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Pigments and Dyes

HE word Pigment is a contraction of the Latin pigmentum, based upon the verb pingere, to paint. Dye traces its origin to the Anglo-Saxon deag, a colour, remotely derived from the Latin tingere, to stain. Several of the pigments most generally used owe their names to the places whence they are, or were originally, brought. As examples: Umber was first obtained in the district of Umbria, in Italy, and Sienna, properly called Terra di Sienna, or Sienna Earth, from Sienna; Gamboge comes from Cambodia, formerly known as Gambogia, in Siam; Indigo, from Indicus, the ancient description of India; and Krems White, from the city of Krems, in Austria, where it is exclusively manufactured. Prussian Red, Brunswick Green, Brunswick Black, Frankfort Black, Hamburg Lake, Venetian Red, and Chinese Yellow, speak for themselves. Prussian Blue, also called Berlin Blue, was first made by a native colourman of Berlin in the year 1710; whereas Saunders Blue is merely a corruption of cendres-bleus, the French for blue ashes, this pigment being obtained from calcined bluestone.

Another name for the latter is Ultramarine, Pigments and Dyes. because it was originally brought from ultra, beyond, and marinus, the sea.

The deep blue known as Mazarine was named after Cardinal Mazarin, the Prime Minister of France (born 1602, died 1661), in whose time it was first prepared; while the puce colour known as Pompadour received its designation from Madame le Pompadour, the mistress of Louis XV. (born 1721, died 1764), who popularized it. Cardinal is so called because it expresses the exact shade of the red habit worn by the cardinals of the Church; the term Carmine owes its origin to the Italian carminio, purple; while Carnation denotes a flesh tint, in accordance with the Latin caro, flesh. The colour which results from the combination of a vivid red with more or less white is styled Pink, owing to its resemblance to the flower so designated.

The origin of the word Purple must be sought in connection with the circumstance in which this dye, or colour, was discovered. It appears that one day a favourite dog belonging to Hercules of Tyre chanced to eat a species of fish known to the ancients as the purpura; and upon returning to his master, the latter found the lips of the animal tinged with the colour that was shortly afterwards imitated and denominated purple. The term Scarlet is a modification of sakarlat, the Persian description of a bright red colour; while Crimson traces its existence through the Old English crimosyn to garmaz, the Arabic term for the cochineal insect, from whose dried body, found upon a species of cactus, this vivid dye-stuff is obtained. The beautiful purple obtained from chloride of gold bears the name of Cassius after its inventor.

Magenta was named in commemoration of the Battle of Magenta, fought in 1859; and Vandyke Brown, from its having been so frequently used by Vandyk (born 1599, died 1641) that it forms a characteristic colour in all his portraits. Sepia is the Greek designation of the cuttle-fish, and the pigment so called is obtained from the dark juice secreted by the glands of the Indian species of this fish. Sap-Green is prepared from the juice of the ripe berries of the buckthorn; whereas Emerald Green denotes the particular shade of green that characterizes the emerald. Lamp Black is so called because it was originally obtained from the burning of resinous matter over a lamp. Ivory Black is a pigment formerly obtained from charred ivory, but nowadays from bones. The origin of Isabel, a dull brownish-yellow, with a mixture of red and grey, is as follows:-When the Duke of Austria was besieging Ostend in 1601, Isabella, his wife, the daughter of Philip II. of Spain, vowed that she would not change her linen until the town had been taken. Unfortunately for her personal comfort, the town held out for two years, at the end of which period her linen assumed the characteristic hue that was afterwards imitated by the ingenious colourman who sought to honour her by perpetuating the incident.

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