books '»*?r' THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Corv S NO 37 6 l%?7 LONDON : PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD. i.iL GETTY CENTER LIBRARY PREFACE. Of late years the question of the deterioration in hue of modern English pictures is one that has occupied an important position in art circles. These pictures are found to be unpossessed of that permanency of colouring so noticeable in the works of old masters of foreign schools. The " why and the wherefore " for these changes are not far to seek. ; they may be attributed to the ignorance of the modern artist as regards the actual nature of the materials he employs. This ignorance is due to his being practically unacquainted with the chemical nature and qualities of his pigments and vehicles, whereas "old masters" were their own chemists ; and notwithstanding that chemical knowledge in their time was of the most elemen- tary kind, they perforce, through making their own pigments, were compelled to become possessed of some knowledge regarding the chemical reactions occurring between mixtures of pigments with each VI PREFACE. other and with vehicles. This knowledge was sufficient to enable them to avoid dangerous immixtures of pigments and vehicles ; but un- doubtedly the great success of the permanence of their colouring was due to the use of an oleo- resinous medium instead of pure oil, or oil and spirits, as now used. Another cause of the non-permanence of modern paintings is to be found in the use of impure pig- ments. The manufacture of pigments has become a trade, and, like many others, it is one not free from the vicious practice of selling a sophisticated article when a pure one is not absolutely insisted on by the purchaser. Pure pigments can be bought, but while there is a demand for cheap paints, and the artist is careless enough not to satisfy himself that what he buys is perfectly pure, the supply of adulterated pigments will be kept up. This supply is greatly encouraged by the huge host of amateur painters and manufacturers of "pot- boilers," who have no name to lose by bad work- manship, and who, moreover, are not wealthy enough to afford the price demanded for pure materials. Still another cause of the decadence of colour- ing in modem paintings is to be traced in the PREFACE. Vll desire, on the part of well-known artists, to obtain startling, brilliant, or surprising effects of colour- ing, the means by which this desire is gratified being carelessly ignored so that they gain their wishes. These painters recklessly make the most pernicious immixtures of pigments. The results show themselves a few years subsequently, and the picture is worse than a bad imitation of itself in its former state. But whatever the cause, the fact remains ; mo- dern pictures are far from permanent. This is saying very little for art and its patrons, for the knowledge of the means of painting good sound work is not difficult to obtain, although through indolence, prejudice, or self-conceited satisfaction in their own individual method of working, modern artists do not trouble themselves to obtain it. Many pigments are known under several names. An artist may buy a colour under one name, and never dream of its being identical in composition and qualities with one of another name. In the chapters on individual pigments I have given the general equivalents by which a pigment is com- monly known. The reader will, therefore, be able to identify a pigment bearing half-a-dozen names. The paragraphs on the " Chemical Names and viil PREFACE. Composition" give the chemical nature and quali- ties of each pigment in its perfect form. This is necessary, because artists are not chemists, and elaborate explanations on this point would be of little value to them. The paragraphs on the " Artistic Qualities " will, I hope, prove of exceptional value. Those on the " Permanency and Non-Permanency " of pig- ments are based on a knowledge of the chemical and physical reactions that occur, or are likely to occur, between mixtures of pigments. The information on '' General Adulterations " is given that artists may know what to expect, and the " Tests for Purity " have been so selected as to allow of their being practically worked out by persons devoid of chemical knowledge. Artists' colourmen may not be to blame for supplying a sophisticated article if they find a demand for it, but artists of repute are to blame if they do not take every means in their power to ascertain that the colour they use is in its purest form. The matter contained in Chapters I. to VI. was first published by t he Author under the title of " The Artists' Table of Pigments," a v/ork now out of print. But the whole of the remainder of the present volume is now published for the first time. PREFACE. IX Chapter VII., on "Chemical Reactions occurring between Pigments, &c.," will, I think, demonstrate that although painting is an art, its foundation rests on scientific principles if the work is to be of a sound character. Chapter VIII. sets before the reader so much of colour science as can be serviceable to a non- scientific person ; while Chapters IX., X., XI. are intended for students and those amateurs who wish to acquire a knowledge of the technical pro- cesses involved in painting. The Science and Art Department Examination Questions on Painting form Chapter XII. The following pigments have been included in those chapters in which their hues seem to entitle them to be classed : — New Blue, Permanent Blue, Mars Orange, Mars Yellow, Orient Yellow, Mineral Yellow, Mars Red, Purple Lake, Mars Brown, Mineral Gray, Neutral Tint, Payne's Gray, Rubens Madder. H. C. S. 31, Delving Road, Fulham, S.W. November f 1885. NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION. It is very gratifying to the author to find that the present little book has met with such a successful reception as to call for a fresh edition in the short space of six months. This fact, it is hoped, proves that it has in some measure met an acknowledged want. In issuing a second edition, he has taken the opportunity of correcting a few errors and mis- prints to which attention has been drawn by his kindly critics. August, 1886. CONTENTS, IPreface CHAPTER I. WHITE PIGMENTS. IBaryta White, also known as " Constant " or " Permanent " White.— Blanc d'Argent, or " Silver "or "French" White. — Flake White, or" Body " White. — White Lead, also known as Ceruse, Cremnitz, Dutch, Flemish, Hamburg, Venetian, or Roman White. — Zinc White, or Chinese White. — Normal, Basic, and Acid Carbonates. — Blowpipe Testing . . . i CHAPTER II. GREEN PIGMENTS. "Chrome Greens. — Native Green, or Pure Chrome Green, Green Oxide of Chromium, Opaque Oxide of Chromium, or Chrome Oxide. — Transparent Oxide of Chromium. — Emerald Green, or Schweinfurt, Vienna, Imperial, Brunswick, or Mitis Green. — Malachite, Mountain, or Hungary Green. — Sap Green, Verde Vessie.Iris or Bladder Green. — Scheele's, or Swedish Green. — Terra Verte, Green Earth, Verona Green, Green Bice, Verdetta, or Holly Green. — Verdigris, or Viride 2E.r\%. — Vienna Green, or Brunswick or Schweinfurt Gieen. — Viridian, or Guignet's Green. — Zinc or Cobalt Green or Rinman's Green. . . H CHAPTER III. BLUE PIGMENTS. Antwerp Blue, or Haailem, Berlin, or Mineral Blue. — Caeruleum, or Cerulian or Egyptian Blue. — Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Ultramarine, XU CONTENTS. Vienna Blue, and Azure. — Indigo, or Indan Blue. — Prussian, Berlin, Parisian Blue. — Smalt, Azure, Enamel, Dumont's or Royal Blue. — Uliramaiine, Outremer Lazurline, Lazuline Blue, or Lazurstein. — Artificial, Fien.h, Mttz, Gmelin's Blue, or Factiti"us Ultramarine, Bltu de Garance, and Outremer de Guimet. — New Blue. — Permanent Blue . , . . .25 CHAPTER IV, YELLOW PIGMENTS, Aureolin. — Barj-ta Yellow, Yellow Ultramarine, or Lemon Yel- low. — Cadmium Yellow, Cadmia, or Jaune Brillant. — Chrome Yellows, Jaune Mineral, Cologne Yellow, Pale and Deep Chrome, Orange Chrome, Citron, Leipzig or Paris Yellow. — Gamboge, (Camboge, Cambogia, Gambodium, Gamboage, &c.) — Indian Yellow, or Purree or Powre. — King's or Chinese Yellow, Orpiment, or Auripigmentum. — Lemon Yellow, — •Massicot, or Masticot. — Naples Yellow. — Yellow Lakes, Madder Yellow, Italian, English, and Dutch Pink, Quercitron Yellow, or Lake. — Yellow Ochres, Jaune de Fer, Jaune de Mars, Sienna, or Raw Sienna. — Mars Orange. — Mars Yellow, or Jaune de Mars, Jaune de Fer, Iron Yellow, &c. — Orient Yellow, Turner Yellow, Cassel Yellow, Montpellier Yellow, Vienna Yellow, Mineral Yellow 33 CHAPTER V. RED PIGMENTS. Cadmium Red. — Chinese Vermilion, or Carmine Vermilion. — Crimson Lake. — Carmine Lake. — Indian Lake, or Lac Lake. — Indian Red and Persian Red. — Iodine Scarlet, or Iodide of Mercury. — Madder Lakes : Madder Carmine or Tinted Carmine, Pink Madder, Rose Rubiate or Liquid Madder, Lake or Rose Madder. — Red Lead, Minium or Saturnine Red. — Red Ochre, Indian Ochre, Scarlet Ochre, or Light Red. — Red Orpiment, or Realgar. — Venetian, English, or Prussian Red, or Scarlet Ochre. — Vermilion, also called Cinnabar. — Mars Red, or Rouge de Mars. — Purple Lake . . > M CONTENTS. xiii CHAPTER VI. BROWN AND BLACK PIGMENTS. PAGE Asphaltum, or Bitumen. — Bistre. — Brown Pink. —Blue or Frank- furt Black. — Indian Ink and Chinese Ink. — Lampblack. — Manganese Brown. — Mummy or Egyptian Brown. — Prussian Brown, or Iron Brown. — Sepia. — Umber, Raw and Burnt. — Vandyke, Cappah, Rubens, Cassel, and Cologne Brown. — Mars Brown, or Brun de Mars. — Mineral Gray. — Neutral Tint. — Pajme's Gray. — Rubens Madder .... 60 Table of Reference 70 CHAPTER VII. CHEMICAL REACTIONS OCCURRING BETWEEN TWO OR MORE PIGMENTS, BETWEEN PIGMENT AND VEHICLE, ETC. Action of Lead and Sulphur. — Action of Oxygen amongst Pig- ments. — Action of Alkalies on Pigments. — Explanation of Loss of Opacity • • 73 CHAPTER VIII. COLOUR NAMES AND DEFINITIONS. Positive Colours. — Primary Colours. — Secondary Colours. — Ter- tiary Col ours . — Tin t . — Hues . — Shade. — Tone. — Grey. — Gray. Popular Analysis of Colours forming Complex Hues. — Primary Positive Colours. — Secondary Positive Colours, composed of two Primaries. — Tertiary Hues, compoi^ed of three Primaries with one Primary predominating. — Quartemary Hues, com- posed of the Primary, with two Primaries or a Secondary Colour predominating. — ^Neutral Tints 80 xiv CONTENTS, CHAPTER IX. TABLE OF MIXTURES OF PIGMENTS TO PRODUCE BLUES, BUFFS ^ BROWNS, GREENS, GREYS, PURPLES, AND MAROONS. PACK Table of Mixtures of Pigments to produce Blues. — Table of Mixtures to produce Browns, Buffs, and Yellows. —Table of Mixtures to produce Greys. — Table of Mixtures to produce Greens. — Table of Mixtures to produce Maroons, Purples, and Pinks 86 CHAPTER X. ARTISTIC QUALITIES OF PIGMENTS USED IN POR- TRAIT, FLOWER, AND MARINE PAINTING IN WATER COLOURS. Colours for Flesh. — Colours for Draperies. — Colours chiefly used in Flower Painting in Water Colours. — Colours used in Sea Painting 92 CHAPTER XI. ARTISTIC QUALITIES OF COLOURS USED IN LAND- SCAPE PAINTING IN OILS. List of Colours used on the Palettes of Sir F. Leighton, Alma- Tadema, Armitage, Orchardson, Pettie, Colin Hunter . . 97 CHAPTER XII. QUESTIONS SET AT THE SOUTH KENSINGTON SCHOOL OF ART EXAMINATIONS IN PAINT- ING, 100 Index . . 7 108 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. CHAPTER I. WHITE PIGMENTS. BARYTA WHITE (also known as Constant or Permanent White). Chemical Names and Composition. — This wiiite is a sul- phate of barium, or "baric sulphate" of the chemist, and known as " heavy spar " by the mineralogist. In composi- tion it consists ot 137 atoms of barium, 32 atoms of sulphur, and 64 atoms of oxygen. The constituents in the above proportions constitute the neutral sulphate of barium. Constant white is occasionally a mixture of car- bonate and sulphate of barium. Note.— When carelessly made this white is not entirely freed from sulphuric acid. Such acid is injurious to its stability. Artistic Qualities. — This white is of a beautiful though B 2 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. bluish-tinted white, dense in tone, but deficient in body. It has a darker tone when moist {i.e. when being used) than it has when dry. Gum-water destroys or mars the white- ness. It is of good use for fresco, siHcious, and water- colour painting. Conditions of Permanency. — This white is perfectly per- manent under all conditions. Sulphuretted hydrogen gas does not aftect its colour, nor does any pigment containing sulphur, since the sulphide of barium which night be formed is also white. This is a great desideratun where purity of high lights is requisite, or a white has to be used almost pure. Strong light, darkness, oxygen, lead, or iron, have no injurious action on the purity of this white. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — The neutral sulphate is the one the artist should employ, because the acid sulphate is semi-stable, since the free acid is apt to be injurious when brought into contact with pigments affected by acils, or on some of the oils and other vehicles used. In some cases an acid will darken a colour ; in others it bleaches or robs a pigment of its colour, and in all cases, other white; as well, it has a disintegrating action. General Adulterations. — Lead salts {usually carbonates) are sometimes added to this white to give it body, i.e. covering power. Zinc salts (usually the oxide) are also added to give it whiteness. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If .he white be pure, no reaction will be shown by adding a little solution of sulphuretted hydrogen to the pigment. If a le^d salt be present, this test agent will cause a black precipitate to be formed. To test for the presence of other metal?, use the BLANC D' ARGENT. tests given under white lead. To detect free sulphuric acid, add a slip of blue litmus paper to a washing of the pigment; if the blue colour is turned red, free acid is present. If the white paint is found to contain much free acid, it may be greatly divested of the acid by washing the pigment with distilled water. This may be done by placing the pigment on a filter-paper, and directing a stream of water on to it from the wash- bottle. In this operation the filter paper containing the pigment is supported in a glass funnel. Remarks. — The amorphous state of the sulphate is the best for use on the palette, because in this state its covering power is best. This white is the best to use with sulphides of metals, lead or iron pigments, e.g. cadmium yellow, vermilion, yellow and orange chromes (of lead), Indian, Venetian, and other reds, of which the basis is iron, and red and yellow ochres. The neutral sulphate should be tested for free sulphuric acid, since if present the permanency of the white itself is weakened, and this acid has also power to destroy other pigments. BLANC D'ARGENT (or Silver White, or French White). Chemical Names and Composition. — This white is a white obtained from lead by a process different to that employed in making flake white. Artistic Qualities. — This white has less body than flake white, but is of exquisite whiteness. Conditions of Permanency. — This white is just as stable, no more, no less, than white lead used in a similar manner. 4 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Conditions of ISIon-Permanency. — It suffers, in ccmpany with white lead, since this white possesses all the deleterious characteristics of the more frequently used white lead. General Adulteratio7is. — Chalk and baric sulphate are those most chiefly to be searched for. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — The tests given under " White Lead " apply to this pigment. Remarks. — This white is sometimes preferred by artists as a white probably owing to its fanciful name, but it should be vigorously excluded from use, like the rest of the whites made from lead. FLAKE WHITE (when levigated called Body White). Chemical Names and Coinposition. — Oxidised carbonate of lead, or a compound of protocarbonate and hydrated oxide of lead. Artistic Qualities. — Identical under every circumstance with white lead or other lead carbonates. This white has the best body of all white leads. Conditions of Permanency. — The permanency of this wnite varies according to the mode of preparation. Conditions of Non-Permanency . — Refer to white lead for these conditions. General Adulterations. — This white is sometimes not entirely freed from the acid engendered in its manufacture. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Refer to the tests given under the heading of white lead. Remarks. — This white is called by the artists' co.ourmen " common white." It owes its flaky character to the mode WHITE LEAD. of preparation, and takes its name from the scrolls or plates in which it is formed. If it contains free acid, it is still more injurious to other pigments than when pure, as will be seen on referring to the general remarks at the end of this chapter on normal, basic, and acid carbonates of lead. This white is occasionally equal to Chinese white in colour, and generally superior in body to all other white leads. The presence of the hydrate of lead decreases the opacity of the product, according to the greater proportion in which it is present. WHITE LEAD (known also as Ceruse, Cremnitz, Dntch, Flemish, Hamburg, Venetian, or Eoman White). Chemical Na}ties and Composition. — The whites known under the above names are all carbonates of lead. Cremnitz white is usually pure white lead. Dutch white contains 24 per cent, of white lead and 75 per cent, of baric sul- phate. If they contain hydrate of lead the components of water are present. Hamburg white is a mixture of two parts heavy spar (baric sulphate), and the remainder white lead. Venetian white is sulphate of barium (basic sul- phate) and carbonate of lead in equal parts. Artistic Qualities. — These lead whites possess good body. The "body" (by which is meant covering power) is better in proportion as the carbonate is whiter and heavier. These and all lead whites are easy to work, are very opaque, and impart their quality to pigments compounded with it. Cremnitz white is the whitest of white leads. When mixed with barytes white, white lead is semi-transparent. Strong light, especially sunlight, will sometimes restore the bright- 6 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. ness of tarnished white lead ; so also will hydroxyl, i.e. per- oxide of hydrogen, or wafer, plus a second atom of oxygen. Conditions of Permanency. — Linton says white leads compound without injury with ultramarine, red and orange leads, yellow and orange chromes, yellow, orange, and red cadmiums, aureolin, the ochres, and Indian red, viridian, and also oxides of chromium. We criticise this assertion elsewhere. Conditions of Non- Permanency . — Much oil or varnish dis- solves these whites, partly by abstracting oxygen in their process of " drying," and partly by becoming brown them- selves. Also, sulphides of metals and sulphuretted hydro- gen (the symbol for this compound is SH2, which will be used in future) darken this white. White lead destroys the tints formed by it with lakes (madder lakes excepted), probably by oxygenating them, and so bleaching their colour. These whites are injured by darkness and impure air, and blacken sooner in oil (due possibly to the loss of oxygen) than in water. They are unsafe to use in fresco and distemper paint- ing, and in crayon. They are all very fugitive, and lose their opacity, allowing whatever paint is beneath to show through them. Massicot, red and orange leads, orpiment or king's yallow, and patent yellow, are injured by white lead. Hydrated oxide of lead gives white lead less covering power, and it turns to a brownish hue. General Adulterations. — These are whitening, sulphate of barium, sulphate of lime (/.if. gypsum or "plaster of Paris"), oxide of lead, and carbonate of lime. These substances are inimical to the perfect drying of white lead, and lessen its body and brightness, and darken the oil vehicles. WHITE LEAD. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If pure, white lead is entirely dissolved by nitrous or acetic acid, either of which leaves a clear liquid. Distinguished from other white pigments, when acted on by SHo or a sulphide by the formation of a black sulphide of lead. To test for whitening, add dilute nitrous acid, boil in a test-tube, and then add hydrochloric acid ; filter the liquid, and to the filtered solution add ammonic oxalate. A white deposit indicates whitening. To test for a barium salt, employ the blowpipe test, inner flame. A green coloration of the flame indicates barium ; with the same test, a red coloration indicates calcium or gypsum, i.e. sulphate of lime. Remarks. — The cause why white lead works so easily under the brush is owing to its saponifying with the oil {i.e. entering into a chemical union therewith), whence it becomes linoleate of lead, or " lead soap." This chemical union causes the pellicles of oil to be almost destroyed as a protective coating, since the new body thus formed is easily acted on by influences that would not attack the oil if the latter formed simply a coat or covering to the pigment, as it should do. Besides this union, white lead also parts with some of its oxygen to the oil, whereby the latter becomes dry and hard, thus leaving the metallic lead more open to the action of sulphurous fumes, or to pigments possessing sulphur, to be turned into the black sulphide of lead. Cremnitz white is also known as Vienna white, being brought from Vienna in cakes of a cubical form. It is the brightest white that is used in oil, but possesses rather less body than flake white, because the particles are finer. 8 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Roman white is of the purest colour, and differs only from Blanc d' Argent in the warm flesh tints of its surface when in large masses. ZINC WHITE, or Chinese White. Chemical Names and Composition. — Oxide of zinc, or zincic oxide. This white consists either of 65 atoms of zinc to 16 of oxygen, or else it is the anhydrous oxide, the hydrate oxide, or hydrated basic carbonate of zinc. Artistic Qualities. — This white wants body in oil, but it is the best possible white in water-colour. It is a bad dryer, although it is an excellent " dryer " itself for oils. Zinc white may be mixed with various pigments possessing dura- bility, such as the oxides of iron, charcoal, oxides of man- ganese, ultramarine, &c., and will then furnish colours the tones of which will remain permanent ; and this is a great advantage in painting, whether alone or mixed with other pigments. Zinc white is used for oil and water-colours, and for varnish and distemper painting. Conditions of Permanency. — This white is thoroughly permanent under all conditions of use or mixture. It does not form a soap with oils and fats. It retains its opacity, and is not fugacious, like white lead. It is most durable in silicious painting or stereochromy, in which process of painting it forms chemical compounds with potash and silicon, which are stable. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — It is not impermanent under any circumstances. General Adulterations. — These are carbonate of lead and NORMAL, BASIC, AND ACID CARBONATES. 9 sometimes carbonate of lime, and kaolin {i.e. china clay), and starch. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If the zinc white be pure, it is perfectly soluble in hydrochloric acid, and does not effervesce during solution like white lead. To detect lead, add SH3, and if salts of lead be present, a black precipitate is formed ; the borax bead, with the blow- pipe test, will be purple if manganese be present. If iron is added, that metal will be obtained in a metallic powder when the pigment is heated on charcoal with carbonate of soda under the blowpipe analysis. Remarks. — This is a good pigment when well prepared. Since it does not saponify with oils, this white is the safest to use where permanency of opacity is required. Although in itself it is less opaque, it possesses less body than white lead. It may, however, be laid over white lead when that has dried, to preserve the latter from subsequent deleterious influences, and this permanency and opacity of the whites will be maintained. Chinese white replaces the ordinary zinc white in water colours. Normal, Basic, and Acid Carbonates. The metal that yields the largest number of whites is lead, and the best white obtained from it, suitable for the artist, is the carbonate. Now, carbonates are usually divided into normal, basic, and acid. The normal carbonate is one in which the equivalent of the metal is united with the compound represented by the formula COa. 10 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. . A basic carbonate contains water ; that is, the hydrogen in the water that has united with the carbonate acts similarly to a base, or the opposite action to that of an acid ; while an add carbonate is one that has not been entirely freed from an acid radicle. Most carbonates are easily decomposed by heat. The carbonates of the heavy metals are all decomposed at a low red heat, giving off carbonic anhydride (CO2) and leaving a residue of metal or of oxide. The carbonates of the fixed alkali metals are not decom- posed by the strongest heat. At a very high temperature they are somewhat neutralised. The acid carbonates of the alkalies are reduced by heat to normal carbonates, with evo- lution of CO2. It may be wondered why we go so deeply into chemical points, but here it is that a knowledge of these points is valuable. Thus, alkalies decompose or destroy the materials used as vehicles in painting ; therefore, if a basic — i.e. an alkaline — carbonate be employed, we can see that it will commence a chemical action on the oil orvehicle with which it is incorporated, and this action may be such as to prove injurious to the picture ] whilst, again, an acid carbonate may be accidentally incorporated with a pigment — perhaps the oxide of a metal, and, since an oxide is a base, and tends to neutralise an acid, here again chemical action would be set up, the result of which could not but be damaging, even to the neutralising or fading of the tint. The greater number of fixed oils by exposure to the air become viscid and rancid, in which state they contain free acid. Now we have seen that bases and oxides neutralise BLOWPIPE TESTING. acids, therefore, a basic carbonate, or an oxide, by acting on the " free acid " would again set up chemical action and so prove injurious. Therefore the only carbonate fit for the purpose of a pig- ment is the normal or neutral one, and hence the value of having a means of testing the nature of the pigment, or, in other words, its purity. I/istructiojis i7i Blowpipe Testmg. — In many cases where it is desired to know which metal the pigment is a salt of, the blowpipe gives a readier means than what is known as the " wet process " of analysis, therefore the method of using this handy utensil should be thoroughly understood by the operator, especially so since the operation is so simple. In the first place, a steady flame is requisite. This is to be obtained thus : Close the lips and puff out the cheeks with air drawn through the nostrils ; while the cheeks are so inflated, press the blowpipe between the lips, and by the muscles of the cheeks force the air through the pipe, the supply being kept constant by drawing it in through the nostrils. This action will require some little practice to acquire, but it will be soon and easily learnt after a few trials. Having managed to acquire a constant blast, direct the nozzle of the pipe on to the flame of a spirit-lamp so that the flame is a horizontal one. This flame will then become pointed, and possess two distinct points ; e.g. in the interior of the flame is a b/ue coloured cone, while the outer portion is of a reddish tinge ; this blue point is termed the reducing flame, because it reduces metals from their oxides ; whilst the outer cone or shell is termed the oxidising flame, since 12 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. this oxidises salts. The blue flame consists of particles of unburnt carbon, particles with which oxygen has not com- bined, and therefore combustion has not taken place, whilst the outer flame owes its intense heat and incandescence to the violent union taking place between the oxygen of the air and the carbon particles of the spirit. To utilise this blowpipe flame, select a piece of charcoal free from knots and of fine texture and close grain, trim it up somewhat prism-shaped, and scoop out a hollow cavity at one end, into which put the salt to be tested, gradu- ally bringing the other end of the charcoal in the flame and then cautiously raise this end ; the flame shooting lengthwise of the charcoal ; the experiment will direct wherever the oxidising or reducing flame is to be employed. If the oxidising flame, the point only is employed, and this must not be directed on to the salt at once, or the whole would be scattered about, but gradually brought into it as described ; at the same time the full source of the blast nmst not be attained until the flux begins to fuse. Another method of employing the blowpipe flame, in- stead of the charcoal method, is to make use of a platinum wire and borax bead. Thus, take a piece of narrow soft glass tube, six inches long, heat it in the nnddle in the spirit flame, and when beginning to bend pull the ends apart and snap the tube in the centre ; take one of these pieces, and through the narrow end thus formed insert a piece of platinum wire four inches long, about three inches remain- ing out of the tube. By directing the blowpipe on to this narrow portion the wire will be firmly fused in the glass, the latter thus forming a handle that will prevent the heat BLOWPIPE TESTING. 13 reaching the fingers. The end of the wire should be formed into a loop about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. To employ this instrument, dip the loop into a little hydro- chloric acid to free the wire from corrosion. Never dip any- thing into the bottle of acid, for that might render the whole impure, but keep a little acid in a small test-tube or watch- glass. When testing by means of a platinum wire, hold it in the lamp or blowpipe flame, dip into a little borax, hold in the lamp again until the borax is fused into a clear glass bead ; then, moistening this bead in acid again, dip into the salt to be tested, and fuse in the inner or outer flame as the instructions direct. To free the wire from this bead, open the loop with the thumb and finger, free from corrosion with the finger nail, and purify by dipping in acid and heating in flame, after which it is fit for next test. CHAPTER II. GREEN PIGMENTS. CHROME GREENS. Chemical Names and Composition. — Oxides of chromium or hydrated or anhydrous chromic oxide. Sesquioxide of chromium. Consists of oxygen and chromium combined either by wet or dry chemical processes \ it is pale or deep, bright or subdued, opaque or transparent in appearance. Artistic Qualities. — These oxides when used in water require much gum ; when in oil, in which ihey dry well, they afford pure, natural, and durable tints. Conditions of Fennanency. — When anhydrous they can be used in enamelling, and are all thoroughly permanent, neither injuring nor being injured by other pigments, nor by foul gas, air, damp, nor light. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — When hydrated they cannot be used in enamelling. Mixtures of chrome yellows with Prussian and other blues are less permanent than the actual pigments. General Adulterations. — Chrome yellow, Prussian or other blues. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Test for presence of yellows made from lead or baryta or Prussian blue made from iron in usual way. If pure these tests will NATIVE GREEN. 15 give no result. If the tests affect the pigment, we may know that it is not a true chrome green. Remarks. — It is better to use the actual pigment than a green compounded on the palette. Mixed with raw sienna, gives a sombre and semi-transparent green. NATIVE GREEN (Pure Chrome Green, Green Oxide of Chromium, Opaque Oxide of Chromium, or Chrome Oxide). Chemical Names and Compositmi. — Is an impure native chrome ochre, prepared artificially for the palette. When obtained anhydrous by dry methods from the metal chro- mium, it is the only chrome oxide available in enamelling. Artistic Qjialities. — Is a cold, sober, sage green, deep- toned, opaque, and dull ; very dense and powerful. In flat tints the oxide does not wash well in water. Conditions oj Fermafiency. — Unchangeable in themselves and do not affect colours mixed with them. Conditions of Non-Permanency.— Chrome, greens contain- ing Prussian blue are acted upon by alkalies, and those containing lead suffer the disadvantages incidental to lead pigments. General Adulterations. — Ailificially prepared, chrome greens are often made by mixing solutions of lead and iron with prussiate and chromate of potash or by adding potassic chromate and then plumbic acetate to a solution of Prussian blue in oxahc acid, whence lead or iron may be accidentally present as adulterants. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Pure chio- 1 6 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. mium greens when subjected to great heat retain thesir colour unchanged. Remarks. — Should be used with a delicate hand to prre- vent heaviness. In tints with white it is delicate and pleais- ing, being silvery and luminous ; good for atmospheric effects. TRANSPARENT OXIDE OF CHROMIUM. Chemical Names and Composition. — A compound of oxygen and chromium. Artistic Qualities. — Is deficient in body, and only useful in oils. Is a pale greyish green in powder. Conditions of Permanency. — Unchangeable and harmless to other compounding pigments. Remarks. — A yellowish green of some depth, moderately bright, in oil not very pure or clear. EMERALD GREEN (Schweinfurt, Vienna, Imperial, Brunswick, and Mitis Green). Chemical Names and Composition, — It is a cupric aceto- arsenite. Artistic Qualities. — These greens, which are identical in body but variously named, are lighter, more opaque and vivid than Scheele's green. Reflect light well ; dry badly in oil, but better in water. Compounded with aureolin they are softened and semi-transparent. Conditions of Permanency. — Are perhaps the most per- manent of the copper greens, both alone and in tint with white. Are not much affected by damp or foul air. MALACHITE. 17 Conditions 0/ Non- Pe/'7tia?ieficy. — Cannot be used in fresco or silicious painting. Cadmic sulphide also would de- compose them with formation of the brown sulphide of copper. General Adulterations. — Brunswick green is often but a mixture of chromate of lead and Prussian blue. Remarks. — Should be used only in small quantities, or its brightness toned down by introduction of masses of other greens. Contains arsenic, so should be used with caution. MALACHITE (Mountain, or Hungary Green). Chemical Names and Composition. — Is a hydrated di- carbonate of copper, combined with a white earth. Formed native by the constant dropping of water satu- rated with carbonic acid, and holding in solution the oxide of copper. Artistic Qualities. — For artistic purposes it is prepared artificially ; the latter is not so bright as the native variety, which gives greens varying from emerald to grass green, inclining to grey. Conditions of Permaneticy. — Durable in pure air and light. Conditions of Non-Permamncy. — Blackened by bad air and age, and exclusion from light. Converted into blues by the action of alkalies. Inferior in durability to Scheele's greens. Gcfieral Adulteratiofis. — The general adulterants of these three greens consist of various mixtures of blues and yellows. Remarks. — Scarcely fit for the artists' palette. i8 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. SAP GREEN (Verde Vessie, Iris or Bladder Green). Chemical Names arid Composition. — Is the inspissated juice of buckthorn berries, or made from the green leaves of the woad, or the blue flowers of the iris, &c. Artistic Qualities. — Is dark in colour, of a fine natural yellowish transparent green. Useful in water for flower painting. Cojiditions of Permanency. — Fairly durable in water colours, less so in oil. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Imperfect as a pigment, as it attracts moisture, and is thus liable to engender mil- dew. Fugitive in course of time. Getieral A duller atio7is. — Adulterated with other vegetable green colours, such as extract of coffee-berries. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — When pure has a glossy fracture. Remarks. — Similar pigments obtained from coffee-berries, and named Venetian and emerald greens, are of a colder colour, equally fugitive, and are now obsolete. SCHEELE'S, or SWEDISH GREEN. Chemical Names and Composition. — Cupric arsenite. Cop- per and arsenic. Artistic Qualities. — A good light green when well pre- pared. Should not be used in flesh tints. Is less opaque and of a darker shade than emerald green (of copper). Conditions of Permanency. — Similar in stability to emerald green. Permanent when alone and with white lead. Is TERRA VERTE. 19 less affected than the other copper greens by foul air and damp. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — Is destroyed when mixed with the true Naples yellow or antimoniate of lead. General Adulterations. — All the metals used in its manu- facture are present in a free state if carelessly prepared. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — The presence of free copper and arsenic can be detected by using the tests for those metals. Remarks. — Since it contains arsenic, it should be carefully kept from children, and the brush should not be put in the mouth. TERRA VERTE (Green Earth, Verona Green, Green Bice, Verdetta, or Holly Green). Chemical Names a7id Composition. — A species of ochre containing silica, oxide of iron, magnesia, potash, and water. When calcined it forms another pigment called Verona brown. Artistic Qualities. — Grows darker when mixed with oil. Weak in body and semi-transparent, dries well in oil, and is useful for glazing. Conditions of Pertna?iency. — Is very durable alone and with other colours ; strong light and vitiated atmosphere have no effect on it. Conditions of Non- Permanency.- —Its colour is destroyed by acids. General Adulterations. — Adulterated with yellow ochre. Tests for Purity and N'ature of Adulterants. — See tests given under yellow ochres. 20 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Remarks. — Useful to landscape and marine painters. In combination with Indian red and Naples yellow, it gives a series of mild russet greens, of much use in middle dibtance. VERDIGRIS, or Viride iEris. Chemical Names and Compositioti. — An acetate of copper crystallised or distilled ; a compound from acetous acid and oxide of copper. The verdigris of commerce is a sub- acetate of copper, i.e. a salt in which the oxide is in the largest proportion. Burnt verdigris means an oxide instead of an acetate of copper. A?tistic Qualities. — A very bright, cold green : dries rapidly, and is useful for glazing. Before using it for glazing, the colour over which it is laid should be thoroughly dry, or else the whole will crack. Burnt verdigris is of an olive hue, and from its siccative qualities dries admirably. Dis- tilled verdigris is useful for the plumage of birds, panes of church windows, draperies, and where lively greens, as in ])recious stones, are desirable. New clean brushes should be used with tliis pigment. Conaitions of Permanency. — Crystallised verdigris, when ground in oil varnish is not soluble in water. In oil it is permanent m light and air, and in varnish stands better than in oil. Verdigris employed as directed by Eouvier undergoes no change : — " It is so impri. oned in the copaiba, which becomes very hard, and in the varnish, which dries instantly, that the air has no time to attack it." Eouvier found that after eighteen years verdigris used after his nie:hod was as bright as when first put on. VERDIGRIS. Conditions of Non-Peniiaiiency. — Crystallised verdigris should be varnished as soon as dry, because being a soluble salt it would be carried ofif whenever the picture is washed. The least durable of copper greens. Light fades it in water. Damp and foul air first bleach it, then turn it black. In oil, moisture and foul air change its colour, and cause it to effloresce or rise to the surface through the oil. General Adnlteraiions. — Largely adulterated with chalk and sulphate of copper. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adjilterants. — If pure, vinegar will dissolve it, forming a green liquid useful for colouring maps. To test for chalk, see baryta white. If adultcrared with sulphate of copper, SHj will indicate the sulphur present in it as a brownish black mass of cupric sulphide, which is insoluble in dilute acids. ^d'WrtrX'X. — liouvier's directions for using verdigris green are these : — " Carefully finish the ol)ject to be glazed by it, using for the greens thereof Prussian blue and Naples yellow or yellow ochre. Keep the colour yellowish, or even on occasion make it pure yellow, but let no white be admitted. . . . Let the object thus painted dry ; glaze, then having crushed some crystallised or distilled verdigris into a fine powder, mix into it as quick as possible equal parts of fine mastic varnish and balsam of copaiba (the whitest and least viscous obtainable), then spread this rapidly as a glaze over every part, both light and shade, as if you were varnishing. If the glaze be not deep enough, let it thoroughly dry and then paint afresh." 22 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS, VIENNA GREEN, or Brunswick or Schweinfart Green. Chemical Names and Composition. — Compound obtained from sulphate of copper, white oxide of arsenic, potash, and acetous acid. Ordinary Brunswick green is compounded of chromate of lead and Prussian blue. Artistic Qualities. — Ordinary Brunswick green cannot be used on walls containing lime, as the action of the latter alters the tint of the Prussian blue in this green. Cofiditions of Non-Ferma?iency. — Not likely to be of any permanency. General Adulterations. — Carelessness of manufacture will leave portions of the constituents in a free state. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — ^^'ash the green with water and dip in a blue litmus paper ; it will be turned red if free acid be present, and a red paper will be turned blue if free potash be present. If free copper is present in the solution, a little potassic hydrate will throw down a light blue precipitate. Remarks. — Ordinary Brunswick green is not suitable for pictures, as the reaction of the chromate of lead on the Prussian blue ultimately destroys it. VIEIDIAN, or Guignet's Green. Chemical Names and Composition.— Oxide of chromium, containing a small quantity of water. Artistic Qualities. — Is eligible in fresco. Is a rich trans, parent colour ; used with aureolin, is a brilliant foliage green, and useful for glazing and for aerial and liquid effects. " A ZINC, OR COBALT GREEN. 2j gorgeous green, being not unlike the richest velvet. Pure and clear as the emerald, it may be called the Prussian blue of greens, of such richness, depth, and transparency is it. In hue of a light bluish green, its deepest shades verge on black, while its light tints are marked by trans- parent clearness unsurpassed. No compound of blue and yellow will afford a green at once so beautiful and stable, so gifted with the quahty of light, and therefore so suited for aerial and liquid effects. When fitly compounded, it will be found invaluable for the glassy liquidity of seas, in painting which it becomes incumbent to employ pigments more or less transparent." Conditions of Permanency. — Is the most permanent and best green of the palette, and is neither injured by nor injures other pigments. Is unaffected by light, damp, or impure air. Cotiditions of Non-Permanency. — Cannot be used in enamelling, as the colour, depending on the water of hydra- tion, is destroyed by the strong heat. General Adulterations. — If adulterated, other chrome greens will be found. Remarks. — Is suitable for both aqueous and atmospheric effects ; of great use in draperies and illumination. ZINC, or COBALT GREEN (Rinman's Green). Chemical Names and Composition. — Compounded of zinc and oxides of cobalt. Artistic Qualities. — Inferior in colour and body to the chrome greens, but it appears to possess more body than any of the other colours made with zinc. 24 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent both alone and in combination, and similar to cobalt blue in character. It resists change from oil, light, and foul air. Geiieral Adnlitrations. — A spurious green would be made up of cobalt blue and a yellow mechanically mixed. Tests for Furity and Nature of Adulterants. — See tests given under iron pigments. Remarks. — Moderately bright in tone. " Zinc green " should more properly indicate a cyanide of zinc and iron, obtained by macerating finely-powdered Prussian blue in a strong solution of chloride of zinc. CHAPTER III. BLUE PIGMENTS. ANTWERP, HAARLEM, BERLIN, or MINERAL BLUE. Chemical Names and Composition. — Ferro-prussiate of alumina. Similar to Prussian blue, with the addition of the earthy base alum. Artistic Qualities. — Lighter than, and similar in properties to, Prussian blue. Is a rich blue, fascinating to the artist, but should be used with caution. Conditions of Permanejicy. — Is more permanent in pro- portion to the less amount of aluminous base it possesses. Conditions of Nofi-Pennancficy. — Not so permanent as Prussian blue. General Adulterations. — Ochres and chalky matters. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Hydrochloric acid will cause effervescence if chalk be present. Distin- guished from Prussian blue by possessing a more earthy fracture. Remarks. — Ligliter in colour and greener in tinge than Prussian blue, with less depth. C^RULEUM (Cerulian, or Egyptian Blue). Chemical Names and Composition. — The modern pigment is a stannate of cobalt. Sulphate of lime is sometimes present. The ancient Egyptian blue was artificially made 26 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. of carbonate of soda 15 parts, powdered flint 20, and copper 3. Artistic Qualities. — Of dense body. Useful as a water colour, in fresco and enamel ; appears better as a blue in night-time than in day. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent under the influ- ences of heat, light, or atmosphere. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Oils are said to injure the delicacy of its tone. General Adulterations. — A factitious cerulian is obtained by mixing ultramarine with Naples yellow and white lead. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Test for presence of lead and Naples yellow (which see). Remarks. — Becomes greenish in time, probably by the yellowing of the oil. Linton says that the ancient caeruleum was a native carbonate of copper. COBALT BLUE (Col)alt Ultramarine, Vienna Blue, and Azure). Chemical Names and Composition. — Silicate of cobalt and potassium, or a compound of cobalt and alumina. Artistic Qualities. — Fine blue pigment. Somewhat defi- cient in body in water; dries well in oil. Can be used in fresco, enamel, and silicious painting. Useful as a substi- tute for ultramarine, on account of its brightness of colour, and superior when used in skies and other objects which re- quire even tints. Used occasionally in retrieving the briglit- ness of those tints when too heavy, and in draperies, &c. Capable by its superior brilliancy and contrast of saddening the brightness of other blues. INDIGO. 27 Conditions of Permanency. — Thoroughly permanent in mixture with other pigments. Conditions of No7i- Permanency. — Light and foul air slightly affect its brilliancy. When not well prepared, some speci mens incline to violet and green. General Adulterations. — Is purest when free from iron. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Distin- guishable from native and artificial ultramarine by not being discolourable by acids. Refnarks.— CohsXx. blues include King's blue (a carbonate of cobalt), Thenard's blue (a salt of cobalt calcined with alumina or oxide of tin), and smalt (a glass coloured with cobalt and then ground). INDIGO, or Indian Blue. Chemical Names and Composition. — A vegetable blue. Artistic Qualities. — Deep blue colour, useful in water and oil. Good body, powerful and transparent ; glazes well. Used for twilight and evening skies, but not sufficiently bright for skies on clear days. Is useful for the green of trees when mixed with burnt sienna and gamboge ; useful when mixed with lake and gamboge to make greys and neutral tints. Washes smoothly, and much more easily than Prussian blue. Conditions of Permanency, — Permanent under ordinary conditions of pure atmosphere, &c. Cojiditiofis of Non- Permanency . — Fugitive in tint with white lead, and affected by foul air. General Adulteratiojts. — Sometimes adulterated 50 per cent, with sand, pulverised slate, or earthy bodies when sold in dust or small pieces. tS THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Tests for Purity a7id Nature of Adulterants. — The best in- digo will swim upon water, and is lightest, brightest, and most copper-coloured, of most fine grain, and inodorous. Remarks. — Useful to supersede Prussian blue for shadows. Prussian blue with a little black and a tinge of green in it equally replaces indigo in its uses. PRUSSIAN, BERLIN, PARISIAN BLUE. Chemical Names and Composition. — Prussiate of iron and ferro-cyanide of iron, i.e. it consists of carbon, nitrogen, and iron. Artistic Qualities. — Good body, powerful yet transparent. Combines well with white lead to form splendid though liarsh tints. Dries and glazes well in oil. Imperfectly made, has a greenish tinge. Good drier. Suitable for the blue part of clear fine-weather skies at all times of the day ; makes a purple when mixed with lake, which is useful for distant mountains and drapery. Makes a bright green when mixed with gamboge, and is permanent, but rarely used for the greens of trees ; makes a good pearly grey for clouds when mixed with lake and a little gamboge. Conditions of Permanency. — Fairly durable, though less permanent than the blues of cobalt or ultramarine. Soft or disdlled water should be used with it in water colours, since any carbonate or lime present in " hard " water will injure its tone. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Alkalies decompose it, and strong light causes it to fade, but darkness restores its colour. Hydrochloric acid again restores its colour afier action on it of alkalies. SMALT. 29 General Adulterations. — Ochres and other earths, mineral matters, chalk, pipeclay, sulphates of lime and baryla ; sometimes starch coloured blue with iodine. Tests for Furity and Nature of Adultera?its. — Best kinds are intense, almost black in hue, hard and brittle. Are in- odorous and tasteless, and adhere to the tongue. If pure this blue does not effervesce with acids; but if adulterated with carbonates, as chalk, it does effervesce with acids. If starch be present, boiling water renders the pigment pasty. Remarks. — Cannot be used in fresco or silicious painting, because of action of alkalies. Turnbull's blue (ferro-cyanide of iron) is lighter and more delicate than Prussian blue. A green made with Prussian blue cannot be used on walls con- taining lime. SMALT (Azure, Enamel, Dumonf s, or Royal Blue). - Chemical Navies and Composition. — Is a fused silicate of cobalt, consisting of glass rendered blue by fusion ; the glass is then powdered and used as a pigment. Artistic Qualities. — Is a vivid and gorgeous blue, bright, deep, and transparent. Most valuable for fresco and sili- cious painting ; can be used in water and oil ; possesses litde body, and does not wash well. Conditions of Permanency. — Is permanent ; not affected by SH,. Ge?ieral Adulterations. — The finer it is ground the more it decreases in intensity, until it eventually becomes colour- less. Chalk (carbonate of lime) is the most usual adulterant. Tests for Furity a/id Nature of Adulterants. — See above test for chalk. 30 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Remarks, — Bouvier says it dries well, Tingry that it is a bad drier. Probably the bad drier was of a coarse variety. One way to use it was to strew it as a dry powder on a freshly-painted blue ground. ULTRAMARINE (Outremer Lazurline, Lazuline Blue, or Lazurstein). Chemical Names atid Composition. — Lapis lazuli ; it con- sists of silica, alumina, soda, and sulphur. Artistic Qualities. — Pure in tint, transparent in shade, dries and works well in oil, and from its silicious nature is useful in fresco and silicious painting. Mingles well with blacks, greens, and greys, and reds for purple. Ultramarine Ash is obtained from the stone after the richer and more in- tense blue has been exhausted. Although not equal in beauty and inferior in strength of colour to ultramarine, it is a valuable by-product, varying in shade from light to dark, and in hue from pale azure to cold blue with a grey cast. It affords delicate and extremely tender tints, not so positive as ultramarine, but which, as water colour, washes much better. It furnishes greys softer, purer, and more suited to the pearly tints of flesh, skies, distances, foliages, shadows of drapery, &c., than those composed of other blues, with white and black, which the old masters were wont to employ. Ultramarine, however, produces the same effect when broken with black and white, and is thus sometimes carried throughout the colouring of a picture. The ash, compounded with lampblack, gives a soft cold grey for dark lowering clouds, or for twilight away from the sun's influence. Alone it is adapted to very remote hills or mountains, and with orient yellow or aureolin, to distant mountains. ULTRAMARINE, 31 Conditions of Permanency. — Thoroughly permanent for all usual artistic purposes. Conditions of JVon- Permanency. — Hydrochloric acid, or even a weak acid, like citric acid (lemon juice) decomposes both the native and artificial ultramarine. Any acid pig- ment, as impurely made Constant white, should not be used with it. General Adulterations. — Sulphates of baryta and lime. Tests for Purity arid Nature ofAdultera?its. — Add an acid to the pigment, and if pure its colour will completely disap- pear, and without effervescence ; should it effervesce it indi- cates the presence of a carbonate of some metal as an adulterant. A hot concentrated solution of alum in water, or strong distilled vinegar, discolours and decomposes arti- ficial ultramarine. Nitric acid will destroy the blue colour, leaving only an earthy yellowish-grey gelatine. If cobalt or Prussian blue be used as adulterants, the acid tests will not affect the ultramarine. SHg does not affect indigo blue, but destroys ultramarine, and is a good test. Remarks.— OuQ of the best permanent pigments of the palette, whether native or artificially produced. Varies in tone and purity from deep to pale blue ; also obtained with a greenish violet or rose-colour tinge, according as it has yellow or red oxide of iron mixed with it. ARTIFICIAL, FRENCH, METZ, GMELIN'S BLUE, FAC- TITIOUS ULTRAMARINE (or Bleu de Garance, and Outremer de Guimet). C/wfuical Names and Composition. — Silicate of alumina and silicate of soda with sulphide of sodium. 32 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Artistic Qualities. — This artificial pigment, when well made, can be safely used in place of the native variety. Conditiojis of Per7na)ieiicy. — Permanent. The most desirable are those possessing the most colour. Conditions of N'on- Permanency. — Strong heat turns it to dingy blue, and finally white ; like the native variety, it is decomposed by ignition in hydrogen gas. General Adulterations. — Is as a rule darker and less azure than the native pigment. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — No free sul- phur should be present, nor sulphate of soda. To test for latter, wash the ultramarine and add baric chloride, and if this salt is present a cloudy precipitate will be given. Re/narks. — In water it should be used with a gum free from acid. Blue ash is the product obtained from the last grintling of the lapis lazuli ; the refuse remains furnish Mineral Grey. Unstable ultramarine (and the artificial is stable and unstable) blackens with white lead, which the genuine ultramarine does not. New Blue is an artificial ultramarine, hovering in tint between a rich ultramarine and cobalt. Permanent Blue is a pale ultramarine with a cobalt hue. CHAPTER IV. YELLOW FIGMENTS. AUREOLIN. Chemical Names and Composition. — Cobalt yellow : a com- position of cobalt, potassium, and oxide of nitrogen. Artistic Qualities. — A rich, brilliant, transparent colour ; mixes easily with other pigments. Useful for oil, water, or fresco. Salter says : — " With white it forms very beautiful and transparent tints. With cobalt and rose madder it forms exceedingly pure and transparent aerial greys. With sepia in addition it forms most agreeable delicate tints for distant trees when under the influence of a soft light or hazy state of the atmosphere. For foliage it imparts the vivid- ness and freshness of nature to every colour with which it is combined." Conditio7is of Permatiency. — Permanent alone and in com- bination. Sunlight, damp, impure air, and SHg have no effect on it. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — It is non-permanent in enamel, since heat destroys its colour. A steel spatula should not be used in mixing it with another pigment, especially if it be impure, since the steel would be oxidised by the abstraction of oxygen, thus weakening the stability of the pigment. General Adulterations. — Most usual adulterants are the chromates of lead or cadmium yellow. D 34 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — To test for cadmium see under cadmic sulphides and chromium. Am- monium sulphate forms a black precipitate with salts of cobalt, SHg does not precipitate solutions of cobalt salts. If the pigment be heated it assumes an orange red colour, gives off water, and then nitrous fumes, and leaves sesqui- oxide of cobalt mixed with nitrate of potassium. If tested in blowpipe flame, the borax bead is coloured a bright blue. Remarks. — Alkalies and SH2 have affected some impurely made specimens, and with indigo this has been known to be changed into the white indigo. The action is so very slight, and the specimens so few, that it may be considered the most permanent yellow known. Indigo is oxidised or burnt up by admixture with it, the yellow of the aureolin becoming brown, BARYTA YELLOW (Yellow Ultramarine, or Lemon Yellow). Chemical Names and Composition. — Neutral chromate of baryta. Composed of chromic acid and barium. This is the true Lemon yellow. Artistic Qtialities. — Useful in high light, and as a glaze over greens. A light wash gives cool sunny greens in distance. Semi-opaque. Conditiojis of Permanency. — The only chromate possessing durability ; damp, foul air, light, and steel palette knife have no injurious effect on it. Neither has white lead, nor other pigments, either in oil or water. Permanent in fresco and crayons. General Adulterations. — Sulphates of lead, baryta, and lime. CADMIUM YELLOW. 35 Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Test for the presence of the metals zuic, lead, and calcium. Remarks. — Opinions differ on the permanency of this pigment. CADMIUM YELLOW (Cadmia, or Jaune Brillant). Chemical Names and Composition. — Sulphide of cadmium or cadmic sulphide. 112 equivalents of cadmium, and 32 equivalents of sulphur. Artistic Qualities. — Is a rich, intense, brilliant orange ; useful in fresco and silicious painting. Excellent body and of great power ; works and washes well. For gorgeous sun- sets this colour is very valuable. With white, especially Chinese white, it forms beautiful tints for the light touches of bright clouds or mountains. Conditions of Permanency . — With the exception of the chromate, the cadmium yellows are all sulphides, and there- fore unaffected by SH^. Light, air, and impure atmosphere have no effect. Salter finds that cadmium yellow, if pure and devoid of free sulphur, neither injures nor is injured by white lead. If the pigment is doubted, it is best to use zinc white for forming tints. The full deep cadmium is the most stable. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — With white lead cad- mium yellow is unstable. It should not be brought into contact with pigments likely to be affected by sulphur or a steel palette knife. It decomposes emerald green. The pale cadmiums are somewhat unstable. Lemon cadmium is very fugacious. No free sulphur should be present, as it is injurious to other pigments. 36 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. General Adulterations. — Orpiment and chromate of lead, iodine yellow and compounds of copper, bismuth, or mer- cury are added as adulterants. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterajits . — Cadmium maybe known from yellow orpiment by not being volatilised when heated, and being insoluble in ammonic sulphide. If a black precipitate be given on adding SH^, the adulterants may be mercury, lead, bismuth, or copper compounds. To distinguish this yellow from copper compounds add SHj, and if pure it will be unaffected, and will be insoluble in alkaline sulphides, caustic sulphides, or potassic cyanide ; insoluble in cold but soluble in hot dilute nitric and hydro- chloric acids. Soluble also in dilute sulphuric acid. Rejuarks. — The "pale" cadmium is not strictly so, except in comparison with the deep cadmium we have been con- sidering. This pale cadmium is of a full rich brilliant yellow, but less orange than the deep cadmium. The paler the cadmium yellow, the less permanent it is. CHROME YELLOWS (Jaune Mineral, Cologne Yellow, Pale and Deep Chrome, Orange Chrome, Citron, Leipzig or Paris Yellow). Chemical Names and Composition. — Chromates of lead, in which the latter metal more or less exists in proportion to the depth or paleness of the pigment ; it is chromic acid combined with the metallic base. There are other chrome yellows, being chromates of strontian or zinc, but they are little used on the palette. Mineral yellow is a compound of lead and chlorine. Cologne yellow consists of chromate of lead (25), sulphate of lead (15), and sulphate of lime (60). CHROME YELLOWS. Artistic Qualities. — Are of various degrees of depth or tone, from lemon to deep yellow, possessing opacity and good body. Go cordially into tint with white, but they pos- sess a harshness and crudeness when compounded with other colours, and are devoid of that mellow richness which cha- racterises the cadmiums. The action of oils is always too great upon the lead in the presence of oxygen to allow of the colour being quite permanent. They should be used in draperies, where the changing would not greatly matter. Conditions of Fer?nane?icy. — The sulphates of baryta and lime are sometimes formed during manufacture, and they are an advantage, in that they not only lend a softness to the colours, but decrease the proportion of lead and the risk of change. Orange chrome is more lasting than yellow chrome. Foul air has no effect on citron yellow. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Non-permanent either in strong light, injurious air — in which they blacken — or in tint with white. They are destructive to Prussian and Antwerp blues compounded with them. Are Hkely to be affected by sulphur compounds and alkalies. The denser the body the more likely are chrome yellows to change. This change is more rapid in water than in oil. Citron yellow in con- tact with organic substances is apt to turn green. General Adulterations. — The chromates are often mixed with sulphate of lead — which is white — as well as with the sulphates of baryta and lime. Lead increases the readiness of the chromates to become black in impure air. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If pure the chrome yellow will be completely dissolved and without effervescence when boiled in a test-tube with a little dilute 38 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. nitric acid. The borax bead (blowpipe test) will be green if the tested yellow be a chrome yellow. Alkalies, orange or red protochloride of tin, and sulphurous acid reduce Cologne yellow to the metallic state. jRemarks. — Chromate of lead in its natural state was long known as " Siberian Redlead." Cologne yellow is a cheap inferior colour unfit for the palette, but is useful for mixing with other yellows. Jaune mineral is paler than the ordi- nary chrotnates of lead. Care should be taken as to what pigments are mixed with these chromates. Sulphides are liable to be acted on by the lead in the chromates. Cologne Earth. — This colour resembles sepia, but has more depth when dry. It is useful for making sketches, especially strong effects and classical subjects. These can afterwards be coloured, and the Cologne earth gives sobriety without coldness to the various tints which are laid over it. GAMBOGE (variously written Gamboge, Gamboge, Cam bogia, Gambodium, Gamboage, &c.). Chemical Names and Composition. — Vegetable yellow. A resinous gum which distils from various trees of a resinous nature. Artistic Qualities. — A clear yellow, bright and transparent, readily dissolving in water. Somewhat deficient in light and depth. Dries well, and can safely be used with other pigments. Mixed with lemon yellow of barium, can be used in oil. Useful for greens when mixed with blues, to be used in trees and greens, and to make greys and neutral tints when used with lake and indigo or Prussian blue, but most frequently with indigo. It should not be used in INDIAN YELLOW. 39 the horizon tints of evening skies, yellow ochre being a more mellow tint and preferable in tone. Gamboge will make a good orange colour when mixed with burnt sienna, useful for autumnal tints or faded trees. Makes pure green when mixed with indigo and Prussian blue. Conditions of Perma?iency. — Fairly permanent if properly employed. Mixed with other pigments, from its gum resin, it conduces to their stability and keeps its place well. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — Impure air deepens, and light weakens its tone. Not so stable in oil as water. White lead and other metallic pigments injure it, terrene and alka- line substances redden it, and alcohol dissolves it and alters its colour. General Adulterations. — Earthy matters. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — The tests for organic substances are too complex to produce satisfac- tory results in the hands of an amateur in analysis. Remarks. — In landscape, gamboge affords, with indigo or Antwerp blue, clear, bright greens, and with sepia a very useful sober tint. For sunsets and sunrise, use gamboge mixed with cadmium yellow. INDIAN YELLOW (or Purree, or Powre). Chemical Names and Composition. — Uriophosphate of lime. A magnesian salt of a curious acid called euxanthic. Artistic Qualities. — Pure yellow. Valuable in water under strong sunlight. Of far greater body than gamboge ; can be used in fresco. In oils useful for greens in landscapes. Is very brilliant, and being transparent is useful in glazing over greens which may be too dark and heavy, and to give them richness. 40 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent in strong light and foul air. Lime does not affect it, hence useful in fresco. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — Fugitive in oil, both alone and in tint. Affected by darkness and obscurity. Is in- jurious to cochineal lakes and carmines ; becomes brown by mixture with pigments containing oxygen. Hemarks. — Blackness in the shadows of foliage resulting from too much indigo is best corrected by this pigment em- ployed thickly. KING'S OR CHINESE YELLOW (Orpiment, or Auri- pigmentum). Chemical Names and Composition. — Arsenious sulphide ; arsenious or sulpharsenious anhydride, a combination of sul- phide and oxide of arsenic. Found natural ; also made artificially. Artistic Qualities. — A fine yellow, of good body. Works well. Highly poisonous. Conditions of Permanency. — Semi-permanent in oil or water. Conditions of Non-Pertnanency. — White lead destroys arse- nical yellows. Cannot be used with Naples yellow made from antimoniate of lead. Should not be used with green chromium oxides. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If pure it will be entirely volatilised when heated on a piece of porce- lain ; neither should it alter its colour when warmed with dilute hydrochloric acid. Test for white lead. Remarks. — The sulphur in combination with the arsenic, having less affinity for that metal than for lead, lets it go, LEMON YELLOW.— MASSICOT. 41 and forms a sulphide of lead of a dark greyish colour when this yellow is used with lead paints. LEMON YELLOW. Chemical Names and Composition. — Chromate, carbonate, and sulphate of lead. A mixture of chromium, carbon, sul- phur, oxygen, and lead. Artistic Qualities. — It has some better qualities than the chrome yellows generally. Conditions of Permanency. — Fairly permanent under ordi- nary conditions when well prepared. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Less affected by SHj than the chrome yellows. General Adulterations. — Sulphates of baryta and lime and arsenic. Tests for Purity atid Nature of Adulterants. — Test for the metals barium, calcium, and arsenic. MASSICOT (or Masticot). Chemical Names and Cofnposition. — Protoxide of lead. A higher degree of oxidation transforms massicot into minium. Combination of lead and oxygen. Artistic Qualities. — Unsuitable for fresco. May be em- ployed in preparing the drying oils, but drying oils prepared from lead pigments are dangerous to use. Light yellow sold in shops under this name is generally Ceruse calcined. Conditions of Permancftcy. — Pure and unmixed it is as permanent or fugitive as white lead. Conditions of Non-Perma7iency . — In tint with white lead, and in damp and foul air, it is destroyed. 42 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. General Adulterations. — Other yellows compounded with white. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Employ blowpipe test for chrome and baryta yellows. . Remarks. — One of the undesirable pigments. All lead pigments, notwithstanding their opacity, good body, and easy working, should be banished from the palette if perma- nency is desired. NAPLES YELLOW (the "Giallolino" of the Italians). Chemical Names atid Composition. — Now compounded of zinc ; formerly lead oxide and antimony, or antimoniate of lead. Artistic Qualities, — Good body, opacity, and covering power. The yellow now used in enamel painting is very similar to Naples yellow, being composed of the oxides of antimony and lead. Conditions of Permanency. — Not affected by sunlight. Prof. Church says that the continental Naples yellow, com- posed of zinc and antimony, is permanent. Conditions of Non- Permanency . — Affected by SHg, foul gases, and steel (which it oxidises by parting with oxygen) or iron pigments, as ochres, Prussian or Antwerp blues. General Adulteratiofis — Sulphates of lead, barium, and lime. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Should be tested for the presence of lead, since that metal if in its composition is very injurious. Remarks. — In the manufacture of Naples yellow it is of the greatest importance that the metals combined should be in the complete state of oxides. YELLOW LAKES. — YELLOW OCHRES. 43 YELLOW LAKES (Madder Yellow, Italian, English, and Dutch Pink, Quercitron Yellow or Lake). Chemical , Names and Composition. — Vegetable dyes on earthy bases. Obtained from annato, turmeric, and quercitron. Artistic Qualities. — Bright yellow ; very transparent ; bad driers in oil. Time changes their colour to orange or foxy hue. Conditions of Permanency. — Fairly durable if pure. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — Light, oxygen, and white lead destroy their colour. Metallic, arsenic, and alkaline bodies redden them. General Adulterations. — If adulterated will be with yellow dyes. Remarks. — Lakes of all colours should be used with cau- tion and looked upon with suspicion. YELLOW OCHRES (these include Jaune de Fer, Jaune de Mars, Sienna, or Raw Sienna). Chemical Names and Composition. — Hydrates of iron, and peroxides of iron ; i.e. they are composed of oxygen, water, and iron, sometimes closely combined with silica and alumina. Artistic Qualities. — Semi-opaque in oil or water. Useful for mixing for tints, and with Prussian blue to form greens. When calcined they acquire a deeper colour, sometimes becoming brown and red. Should be heated to 212° before mixing with oil, to expel superfluous moisture. Useful for stone buildings or plaster, cornfields, and yellow lights of the sky towards the horizon ; mixes well with Venetian red for warm lights on buildings, &c., but never to be used in the green for greens of trees, since it is not transparent 44 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. enough, and liable to be washed off too easily. Burnt Sienna is useful for rich banks of earth in sunshine and evening tints, and for glowing tints on buildings ; not to be used on the horizon tints of skies, but particularly useful in making greens of various degrees of warmth and depth, when mixed with purple grey; easily converted-^ into different degrees of warm or sober brown. Roman Ochre is useful for the purpose of yellow ochre, but being less bright is adapted for drawings of a deeper tone, and is more useful for the light tints of stone buildings. Not to be used in the green of trees. Conditions of Permanency. — Fairly permanent. Foul air does not affect them. The chemically prepared ochres have a more violent action on other pigments than the native variety, and are less preferable. Conditions of Non-Periua7iency. — The ochres should not be used with pigments affected by iron, or with carmine, lake, and intense blue. They affect sulphates of lead. General Adulterations. — Chalk and china clay (kaolin). The greater the proportion of clay the brighter the colour. Turmeric, Indian yellow, and yellow of coal-tar colours. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Hy droch loric acid will cause effervescence if chalk be present. Boil this solution, and if clay be present it will exhibit itself as a white gelatinous residue. When there is a proportion of clay the substance feels greasy, and has more body than one mixed with chalk. Wash with ammonia; if coal-tar yellow be pre- sent the liquid is coloured. Remarks. — Jaune de Mars and Jaune de Fer are artificially prepared iron ochres. Merime'e gives good reasons for MARS ORANGE, MARS YELLOIV, ORIENT YELLOW. 45 considering that no artificial ochres can have the same permanency as natural ochres. Mars Orange is a subdued orange of the burnt sienna class, but without the brown tinge that distinguishes the latter. It is marked by special clearness and purity of tone with much transparency ; it affords bright sunny tints in its pale washes and combines effectively with white. Being an artificial iron ochre, it is more chemically active than native ochres, and needs to be cautiously employed with pigments affected by iron, such as the lakes of cochineal, and intense blue. Mars Yellow, or Jaune de Mars, Jaune de Far, Iron Yellow, &c., is an artiricially prepared iron ochre of the nature of sienna earth. In its general qualities it resembles the ochres, with the same eligibility and exceptions ; but is more transparent, as well as purer, clearer, and richer and brighter. Like them it is quite permanent. Orient Yellow is absolutely permanent and perfectly unex- ceptionable in all respects, both in water and oil. It equals aureolin in stability ; not possessed of the same amount of transparency, it is distinguished by greater richness and depth. Of a soft golden hue, lustrous and luminous, it resembles a brilliant and somewhat opaque Indian yellow. A gorgeous and durable substitute for that fugitive pigment is produced by compounding the orient with aureolin, or by using the latter as a glaze. Being more transparent than the cadmiums, and less obtrusive, this yellow is adapted 46 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. for mellow sunset and sunrise clouds, as for instance, sun- shine on distant mountains. With French blue it affords a beautiful sea-green, and, mixed with aureolin, gives fine green tints. It is also eligible for draperies and illumina- tion. For enamelling it is inadmissible, the colour being destroyed by great heat ; but in fresco it may be safely employed. Turner Yellow, Cassel Yellow, Montpellier Yellow, Vienna Yellow, Mineral Yellow. — These various names belong to quite a number of colours, the composition of which is not properly established. Nevertheless they appear to result from the combination of a protochloride of lead with variable proportions of oxide of lead, and consequently suffer the disadvantages of lead pigments. CHAPTER V. RED PIGMENTS. CADMIUM RED. Chetniail Names and Composition. — Is a simple original pigment containing no base but cadmium. Artistic Qualities. — Approaches an orange scarlet tone ; has great depth ; works and dries well. Gives delicate washes, and is useful where opacity is undesirable. Conditions of Permanency. — Mixes readily and safely with other colours. Not affected by light, impure air, or ex- posure to atmosphere. Conditiofis of Non-Permanency. — Must not be used for enamel painting. General Adulterations. — If adulterated will be with red lead or vermilion. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants.— 'Yt^t for lead. Boil in water, and add SHj to solution. A dark precipitate indicates lead. To test for vermilion, heat a little in test-tube ; the mercury will volatilise and condense in metallic globules on sides of tube. Remarks. — Useful for all kinds of work but enamel. Compounded with white, this red yields a series of fine flesh tints. 48 THE ART/STS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. CHINESE VERMILION, or Carmine Vermilion. Chemical Names and Compositioti. — This pigment was sometimes a sulphide of arsenic, but is now obtained from meicury. Artistic Qualities. — Has a somewhat crimson hue not at all inclined to orange. Mixed with white is useful for rose and lilac tints of some complexions. Conditions of Permanency. — Safe to use with madder lakes. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Unsafe in combination with the lakes of cochineal. General Adulteratio7is . — See Vermilion. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Same as for vermilion. Remarks. — Scarlet and extract of vermilion are synony- mous terms. Orange i^ermilion gives delicate carnations, and is durable in oil and water. CRIMSON LAKE. Chemical Names and Composition. — Is an extract from the " coccus cacti " insect fixed to oxide of iron or aluminous base, and contains more of this aluminous base than car- mine does. The colour of this lake should be imparted to it during the process of manufacture, and not by subse- quent mechanical mixture. Artistic Qualities. — Not so deep nor brilliant as carmine. More useful in water than in oil, and useful for glazing ; over vermilion it produces a most brilliant scarlet, but is apt to vanish therefrom. Poppy oil is the best vehicle to use with cochineal lakes. CARMINE LAKE. 49 Conditions of Permanency. — More valuable and durable in water than in oil. Conditions of Non-Permariency. — Unstable either alone or in combination. Strong light renders crimson lake fugacious, whether in water or in oil ; white lead and other lead pig- ments, Naples yellow, and arsenical colours, destroy its hue. Lakes mixed with linseed oil turn livery. General Adulterations. — If made from an inferior insect, heavy spar, carbonate of lead, and Venice talc are some- times added to give it the silvery-grey reflection that is always to be met with on the best insect. Logwood and chalk are also sometimes added. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — A solu- tion of ammonia will purple the lakes made with logwood, Brazil wood, and others, but will not dissolve the colours produced from them. To distinguish other adulterants, use the respective tests for chalk, heavy spar, carbonate of lead, &c., given under white lead. Remarks. — Gives richness in flower painting and in illu- mination. It forms excellent greys with cobalt and gam- boge, and as a foreground colour it should be mixed with Vandyke brown. Useless for frescoes, as alkaline bodies purple the tones of lakes. A cochineal lake. CAEMINE LAKE. Chemical Names and Composition. — A cochineal lake. Artistic Qualities. — Has great power in full touches; possesses clearness in the pale washes ; works well. Seldom used in landscape painting. Conditiofis of Permanency. — Carmine, containing less base E 50 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMETNS. and most colouring matter, is the most permanent of the cochineal lakes. Oil or varnish as vehicles protect it. Im- pure air has little effect on it. Conditions of Noti-Permafiency. — In glazing, strong light causes the glaze to vanish, and in tint with white lead it is fugacious. General Adulterations. — Starch, vermilion, and alumina are occasionally added as adulterants. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — These may be detected by the tests given for cochineal lakes in general, or by adding liquid ammonia and then heating. The colour- ing matter is entirely dissolved, while the impurities remain insoluble. Remarks. — The name was formerly confined to the fine faeculences of the Kermes and cochineal tinctures, but now includes any pigment which is like them in beauty and powdery texture (as blue carmines), though the term is usually confined to crimson and scarlet lakes of cochineal. INDIAN LAKE, or Lac Lake. Chemical Names and Composition. — A resinous secretion of the " coccus ficus " deposited on twigs and branches of plants. Artistic Qualities. — Is a good deep colour, hard and nearly transparent. Conditions of Permanency. — Used thickly or in strong glazing, as a shadow colour, it is of great body and much permanence. (Salter.) Conditions of Non-Pertnanency. — Not thoroughly per- INDIAN RED AND PERSIAN RED. sr manent, but still more so than the other cochineal lakes. Is fugitive with white lead and in thin glazing. Gejieral Adulterations. — The most usual are chalk and sulphate of lime (plaster of Paris) and silica. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants . — The native variety has a brilliant conchoidal fracture. Remarks. — Inferior in brilliancy and durability to madder lakes. INDIAN RED and PERSIAN RED. Chemical Names ufid Composition. — Indian red is a hema- tite or peroxide of iron containing oxygen, iron, and earthy matters. Besides the Persian red obtained from the ochres, there is another which is a chromate of lead. Artistic Qualities. — Indian red has good body, of a purple russet hue, and is useful for fresco and silicious painting provided lime is not present. Goes well into combination. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent, Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Contains much oxygen, and when mixed with lakes and pigments, abstracting oxy- gen, its stability is weakened. General Adulterations — Chromates of lead and red ochres. Tests for Purity a?id Nature of Adulterants. — To dis- tinguish Persian red from other reds, if pounded in a mortar it assumes an orange hue. To test for chromates of lead use SHg. Remarks. — Persian red is sometimes used to adulterate vermilion, light and other reds. Chromate of lead in its natural state was known as Siberian red lead. 52 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. IODINE SCARLET, or Iodide of Mercury. Chemical Names and Composition. — Iodide of mercury or mercuric iodide. 200 equivalents of mercury and 254 equivalents of iodine. Artistic Qualities. — Good body and opacity. A mag- nificent scarlet, unequalled by any other pigment. Conditions of Non- Permanency . — Not permanent. It is subject to evanescence by slight influences. Is easily de- composed by other pigments ; pure atmosphere renders its colour fugacious ; foul air destroys its scarlet hue ; light causes it to vanish. General Adulterations. — Many adulterants which affect its hue. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — The best quality is of the finest colour. Soluble in alcohol and in excess of potassic iodide. Remarks. — Although useless as a pigment, it is mentioned here that its employment may be guarded against. MADDER LAKES (Madder Carmine or Tinted Carmine, Fink Madder, Rose Rubiate or Liquid Madder, Lake or Rose Madder). Chemical Names and Composition. — These lakes are ex- tracted from the root of the " Rubia Tinctorum." Artistic Qualities. — Brown and Purple Madder Lakes are; useful in landscapes for cattle, draperies and mossy stones and thatch near the foreground. Madder Carmine is the richest and deepest, and contains more colouring matter- than base. It varies in hue according to the mode of pre- MADDER LAKES. 53 paration. Madder Lake, useful for purples when mixed with indigo and Prussian blue ; the last should be used prin- cipally for distant hills and mountains. This mixture is also useful for the shadows of nearer but not yet distant hills. It makes a grey or neutral tint when mixed with gamboge and Prussian blue or cobalt. Madder lake is bright, rubs up easily, and with a better body of colour than the bright madders of cochineal, and lies more evenly. May be mixed with yellow ochre for the warm tint of skies instead of Venetian red. Pink Madder is a weaker preparation of this, paler in hue, and possessing less colour. Rose Madder is not as intense as madder carmine. It gives the most perfect carnation tints known. Does not rapidly dry in oil ; is less easy to work in water than cochineal. With cadmium yellow and Chinese white it is invaluable for glazing. The red portion of a sunset sky may be improved with a thin wash of this pigment. Rose Rubiate is a concentrated tinc- ture of a beautiful and perfect rose-colour and transparency. In its simple state it is used as a water colour with or with- out gum. In oil it dries by acting as a siccative. Conditions of Fermafiency.— M^iddtx lakes are the only thoroughly permanen tlakes of the palette. Madder carmine is the only desirable carmine for painting in oil or water. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — When adulterated their permanency is affected in respect of the nature of the adul- terations used. General Adulterations. — Madders are often adulterated with brickdust, red ochre, red sand, clay, mahogany saw- dust, logwood, sandal and Japan wood, and bran ; whilst the French madders have gum, sugar, salts, and other 54 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. soluble bodies, as likewise lac, cochineal, and carthamus or safiflower. Tests for Purity a?id Nature of Adtilterants, — Liquid ammonia or alkalies generally dissolve the colours of cochi- neal, lac, and safflower, so their detection is easy. If the liquid remains uncoloured on adding ammonia to an as- sumed madder lake, in all probability the pigment is genuine. Remarks, — " Lake " is a term applied either to red, yel- low, or blue pigments formed by precipitating colouring matters, as tinctures, on to some metallic oxide, alumina or other earth. All vegetable lakes should be regarded with suspicion if used in thinning, glazing, or delicate flesh or sky tints. Pink madder is now almost obsolete ; the name is given to rose madder, which is also called madder lake. In using these lakes a little of the dry colour should be crushed with the muUer and made up into a thick paste with a few drops of poppy oil, drying oil being used to thin it as it is wanted for use. By thus omitting the drying oil the pigment will remain moist for days. RED LEAD (Minium, or Saturnine Red). Chemical Names and Co}?iJ>ositiofi. — An oxide of lead. It is generally a mixture of two oxides of lead not chemically compounded, and is of an unceirtain composition. Artistic Qualities. — Of a scarlet colour, heavy and opaque in body. Is an excellent drier with other colours, but being lead it cannot be safely employed except with the ochres, earths, and blacks in general. Conditions of Permanency. — When pure or alone it is not RED OCHRE. 55 affected by light, and in simple varnish or oil not rendered drying by any metallic oxide it may stand a long time under favourable circumstances. Condiiiotis of Non-Fennanency. — White lead destroys its colour. SHg blackens it, and when mixed with it red lead undergoes a rapid oxidation. Nitric acid turns it brown. Red lead follows white lead in saponifying with the oil, and so in time loses its opacity, and allows the background to appear through. General Adulterations. — Badly made red lead is of a brownish colour. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — To dis- tinguish red lead from vermilion or iron reds (as the ochres) add a solution of SHg and a black precipitate of lead sul- phide will indicate the leaden nature of the pigment. Remarks. — Altogether unsuitable for the artist's palette. RED OCHRE (Indian Ochre, Scarlet Ochre, or Light Red). Chemical Names and Composition. — Is usually a sulphate of iron calcined into an oxide. Sometimes it is one of the yellow oxides of iron calcined. Artistic Qualities. — It is less harsh to the eye than ver- milion, and more harmonious in certain combinations. Conditions of Permanency. — The ochres are permanent when well prepared. Should not be mixed with those pig- ments likely to be affected by iron. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Should sulphate of lime be present, it is unsuitable for silicious painting, since sili- 56 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. cate of lime is formed by union with the silicate of potash, and the pigments become hard and lumpy. General Adulterations. — The native pigment is mixed with earthy substances. Remarks. — With vermilion or madder lake it is useful for the shadows of light red draperies. RED ORPIMENT, or Realgar. Chemical Names and Composition. — Diarsenious disul- phide ; i.e. a compound of arsenic and sulphur. Artistic Qualities. — Red orpiment, which is an orange colour, contains most arsenic, whereas yellow orpiment con- tains most sulphur. Poisonous. Conditions of Non-Permanmcy. — A dangerous body to use, since it destroys other pigments and absorbs the colour of the ground, especially so if the latter contain lead. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Arsenic is volatilised like the mercury in vermilion when heated in a narrow test-tube, and only a small portion of the realgar should be used. This arsenic pigment gives off an odour similar to garlic when heated in a test-tube. Remarks. — Both this pigment and its well-known yellow companion should be excluded from the palette. VxNETIAN, ENGLISH, or PRUSSIAN RED, or Scarlet Ochre. Chemical Names and Composition. — An oxide obtained from iron. Prepared by calcining sulphate of iron, to which a little nitric acid may be advantageously added. The result is a peroxide of iron more powerful and of a more scarlet tone than light red. VENETIAN, ENGLISH, OR PRUSSIAN RED. 57 Artistic Qualities. — With cobalt or French blue, with which it mixes well, it gives fine pearly greys. Heightened in tone by admixture with madder lake. Saddened by black, it gives low-toned reds useful for buildings. Compounded with aureolin, yields a clear orange. U.-^eful for the red horizon tints of skies, and to make a neutral tint when mixed with indigo and a very little lake, and is most excellent for its quality of mixing well with all colours (Indian ink not excepted), and lying evenly and smoothly on the paper, with less trouble than light red, for which it is a valuable substitute. It is preferable to indigo red, which is too heavy and purple, and is very good to mix with yellow ochre for general tints used in bricks, tiles, &c. Conditions of Permanency. — When well prepared it is permanent, but since it contains iron it should not be mixed with pigments affected by that metal. It is apparently not affected by SHg, light, damp, or foul air. Conditions of JVofi-Permanency.—^omttwiXQ^ unsuitable for silicious painting (see red ochre). General Adulterations. — In the manufacture of Venetian red, lime sometimes becomes mixed with it, and as the pigment is made from the sulphate of iron, sulphate of lime is formed. The presence of this impurity prevents the use of Venetian red in silicious painting. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Test foi presence of alumina, chalk, and gypsum. If pure no reac- tion will take place with the tests. Hydrochloric acid com- pletely dissolves pure oxide of iron. Remarks. — A good all-round pigment. 58 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. VERMILION (also called Cinnabar). Chemical Name atid Co7nposition. — Sulphide 'of mercury. Is obtained native, or is produced artificially by heating together 200 equivalents of mercury with 32 equivalents of sulphur. Artistic Qualities. — Has good body, due to its opacity; is useful in oil, water, and fresco. It must not be used with iodine, since it does not dry quickly. Compounded with whites, it forms delicate flesh tints, and with cobalt or French blue and white tender aerial greys. This is the brightest of reds ; is useful in flesh and drapery, and in painted objects, such as flags, boats, &c., being of that de- gree of brightness which will, by contrast, send back many other reds into distances. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent under all ordinary conditions. Being a sulphide, it is unaffected by SHg, and should not be brought into contact with a pigment on which sulphur acts injuriously. Vermilion in the course ot time turns slightly brown. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — When heated to a very high temperature with compounds of tin, iron, and anti- mony, it is decomposed. Unfitted for enamel painting, since alkalies and alkaline carbonates decompose it when at a red heat. Unstable with lakes. Becomes denser with age. General Adulterations. — Red lead, brickdust, oxide of iron, or Persian red (a peculiar chromate of lead). Some- times iodine scarlet is added to give extraordinary brilliancy. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If pure will MARS RED. — PURPLE LAKE. 59 be decomposed into metallic mercury and sulphur, and dis- sipated, when heated in test-tube. Hydrochloric acid and caustic alkalies do not affect it. Oxide of iron may be detected by hydrochloric acid. If lead be present a metal- lic bead of it will be formed if vermilion be fused on char- coal with carbonate of soda, the metallic mercury passing off as a vapour. If brickdust be present, heat the pigment in long narrow tube : the mercury will volatilise and brick- dust remain at the bottom of the tube. Iodine is dissolved by carbon disulphide, which assumes a fine violet colour. Remarks. — Field's orange vermilion is less opaque and also brighter, clearer, and purer than the ordinary vermilion. Scarlet vermilion possesses a more scarlet hue than vermilion proper. Mars Red, or Rouge de Mars, is an artificial iron ochre, similar in subdued tint and permanence to the native umber. Its chemical affinities, however, are greater than those of the latter, and it therefore requires to be employed cautiously with pigments affected by iron. In this respect the red resembles its compeers — Mars yellow, orange, violet and brown — all of which are iron ochres artificially prepared. Possessing the richness and depth of Indian red, it is dis- tinguished by a russet orange hue of light red. Its pale washes are marked by considerable clearness. Ptirple Lake is a species of crimson lake with a purple cast, transparent and deep toned and useful in shadows ; in other respects resembling that pigment. More durable than crimson lakes. CHAPTER VI. BROWN AND BLACK PIGMENTS. ASPHAITUM or BITUMEN (Antwerp Brown, or Bitu- men Judaicum). Chemical Names ajid Composition. — A mineral pitch of resin. The native asphalt is non-secure; the artificial is the residue of various resins and bituminous matters distilled for the sake of their essential oils. Artistic Qualities. — Is a rich brown. Has a powerful body, but is useless, as it liquefies and cracks unless mixed with an unctuous vehicle. It is dissolved in oil of turpen- tine. The native is superior to the artificial asphaltum when it is used as a permanent brown in water. Conditions of No?i- Permanency. — Is a most destructive pigment, since it contracts and cracks by atmospheric and caloric changes. General Adulterations. — Asphaltum is often adulterated with foreign matters, all of which render it still more destruc- tive in use. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — If pure it should present a glossy fracture, smooth and nearly black and brilhant. This fracture also has the appearance of un- dulations, arising, in fact, from the movement it experienced, whilst yet liquid, on the surface of the sea, and in its con- crete state it retains this form. BISTRE. — BROWN PINK. 6i Remarks. — The solution of asphalte in turpentine is com- monly called " asphaltum," and the mixture with drying oils "bitumen." Liquid asphaltum is a preparation made for use in water colours. BISTRE. Chemical Names and Composition. — The finer parts of beechvvood soot extracted by a watery solution. Artistic Qualities. — Not used in oil, as it dries with diffi- culty therein ; only in water. It has a powerful citrine brown colour, and washes well. Conditions of Fennane?icy. — A permanent colour. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — It attracts moisture from the atmosphere, and is therefore liable to engender mildew in water colours. General Adulteratio?is. — Accidental impurities, as coarse particles of soot, wood-ashes, &c. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — A gritty solution will at once show these impurities. Remarks. — Used in water like China ink, and has the same effect as brown pink has in oil. BROWN PINK. Chemical Names and Composition. — A vegetable lake made from dye woods and French berries by precipitation with alum. Artistic Qualities. — Great depth and transparency in water colour. All berry varieties dry badly. Works well both in water and in oil. Conditions of Permanency. — More permanent when worked 62 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. in full body than in thin glazings. The quercitron bark variety is semi-stable. Conditions of Non-Permaneticy. — When in combination ^ith white lead it fades. The berry variety is fugitive. General Adulterations. — May accidentally possess an ex- cess of soda or potash from careless manufacture. Tests, for Purity atid Nature of Adulterants. — If the alkali be in excess, the pigment possesses a brown hue instead of that of a citron hue. Remarks. — Should be used carefully in combination. Produces fine greens with Prussian or indigo blue. BLUE or FRANKFURT BLACK. Chemical Names and Composition. — Charcoal and cal- cined Prussian blue ; also burnt vine-twigs, cocoanut shells, &c. Artistic Qualities. — A most useful colour, and dries well in oil. In mixture with white, produces bluish tints. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent. General Adulterations. — Common black mixed with blues. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — It should be free from lumps and of fine texture. Remarks. — The blue-black of the ancients was made from the lees of wine. INDIAN INK and CHINESE INK. Chemical Names and Cotnposition. — Shell-lac lo parts, borax 20 parts, lampblack and water 40 parts. Chinese ink is the finest lampblack mixed with the oil of sesame and a little camphor. LAMPBLACK, OR LAMBLACK. 63 Artistic Qualities. — Finely opaque in body. When dry on the paper will not yield to the action of water, owing to its combining with the components of the paper. Conditions of Permaneiicy. — It is thoroughly permanent. General Adult eratiofts. — Earthy matters and inferior soots. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Is homoge- neous when rubbed in water. When diluted with much water will leave no precipitate after evaporation. When dry its surface is covered with a pellicle of a metallic appearance. Remarks. — Chinese ink may be distinguished by its being dissolved in vinegar without any precipitate. LAMPBLACK, or Lamblack. Chemical Names and Composition. — Smoke black. It is a pure vegetable carbon of fine texture, obtained by burning resins or resinous woods, turpentine, or camphor ; or made from the imperfect combustion of bone, oil, coal-tar, and the products of the petroleum stills. Artistic Qualities. — Is not so intense nor so transparent as ivory black but less brown in its pale tones. It has a very strong body which covers every underlay of colour ; works well ; it dries badly, but unites well in oil. Since it is a dense solid colour, it must be used sparingly. Conditio?is of Permanency. — It is durable. General Adulterations. — Inferior soot and earthy matters. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulteratits. — Lampblack is intense in colour and of light weight, the black obtained from coal-smoke being much heavier and coarser ; it con- tains a large quantity of ammonia. Remarks. — Salter says : — " Mixed with French blue or 6d THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. cobalt it gives good cloudy greys. With light red and cobalt in different proportions it yields most serviceable silvery tones. In the dark marking of murky and dirty clouds, a compound of lampblack and light red is particu- larly suited, while a mixture of it with cobalt and purple madder is adapted for slate-coloured sunset and sunrise clouds. In seas the colour is useful with raw sienna." MANGANESE BROWN. Chemical Names andComposition. — A deuteroxide of man- ganese. A native product. Artistic Qualities. — A useful semi-opaque colour ; has such good drying powers that it is often used as a siccative for oils and dark pigments. Conditions of Permanency. — Quite durable in water and oils. Conditions of Noti- Permanency. — Organic matters decom- pose manganates, so this should be used cautiously in pre- sence of animal and vegetable lakes. General Adulterations. — Various kinds of earths. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulta-ants. — Heated in outer flame (blowpipe test) the borax bead is of an amethyst colour ; in inner or reducing flame this bead becomes colour- less. This test distinguishes manganese brown from other browns. Remarks. — The peroxide of manganese forms the man- ganese black. MUMMY or EGYPTIAN BROWN. Chemical Names and Composition. — White pitch and myrrh combined with animal matter. PRUSSIAN BROWN. 65 Artistic Qualities. — A rich transparent colour. Conditions of Permanmcy, — It is less liable to crack and move on the canvas than asphaltum. Conditions of Non-Permanency. — It is a substance better rejected from the palette, as no reliance can be placed on it. General Adulterations. — Its organic origin renders it liable to contain ammonia and particles of fat in a concrete state, which are undesirable. Remarks. — Bodies were embalmed 3,000 years ago in liquid bitumen. It is this bitumen, combined with parts of the body, that compose mummy brown. PRUSSIAN BROWN, or Iron Brown. Chemical Names and Composition. — Calcined Prussian blue, or an iron oxide with alumina. French Prussian blue, as it contains more alumina, is better than the English Prussian blue. Artistic Qualities. — It is of great transparency, of a most harmonious tone, and dries well. When asphaltum would be used this should replace it. As good in water as in oil. Produces fine glazes with burnt sienna. Conditions of Permanency. — Perfectly permanent, and un- dergoes no change. General Adulterations. — Harmful chemical constituents are liable to be present from careless manufacture. The iron browns vary in colour according to method of, or careless- ness in, preparation. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adultera?tis. — The brown made from the English Prussian blue is of a golden yellow- ish brown. Another Prussian brown, a ferro-cyanide of 66 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. copper, can be detected by SH^ and is totally destroyed by the alkaline solutions used in picture-cleaning. Remarks. — If the calcination of Prussian blue be carried on in closed vessels, a deep black is procured possessing the properties of this brown. The copper Prussian brown is of a rich chocolate colour. SEPIA. Chemical Names and Composition. — Extract of cuttle-fish . Consisting of carbonaceous particles and animal gelatine. Artistic Qualities. — A dusky brown and transparent colour, dries badly in oil. Conditions of Permanency. — Permanent in oil and water. General Adulterations. — Earthy particles may be present. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — The pure sepia should be free from gritty particles when dissolved in water. Remarks. — Very pleasant working colour. UMBER, RAW and BURNT. Chemical Names and Composition. — A native ore of iron and manganese, mixed with silex and alumina. Also arti- ficially made. Artistic Qualities. — Possesses strong drying powers, works and washes well in water. Eligible in fresco, and has good body. Is useful as shadows to warm tints of earth and burnt sienna, and near foregrounds, and for the colour of earth. Useful also for small dark touches of shadow to pebbles, &c., in foreground. Conditions of Permanency. — Durable in oil and water; grows darker with age. VANDYKE BROWN. 67 General Adulterations. — Ochreous or earthy matters, or a too great preponderance of some one of its constituents in a free state. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — Browns are best when deep, rich, and transparent. Remarks. — An oUve brown colour, useful both raw and calcined. Should be used with white and other colours to form greys. VANDYKE, CAPPAH, RUBENS, CASSEL, and COLOGNE BROWN. Chemical Naines and Composition. — Cappah is a manganese peat. Rubens brown is a native earth of an ochreous cha- racter. Cassel brown is a native earthy brown. Cologne brown is an ochreous deep violaceous earth. Artistic Qualities. — A deep semi-transparent colour, good for glazing. Cassel earth compounded with burnt lake and a little Prussian blue gives a profound black. Conditions of Permanency. — Nearly permanent. To com- pensate for the action of strong light, should be mixed with permanent colours, such as umber, Chinese black, and oxide of iron. Conditions of Non- Permanency. — Strong light affects them. Cologne brown is fugacious. Gefieral Adulterations. — From their earthy nature these browns are liable to possess an unwonted quantity of much undesirable substance. Tests for Purity and Nature of Adulterants. — The methods of distinguishing these browns, or separating these earthy matters, are too complex for ordinary practice. 68 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Remarks. — All peaty browns, probably from their vege- table colouring, have a slight tendency to become paler when washed very thinly. Use the strongest drying oils with them. Mars Brown, or Brun de Mars, is either a natural or artificial ochre, containing iron, or iron and manganese ; of much richness and strict permanence. It resembles raw umber in being a brown with a citrine cast, but is generally marked by a flash of orange which is not observable in the latter pigment. Mineral Gray * is obtained from the lapis lazuli, after the refuse and ash has been worked out. It is a pigment peculiar to oil paints ; it is admirably adapted to that gray semi-neutrality prevalent in nature in atmospheres. In misty mornings, cloudy skies, and the like, this gray will be found useful. Neutral Tint is a compound shadow colour of a cool character. It is permanent except that, on exposure, the gray is apt to become grey — a change which may be pre- vented by a slight addition of ultramarine ash. So pro- tected, it becomes serviceable in landscape for the extreme distance, which, it may be laid down as a general principle, should be painted rather cold than otherwise. Payne's Gray resembles neutral tint in being a compound colour, and liable to assume a grey cast by time, but differs from it in having more lilac in its hue, and being, therefore, * Grey is a grey compounded with black and white ; gray is a gray with the blue replacing the black. RUBENS MADDER. 69 of a warmer tone. Giving by itself a clear violet shadow, it may be rendered more neutral by a small portion of burnt sienna, an admixture which, whether the gray or sienna predominates, affords useful tints. Compounded with light red or Vandyke brown, the gray is good for shipping and sails or the stems and branches of trees, while, with gam- boge or aureolin, it is suited to glossy leaves in high Hghts, also to vary cold tones in foreground, herbage, &c. Yellow ochre, light red, and Payne's gray form a mixture for banks and roads; the gray ochre and sepia, a most beautiful tint for stones ; and brown madder and the gray a fine shade for the black heads and feet of cattle. Alone the gray is service- able for slates, and, compounded with light red, for bricks or tiles in shadow. Rubens Madder, otherwise known as Orange Russet, Russet Rubiate, or Field's Russet. This is a very rich crimson russet with a flash of orange ; pure, transparent, and of a madder hue between orange and purple. It is a good glazing colour ; its thin washes afford fine flesh tints in water; and, as an oil pigment, it dries indifferently and requires to be forced by the addition of a little gold-size or varnish. It is not subject to change by light, time, or mixture of other pigments. TABLE OF REFERENCE. WHITE PIGMENTS. Baryta w. Blanc d'argent Body w. (see white lead) Ceruse (see ditto) Chinese w. (see zinc w.) Common w. (see flake \v.) Constant w. (see baryta w.) Cremnitz w. (see white lead) Dutch w. (see ditto) Flake w. Flemish w. (see white lead) French w. (see blanc d'argent) Hamburg w. , (see white lead) Permanent w. (see baryta w.) Roman w. (see white lead) Silver w. (see blanc d'argent) Venetian w. (see white lead) White Lead Zinc w. GREEN PIGMENTS. Bladder g. (see sap g.) Brunswick g. (see emerald g.) Burnt Verdigris (see verdigris) Chrome Greens Chrome Oxide (see native g.) Cobalt g. (see zinc g.) Emerald g Green Bice (see terra verte) Green Earth (see ditto) Green Oxide of Chromium Holly g. (see terra verte) Hungary g. (see malachite) Imperial g. (see emerald g.) Malachite Mitis g. (see emerald g.) Mountain g. (see malachite) Native g. Opaque Oxide Chromium (see na- tive g.) Pure Chrome g. (see native g.) Rinman's g. (see zinc g.) Sap g. Scheele's g. Schweinfurt g. (see emerald g. Swedish g. (see sap g.) Terra Verte Transparent Oxide of Chromium Verde Vessie (see sap g.) Verdetta (see terra verte) Verdigris Viride .^ris (see verdigris) Verona Brown (see terra verte) Verona g. (see ditto) Vienna g. (see emerald g.) Viridian Zinc g. BLUE PIGMENTS. Antwerp b. Artificial Ultramarine Azure (see ultramarine, smalt, and cobalt) Berlin b. (see Antweip& Prussian b.) Bleu de Garance (see artificial ult.) Blue and Ultramarine Ash (see ditto) Cobalt b. Cobalt Ultramarine (see cobalt b.) Cseruleum Cerulian (see cseruleum Dumont's b. (see smalt) Enamel b. (see ditto) TABLE OF REFERENCE, 71 Egyptian b. (see caeruleum) Factitious Ultramarine (see art. ult.) French b. (see ditto) Gmelin's b. (see ditto) Haarlem b. (see Antwerp b.) Indian b. (see indigo) Indigo Lazurline (see ultramarine) Metz b. (see artificial ultramarine) Mineral b. (see Antwerp b.) Mineral Grey (see artificial ult.) New Blue Outremer (see ultramarine) Outremer de Guimet (see art. ult.) Parisian b. (see Prussian b.) Permanent Blue Prussian b. Royal b. (see smalt) Smalt Thenard's b, (see cobalt b.) TurnbuU's b. (see Prussian b.) Ultramarine Vienna b. (see cobalt b.) YELLOW PIGMENTS. Aureolin Cobalt y. (see aureolin) Auripigmentum (see king's y.) Baryta y. Gamboge (see Gamboge) Cadmia (see cadmium y.) Chinese y. (see king's y.) Citron y. (see chrome ys.) Cologne y. (see ditto) Deep Chrome (see ditto) Dutch Pink (see yellow lakes) English Pink (see ditto) Gamboge Giallolino (see Naples y.) Indian y. Italian Pink (see yellow lakes) Jaune Brillant (see cadmium y.) Jaune de Fer (see yellow ochres) Jaune de Mars (see ditto) Jaune Mineral (see chrome ys. ) King's y. Leipzig y. (see chrome ys.) Lemon y. (see baryta y.) Mars Orange Mars Yellow Madder y. (see yellow lakes) Masticot (see massicot) Naples y. Orange chrome (see chrome ys.) Orient Yellow Orpiment (see king's y.) Pale Chrome (see chrome ys.) Paris y. (see ditto) Powre or Purree (see Indian y.) Quercitron y. or lake (see y. lakes) Raw Sienna (see yellow ochres) Siberian Red Lead (see chrome ys. ) Sienna (see yellow ochres) Turner Yellow Yellow Ultramarine (see baryta y.) RED PIGMENTS. Cadmium r. Carmine Lake Carmine Vermilion (see Chinese v.) Chinese Vermilion Cinnabar (see vermilion) Crimson Lake English r. (see Venetian r.) Field's Orange Ver. (see vermihon) Indian Lake Indian Ochre (see red ochre) Indian r. Iodine Scarlet Iodide of Mercury (see iodine s.) Lac Lake (see Indian lake) Light r. (see red ochre) Liquid Madder (see madder lakes) Mars Red Madder Carmine (see madder lakes) Minium (see red lead) Pink madder (see madder lakes) Persian r. (see Indian r.) Purple Lake Prussian r. (see Venetian r.) Realgar (see red orpiment) Red Orpiment Rose ^Madder (see madder lakes) Saturnine r. 72 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Scarlet Ochre (see Venetian r.) Chinese Ink (see Indian ink) Scarlet Vermilion (see vermilion) Cologne Brown Tinted Carmine (see madder lakes) Egyptian Brown (see mummy b.) Venetian r. Frankfurt Black (see blue black) Vermilion Indian Ink Iron Brown (see Prussian brown) Lamblack (see lampblack) Mars Brown BROWN AND BLACK PIGMENTS. Manganese Brown Mineral Red Antwerp Brown (see asphaltum) Mummy Brown Asphaltum Neutral Tint Blue Black Payne's Gray Bistre Prussian Brown Brown Pink Raw Umber (see umber) Bitumen (see asphaltum) Rubens Brown (see Vandyke b.) Bitumen judaicum (see ditto) Rubens Madder Burnt Umber (see umber) Sepia Cappah Brown (see Vandyke b.) Umber Cassel Brown (see ditto.) Vandyke brown CHAPTER VII. CHEMICAL REACTIONS OCCURRING BE- TWEEN TWO OR MORE PIGMENTS, BETWEEN PIGMENT AND VEHICLE, &c. The question of the chemical reactions that take place between pigments is one that practically embraces the chemistry of painting. The scope of the present work pre- cludes the possibility of going deeply into this interesting subject, yet it will be of incalculable use both to artist and student to point out some few of the chemical changes that occur between the materials he uses when painting a picture. Action of Lead and Suiphiir. — The reactions that occur between pigments possessing a lead base and pigments pos- sessing sulphur as a component are some of the most destruc- tive, and disastrous to the future permanency of the painting. Briefly the action is this : lead possesses a great aflinity for sulphur, consequently these two elements forsake the other components of their respective pigments, unite, and form a new compound — sulphide of lead — which is of a black Inie. To take an example : a yellow chromate of lead {^i.e. ordi- nary chrome yellow) is mixed with cadmium yellow [i.e. the sulphide of cadmium). Watch the result. The lead forsakes the chromate of lead, the sulphur forsakes the cadmium sul- 74 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. phide, and they unite together and form the black sulphide of lead. This action is graphically depicted below. Chemical formula Chem. form, of of chromate of lead. cadmium sulphide. Chromium i Cr ) , ^^^^ set free Cd (Pb . Oxygen Lead ( Pb . unites with . S ) =PbS., i.e. lead sulphide. Now both pigments were yellow previous to the formation of this black sulphide of lead, but since a black and yellow produce a green, this will be the resulting hue of the mixture of these two pigments, the greenish tinge becoming stronger and of a deeper green in proportion to the amount of lead converted into sulphide. Although the chemical change brought about by the union of a lead pigment and one containing sulphur is always the same {i.e. the production of lead sulphide), the visual phy- sical change varies. Thus, with the above case of two yellow pigments, we have a visual change into a green hue ; this is so, because side by side with the particles of chrome yellow and cadmium yellow there are also particles of black sulphide of lead, and the physical incorporation (for it is not a chemical one, like the union of the lead with the sulphur) of yellow and black particles is the production of a green. Now it is easily conceivable that a red sulphide, as that of mercury (i.e. vermilion) may be mixed with a chrome yellow of lead, whence, after the production of the yellow sulphide, we shall not get a greenish hue, but something different. Thus: Yellow chrome and red vermilion will produce an orange hue, but as soon as the sulphur in the vermilion unites with ACTION OF OXYGEN AMONGSi PIGMENTS:,. 75 the lead in the chrome yellow, we get the black particles of lead sulphide produced, and these commingling with the yellow and red particles of the above pigments change the orange hue into an auburn or brown hue, or to a brownish red, in proportion to the amount of black particles propor- tionately to the yellow and red ones. Take another case of this visual physical change. Say a lead chrome is mixed with artificially made ultramarine, and that there is some free sulphur in the ultramarine (i.e. that this pigment has been carelessly made, and consequently not entirely freed from this sulphur). The mixture of the yellow chrome and blue ultramarine will produce a green, but in time, as the free sulphur unites with the lead in the chrome, black sulphide of lead appears, and we then get yellow, blue, and black particles heterogeneously mixed, with the result that the visual impression produced by these three colours will no longer be the bright green formed by the blue and yellow, but will be a dark green, approaching black.* Action of Oxygen amongst Pigments. — Oxygen is an element of much importance as a component of pigments. Its addition to many mineral colours heighten or darken their tone, while its addition to several vegetable colours lessen their tone, or bleach them. Likewise the abstraction of oxygen {i.e. deoxidation of a pigment) from a mineral pigment weakens its tone. Let us take some examples. Take chrome yellow of lead again. So long as this yellow remains intact {i.e. not decom- posed by the influence of other pigments), there is little risk * The precise hue can be seen by mixing yellow and blue powders, and then adding black powder in various quantities. 76 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. of the oxygen in the chrome yellow acting on a pigment affected by oxygen ; but suppose, as in the first example, a mixture of lead, chrome, and cadmium yellow is made, the reaction already specified takes place, and consequently the oxygen in the chrome yellow is set free to unite with any other body. This oxygen does enter into union with other bodies, chiefly with the oil used as a vehicle to help dry or harden the oil, and also physically acts on other pigments that are brought within its influence ; e.g. suppose the mix- ture of chrome yellow and yellow cadmium glazed with yellow lake, the last pigment will lose its colour, because the oxygen from the chrome will bleach the colour in the yellow lake. If, instead of yellow lake, cochineal lake be glazed over the yellow mixture of lead and cadmium, this crimson colour will in time flee, leaving simply the hue of the yellow beneath. Again, the abstraction of oxygen from a mineral pigment lessens its tone, while its addition to an animal pigment deepens it ; e.g. mix an ochre (which has iron as a base) with Naples yellow (which contains oxygen), the iron in the ochre will abstract oxygen from the Naples yellow, and become deeper in tone, due to the oxidation of the iron ; whilst its abstraction from the Naples yellow will leave that pigment much weakened in colour, the visual result being a hue totally diff"erent to that when the ochre and Naples yellow were first compounded. There are several other ways in which oxygen plays an important part in the disintegration of paintings, notably in the abstraction of the oxygen from pigments by the oil in drying. Such depletion of oxygen from a pigment leaves that colour an easy prey to injurious influences that would ACTION OF ALKALIES ON PIGMENTS. 77 not otherwise act on it, for the simple reason that a partially- decayed object is never so sound as a wholly healthy one. Action of Alkalies on Pigments. — Some pigments are obtained artificially which possess such alkalies as pearlash and soda in their composition; now some few pigments, notably Prussian and Antwerp blues, have their colour de- stroyed by the action on them of alkalies, consequently they should not be brought into connection with those pigments that have an alkaline base, or which are likely, from their method of manufacture, to possess any free alkali. The blues above mentioned are turned a buff or tawny drab by the action of alkalies, while yet, again, their colour is restored by any weak acid. Such being the delicacy of Prussian and Antwerp blues, the painter must be very carefu^ in regard to what other pigments he incorporates with them or glazes over them. To know what pigments to avoid in this respect, the painter should consult the chemical powers and composition of the pigments stated in the chapters on pigments given in the first part of this work. The alkali ammonia is likely to be present in very few pigments, but it is often present in the artist's painting-room or its vicinity. I know one painter whose studio is next door to a stable — in fact, his door opens at right angles to the stable door ; consequently it is impossible for him to keep out such ammoniacal fumes as arise from the decaying stable refuse. The action of the fumes of ammonia is not at once apparent, but it is, nevertheless, silently at work, for the fumes insidiously act on the varnish laid on the paint- ings, disintegrating the varnish; ammonia likewise acts on oils. 78 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. There are many other outside influences at work — enemies to the painter and his picture — but in these pages we cannot well discuss them, so I must refer my readers to other works of mine for such information, as it is more properly treated of in those articles from my pen which take up the subject of artists' vehicles. There is one subject, however, that is intimately connected with the pigment and vehicle, and that is loss of opacity. This is a term appUed to pigments opaque in themselves, but which in time lose their opaqueness, and become so transparent as to allow any colour laid beneath them to become visible. This loss of opacity is notably a characteristic of pigments having lead as a base. The action is a very interesting one. We have already spoken about the giving up of oxygen from white lead to linseed oil, thus parting with one of its constituents. Oxygen leaves the white lead in a very un- stable condition, so much so that the lead particles them- selves are at liberty to unite with the linseed oil (other fixed oils have not this effect), and they naturally do so, forming the compound known as linoleate of lead. Now this linoleate of lead (a lead soap, as it is usually called) is easily washed away by sulphuric acid. " But how," my readers will exclaim, " can sulphuric acid get near the paint- ing?" Avery natural question, and one easily answered. In this way : sulphur in some form or other is present in vitiated atmospheres, especially so where there is a fire or gas. These sulphurous fumes settle as an opaque film of sooty dust on the painting, and afterwards, from alterations of temperature, moisture settles on the picture also. Now the particles of moisture unite with the sulphurous grime. LOSS OF OPACITY. 79 and form sulphuric acid. The artist, eager to let his picture be seen in all its brilliancy, seizes his silk handkerchief, breathes on the picture, and rubs off the dirt. At the very same operation he is rubbing ofif some of the lead pigment, because the film of sulphuric acid under his handkerchief unites with the linoleate of lead (that has been produced wherever a lead pigment and linseed oil have been em- ployed) and carries off a thin pellicle of the compound each time he rubs. The amount taken off each time is very minute, but it is none the less surely carried away. We all know how the lacquer on the brass handle of a door will in time wear away by the mere grasping of it in turning the handle. If this hard lacquer can do so, we must readily grant that the more delicate, tender pigment will do so under the rubbing of the handkerchief. The artist, unknow- ingly, takes a delight in rubbing out his picture, for the more obdurate and obstinate the grime is, the harder and brisker he rubs. The moral to this is, not to use lead pig- ments in a painting ; they are, in fact, the bete-noire of the painter. If he, however, will be obstinate and continue their employment after this warning, let him at least use an oil (walnut or poppy) tha^ will not form this inimical Hnoleate of lead. On the many other changes effected on paintings by the action of oils and other vehicles, the reader is finally referred to " Chats with Artists on the Use of their Materials," and to the articles in the Art Journal on the " Chemistry of the Palette." CHAPTER VIII. COLOUR NAMES AND DEFINITIONS. The names of colours are still as indefinitely and con- fusedly used as when Dr. Johnson defined Brown as being the " name of a colour composed of black and any other colour," " Puce, of a dark brown colour," and " Pink, a colour used by painters." It is truly unfortunate that there is no universal scale of colours. In a letter some years ago to the " Society of Arts Journal," I pointed out the great diversity of names by which colours and pigments are known to the dyer, artist, and ordinary house-painter, and while even authorities on the science of colour disagree as to the so-called primaries, we may expect confusion still to reign. Consequently colours can only be spoken of relatively ; e.g. we have the blue of cobalt and of the indigo-pla^it, yet how different in tone, yet both are " blues." If we assume carmine to be the type of pure red, vermilion becomes an orange ; and if, on the reverse, we consider vermilion as red, carmine changes to crimson, or belongs to the purple class. The same relation will be found in the tints of gamboge with ochre or yellow cadmium. The purest unmixed primitive colours are to be found in flowers. There can, strictly speaking, be only delicate and full tints of the primary and POSITIVE TERTIARY COLOURS. secondary classes, as the less positive hues being caused by the mixture of the positive colours with their " complemen- tary " hues, are tertiaries and quaternaries. Positive Colours. — We are accustomed to give the names of positive colours to hues varying from the fullest or brightest tints to very subdued shades. A Primary colour is one that cannot be compounded by mixture of other colours. I cannot here enter into the question of which colours should be considered as true primaries, but from my own knowledge of colour science I remain steadfast to the old original theory of red, yellow, and BLUE being the three primaries. Secondary colours are those produced by mixture of any two primaries. They are orange, green, and purple, orange being produced by mixture of red and yellow (paints or powders, not coloured lights), green of yellow and blue and purple of red and blue. Tertiary colours are produced by a mixture of a primary and secondary with one of the colours predominating. They are olive, citrine, and russet. " Complementary " colours is a term interchangeable with the primaries and secondaries. Thus, it is theoretically supposed (although in my study of the subject I have failed to come across any scientific reason for this fanciful theory) that complete harmony of colouring is obtained only when the three primaries are present, in proportions varying with their intensity of colour. Conse- quently blue is said to be complementary to orange because it completes the triad of primaries (and, vice versd, orange is complementary to blue) ; red is complementary to green, and yellow to purple. G 82 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Tint is a term used for gradations or mixtures of colours with white. Hues for mixtures of primary colours with a secondary, or for variations of colour independent of strength, light or dark. Shade is a term used for the mixtures of colours or hues with black. This term is too often improperly used, when tone should be employed ; e.g.^ many persons in speaking of a lighter tone of, say, a red ribbon, will exclaim, " Oh, what a delicate light shade ! " when there is not a particle of black in the tone of the red ribbon, but it is, in fact, lighter than the primitive colour, " Shade " should never be used unless black is present in the hue or tone. But the word Tone should replace it, for this term is applied to any hue, whether it be lighter or darker than the colour of the base ; e.g. take ultramarine blue as the base colour blue, we should then speak of cobalt as of a lighter tone of blue, and Prussian blue as a darker tone of blue, but we could not properly call Prussian blue a darker shade of the blue base ultramarine. Tone expresses the predominant ruling colour or hue in a combination. Grey. — This is another word improperly applied. When spelt with an e the word, amongst colour scientists, refers to a mixture made with black and white, or black and any other colour, bearing in mind that if the two colours do not equally balance to produce the normal grey of the mixture, but that the black predominates and obtrudes itself, the mixture at once becomes a shade ; at the same time it does not lose its title to grey. Gray is a term used for a mixture of white and blue, or SUGGESTIONS FOR COLOUR SCALE. 83 when blue replaces black in producing the grayish hue 3 then we say a bluish gray and a blackish gr^y. As a foundation for a colour scale I would beg to suggest that colours should be named after some well-known flowers, taking the deep yellow of the sunflower as the base for the yellow scale, the poppy or red gladiolus for the base of the red scale, the blue cornflower as the base for the blue scale, and ordinary grass as the base of the green scale. These bases would not suffice for all the yellow, red, blue, and green tones to be referred to as a " light sunflower yel- low," or "dark poppy red," &c., for a lemon yellow could not properly be referred to as a " light sunflower yellow " ; but for such pale yellows we could take the primrose as the base, and for the orange hues the skin of the Tangerine orange ; for scarlet reds the old standard red geranium, and for the crim- son red series we have the deep velvety toned " coxcomb " plant ; for the base of the light blue series we could refer to so-and-so lighter tone of the cornflower, because white and a blue of the intensity of this flower would produce a series of true blues varying in tint only in proportion to the amount of white mixed with the blue ; for the base colour of the dark series of blues we could not take this flower mixed with black, because black and a blue this colour mixed would produce an indigo hue. We should therefore want to seek some primitive base, as, for instance, the deep, intense blue in the old-fashioned pansy ; while for the lighter tones of the green scale we could take the colour of the pyrethrum or featherfew plant as a base, and the dark green leaves of the ivy as a base for the dark series of this scale. I have named these plants, as their colours have up to the 84 THE ARTISTS" MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. present remained constant in hue, and are therefore fitly suited as a standard of reference. It must be borne in mind that the above remarks are only offered suggestively; the scope of such a work as this precludes any lengthened discursive treatment of the question. Yet, nevertheless, it is a work that should not be devoid of any reference to the subject, and any suggestion thrown out may, let me hope, be the means of rousing attention to the question. In a work I have in contemplation on the subject of colour science, I hope to treat fully of these points. The following tabular analysis of the primaries, second- aries, tertiaries, and quaternaries will render it clear to students what colours form the components of some of the complex hues. Primary Positive Colours, White. Yellow. — There are no distinct general terms for the delicate tints, those in use being borrowed from objects containing them ; e.g. lemon yellow, straw yellow, prim- rose. Red. — The delicate tints, pinks, carnations, rosy. Blue. Secondary Positive Colours, composed of two primaries. Orange, composed of yellow and red ; comprehending crimson when the red is in excess. Purple, composed of red and blue. Violet lilac when the red and blue are balanced. TERTIARY HUES. — NEUTRAL TINTS. 85 Green, composed of yellow and blue. Blue purple when the blue is in excess. Tertiary Hues, composed of the three primaries with one primary predominating. Citrine, where yellow predominates 3 buff in the lighter hues, tawny or dun in the deeper. Russet, where red predominates ; maroon, chocolate. Grey, where blue predominates. Quaternary Hues, composed of the primaries with two primaries or a secondary colour predominating. Auburn, where orange predominates ; brown in the deeper hues. Puce, where purple predominates ; lavender for the lighter hues, where violet predominates, or the red and blue are balanced. Olive, where the green predominates. Neutral Tints. Where the three primaries are in proportion to balance or neutralise each other of which the deeper shade is black. CfiAPTER IX * TABLE OF MIXTURES OF PIGMENTS TO PRODUCE BLUES, BUFFS, BROWNS, GREENS, GREYS, PURPLES, AND MA- ROONS. Table of Mixtures of Pigments to produce Blues. Cobalt Green, Cyanine Blue. — In series of blues of the tur- quoise tint, sparkling and tender, both beautiful and useful. Table of Mixtures to produce Browns, Buffs, AND Yellows. Chocolate Brown. — Add lake or carmine to burnt umber, or take Indian red and black to form a brown ; then add yellow to bring about the desired shade. Olive Brown. — Mix i part of Saxony blue with 3 parts of burnt umber. Change proportions for different shades. Snuff Brown. — Yellow, 4 parts ; Vandyke brown, 2 parts. Ordinary Brown. — Red, 3 parts ; black, 2 parts ; yellow, I part. Chestnut Brown. — Red, 2 parts; black, i part; Chinese yellow, 2 parts. Light Buff. — Yellow ochre lightened with white. * The mixtures named in this chapter are artistically good, but not always so chemically ; for their chemical values the reader is referred to the chtmical nature of the several pigments named in each mixture. BROWNS, BUFFS, AND YELLOWS. 87 Deep Buff. — Yellow ochre, white, and a little red. Oak Colour. — White, 8 parts ; yellow ochre, i part. Fawn Colour. — White, 8 parts; red, i part; yellow, 2- parts; umber, i part. Tan Colour. — Burnt sienna, 5 parts ; yellow, 2 parts ; raw umber, i part. Sto?ie Colour. — White, 5 parts; yellow, 2 parts; burnt umber, i part. Brick Colour. — Yellow ochre, 2 parts ; red, i part ; white, I part. Portland Stone Co/our. — Raw umber, 3 parts ; yellow ochre, 3 parts ; white, i part. Yellow Lake. — Umber and white, equal parts ; add Naples yellow and scarlet lake; glaze with yellow lake. Jonquil Yellow. — Mix flake white and Chinese yellow, and add vermilion to carmine. Golden Yellow. — White and yellow, tinted with red and blue. Canary Yellow. — White and lemon yellow. Lemon Colour. — Lemon yellow, 5 parts ; white, 2 parts. Straw Yellow. — Yellow, 5 parts ; white, 2 parts ; red, i part. Citron. — Red, 3 parts ; yellow, 2 parts ; blue, 1 part. Clay Drab. — Raw sienna, raw umber, and white lead, equal parts, and then tint with chrome green. Ordinary Drab. — White, 9 parts ; umber, i part. Cream Colour. — White, 5 parts ; yellow, 2 parts ; red, i part. Orange. — Made with gamboge and burnt sienna. Useful for the autumnal tints, and to mix with the other greens in 88 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. order to vary their tone and depth, but not to be used in very warm sky tints. Table of Mixtures of Pigments to produce Greys. Indigo, lampblack, and madder lake. Indigo and Indian red. Indigo and light red. Indigo, lake, and gamboge. Indigo, lake, and Roman ochre. Indigo and Venetian red. Indigo, raw sienna, and lake. Indigo, sepia, and lake. Indigo and purple madder. Indigo, light red, and lampblack. Indigo, burnt umber, and lake. Indigo, madder purple, and burnt umber. Lampblack and madder lake. Lampblack and burnt madder. Lampblack and light red. Lampblack and lake. Cobalt green, cyanine blue, carmine madder, for silveiry greys, through lilacs to the richest purple. White, 8 parts ; black, 2 parts — for medium grey. White, 8 parts; blue, i part; black, i part — lead grey. White, tinted with ivory black, produces French grey. White, black, and red, in proportion to suit lustre, for a pearl grey. Dove Grey. — Red, white, blue, and yellow. JVarm grey is made with Venetian red and indigo. Us. answer questions in a general way), but yet do duty to none. Such cramming is highly injurious to the students, and is pro- ductive of ludicrous answers to the examination questions. Rather than help towards such a system of cramming, I have determined not to give here the answers to these ques- tions, but prefer to direct the student to the fountain-head. This I do because I have noticed many students know not in the least what authority to consult, and also because I feel sure that by directing them to the right authority, irrespec- tive of the special place in such work, the student will inci- dentally be induced to dip deeper into the subject by perhaps reading through, if not studying, those works, than he would do were he to find the answers cut and dried ready to hand. Questions i, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 can be readily answered by consulting the paragraphs on the "Chemical Names and Composition," and the paragraphs on " Permanency " and " Non-Permanency," in the chapters on the various pigments given in the first part of this book. To answer question 7, see "Cennini Cennino's Treatise on Painting" (translated by Mrs. Merrifield, 1844), chapter 67, " The manner of painting on walls, that is, in Fresco, and of colouring the faces of young persons," pages 39—44. Questions 2>, 9, 10, 11, 12 can be answered by studying the information given in Mrs. Merrifield's work on " Fresco Painting " (1846), in the pages 18 to 23 : — "How to lay oii I02 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. the coats of plaster, the various kinds of mtonochi, and the preparation of the mortars." See also " Of painting on walls, and why it is called Fresco," pages 30, 31, same book. See also " Of preparing the walls," pages 45 — 51, ibid. See also " Inquiry whether the ancients painted in Fresco," page 62, ibid. See also "The execution of frescoes," page 63, and of the colours, cartoons, and painting, page 65, ibid. Likewise see "The practice of fresco painting" (according to the directions and observations of Palomino) at page 70 of above book, and also " Of preparing the stucco," page 71;" Preparation of the walls," page 72; " Of laying on the intonaco," page 72 ; " On using the cartoons," pages 73 — 76; " Of the colours used," pages 76 — 81. See also page xi. of Introduction, " Colours used in fresco." Reference to the above sections of this work and to the following in Cennini's treatise, " How to colour walls in secco, and what tempera is proper for that purpose," pages 47 — 49, chap. 72; and also " How to colour pictures and to temper the colours," page 87, chap. 145, same work; together with a perusal of the section on " Fresco " in Mr. Cave Thomas's work on " Mural Decoration," and the article " Fresco," in the " English Encyclopaedia," vol. xiv., page 240 (i860 ed.), will give the student so much information on fresco, and so well ground him in the practice of the old masters, that he will be able to answer any question set relative to this style of painting. To answer questions 13 and 14, refer to Cennini's treatise, pages 9, i6, 32, 128, and xiv. of Introduction; "Biacca ART EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. 103 (white lead) : its nature, properties, and use ; " " Bianco San- Giovanni : its nature, properties, and use," see pages 31, 127, 128, ibid. Sec also pages 41, 53, of" Verdaccio, acompound colour," in above work. To answer question 15, refer to Cennini, pages 43, 44, " To paint the head of a young person as taught by Giotto." Questions 16 and 17 may be answered by reading up " Painting in distemper : its advantages and disadvantages," pages xvi. and 156 of Cennini. See also, page 87, " How to temper the colour for dis- temper," and " How to paint in distemper," page 87. " Directions for softening the tint," page 156, and " Whare distemper cannot be employed," page 56 ; and " Distemper invented by Ludius, in the time of Augustus," page 144. See also pages 47, 87, 96 of Cennini ; and see also Mrs. Merrifield's book on " Fresco Painting," pages 77, 78. Question 18 may be answered by reading through " Hogarth's Analysis of Beauty." All, or almost all, the other questions usually set at this examination may be answered by consulting Eastlake's " Materials for a History of Oil Painting," Question i. — Describe the relative durability of the fol- lowing colours and their chemical ingredients respectively : zinc white, flake white, cadmium yellow, vermilion, col- cothar, cobalt blue, cappah brown, Cologne earth, masticot, chrome yellow. Question 2. — Lemon yellow, orpiment, yellow ochre, 104 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Roman ochre, chrome yellow, cadmium. State which of these colours is considered durable. Question 3. — Describe the chemical properties and the comparative durability or otherwise of the following colours : terra verde, chrome green, malachite green, verdigris, Naples yellow, orpiment. Question 4. — Describe the chemical constituents and the comparative durability or otherwise of vermilion, light red, Indian red, cadmium, lemon yellow, cobalt, indigo, verdi- gris, scarlet lake. Question 5. — Mention the principal colours derived from the following substances, and their comparative dura- bility : I, copper; 2, arsenic; 3, mercury; 4, sodium; 5, lead. Question 6. — What were the grounds for oil painting used by the early Flemings ? Were they absorbent, and of what colour ? Question 7. — Describe the difference between " fresco secco " and " fresco buono," and detail the principal pro- cesses employed in each. Question 8. — What colours are chiefly employed in fresco buono? Describe in detail the processes of painting during the day. What is the effect of mixing terra verde with lime? Question 9. — How is the cartoon prepared for fresco painting and transferred to the "intonaco''? In what state should the latter be (as to moisture) on commencing each day's work ? Question 10. — Describe the various ingredients and the proportions of each for preparing the " intonaco " in fresco ART EXAM/NAT/ON QUESTIONS. 105 painting. Is there any time during which lime may be kept for the purpose of fresco painting ? If so, state the reasons for the Hmitation. Questmi 11. — For what reason is it necessary to keep lime before using it in fresco painting ? Describe the pre- paration of the walls and the work to be done by the plasterer before commencing the operation which causes the colour to adhere to its surface, and what prevents its ad- hesion. Question 1 2. — Why was terra verde so much used by fresco painters, and what effect has it on lime whites ? Question 13. — What are the pigments called by Cennini biacco and bianco di San-Giovanni ? Question 14. — What is biacca, bianco, San-Giovanni, verdacio as described by Cennini ? Question 1 5. — How did Giotto paint a head in fresco as described by Cennini ? Questioji 16. — How were the walls (i), panels (2), pre- pared for painting on in distemper during the sixteenth century ? Question 17. — What is the process of tempera painting : (i) the panel and its preparation, (2) the vehicle, (3) the procedure ? Was oil varnish ever employed in connection with tempera painting? Question 18. — What qualities does Hogarth say are essen- tial to beauty ? Question 19. — Who were the earliest artists to practise oil painting in Italy ? From whom did they derive the knowledge, and when and where did they flourish ? Question 20. — What method did the first colourists adojit io6 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. to secure richness of effect in pictures when seen at a con- siderable distance, as in churches ? Questioti 21. — Describe Van Eyck's supposed method of painting, from the design to the completion of a picture, and his vehicle. What portion of a picture did he usually com- mence to paint in colour ? Question 22. — Did Rubens avail himself of much pre- paratory labours in commencing his pictures? Describe his usual mode of practice. Qttestioii 23. — In what particulars did the Venetian method differ from that of Rubens ? Question 24. — What opinion did Rubens hold about the necessity of studying the antique marbles and bronzes? Question 25. — What was the method of painting said to have been adopted by the ancient Greeks, and with what vehicles, and were the pictures so executed durable ? Question 26. — Who principally originated the Florentine method of painting, and in what respects did it vary from the method taught by the Flemings ? Question 27. — In what method are the works of Giotto and his school usually executed ? Question 28. — What were the relations existing between L. da Vinci and Michael Angelo ? Was there any instance of pictorial rivalry ? Question 29. — Who were the principal painters of the later Flemish school (seventeenth century) ? Describe the usual methods of painting, (i) as to the material or ground, (2) as to practice. Quesiioft 30. — What vehicle is said to have been adopted by Van Dyke in oil painting ? ART EXAMINATION QUESTIONS. 107 Question 31. — State which of the schools of art (in the sixteenth century) made many drawings for their pictures, and who. Give examples of varieties of process, and trace their different results. Question 32. — State the methods of preparing grounds for oil painting employed by the early Flemish and Italian painters, the various modifications in later practice, and the comparative advantages and disadvantages of each. Question 33. — What causes cracks in painting ? What causes a wrinkled surface ? Question 34. — Describe the various " media " or vehicles used in pictures by (i) the ancient Greeks, (2) the tempera painters during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, (3) in the transition period, (4) by the Van Eycks. Question 35. — Did Cennini know the uses of varnish? Question 36. — Were resinous vehicles ever varied accord- ing to the colours in the same picture^ or was it usual to adopt one uniform vehicle throughout, during the sixteenth century ? Question 37. — What proportions did the various resins bear to the oil in making varnishes for painting ? Question 38. — What is the method supposed to have been adopted by the great Venetian painters in commencing their pictures, and in what respect was it different from the Florentine and Roman schools ? Question 39. — What were the grounds for oil painting used by the early Flemings? Were they absorbent, and of what colour ? Question 40. — To what school did Sebastian del Piombo belong ? Who were his masters ? io8 THE ARTISTS' MANUAL OF PIGMENTS. Question 41. — What evidence can you give of the practice of modelling figures, in wax or clay, by any of the great colourists before commencing their pictures ? Question 42. — Describe the gradual change of method from tempera to oil painting, the vehicles employed, and their composition. Was more than one vehicle employed in the same picture? Question 43. — What v^^ere the methods of oil painting in the Venetian School in Bellini's time, what changes did they undergo, and to whom were the changes attributed ? Question 44. — Who was the master of Giovanni Bellini ? Question 45. — Who was Michael Angelo's first master in painting? Relate some of the circumstances connected with his first attempts in sculpture. Question 46. — Trace slightly the course of art from its revival in the thirteenth century ; the various schools, and the names of the founders or principal painters in each school, down to the end of the sixteenth century. INDEX. ^CTION of lead and sulphur, 73 ,, of oxj'^eii amongst pij,'- ments, 75 Alkalies on pigment-^, action of, 77 Answers to Art Examination ques- liuns, 100-2 Antwerp blue, 25 „ brown, 60 Art Examinition que=tions, 102-7 Artificial ultiama ine, 31 Asphalium, 60 Aureolin, 33 Azure, 26, 29 gARYTA yellow, 34 ,, white, 1 Beech, colours for, 97 Berlin blue, 25, 28 Birch, colours for, 97 Bistre, 61 Bitumen, 60 Bitumen Judaicum, 60 Bladder green, 18 Blanc d'argent, 3 Bleu de gamnce, 31 Blowpipe testing, il Blue black, 62 Body washes, colours for, 92 ,, while, 4 Bruwn, mixtures to produce, 86 Brown pink, 61 Brun de Mars, 68 Brunswick green, 16, 22 Buffs, mixtures to produce, 86 CADMIA. 35 Cadmium red, 47 „ ytllow, 35 Cambcge, 38 Cambogia, 38 Cappah brown, 67 Carbonate, normal, ba^ic, and acid, 9 Carmine vermilion, 48 „ lake, 49 Cassel brown, 67 „ yellow, 46 Cseruleum, 25 Cerulian, 25 Ceruse, 5 Chinese ink, 62 ,, verniilion, 48 ,, white, 8 ,, yellow, 40 Chrome greens, 12 ,, oxide, 13 ,, pale and deep, 36 ,, yellow, 36 Cinnabar, 59 CiiTOn yellow, 36 Cobalt blue, 26 „ green, 22 ,, ultramaiin-^, 26 Cologne brown, 67 ,, earth, 38 ,, yellow, 36 Constant white, i Cremnitz white, 5 Crimson lake, 48 INDEX. £) RAPERIES, colour:, for ,92 Hues, 82 Dumont's blue, 29 Hungary green, 17 Dutch pink, 43 ,, white, 5 IMPERIAL green, 16 Indian blue, 27 gGYPTIAN green, 25 „ ink, 62 „ brown, 64 „ lake, 50 Emerald green, 16 „ ochre, 55 Enamel blue, 29 „ red, 51 English pink, 43 „ yellow, 39 „ red, 56 Indigo, 27 Iodine scarlet (iodide of mercury), pACTITIOUS ultramarine, 31 52 Fields, colours for, 97 Iris green, 18 Flake white, 4 Iron brown, 65 Flemish white, 5 ,, yellow, 45 Flesh, colouis for, 92 Italian pink, 43 Flower painting, colours for 93 Foliage, colours for, 97 JAUNE brillant, 35 „ de Fer, 43, 45 Frankfurt black, 62 French blue, 31 „ de Mars, 43, 45 „ white, 3 „ mineral, 36 QAMBOAGE, 38 J^ING'S yellow, 40 Gambodium, 38 Gamboge, 38 Giallolino, 42 LAC lake, 50 Gmelin's blue, 31 Lampblack (lamblack), 63 Gray, 82 Lazuline blue, 30 Green Bice, 19 Lazurstein, 30 ,, earth, 19 Lead and sulphur, action of, 73 „ oxide of chromium, i 3 Leipzig yellow, 36 Greens, mixtures to produce 89 Lemon yellow, 34, 41 Grey, 82 Light red, 55 Greys, mixtures to produce, 88 Liquid madder lake, 52 Guignet's green, 22 Loss of opacity, 78 J^AARLEMblue, 25 T^ ADDER carmine, 52 Hamburg white, 5 „ lakes, 52 Heaths, colours for, 97 „ yellow, 43 Holly gieen, 19 Malachite gieen, 17 INDEX. Manganese brown, 64 Maroons, mixtures to produce, qi Mars brown, 68 „ orange, 45 >i red, 59 „ yellow, 45 Massicot (masticot), 4 1 Mineral blue, 25 „ gray, 68 ,, yellow, 46 Minium, 54 Mitis green, 16 Montpellier yellow, 46 Mountain green, 17 Mummy brown, 64 JsjAPLES yellow, 42 Native green, 13 Neutral tint, 68, 85 New blue, 32 QPACITY, loss of, 78 Opaque oxide of chromium, 13 Orange chrome, 36 Orient yellow, 45 Oipiment, 40 Outremer de Guimet, 31 „ lazurline, 30 Oxygen amongst pigments, action of, 75 pARIS yellow, 36 Parisian blue, 28 Payne's gray, 68 Permanent blue, 32 ,, white, I Pigments, action of alkalies on, 77 „ action of oxygen amongst, 75 Pink madder, 52 Pinks, mixtures to produce, 91 Positive colour?, 81 Primary colours, 81 ,, positive colours, 84 Prussian blue, 28 ,, brown, 65 „ red, 56 Pure chrome green, 13 Puiple lake, 59 Purples, mixtures to produce, 91 Purree, or powre, 39 QUARTERNARY hues, 85 Quercitron yellow, or lake, 43 J^AW sienna, 43 Red lead, 54 „ ochre, 55 ,, orpiment (realgar), 56 Reference, table of, 70 Rinman's green, 23 Roads, colours loi, 98 Roman white, 5 Rose madder, 52 „ rubiate, 32 Rouge de Mars, 59 Royal blue, 29 Rubens brown, 67 „ madder, 69 gAP green, 18 Saturnine red, 54 Scarlet ochre, 55, 56 Scheele's, or Swedish green, 18 Schweinfurt green, 16, 22 Sea views, colours for, 94 Secondary colours, 81 Second ry positive colours, 84 Sepia, 66 Shade, 82 Sienna, 43 Silver white, 3 INDEX. Skies, colours for, 98 Smalt, 29 Sulphur and lead, action of, 73 'P ABLE of reference, 70 Teira verte, 19 Tertiaiy colours, 8l Tertiary hues, 85 Tint, 82 Tinted carmine, 52 Tone, 82 Transparent oxide of chromium, 16 Turner yellow, 46 ULTRAMARINE, 30 Umber, raw and burnt, 66 yANDYKE brown, 67 Venetian red, 56 Verde vessie, 18 Verdetta, 19 Verdi<^ris, 30 Vermilion, 58 Verona green, 19 Vienna blue, 26 „ green, 16, 22 ,, yellow, 46 Viride xris, 20 Viridian, 22 WHITE lead, 5 YELLOW lakes 43 ,, ultramarinp, 34 Yellows, mixtuics to prod ace, 8(6 ^INC green, 23 „ white, 8 TIIL END. PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTIE AND CO., I-IMHED, CITY ROAD LONDON. USEFUL BOOKS FOR ART STUDENTS, &=€. PAINTING POPULARLY EXPLAINED ; including Fresco, Oi], Mosaic, "Water-colour, Water-glass, Tempera, Encaustic, Miniature, Painting on Ivory, Vellum, Pottery, Porcelain, Enamel, Glass, &c. With Historical Sketches of the Progre<-s of the Art. By Thomas John Gullick, assisted by John Times, F.S.A, Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 5s. 6d., cloth boards. "Much maybe learned, even by those who fancy they do not require to be taught, from the careful perusal of this unpretending but comprehensive treatise." — Ar^ Journal. " A manual suitable for acquiring a good book knowledge of painting ; it is one of the best in circulation for informing the young student on fine art processes and their history, and is officially included by the Science and Art Department in their list of authorized art prizes, no doubt for its merits in this respect." — Artist. " Contains a large amount of original matter agreeably conveyed, and will be found of value, as well by the young artist seeking information as by the general reader." — Builder. A GRAMMAR OF COLOURING, applied to Decoraiive Painting and the Arts. By George Field. Third Ediiion, Revised, Enlarged, and adapted to the use of the Ornamental Painter and Designer, with additional Sections on Painting in Sepia, Water-colours, and Oils, and the History and Characteristics of the Various Styles of Ornament ; by Ellis A. Davidson. With Coloured Diagrams and numerous Woodcuts. 3s. 6d. cloth. " An entirely practical treatise on the varieties and qualities of the pigments used in colouring, and the media and the processes 01 manipulatio.i employed, &c." — Builder. " One of the most useful of students' books, and probably the best known of the few we have on the subject." — Architect. " This treatise forms a most valuable vade mecum for the ornamental painter and designer. The method and style of the book are as thoroughly purpose-like, as its contents bear in every line the stamp of practical utility." — Scotsman. " A practical and clear manual, which applies the art of colouring to painting decoration, and the arts generally." — Standard. A EICTIONARY OP PAINTEES, AND HANDBOOK FOR PICTURE AMATEURS ; being a Guide for Visitors to Public and Private Picture Galleries, and for Art Students ; including an Explanation of the various Methods of Painting ; Instructions for Cleaning, Re-lining, and Restoring Oil Paintings ; a Glossary of Terms ; and Historical Sketch of the Principal Schools of Paint- ing ; and a Dictionary of Painters, giving the Copyists and Imita- tors of each Master. By Philippe Daryl, B.A. 3s., cloth. ' Tie dictionary is the most complete thing of its kind we have ever seen, and wi3 prove a valuable work of reference, not only for the number of obscure as well as fanous artists named, but for the critical remarks which accompany the mention of -.hoie whose works are widely known."— A/a^azine o/Art. LojDCN : CROSBY LOCKWOOD & CO., 7, Stationers' Hall Court, E.C. I USEFUL BOOKS FOR DECORATIVE ARTISTS. ELEMENTARY DECORATION, as applied to the Interior and Exterior Decoration of Dwelling Houses, &c. By James William Facey. With 68 Engravings. 2S. cloth. PRACTICAL HOUSE DECORATION. A Guide to the Art of Ornamental Painting, the Arrangement of Colours in Apartments, and the Principles of Decorative Design. With Remarks on the Nature and Properties of Pigments. By James W. Facey. 2s. 6d. *^* The two preceding Works, in One handsome Vol., half-hound, en- titled " House Decoration, Elementary and Practical," price 5^. A PRIMER OF THE ART OF ILLUMINATION ; for the Use of Beginners : with a Rudimentary Treatise on the Art, Practical Directions for its Exercise, and numerous Examples taken from Illuminated MSS., printed in Gold and Colours. By F. Dela- motte. Small 4to, 6s., ornamental boards. MEDIiEVAL ALPHABETS AND INITIALS FOR ILLU- MINATORS. By F. Delamotte. Containing 2i Plates and Illuminated Title, printed in Gold and Colours. Small 4to, 4s. ORNAMENTAL ALPHABETS, ANCIENT & MEDIiEVAL, from the Eighth Centuiy, with Numerals ; including Gothic, Church Text, large and small, German, Italian, Arabesque, Initials for Illumination, Monograms, Crosses, &c., for the use of Architectural and Engineering Draughtsmen, Missal Painters, Masons, Decorators, Engravers, Lithographers, Carvers, &c. Col- lected and Engraved by F. Delamotte, and printed in Colours. New and cheaper Edition, royal 8vo, oblong, 2s. 6d. boards. EXAMPLES OF MODERN ALPHABETS, PLAIN AND ORNAMENTAL ; including German, Old English, Saxon, Italic, Perspective, Greek, Hebrew, Court Hand, Engrossing, Tuscan, Riband, Gothic, Rustic, and Arabesque ; with Original Designs, and an Analysis of the Roman and Old English Alphabets, Numerals, &c. Collected and Engraved by F. Delamotte, and printed in Colours. New and cheaper Edition, royal Svo, oblong, 2S. 6d. boards. GLASS STAINING, AND THE ART OF PAINTING ON GLASS. From the German of Dr. Gessert and Emanuel Otto Fromberg. With an Appendix on the Art of Enamel- ling. 2s. 6d. cloth. INSTRUCTIONS IN WOOD -CARVING, FOR AMATEURS ; with Hints on Design. By A Lady. With 10 large Plates, 2s. 6d., in emblematic wrapper. SCHOOL OF PAINTING FOR THE IMITATION OF WOODS AND MARBLES, as taught and practised by A. R. Van der Burg and P. Van der Burg, Directors of the Rotterdam Paint- ing Institution. New and Cheaper Edition. Royal folio, l8| by 12^ in., Illustrated with 24 full-size Coloured Plates ; also 12 plain Plates, comprising 154 Figures, price ;fi lis. 6d. London: CROSBY LOCKWOOD & CO., 7. Stationers' Hall Court, E.C. r/f ^-i] ,^r»r^^^ rr^ GETTY CENTFR LIBRARY 3 3125 00017 4561