New insights into the red and green pigments in the illuminated foral charter of Setubal (1515) by combined use of μ-Raman and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Guerra, Mauro; Carvalho, Maria Luisa; Le Gac, Agnès; Manso, Marta; Mortari, Camila; Longelin, Stephane; Pessanha, Sofia

http://hdl.handle.net/10362/66146

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Autores

Guerra, Mauro

Carvalho, Maria Luisa

Resumo(s)

The richly decorated foral charter attributed by D. Manuel I of Portugal, in 1515, to the village of Setubal, was studied using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry and Raman micro-spectroscopy. An in situ characterization of the pigments used in the production of this masterpiece showed a very different pigment palette choice when compared to other similar Manueline charters. The red and green pigments are particularly puzzling, as the widely used mercury- and copper-based pigments, vermillion and malachite, respectively, were not found in the illuminated frontispiece. Instead, the cheaper lead-based pigment minium was used in the King's flag, while a mixture of copper sulfates was found for the green color, identified by means of micro-Raman spectroscopy. This result led to a new look at the conception that only one Royal workshop existed for the elaboration of Manueline foral charters.