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Background.
All paint is composed of three materials: a pigment, small
colored particles, the medium for suspending the pigment particle and
binding them to the finished painting, and a diluent to provide the proper
consistency to the paint. Blue water color and oil paint may contain the
same pigment but differ in the suspending media and diluent. In the former,
gum arabic - a carbohydrate - is the binder and water serves both as the
suspending media and the diluent. Oil paint, in contrast, contains a drying
oil such as linseed with turpentine or mineral spirits as the diluent.
Pigments differ from dyes in that they are used as suspensions rather
than solutions. Indigo, the colorant of blue jeans, can be used both as
a pigment and a dye. The usage of synthetic pigments and dyes parallels
the history of chemistry with the first new blue pigment, Prussian blue,
made in 1704. Consequently, pigment identification provides a value tool
in establishing the authenticity of paintings. Chemistry 103 students
explore the processes for making paint from pigments and the methods for
scientific characterization of the resultant paint.
References
A. General
1. Indianapolis Museum of Art :
http://www.ima-art.org/education/schoolprograms/science/index.html
2. Taft, W. Stanley, Jr. and Mayer, James W. (2000) The Science of Painting.
New York: Springer-Verlag. Chapters 1 & 2, pp. 1-25.
3. Orna, Mary Virginia and Goodstein, Madeline P. Chemistry and ArtistsÍ
Colors, 2nd Edition (New Rochelle, NY, 1998), Chapter 20, page 355-369.
Find page numbers.
4. Friedstein, Harriet G. (1981) "A Short History of the Chemistry of
Painting" Journal of Chemical Education58: 291-294.
5. National Gallery (1989) Italian painting before 1400 [videorecording]
/ the National Gallery. London: The National Gallery 6. National Gallery
(1988). Rembrandt [videorecording] / the National Gallery [London]: The
National Gallery.
7. National Gallery (1990) Impressionism [videorecording] / National Gallery.
London: The National Gallery.
8. Gettens, Rutherford J and Stout, George (1966) Painting materials:
A Short Encyclopaedia. New York: Dover.
9. Wallert, Arie; Hermens, Erma and Peek, Marja F. J. (1995) Historical
Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice. Los Angeles: Getty
Conservation Institute
B. Pigments
1. Butler, Ian S.; Furbacher, Richard J. (1985) "Chemistry and artists'
pigments." Journal of Chemical. Education. 62: 334.
2. Orna, Mary Virginia. "Chemistry and artists colors. Part III. Preparation
and properties of artists' pigments." 1980 Journal of Chemical Education
57: 267.
3. Robert L. Feller, Editor "Artists' pigments: A handbook of their history
and characteristics" (1986-1997) Washington: National Gallery of Art.
Vol. 2, Ashok Roy, editor; Vol. 3, Elisabeth West FitzHugh, editor.
4. Balfour-Paul, Jenny (1998) Indigo, London: British Museum Press. C.
Scientific Analysis of Paintings
1. Derrick, Michele R.; Stulik, Dusan; and Landry, James M. (1999) Infrared
2. Spectroscopy in Conservation Science (1999) Los Angeles: Getty Conservation
Institute.
3. Striegel, Mary and Hill, Jo (1996) Thin-layer Chromatography for Binding
Media Analysis. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute.
4. Lambert, Joseph B. (1997) Traces of the past. Unraveling the Secrets
of Archaeology through Chemistry. Reading, MA: Helix Books, Addison Wesley.
5. Heard, James. (1992) Physics and fine art [videorecording] Cicero,
Ill. : The Roland Collection.
D. Fresco Painting
1. Cather, Sharon, Ed. (1991) The Conservation of Wall Paintings. Los
Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute.
2. Hocombe, Sarah (1999). Fresco Painting for home and Garden. London:
David and Charles.
3. Mirsky, Nick, director; Ball, Hendrik, producer. (1992) A restoration
drama [videorecording] Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities.
Experiments
1. Paint Labs-Download PDF: Paint
Labs 2002
2. Directions for using Ocean Optics spectrophotometer
for reflectance measurements. Download PDF: Ocean
optics reflectance
3. Download PDF: Fresco
lab02
Links
1. From webexhibits.org:
http://webexhibits.org/pigments/
2. Indianapolis Museum of Art:
http://www.ima-art.org/education/schoolprograms/science/index.html
3. Chemistry of photography at Hampton-Sidney College http://cator.hsc.edu/~mollusk/ChemArt/paint/index.html
4. Wellesley College Paint Shop Pond: http://www.wellesley.edu/Chemistry/PSP/painthome.html
5. Chemistry at Suwanee University: http://www.sewanee.edu/chem/Chem%26Art/default.html
6. From a course on chemistry and art at Lafayette College: http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~waltersv/pigments.htm
7. From Gamblin, a company specializing in restoration: http://www.gamblincolors.com
8. From Sinopia, a company selling pigments: http://www.sinopia.com/
Student Exhibition:
Painting
- Professor Margaret Merritt,
Wellesley College Chemistry Department
- Created by: Leslie Chang '04 & Jerina Hajno '04
- Page Created: July 23, 2001
- Last Modified: January 25, 2002
- Page Expires: August 31, 2002