See below for an A-Z List of the best-known artist-colours, lakes and glazes. It includes traditional pigments used by prehistoric cave painters and artists from Ancient Antiquity, as well as colours which appeared in palettes of the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Impressionist periods. Since the late-19th century, the majority of pigments employed by most painters are improved synthetic variants of older colours. Nowadays, most natural colourants are obsolete, an exception being the costly Ultramarine, made from the precious Lapis Lazuli. Modern artificial colours tend to be more lightfast, more permanent, more intense and considerably cheaper and safer to use. It's amazing how many of the older pigments (both natural and early synthetic variants) were highly toxic compounds containing lead, mercury, chrome, arsenic - even cyanide. Given the workaholic nature of many Old Masters and modern-era painters, one wonders how many of them were adversely affected by constant contact with such unhealthy chemical colourants.
Alizarin Crimson. Alizarin Crimson is the synthetic version of the pigment found in Madder plants. It was first synthesized in 1868 by the German chemists, Grabe and Lieberman, as a more lightfast substitute to Rose Madder. Madder lakes, which were produced in a variety of shades of red, from brownish to purplish to bluish, made good glazing colours that spread well in oil, and were also prepared in a form for use in watercolour painting. However, some painters found that the synthetic variety was less saturated and brilliant than natural Madder. Moreover, late 20th-century tests revealed that Alizarin Crimson pigment was much less lightfast than its natural parent.
Antimony Vermilion. A brightly coloured, lightfast pigment whose reputation suffered in the mid-19th century as it reacts with lead pigments and turns black. Now obsolete.
Antwerp Blue. A variant of Prussian Blue, containing 75 percent extender. Not a reliable pigment. Now obsolete.
Asphaltum. Asphaltum comprises a solution of asphalt in oil or turpentine, which has been employed since Antiquity, if not earlier, as a protective coating. Rembrandt, for instance, is said to have used Asphaltum successfully in a number of his paintings. It was later used to give an "Old Master" look to canvases. Unfortunately, in some cases it caused noticeable darkening and cracking. It persisted as a pigment until the end of the 19th century. Now obsolete.
Atramentum (Atramentum Librarium). An old generic type of term referring to the colour of ink - mainly blacks, but also reds, greens, and violets which were the traditional colours used by classical artists and calligraphers.
Aureolin. Also known as Cobalt Yellow, Aureolin superceded Gamboge, an earlier pigment which was an Asian yellow gum in used until the 19th century. Aureolin - an intense medium yellow pigment - was synthesized in 1848 by N.W. Fischer in Germany, and was employed in oil and watercolour painting until the late 19th century, when less expensive, and more lightfast pigments (eg. the Cadmiums) were introduced.
Azurite. A greenish blue pigment named after the Persian word "lazhward" meaning "blue", it is chemically close to the green colourant malachite. Azurite was known from Ancient times and became extremely popular during the Middle Ages and Renaissance era, as Egyptian Blue declined. Used in oil painting, it performed best as a water-based pigment and was often employed in Tempera paint under an oil glaze. Superceded by Prussian blue in the early 18th century, and rendered obsolete after the synthesisation of Ultramarine and the development of Cobalt Blue.
Barium Yellow. A relatively opaque white-yellow pigment, it is a form of Barium Chromate, and is also known as Lemon Yellow. Permanent in most media, it performed best in watercolour paints. Now obsolete.
Bismuth White. Developed in the early 19th century it was replaced by Zinc White by the 1830s. It had the advantage of being much less toxic than many other colours, but it was prone to darkening when combined with pigments containing sulfur.
Bistre. An unreliable brown pigment made by burning Beech wood. Now obsolete. Black.See Carbon Black (below). Bole. A form of natural red iron oxide. The closest modern pigment to Bole would be light red in colour. Now obsolete. Bone White. Obsolete; it was made by burning bones to a white ash. Cennino Cennini in his Il Libro dell'Arte says 'the best bones are from the second joints and wings of fowls and capons; the older they are, the better; put them into the fire just as you find them under the table.' It was used as a ground for panels.
Cadmium Pigments. A family of pigments based on the metal cadmium, in hues of yellow, orange and red. Cadmium yellow is cadmium sulfide, to which increasing amounts of selenium may be added to extend the colour-range. Viridian is added to Cadmium yellow to produce the bright, pale green pigment cadmium green. The brightness of Cadmium colours tends to fade in murals and fresco painting. Although Cadmium was discovered by Stromeyer in 1817, production of pigments was delayed until after 1840 due to scarcity of the metal. All of the cadmiums possessed great colour brilliance with the deeper shades having the greatest tinting strength. Cadmium pigments were used in both oil painting and watercolour but could not be combined with copper-based pigments.
Carbon Black. An ancient black pigment, it was traditionally made by charring organic materials like wood or bone. It was a pure form of carbon, and was referred to by a variety of names, depending on how it was made. For example: "Ivory black" was produced by burning ivory or bones; "Vine black" was made by charring dried grape vines; "Lamp black" was made from soot collected from oil lamps. Synthetic versions have now replaced these traditional organic forms, except in certain specialized arts, like calligraphy and Oriental painting.
Carmine (Cochineal and Kermes). Used since Antiquity, Carmine is a natural organic crimson pigment/dye made from the dried bodies of the female insect Coccus cacti (Cochineal), which inhabits the prickly-pear cactus, and also from a wingless insect living on certain species of European live oaks (Kermes). The cactus insects were first heated in ovens, then dried in the sun, to produce "silver cochineal" from which the finest pigment was made. Cochineal is still made in Mexico and India.
Cinnabar (Zinnober). This natural ore (Mercuric Sulfide) was a popular source for a red-orange artist-pigment also known as Vermilion. In fact the terms "cinnabar" and "vermilion" were used interchangeably to refer to either the natural or the later synthesized colour until around the 17th century when vermilion became the more common name. By the late 18th century, the name cinnabar was applied only to the unground natural mineral. An opaque red pigment, Cinnabar production was dominated by the Chinese who found an early means of making it that remained the best method for over 1,000 years. Unfortunately, it is highly toxic. Most natural vermilion comes from cinnabar mines in China, hence its alternative name of China red. It was replaced by the Cadmium Reds during the 19th century. See also Vermilion (below).
Cobalts. A family of pigments originally derived from mineral mines in Bohemia. They were named Cobalt after the word "kobolds" - the Bohemian word for spirits or ghosts, which the miners believed inhabited the pigment and caused them difficulties.
Cobalt Blue. An expensive but highly stable pure blue pigment discovered by Thenard in 1802, it was a great improvement on smalt - the pigment made from cobalt blue glass. It is now the most important of all the cobalt pigments. Following the development of smalt by the Swedish chemist Brandt, and the German scientists Gahn and Wenzel, Louis Jaques Thenard discovered his new cobalt blue through experiments at the Sevres porcelain factory. It is totally stable in watercolour and fresco painting and a good substitute for ultramarine blue when painting skies.
Cobalt Green. A semi-transparent but highly permanent moderately bright green pigment discovered by the Swedish chemist Rinmann in 1780, it is used in all painting techniques. However its poor tinting strength and high cost of cobalt green has kept its use limited.
Cobalt Violet. Cobalt Violet was developed around 1860, and like its older sister Cobalt Green suffered from high cost and weak colouring power which restricted its use among artists. It has been superceded by the cleaner, stronger pigment Manganese Violet.
Cobalt Yellow. Discovered in 1848 in Breslau by the German scientist N W. Fischer, this pure yellow pigment was popular for a brief period due to its good mixing quality with other pigments and for good tints in watercolour. It is also lightfast. However, like most of the Cobalts, it is both expensive and of limited power.