Pigments and Pigment Making in Bruegel’s Time Period

Abstract

To better understand Bruegel’s use of pigments in the paint layer of e Wedding Dance, it is important to examine their historical context. How did artists obtain their pigments? Who made them, who sold them, and by what processes were they actually made? Just as the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke controlled the sale of paintings (see Part 1, p. 30) and the fabrication of painting panels (see Part 2, p. 35), it played a central role in the regulation of pigment production and sales. ‰e guild provided a network in which painters could operate, allowing them to connect with art dealers and suppliers of materials. Some art dealers played a dual role, not only selling artworks to the public, but also selling pigments to artists. ‰is type of specialized pigment dealer was known as a verfvercopere (Dutch for “paint seller”) or marchand de couleurs (French for “merchant of colors”).120 Beginning in 1561 the registers of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke list some of these dealers as professional pigment sellers.121 ‰e emergence of formal pigment sellers’ shops allowed artists to purchase their specialized, highquality pigments from merchants dedicated solely to supplying artists’ materials, rather than from the apothecaries or general purpose pharmacies that artists in Rome, Paris, and London patronized. Venice was the only other European city with a similar infrastructure of professional pigment merchants (vendecolori in Italian).122 Bruegel may have purchased his pigments (or the raw materials for them) from this type of Antwerp dealer. Even though he painted e Wedding Dance while living in Brussels, Antwerp was the commercial center through which such pigments arrived in the Low Countries before they were distributed elsewhere. Moreover, Bruegel received his training within Antwerp’s distinctive artistic culture, and it was the city that shaped his artistic thinking and professional networks. Since Bruegel was a member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, it seems reasonable to assume that he purchased his pigments from pigment sellers who were part of his social circle through the guild. How were such pigments actually made, and who made them? Painters may have purchased their pigments ready-made from either a pigment dealer or an apothecary, outsourced their manufacture to either an apprentice or a specialized pigment maker, or used some combination of these sources. (For more information on the grinding and storage of pigments, see Part 5, p. 63.)