Smoke and Mirrors Issue 2 - Lead Antimonate Yellow
Lead Antimonate Yellow
by Phil Gottfredson
Some time back, we were discussing the fact that the Old Masters would use white pigment only as a highlight, and that they would cut their colors with a pale yellow to keep the colors from graying out. I promised you that I would research what the yellow pigment was that was used to lighten other colors, and allowed the lightened colors to remain translucent, which doesn't happen when you lighten your colors with white pigments. Bear in mind that there are both opaque and translucent versions of this pigment, the latter being a lake color.
Lead Antimonate Yellow dates to the sixteenth-fourteenth century B.C. It was the only yellow pigment in use in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian glazes.
This pigment was most likely obtained from the deserts of Egypt, and the regions of Asia Minor, Greek islands, and Persia. Since the ore was refined to pigment largely in Naples Italy, it was given the name of Naples Yellow. The most historic formula would be Pb(SbO2)2 and Pb2Sb2O7 mixed with barium sulfate.
The Naples Yellow of today is most likely an imitation of the original formulas, but I believe it is still available from a good Colorman, which I'm sure you have access to in your area. Please keep in mind that because of the original Naples Yellow being made from Lead, and also containing tin, this is highly toxic, and today's manufacturers of the pigment will have eliminated the lead and are probably making the pigment from chromium and sulfates. But the idea of not using pure white as a dillutant for other pigments resulting in dull and murky colors is the point of this discussion. The Old Masters used white as a highlight only, this being the reason that their palettes were so translucent and opalescent.
You want Pale Yellow, over moderate, or dark.
A good example of its use can be seen in the painting "Arrest of Christ" by Matthias Stomer (1630-1632), and works by Thomas Bardwell (1704-1767), Rubens, and may I add that it was also extensively used in stained glass.
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Copyright (c) 1993 Phil Gottfredson
