Atramentum – sekret Apellesa
Atramentum – the secret of Apelles

Author(s): Dorota Smyła
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Visual Arts, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: atramentum; Apelles; painting; black; blue
Summary/Abstract: The main topic of this paper is atramentum – pigment described by Pliny the Elder and Vitruvius, used in painting and architecture. Probably it was a secret of painter’s unusal achieves. The most possible is that he prepared his own atramentum from wax and burnt ivory. When I look at the paintings from Lefkadia or Kazanlak I suppose that atramentum in painter’s workshop was black but diluted atramentum became blue.

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