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
a pigment peculiar to oil painting, is a native ferruginous earth. A
citrine brown of great service in tender drab greens, it forms with
terre verte and the madder lakes rich autumnal tints of much beauty and
permanence.
260. YELLOW MADDER,
_Cory's Yellow Madder_, or _Cory's Madder_, is classed among the browns
for the same reason that Italian Pink was ranked among the yellows. It
was stated in the eighth chapter that no true madder yellow, brilliant
and pure, exists as a pigment at the present day, and certainly this
preparation can lay no claim to the title. Except in name, it is an
orange-brown of the burnt Sienna hue, and might therefore with more
reason have been called Orange Madder. It is a good and permanent
colour, rich and transparent, at present used only in oil, we believe,
and chiefly as a glaze.
* * * * *
261. _Cadmium Brown_.
By igniting the white carbonate of cadmium, among other methods, a
cinnamon-brown oxide is obtainable, of a very clear and beautiful colour
if the process be well conducted. It is, however, not eligible as a
pigment, owing to the rapidity with which the oxide is acted upon by the
air. In water, especially, we have found this brown so eagerly absorb
carbonic acid from the atmosphere as to become in a few months once more
a carbonate, and as purely white as before. The same result is
observable when the powder is exposed: some shown at the International
Exhibition of 1862, on a glass stand, had to be removed, its label
marked 'Cadmium Brown' being at last found attached to a sample of
cadmium white. In oil, the conversion takes place less readily, that
vehicle having the property of protecting, to some extent, pigments from
oxidation. It is curious that even in a book a water-rub of the brown
slowly but surely changes to white.
262. _Catechu Browns._
Catechu is an extract of the Khair tree or _acacia catechu_ of Bombay,
Bengal, and other parts of India. With the exception of such earthy
matters as are communicated to it during the preparation, or are added
purposely as adulterants, catechu is entirely soluble both in water and
alcohol. An aqueous solution has a reddish-brown colour, and gives the
following results:--protosalts of iron thrown down olive-brown and
persalts greenish-brown precipitates; salts of tin and lead yield
brownish-yellow and brick-coloured deposits respectively; while acetate
of copper or bichromate of potash furnishes brown residues. To our
knowledge, none of these have been introduced as pigments, but a brown
prepared by Dr. Lyon Playfair some years back from the catechu bark has
been described as exceedingly rich, transparent, and beautiful; and
recommended for painting _if not too thinly applied_.
263. _Chrome Browns_
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