red lead

Ingredients

red lead, cinnabar

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Red lead combined with cinnabar to create a specific tonality, which has subsequently suffered from severe corrosion (p. 216).

Evidence

"It should be noted that the black colour used to paint the horse's foot at the bottom of the folio, according to the FORS and XRF spectrum taken from this colour point, is definitely red lead, in fact, the red lead colour combination has been used at this point with cinnabar that has been corroded and turned to black (Fig. 5-115)."

Remarks

The pigment was intended to be red/orange but has undergone a chemical transformation. This is a critical observation for conservation as it identifies visually 'black' areas as actually being degraded red lead (p. 216).