What Painting Is: How to Think about Oil Painting ... - Victoria Vesna

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hapsody on salt. Welling says that the three principles sulfur, salt, and mercury are the Heavens that existed at the beginning of creation (the Hebrew shamayim , another favorite alchemical word from the opening of the book of Genesis). To Welling, the shamayim are nothing other than fire and water, and fire and water are nothing other than the “secret salt.” 22 The Renaissance scholar Martin Ruland lists fifty synonyms for materia prima in his Alchemical Lexicon, and his nineteenth-century translator A.E.Waite adds another eighty-four. 23 The materia prima, Ruland says, is the “greatly admired Creature of God,” and it is the microcosmos because it contains every substance in creation. In a typical alchemical paradox, it can even be the philosopher’s stone itself, especially if it is the “one thing” that comprises the Stone. And the materia prima is the water of life, “for it causes the King, who is dead, to awake into a better mode of being and life.” It is shade, because it makes darkness, and dew, because it “falls from the air and stimulates the soil.” It is also lye, “for it washes and cleans the metals, and the body of the King”; bath, “for it washes and cleanses the King and the metals, and causes them to perspire”; vinegar, “for it macerates, makes spicy, pickles, renders savoury, strengthens, preserves, corrodes, and yields a tincture”; and also shit, “for it manures the earth, which it renders moist, fat, and fruitful.” And Ruland goes on, in the manner that Rabelais parodies in his fanciful lists. The materia prima is also: Eagle Stone. Spirit. Nebula. Venom. Medicine. Fog. Poison. Heaven. Moon. Cinnabar. Clouds. Stella signata. Lucifer. Tin. Magnet. Permanent Water. Sulfur of Nature. A White Moisture. Metallic Water of Life. Lime. White Smoke. Leafy Water. Alum. Metallic Entity. Fiery Water. Spittle of the Moon. Virtue of Salt of Nitre. Incombustible Mineral Mercury. Saliva. WHAT PAINTING IS 81 Saltpeter. Burnt Copper. Soul of the Elements. Bride. Black Copper. Matter of all Forms.
82 THE MOULDY MATERIA PRIMA Spouse. Flower of Copper. Tartar of the Mother. Ore of Hermes. Philosophers. Eve. The Serpent. Dissolved Refuse. Pure Virgin. The Dragon. The Rainbow. Milk of the Virgin. Marble. Indian Gold. Fig Milk. Crystal. Heart of the Sun. Boiling Milk. Glass. Shade of the Sun. Honey. Scottish Gem. Heart and Shade of Spiritual Blood. Urine of Boys. Gold. Syrup. Urine of the White Calf. Chaos. White Magnesia. Venus. There are also eighty-four Arabic, allegorical, and chemical names for it, among them: A Drop. Chyle. The West. Asrob. Cock. Animal Stone. Almisada. Ebisemeth. Vegetable Liquor. Aludel. Embryo. The Woman. Alun. Euphrates. The Belly of the Abzernad. Hyle. Ostrich. Anathron. Infinite. Anger. Androgyne. Isis. Butter. Antimony. Kibrish. May Blossom. Aremaros. Laton. Golden Wood. Arnec. Mars. The Tree. Arsenic. Menstruum. Silver. Asmarcech. Orient. Whiteness. Azoth. Salamander. Soul of Saturn. Borax. Vapor. The Lamb. Caduceus. Lord of the Stones. Cain. The Bull. And still Ruland is The Sea. not satisfied, since the materia prima is also the Aristotelian quintessence, “the matter of which the Heavens are composed,” “the bird of Hermes, which descends continually from heaven to earth, and as continually ascends and goes back from earth to heaven,” “the
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More praise for What Painting Is
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Published in 2000 by Routledge 29 W
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Wer lange lebt, hat viel erfahren,
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Color Plates All color plates excep
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Introduction WATER AND STONES. Thos
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INTRODUCTION 3 moment, and in the s
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INTRODUCTION 5 So this is not a boo
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INTRODUCTION 7 way to understand ho
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A SHORT COURSE IN FORGETTING CHEMIS
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Tin is made from pure quicksilver m
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Page 40 and 41: A SHORT COURSE IN FORGETTING CHEMIS
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Page 70 and 71: WHAT PAINTING IS 61 FIG. 1 Oppopana
Page 72 and 73: English mystic Robert Fludd, air is
Page 74 and 75: WHAT PAINTING IS 65 the same as wat
Page 76 and 77: WHAT PAINTING IS 67 alchemists saw
Page 78 and 79: 3 The mouldy materia prima IT IS PO
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Page 82 and 83: WHAT PAINTING IS 73 oil, canvas, sq
Page 84 and 85: WHAT PAINTING IS 75 alchemist could
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Page 94 and 95: WHAT PAINTING IS 85 FIG. 2 Noah’s
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Page 116 and 117: WHAT PAINTING IS 107 It’s importa
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Page 120 and 121: WHAT PAINTING IS 111 spoon as it is
Page 122 and 123: 5 Coagulating, cohobating, macerati
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COAGULATING, COHOBATING, MACERATING
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THE STUDIO AS A KIND OF PSYCHOSIS 1
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7 Steplessness IN THE BEGINNING the
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WHAT PAINTING IS 167 just above the
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WHAT PAINTING IS 169 (6) Set the lo
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WHAT PAINTING IS 171 to unify it. O
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WHAT PAINTING IS 173 image from man
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WHAT PAINTING IS 175 others have th
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8 The beautiful reddish light of th
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THE BEAUTIFUL REDDISH LIGHT OF THE
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9 Last words IN THE END, what is pa
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WHAT PAINTING IS 189 social nicetie
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WHAT PAINTING IS 191 reason has to
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WHAT PAINTING IS 193 last fifty yea
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 195 source is Cr
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 197 1. On this q
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 199 1655), 90, 1
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 201 6. The conce
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 203 “Gnosticis
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 205 Antimony, tr
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 207 1. Emmens, A
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 209 19. Titus Bu
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35. A theory of pictorial chaos is
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auriferœ, quam chemiam vocant, 3 v
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 215 until all (o
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 217 Make an amal
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 219 the “alreo
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32. Ibid., 144. 33. For the mixture
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NOTES TO CHAPTER I 223 “Place 8 g
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J.M. Eder, Quellenschriften zu den
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Abstract Expressionism, 89-94, 153
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lapis lazuli; ultramarine; Woad bod
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Duenech, 126-7 Dürer, Albrecht, 17
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heart, human, 27 heat, see fire; te
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lioness, 53 liquids, 1-2, 110 see a
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pine, 123 poppyseed, 123 precious,
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for gold, using silver and a burnin
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stannic sulfide, 183 star of David,
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sulfur virgin, 82 of the sun, 177 V
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