Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Volume 2

A Pigment Handbook is designed to reach a wide audience as the ultimate authority on artists' colorants. With the support of the National Gallery of Art, Professor Robert Feller has edited a collection of essays on ten of the most important pigments for conservators, restorers, and art historians. Many of the monographs first appeared in the quarterly of the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Work. The first two sections describe the character and nomenclature of the pigment and the history of its use. The third section deals with such matters as colour, permanence and compatibility. The fourth section enumerates the varieties of the pigment available, differences that may arise owing to different methods of preparation, and, in the case of colorants that could be of natural origin, the potential variations of character dependent on the source. Section Five describes the methods and procedures that can be employed to identify the pigments. Finally, the sixth section of each essay lists the principal citations in which the particular pigment has been identified in various objects of artistic and historic significance.