Name: Bonnie May and Johana Guatemala

Date: November 5, 2014

Chemistry of Art: Pigment Research

Please follow the instructions in the Chemistry of Art: Pigment Research document and type
your responses into the sections below.

Objective
Answer the question: How does art depend on chemistry?

Time Periods
Prehistory

What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time
period?
- Carbon Black: heated wood (charcoal)
- Bone Black: 10% Carbon, 84% Calcium Phosphate, 6% Calcium Carbonate
(charring bones or waste Ivory)
- Umber: Iron, Magnese oxides, and hydroxides
- Red Ochre: Iron oxide, hematite
- Yellow Ochre: silica, clay owing, Iron Oxyhydroxide mineral, goethite
- Lime White: chalk and Bianco San Giovanni

Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?

- Carbon Black: nontoxic
- Bone Black: nontoxic
- Umber: nontoxic
- Red Ochre: nontoxic
- Yellow Ochre: nontoxic
- Lime White: nontoxic

Please include any chemical formulas or reactions

- Carbon Black: C
- Bone Black: Ca3 (PO4)2 + CaCo3 + C
- Umber: Fe2O3 ( H2O) + MnO2 (nH2O) + Al2O3
- Red Ochre: Fe2O3
- Yellow Ochre: FeO (OH))
- Lime White: CaCo3 + Ca(OH)2

Antiquity

What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time
period?
- Madder Lake: madder plant root
- Carmine Lake: Cochineal Beetle
- Realgar: Arsenic Sulfide
- Malachite: Copper Carbonate
- Orpiment: Arsenic Sulfide
- Egyptian Blue: Copper Calcium, Silicate
- Indigo: plants
- Azurite: Carbonate of Copper, oxidized Copper Ore
- Red Lead: minerals, artificial (lead)
- Vermillion: Mercury Sulfide mineral
- Green Earth: hydrosilicate Fe, Mg, Al, K, minerals
- Verdigris: Copper acetate
- Lead White: Carbonate of Lead

Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?

- Madder Lake: nontoxic
- Carmine Lake: nontoxic
- Realgar: moderately toxic
- Malachite: moderately toxic
- Orpiment: very toxic
- Egyptian Blue: moderately toxic
- Indigo: nontoxic
- Azurite: moderately toxic
- Red Lead: very toxic
- Vermillion: moderately toxic
- Green Earth: nontoxic
- Verdigris: moderately toxic
- Lead White: toxic

Please include any chemical formulas or reactions

- Madder Lake: C14H8O4, C14H8O5
- Carmine Lake: C22H20O13, C16H10O8
- Realgar: As4S4
- Malachite: 2 CuCO3 Cu(OH)2
- Orpiment: As2S3
- Egyptian Blue: CaCuS14O10
- Indigo: C16H10N2O2
- Azurite: 2 CuCO3 Cu(OH)2
- Red Lead: Pb3O4
- Vermillion: HgS
- Green Earth: K [(Al, Fe III), (Fe II, Mg] (Al Si3, Si4) O10 (OH)7
- Verdigris: Cu (OH2) (CH3COO)2 SH2O
- Lead White: 2 PbCo3 Pb(OH)2

Medieval Age
What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time period?
- Ultramarine: Sodium Calcium Aluminum Silicate Sulfate
- Smalt: Cobalt, Potassium glass
- Lead Tin Yellow: Lead Tin oxide
- Indian Yellow: Magnesium eu antinate
- Copper Resinate: Copper salts
Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?
- Ultramarine: nontoxic
- Smalt: moderately toxic
- Lead Tin Yellow: very toxic
- Indian Yellow: nontoxic
- Copper Resinate: moderately toxic
Please include any chemical formulas or reactions
- Ultramarine: Na8-10Al6Si6O24S2-4
- Smalt: SiO2+K2O+Al2O3+CoO
- Lead Tin Yellow: Pb2SnO4 (Type I) Pb (Sn, Si)O3 (Type II)
- Indian Yellow: C19+I16O11Mg SH2O
- Copper Resinate: Cu (C19H29COO)2
Renaissance & Baroque
What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time period?
- Naples Yellow: Lead antimonate
- Van Dyke Brown: earth compounds
Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?
- Naples Yellow: very toxic
- Van Dyke Brown: nontoxic
Please include any chemical formulas or reactions
- Naples Yellow: Pb (SbO3)2 or Pb (SbO4)2
- Van Dyke Brown: Fe2O3 ( H2O) +humic acids
Modern Age
What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time period?
- Prussian Blue: Iron-hexacyanoferrate
- Cobalt Green: Cobalt-oxide Zinc-oxide
Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?
- Prussian Blue: nontoxic

Cobalt Green: nontoxic

Please include any chemical formulas or reactions

- Prussian Blue: Fe [Fe3+Fe2+ (CN)6]3
- Cobalt Green: CoO Zno
Industrialization
What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time period?
- Chrome Orange: Lead Chromate
- Chrome Yellow: Lead Chromate
- Cobalt Blue: Cobalt-oxide, Aluminum-oxide
- Viridian: Chromium oxide, dihydrate
- Cadmium Yellow: Cadmium sulfide, selenium
- Cerulean Blue: Cobalt statmate
- French Ultramarine: Silicate Sulfate
- Zinc White: Zinc oxide
- Cobalt Violet: Cobalt Phosphate
- Emerald Green: Copper-acetoarsenite
Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?
- Chrome Orange: moderately toxic
- Chrome Yellow: toxic
- Cobalt Blue: nontoxic
- Viridian: moderately toxic
- Cadmium Yellow: nontoxic
- Cerulean Blue: moderately toxic
- French Ultramarine: nontoxic
- Zinc White: nontoxic
- Cobalt Violet: nontoxic
- Emerald Green: very toxic
Please include any chemical formulas or reactions
- Chrome Orange: PbCrO4 Pb(OH)2
- Chrome Yellow: PbCrO4
- Cobalt Blue: CoO Al2O3
- Viridian: Cr2O3 2H2O
- Cadmium Yellow: CdS CdS + CdSe
- Cerulean Blue: CoO SnO2
- French Ultramarine: Na8-10Al6Si6O24S2-4
- Zinc White: ZnO
- Cobalt Violet: Co3 (PO4)2 or Co3 (AsO4)2
- Emerald Blue: Cu (CH3COO)2 3Cu(AsO2)2

Contemporary Age
What elements and natural materials were pigments created from during this time period?
- Titanium White: Lead, Titanium dioxide
Were the elements and pigments toxic or safe to use?
- Titanium White: nontoxic
Please include any chemical formulas or reactions
- Titanium White: TiO2

Pigments
Pigment #1: Prussian blue
- Back in the 19th century, this pigment was created by dissolving sulphate from iron in
water and then boiling the solution. Next, they added nitric acid until red fumes ceased
to come off and the rest of the acid became a clear liquid, this is the persulphate of iron.
Then, they added a solution of ferrocyanide of potassium (yellow prussiate of potash),
only if precipitate was produced. They washed this precipitate thoroughly with water
acidulated and with sulphuric acid, and dried it in a warm place.
Pigment #2: Cobalt violet
- The remarkable range of pigments that could be produced with cobalt included cobalt
violet, is known since 1859. Salvetat first described the preparation of cobalt violet in an
article titled, "Matieres minerales colorantes vertes et violettes." The dark variety is
anhydrous cobalt phosphate which was made by mixing soluble cobalt salt with
disodium phosphate. It was washed and then heated at a high temperature. The light
variety is anhydrous cobalt arsenate. The light variety was particularly poisonous
because of its arsenic content.
Pigment #3: Chrome Orange
- Chromium was the chameleon-like fruit of a Siberian mineral, called crocoite and
discovered in the eighteenth century. The mineral is deep orange, a natural form of lead
chromate. It was analysed in the late 1790s by the eminent French chemist Nicolas Louis
Vauquelin, who identified the new element chromium as the source of the colour.
Chrome orange became the first pure orange pigment since the medieval use of realgar, a
highly toxic compound of arsenic. The chromium colours did not become widespread
until the discovery of chromium-containing mineral deposits in France, USA and
Britain.. Chrome orange was introduce as a pigment in 1809. The world production of
chrome orange ceased few years ago.

Look Closer: Scientific Techniques

Technique #1: Visible and Beyond

Experts use grazing light to examine paintings in the visible spectrum. Lights are set up
at very shallow angles to the surface of the painting to create what is known as grazing
light. Grazing light reveals details such as surface defects, distortions of the support,
craquelure, and impasto with great clarity. Grazing light also increases the depth of
heavy, textured paint strokes. This allows art historians to successfully study stroke
patterns, making it easier to observe the manner of the stroke, the direction of the stroke,
and the viscosity of the paint. You can learn a lot about the artists technique as well as
what he may have intended to convey to his viewing public by examining his
brushstrokes in such great detail.

Technique #2: Tomography

- Tomography comes from the Greek word tomos which means "slice". This analysis is
used to virtually cut an object and see inside it using penetrating radiations, such as Xrays, gamma rays, neutrons, muons and ultrasounds. CT allows to see inside artworks
and therefore, to learn about the artwork in a non-invasive manner.. While CT is
successful for the analysis of mummies, statues, vessels and other little objects, CT is not
the proper technique to detect paint layers in a painting. It is more useful for the
localization of other bigger structures over or under the paintings surface
Technique #3: Ultraviolet Light
- Organic compounds can easily be detected under UV light. This effective tool detects
later restorations that appear darker than the aged original varnish layers. UV
Fluorescence can reveal the presence of natural resin varnishes. It is also possible to
identify any retouchings on top of an aged varnish, since oil paint and newer varnish do
not fluoresce under UV. Retouchings therefore appear as dark patches on the varnish
surface.

Conclusion
In a minimum half page of writing, using the information you just researched, respond to the
question: How does art depend on chemistry?
- Art depends on chemistry in many ways. After completing this research, I have learned
how chemistry played a role in ancient times, and even how it is used today. Chemistry
plays a much larger role in art than I had ever realized, and it is most prevalent when
paints are being made. Since ancient times, people have used art as a way of expressing
their feelings and telling stories, and as time progressed, more and more chemicals,
plants, and pigments were discovered that could make paints. People found ways of
mixing them and combining them to create new colors and paints. In ancient times,
powders and things like charcoal were used and combined with a moistening agent to
allow it to be like paint. As we advanced in fields of science, paint quality increased and
more complicated and longer lasting paints were created (i.e. titanium can be used to
make white paint when mixed with liquids, and stores well when chemicals are added).
In the past, paint didn't last and was made of of very simple ingredients. Chemistry also
influences art because it helped people understand that some of the substances being
used were very toxic, and the fumes made many artists go insane. Without knowing
about how the chemicals in paint affect us, we might still be puzzling over crazy artists

dying young. In conclusion, art is dependent on chemistry and without it, we wouldn't
have pigments, paint, or art.