black finish for copper… Black finish for iron… and lastly, Black ink.
Ink wasn’t the end result but I tried that page first. Take some Hawthorn, boil it, add some wine, do some more, add some vitrol, and if it isn’t Black enough add a red hot bar of iron a ‘finger width’ thick. No sign of using an oil lamp but interesting none the less as well as a project to try down the road.
On to pigments I guess. Most references to black pigments are within a section named “The Mixture of Pigments for the Nude Body”. This is a collection of ‘recipes’ for what color hair should be, or skin, or eyes, highlights and shadows, or ‘the beards of adolescents’ should you be in need. The breakdown is quite fascinating. I also found the ‘Band that represents the appearance of the rainbow’ to be equally interesting. It looks like these bands were simple gradients starting with Black. Next, black would be mixed with a color followed by the color itself and then that color mixed with white. The middle of the band would be pure white. The other half of the band would be a complementary color and the pigments mixed in reverse. There may be more, or less steps involved depending on the color.
It is often said that the item you seek is always in the last place you look and I have a bad habit of starting at the end of an index. Sure enough, the first entry on Black Pigments described the following.
“Black, a pigment frequently mentioned by Theophilus, though he nowhere describes its preparation. The best blacks of the period were lampblacks or ground charcoal made from vine.”
page 15 – On Divers Arts, Theophilus ¹
I let out an audible sigh to say the least. In the midst of defeat I went to the kitchen, lit an oil lamp, and began to use a spoon to collect the goods. Perhaps there is a more ‘medieval’ way to collect this substance but for now, I will have to wait. I look forward to reading through more of this book to see what other secrets it may, or may not have, and share the experimentation and experience.
I feel that I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the Oil Lamp being used is a reproduction made by Elysabeth Underhill based on a Birka Grave find. Find Elysabeth’s blog at historicglassbeads.wordpress.com
- Hawthorne, John G., and Cyril Stanley. Smith. Theophilus: On Divers Arts: The Foremost Medieval Treatise on Painting, Glassmaking and Metalwork. New York: Dover, 1979.
- “Gospel of Heinrich d. Löwen (Cod. Guelf. 105 Noviss. 2 °) – Signature Document.” HAB – Handschriftendatenbank – Handschrift 105-Noviss-2f, Herzog August Library Wolfenbüttel Manuscript Database, 1 Mar. 2013, diglib.hab.de/?db=mss&list=ms&id=105-noviss-2f&image=172r. Accessed 14 May, 2019
- Hutchison, Niels. “Stairways to Heaven: The Rainbow Style.” The Rainbow Style – Colour Music, http://www.colourmusic.info/bow.htm. Accessed 14 May, 2019
Alric the Younger 