A Brief Survey of Color Change in Lake Pigments - by Jo Kirby and David Saunders

T10.
2 Organic colorants in ancient and contemporary art
A brief survey of colour

change in lake pigments
Jo Kirby and David Saunders

Back to the Roots Workshop on the
Preparation of Historical Lake Pigments
Doerner Institut, Munich, 2325 March
2011
Project co-funded by the European Commission within the action 'Research Infrastructures' of the 'Capacities' Programme GA No. FP7- 228330
Typical colour change in lake pigments
Aelbert Cuyp, A Distant View of Dordrecht with a Milkmaid and Four Cows, and other
Figures (The Large Dort) (NG961) c. 1650. Oil on cavsus157.5 x 197 cm.The
NationalProject
Gallery, London
co-funded by the European Commission within the action 'Research Infrastructures' of the 'Capacities' Programme GA No. FP7- 228330
Typical colour change in
lake pigments
Ascribed to Jacopo di Cione and Workshop,

Adoring Saints: Left main tier panel, San Pier
Maggiore Altarpiece, (NG569.2), 137071.
Egg on poplar, 169 x 113 cm. The National
Gallery, London
Experimental
Over the years we have examined a series of red and yellow lake
pigments, prepared in the National Gallery laboratory and painted
in linseed oil on small wooden panels prepared with a chalk ground and
priming, or on Teflon panels, or on paper with an oil-based ground
in egg tempera on similar supports
in watercolour on similar supports
The pigments were exposed to artificial daylight fluorescent lamps at an
illuminance of about 10,000 lux for several thousand hours in a
purpose-built light box, at a temperature of about 32 C and a relative
humidity of 405%. One experiment was run in the British Museum
Microscal LFT1E (model 500) lightfastness tester. Blue wool samples
were included as controls
The pigments contained the dyes extracted from kermes, cochineal,
lac, madder, brazilwood or sappanwood, weld, buckthorn, quercitron,
prepared according to different recipes, with more or less substrate,
alone or mixed with lead white or other pigments. All other information
is given in the published papers.
Colour measurement
Measured with a Minolta CR221 colour meter: 45/0 geometry (gloss
excluded) oil paint samples, or CR200: d/0 geometry
watercolour samples; in later work with a CM2600d
spectrophotometer
Converted to CIE L* a* b* co-ordinates using standard D65
illuminant (and, in later work, data for 2observer)
Colour changes calculated using CIE colour difference equation
(E), later CIE 1994 colour difference (E94) and CIE 2000 (E00)
Colour measurement
L* represents lightness: 0 = black; 100 = pure white
a* represents redness-greenness: +ve a* = red; -ve a* = green
b* represents yellowness-blueness: +ve b* = yellow; -ve b* = blue
Effect of
dyestuff reds
Graph of colour change (E)
against time (hours), for red lake
pigments on Al-containing
substrates painted as
watercolour washes
Brazilwood the most fugitive,

followed by lac, cochineal,
kermes and madder. Alizarin
crimson more stable than the
rest,
Effect of
dyestuff
reds
Changes in redness (a*)
and yellowness (b*) on
exposure to light for red
lake pigments on Al-
containing substrates,
painted out as watercolour
washes.
All show an initial
yellowing, perhaps due to
the production of yellow
intermediates. In the case
of brazilwood, the yellow
does not go until all the
red has gone.
Effect of dyestuff yellows
Buckthorn is markedly less
stable to light than
quercitron and certainly
less stable than luteolin-
containing weld, Pigments
on substrates containing
both alumina and a
calcium salt are less stable
than those containing only
alumina.
Effect of dyestuff yellows
The yellowness of all three pigments decreases; the redness increases, then
decreases again, then increases
Effect of method of extraction
It appeared from this study that
pigments prepared from the raw
materials directly were rather
more light stable than those
prepared from wool shearings,
but we were not able to assess
(1) whether or not the proportion
of dye constituents is the same,
qualitatively or quantitatively, in
the two types of pigment. More
recently we have been able to do
this with madder and use HPLC
to study the composition. In these
cases the difference was less
marked.
(2) The bonding sites in the dye
molecule may not be the same
Effect of substrate cochineal
Cochineal carmine, which
has very little
conventional susbtrate,
is more stable to light
than a hydrated alumina
lake, which is more stable
than one also containing
chalk or tin(IV) oxide
(extenders)
carmine
Effect of substrate buckthorn
Bu 1 hydrated
alumina
Bu 2 hydrated
alumina but more
of it
Bu 3 alumina +
chalk
The more
extender/ substrate
is present the more
fugitive the
pigment
Effect of binding medium lac
Most rapid change of colour in watercolour wash as paint layer thin,

low pigment density and not properly protected by the medium.
Thickly painted watercolour far more permanent.
Effect of white content
L Before fading
oil
M
Mixtures of lac and madder
egg
L lakes in egg and oil, alone
and mixed with lead white in
M the proportions 1:1, 1:4, 1:10,
1:20 and 1:50
L
oil
M After fading
egg L
Effect of white content
The higher the inital proportion of
lead white, the greater the initial
chanage in colour. Part of this
initial loss of colour is due to
fading of yellow constituents in the
medium; more so in egg.
Gradation of shades is altered by

fading so that the colour
difference between the three
lightest tones is reduced; the
difference between and the dark
tones is increased. In paintings
this appears as a accentuation of
depth in the shadows and a loss
of modelling of the mid to light
tones
Effect of ultra-
violet filtration
Reducing the UV cuts
down the damage
Effect on mixed greens
exposed to light protected from light

Further reading
J. Kirby, D. Saunders and M. Spring, Proscribed pigments in Northern European Renaissance paintings and the
case of Paris red, in The Object in Context: Crossing Conservation Boundaries; Contributions to the Munich IIC
Congress 28 August 1 September 2006, ed. D. Saunders, J.H. Townsend and S. Woodcock, London, the
International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 2006, pp. 23643.
D. Saunders and J. Kirby, A comparison of light-accelerated ageing regimes in some galleries and museums, The
Conservator, 25, 2001, pp. 95104.
J. Kirby and D. Saunders, Sixteenth- to eighteenth-century green colours in landscape and flower paintings:
composition and deterioration, in Painting Techniques: History, Materials and Studio Practice, Contributions to the
IIC Dublin Congress, 711 September 1998, ed. A. Roy and P. Smith, London, International Institute for
Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, 1998, pp. 1559.
D. Saunders and J. Kirby, Wavelength-dependent fading of artists pigments, in Preventive Conservation:

Practice, Theory and Research, Preprints of the Contributions to the IIC Ottawa Congress, 1216 September
1994, ed. Ashok Roy and Perry Smith, London, International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic
Works, 1994, pp. 1904 (with David Saunders)
D. Saunders and J. Kirby, Light-induced colour changes in red and yellow lake pigments, National Gallery
Technical Bulletin, 15, 1994, pp. 7997.

A Brief Survey of Color Change in Lake Pigments - by Jo Kirby and David Saunders

Hochgeladen von

Dokumentinformationen

Originaltitel

Copyright

Verfügbare Formate

Dieses Dokument teilen

Dokument teilen oder einbetten

Freigabeoptionen

Stufen Sie dieses Dokument als nützlich ein?

Sind diese Inhalte unangemessen?

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

A Brief Survey of Color Change in Lake Pigments - by Jo Kirby and David Saunders

Hochgeladen von

Copyright:

Verfügbare Formate

T10.

2 Organic colorants in ancient and contemporary art

A brief survey of colour

Jo Kirby and David Saunders

Ascribed to Jacopo di Cione and Workshop,

Brazilwood the most fugitive,

Most rapid change of colour in watercolour wash as paint layer thin,

Gradation of shades is altered by

exposed to light protected from light

D. Saunders and J. Kirby, Wavelength-dependent fading of artists pigments, in Preventive Conservation:

Das könnte Ihnen auch gefallen