welcome to the slideshow history of pigments and dyes natural pigments and dyes can be organic derived from insects animals or plants or inorganic derived from clays and minerals some may ask what the difference is pigments are finely ground colored powders that remain suspended and insoluble when they are combined with the binder sometimes called a vehicle this binder acts as an adhesive that blends with the colored powders so they can be spread onto a surface dyes on the other hand are completely soluble in a liquid and this liquid strokes through the article that is being dyed a dye may be added to a powdered mineral to create a pigment which is called a lake historically pigments derive from animals vegetables or minerals the ink sac of the cuttlefish produced sepia tiny insects the cochineal in mexico or kermes in the near east produced red the minerals lapis lazuli and malachite gave us blue and green the vehicle or binder used by the ancients were animal fat the egyptians used honey the italian painters used egg yolk and water other vehicles are plant or synthetic gum oil egg white and now latex [Music] the winsor and newton gouache we are using for our classes is a water soluble paint that is opaque as opposed to watercolor which is transparent gouache differs from watercolor in that the pigments are bound with glue or gum and the lighter values are obtained by adding white paint instead of diluting the pigment with water so if we make a mistake in these assignments you can paint over the color but gouache can also be used in a transparent watercolor technique which we will use when doing quick color studies and later lessons gouache was used in ancient egyptian paintings in the illuminated manuscripts of the middle ages was popular with french and intelligent artists in the 18th century and was popular for specialized purposes such as posters custom and stage design illustrations now of course we have computer generated drawings although hand drawings and paintings are always popular the earth is abundant of an iron oxides or clays that produce red and yellow ochre or yellow earth burnt sienna is named after the town of siena and umber after the umbria region in italy this patrick carpet dates back to the 5th century bc was found in turkey and shows fabric fragments of wool dyed red yellow and blue the three sources of these colors were read from the mata plant the yellow earth and blue from the road or indigo plants in ancient egypt lapis lazuli from afghanistan was used for blue a synthetic blue green came from the copper-based minerals acerite and malachite mummies were wrapped in textiles dyed with matter indigo and safflower frescoes on the walls of the palace of nazis in crete show crocus being gathered for the yellow orange color saffron the wealthy residents of pompeii used cinnabar a mercury based brilliant red for their walls villas in and around pompeii were buried when mount vesuvius erupted in 79 a.d the word fresco which means fresh in italian is painting on wet plaster used to decorate large wall surfaces there are two methods the first warn fresco where paint is applied while the plaster is wet the second is fresco secco where the plaster is applied to dry walls among the most noted born frescoes are dosed by giotto in the early 14th century in the scroveny chapel in padua italy in ancient rome only the emperor could wear ropes of what is called imperial purple a brilliant color that was difficult to obtain thousands of the murex or papura snails were harvested off the coast of tyre what today is lebanon to obtain a minimum quantity of the dye there was an added element of mystery in that the photosensitive color changed from yellow to green blue green red to violet other brilliant crimson reds came from the chemise insect which attached itself to trees in the middle ages brilliantly colored luxurious fabrics were also priced in their trade with asia the italian towns of venice florence and genoa became the center of the production of rich silks and dyes in his book black the history of the color michelle pastro recounts how black became a sophisticated color brilliant colors difficult to obtain and costly were reserved for the nobility the working class and even the clergy were relegated to drab blue gray or black the textile draid brought the rise of a merchant class in the middle 14th century although these merchants could not wear brilliant colors and were relegated to black they felt the need for more opulent attire and had the dyers produce brilliant black which on luxurious fabric was quite dazzling the nobility soon adopted a sophisticated look and black achieved the status brilliant colors this process of mixing colors will be further explained in today's lesson plant dyes require a mordant for color to stay like the vehicle that binds to pigments a morden can be thought of as glue that holds the dye to the fabric and also enhances the color a modern can be vinegar urine or alum the mineral that became the foundation of the great wealth of the medici family in florence the most common plant dyes in the middle ages were wood which produced blue but was difficult to process and matter which was produced which produced red both plants were abundant in europe but the colors were unstable the colors improved with the use of moderns and improved dyeing techniques these photos on the growing and processing of vote are from judith miller's book color period and regional styles from around the world indigo was the most expensive plant dye and as its name implies came from india here again there was a photosensitive process when a textile being died turned from green to blue commerce entered the picture in the 14th century when road producers banned their diaries from importing indigo in the 16th century spanish explorers in the americas discovered another insect the cochineal used by the native indians of mexico and central america instead of clinging to trees and shrubs like the kermes the cochineal clung to cactus plants and produced a brilliant crimson red again commerce entered the picture the spanish tried to keep the source secret and prohibited the export of live insects but large orders with of this dye were shipped to louie 14th for the decoration of the palace of versailles alchemy played an important role in the history of dyes and the discovery of synthetic dyes the alchemist was part philosopher magician chemist among most notable was sir isaac newton who as we learned in our first lesson in 1666 discovered that white light contains all the colors of the spectrum in 1704 two alchemists in berlin accidentally mixed tainted potassium to produce red and instead came up with an intense prussian blue in 1826 another german chemist distilled liquid from the indigo plant and called it aniline after the arabic name for indigo or anal any line could also be derived from distilled coal tar those these synthetic organic aniline dyes completely changed the color industry in 1856 a young english student named william henry perkin accidentally discovered synthetic purple the french call it nov while trying to make a synthetic quinine to cure malaria as a result the color became immensely popular in victorian times other colors such as green the blue and red that came from wood indigo and mata plants were now synthetically produced by chemists in our discussion on pigments and dyes it should be noted that many of these were poisonous for example vermilion made from sulfur of mercury the bright green popular in napoleon's time was known to contain arsenic and there was a rumor his this caused his slow death periscreen popular in 19th century wallpaper was an emerald green said to be laced with a scenic and of course in more recent times paints contained lead and are now banned