Field's Chromatography: or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by ArtistsField, George
Science
Field's Chromatography: or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists
Field, George
Color; Colors; Painting -- Technique
It should be noted that all the above reds do not afford pure purples
with blue; those which contain more or less yellow, as cadmium red and
orange vermilion, furnish purples partaking more or less of olive, which
is a compound of purple and green. To those reds may be added the russet
Rubens Madder and the marrone Madder Brown, two pigments which are alike
eligible for mixed purple and mixed orange. No purple, it will be
remarked, equal in gorgeous richness to that produced from crimson lake
and Prussian blue is obtainable from the colours given; just as no mixed
green is of such depth and power if that blue be wanting as a
constituent. But, as our compound tints are given rather as examples of
durability than beauty, all semi-stable or fugitive mixtures are of
necessity ignored.
213. PURPLE MADDER,
_Field's Purple_, or _Purple Rubiate_, is the only durable organic
purple the palette possesses. Marked by a soft subdued richness rather
than by brilliancy, it leans somewhat towards marrone, and affords the
greatest depth of shadow without coldness of tint. Unfortunately, in the
whole range of artistic pigments there is no colour obtainable in such
small quantity as madder purple; hence its scarcity and high price cause
it to be confined to water-colour painting, in which the clearness and
beauty of its delicate tones render it invaluable in every stage of a
drawing. With raw Sienna and indigo or Prussian blue, subdued by black,
it gives beautiful shadow tints, and will be found useful in sky and
other effects compounded with cobalt, rose madder, French blue and
sepia, yellow ochre and cobalt, lamp black and cobalt, light red,
Vandyke brown, burnt Sienna, or aureolin. With great transparency, body,
and depth, it is pure and permanent in its tints, neither gives nor
sustains injury on admixture, dries and glazes well in oil, works well,
and is altogether most perfect and eligible. For fresco it is admirably
adapted, being quite uninjured by lime.
There is a lighter and slightly brighter sort, containing less colouring
matter and more base, which has all the properties of the above with
less intensity of colour. For the sake of cheapness, the purple is
sometimes compounded in oil, generally of brown madder and a blue.
Provided the latter be stable, transparent, and mix kindly, no greater
objection can be taken to this than to the neutral orange of brown
madder and yellow ochre.
214. VIOLET CARMINE
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