Introduction
As Chapter 1 made clear, a major function of painting from antiquity to the nineteenth century was the representation of nature. In this regard, colour is traditionally viewed as an essential component because it brings visual art closer to nature. In 1528, the Renaissance courtier Baldassare Castiglione recorded a conversation on the relative merits of the figurative arts as follows:
And do you think it a trifle to imitate nature’s colours in doing flesh, clothing and all the other things that have colour? This the sculptor cannot do; neither can he render the grace of black eyes or blue eyes, shining with amorous rays. He cannot render the colour of blond hair or the gleam of weapons, or the dark of night, or a storm at sea, or lightning and thunderbolts, or the burning of a city, or the birth of a rosy dawn with its rays of gold and red. In short he cannot do sky, sea, land, mountains, woods, meadows, gardens, rivers, cities, or houses – all of which the painter can do.
(Quoted in Castiglione, 1528, p. 80.)Since the earliest cave paintings 30,000 years ago, artists have used pigments to add natural colour to their work. Prehistoric painters used earth pigments such as charcoal bound with water (or saliva) to create yellow ochre, red ochre and black hues. The Egyptians introduced bright greens and blues using pigments derived from natural minerals, which were washed, ground and bound with gum or animal glue to create a painting medium. They also introduced vegetable dyes. Other colours were created by ancient Chinese, Greek and Roman artisans. Various binding agents were used to hold the pigment together as a painting medium, including wax, resin, water and egg. From the fifteenth century onwards, walnut and linseed oil gradually replaced egg as the binding agent preferred by many artists. Acrylic paints became available in the middle of the twentieth century, in which acrylic resin emulsified with water is used as a binder and thinner.
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