Alizarin Crimson Oil Paint

Rublev Colours Alizarin Crimson is ground in linseed oil without using stearates or other additives that affect the behavior of the pigment in oil. The pale linseed oil used to make this color is well-aged and refined, providing higher reactivity and oxidation resistance than raw oil. The consistency is a smooth, thick, rich color that is ‘short’ and buttery.

Composition and Permanence

For a detailed explanation of the terms in the table above, please visit the Composition and Permanence page.

Notes

Some separation of pigment and oil may occur in Rublev Colours Artist Oils, and it is a natural process when no wax or stabilizers are added to the paint to prevent it.

All color swatches on this website are approximations of the actual color of the oil paint. We have carefully matched the color in these pictures on calibrated color monitors to the actual color. However, the results you get may vary due to the wide variance among color monitors.

Color Swatch Note: The color swatch was created with a thick application of color (left side) and a tint (right side) made with equal parts of color and titanium white, applied to acrylic-primed cotton canvas.

Drawdown Note: The image of the “drawdown” shows a premixed paint film 6 mils (0.006 inches) thick, applied to a standard test card to examine color consistency, opacity, and other qualities. The drawdowns show the full-color strength (mass tone) on the left and mixed in a 1:2 ratio with titanium white on the right. The bottom area of the drawdowns is scraped to show undertones.

About Lightfastness

Although assigned to lightfastness category III (ASTM D 4302), alizarin crimson may be a permanent color under certain conditions. Franz Hals was well aware of the correct way to use fugitive lakes to produce vivid flesh tints. The ruddy nose and rosy cheeks portrayed by him, which, after a lapse of centuries, have shown that this color, when intelligently used, is stable. According to Maximilian Toch (1911), if madder lake (the natural lake pigment related to alizarin) is used as a glaze over a color that has been allowed to dry thoroughly, it will remain permanent. Still, when mixed with any mineral pigment, such as ocher, lead, or sienna, it is altered and loses color. This Toch based on his observation of Rembrandt’s use of color in works like the Anatomy Lesson, in which ‘upon close examination, the flesh tones have suffered very likely due to the fact that the lake used in glazing was mixed with the under-coat.’

Based on this observation, Toch makes this recommendation for alizarin reds:

It is, therefore, reasonable to assume that alizarin or madder lakes should be used as glazing colors over a properly dried surface. Alizarin or madder lakes will not decompose when mixed with various blacks, such as bone black, lamp black, and carbon black.

Madder lake may be mixed with oxide of iron that has been burnt, but may not be mixed with any raw iron color. For instance, madder or alizarin may be mixed with Indian red to form Tuscan red, a color that is perfectly permanent. It may also be mixed with burnt sienna, burnt ocher, burnt umber, etc., but is fugitive when mixed with raw ochre, raw sienna, or raw umber. Chemical colors like flake white (white lead), zinc oxide, chrome yellow, Naples yellow, and chrome greens all bleach it, but colors like quick silver, vermilion, cadmium yellow, and all the blacks do not affect it.

The safest way to use it is as a glaze over a thoroughly dry ground. Madder lake deepens considerably when placed in a dark place, but is revived when subjected to bright sunlight.

Vermeer more than once placed a glaze of lake pigment (carmine lake) over vermilion. He first modeled the object in various tones of vermilion, using white to lighten and black to darken. Once the area was dry, he glazed over it with a red lake.

The recommendation of raw natural iron oxide pigments and the mention of bleaching with “chemical colors” requires further investigation because other authors have made contrary claims.

Maximilian Toch, Materials for Permanent Painting, New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, 1911. pp. 85–87.