1960.243.B: Etruscan Fresco Palette

Identification and Creation

Object Number

1960.243.B

People

Prentice Duell, American (New Albany, IN 1894 - 1960 Boston, MA)

Title

Etruscan Fresco Palette

Classification

Drawings

Work Type

drawing

Date

20th century

Culture

American

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/308536

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Painted out pigment samples, typewriter ink off-white wove paper, mounted to heavy off-white wove paper

Dimensions

34.7 x 24.3 cm (13 11/16 x 9 9/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• Signed: brown watercolor, l.r.: Prentice Duell
• legend: black ink, typewritten: ETRUSCAN PALETTE / FROM THE PAINTINGS IN THE TOMBA DEL TRICLINIO (480-470 B.C.) AND IN THE TOMBA DEL / LETTO FUNEBRE (470-460 B.C.) AT TARQUINIA / The paintings are done in a thin coat of lime plaster about one eighth to one quarter / of an inch in thickness. The plaster is half lime carbonate (made from the limestone / in which the tombs were cut) and half sand. When the plaster was dry a thin coat of / fine whitewash (lime carbonate) was first applied to the walls and ceilings. Its / purpose was, presumably, to provide a whiter, smoother, and more satisfactory surface than the more porous plaster.
• legend: black ink, typewritten: YELLOW: a naturally occurring ochre or clay which owes / its color to a hydrated form of iron oxide / (Fe2O3 - H2O)
• legend: black ink, typewritten: GOLDEN YELLOW. One of the several yellows in the paintings which / have a golden and sometimes reddish hue. These / colors could be various naturally occurring ochres, / but their varying hues could, however, have been / obtained by gently heating or calcining the natural/ ochre to various degrees.
• legend: black ink, typewritten: LIGHT RED: A naturally occurring ochre or clay which owes / its color to an anhydrous iron oxide (Fe2O3)
• legend: black ink, typewritten: DARK RED: a naturally occurring ochre or clay which owes / its color to an anhydrous iron oxide (Fe2O3). This color, however, could have been obtained / by gently heating or calcining the light red / color.
• legend: black ink, typewritten: BLUE: An artificial pigment (CuO-CaO-4SiO2) made by / fusing together copper, calcium, and silica into / a glass which was then ground into a powder. / This pigment was probably imported from Egypt.
• legend: black ink, typewritten: GREEN: A mixture of malachite, a naturally occurring / basic copper carbonate (CuCO3-Cu(OH)2) and / Egyptian blue.
• legend: black ink, typewritten: BLACK: Apparently soot or lamp-black-- nearly pure / amphorous carbon.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Prentice Duell; his bequest to the Fogg Art Museum, 1960.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Duell Collection

Accession Year

1960

Object Number

1960.243.B

Division

Modern and Contemporary Art

Contact

am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

Each section of text is typewritten and adhered to backing; each color sample is painted on a separate piece of paper and then adhered to backing. Pinholes at all corners of sheet. Sheet is taped to backing mat; verso cannot be examined 12/01.

Exhibition History

• 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/20/2018 - 02/05/2019

Verification Level