Cobalt Purples

: ON THE SECONDARY, PURPLE.

are obtainable ranging from the richest crimson purple to the most

delicate violet. We have produced them by wet and dry methods, varying

in brilliancy and beauty, but characterised generally by want of body,

and frequently by a smalt-like grittiness. Chemically, good and stable

colours, they are not received with favour on the palette, and certainly

may be very well replaced by mixtures of cobalt blue and madder red.

hen a permanent compound is obtainable equal in colour to an original

pigment, and superior in its physical attributes, no objection can

fairly be taken to its artistic preference. There are other things to be

considered in a pigment besides permanence, or even permanence and

colour combined. The two together do not constitute a perfect pigment,

that is, a material of practical utility and value. In the last

chapter, allusion was made to a green which possesses both the one and

the other, and yet is--at present, at least--quite unfitted for artistic

use. Hence, with a strong partiality for simple original pigments, we

are bound to confess there are cases where mixtures are justifiably

preferred. All we contend for is, that each constituent of such mixtures

should be stable, and neither give nor receive injury by being

compounded.



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