BARIUM YELLOW

Permanent yellow, yellow ultramarine, are all barium chromate. It appears to be similar to zinc yellow, but somewhat brighter, and is luminously bright under artificial light, almost white. When heated it becomes reddish, and returns to yellow when cooled. It is also slightly poisonous, and superior to zinc yellow in its permanence, and its requirement for oil being only 30% and thus leaner. It is fairly permanent in tempera, watercolor and pastel, but doubtful in fresco, though even then better than zinc yellow.

BARYTA YELLOW

Insoluble in water, this chromate of barium is similar to Zinc yellow, but is often sold under the name of Ultramarine yellow. Permanent to light and gases, but has little covering power. According to Maximillian Toch, the principal use for this chemical was in incendiary bombs.

BILE YELLOWS

In search of a color similar to orpiment, one called "Lombard gold color" was invented by chemists of the Middle ages as mentioned in the following recipe: Take the gall of a large fish and break it on a marble stone, and add a little chalk or calcined nitre and a little good vinegar, and grind it on the marble to the consistency of rubric. Write whatever you please with this on parchment and let it dry. And the Greeks used to make their gilded letters in this way. Using bile for its gold color was a Greek tradition: a third century manuscript mentions a similar recipe using a tortoise's bile in Hellenistic Thebes. Five centuries later it is reported as having been the practice in the interim. Even gallstones were sometimes used as a source of yellow color in the Middle ages. Probably the most significant substitutes for orpiment were the vegetable yellows from buckthorn and weld.

BISTRE

(French) A brown pigment made from charred wood, which as used as a chalk or an ink. In the seventeenth century if was used primarily as a wash, as can be seen in Rembrandt's drawings, which were mostly done in this technique. Questionable however, is whether bistre's source was done with or without the presence of air in the process, thus how unlike vine charcoal can it be? Unless a particular wood yields a brown char instead of a black one. Therefore I consider the information on bistre to be incomplete.

BLACK TONER

This color which is at present unheard of, is Nigrosine precipitated on Carbon Black. It is only partially soluble in oil, and is more useful to the leather industry than the paint industry, though I have not figured out exactly what this means yet.

BLACK: GENERAL INFO

Let me begin this list by mentioning that even though many artists have had great success with using black, that I've found the darkest and richest tones never came from using a black, but rather from using dark opposing tones, such as vandyke brown and payne's gray; Prussian blue with red or raw umber, and so on. Also, for the following: the blacker and less tinged with brown a black pigment is, the more permanent. All bone based blacks in a short time become heavy and turn a dirty gray. Therefore it is better to mix such tones from ivory black and umber, supporting some of the above theory chemically as well. All black pigments require 100% oil and cover well, but dry poorly, and therefore receive an addition of varnish (as they are light as powders, they can be inconsistent in their absorption of the oil). One preparation that helps, is to make first a thick paste by adding alcohol and allowing it to evaporate somewhat, and then adding the oil. None of them should ever discolor any liquids, and none of them is poisonous. The old masters frequently added verdigris to the black making it dry more easily and appear more even in tone. An addition of viridian brings out the same tone effect. It should also be remembered, that as it needs such a heavy amount of oil, and is so inconsistent in tone, that black should never be used in the underpainting of a picture, not to mention that its effect on the colors above over even a short time could be disastrous.

BLUE BICE

It is not easy to make satisfactory copper blues. Even in the eighteenth century (and into the nineteenth) the manufacture of blue bice (blue ashes as it was called in the middle ages) was fully understood only in England, and the French color-makers try as they did, could not equal them. It is now almost extinct in England, as there is no demand and little is known about the blues from which it descended. Blue bice is a bright, pure blue of middle register, fine grained and especially good in water mediums, but not reliably permanent nor as stable as natural azurite. IN the fourteenth century, it was an adjective meaning dark, and in the fifteenth century it became a noun that meant blue. By the; eighteenth century, bice meant a color made from copper, sometimes green but generally blue. Also by then, the copper seems to have been generally as a carbonate, while in the Middle Ages many sorts of copper salts must have figured as "blue bice." QUICKNOTES: Best in water bases, but not permanently reliable.

BLUE BLACK

A permanent pigment made from calcined grape vines, and savored for its blue grey tones produced when mixed with whites. A weaker version of Lamp black, which does not deteriorate other pigments in mixtures.

BLUE LEAD

Not blue, but bluish grey, this pigment is a condensed sulphate of lead, tinted witah carbon smoke during the condensation process. A good primer coat to prevent corrosion, with a very high covering power. It is also an extremely fine pigment.

BLUE-GREEN OXIDE

Somewhat heavy, unnecessary and expensive colors (cobalt tin colors) which resemble cobalt green. They are however permanent and non-poisonous

BLUES: GENERAL NOTES

The average medieval painting was predominantly a cool palette: taste and technique combined to make it so. And changes which perhaps improve the sixteenth century Venetians and seventeenth century Dutch and Spaniards, because they simply exaggerate a warmth which is already there, falsify a medieval painting which was intended to show a cool tonality. This is the same with impressionist painting. Nothing has suffered more from the yellowing of age than some of the cool Monets like the mornings at Argenteuil. Bear in mind as well that we must remember to imagine blues in the place of the buffs, greens, blacks and muddy grays that we see in medieval paintings. Silvery tones, which were also abundantly used, have also been affected disproportionately to the warm colors by the yellowing of varnish with age.

BONE BLACK

And bone brown, are made from bones which have not been entirely charred, and are treasured by painters for their warm tones. They are however, the least permanent of all the black colors, require 100% oil as all blacks do, and doesn't always dry well.

BONE BROWN

Like bone black, made by charring bones, but the brown is an incomplete process, therefore containing tarry matter which is non-drying and retards the drying of all other pigments it is mixed with. This matter included is also fugitive to light, therefore further reducing the value of this pigment in traditional methods. May however be of some use for contemporary materials, and thus worth some experimentation.

BRAZILWOOD

Just as lakes aren't always made from lac, so grain and the shearings of grain do not always stand in medieval recipes for the insect dyes. Sometimes so-called grain lakes were made from cloth dyed with other materials, sometimes not even made from cloth at all, and were only called grain lakes because they looked like them. The greatest source of red lakes and red colors for dyeing was a kind of wood called brazil. (So named centuries before Brazil was even discovered, so it is far more likely that the country was named after the wood as many dyewoods are found in Brazil). The root of the word is brazier referring to the glowing red color of the dye. In the Middle Ages, Ceylon was a great center of supply for it, imported to Europe via Alexandria in great quantities. Botanically, brazil wood is caesalpinia, and we have no way of knowing what kinds were available in the medieval European market. Our only clue of identification comes from several medieval texts that state the best kind of brazil wood has whitish veins in it and tastes sweet, which doesn't identify a single wood, but rather that many were available.

In its natural state, brazil wood is a light, brownish red; mahogany in appearance. It is sold nowadays in blocks or chips, and sometimes in scrapings or shavings (as of 1960s). In the Middle Ages it was always sold in blocks, and the craftsman was obliged to reduce the solid wood to powder by scraping it with a piece of glass, or filing or pounding, as the finer the powder the more easily the color can be extracted from it. When the brownish powder of brazil wood is wet it turns reddish. When steeped in a solution of lye it colors the liquid deep, purplish red, and hot solutions of alum extract the color from the wood in the form of an orange-red liquor. Most medieval brazil lakes were made either from the extract made with lye (a weak solution of potassium carbonate) or from the alum extract, as these solutions get the color out of the wood more thoroughly than plain water. Just what the shade is that is extracted depends on how acid or alkaline the mixture of solutions is made. The more alum: the warmer the color, the more lye: the colder the red. The precipitate is collected by settling and pouring off the liquid. The pasty mass is smeared on an absorbent surface such as a new brick or tile to dry. Then it is ground, and has the same degree of transparency as the alumina of which it is chiefly composed. There are many variations of this recipe for making transparent red pigments of various shades and qualities. When chalk is added to the alum, a more opaque pink rose is produced by the resulting admixture of calcium sulphate to the alumina lake. In England, instead of chalk, a chalk stone was hollowed out and holes made at the bottom of the hollow to which the hot alum brazil colored solution would be poured.

The reaction would occur at the surface of the chalk stone, where a crust of semi-opaque brazil lake would form in the hollow and holes. When white lead was used, it had no other effect than to give substance to the lake and slightly less transparency, rather than to make it opaque. When marble dust and powdered egg shells were added to newly formed lakes, they further controlled the color produced by reacting chemically with any excess of alum which might give a brown cast instead of rose. In all these cases the brazil color was mordanted upon the white material, so to speak, dyed with the brazil, and the pigment so formed was different from a mixture of a finished lake with a white pigment. Sometimes the brazil was not made into a lake at all, but used as a red ink. It was soaked in glair with alum added to develop and fix the color. The extract of brazil in glair was used fresh, or dried and tempered for future use with water and a trace of honey. In recent times, the same red inks were made with gum arabic instead of glair. Its use in medieval books and paintings was more as a ruby stain without body. On panels, where absolute transparency was needed, this would do. The amount of brazil wood color used in the Middle Ages for painting and for dyeing was colossal. Important as the insect dyes were, this was more common and thus cheaper and easier to use, and was especially popular in the fifteenth century. Like grain and kermes, brazil was to be replaced to some extent after the Middle Ages by cochineal, and ultimately by the more permanent reds from madder. It is only used now for cheap wallpapers and marbled papers, and was used for red inks until only about 80 years ago.

Brazil lakes are not very permanent, and to our eyes not particularly beautiful, but were used in enormous quantities in medieval painting and were highly esteemed by medieval painters. It has been noted by several conservationists who have studied the shroud of Turin, that the pigment used was Brazilwood in an alum base. This would naturally date the shroud to the medieval period rather than the biblical, as no instances of Brazilwood have been discovered from the period of Christ's crucifixion. QUICKNOTES: sold today in chips, reduced to powder by scraping with glass/pounding/filing; the finer the powder, the easier to extract the color; when wet it turns red; in lye it is purplish red; in hot alum, the color is more orange; when chalk is added to the alum it makes it an opaque pink rose; when lead white is added it makes it slightly less transparent; when marble dust and powdered egg shells are added it gets a brown cast. The extract of brazil in glair is used fresh, or dried and tempered for future use with water and a trace of honey. In recent times, the same red inks were made with gum arabic instead of glair. Not permanent colors.

BRILLIANT YELLOW

A very light mixture of cadmium yellow and either lead or zinc white; it is durable but unnecessary. The old masters had only the very poisonous orpiment, yellow sulphide of arsenic, and realgar, arsenic orange to work with. It was very coarsely ground and applied with tempera. In oil painting it was used pure without admixtures between layers of varnish. In Pompeii it has frequently been discovered in ochres, but it has also been traced in present-day cadmiums.

BRONZE: SURFACE VERDIGRIS COLORS

There are certain chemical colorings for bronzes that are worth mentioning here, as there may be other applications for the formulas. They depend greatly on how the chemical ingredients are applied to the metal, and the results are therefore as different for each person as a brushstroke is on canvas. The colors for patina are within the green, brown/black families, and are applied with different types of medium sized sash brushes, fairly firm bristled, using a different one for each color applied. Wire and steel brushes are always kept on hand for equalizing areas between thin and thickly coated areas, and polishing brushes are obviously for the final rubbing of the bronze. The following formulas for patina come from a 1953 publication called "Casting a Torso in Bronze", by the Cire Perdue Process, by E.J. Parlanti.

Formula #1: Antique Green: Ammonium chloride 1/2 ounce, Copper sulphite 3 ounces, 1 quart of water. Warm the bronze slightly and apply this solution quickly all over, dabbing it with a brush and keeping the color even. After the application, the piece should be rinsed with cold water, then with hot water, and dried.

Formula #2: Yellow Green: Ammonium chloride 15 ounces, Copper acetate 8 ounces, and 1 quart of water. Apply this solution, after heating it to boiling point, with a wide stiff brush.

Formula #3: Deep Blue Black: Ammonium sulphide 2 ounces, and 1 quart of water. Apply this solution cold.

Formula #4: Apple Green: Ammonia 4 fluid ounces, sodium chloride 5 ounces, ammonium chloride 5 ounces, acetic acid 1 quart. Dab on with a stiff brush until the surface is dry.

Formula #5: Brown No. 1: Barium sulphide 1 ounce, potassium sulphide 1/4 ounce, ammonia 2 fluid ounces, and 3-5 quarts of water.

Formula #6: Brown No. 2: Hydrosulphur of potash 10 grams, and 1 pint of water. With either of formulas 5 or 6, dip the bronze into the solution and leave it in until a black tint is attained, then rinse in water and work the surface with a brass brush. When drying apply some hot water. This will deepen the color and help the drying process. After the application of any of the above colors, a thin coating of wax and turpentine may be given if a shine is required. When dry, rub the surface with a soft cloth.

BROWN MADDER

No such thing. If you bake (or calcine) Alizarin (Madder Lake), the organic matter within it toasts, causing the color to lose its brilliancy, and its permanency to ultra-violet light. Also happens when Alizarin is mixed with Burnt sienna, except that this mixture is permanent. So you may ask,l "Brown madder. What is it good for. Nothing."

BROWN OXIDE OF IRON

A permanent pigment resembling burnt sienna but without its strength

BROWN PINK

Also known as Italian pink, and in housepaints and latexes: Dutch Pink. Changes within 24 hours of exposure to direct sunlight, which could be useful in something, but not traditional painting. It is a mustard tone which is better found in the ochres.

BROWN: GENERAL INFO

This section will take further research, as my resources are primarily medieval through high renaissance, and browns were not important to the former of the two. It wasn't until the baroque period that brown became such a predominant color as to replace many of the brighter colors that gained popularity through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This is what is available at the present, to be elaborated on at a later date.

BURNT CARMINE

A mixture of carmine or carmine lake which has been heated and added to VanDyke Brown. Sounds like a lot of work for a color which could be obtained by other methods.

BURNT OCHRE

An American pigment which is a muddy terra cotta color of great permanence.

BURNT SIENNA

Prepared by calcining raw sienna which in the process undergoes a great change in hue and depth of color; in going from ferric hydrate of raw earth to ferric oxide, it turns to a warm, reddish brown. Microscopically, it becomes more even in color and the grains are reddish brown by transmitted light. Because of its transparency it is used as a fiery glazing color which requires much oil, about 180% and as an oil color is apt to jelly. This is remedied by washing, which however dilutes the intensity of the color. this like all other red and brown earths, can be used in all techniques, and was often used by the Venetians with iron oxide for flesh tones, as it increased the warmth and fire of the tones, when used with discretion. Supposedly the luminous red in the flesh tones and reflections of Rubens is not vermilion, but an especially well burnt sienna. In 1768, Martin Knoller stated that very strong heat will produce a sienna resembling vermilion that may be used in fresco out of doors. QUICKNOTES: Requires 100% oil for pigment in all techniques; by Venetians with iron oxide for flesh tones. In microscopic and chemical examination of paintings, the siennas are not usually reported under that name but are grouped under the ochres or native iron oxide pigments. According to Maximillian Toch, "American Burnt Sienna is a strong type of ochre and is neither as clear nor as brilliant as the Italian Sienna." It supposed imparts a muddy tone but is very permanent in all techniques.

BURNT UMBER

This combination of Iron oxide, oxide of manganese and clay is made by burning Raw Umber to drive off the liquid content. Completely lightfast and unaffected by gases, and makes a good glaze when thinned with oil or varnish. Can be mixed with all other pigments except for the Lakes.

BURNTGREEN EARTH

Heavier than green earth because it loses its water content when burned. It is a semi-glazing color and is permanent in all techniques.