The Influence of Glass in the Color of Red Lakes Layers in Oil Painting: A Case Study in a Pictorial Series Attributed to Murillo Located in Guadalajara, Mexico

ABSTRACTThis paper discuss the presence of powdered glass and quartz integrated in the red lake layers of two paintings attributed to the Sevillian painter Bartolome Esteban Murillo that belongs to the Guadalajara’s Regional Museum’s art collection. A laboratory experimental reproduction of the Sevillian painting technique was made using three different lakes (cochineal, madder lake and brazilwood) mixed with four varieties of glass to explore the optical properties and the influence of the transparent and translucent aggregates into the oil paint layers. The experimental reproductions were analyzed using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, optical and fluorescence microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX). A comparison between the originals and the reproduced red lakes layers was carried out to understand the artistic process of Murillo’s color application. Preliminary results suggest that glass was not used as a siccative agent as the historical treatises mentioned but mainly as an additive to increase brightness, thickness and color saturation of the red lake layers related to the artist’s intention.