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
Chevreul obtained a crystalline substance from Brazil wood, which he
looked upon as the pure colouring matter, or as containing the pure
colouring matter, and which gave red and crimson precipitates with many
salts. Possibly some of these might prove more durable than the roughly
made rose pink.
113. _Rouge_,
The rouge végétale of the French, is a species of carmine, prepared
from safflower or carthamus, which is the flower of a plant growing in
the north of Africa, India, and other warm climates. Safflower yields
two colours--a valueless yellow which dissolves in cold water, and about
five per cent of red, insoluble in water but dissolved by alkalies. The
red, or carthamin, furnishes a pigment of exquisite beauty, marked by
richness, transparency, and free working. Its extreme fugacity, however,
militates against its employment by artists. As a dye, its manner of
fixing upon fibre is different from that of any other colouring matter;
requiring no mordant, like madder or cochineal, and needing no solution,
like indigo or anotta, but fixing at once as soon as the cloth is
brought into contact with it. But even for a dye the colour is fugitive,
fading after a few hours' exposure to sunshine, and sometimes being
quite bleached in the course of a day. It is when combined with
levigated talc to form the paint of the toilette that the red becomes
most serviceable. Possessing a peculiar softness and velvety glow, rouge
is an unrivalled--and a most harmless--aid to beauty.
_Chinese Rouge_ and _Pink Saucers_ have much of the qualities of, and
appear to be also prepared from, the safflower.
114. _Rufigallic Red._
When a duly proportioned mixture of gallic acid and oil of vitriol is
carefully and gradually heated to 140°, a viscid wine-red liquid
results. If this be poured into cold water, after cooling, a heavy
brown-red granular precipitate is formed, soluble in 3333 parts of
boiling water. It dissolves in potash-ley, and to fabrics impregnated
with alum or iron mordants, imparts the same shades of colour as madder;
the colours so produced withstanding soap but not chlorine.
Whether brilliant lakes could be obtained from the potash solution of
the red, and whether those reds would be stable, it might be worth while
to ascertain.
115. _Sandal Red._
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.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account