Natural Pigments

Oil Paint Additives

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:50:00 +0000

There is not a manufacturer I know that will disclose information about additives for the simple reason they view it as proprietary information. Natural Pigments and our brand of artists' oils, Rublev Colours, have eliminated this problem by not including any stabilizing or dispersing additives, hence there is nothing to disclose, except for the pigment and vehicle. We believe transparency and disclosure is an important issue to professional artists who are creating art works that they expect to have some degree of longevity. We readily disclose ingredients in our products to assist artists in their creative work.

I will list the most common additives used in the modern manufacture of artists' oils paints and medium:

Additive--Function

Aluminum stearate--Pigment dispersion and wetting, and pigment suspension

Magnesium stearate--Pigment dispersion and wetting, and pigment suspension

Hydrogenated castor oil--Rheological additive for thixotropic flow for pigment suspension

Organoclay--Pigment suspension

Bentonite clay--Pigment suspension

Calcium naphthenate or octoate--Pigment wetting and drier

Salt of polycarboxylic acid--Pigment wetting, dispersing and deflocculation

Modified urea--Rheological additive for thixotropic flow to prevent pigment settling

The above list is ordered according to usage (from most to least common) in the industry.

Notes

Stearates are usually added from 1 to 2% of the total weight of the pigment in the formulation. Some manufacturers add more while others add the least possible while still maintaining effectiveness.
Hydrogenated castor oil, which is a colorless wax when properly added to oil, offers benefits without some of the problems associated with wax. I would be surprised to know of any manufacturer today still using beeswax. Natural Pigments includes this additive (castor wax) in some of our painting mediums, but not in our oil colors.
Organoclay usually needs to be 'activated' by mixing it with a polar solvent, such as ethyl alcohol or acetone, and a small amount of water before adding it to the paint mix.
Bentonite clay is a naturally-derived mineral that typically requires a polar solvent and water to effectively function.
Calcium naphthenate or octoate is typically added with other driers, such as cobalt and zirconium, but can be used alone as a wetting additive.
Salts of polycarboxylic acid and modified urea are recently developed additives (within the last 40 years) and are less commonly used in artists' colors, because they are more effective with formulations of high functionality.

Absorbent Grounds for Oil Painting

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:48:00 +0000

In his Transactions (1806), S. Grandi describes a method of preparing an absorbent ground for panels, but for which he later wrote works equally well for stretched canvas. He described boiling sheep trotters* in water to remove the greasy parts, calcining them and then grinding them to a powder. Next, prepare a thin paste of wheat flour and add an equal amount, presumably by volume, of the powdered bone ash and grind the whole mass well together.

Apply the first coat of the bone paste to the canvas with a stiff brush, working it well into the weave of the canvas. Apply a second coat of the paste, allow to dry and smooth with sandpaper. A third coat must be applied, allowed to dry and lightly sanded smooth. Finally, apply a thin coat of linseed oil or walnut oil by rubbing it into the surface of the ground.

Pigments can be added to the third coat and a fourth coat of the paste, if a colored ground is desired.

Hundertpfund (1849) described the following method for preparing an absorbent ground:

Spread a thin layer of boiled flour and pipe clay over well-stretched, unbleached, even -threaded canvas. Let it dry and repeat the operation until the canvas shows no more open pores. If the paste is the consistency of liquid honey, the canvas will only require three or four coats. Afterwards, he recommends coating the ground with a thin lead white oil ground spread thinly over the entire canvas, and allowed to dry in the sun before painting.

The recipe for the flour paste is as follows:

Take a certain amount of wheat flour, mix it well with a little cold water in a pot, adding gradually more cold water and continually stirring until it appears like thick milk. Let it boil very slowly with constant stirring. As it thickens, stir it quicker, until it is a thick smooth paste, which must look shining. Now stir in some warm water, and let it boil slowly for half an hour. By continual slow boiling, it becomes smooth and smoother, so that it may afterwards be thinned with water, according to your liking. Now place some pipe clay in water until the clay is completely wetted, stir it afterwards with water to the same consistency as the flour paste, mix these two in equal quantities and pass them through a fine sieve.

When this mass is as thin as is required for watercolor painting, after it has been warmed again, spread it on the canvas or panel. If the first priming is laid on warm, it penetrates better into the support.

Bouvier's absorbent ground in his painting treatise called for the use of glue made from starch or 'belle farine' (flour); this was added to pipe clay** 'of the whitest and purest that can be procured from the chemist (marchand drogist).' The clay was mixed with the glue to the consistency of thick cream. The mixture was then rapidly applied with a large brush to an already sized support, the moisture being readily absorbed and the ground dried instantly.

The question of an even thickness, mentioned by Bouvier, seems to have been crucial. Doerner points out that a good chalk ground should appear uniformly thick when held up to the light, and should not show any gaps or crevices. Presumably, unevenness would leave the ground prone to cracking at points where the thickness varied. Bouvier stressed: "your ground should present you with a beautiful unified surface, without the colour being thicker in one place or another" after the recommended three or four coats of priming.

*Instead of sheep trotters bones, one may substitute bone ash that is already in a form that can be used immediately with the flour paste.

**Calcined kaolin is an excellent substitute for pipe clay.

Lead Sulfate

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:16:00 +0000

Origin and History
Lead sulfate (British spelling, sulphate), PbSO4, formed the basis of a number of white pigments that were made on a large scale in the 19th century and 20th century and sold under a variety of names, such as "Patent White Lead," "Non-poisonous White Lead," "Sublimed White Lead," etc. Some of these pigments did not consist entirely of lead sulfate but contained other minerals, such as zinc oxide, barite (barium sulfate), magnesia (magnesium carbonate), etc., in varying quantities. They were made by different methods and most of those sold were produced by patented processes. One of the first patents to show the use of lead sulfate as a pigment was given to William Cumberland of New York in 1838, U.S. patent number 767.

In the 19th century, three basic methods were used to prepare lead sulfate. The first method consisted of precipitating a soluble lead salt (lead acetate or lead nitrate in dilute solution; perhaps the best method is the one where lead acetate is used) with dilute sulfuric acid, the dilute acetic acid obtained in the supernatant liquid being used over again for dissolving metallic lead. A variation of this process was done by grinding litharge with one-fourth its own weight of common salt and treating the mixture with sulfuric acid. Lead sulfate was also obtained in large quantities as a by-product in the manufacture of aluminum acetate from lead acetate and aluminum sulfate.

The second method was obtained by roasting a mineral containing zinc sulfate and lead sulfide ore—lead oxide and lead sulfate being formed in the process—the product known as 'sublimed white lead' (Bartlett Lead). The fumes containing these products and zinc oxide were collected in chambers provided for the purpose. The product obtained in this manner was subjected to complex treatment. The composition of this product tended to be somewhat irregular; the shade was not always pure, being a bluish gray tint to white. 'Non-poisonous white lead' or patent white lead, and 'sublimed white lead' are mainly composed of lead sulfate with small amounts of lead and zinc oxides. The last-named is a basic lead sulfate with some zinc oxide.

Grinding precipitated lead sulfate with zinc oxide and perhaps other compounds under edge runners was a third method of obtaining lead sulfate. Freeman's White Lead was a mixture of lead sulfate, zinc oxide, magnesium carbonate and artificial barite (also called blanc fixe) obtained in this manner.

The naturally occurring mineral anglesite, PbSO4, occurs as an oxidation product of lead sulfide ore, galena. A number of lead sulfates are known: PbSO4·PbO; PbSO4·2PbO; PbSO4·3PbO; PbSO4·3PbO; PbSO4·4PbO; the first two are most commonly used in the paint industry along with a mixed pigment containing zinc oxide and barium sulfate.

Three methods of modern manufacture for lead sulfate pigments were used in the 20th century. The first was the formation of lead sulfate as a component of the mixture of zinc oxide and lead sulfate based on earlier methods made from ores through sublimation in controlled atmospheres. Second, in 1935, a new basic lead sulfate was made by precipitation that gave improved properties and higher basicity, but proved to be uneconomical and was abandoned after 1960. The third method, and one which produces most lead sulfate today, is formed by a fume process where molten lead is atomized in a jet flame in the presence of excess air and sulfur dioxide. Most of the lead sulfate today is used in manufacturing the active paste for lead acid batteries.

Lead sulfate pigments were sold under many trade names and it is not always clear whether they refer to the basic form. These include fast white, milk white and Mulhouse white for lead sulfate (Colour Index Pigment White 3), and basic sulfate white lead, Lewis white lead, sublimated white lead and white lead sulfate for basic lead sulfate (Colour Index Pigment White 2).

A lead carbonate sulfate mineral, leadhillite (PbSO4·2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2), was identified in pigments from the Tiantishan Grottoes, China. Lead sulfate pigments have been identified as artists pigments in 13th to 16th century Chinese paintings. It is also believed to have been used as a white pigment by late 18th century and early 19th century British watercolorists. George Field named lead sulfate "Flemish white" in his treatise Chromatography, while another form including zinc white and barite was sold under the name, "Freeman's white."

Permanence and Compatibility
Lead sulfate is a white, somewhat crystalline, very heavy powder; its specific gravity being about 6.3. It is only slightly soluble in water, insoluble in dilute acids and in alcohol, but soluble in solutions of ammonium salts and in strong sulfuric acid. Boiling concentrated hydrochloric acid dissolves it and crystals of lead chloride fall down as the solution cools. It is not readily acted upon by hydrogen sulfide, and is therefore, more permanent than lead white when exposed to air polluted with it. Owing to its solubility being less than basic lead carbonate, it was often sold as "nonpoisonous white lead."

Lead sulfate, according to Georg Zerr and Robert Rübencamp, is a color of 'dazzling whiteness.' Its color is a good white, but slightly yellower in tone than lead white and about equal to barite (baryte). The hiding power of lead sulfate pigment is less than lead white on account of its more crystalline nature, and its drying quality is also less. Lead sulfate is either a neutral pigment of crystalline structure with poor hiding power or a basic pigment with better opacity but less than basic lead carbonate. Compared to basic lead carbonate it does not mix as well with oil. According to Laurie, lead sulfate prepared by precipitating the lead salt with sulfuric acid had poor covering power but that produced by sublimation gave the best pigment. It was a pure white, slightly 'blue in color and covering as well as white lead.' Lead sulfate was less used alone than in mixtures with and shading other pigments.

Lead sulfate is unaffected by light. Lead sulfate is little affected by hydrogen sulfide found in air pollution. It was developed for use in outside house paints, because it did not have the same tendency to darken when exposed to pollution containing hydrogen sulfide. When applied in watercolor technique, however, traces of hydrogen sulfide in the air may cause it to darken. Although lead sulfate is theoretically incompatible with sulfide pigments, and should form black lead sulfide in contact with them, no examples are readily known.

Oil Absorption and Grinding
Basic lead sulfate absorbs a small quantity of oil, requiring 22 grams of linseed oil for 100 grams of pigment to form a paste. It grinds well with linseed oil, but not as easily as does lead white (basic lead carbonate).

Toxicity
Although writers in the 19th century often wrote that lead sulfate was non-toxic and hence gave the designation of 'non-poisonous white lead,' it is toxic if inhaled as a dust or if ingested. It is a cumulative poison, and repeated exposure may lead to anemia, kidney damage, eyesight damage or damage to the central nervous system (especially in children). Grinding and making the pigment into paint can be hazardous and the sale of lead compounds in some countries has been prohibited. Painters may suffer from "painters' colic" or "plumbism" if they are careless in using it. Care should always be used in handling the dry powder pigment so as not to inhale the dust. Do not smoke, eat or drink while using the pigment in any form, including in paint.

A Note About this Pigment from Natural Pigments
Rublev Colours Lead Sulfate is a bright white powder suitable for use in most media, but especially adapted for oil. It is tetrabasic lead sulfate made according to the modern fume process, resulting in a brilliant white powder of high purity.

Calcite--Types, History and Use in Oil Painting

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Calcite is a naturally occurring calcium carbonate (CaO3) mineral chiefly found in rocks, such as chalk, limestone and marble. These rocks are the main sources for the pigment. Its whiteness, softness and fine-grained nature makes it an ideal white pigment, being both abundant and easily processed. Chalk is relatively transparent in most paint media and is therefore often used as an extender of other pigments and employed with animal glue as a ground for painting.

History of Calcite in Art
Calcium carbonate in various forms has a long history in art. It has been recognized, for example, in Greek and Roman art. Its use in art since that time has been both persistent and widespread. In northern Europe, from medieval times chalk was employed with animal glue for making the ground or preparation layer of paintings. Sometimes later lead white was mixed with the chalk to make it denser and whiter. Chalk was used with animal glue or with other aqueous binders as a white pigment.

Calcite has been used in oil painting, being added to colors, especially flake white, by such artists as Velázquez and Rembrandt. The transparency of chalk was desirable in some Dutch tonal landscapes of the seventeenth century.

Uses of Calcite in Paint
Calcium carbonate is commonly used in combination with other pigments in oil paint because of its low refractive index and hence poor hiding power. Linseed oil and chalk have long been used together, however, in the preparation of putty. The transparency of chalk in oil makes it ideal for adding bulk to oil colors or to affect the consistency (rheology) of paint.

Calcium carbonate is often used as an extender pigment to reduce the cost of paint. Its alternative names, such as chalk and whiting, are used in many formulations. An important use of calcium carbonate is in mixtures with titanium dioxide pigment to act as a spacer, keeping the titanium white particles spread apart, and ensuring better efficiency in scattering light and increasing opacity. Calcium carbonate is often used to vary the gloss of powder coating materials, depending on the particle size used.

Variations of Calcite and their Effects on Paint
Calcium carbonate derived from different mineral sources behave differently in paint. The material can be ground from limestone, a sedimentary rock formed in sea beads or alluvial deposits; or marble, which is limestone that has undergone heat and pressure below the earth's crust; or chalk, a light, low structure material normally associated with the sedimentary deposition of the shells of such minute marine organisms as foraminifera, coccoliths and rhabdoliths. The particle structure and chemical behavior of these variations of calcite all differ slightly.

The particle size and shape of calcite in regards to the behavior and performance of paint are important for several reasons. One is the viscosity of the paint, which is related to the volume occupied by the dispersed solids within the paint vehicle. In the case of particles that are not spherical, the “spherical equivalent” volume may be the maximum volume inscribed by the rotation of a particle. Because of this, a non-spherical particle may behave as if it occupies much more volume than it does.

Another consideration of the influence of particle size and shape on the behavior of paint is the surface area of the particle. The amount of paint binder required by a pigment to form a paste paint is called its oil absorption number. The greater the surface area of the particle, the more binder it demands to make into a paste or flowing paint. Synthetic (precipitated) calcium carbonate that consists of 0.05 micron needle-shaped particles has more surface area than the particles of ground limestone of the same size, which have simple structures resembling rhomboidal crystals. Because of the complex surface of the precipitated calcium carbonate, it will tend to scatter more light and consequently appear more opaque than the ground limestone particles. However, it is likely that this precipitated calcium carbonate will consume considerably more binder than the ground limestone.

Selecting the right type of calcite, taking into consideration particle size and shape, brightness, chemical constituents, and surface treatment are important factors when it comes to making paint or oil painting mediums.

Le Blon's Coloritto

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 19:18:00 +0000

Jacob Christopher Le Blon (1667-1741) was an engraver who developed what is perhaps the first system of color printing using three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. In his treatise, Coloritto, Or the Harmony of Colouring in Painting, he propounds a theory of painting that is of interest to students and professionals alike.

Le Blon describes white as a compound of the primitive impalpable colors, and black as a like compound of the palpable. True painting, he says, represents light by white, and shade by black, reflections by yellow, and turnings-off or roundings of objects by blue. Such is the outline of the brief and perspicuous theory of Le Blon, which, however deficient or defective, verges upon the truth and simplicity of nature.

Of Preliminaries.

Coloritto--or the Harmony of Colouring, is the Art of Mixing COLOURS, in order to represent naturally, in all Degrees of painted Light and Shade, the same FLESH, or the Colours of any other Object, that is represented in the true or pure Light.

Painting can represent all visible Objects, with three Colours, Yellow, Red, and Blue; sort all other Colours can be compos'd of these Three, which I call Primitive; for Example.

Yellow and Red make an Orange Colour.

Red and Blue make a Purple and Violet Colour.

Blue and Yellow make a Green Colour.

And a Mixture of these Three Original Colours makes a Black, and all other Colours whatsover; as I have demonstrated by my Invention of Printing Pictures and Figures with their natural Colours.

I am only speaking of Material Colours, or those used by Painters; for a Mixture of all the primitive impalpable Colours, that cannot be felt, will not produce Black, but the very Contrary, White; as the Great Sir Isaac NEWTON has demonstrated in his Opticks.

White, is a Concentrating, or an Excess of Lights.
Black, is a deep Hiding, or Privation of Lights.

But both are the Produce of all the Primitive Colours compounded or mixed together; the one by Impalpable Colours and the other by Material Colours.

True PAINTING represents
1. Light by White.
2. Shades by Black.
3. Reflexions by Yellow
4. Turnings by Blue.

N.B. In Nature, the general Reflex Colour is Yellow; but all the accidental Reflexions, caused by an opposite Body or Object, partake of the Colour of the opposite Body that caused them.

When a Painter says, that such Artists make a good Coloritto, he means, that they represent truly and naturally the Nude or the naked human Flesh; supposing they can paint all other visible Objects well, and without Difficulty.

In order to learn to paint a good Nude, or any other color'd Object, we must first learn to represent a white Object. For Example, To paint or represent a Head of Plaster, &c.

In which the White will serve to represent the Lights; and the Black the Shades; But White and Black are not alone sufficient like Nature is self, a white Object, which indeed represents a Print or a Design, but not a white Object.

To represent such a white Object, we must add to the Shades, or join with them the Reflex, or the Colour of the Reflex, viz. the Yellow; and with the Turnings off, or Roundings, we must join the Colour of the Turnings, viz. the Blue.

Only remember, that in natural Objects the Turnings off, or Roundings, are almost imperceptible.

To represent a colour'd Object, we may take an Head of Plaster stain'd with the Colour of Flesh, and set it in a good Light; and then we shall see that the same Colour of Flesh discovers it self throughout, or over all the Head, and distinctly enough, even in the Shades, in the Demishades or Mezzotints, in the Reflexions, in the Turnings off or Roundings, &c.

So begins Le Blon's theoretical discussion of color mixing in painting. In subsequent pages, he outlines a practical scheme of setting up the palette and individual color mixes for painting the various flesh tones in its shades and tints.

The basic palette of Le Blon consists of these pigments: 1. lead white, 2. vermilion, 3. red ocher, 4. brown ocher burnt, 5. lack (Indian or lac lake from lac dye), 6. umber, 7. burnt umber, and 8. black. Additional colors may be used are: Brown pink (or stil de grain), asphaltum, yellow ocher, massicot (lead-tin yellow), and "blew" (azurite, lazurite or indigo). This palette is almost identical to that prescribed by Roger de Piles some 40 years earlier.

The Palette of Michael Sweerts

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:45:00 +0000

It is no coincidence that the palette in the self-portrait by Michael Sweerts is practically identical to the palette described in detail by Roger de Piles in his 1684 book, Les Premiers Elémens de Peinture Pratique. Sweerts was a contemporary of de Piles, and it appears that his palette was laid out in the manner practiced throughout western Europe in the 17th century.

The pigments on the palette held by Sweerts in his self-portrait were analysed in detail in 1954 by Richard Buck and R. J. Gettens, and can be identified as: 1) vermilion, 2) red lake (possibly madder lake), 3) white lead, 4) yellow ochre, 5) red ochre or Venetian red, 6) terra verte, 7) a warm brown lake (stil de grain or brown pink?), 8) a cool brown pigment (unidentified, but likely a brown iron oxide earth pigment), 9) raw sienna, 10) Vandyke brown (or carbon black), and 11) an unidentified pigment that was lost.

Although we do not see the same arrangement of columns of shadow and half-tints prescribed by de Piles in his book, we do see mixes of vermilion and lead white like those written by de Piles.

Sweerts was baptized in Brussels on 29 September 1618. By the mid 1640s, he was living in Rome, where he remained until at least 1652. Back in Brussels, Sweerts opened an academy for life drawing in 1656, and became a member of the St. Luke's Guild in 1659. During a brief stay in Amsterdam in about 1660-61, he became a lay brother in the Lazarist Société des Missions Étrangères, and joined their mission to the Orient in late 1661. He was dismissed from the mission in 1662 because of his mental instability and ungoverned zeal, and died at the Portugese Jesuit colony at Goa in 1664.

In addition to portraits, Sweerts painted genre scenes and history paintings that combine stark chiaroscuro and blunt realism with a serene, almost classical simplicity.

Detail about the self-portrait: Michiel Sweerts (Flemish, Brussels 1618 - 1664 Goa [India]), Self-Portrait, ca. 1656, Oil on canvas, 37 1/4 x 28 7/8 in. (94.5 x 73.4 cm), Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.

Rubens' Palette, a view by Denman Ross

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:46:00 +0000

Denman Ross sets forth a 'set palette' in his book, On Drawing and Painting, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912 that he says is based on the palette used by Rubens:

There is another palette, Palette 10, which should be mentioned which is not very far from being the palette which was used by Rubens and some other masters of the Renaissance. The form of this palette is shown on page 53. This palette, more than any other that I have proposed, reproduces the relation of colors and values which we see in the Spectrum. It was not, however, worked out with any particular reference to the Spectrum. It is based upon a color and value analysis of certain paintings by Rubens. In using this palette I am constantly reminded of Rubens in the way the tones come. I am reminded also of Correggio and of Turner. The descents from Yellow follow, as I have said, the value and color relations of the Spectrum, with an omission, however, of all violet tones. Violet rarely occurs in Renaissance painting. The lower tones of the palette are found in Burnt Sienna more or less mixed with a cool Green like Vert Emeraude. Below these orange and green tones comes a very dark brown, Van Dyck Brown or Cassel Earth, perhaps, which disappears in Black. The registers in Palette 10 are not repetitions of one another, but variations of the movement from Blue down to Red; variations which are so devised as to get the colors, as many as possible, to occur in the value of their highest intensities and in those intensities. Palette 10 is a palette for the lover of color.

On Drawing and Painting by Denman Waldo Ross:

This is not a palette based on historic equivalency to the pigments used by Rubens, but rather Rubens' palette using modern pigments in a modern viewpoint. Ross assigns RO to burnt Sienna, GB to chrome oxide (Verte Emeraude or chrome oxide dihydrate, Colour Index Pigment Green 18, 77289) and the other color notations with high intensity pigments as follows:

By Red I mean the only positive color which shows no element of Yellow or of Blue. It is the color which we often describe by the word Crimson. It is produced by the mixture of Rose Madder and Vermilion. By Yellow I mean the only positive color which shows no element either of Red or Blue. It is the color of the primrose, which may be produced by the pigment Aureolin with a very little Vert Emeraude. By Blue I mean the only positive color which shows no element either of Yellow or of Red. Blue is seen in a clear sky after rain and in the pigment Cobalt. By Orange I mean a positive color showing equal elements of Red and Yellow. By Green I mean a positive color showing equal elements of Yellow and of Blue. By Violet I mean a positive color showing equal elements of Blue and Red. (emphasis mine)

It would be interesting to attempt to reproduce Rubens' painting using this palette, as opposed to the actual pigments he used. However, it would be easier using a palette with his pigments and tints set in the manner described in de Piles' book.

Colors from Du Fresnoy's De Arte Graphica

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:21:00 +0000

Du Fresnoy writes about colors that appear on the palette of Roger de Piles' translation of De Arte Graphica:

Red Oker is one of the most heavy Colours.
Yellow Oker is not so heavy, because 'tis clearer.
And the Masticot is very light, because it is a very clear yellow, and very near to white.
Ultramarine, or Azure, is very light and a very sweet Colour.
Vermillion is wholly opposite to Ultramarine.
Lake is a middle Colour betwixt Ultramarine and Vermillion, yet it is rather more sweet than harsh.
Brown-Red is one of the most earthy and most sensible Colours.
Pinck is in its Nature an indifferent Colour, (that is) very susceptible of the other Colours by the mixture: if you mix Brown-red with it, you will make it a very earthy Colour; but on the contrary, if you join it with White or Blue, you shall have one of the most faint and tender Colours.
Terre verte (or green Earth) is light, 'tis a mean betwixt Yellow Oker and Ultramarine.
Umbre is very sensible and earthy; there is nothing but pure Black which can dispute with it.
Of all Blacks, that is the most earthy, which is most remote from Blue. According to the Principle which we have establish'd of White and Black, you will make every one of these Colours before nam'd more earthy and more heavy, the more Black you mingle with them; and they will be lighter, the more White you join with them.

The descriptions here are ambiguous, such as the use of the word 'sensible.' How is vermilion 'wholly opposite' of ultramarine? What is meant by 'heavy'? Does it mean high tinting strength? Perhaps great covering power?

The text is made clearer through Roger de Piles' commentaries on Du Fresnoy's original treatise, when we read, for example, remark 361:

Let two contrary Extremities never touch each other, &c. The Sense of seeing has this in common with all the rest of the Senses, that it abhors the contrary Extremities. And in the same manner as our Hands, when they are very cold, feel a grievous Pain, when on the sudden we hold them near the Fire ; so the Eyes which find an extreme White, next to an extreme Black, or a fair cool Azure next to a hot Vermillion, cannot behold these Extremities without Pain, though they are always attracted by the Glareing of two contraries.

This Rule obliges us to know those Colours which have a Friendship with each other, and those which are incompatible ; which we may easily discover in mixing together those Colours of which we would make and if by this Mixture, they make a gracious and sweet Colour, which is pleasing to the Sight, 'tis a Sign that there is an Union and a Sympathy betwixt them : but if on the contrary, that Colour which is produc'd by the mixture of the two, be harsh to the Sight, we are to conclude, that there is a Contrariety and Antipathy betwixt thefe two Colours. Green (for Example) is a pleasing Colour, which may come from a Blue and a Yellow mix'd together ; and by consequence Blue and Yellow are two Colours which sympathize : and on the contrary, the Mixture of Blue with Vermillion produces a sharp, harsh, and unpleasant Colour ; conclude then that Blue and Vermillion are of a contrary Nature. And the same may be said of other Colours, of which you may make the Experiment, and clear that Matter once for all. (see the Conclusion of the 332d Remark, where I have taken Occasion to speak of the Force and Quality of every Capital Colour.) Yet you may neglect this Precept, when your Piece consists but of one or two Figures, and when amongst a great Number you would make some one Figure more remarkable than the rest.

Source
Charles-Alphonse Du Fresnoy, John Dryden, Richard Graham, Charles Jarvis, Roger de Piles, Alexander Pope. The Art of Painting. Translated by John Dryden. Contributors: Bernard Lintott, William Taylor, Isabelle Kittson Brown, Francis Bacon Library. Published by and printed for Bernard Lintott, 1716, p. 180.

The text is a translation of Dufresnoy's De Arte Graphica written in Latin with additional text by other authors and translated by John Dryden.

Charles-Alphonse Du Fresnoy, born in 1611 in Paris, died in 1665, was painter, an art critic and a French poet. He was a student of Simon Vouet and a friend of Pierre Mignard with whom he visited Italy.

Pink -- A Pseudo Lake Pigment?

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:47:00 +0000

Harley holds the views that the use of the English word pink referred to a pseudo-lake pigment, differentiating it from lake pigments, for which the English word lake described. In some of the treatises cited in my earlier post, they describe depositing the dye on alum (aluminum sulfate postash) or chalk (calcium carbonate). This is different from the process used to make lake pigments where the dye is precipitated on freshly made aluminum hydroxide. Interestingly, aluminum hydroxide is made by dissolving alum or aluminum sulfate in water and then precipitating it in a chemical reaction with an alkali, such as soda ash (sodium carbonate) or pearl ash (potassium carbonate), by adding this alkali dissolved in water to the first solution. Aluminum hydroxide precipitates from the solution as a powder, gel or horny mass, depending upon the temperature and pH of the solutions. This procedure is quite different from that outlined in the treatises for making Dutch pink.

Tingry describes the process in detail that is similar to other writers:

Pour into this mixture [the previously prepared solution of dye--Ed.] warm, and at different times, a solution of two pounds of the sulphate of alumine (alum) in five pounds of water : a slight effervescence will take place ; and the sulphate being decomposed, the alumine, which is precipitated, will seize on the colouring part. The liquor must then be filtered through a piece of close linen, and the paste which remains on the cloth, when divided into square pieces, is exposed on boards to dry. This is brown Dutch pink, because the clay in it is pure. The intensity of the colour shows the quality of this pink, which is superior to that of the other compositions.

There is no mention of any alkali in his instructions that would form aluminum hydroxide, which is the method for making lake pigments.

References
R.D. Harley. Artists' Pigments c. 1600-1835. Archetype Publications, 1982. pp. 107-114.

Pierre François Tingry. The Painter and Varnisher’s Guide: Or, A Treatise, Both in Theory and Practice, on the Art of Making and Applying Varnishes, on the Different Kinds of Painting; and on the Method of Preparing Colours Both Simple and Compound. Printed for G. Kearsley, J. Taylor, 1804. pp. 366.

The Yellow Pigment Called Pink

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:55:00 +0000

We may never know for a certain why the English word pink was once used as a noun to describe a yellow pigment. However, we may arrive at some conclusions to make it clearer.

That the English word pink did not represent the raw material providing the coloring matter is clear from manuscripts on painting. Norgate had a recipe for making it from Genestella tinctoria, a variety of broom and additional recipes in one of the copies of Norgate's treatise include the remark that 'callsind eg shels and whitt Roses makes rare pinck that never starves.'

It did not represent the hue yellow, because it is always accompanied with a qualifying adjective, many of which describe its hue. Yellow, green and light pink are 17th century variations, whereas the names brown, rose, Dutch and English pink were used somewhat later.

The common feature of all the pigments described by those names is that all were obtain from a dye that was precipitated onto chalk or alum.

When Pink was a Yellow Color

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:39:00 +0000

At one time in history, the English word pink referred to a yellow color. There is no satisfactory explanation as to why the word pink meant a yellow color. There is speculation, owing to its greenish yellow tone, that it is derived from the German word pinkeln translated in a dictionary of 1798 as ‘to piss, to make water.’

The color most often known as Dutch pink was ‘a yellow lake prepared from Persian berries or from quercitron and used chiefly as an artist’s pigment,’ according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, under the definition of Dutch pink. This color was ‘a light yellow that is greener and slightly darker than jasmine and greener and stronger than average maize or popcorn—called also English pink, Italian pink, madder yellow, stil de grain, yellow madder.’

When we review the literature on Dutch pink, we find that it is a lake pigment made from various organic sources, the most often mentioned is Rhamnus or buckthorn berries. These pigments also contained other yellow dyes, such as fustic, turmeric, weld, dyers’ broom and dyer’s oak. Chemically, the colorants of all these yellow dyes are types of aromatic molecules known as flavonoids. The various yellow dyes all have a very similar appearance and were probably used indiscriminately by color makers and artists.

Note what Robert Dossie in Handmaid to the Arts wrote about Dutch pink:

Of Dutch pink.
Dutch pink is a pigment formed of chalk, coloured with the tinging particles of French berries or other vegetables. It is principally used for coarser purposes in water ; not bearing well to be worked in oil : nor can it be depended upon with regard to its standing so as to be fit for paintings of any consequence.

There are a variety of methods of preparing Dutch pink : but the following is very cheap and easy ; and makes a most beautiful pigment.

" Take of French berries one pound, and
" of turmeric root powdered four ounces ; boil
" them in a gallon of water two hours ; and
" then strain off the tincture through flannel,
" and boil it again with an ounce of alum till
" it be evaporated to one quart. Prepare in
" the mean time four pounds of chalk, by
" washing it over, and afterwards drying it :
" and mix the chalk with the tincture, by
" grinding them together : and then lay out the
" Dutch pink thus made to dry on boards."

Dutch pink is sometimes prepared in the same manner with starch and white lead.

The goodness of Dutch pink consists in its being of a full gold coloured yellow, and very bright.

Of English pink.
English pink is only a lighter and coarser kind of Dutch pink.

Of light pink.
Light pink is of two kinds, the one the same with the Dutch pink, only with greatly less colour : the other the same with the brown pink ; that is, transparent in oil, but with less colour.

The first kind like the Dutch pink is only fit for using in water ; and there, likewise, only in paintings where the holding of the colour is not of great consequence.

The other is by some used in oil paintings in the same manner as brown pink : its transparency making it have a good effect in shades for some purposes ; but it is not a judicious practice : for all these colours formed of vegetables are very uncertain with respect to their standing; and the native earths or prepared okers properly managed will answer equally the same ends.

The preparation of the (first kind of light pink may be in the same manner as that of the Dutch pink ; only diminishing the proportion of the French hernes and turmeric to one half.

The light pink may be prepared in the following manner.

" Take of French berries one pound. Boil
" them with a gallon of water for an hour : and
" then strain them off; and add two pounds of
" pearl-ashes, dissolved and purified by filter
" -ing through paper. Precipitate with alum
" dissolved in water, by adding the solution
" gradually, so long as any ebullition shall
" appear to be raised in the mixture. When
" the sediment has thoroughly subsided, pour
" off the water from it ; and warn it with
" several renewed quantities of water, pro-
" ceeding as has been before directed in the
" case of lake, &c. ; and then drain off the
" remaining fluid in a filter with a paper
" covered with a linen cloth ; and lastly dry
" it on boards in small square pieces."

It may be likewise prepared from fustic wood, yellow sanders, and several other vegetable substances, which afford copiously a yellow tinge.

The goodness of light pink lies principally in its brightness and transparency : and, when designed for the shops, care mould be taken that it do not fatten in the oil; which will happen, if the salts be not thoroughly washed out of it.

Robert Dossie. The Handmaid to the Arts, 1758. pp. 94-6.

Tingry describes the preparation and uses of different types of Dutch pink in the late 18th century:

Dutch pinks.
Dutch pinks are much used in house-painting, &c. and in painting in distemper and in oil. They are seldom employed by artists who paint pictures, because they prefer yellows obtained from metallic substances, as being more durable.

The Dutch pinks are composed of earthy parts charged with the colouring matter or colouring fecula of certain plants. The basis of that of the first quality is clay. Sometimes this base is marly (a mixture of clay and chalk), and in certain cases it is carbonate of lime (chalk). The last-mentioned composition of Dutch pinks is inferior to the other two. It is much better suited to painting in distemper than to oil painting.

Dutch pink from woad.
Woad is a plant common in France and in Spain. When cultivated it is superior for dyeing to the uncultivated kind. The use of its colouring part is not confined to dyeing ; it is extended also to painting, under the denomination of Dutch pink.

To make Dutch pink, boil the stems of woad in alum water, and then mix the liquor with clay, marl, or chalk, which will become charged with the colour of the decoction. When the earthy matter has acquired consistence by evaporation, form it into small cakes, and expose them to dry. It is under this form that the Dutch pinks are sold in the colour shops.

Another kind of Dutch pink.
This kind of Dutch pink is made with an aluminous decoction of woad mixed with chalk, which becomes charged with the colouring part of the plant. The use of chalk renders this kind of pink inferior to all those the base of which is of an argillaceous earth, or a very argillaceous marl. These compositions would, perhaps, acquire some additional qualities were the clay, marl, or chalk mixed with a second, and even a third decoction of the plant.

Dutch pink from yellow berries.
The small buckthorn produces fruit, which when collected green are called graine d' Avignon, or yellow berries. They have been distinguished by the name of graine d' Avignon, because the plant which furnishes them grows in great abundance in the neighbourhood of that city.

These seeds, when bailed in alum water, form a Dutch pink superior to the former. A certain quantity of clay or marl is mixed with the decoction, by which means the colouring part of the berries unites with the earthy matter, and communicates to it a beautiful yellow colour.

These yellow berries are much used in dyeing, and even in cotton printing, which occasions a great consumption of yellows.

The colouring part of Dutch pinks is darker according as the earthy substance employed is less mixed with carbonate of lime (calcareous earth or chalk). Clay contributes to the durability of the colour. In consequence of this principle, a Dutch pink resulting from the decomposition of sulphate of alumine might be substituted for the mixtures here described.

Brownish yellow Dutch pink by the decomposition of sulphate of alumine (alum).
Boil for about an hour in twelve pounds of water a pound of yellow berries, half a pound of the shavings of the wood of the barberry shrub, and a pound of wood ashes. Then strain the decoction through a piece of linen cloth.

Pour into this mixture warm, and at different times, a solution of two pounds of the sulphate of alumine (alum) in five pounds of water : a slight effervescence will take place ; and the sulphate being decomposed, the alumine, which is precipitated, will seize on the colouring part. The liquor must then be filtered through a piece of close linen, and the paste which remains on the cloth, when divided into square pieces, is exposed on boards to dry. This is brown Dutch pink, because the clay in it is pure. The intensity of the colour shows the quality of this pink, which is superior to that of the other compositions.

Dutch pink with Spanish white, or with ceruse, preferable for oil painting.
By substituting for clay a substance which presents a mixture of that earth and metallic oxide, the result will be Dutch pink, superior, no doubt, to any of those the composition of which has been already given.

The ceruse is ground on porphyry with water, and a then separated from the porphyry with a wooden spatula. In this state it is fit for use ; but it will be proper to let it lose its humidity.

Boil separately a pound of yellow berries and three ounces of the sulphate of alumine (alum) in twelve pounds of water, which must be reduced to four pounds. Strain the decoction through a piece of linen, and squeeze it strongly. Then mix up with it two pounds of ceruse and a pound of pulverized Spanish white. Evaporate the mixture till the mass acquire the consistence of a paste ; and having formed it it into small cakes, dry them in the shade.

When these cakes are dry, reduce them to powder, and mix them with a new decoction of yellow berries. By repeating this process a third time, you will obtain a Dutch pink so much charged with colouring matter that it will be brown.

In general, the decoctions must be warm when they are mixed with the earth. They ought not to be long kept, as their colour is speedily altered by the fermentation. Care must be taken also to use a wooden spatula for stirring the mixture.

Dutch pinks are employed in distemper and in oil. They are however said, and with some foundation, not to be durable. The colouring part in them is the less fixed as the earthy substance combined with it contains less chalk. Those, therefore, who wish to select the best, must prefer those which produce the least effervescence with acids. In this point of view I have examined several of the English pinks, which occasioned very little effervescence.

When only one decoction of woad or of yellow berries is employed to colour a given quantity of earth, the Dutch pink resulting from it is of a bright-yellow colour, and is easily mixed for use. When the colouring part of several decoctions is absorbed, the composition becomes brown, and is mixed with more difficulty, especially if the paste be argillaceous ; for it is the property of this earth to unite with oily and resinous parts, to adhere strongly to them, and to incorporate with them. In the latter case, the artist must not be satisfied with mixing the colour : it ought to be ground ; an operation which is equally proper for every kind of Dutch pink, and even the softest, when destined for oil painting.

Pierre François Tingry. The Painter and Varnisher’s Guide: Or, A Treatise, Both in Theory and Practice, on the Art of Making and Applying Varnishes, on the Different Kinds of Painting; and on the Method of Preparing Colours Both Simple and Compound. Printed for G. Kearsley, J. Taylor, 1804. pp. 363–7.

Field lists Dutch pink as a yellow lake and provides a clue as to why it was called pink, writing that it was prepared in the same 'manner of rose pink, from which they borrow their name.':

DUTCH PINK, ENGLISH and ITALIAN PINKS, are sufficiently absurd names of yellow colours prepared by impregnating whitening, &c. with vegetal yellow tinctures, in the manner of rose pink, from which they borrow their name.

They are bright yellow colours, extensively used in distemper and for paper-staining, and other ordinary purposes ; but are little deserving attention in the higher walks of art, being in every respect inferior even to the yellow lakes, except the best kinds of English and Italian pinks, which are, in fact, yellow lakes, and richer in colour than the pigments generally called yellow lake.

The pigment called Stil, or Stil de grain, is a similar preparation, and a very fugitive yellow, the darker kind of which is called brown-pink.

George Field. Chromatography; Or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments: And of Their Powers in Painting. London, Tilt and Bogue, 1841. p. 159.

ITALIAN PINK, Also called English and Dutch Pink, is an absurd name for a stronger and richer kind of yellow lake, warmer in tint and more powerful than the...

George Field. Chromatography; Or, A Treatise on Colours and Pigments: And of Their Powers in Painting, revised by T.W. Salter, 1869. p. 100.

Bersch provides details about the manufacture of Dutch pink in his volume:

Dutch Pink. — Several species of buckthorn (Rhamnus) contain a yellow colouring matter— xanthorhamnin — which is obtained pure by extracting the yellow berries with hot alcohol. On cooling, the impure colouring matter separates ; by repeated recrystallisation from alcohol it is obtained in the form of crystalline needles, which are soluble in water and alcohol.

The yellow lake known as Dutch pink is prepared from yellow (Persian) berries, by boiling the crushed berries with water and mixing the extract with a solution of alum. The lake is then precipitated by the addition of powdered chalk. As a rule, 500 parts of water are used to 100 parts of berries, 20 parts of alum are added to the decoction, and the mixture poured upon 75 parts of finely powdered chalk. The liquid is decanted off, the residue filtered, washed and dried. Commercial Dutch pink is made from a mixture of the decoctions of yellow berries, quercitron bark and turmeric, to which the alum solution is added, and then chalk. The precipitate is made into conical lumps, which are sold as Dutch pink, and used for ordinary painting and for colouring leather.

Josef Bersch. The Manufacture of Mineral and Lake Pigments: Containing Directions for the Manufacture of All Artificial Artists' and Painters' Colours, Enamel Colours, Soot and Metallic Pigments. Translated by Arthur Columbine Wright. London: Scott, Greenwood, 1901. pp. 348-9.
In one of the latest references to its manufacture, Maire describes its use in distemper painting, but the name is still 'one of the conundrums that must be passed around to some one else for a satisfactory explanation.'

DUTCH PINK
Character and Preparation
Dutch pink has many synonyms, i.e., yellow lake, Italian lake, quercitron lake, brown lake, yellow madder, and a host of others under which it is known in various sections, especially in England, where it is unknown under the American cognomen of Dutch pink. As under this name only is this pigment listed in pigment catalogues in the United States, and as this is recognized by all color makers in their price lists, the name is used here in preference to any of the synonyms. Why it should be called a pink (?) when it is not a pink, but a yellow, is one of the conundrums that must be passed around to some one else for a satisfactory explanation.

Dutch pink is of vegetable origin, and it can be and has been prepared from various sources, but it is now chiefly derived from quercitron, a product extracted from oak bark. Our black and red oaks contain the greatest percentage of it, although it can be obtained from the bark of white oak also.

A decoction of the bark is made by boiling, and the quercitron is precipitated by pouring into it while hot a solution of alum and dilute ammonia.

A richer-toned pigment is produced by using dilute boiling sulphuric acid instead of water in extracting it either from the ground bark or alburnum.

In former days much of the Dutch pink was obtained from various species of buckthorn and of the Rhamus family of shrubs.

Properties and Uses
It is possible that the variety of names under which Dutch pink is known may have been given to the various extracts at some time or other to note some slight variation of tone in them. This is more than doubtful, as it is next to impossible to ever find any two lots of it that are just alike in this respect. It is useless to keep up a confusing nomenclature, and all lakes of the same extraction should be classed together and known by one name only. When an Englishman calls for any of the above-named lakes, the dealer will be perfectly safe in giving him Dutch pink instead of them.

Dutch pink has but little permanency when used in distemper for wall coloring, and yet, strange to say, that is the purpose for which it is mostly used. Why that is so is one of the unsolvable mysteries.

Its use in the United States is confined to a few sections where the traditions of its usage have been handed down and inherited without the worth of the legacy having been investigated.

In oil it is a bad drier, and while it is more permanent in that vehicle than in distemper, — because of the preserving influence exerted upon it by the linseed oil, — it is insufficiently so, and there is no need of one taking unnecessary risks by using it. As a glazing color it is all right while it lasts, and it is used for that purpose in some carriage shops.

Frederick Maire. Modern Pigments and Their Vehicles: Their Properties and Uses Considered Mainly from the Practical Side, and how to Make Tints from Them. J. Wiley & Sons, 1907. pp. 90-2.

The Palette of Goya

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Besides an artist's personal notes or treatises on painting of the period, the systematic arrangement of separate colors and mixtures on the palette, which the painter prepared before he began his work, can be used to study the artist's painting procedures. Such palettes can be found in portraits or self-portraits where the palette is held in the hand with the rows of colors and tints clearly visible.

One such portrait is the portrait of Goya with his palette, painted in 1827, by Vicente López y Potaña (1772-1850) shown at right.

Goya used nine separate colors and arranged them on the palette with the white on nearest the thumbhole and the blacks on the opposite side.

Besides the white and blacks, there are only earth colors. We see the nine colors arranged along the outer edge of the palette as follows: Flake white, yellow ocher, brown ocher, light red, burnt Sienna, and four blacks. As on most 18th century palettes, vermilion is placed separately near white, as is described in de Piles' palette.1

It seems that Goya used no scaled palette or row of tints at the center of the palette. We observe a flesh tint, the blacks and a greenish and brownish tint that can be obtained by mixing the yellowish or reddish flesh tint with the black. An unusual feature of this palette is the great quantities of blacks (four) and the apparent absence of umbers. The abundant use of black for the groundwork of his paintings gives his pictures a definite character. There is no blue or green on Goya's palette.2 Earth colors can be very brilliant and of high tinting strength: yellow ochre looks almost like Naples yellow, light red like vermilion, burnt Sienna like Crimson lake, and green earth (when used) like viridian.

F. Schmid identifies the different blacks as bone black, lamp black, ivory black and peach black. He admits this description of blacks, which in the painting have a warm or cold quality, is arbitrary and guess-work based on comparison with contemporary treatises where the blacks are described in words. For example, de Piles (1684) recommends two blacks in the row of the pigments, namely bone black and lamp black. Wyrsch (1732-1798) in his posthumously published treatise (1838) mentions three blacks, i.e. bone black, ivory black, and peach black.

Diagram based on F. Schmid: 1. Flake white 2. Yellow ocher 3. Brown ocher 4. Light red 5. Burnt Sienna 6-9. Blacks a. Vermilion b. Spot of black c. Light yellowish flesh tint (yellow ocher and flake white) d. Greenish middle tint e. Thin blacks f. Burnt Siena and three brushes in hand.

Notes
1. The position of vermilion on palettes of the 17th century is described in the palette recommended by Roger de Piles in his painting treatise, Les Premiers Elémens de Peinture Pratique, Paris, 1684. See also Arthur Pope, The Language of Drawing and Painting, Cambridge, Mass., 1949, p. 130; W. G. Constable, The Painter's Workshop, London, 1954, pp. 122-123. De Pile's palette is reproduced in F. Schmid, The Practice of Painting, London, 1948, figs. 26 & 27.

2. The palette described by de Piles does not contain blue, but, of course, it was a palette primarily set for flesh tones. Blue was used in special circumstances, such painting a dress, draperies or sky in landscapes. In this case, a separate palette was usually set up for those passages. Many French 18th century artists (Nattier Vien, Duplessis, Drouais) did not place blue or green on their palettes. Also on the palette of John Trumbull, who was trained in England and France, we find no blue and green (see Theodore Sizer, The Works of Colonel John Trumbull, New Haven, 1950, pp. 101-105).

References
W. G. Constable. The Painter's Workshop, London, 1954, pp. 122-123.

Roger de Piles. Les Premiers Elémens de Peinture Pratique, Paris, 1684. Jombert's edition 1767.

Arthur Pope. The Language of Drawing and Painting. Cambridge, Mass., 1949, p. 130.

F. Schmid. The Practice of Painting. London, 1948, figs. 26 & 27.

F. Schmid. "Some Observations on Artists' Palettes." The Art Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Dec., 1958), pp. 334-336.

Painters' Palette

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 16:04:00 +0000

"The painters of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance used carefully set palettes and definite tone-relations. This is proved by the recurrence, again and again, of exactly the same tonalities and effects. Modern painters have, as a rule, avoided the use of set-palettes and tone-systems; preferring to depend on visual feeling or native genius. In so doing they have made a very great mistake, and some of them are now fully aware of this."

This quote is from Denman Waldo Ross, The Painter's Palette: A Theory of Tone Relations, an Instrument of Expression, Houghton Mifflin company, 1919.

For some years I have been studying the palettes of medieval and Renaissance painters and with many of the same pigments available to me have started to reproduce their palettes, many of which are depicted in portraits and self-portraits and described in painting treatises. This work has been leading me to more clearly see the tonal and color arrangements in the work of the old masters, which I will be publishing on the Natural Pigments web site in the upcoming months.

Adrian Van Ostade--A Painter in His Studio

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:13:00 +0000

From the The Works of Eminent Masters in Painting, Sculpture, Architecture and Decorative Art, Published by J. Cassell, 1854

This is an engraving based on the painting of the same name. It is of interest because it shows in detail the studio of a 17th century Flemish artist.

Fresco Plastering in Santa Rosa, California

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:17:00 +0000

Last night I drove to an orthodox church in Santa Rosa, California to observe the plastering technique of an orthodox monk, Father Moses. I arrived at the Saint Seraphim of Sarov Church at about 7:00 p.m. to find Father Moses already on the scaffold applying the first painting layer (intonaco) on a column in the southwest transept. Nearby at ground level, Father Patrick was mixing pigments and organizing his materials for the next day's painting session.

Every time we meet, we swap information about fresco painting techniques, plastering procedures and materials. I brought samples of marble sand so that they could conduct tests. They have been using fine sand in the intonaco layers, but we are both interested in testing marble as first recommended in literature by Vitruvius and Pliny.

At right is an example of one of the column frescos in the church of Seraphim of Sarov, Santa Rosa, California.

I ascended the scaffolding to get a closer look at Father Moses' work. The mortar was prepared in July and was quite stiff and rather dry. It nearly crumbled when picked up and did not adhere well to the hawk or the trowels. Father Moses recognized that it was stiffer and dryer than previous mortars he had prepared, but Father Patrick felt this was better.

He applied the first of two painting layers, which was about 3/16" to 1/4" thick, by scraping a small amount of the mortar from the hawk with a finishing trowel and pressing it on to the wall with upward strokes. Working in rows from left to right and bottom to top, he applied it with as much pressure he could muster with one hand. After completing several rows, we smoothed it with the finishing trowel without polishing it.

The area to be plastered was about three feet wide by six feet tall, not including the area that wrapped around the rounded corner of the column. Father Moses applied plaster to the face of the column up to about a half inch from the joint along the left side and, on the right side, out to the edge of the corner. I floated the layer with a small wood float. The layer was firm and proved difficult to float except with much strength, so I held the float in two hands.

Father Moses next applied mortar to the corner using a corner trowel and on the left side up to the joint. I floated the remaining areas and we climbed off the scaffolding at about 10:00 p.m. The pace was not hurried as we worked and had a lively discussion about fresco painting.

After a meal in the parish dining hall, we returned to the church at midnight to apply the second painting layer. The first layer was solid but you could feel the moisture in the plaster. We knocked up a new batch of mortar that was prepared in August. It was softer and wetter than the first mortar that was applied earlier in the evening. Father Moses proceeded in the same manner as in the first layer, but applying a thinner coat, about 1/8" to 3/16" thick. I applied a portion of the mortar over the face of the column and then worked on filling and smoothing the joint. Father Moses finished applying the mortar on the column and around the corner. The plaster was softer than the first, but the layer was firm to the touch although it could be dented. In each layer, the plaster extended about 6" from the area to be painted. This would later be trimmed and cut away.

Father Moses (left) and Father Patrick (right) working on a column fresco.

We finished at about 3:00 a.m. this morning. I went to my car for some sleep; it is an hour and half drive back to Willits and I had to be back in the office at about 8:00 a.m. Father Moses remained in the church to check on the progress of the plaster. He polished the surface with a finishing trowel within the hour and again at about 5:00 a.m. Father Patrick would soon be awake to begin painting.

Brun Rouge: 17th Century

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 02:23:00 +0000

I am interested in duplicating the palette described by Roger de Piles in his book, Les Elémens de Peinture pratique. The basic palette comprises these colors: 1. White lead. 2. Yellow ocher. 3. Brown red. 4. Lake. 5. Stil de grain. 6. Green earth. 7. Umber. 8. Bone or ivory black. My interest is to provide hues that closely resemble the colors found on this 17th century palette, but not only the hues, the undertones and the paint consistency. It is rather easy to mimic a hue with a combination of pigments, but much more difficult the undertones and nearly impossible the paint consistency. The latter can only be done successfully by using the same pigment, at least as far as we can determine from literary sources.

Natural Pigments already has a White lead, Yellow ochre, Lake, Green earth, Umber and Bone black, but I am unsure about the hues and tones meant by the term brun rouge (brown red) and Stil de grain. I understand what is meant by these names, but there are a large number of variations possible with these pigments.

I begin my research with the name brun rouge and attempt to find what this name represented in the 17th century when de Piles wrote his treatise. In reviewing the literature on pigments and painting treatises, it appears that the term Brun rouge used by de Piles is used interchangeably with rouge Anglais and rouge d'Angleterre, and light red, burnt ocher and brown red. De Piles assigns brun rouge to the category of natural iron oxide earth pigments:

L'ocre ou brun rouge; c'est une terre naturelle, ainsi que les couleurs suivantes. L'ocre jaune est de même nature: elle devient rouge quand on la brûle; au contraire l'ocre rouge devient jaune: pour les calciner, on les met au feu dans une boîte de fer. Il en est de même de l'ocre de rut, qui fait un jaune obscur; c'est une espece de limon qui se trouve dans les ruisseaux des mines de fer; lorsqu'elle est calcine, elle prend une fort belle couleur. (de Piles, 190)
Ocher or brown red is a natural earth, like the following colors. Yellow ocher is of the same nature: it turns red when it is burnt; on the contrary, red ocher turns yellow: to calcine, it is put in the fire inside an iron box. Likewise for ocher of rut, which makes a dark yellow; it is a kind of silt that can be found in the streams of iron mines; when it is calcined, it takes a very beautiful color.

As an aside, it interesting that in one instance he recommends the addition of dryers to brun rouge:

On imprime ensuite la toile avec quelque couleur simple & amie des autres couleurs, comme du brun rouge broyé à l'huile, médiocrement épais, dans lequel on met quelque siccatif, qui est pour l'ordinaire un peu de mine rouge ou de blanc de plomb bien broyé, pour le faire plutôt sécher. (de Piles, 127)
Then paint the canvas with some simple color and compatible with other colors, like brown red ground in oil, hardly thick, in which there is some dryer, that is red lead or white lead ground well, to make it dry faster.

Many sources agree on the nature of the pigment brown red, as Thorpe describes:

Light red, Burnt ochre, Brun rouge, also, is calcined yellow ochre. The period of heating is 10 hours. This pigment is an opaque, permanent, and innocuous colour, of a scarlet tint, tempered by shades of brown and grey. (Thorpe, 274)

Church adds to this description of the pigment:

Light red possesses a considerable degree of opacity. Its hue may be defined as a scarlet, modified by a little yellow and grey. It is perfectly permanent and without action upon other pigments. (Church, 179)

Others have described the hue and undertone of brun rouge as that between Indian red, which has cold purplish undertones, and red ocher with warm undertones. A 19th century author, Laughton Osborn, recounts the use of brun rouge as given by the French painter Bouvier:

It is found native; but is obtained also by calcining the ochre or ochres, No. 5. A very vigorous color, it must be employed discreetly, for its intensity increases in oil, and its energy makes it easily overpower its allies. Therefore, do not employ it in any clear and bright part, especially not in the lights of carnations, nor even in the lighter shadows. Reserve it for all your dark and vigorous shades and touches, particularly those of the nostrils, and of the mouth (adding thereto a great deal of deep crimson lake), as well as for the strongest shadows, mixed with Roman Ochre, and intense Ultramarine, with a third of the best blue-black to finish the flesh.
It is good for many other cases, too long to enumerate, as in draperies of a dusky red or brown, and even in the shadows of bright-red drapery, adding-in sometimes Vermilion, sometimes Madder-Lake, according to circumstances. This detail will be further extended when we come to treat of the First-Palette or Deadcoloring, and also of finishing. (Osborn, 16-17)

Osborn identifies No. 5 as brown ocher or Roman ocher, which he describes as a dark yellow.

Later it appears the term brun rouge was applied to an artificial iron oxide color, as indicated by the following passage in a 19th century book:

For English red or colcothar:
Colcothar is also produced by the wet way, in mixing a solution of sulphate of iron with another of carbonate or, better still, bicarbonate of soda. There is formed a soluble sulphate of soda, and a precipitate of carbonate of protoxide of iron, which is soon transformed into hydrated sesquioxide of iron. This is washed, dried, and calcined at a red heat in clay crucibles. It is said that, when the precipitation is effected in hot liquors, the colcothar is finer, more velvety, and deeper in color. (Riffault, 424)

The name red-brown was applied in the 19th century to an iron-lead oxide mixture as the same author continues:

Red-brown is quite a handsome reddish substance, very durable, but little used. It is obtained by fusing in a clay crucible, 1 part of red oxide of iron and 10 parts of litharge or red lead, which have been thoroughly mixed. After cooling, the mixture is ground. (Riffault, 426)

The conclusion from a review of literature reveals that in the 17th century brun rouge or brown red was a natural iron oxide earth pigment, such as a red ocher, that had scarlet half-tints (undertones) subdued with brown and gray, that was found naturally as such or calcined from a dark yellow ocher. Among the extensive list of pigments available from Natural Pigments that could fit that description, Venetian red comes to mind as being a good match.

Sources
Arthur Herbert Church. The chemistry of paints and painting. Seeley and Co., Limited, 1901.

Laughton Osborn, Pierre Louis Bouvier. Handbook of young artists and amateurs in oilpainting: being chiefly a condensed compilation from the celebrated manual of Bouvier, with additional matter selected from the labors of Merimée, de Mmontabert and other distinguished continental writers in the art in seven parts. John Wiley, 1849.

Jean René Denis Riffault des Hêtres, Armand Denis Vergnaud, G. Alvar Toussaint, François Malepeyre. A practical treatise on the manufacture of colors for painting: comprising the origin, definition, and classification of colors; the treatment of the raw materials etc. Translated by A. A. Fesquet. H.C. Baird, 1874.

Thomas Edward Thorpe. A Dictionary of applied chemistry. Vol. 4. Longmans, Green and Co., 1913.

I would like to thank Paul Rhoades for his suggestions regarding my English translation of Roger de Piles text.

Terra-Merita: Turmeric Lake Pigment

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 01:33:00 +0000

Terra-merita is a vegetable color, produced by the decoction of an Indian root (curcuma longa).

This above reference (Osborn 1849) describes the pigment produced from the plant known in culinary as turmeric. The yellow-orange extract is prepared from the root of the curcuma longa plant by drying and powdering, then by solvent extraction, typically with ethyl acetate. The resulting powder is 18 times stronger in the essential ingredients than is the common spice, which is simply a powdered form of the dried root. Curcuma longa extract is a polyphenol that is oil-soluble in its natural state. The extract is without flavor and aroma. It readily colors any substance if there is oil present.

A search on the term terra-merita reveals that it refers to the principal colorant in turmeric with the chemical name of (1E,6E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl)hepta-1,6-diene-3,5-dione (C₂₁H₂₀O₆), CAS Number 91884-86-5 and Colour Index Natural Yellow 3 (75300).

The pigment is described by Riffault in the following (Riffault 1874):

Curcuma or terra merita.
This root is also known under the names of Souchet, Indian saffron, Curcuma rotunda, and C. longa (Lin.), according as it is round or elongated. These two kinds come from the East Indies, and differ but slightly. The elongated one is more commonly found in the trade, and is cylindrical, twisted, nearly as thick as the little finger, and orange-yellow inside. Its fracture resembles wax, the thin envelope is like shagreen, its taste is hot and bitter, and the smell is analogous to that of ginger.

The round curcuma forms ovoid tubercles, nearly as big as English walnuts, and, when newly gathered, united with filaments. The envelope is gray, and presents many circular rings. The properties of this curcuma are the same as those of the preceding one. Berthollet once examined a sample of curcuma from Tabago, and found it superior to that generally met in the trade, not only as to the size of its roots, but also in the greater proportion of its coloring principle.

This substance is of a deep color, and no other yellow is brighter, but it is not lasting (fast). Common salt and sal ammoniac are the best mordants to fix this color, although they darken it towards a brown. A small proportion of hydrochloric acid is also recommended. The best roots are very fragrant, heavy, compact, and saffron-yellow. Their quality is best judged when fresh and whole, although they are employed dry and powdered. Painters use curcuma for painting floors.

From an analysis by Vogel and Pelletier, the composition of curcuma is —
Yellow coloring matter, or curcumin,
Brown " "
Substance analogous to extracts,
Lignin,
Amylaceous fecula,
Gum in small proportions,
Bitter and fragrant volatile oil,
Chloride of sodium.

It is with ether that is extracted the neutral substance of a splendid yellow color, although not very fast, which is called curcumin.

In order to give more durability and greater depth to the orange-yellow color of curcuma, it is often mixed with Avignon berries and carthamus.

Obviously, this is a fugitive pigment, which would be expected of a natural organic colorant.

Source
Laughton Osborn, Pierre Louis Bouvier. Handbook of young artists and amateurs in oilpainting: being chiefly a condensed compilation from the celebrated manual of Bouvier, with additional matter selected from the labors of Merimée, de Mmontabert and other distinguished continental writers in the art in seven parts. John Wiley, 1849. p. 52.

Jean René Denis Riffault des Hêtres, Armand Denis Vergnaud, G. Alvar Toussaint, François Malepeyre. A practical treatise on the manufacture of colors for painting: comprising the origin, definition, and classification of colors; the treatment of the raw materials etc. Translated by A. A. Fesquet. H.C. Baird, 1874. p. 365-366.

Vermilion in Fresco Painting

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 22:05:00 +0000

I was researching the historical process of encaustic painting, when I came across a reference to vermilion (Smith 1891):

Pliny and Vitruvius (vii. 9) both describe a process which Donner thinks has some bearing on the present question, viz. the so-called καϋσις, by which the vermilion fresco paint on walls was protected from damage by sun or air. The painting was spread with a mixture of olive-oil and "Punic wax" melted, and, this done, the burning (καϋσις) took place: a cauterium, filled with hot wood-ashes, or a heated metal rod (ραβδίου), was passed over the surface to level it (ut peraequetur).

I looked up the reference in Vitruvius to better understand the process described (Vitruvius 1914):

3. But anybody who is more particular, and who wants a polished finish of vermilion that will keep its proper colour, should, after the wall has been polished and is dry, apply with a brush Pontic wax melted over a fire and mixed with a little oil; then after this he should bring the wax to a sweat by warming it and the wall at close quarters with charcoal enclosed in an iron vessel; and finally he should smooth it all off by rubbing it down with a wax candle and clean linen cloths, just as naked marble statues are treated.
4. This process is termed γάυωσις in Greek. The protecting coat of Pontic wax revents the light of the moon and the rays of the sun from licking up and drawing the colour out of such polished finishing.

Applying wax over the surface would prevent moisture from entering the fresco from the face (but not, of course, through the wall) and it is perhaps the moisture that causes vermilion to alter its color. Modern authors recommend steeping vermilion in lime water before painting with it in buon fresco to prevent its alteration, but this recommendation does not offer logical basis of preventing alteration in vermilion.

Sources
William Smith, William Wayte, George Eden Marindin. A dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. J. Murray, 1891. p. 393.

Vitruvius Pollio. Ten books on architecture. Translated by Morris Hicky Morgan. Illustrated by Herbert Langford Warren. Harvard University Press, 1914. p. 216-217.

17th Century Palettes: Stil de grain

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 03:01:00 +0000

In his book, Les Elémens de Peinture pratique, Roger de Piles describes a typical palette of the 17th century:

In oil painting are usually used eight principal colors: almost all others are derived and are composed of a mixture of these. They are arranged in a range roughly this way. 1. White lead. 2. Yellow ochre. 3. Reddish brown. 4. Lake. 5. Stil de grain. 6. Green earth. 7. Umber. 8. Bone or ivory black. These are the names of the eight colors and the order in which they are almost always placed
on the palette.

An engraving of the palette arrangement (fig. 8) is included in the book published in 1767 (shown here).

According to de Piles, the lightest colors were always placed nearest the thumbhole on the palette. The position of each color on the palette helps us to understand their relative tones. For example, stil de grain, is a lake pigment made with unripe buckthorn berries. Osborn (1845) states that this pigment is prepared with "a calcareous or marly earth, alum and a decoction of Avignon berries." The pigment is very transparent, making bright yellow tints, but a masstone that is yellow brown.

The rhamnus berries (Rhamnus catharticus) is the base of stil de grain lake (also called Buckthorn lake). The principal coloring component of the lake is quercitrin. Field (1841) states that this preparation is a fugitive yellow, the darker variety of which is called brown-pink.

The plant berries are steeped in lye (potash), then precipitated with alum to create a translucent yellow lake pigment. Different hues can be attained by the addition of tin, copper or iron salts. The temperature also has an effect on the resulting color: a lemon yellow lake is obtained up to 50° C, and a darker, orange-colored lake is obtained at 100° C.

Most of our experiments making this lake resulted in a pigment that was a lemon yellow and could not positioned on the palette in the fifth place, but closer to the yellow ocher. It appears that the lake was possibly mixed with bitumenous earth in the 17th century to make a darker toned pigment.

This is easy to understand when we read what Osborn (1845) wrote about the lake pigment:

Stil de grain is the name given by the French to a yellow color produced by a decoction of Avignon berries (graines) precipitated by alum, and of different shades according to the preparation, which is made, for the base, of different proportions of Troy White (a species of chalk or marle, found in the environs of Troyes in France.)* A writer we have often quoted says that the stils de grain, composed of the oxide of lead and the Avignon berry, are of more solidity. Brown (or English) Stil de grain is prepared with a calcareous or marly earth, alum, and a decoction of Avignon berries: a treacherous pigment, like the yellow stil.

Osbron describes various preparations and it follows that many different tones were made with the lake pigment as a base. Lead oxide or litharge gives the lake pigment a more opaque and earthy color that would be subsequently less fugitive. Calcareous earth gives the lake pigment more solidity or opacity and better body in oil paint. If the earth possessed a darker tone the result would be closer to the stil de grain of Roger de Piles palette.

Roger de Piles on Oil Painting

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:37:00 +0000

The following is my tranlsation of chapter 4 (incomplete) of Roger de Piles' Les Elémens de Peinture pratique.

Roger de Piles. Oeuvres Diverses de M. de Piles de L’Académie Royale de Peintute et Sculpture. Tome Troisieme. Contenant Les Elémens de Peinture pratique. A Amsterdam et a Leipzig, Chez Arkstée & Merkus, Libraires. Et Se Vend a Paris, Chez Charles-Antoine Jombert, Libraire Du Roi Pour l’Artillerie & Le Génie, à l’Image Notre-Dame (1767). Tome III. Elémens de peinture pratique, avec l’idée du Peintre parfait: De Peinture. I. Part. (page 97–113).

CHAPTER IV.
Oil painting.

This species of painting is modern in comparison to others, but it has considerable advantages in that it mimics nature more perfectly, by both the union and mixing of its colors, by the force and vivaciousness of its colors, as well as by the beauty and the delicacy of its execution. It can do everything in its effect when viewed closely, it gives time to finish and soften anything you want, and to make changes with ease and edit what you do not like, and when it is not entirely clear what is already accomplished: Finally, it is unique to the largest and the smallest. There is no doubt that it would be the most perfect of all ways to paint, if the colors did not darken at a later time; but they always increasingly turn brown and incline toward a yellow-brown, which comes from the oil with which all colors are crushed and incorporated. The biggest convenience of this work is to see first of all what is being done as it should appear in the painting, because the colors do not change in oil after drying as those in tempera; in addition oil painting has the merit to resist moisture when the color is well dry, thereby lasting a very long time. The reflection or shining of its colors is still a considerable disadvantage in that it prevents their effect, unless the painting surface is not exposed to direct light, so they can be placed in all large exhibitions, with which light is favorable.

Arrangement of colors on the palette.

As we have seen before, we arrange the shades of colors in ranges at the top of the palette, observing to place the lightest colors nearest to the thumb and in small piles separated from each other. With the colors placed in order in rows, we take the palette in the left hand and support it on the thumb in a hole made for it at the bottom. In the same hand, we hold the brushes that will be used. The same hand can also hold the finger stick (mahl stick—Ed.) or the hand-support, and the torch brush, which is a small piece of cloth used to wipe the ends of brushes, and the knife, which mixes the colors on the palette when they are needed.

In oil painting are usually used eight principal colors: almost all others are derived and are composed of a mixture of these. They are arranged in a range roughly this way. 1. White lead. 2. Yellow ochre. 3. Brown red. 4. Lake. 5. Stil de grain. 6. Green earth. 7. Umber. 8. Bone or ivory black. These are the names of the eight colors and the order in which they are almost always placed on the palette. See fig. 8.

These colors are sold crushed, and to keep long and clean, they are kept in portion of a pig bladder, which makes it handy and flexible by rubbing with a little water, and in small packages bound with a string. To make use of the color, it is withdrawn through a small hole made with a big pin and, by pressing the package, you can bring out roughly the amount that must be used on to the palette.

There are other colors that are sold in powder and that temper with the knife on the palette by mixing with a little oil, only when needed. These colors are ultramarine, German blue ash (azurite), vermilion, massicot, carbon black, and others that are not of great importance and through use learn to know.

Of tints and mixtures of colors.

It is not possible to give rules on the mixture of colors, but with use and a little practice you can learn more than from long speeches, but in order to provide those who are starting to paint all the facilities that depend on us, we recommend to copy their first head from one that is beautiful, fresh and well-colored; this is the best advice we can give them, because good beginnings leave long time impressions in the mind of the things copied. There are painters who, having started to copy in gray tones, do so for their remaining lives. Suppose that it is a question of copying a head of fresh and live flesh tones.

Before beginning to paint, all the major shades that are needed to imitate what you want to copy should be placed on the palette with the tip of the knife. The shades are made by taking a little of the principal colors that are at the top of the range with the tip of the knife and mix them together until we have found the shades that we seek. The natural flesh tones have their light, their shadows and their reflections or halftones, but to imitate these three degrees the painter mixes the colors, making different shades on the palette. They arrange them in order to each other, below the eight principal colors, always putting the brightest nearest the thumb holding the palette: as we have already said, these shades should be mixed with the knife, which would be the wrong way to do with a brush.

Returning to the proposed head: it has its light, its shadows and halftones. To imitate the light, there are usually four light shades. The first is composed of white and a little yellow; the second, white, vermilion and lake, the latter two being added in very small quantities. The third is like the second, by putting a little more lake and vermilion; the fourth, like the third, by mixing a little more of the last two colors. It may be here that we want to make a fifth shade darker than the latter. These shades are set forth in a single row; the halftones and shadows placed underneath.

There are usually three halftones: make the first by mixing white with some yellow, some lake and a little ultramarine. The second, like the first, make by diminishing the white and increasing the three others. The third, as the second, make by further decreasing the white and similarly increasing the three other colors.

The shades for shadows start from the halftones: just make two. The first consists of lake, yellow ocher and ultramarine, making sure to use yellow in larger quantities than the other two. The second is best with stil de grain, lake and a little bone black. Let’s now show a summary of the arrangement of all these colors on the palette, as seen in fig. 9.

The eight principal colors occupy places at the top of the palette. The eight colors are, as we have already said, white lead, yellow ocher, brown red, lake, stil de grain, green earth, umber, bone black; you can add carbon black that for some uses is better than another. The shades to paint the flesh tones place below these principal colors and arrange in two rows: those for light values above and those for halftones and shadows below, always observing to put lighter colors nearest the thumbhole. Between these two rows, it is worthwhile putting a little yellow, because you will need it often, and it is more convenient to take it from this place with a brush while painting than to blend with hues from which it was prepared. It is marked by an E in figure 9.

For the other colors, such as fine lake and vermilion, ultramarine and massicot, put them where you want, however, for more convenience, put the vermilion next to and below the white, as seen in A, all it takes to become saturated is a very small amount and that has little business in flesh tones. The massicot might well be placed below and next to a bit of yellow ocher, as in B; the fine lake is marked C, below and a little beside the coarse lake; and ultramarine in the place marked D.

We should not pretend that all these shades are in the places as they should be to produce the effect we desire, and to make the head exactly as the original we propose to imitate. They are made up only to facilitate the mixture that we should paint with next. Because when something does not tint the color you want, we must put the brush aside and what it lacks, and finally make it as it should be, increasing or decreasing one or another color.

As regards the mixture of colors and the effect they produce with each other, there is little that experience cannot teach you. I will warn you, however, that unless umber can serve you, it spoils the other colors, and it is good only to make brown backgrounds, brown draperies, and to use in a few places.

When you have some cloth or some other thing to paint, which has its light, its shadows and halftones, they must be prepared on the palette with four or five shades, mixing with the main color on which you wish to paint drapery, a light color for the light, and a brown color for the shadows and that by degrees. It should be noted, as has already been said, that the lightest hues on the palette place nearest to the side of the thumbhole, and the other colors then away as they become darker.

Manner of sketching and dead-coloring a painting.

As an oil painting is usually painted on canvas or on walls where the picture is brown, one begins to sketch by tracing the outline of figures and draperies with a pencil made of white chalk, which can be easily erased with a white cloth or a sponge moistened with a little water. Then retrace the same contours with a hue that is the local color of each thing: for example, flesh tones; lake is used with a bit of green earth or umber, or some other color that serves the union, which promptly dries and that is not incompatible. Retrace the contours of similar looking draperies with one of their hues: then complete the void with other colors, the lights and shadows, and finally make the underlayers of the picture—the so-called proper dead-coloring (I will use the term "underpainting" interchangeably in this text—Ed.). Let this painting dry, after which we can finish with the same colors or lighter or darker colors. Start from the top of the picture, from left to right, as when writing, if the painting is very high on rollers, or built if it is mounted on stretcher bars.

We can make an observation here that makes use of certain oil colors in the underpainting with common colors sparing those colors of too great a price. For example, when one wants to finish a drapery with fine lake, you can use common colors in the underpainting. Similarly, a drapery that we must finish with the best ultramarine can be started in underpainting with the most common ultramarine. Finally, instead of ultramarine in the first hue shade and even in halftones, we can use willow charcoal, which is a little bluish, or bone black in the underpainting, and then finish with ultramarine, but the practice is not so good and the tints not so fresh.

This picture underpainting serves only to cover the canvas with colors and to see the effect, but it must be done properly and all colors must be as well placed as possible: for this purpose, it is necessary that the design be well fixed before starting the picture. For if one puts a finishing brown on light, unlike red on blue, or colors very different from one on another, the last layers still lose their sparkle upon drying. When one wants to make changes, it requires repainting several times to give more substance to the last color, which must remain.

The fact that some colors seem fresh at a point or they do not retain their long-time beauty and their brilliance sometimes creates turmoil for the painter. Placing colors together, he finds that some alter and corrupt others, dulling, so to speak, their edge and their liveliness. That is why we must use them cleanly and in layers, as we just said, the main colors each in their place, without blending with a small paintbrush or with a wide brush and to preserve individuality between the two; finally, we unite rather than by applying friction. Another critical attention is not to mix colors together that are incompatible, or are able to corrupt others with their extreme heaviness, such as black, or their poor quality, such as lampblack, verdigris and a few others that we must use by hand, if one is to use force. And even when it is necessary to give more power to some parts of a painting, you must wait until it is dry, if you want to apply colors that can harm the paint layers. There are painters who do all these observations, they are nevertheless very necessary to keep the beauty of colors.

Those who work with judgment, every color is applied with small strokes without haste, the flesh tones they make thicker, covering and recovering several times, what painters call well thickened. The oil colors have the advantage of being able to mingle easily with the handling of the brush, but it is feared that with the strength to torment colors you do not do lose their freshness, especially in flesh tones, and that they do not become dirty and earthy. That is why in order not to spoil the shades of colors by drowning them in each other; there are painters who end up breaking up individual shades, which admirably succeeds in master works.

To avoid this problem, there are two things to observe: the first is to get accustomed to paint and blend colors promptly and with lightness of brush, with strength, if possible not pass the same place twice. The second is that, after so slightly mixing colors together, we must take care not to brush over pure and fresh colors, which are correct for the places where they are placed, and which are the same tones as those that have already been painted and mixed underneath. To learn how to paint with strength, there is nothing better to do than to copy a few works of Corregio and Van Dyck for the lightness of brush strokes, and others, Paul Veronese and Rubens, for the purity of colors.

Color applied over a painting, when it is pure, without touching others underneath; retain their brightness in the passage of time. That is why we do not approve the use by a few painters who finish their pictures over the underpaintings by putting some color and much oil, as if glazing; sometimes using oil of turpentine to make color more easily: it is true that this way expedites the work, but it is a dangerous practice to follow. Indeed, these pictures do not seem to be more than colored fog and without any vivacity, because too much oil, mainly that of turpentine, absorbed and killed the colors.

It is unnecessary to point out that, to paint in good grace, one must use a brush as long as is possible and be right in his seat, however without constraint, and at a reasonable distance from one’s work; one paints much more freely. On the contrary, there is nothing more than bad grace to use a short brush and too close to the nose, as they say, on one’s work.

Today is the first day.

george.ohanlon@naturalpigments.com (George O'Hanlon) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 01:20:00 +0000

I've created this blog to share thoughts regarding painting materials and techniques and progress on our work at Natural Pigments with our friends and customers.

Today, I translated chapter four of Roger de Piles' Les Elémens de Peinture pratique in to English. It is an imperfect translation, but a good start on understanding 17th century painting techniques and materials. Roger was a French painter, engraver, art critic and diplomat who lived in the latter part of the 17th century. He introduced the term "clair-obscur" (chiaroscuro) to highlight the effect of color in accentuating the tension between light and dark in a painting. He defended the works of Rubens and ranked him highest among a list of 56 major painters of his time with whose work he had acquainted himself.

The chapter entitled, De la Peinture à huile, discusses oil painting technique with an emphasis on the layout of the artist's palette. The most important colors on the palette at that time were White lead. 2. Yellow ochre. 3. Reddish brown. 4. Lake. 5. Stil de grain. 6. Green earth. 7. Umber. 8. Bone or ivory black. To this palette the artist of this period would also add ultramarine (lapis lazuli), German blue ash (azurite or verditer), vermilion, massicot (lead-tin yellow or lead monoxide), and carbon black, such as vine black.