Putting the World in Its “Proper Colour”: Exploring Hand-Coloring in Early Modern Maps

Abstract

This article explores the utility of X-Ray Florescence (XRF) in identifying pigments used in early modern hand-colored prints. Published accounts of the use of XRF on hand-colored documents are rare. As a consequence, historians and conservators know little about the pigments used in hand-colored prints, information that is not only vital for the preservation of extant colored documents, but also essential for helping historians periodize hand-coloring and assess its usage. In collaboration with the Preservation, Research, and Testing Division (PRTD) at the Library of Congress, this study compared early modern coloring manuals with XRF analysis of printed and hand-colored cartographic compilations from Amsterdam (Fredrik de Wit, Atlas, c. 1688 printing) and London (Richard Blome, Geographical Descriptions of the Four Parts of the World, c. 1670 printing).The combination of textual and technological analysis resulted in a more nuanced understanding of the materials used in hand-coloring prints in early modern Europe. The study also exposed surprising actors in the history of the analyzed documents, highlighting the exciting potential of XRF to verify the historical authenticity of hand-coloring.