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
The cadmium yellow so-called, is not strictly pale, but pale only when
compared with the preceding. It is, in fact, a full rich colour,
brilliant and permanent, but without that tendency to orange which
distinguishes the deep. For some purposes, when a warm tone is not
required, such a tint is preferable. In water, especially, where
delicacy of colouring can be carried to a greater degree of refinement
than in oil, these differences of hue are important. In the first
medium the faint washes show with a clearness which is not so apparent
in the last, and the most subtle gradation of tone tells with a force in
some measure lost in oil. As a consequence, the colour of the lightest
tints in the distance must be as true as that of the deepest shades in
the foreground, and hence the warmth or coldness of the pale washes of a
pigment should be duly considered.
Pale cadmium yellow with or without aureolin, is adapted for golden
sunsets, and yields with French blue a beautiful sea-green.
24. LEMON CADMIUM.
Very pale cadmium yellows are not permanent, and lemon cadmiums are
decidedly fugitive. Being, like the deep and 'pale' varieties,
sulphides, they are of course unaltered by sulphurous gas; but they will
not stand exposure to light and air, or even to light alone. Some which
were submitted in an air-tight bottle to the action of light gradually
whitened next the glass. Yet they were almost identical in composition
with the deepest and most orange hues, and might have reasonably been
presumed stable. Repeated experiments, however, both with samples of our
own making and of others' manufacture, have shown that for a cadmium to
be durable, it must be of a full, rich, comparatively deep yellow; and
that any paler product than the 'pale' alluded to cannot be depended
on. It is true that a light or lemon tint will fade quicker in water
than in oil, but a colour which is fugitive in the one vehicle cannot be
regarded as eligible in the other. From a somewhat long acquaintance
with cadmiums, we have derived the opinion that their stability rests
much on the mode of preparation, and that an amount of heat is needed
sufficient to make the sulphur _bite into_ the base. This opinion,
indeed, extends to all metallic sulphides, and our belief is, that if
vermilions were made generally by wet processes, they would not be found
the permanent pigments they undoubtedly are.
25. MUTRIE YELLOW.
Under this name a lemon sulphide of cadmium has lately appeared, to
which the foregoing remarks are applicable. A water colour rub on
exposure to air and light faded rapidly, no trace of yellow remaining in
the pale wash. The sample which came under our notice contained a
quantity of free sulphur.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account