Resumen de Interpretation of documentary sources for the industrial preparation of 'zinc white' in the 19th century

Nicholas Eastaugh, Jilleen Nadolny, Weronika Swiech

• There is a wealth of documentary material from the 19th and earlier 20th century dealing with commercial pigment manufacture that has not been examined in detail. Factors relating to industrial production -furnace types, control technologies such as temperature measurement and raw material supply- were all highly significant components in a large network of interlocking factors. The different types of early industrial source material for the production of 'zinc white' (zinc oxide) are reviewed as a first step in a larger study aiming to evluate the available forms of information pertaining to the manufacture of this important pigment. It is hoped that in time this information may be contextualised with subtle variations in the form and physical characteristics of actual specimens of historical pigments used on artwork that might serve as 'markers' indicative of a specific context of manufacture that may be used to expand our ability to localise and date artistic production.