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
We have occasionally found Mars yellow mixed with orpiment, or chromate
of lead, for the purpose of brightening the colour.
39. NAPLES YELLOW
Was a compound of lead and antimony, anciently prepared at Naples under
the name of _Giallolino_, and was variously of a pleasing light, warm
yellow tint. It was opaque and of good body, not altered by the light of
the sun, and might be used with comparative safety in oil or varnish,
under the same management as the whites of lead. Like these, however, it
was liable to change even to blackness by damp and impure air when
employed in water. Iron was also destructive of the colour of this
yellow, on which account great care was requisite, in grinding and using
it, not to touch it with the common steel palette knife, but to compound
its tints with a spatula of ivory or horn. For the same reason, it was
apt to suffer in composition with ochres, Prussian and Antwerp blues,
and other pigments of which iron was a principal or ingredient. Used
pure or with white lead it was eligible in oil, in which it worked and
dried well. It was also employed in enamel painting as it vitrified
without change. In this state it was called _Giallolino di fornace_, and
was introduced as a pigment for artists, under the erroneous conception
that vitrification gives permanence to colours, when in truth it only
increases the difficulty of levigation, and injures their texture for
working. We have spoken of Naples yellow in the past tense, because the
pigment now sold as such is generally, or always, a compound colour, or
manufactured with a zinc instead of a lead base. In either case the
preceding remarks are not applicable to the present product, which is
perfectly durable and trustworthy. The new Naples yellow presents an
example of an old objectionable pigment being replaced by a different
and superior preparation. However fugitive certain colours may have
been, the fact of their once having had a place on the palette would
seem to be sufficient recommendation to some. At any rate, they are
still in occasional request, and we cannot but approve the pious fraud
which offers under the same name a good substitute for a bad original.
If an artist must needs demand a worthless pigment, he had better buy a
colour like it that will stand, even if it be not what he asked for.
The tints of Naples yellow are readily and accurately imitated by
admixture of deep cadmium yellow and white.
40. ANTIMONY YELLOW,
As its name denotes, was likewise a preparation of that metal, of a
deeper colour than Naples yellow, but similar in its properties. It was
principally used in enamel and porcelain painting, and differed greatly
in tint. One variety, brighter than the rest, is stated not to have
been affected by foul air, and therefore could not have had a lead
basis.
OCHRES,
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