Red - Red Pigments and Dyes

Red Pigments and Dyes

  • Hematite, or iron ore, is the source of the red color of red ochre.

  • Red ochre cliffs near Roussillon in France. Red ochre is composed of clay tinted with hematite. Ochre was the first pigment used by man in prehistoric cave paintings.

  • The mineral cinnabar, the ore of mercury, is the source of the color vermilion. In Roman times, most cinnabar came from mines at Almadén in Spain, where the miners were usually prisoners and slaves. Mercury was highly toxic, and working in the mines was often a death sentence for the miners.

  • Vermilion pigment, made from cinnabar. This was the pigment used in the murals of Pompeii and to color Chinese lacquerware beginning in the Song Dynasty.

  • Despite its yellow flower, the roots of the Rubia tinctorum, or madder plant, produced the most common red dye used from ancient times until the 19th century.

  • Red lead, also known as minium, has been used since the time of the ancient Greeks. Chemically it is known as lead tetroxide. The Romans prepared it by the calcination of white lead. It was commonly used in the Middle Ages for illuminated manuscripts.

  • Dragon's blood is a bright red resin that is obtained from different species of a number of distinct plant genera: Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, Calamus rotang and Pterocarpus. The red resin was used in ancient times as a medicine, incense, dye and varnish for making violins in Italy.

  • The tiny female cochineal insect of Spanish Mexico (on the left), was crushed to make the deep crimson color used in Renaissance costumes.

  • Extract of carmine, made by crushing cochineal and other scale insects which feed on the sap of live oak trees. Also called kermes, it was used from the Middle Ages until the 19th century to make crimson dye. Now it is used as a coloring for yoghurt and other food products.

  • The Sappanwood tree, native to India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, and later the related Brazilwood tree (shown here), from the coast of South America, were the source of a popular red pigment and dye called brazilin. The red wood was ground to powder and mixed with an alkaline solution. The brazilwood gave its name to the nation of Brazil.

  • Alizarin was the first synthetic red dye, created by German chemists in 1868. It duplicated the colorant in the madder plant, but was cheaper and longer lasting. After its introduction, the production of natural dyes from the madder plant virtually ceased.

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