Victoria Green Pigment

Victoria Green is a synthetic inorganic green pigment composed of a calcium chromium silicate matrix produced at high temperature for ceramic applications. The pigment yields a pale, slightly cool green color that is highly stable, permanent, and lightfast. Chromium is present in the trivalent state (Cr³⁺), chemically bound within a silicate lattice, contributing to the pigment’s exceptional durability and chemical inertness.

Victoria Green is compatible with all common painting media, including oil, watercolor, tempera, acrylic, and fresco. It exhibits excellent permanence and does not react adversely with other pigments.

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

Origin and History

The origin of this pigment is obscure. The potter Sir William Burton introduced the pigment to the Society of Mural Decorators and Painters in Tempera in about 1900. The Society of Tempera Painters named the ceramic pigment Vernalis. Victoria green was the name designating a calcium chromium silicate pigment developed for use in ceramics. Artists’ paint manufacturers also used the name to designate a mixture of 80 parts of Viridian (Pigment Green 18), 40 parts of zinc yellow, and 10 parts of barite, gypsum, lithopone, or zinc oxide (Pigment White 4). Victoria green was sometimes called permanent green. However, the pigment described here is the true ceramic calcium chromium silicate, not a mixture. The Colour Index lists the green oxalate dye Victoria Green as Basic Green 4 (42000), but this is not the same as Rublev Colours Victoria Green.

Source

Victoria Green is produced by calcining chromium(III) oxide–bearing materials with silica (quartz) and calcium carbonate at high temperatures to form a stable calcium chromium silicate. Rublev Colours Victoria Green is manufactured according to traditional ceramic pigment formulations rather than modern mixed-pigment substitutes.

How Victoria Green Compares with Viridian (PG 18)

Hue:

• PG 51: pale, muted, slightly cool “chalky” green

• PG 18 (Viridian): deeper, more transparent blue-green

Tinting strength:

• PG 51: low–moderate (typically softer, more reserved)

• PG 18: moderate (can dominate mixtures more readily than PG 51)

Transparency:

• PG 51: typically semi-opaque to semi-transparent (often reads more “solid” in tints)

• PG 18: transparent to semi-transparent

Handling and texture:

• PG 51: can feel slightly more “mineral/ceramic,” giving soft, naturalistic mixtures

• PG 18: smoother, clearer chroma, excels in glazing

Best uses:

• PG 51: atmospheric greens, sage/lichen/stone-green notes, fresco passages, subdued landscape mixtures

• PG 18: glazes, jewel-like cool greens, intense blue-green mixtures (with yellows for high-chroma greens)

Practical mixing guidance

• If you want quiet, believable greens (foliage in distance, patina-like notes, greyed greens): start with PG 51.

• If you want high-chroma greens or glazing greens, start with PG 18.

Permanence and Compatibility

Victoria Green is lightfast and permanent. It is compatible with all pigments and with all vehicles, including fresco.

Oil Absorption and Grinding

Victoria Green absorbs a medium amount of oil (25 g of oil per 100 g of pigment).

Toxicity

Victoria Green is not considered toxic; however, care should be taken when handling the dry-powder pigment to avoid inhaling dust.