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Among the most prized treasures of the Jewish Theological Seminary is the magnificently illuminated Prato Haggadah. Written in Spain on fine parchment, this 700 year-old Haggadah was left partially unfinished.
Curiosity about this book whose ancient words still speak to us prompted a long backward look at medieval practice. What pigments did the artist use and how did he make them? What did the Prato Haggadah look like when its paint, calligraphy, and gold were still fresh, its colors brilliant, its vellum white, and its gold dazzling to the eye? To find out, the curators of the Jewish Theological Seminary asked me to retrace history and undertake the task of making all the materials and pigments used 700 years ago.
Medieval artists’ treatises supplied recipes and a veritable alchemist’s list of ingredients; chalk, eggshell, acacia tree gum, alum, potash, eggwhite, brazilwood, colored earths and blue azurite, white lead, dried pomegranate skins, yellow orpiment, and sheets of gold beaten thinner than paper.
Employing these ancient colors and materials, I recreated some of the unfinished pages of the Prato Haggadah, working in the style and spirit of its highly accomplished 14th century artist.
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