Pigments of the Painter

Author(s): Raphael Doktor

Source: Parnassus, Vol. 10, No. 5 (Oct., 1938), pp. 21-27
Published by: College Art Association
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 PIGMENTS OF THE PAINTER
by RAPHAEL DOKTOR

A GLANCE at an artist's palette with its brilliant spec- mixture with other colors as well as mediums and
trum of hues cannot but evoke curiosity as to the sources ground.
of pigments. The search for satisfactorypigmentsis longer (c) Proper granular structure allowing mixture or grind-
than history. To the modern artist with every pigment ing with medium into water, tempera or oil paint.
available in one shop, sources are interesting but other (d) Commercialavailabilityat a reasonablecost.
considerationsmore important. The nature of the pigment
-its permanency, its durability and its physical and Thus, pigments are a collection of heterogeneous sub-
chemical properties are the basis for the selection of his stances, possessing a large variety of chemical properties.
palette.
For the purposes of expediency, the sources of pigments
Sources were much more important to the Old Masters will be classifiedinto two
general divisions:
who had to seek out their own pigments, refine and grind
them and press their own oils. Their reliance on natural mineral or metallic origin. Some are found
sourcessuch as colored clays, charcoal,ground lapis lazuli Inorganic-ofas natural
served them well, but pigments derived from insects, deposits, others are manufactured
from the metals or metallic compounds.
plants and berries produced a series of fugitive but neces- - of vegetable or animal origin. Coal being
Organic
sary colors which were used skilfully. Incompatiblecop- fossilized vegetation, pigments made of dyes
per, mercury and lead colors were carefully isolated with of coal-tar origin are included here.
varnish and sometimes glazed for protection from light.
It can well be said that the paintings of the Old Masters
exist today in spite of their pigments and becauseof their Any attempt to study or select pigments is confused,
skill and craftsmanship. at first glance, by the tremendous variety and florid
nomenclature of available colors. One English firm lists
some 230 oil colors. American listings are much smaller
Today, the informed artist has at his command such an
of colors that his only concern with an average of about 60 down to selected palettes
array brilliant, permanent
should be to select those that are compatible. Chemistry of 28 colors. The reasons for the larger lists are not
has produced myriads of pigments and dyes from which necessarily a larger selection. A pigment may be known
a group of metallic compounds is undoubtedly the most by as many as five different names and so listed. Prop-
permanent and brilliant ever available. rietary names such as Jungle Green and mixtures of
colors fill out the list. Completely useless colors are listed
and sometimesso designated.
Pigment is defined as any substance from which a paint
of a desired color may be prepared. The artist demands
in addition: After eliminatingall the meaninglessor misleadingnames,
enough basic designations remain to identify all known
(a) Permanenceto light, air, moisture and other exposure pigments. There is a growing movementamong American
factors. manufacturersto specify the chemical nature of the pig-
(b) Chemical inertness or compatibility allowing inter- ment on the label, which is a great help indeed.

Inorganic Pigments
The Earths
Yellow Ochre This group, the Earth Colors, was probably the earliest known. As the name im-
Golden Ochre plies, there are earths or clays which have been colored, basically by iron rust or
Roman Ochre oxide. Being natural products, there is great variation in tint, concentration,etc.
Raw Sienna The yellow to brown tints are the raw oxides. When heated or calcined, they turn
Raw Umber to Red or Red-Brown. Some red oxides are found as natural deposits; others such
Burnt Umber as Raw Sienna are heated to be converted to red as in Burnt Sienna.
Burnt Sienna With the exception of Golden Ochre, adulterationsare uncommon because these are
Venetian Red the least expensive of pigments. Golden Ochre is sometimes simulated by addition
Indian Red of Chrome Yellow, a dangerous lead color.
Light Red The Raw or Yellow Earths have a slight bleaching effect on organic pigments-Lakes,
Caput-Mortum Alizarin Crimson, etc. otherwise the Earths are compatible with all other pigments
Pozzouli Red and among the most permanent known.

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Terre Verte A green Earth Color owing its hue to additional content of silicic acid. A soft green
of little tinting strength, otherwise same as the Earths.
Cassel Earth or An impure Earth Color containing as much as 65'j of organic matter (coal). There-
Vandyke Brown fore, fugitive and unreliable.
Synthetic Iron Oxides
Mars Yellow The color principal of this series is identical chemically with that of the Earth
Mars Red pigments except that here the iron oxides and hydroxides are produced artifically.
Mars Violet Permanence and other properties are identical.
Mars Orange When carefully manufactured,the synthetic oxides allow for greater clarity, strength
Mars Brown and standardizationthan the variable products of nature. A whiter and more trans-
Red Iron Oxides lucent base is usually substituted for the grey clay of the Earths.
Since they duplicate the already excellent Earth series and are somewhat more costly,
the Mars colors are not widely known.
The Whites (Metallic Compounds)
Zinc White Zinc Oxide is a chemical combinationof Zinc Metal and Oxygen.
Chinese White The fineness of grind and chemical purity effect the appearance of whiteness and
(Zinc) the "White Seal" grade is most suitable for pigment use. Zinc White is an excellent
pigment, permanent,durable and compatiblewith all permanentpigments. Its cover-
ing power, somewhat poor, is its only weakness.
Titanium Oxide Oxide of the metallicTitanium. A permanentpigment of tremendouscovering power.
Titanium Barium Because it has a tendency to break down the oil, it is seldom used alone but is found
most often in combination with Barium Sulphate, known commercially as Titanox
B or Ti-Bar etc.
Zinc Oxide is also introducedto improve Titanium pigments. This is not objectionable
since the two are closely allied chemically and are compatiblewith all permanentpig-
ments. Permalbaand Titan whites are pigments of this type.
White Lead Lead Carbonate, manufacturedby several processes from metallic lead, hence poison-
Cremnitz White ous and to be used with care. Prior to the introduction of the Zinc and Titanium
Flake White Whites, White Lead was the most satisfactory pigment available and widely used
by the Old Masters.
White Lead has a tendency to turn cream colored, under the best of conditions.
Lead is very sensitive to sulphur or sulphurous gases as can be demonstrated by
dropping a little Sodium Sulphite solution onto a lead pigment. Instant formation
of black lead sulphide turns the pigment black. Though slower in action, sulphuretted
hydrogen present in the city atmospheresfrom coal smoke, etc., will have the same
effect ultimately. For their protection, paintings containing lead pigments must be
well varnishedto be preserved.
White Lead is dangerous in mixtures with Cadmiums and Ultramarine because of
their sulphur content. Mixtures with Vermillion are unsafe as are also mixtures
with the Lakes and Alizarin because of the bleaching effect of the lead.
Lithopone Considering these short-comings, White Lead is almost entirely replaced on the
artist's palette by the Zinc of Titanium Whites.
A modern pigment made by precipitation of solutions of Zinc Sulphide and Barium
Sulphate. Because of its excellent covering power, it is used almost universally in
commercialflat paints and casein paints.
Some grades of lithopone have a tendency to turn grey on exposure to light or brown
when ground into oil color. This pigment is not important to the artist unless he
buys a tube of "Zinc White" at too great a bargain in which case he probably has
Lithopone.
Metallic Oxides and Sulphides
Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Sulphide, a chemical combination of Cadmium metal and sulphur. A
Light, Medium, modern color of great brilliance and strength. True Cadmium Yellow is among the
Orange most permanentpigments known. The normal hue is a deep yellow.

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 The lighter or lemon shades usually contain a white filler. In these lemon shades,
there is some tendency to fade. Since Cadmium Yellow contains sulphur some of
which is likely to remain free if improperly washed, it is dangerous in combination
with Emerald Green and pigments containing lead-Cremnitz and Flake Whites,
Chrome Yellows, Reds, and Greens, because of formation of black lead compounds.
Mixture with Prussian Blue is also dangerous.
Because of the comparativelyhigh cost of Cadmiums, adulteration or simulation is
sometimes encountered. Chrome Yellow is usually used. Testing with sodium sul-
phide solution will blacken the Chrome (lead); pure Cadmium Sulphide not being
affected. White fillers, of course, are reflected in the reduced tinting strength of
the pigments and can be so detected.
Cadmium Yellow This pigment usually known to the trade as "Cadmolith"uses the same color principle
Lithopone; as Cadmium Sulphide but is less expensive to manufacture. As in the making of
Light, Medium, & White Lithopone, two solutions are combined to form a precipitate. In this case,
Orange solutions of Cadmium Sulphide and Barium Sulphate are used.
The tinting strength is not quite equal to pure Sulphides. While the color principle
of the "Cadmoliths"can be regarded as permanent, the stability of the compound is
still on an experimental basis. In the lighter or lemon shades of yellow, the Cad-
moliths seem less inclined to fade than the pure Cadmium Sulphides.
The introduction of "Cadmoliths"made it possible to retail a studio tube of "Cad-
mium" oil color at 50 cents, in the secondarylines of artists' colors.
The same cautions in intermixtures must be observed as in the genuine Cadmium
Yellow.
Cadmium Red Selenium and Cadmium Sulphides. Cadmium Red is similar to Cadmium Sulphide
Light, Medium & Deep except that the metal Selenium replaces or is combined with the Cadmium.
Ranging from an orange red in the light shade to a purplish red in the deep, Cad-
mium Reds are brilliant and permanentand reliablein proper mixtures. (See Cadmium
Yellow.)
The Cadmium Reds especially the "Light" are rightfully replacing the much less
dependable Vermillions because of their greater range of compatibility and more
stable nature.
Cadmium Red A "Cadmolith"made with a solution of Cadmiumand Selenium Sulphides.
Lithopone;
Light, Medium & Other properties similar to Cadmium Yellow Lithopone. (which see).
Deep
Cobalt Blue The Oxides of the metals Cobalt and Aluminum. An excellent blue pigment which
holds an importantplace in the modern palette.
The pigment itself is very permanent, but in oil colors when used straight any
tendency to turn greenish is due to yellowing of the oil of which Cobalt will take
100% in grinding. Cobalt is intermixablewith all permanentpigments.
Due to its high cost, adulteration or simulation is encountered but only in cheap or
unreliable makes. Ultramarine Blue of a cool or Cobalt shade with a tinting dye to
complete the illusion is the usual process of simulation. A small quantity of pigment
on white paper, covered with a few drops of acetone will detect dye by dissolving it
out and forming a blue ring outside the pigment.
Cobalt Blue pigment should be bought only from an artists' pigment supply house be-
cause it is common practice in the house paint industry to label light shades of
Ultramarine as "Cobalt."
Cerulean Blue Cobaltous Oxide modified with Tin Oxide. A lighter, cooler blue is thus formed
which is equal to performanceand permanency to Cobalt.

Being also costly, it is subject to like simulation or adulteration.

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 Oxide of Chromium, The pigment passing under these three names and several others less common is
Transparent Hydrated Chromic Oxide containing water in chemical combination. The contrib-
uting metal Chromium has become more familiar of late because of its usefulness in
metal plating.
Emeraude It is difficult to understand how artists managed, prior to the introduction of this
Viridian pigment about 1835. Deep, translucentin its original form, it neverthelessforms clear
beautiful shades in the lightest tints. It is the basic green of the modern palette and
ranks among the best for permanencyand compatibilitywith other pigments.
Simulation can only be accomplishedby using Lake pigments (dyes) and detection
of dyes is easy with acetone. (See Cobalt Blue.) Extenders or fillers weaken the
tinting strength and make the color in the tube lose its depth and clarity.
Oxide of Chromium The mat pigment is identical in compositionwith the TransparentOxide except that
Opaque the water content has been driven off by heat. The pigment is opaque as the name
indicates. Of a soft green tone, resemblingTerre Verte, its tinting strength is great
in comparison. Safe in intermixtures, and of great permanency, this pigment de-
serves a better place on the palette.
Red Lead Oxide of Lead. This pigment of ancient origin was formerly known as Minium.
It is of no practical use to the artist today because it fades on mixture with White
Lead and being a lead color itself cannot be used with sulphur colors on a Zinc
or Titanium palette.
Its principal use is in undercoats on iron work but it is mentioned here because it is
the basis in the manufactureof the so called, "American Vermillion!"
Other Metallic Compounds
Chrome Yellow; Lead Chromates. As is the case with all lead pigments, exposure to city atmosphere
Light, Medium, will blacken them unless they are protected by varnish from exposure. The lightest
Orange shades have a tendency to fade out.
Chrome Red The Chromesbecause of their low cost are used widely in wall paints and often pass
as "Cadmiums"in show card colors and in the lowest gradesof artists' colors known as
"Academy" or "Decorative" colors.
Mixtures with Cadmiums, Vermillion, Ultramarine, Lithopone, and the Lakes are
unsafe.
The Chromes can well be dispensed with in favor of the Cadmiumsor if cost is im-
portant "Cadmoliths."
Cobalt Violet; The Cobalt Violet Deep is usually Cobalt Phosphate.
Deep & Light
The Cobalt Violet Light, lighter and more pink in tone, is Cobalt Arsenate, there-
fore, poisonous and less desirable. These pigments while beautiful and permanent
in themselves, have very little tinting strength and are not as useful as they might
be. They are, however, the safest of the violet or purple pigments and for that rea-
son included in a complete palette.

Some grades of the pigment are likely to be coarse and gritty, proper selection, there-
fore, is important. Since Cobalt Violet is about the most expensive pigment in regular
use, imitations are to be guarded against. Only Lake (dye) pigments can imitate
its hue and can be detected by burning some pigment on a knife blade. Cobalt Violet
is impervious to heat but dyes will be destroyed.

Emerald Green A modified Copper Arsenate, therefore, highly poisonous. This pigment is the siren
of the color card, luring the artist by its intense, brilliant light green hue to destruc-
tion because it is almost completely incompatible with other colors. Copper reacts
violently to sulphur, forming a black compound, therefore, Emerald Green cannot be
used with Cadmiums, or Ultramarine. The same is true with Vermillion. It is dan-
gerous with White Lead and destroys the Lakes such as Alizarin Crimson.
Emerald Green should be left off the palette entirely.

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Monastral Blue Monastral Blue is Copper Pthalo-cyanine.

Monastral Green This recently developed color is powerful, intense, and practically transparent. Hav-
ing no body, it must be manufacturedinto a pigment on an inert base. When im-
properly made, it has the bronze sheen characteristicof copper pigments.
Exposuretests to light and weathering conditionsseem to leave this pigment unaffected.
Copper Blues were used by the Old Masters who realizing the hazardsconnected with
copper reactions, therefore, carefully isolated the pigments with varnish glazes. This
modern pigment though containing copper in its composition seems in mixture tests
to be inert. It will pay the artist to watch the performanceof this pigment as well
as the two more recently introduced Monastral colors, a brilliant green and a cerulean
shade.
Naples Yellow Lead Antimoniate when genuine, therefore poisonous. A pigment of ancient origin
and very useful prior to the introduction of the cadmiums. It is of the lead series
and when used in a lead palette and properly varnished quite permanent.

Today, Naples Yellow is little used and difficult to obtain genuine. Mixtures using
CadmiumYellow are often sold as Naples Yellow, White Lead. Naples Yellow is very
easily dispensed with on the modern palette.

Prussian Blue Modificationsof a compound of Iron and Cyanogen but not poisonous. These pig-
Chinese Blue ments are of a deep greenish blue cast of powerful tinting strength and have a bronze
Antwerp Blue sheen in the dry form. Antwerp blue is a weaker variety containing a chalk or
gypsum filler.
These pigments are permanent by themselves except for a tendency to turn greenish
in oil due to yellowing of the oil.

Vermillions; A compound of Mercury and Sulphur, now usually manufactureddirectly from the
English, French elements.
& Chinese
Vermillion is of ancient origin and for a long time indispensible. The Old Masters
knew its tendency to darken when exposed to light, and used it as a base color to be
protected from the light by other colored glazes.
Vermillion ranges in hue from orange to purplish.
When carefully made, its stability is unpredictable, the individual batches of pig-
ment varying greatly. It is unstable in mixtures with White Lead.
With the introductionof the CadmiumReds, Vermillions are properly being displaced.

Zinc Yellow Zinc Chromate. This pigment of lemon shade is highly desirable for mixing brilliant
greens with Oxide of Chromium,transparentand white. Used alone it has a tendency
to turn greenish specially when impure.
It is compatiblewith other pigments except possibly the Lakes, such as Alizarin Crim-
son and Rose Madder.

Ultramarine Blue Its slight solubility in water makes it useful only in oil and then only in mixtures.
Ultramarine Red Ultramarine Blue was originally made by grinding Lapis Lazuli to a powder. The
same color principle is now manufactured artificially by heating together soda, clay,
sulphur and carbon and the pigment thus obtained has the same physical and chemical
properties as the natural product.
Ultramarine Blue is made in many shades from a purplish to a cool blue, the latter
known as Cobalt Ultramarine sometimes passes as genuine Cobalt in cheap paints.
Permanent Blue is usually a weaker variety of Ultramarine.

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 Ultramarine Blue is a deep rich pigment of great permanence and deserves its place
as the most widely used Blue today.

Because of its Sulphur content mixtures with lead whites, Chromes, etc., are danger-
ous'. Ultramarine has a tendency to bleach the Lake (dye) colors.
Ultramarine Red is a modification of the blue by heat treatment. It is similar in all
its properties to the blue but has a weak tinting strength. Its transparent purplih_;
red cast allows it to partially replace Alizarin Crimson of the Lake series.

Organic
Natural Pigments (Vegetable Origin)
Vine Black Vine Black is pulverized charcoal.

As in the case of all black pigments normally used by the artist, the color principle
is carbon, the source giving it a characteristic cool tint.

Carbon being chemically inert, pigment made of it is compatible with every other
pigment and is very permanent.

Gamboge Gamboge is not properly a pigment but a gum-resin from a tree, therefore of the
varnish family. As a pigment it is ground to a powder.

Gamboge is highly impermanent to light and an unsatisfactory color but is men-

tioned here because it is used in mixed colors such as Hooker's Green, which should
be avoided.

Yellow Lake These lakes made of dyes derived from berries, barks or weeds precipitated on an
Brown Pink inert base are highly fugitive. They are of ancient origin but no doubt the blueness
of landscapebackgroundsin Old Masters can be attributed to the fading out of such
yellow elements.
Manufacturerstoday substitute the more permanentsynthetic dyes under these names
therefore the dyes should be bought under their proper names.
Rose Madder, A lake pigment made usually on a clay base of dye derived from the root of the
Genuine madder plant. The genuine Rose Madder is no longer readily available but it is no
loss to the artist. Of the two dye principles contained in Rose Madder-Alizarin
and Purpurin, the latter is fugitive. The Alizarin is now produced synthetically in
much purer form from coal-tar.

Natural Pigments (Animal Origin)

Carmine These two lake pigments are made of little insects, dried and ground. Unfortunately,
Kermes Lake the pigments so produced are very fugitive. Synthetic coal-tar lakes of variable
qualities are sold under the names of Carmine or Scarlet.
Indian Yellow This is another example of a now meaningless designation, still used. Genuine
(Genuine) Indian Yellow is no longer available due to the tender mercies of the British govern-
ment in India. Formerly cows were fed on mango leaves, which increases the flow
of bile. The yellow urine was collected, dried and sold as Puree from which pig-
ment was made. The beautiful transparent glazing color faded in the light. Syn-
thetic coal-tar lakes are offered today under the name of Indian Yellow.
Ivory Black When genuine, ivory chips and scraps are burned to carbon to produce Ivory Black.
Bones, more commonly used produce a somewhat less satisfactory cast to the pig-
ment. Essentiallychemically inert carbon, Ivory Black is a safe and compatiblecolor.

Sepia A pigment made from dark liquid excreted as a "smoke screen" by cuttle-fish of the
octopus family.
In water color it makes a fairly permanent, satisfactory color but cannot be made
into a good oil color.

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 Synthetic Coal-Tar Colors
Mauve Coal-tar was formerly a waste product in the making of coal-gas and coke. Today,
Eosine Lake coal-tar produces an amazing myriad of dyes, drugs, and solvents. Benzine, a
Geranium Lake derivative, produces Analine, an oily substance from which a series of brilliant dyes
Magenta is produced, which are precipitated on an inert base or carrier to make the Lake pig-
ments of this series.
Though widely sold, these Lakes are extremely fugitive, the Analine dyes being much
more adaptable to staining fabrics and fibrous materials.
Alizarin Crimson From Anthracene, another coal-tar derivative comes the dye producing the Alizarin
series of Lake pigments.
Alizarine Crimson is a strong, transparent red, adaptable to glazing. It can be con-
sidered a permanent pigment in proper mixtures although it has a tendency to fade
when used too thinly. Being a stronger tinting and more stable mixture, it replaces
the Genuine Rose Madder entirely.
All Lake pigments including Alizarin Crimson are unsafe in mitxures with Yellow
Ochre, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Mars Yellow and the other raw or yellow earth
colors.
Other metallic pigments such as Cadmiums, Chromes, Ultramarine, White Lead
also have a bleaching effect on Lakes. Bleeding through in Lakes indicates improper
manufacture leaving excess of free dye.

Permanent and Intermixable Pigments

Zinc White Cobalt Blue Ultrarriarine Blue
Titanium Whit ;e Viridian Ultran narine Red
Earths: Ochres, Siennas, Umbers, etc. Oxide of Chromium Opaque Ivory or Vine Black
Cadmium Yellc)ws Oxide Chromium (Opaque) Alizarlin Crimson
Cadmium Reds Cobalt Violet Monas tral Blue"
Note: (X) Use caution in mixtures.
Other technical pamphlets have bIen prepared by Raphael Doktor, Director of the Tcchnical
Division of the V/.P.A. Federal Art Project in Nezc York, and published by the Project.

Lithographs
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