Medieval books reveal the extreme methods with which artists achieved their reds

Posted by Petiver on Thursday February 16, 2017 @02:19AM
from the theparisreview.org dept.

https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/02/14/the-red-of-painters/

( 4 comments | 58 points | on HN )

Re:Medieval books reveal the extreme methods with which arti... by aleyan on Thursday February 16, 2017 @01:21PM (#13662212)

For a brief history of all the other colors, I recommend looking at this veritable hokum post[0]. Make sure to look at the expanded timeline with explanations below infographic.

[0] http://www.veritablehokum.com/comic/mummy-brown-and-other-hi...

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Re:Medieval books reveal the extreme methods with which arti... by danielam on Thursday February 16, 2017 @02:07PM (#13662608)

There's a mention of Mexican cochineal, but nothing about what it supplanted in Europe, the Polish cochineal, which was traded widely in Europe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_cochineal

I also found this bit from the MET:

https://issuu.com/metmuseum/docs/cochineal_winter_2010_bulle...

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Re:Medieval books reveal the extreme methods with which arti... by analog31 on Thursday February 16, 2017 @02:33PM (#13662842)

I don't remember the source, but apparently one of the many analyses of Stradivarius violins concluded that one of his red pigments was from the Americas.

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Re:Medieval books reveal the extreme methods with which arti... by ianvanness on Thursday February 16, 2017 @11:24PM (#13665918)

And for a much broader look at artists' use of color over time, check out the book "Color A Natural History Of The Palette".

[0] http://www.powells.com/book/color-a-natural-history-of-the-p...

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