Classification Of Pigments During The Italian Renaissance

A pigment is a natural coloring matter that usually comes from a plant or animal. Today, there are synthetic pigments with the advancement of technology, but during the Italian Renaissance they did not have these luxuries. They had to obtain their pigment naturally. There were different classifications of pigment, each producing a different desired color. The material that contained the desired pigment had to be grinded very finely, and then the pigment would need to be added to a base to create a paint for the artist to use. Depending on how intense an artist wanted the color to be influenced the size the pigment was ground into. The more intense the desired color, the larger the pigment would be, and the less fine it would be grinded.
The azurite pigment consisted of a dark, soft blue color that is obtained through the weathering of copper ore deposits. Orpiment was another common material that consisted of a deep orange-yellow arsenic sulfide mineral that produced orange and yellow pigment for artists. The dark orange red pigment that artists had available came from a material known as vermilion. Vermilion is derived from a mercury sulfide mineral. All of these pigments had to be collected from nature and were usually found in minerals or rocks.
Natural pigments contain in their chemical
Tempera is made with an egg base that allows the painting to be fast drying. The pigment is mixed with water like in the fresco method, but when it is painted onto the egg base it dries very quickly. This method allows the work to be permanent and long lasting, however, there is little flexibility for the artist because it dries so quickly. If an artist were to make a mistake or change their mind, they would have to repaint over the area of the painting they wanted to fix. Artist used this method because it preserved their work and kept it in good condition throughout the