The researchers pored over old painting manuals to form a hypothesis as to how the woman got blue flecks in her teeth: She periodically licked the tip of her brush to bring it to a fine point for detailed work. “She must have been artistically skilled and experienced.” “If she was using lapis lazuli, she was probably very, very good,” said Beach, co-author of a report published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Because of the cost of carrying it to Europe, ultramarine was reserved for the most important and well-funded artistic projects. The stone came from a single source: the mines of Afghanistan. Ultramarine, as the powdered form of lapis lazuli is known, was the finest and most expensive pigment in medieval Europe, more valuable even than gold. Though her name remains unknown, the woman buried in the German churchyard was probably a highly skilled artist and scribe. This tooth opens a window on what activities women also were engaged in.” “Because things are much better documented for men, it’s encouraged people to imagine a male world. “It’s kind of a bombshell for my field - it’s so rare to find material evidence of women’s artistic and literary work in the Middle Ages,” said Alison Beach, a professor of medieval history at Ohio State University. And it corroborates other findings that suggest female artisans were not as rare as previously thought. The discovery is considered the most direct evidence yet of a particular woman taking part in the making of high-quality illuminated manuscripts, the lavishly illustrated religious and secular texts of the Middle Ages. WHYY thanks our sponsors - become a WHYY sponsor
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