The painting materials

The paints used by miniaturists were the same as those used in watercolour or gouache painting and had to be rubbed especially finely. The tree resin, gum arabic, which is water soluble and very age-resistant, served as a binder. It was mixed with rock candy to a ratio of about 3:1 in order to make the brittle binder more elastic.
All kinds of additives were used to help improve the paint’s properties: painting guides from the 17th to the 19th centuries mention ear wax, saliva, lemon juice, vinegar, alcohol, malt extract, honey, borax and soap as paint supplements. The pigments were mixed with the binder by the miniaturists themselves, but from the 18th century onwards they could be bought from a paint dealer in blocks already containing the binder. The brushes varied in their thickness according to their use: wider ones served the purpose of painting the background and clothes, finer ones were for details and working out the incarnate parts. Contrary to the frequent view that the miniaturist’s brush should “only have a few hairs”, the miniature paint guides speak of very pointed, yet full brushes, so that one could paint precisely without always having to add paint.

Beispiele verschiedener Schabklingen, sog. „Kratzer" aus der Miniaturmalanleitung von Charles William Day (The art of miniature painting, London, 7. Auflage 1865).

Andrew Robertson: Bildnis einer Dame, um 1835 (nicht signiert). Grauer Stift auf Papier. Die Zeichnung stammt vermutlich aus einem Skizzenheft des berühmten engli­schen Miniaturisten und diente ihm als Vorlage für die Miniatur. (Privatbesitz

The brushes varied in their thickness according to their use: wider ones served the purpose of painting the background and clothes, finer ones were for details and working out the incarnate parts. Contrary to the frequent view that the miniaturist’s brush should “only have a few hairs”, the miniature paint guides speak of very pointed, yet full brushes, so that one could paint precisely without always having to add paint.

A sharp blade, a so-called scraper, was used for corrections. Wrongly painted colour or paint applied too intensively could either be removed or lightened, single hairs could also be scratched in or contours could be sharpened with this. A pointed wooden rod had a similar function to the scraper, but it removed a wider track of paint without roughing up the ivory. The palettes were smaller than those used in panel painting and they were made out of ivory or frosted glass. A magnifying glass helped when painting difficult details and served the purpose of checking the painted picture.

Bernd Pappe