Resins and drying oils of precolumbian painting: a study from historical writings. Equivalences to those of european painting

  1. Mª Luisa Vázquez de Ágredos Pascual 1
  2. Mª Teresa Doménech Carbó 1
  3. Antonio Doménech Carbó 2
  1. 1 Universitat Politècnica de València, España
  2. 2 Universitat de València, España
Journal:
Arché

ISSN: 2445-1150 1887-3960

Year of publication: 2008

Issue: 3

Pages: 185-190

Type: Article

More publications in: Arché

Abstract

The chemical characterisation of mural painting conserved on ancient palaces, temples and royal tombs of Mayan lowlands and its social and historical interpretations are research programmes promoted by the Instituto de Restauración del Patrimonio de la Universidad Politécnica de Valencia since 2003. The pigments used by Mayan painters when painting ancient architecture since very early times were mixed with several gums, mucilage, resins and drying oils that were described by Western Indian chroniclers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This paper covers binding measures, particularly resins and drying oils. A precise comparison was also made between these substances and those used in European paintings for the same purpose.