Historical Pigment History

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Historical Pigment History

The Colors

The History

Naples Yellow Hue
#1459 Series 2

Naples Yellow, or lead antimoniate, has been extremely popular among painters for its pale warmth. Its use as a colorant can be traced back to about 1400 B.C. In its native state, Naples Yellow is a lead-based pigment, and therefore highly toxic. The GOLDEN Naples Yellow Hue blends Titanium White, Yellow Oxide and Diarylide Yellow to create an opaque, rich hue. While Naples Yellow Hue cannot reach the hiding power of lead, it achieves close working properties to the original.

Aureolin Hue
#1463 Series 3

Also known as Cobalt Yellow, Aureolin (Potassium Baltintrite) replaced an earlier pigment called Gamboge, an Asian yellow gum used until the 19th century. Discovered in 1848 by N.W. Fischer in Germany, Aureolin remained popular until the late 19th century, when less expensive, cleaner and more lightfast pigments like the Cadmiums were introduced. GOLDEN Aureolin Hue is a blend of three distinct yellow pigments of Hansa and Oxide offering bright mixing without being too acidy, the GOLDEN blend allows the artist to add vibrant, earthy warmth without dulling, as can happen with Yellow Oxide.

Indian Yellow Hue
#1455 Series 4

The story of Indian Yellow pigment seems more like myth than fact. In the Bengali province of India, farmers raised herds of cattle fed only on mango leaves and water. The urine from these cows – bright yellow in color – was collected and dried to produce the pigment for Indian Yellow. Unfortunately, the cows were extremely undernourished, as mango leaves did not supply the cattle with sufficient nutrients, and they lived for only a very short time. The process was considered inhumane and, since 1908, Indian Yellow pigment has been prohibited from the market. To achieve Indian Yellow Hue GOLDEN looked back to the old tapestries and dyed fabrics of the Far East to find inspiration for this rich blend of Nickle Azo, Hansa and Quinacridone Burnt Orange creating a highly translucent authentic match.

Alizarin Crimson Hue
#1450 Series 4

The base ingredient in Alizarin Crimson, the Madder Plant (Rubia Tinctorum), has been cultivated and used for thousands of years. Ancient Persian, Indian and Egyptian artifacts reveal its use for dyes and inks was widespread among craftsmen. In 1868, German Chemists Graebe and Liebermann discovered the chemistry behind the colorant and created Alizarin, which was a vast improvement in lightfastness over the natural madder color. GOLDEN founder Sam Golden developed a stable version of Alizarin while working at BOCOUR Artist Colors in New York City. Later at GOLDEN, Sam sought to raise the bar once again and created a blend of Quinacridones as a more lightfast hue, still made today as Quinacridone Crimson. By blending Quinacridones Magenta and Burnt Orange with Phthalo Green Blue Shade, GOLDEN achieved an even closer match.

Cobalt Violet Hue
#1465 Series 3

First developed in 1859, Cobalt Violet is a general name for several violet color cobalt pigments. Cobalt Violets range from deep to pale shades with either a pink or blue hue. Toxic, costly, and weak, Cobalt Violets were soon replaced by Manganese Violet. When evaluating the weak and dull transparent nature of Cobalt Violets, GOLDEN first looked at the shade range to find a color unique enough to warrant re-creating for artists. By blending Diozazine Purple with Quinacridones and Zinc White, GOLDEN creates a subtle yet complex color not found in modern pigment families.

Prussian Blue Hue
#1460 Series 4

Serendipity played a part in the creation of Prussian Blue. A pigment-maker named Diesbach, working in Berlin around 1704, attempted using a mixture of ground bones and blood to create a red color. He was surprised when his experiment produced a remarkable blue instead. Known as the “first of the modern pigments,” Prussian Blue is significant as the first artificial pigment with a known history and an established date of first preparation. Artists who struggle with replacing true Prussian Blue pigment with the acidy clean Phthalos will appreciate this re-creation. This new blend of Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Dioxazine Purple and Bone Black - with a deep, dark reddish blue cast - achieves as close a hue as can be created today without using the stubborn Prussian Blue pigment in an acrylic emulsion.

Smalt Hue
#1467 Series 1

Smalt is ground glass of blue color and was the earliest of the cobalt pigments. Believed to be a European invention, the particles in Smalt must be coarsely ground for use as a pigment. To help pull this color from the depths of obscurity, GOLDEN blends Ultramarine Blue with Quinacridone Magenta, Carbon Black and generous amounts of gel medium.

Manganese Blue Hue
#1457 Series 1

Manganese Blue is a synthetic green-blue pigment made by fixing barium manganate on a barium sulfate base. Manganese Blue was favored by fresco painters and artisans interested in tinting cement. However, it was found to be highly toxic and ingestion or inhalation could cause a nervous system disorder. A difficult pigment to match, the inherent transparency of true Manganese Blue can only be re-created by using Zinc White to lighten the Phthalo blend’s value, then extending it further with a large dose of gel medium. The resulting glaze-like paint yields cool soft fields of color.

Azurite Hue
#1464 Series 1

An inexpensive greenish blue, Azurite was the most important pigment in European painting during the Middle Ages and Renaissance until Prussian Blue replaced it in the 18th century. A natural mineral found in many parts of the world in the upper oxidized portions of copper ore deposits; it is often compared to the green pigment Malachite because of its chemical composition. Weaker and less intense than many of the blues we have today, this blend of Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Zinc White and a touch of Raw Umber is also let down with gel to create an interesting color mixture. It creates an earth color blue that doesn’t overpower other colors.

Viridian Green Hue
#1469 Series 1

Guignet of Paris patented the process for manufacturing Viridian Green in 1859. The popularity of this bright, exceedingly clear blue-green color led some to believe that it could eventually replace all other greens, both ancient and modern. To mimic the near perfect bluish green, GOLDEN blended a concoction of Phthalo Blue Red Shade, Nickle Azo Yellow, Zinc White and Raw Umber. The result has mixing properties different than any single green pigment offered through GOLDEN and is a useful replacement for artists familiar with the original.

Terre Verte Hue
#1468 Series 1

Perhaps the most well known use of Terre Verte, or green earth, has been the under painting of flesh in medieval painting. The tradition of employing greenish mixtures in rendering flesh is recorded in texts from as early as the 11th century. Intentionally creating a weak and neutral green isn’t easy with today’s base primary colors. GOLDEN blends Chromium Oxide Green, Yellow Oxide and a touch of Phthalo Green Yellow Shade, then reduces the brightness with Carbon Black, Zinc White and Raw Umber. The opacity is then adjusted with large amounts of gel medium to match all of the properties of green earth.

Sap Green Hue
#1461 Series 4

Sap Green was made of the small berries from any shrub in the Buckthorn family, of which there are a handful of varieties. The Buckthorn is native to the near east, but has been cultivated in Europe since Roman times. The ripe berries could be used to make a pink dye, while the unripe berries produce a yellow juice or sap used to dye cloth and to make a yellow pigment called Sap Green. When creating this hue, GOLDEN wanted to make sure that the color space was distinctly separate from another blend color, Jenkins Green. This was achieved by blending Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Nickel Azo Yellow, Pthtalo Green Yellow Shade and adding a tiny amount of Carbon Black to get a deep yellow green. While the masstone is somewhat cool and dark, the undertone is warm and vibrant.

Hookers Green Hue
#1454 Series 7

Named after the artist who is said to have introduced it, Hookers Green was actually a hue color – a mixture of Prussian Blue and Gamboge. Later, a single pigment, Hookers, was developed. In creating our own Hookers hue, we carefully observed both of these examples to determine which properties of Hookers Green are of the most value to fine artists. GOLDEN re-creates this color by blending Anthraquinone Blue with Nickle Azo Yellow and Quinacridone Magenta, which offers an almost black masstone with a rich blue green undertone. These qualities are key to landscape painting, making it easy to see why this hue is so desirable.

Van Dyke Brown Hue
#1462 Series 3

Also known as Cassel or Cologne earth, the use of Van Dyke Brown dates back to the 17th century. Originally obtained from the Cologne and Kassel regions of Germany, and later obtained elsewhere, the pigment from each locality can vary slightly in color and composition, leading to confusion in the precise qualities of this color. Van Dyke Brown was the most difficult color for GOLDEN to match because of its variability. It took intense study of multiple historic samples to arrive at a hue that could adequately represent this elusive pigment. Avoiding the common blends called Van Dyke Brown, that are simply an easy mix of Burnt Umber and a black, GOLDEN captures the rich vegetal undertone of peat, by using Transparent Red Iron Oxide as the base and carefully adding just enough Carbon Black to create a clean sepia tone.