The Toxic Stone Called 'Gold Paint' By George O'Hanlon
Over the years my adult students would try to recreate the brilliance of Gold for part of their painting. Oil based mixtures included cad yellows, with ochre and white, and although we came close we never hit it on the money. Paint makers like Winsor & Newtons' gold seemed too dark and needed additional mixtures.
Thanks to George Hanlon and those wonderful folks at Natural Pigments we have a pigment called Orpiment.
Orpiment is a rich lemon or canary yellow with fair covering power and good chemical stability as a pigment. It is designated as brilliant yellow in Munsell notation 4.4Y 8.7/8.9. It is an arsenic sulfide mineral that occurs naturally in small deposits as a product of hydrothermal veins, hot spring deposits, and volcanic sublimation, although nowadays, it can be easily obtained artificially. The arsenic content makes it toxic, although it was also used in medicine, cosmetics, and as a biocide in ancient times.
Read more about this Natural Pigments product at: https://www.naturalpigments.com/artist-materials/toxic-color-called-gold-pigment-orpiment/?fbclid=IwAR1h1TEEZTJlGw_XvQMRbPeEmXMlTXHOOZ_IVvbTdPVyK5Kxdungs1Z0Gug
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Tintoretto (1519–1594), Christ Washing the Disciples' Feet, 1548–1549
Oil on canvas, 82.6 in × 17.4 ft, Museo del Prado, Madrid
Orpiment was identified in the upper layer of the orange-yellow robe of Saint Peter (whose feet Christ is washing). Realgar was identified in the lower layer of the same orange-yellow drapery.
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