Natural Blues

NATURAL BLUES

Pietro Matthioli was a physician and botanist whose most famous work was his commentary on Dioscurides’ De Materia Medica (On Medical Materials), a lengthy treatise on the medical uses of natural materials, primarily plants, written c. 70 CE. Matthioli added about 100 additional plants when he published his Italian commentary on De Materia Medica in 1544. The text on this page discusses Woad (Isatis)--a plant that was prized for its antiseptic properties, often used for skin ailments.  

Matthioli also expands on the non-medical use of Woad in his commentary, explaining that it produces a permanent blue that is prized by painters. Woad leaves, like indigo, produce a blue sediment that can be used as a pigment—which means that one can paint it onto a surface by suspending the blue powder in a medium like egg or oil. To make woad and indigo into a dye—in other words, to make them chemically adhere to a textile—they must be additionally fermented.  

— Written by Heather McCune Bruhn (Art History) 
 
Pietro Matthioli 
Opera Quæ Oxtant omnia: hoc est, Commentarij in VI. Libros Pedacij Dioscoridis Anazarbei de Medica Materia... 
[Francofurti]: Officina N. Bassæi, 1598