INORGANIC PIGMENTS
Contents
What is a Pigment?What is an Inorganic Pigment?
Historic Use of Inorganic Pigments
Related Links and Resources
References
What is a Pigment?
Paint is composed of at least three components, a pigment, a binder, and a diluent. Pigments are colored particles that are insoluble in their binders. The earliest pigments were simply ground colored earths and soot. In the ancient world, natural organic colorants were discovered and emplyed while relatively simple compounds, like lead white, were synthesized. Many new pigments were created during the Industrial Revolution and organic pigment synthesis began in the nineteenth century. More modern pigments are now produced through sophisticated chemical processes and engineering. With a timeline of discovery or creation, popularity and usage, pigments can be identified and help to date a work of art or cultural artifact, especially if the pigment was manufactured only recently.
What is an Inorganic Pigment?
Unlike organic pigments, inorganic pigments are not primarily carbon based. They are generally a form of metallic salt. Natural inorganic minerals were washed, dried, and then ground into a fine powder for use. Inorganic pigments are often less brilliant than their organic counterparts and may be toxic but they are usually more opaque and lightfast.
Historic Use of Inorganic Pigments
The earliest inorganic pigments were natural iron oxides, such as red, yellow, brown, and green iron-containing earths. These have been found in prehistoric Paleolithic and Neolithic cave paintings. Colored stones like azurite, malachite, cinnabar, and other minerals were ground to make pigments before recorded history. Lead white, red lead, and other inorganic pigments were made in the ancient world. The Middle ages saw the synthesis of additional colors like vermilion, and natural ultramarine was refined from lapis lazuli to create a brilliant blue pigment that was more costly than gold. The number of available inorganic pigments expanded greatly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the nineteenth century, newly created, synthetic ultramarine replaced the inordinately expensive natural pigment. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century painters finally had a palette of bright, pure pigments covering the whole spectrum of hues.
Related Links and Resources
Chronological List of Traditional Pigments and their Related Elements
“Making Purple: The Science of Art”
Pigments Through the Ages: Webexhibit
History of Pigments: Winsor & Newton
References
Berrie, Barbara, ed. Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics, Vol. 4. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 2007.
Eastaugh, Nicholas, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin, and Ruth Siddall. Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments. Oxford, GB: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004.
Eastaugh, Nicholas, Valentine Walsh, Tracey Chaplin, and Ruth Siddall. 2004. Pigment Compendium: Optical Microscopy of Historical Pigments. Oxford, GB: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004.
Feller, Robert L. ed. Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics, Vol. 1. Washington, DC: The National Gallery of Art, 1986.
Fitzhugh, Elizabeth F., ed. Artists’ pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics, Vol. 3. Washington, DC: The National Gallery of Art, 1997.
Graaff, Judith H., and Wima G. Th. Roelofs. The Colorful Past:: Origins, Chemistry, and identification of Natural Dyestuffs. London: Archetype Publications, 2004.
Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson, Seeing Through Paintings, 101-106. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2000.
Roy, Ashok, ed. Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics, Vol. 2. Washington, DC: The National Gallery of Art, 1993.