Gamblin 1980 Oils - PY37-Cadmium Yellow (Concentrated cadmium zinc (II)-sulphide): PG18-Viridian (chromium(III)-oxide hydrate)

Cadmium Green: A bright, light green mixture of Viridian and Cadmium Yellow. Opaque and helpful to make muted colours of the natural world. No health labelling is required.

Pigmentandnbsp;Composition and Permanence:andnbsp;

Pigment Name: PY37-Cadmium Yellow

Pigment Type: inorganic, cadmiumandnbsp;

Properties

Cadmium Yellow is brilliant, dense, and opaque, with good tinting strength and high hiding power. It is the artist’s principal bright yellow and is available in light, medium, and dark shades. The deeper shades appear deep orange and have the greatest tinting strength.

It is slow-drying in oil form and is used in both oil and watercolour form. It cannot be mixed with copper-based pigments. When Cadmium Yellow is mixed with Cadmium Red, a clean Cadmium Orange is created. Hues vary by brand.

Cadmium pigments have been partially replaced by azo pigments, similar in lightfastness to the cadmium colours, cheaper, and non-toxic. Cadmium Yellow is usually available in a pure grade or a cadmium-barium mix. This mix has the same permanence with a lower tinting strength.

Permanence

Cadmium Yellow is lightfast and permanent in most forms, but like most cadmium colours, it will fade in fresco or mural painting. The deeper shades are the most permanent. The pale varieties have been known to fade with exposure to sunlight.

Toxicity

Cadmium Yellow is a known human carcinogen. It can be hazardous if chronically inhaled or ingested.

History

Cadmiums get their names from the Latin word cadmia, meaning zinc ore calamine, and the Greek word kadmeia, meaning Cadmean earth, first found near Thebes, the city founded by the Phoenician prince Cadmus.

Metallic cadmium was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Strohmeyer. Oil colours were first made from Cadmium Yellow pigments in 1819, replacing toxic Chrome (lead) Yellows. However, their production was delayed until 1840 due to the scarcity of cadmium metals.

Landscape painters, such as Claude Monet, preferred Cadmium Yellow to the less expensive Chrome Yellow because of its higher chroma and greater purity of colour.

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2ndandnbsp;Pigmentandnbsp;Composition and Permanence:andnbsp;

Pigment Name: PG18-Viridian

Pigment Type: inorganic

Properties

Viridian is the standard green and is stable, robust, and cold with an emerald green undertone. It has a transparent hue, good tinting strength, a dark masstone that can be almost black at full power, and a slow drying time in oil form.

Viridian is commonly replaced by the darker, more saturated, and staining Phthalo Greens, but its properties make it a necessary part of the palette of an experienced landscape painter.

Permanence

Viridian has excellent permanence, except in high-temperature work, and is highly valued as a glazing colour.

Toxicity

Viridian is slightly toxic.

History

Viridian's name comes from the Latin Viridis, meaning green. The process for manufacturing Viridian, or Transparent Oxide of Chromium, was patented by Guignet in Paris in 1859. However, it was discovered by Pannetier and Binet in 1838.

Viridian replaced Verdigris, which was reactive and unstable, and Emerald Green, which was a poisonous copper aceto-arsenite used as a rat poison in the sewers of Paris.