On Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 5 PM, Building W1, room W1.115 on the Campus de La Garde will host a special seminar. Organized by the Writing of Euro-Mediterranean Spaces team from the Laboratoire Babel, this event is part of the 'The Mediterranean: Colors and Emotions' series.
The conference, led by Florence BOULC’H and Élodie BURLE-ERRECADE from Aix-Marseille Université, will address the fascinating topic: 'From Ancient Treatises to the Chemistry Laboratory. Exploring the Materiality of a 15th-Century Manuscript Collection'.
The presentation will propose an original approach to restoring the material reality of an illuminated folio, at the crossroads of book history and chemistry. It will draw upon the examination of two manuscripts from the collections of Jeanne Raguenel de Malestroit and Tanguy IV du Chastel, as well as a laboratory synthesis based on a critical re-reading of medieval treatises.
By grounding experimental reconstruction in the exegesis of ancient sources, this presentation will demonstrate how the analysis of texts allows for the translation of raw materials and recipe devices into measurable operational parameters. It will thus shed light on how medieval processes directly shape the chemical properties of the resulting pigments.
This cross-disciplinary approach, combining the characterization of works, the study of texts, and experimentation, will provide a new reading framework for understanding the gestures and know-how of illuminators' workshops from the period.
