The Mystery and Beauty of Indian Yellow and Historic Colors

It's the little things in life that can make a painter's day. Well for me it wasn't so little. For years I have been researching the  history of artists' pigments. Certain colors remain a mystery, often because of the irresponsible publishing in technical art history, which unfortunately, extends to research in all artists' materials. Hard to believe, but some authors who were not artists, when in doubt, literally copied information from others that was incorrect. This misinformation remains published in some of the primary artist's materials books.

I want to solve the mystery of why these colors remain stable in some pictures while failing in others. Ah, this is a never ending quest where more and exciting research surfaces daily thanks to The National Gallery in London, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, Artists' Pigments book series, and institutions like the Canadian Conservation Institute and numerous other publications and individuals.

Historic colors represent  an entirely different way to paint. They place color back in the control of the artist. While advancements in technology have brought us the ease of readily prepared tube colors, technical advancements don't always serve all individuals,  particularly artists. The quintessence of color and pigment have been watered down to a material that is used world-wide without any individual attributes.  Modern science has created a slew of new and more powerful colors. Super colors that rarely fade, are more stable and far more intense in chroma than anything you will find in nature.

More is not always better. Lost is the subtle and beautiful character of color that was created and enhanced by artists solely for works of art.  Perhaps this explains why many artists of my generation and younger artists, have moved away from painting and object centered art. It may help explain conceptual art and other art forms as a means for the artist to regain control. To this end,  I take pleasure in my research and am driven by the possibility of using historic colors, some that I am actually using with success, and some  that I still can't  find.

Indian Yellow is the color I am talking about.  It is a substance called a lake - meaning it lacks it's own "body" and in production is given one, usually on a clay or similar material. The lakes are used in oil painting as glazes and account for some of the most beautiful effects in oil painting. Genuine Indian Yellow has not been available since the 19th century. Numerous synthetic modern lakes exist, each possessing the usual trait of modern colors - a chroma that is far more intense than anything in nature. Here is an example of two pictures I made using this color, The Romantic, oil on panel and Rooftop Sunset , oil on panel:

Historically, we are told that Indian yellow was made from cow's urine that were fed exclusively on mango leaves. ( Harley, R.D. Artists' Pigments c. 1600-1800, 2nd edition,   Butterworths 1982, 117. ISBN 0 408 70945 6). This was long accepted as the source of the color.

Recently, I acquired a copy of MJFL Merimee's book,  "The Art of Painting in Oil and Fresco".
I came upon Merimee's book in a round-about way - researching it for the production of another lake, madder. But there it was on page 109, one small paragraph from 1839 that appears to have lessened some of the mystery of  Indian Yellow:

"... I have been informed by a learned naturalist, who traveled in that country (Bengal), that this colour is manufactured in Calcutta by an Englishman, who keeps the process quite a secret; but the traveler has found that the colouring matter is extracted from a tree or large shrub, called memecylon tinctorium, the leaves of which are employed by the natives in their yellow dyes. From a smell like cow's urine, which exhales from this colour, it is probable that this material is employed in extracting the tint of the memecylon. "

Now, I  just have to locate the plant and a cow. I'll keep you posted.