Chrome yellow
Composition and Properties of Chrome Yellow
Chrome yellow is either lead chromate PbCrO4 or solid solutions of lead chromate and lead sulfate PbCrO4 · PbSO4.All chromates are affected by acids and alkalis. Reaction with acids leads to the formation of orange dichromate ion Cr2O72-, in alkaline solutions the pale yellow chromate ion is formed. It is not lightfast and darkens with age. The degradation of this pigment has been extensively studied using x-ray fluorescence (2A – 2E). Lead chromate is compatible with all other pigments.
Names of Chrome Yellow
Lemon yellow, king’s yellow, Leipzig yellow, Paris yellow, Vienna yellow, Cologne yellowPY 34, CI 77600, 77603After the element chromium, from Greek khrōma = color
Preparation of Chrome Yellow
Attention: All chromates and dichromates are highly toxic chemicals and should not be used by people not trained to handle them.Lead chromate can be prepared by mixing a solution of potassium chromate and lead (II)-nitrate. The resulting precipitate is then filtered, dried and homogenized in a mortar.
History of Use
The French chemist Louis Vauquelin discovered the element chrome in 1797. Shortly after the possibility of using lead chromate as a pigment was recognized and the first methods of preparation were invented. Chrome yellow has been in use since the first quarter of the nineteenth century.The following graph gives the frequency of its use in the paintings of the Schack Collection in the Bavarian State Art Collections in Munich (1).Examples of use
Quote
Tell [Père] Tanguy to send me some paints. What I need most are ten tubes of white, two of chrome yellow, one bright red, one brown lac, one ultramarine, five Veronese green, one cobalt j I have on hand only one tube of white ... I expect to begin to paint again from nature, and I need the colors. Quote of Camille Pissarro, in a letter, Eragny, 25 February 1887, to his son Lucien; in Camille Pissarro - Letters to His Son Lucien ed. John Rewald, with assistance of Lucien Pissarro; from the unpublished French letters; transl. Lionel Abel; Pantheon Books Inc. New York, second edition, 1943, p. 100
Source: Camille Pissarro
At present I have a portrait of a woman [Madame Roulin].. .Which I've called 'la berceuse', . .It's a woman dressed in green (bust olive green and the skirt pale Veronese green). Her hair is entirely orange and in plaits. The complexion worked up in chrome yellow, with a few broken tones, of course, in order to model. The hands that hold the cradle cord ditto ditto. The background is vermilion at the bottom (simply representing a tiled floor or brick floor). The wall is covered with wallpaper, obviously calculated by me in connection with the rest of the colours. This wallpaper is blue-green with pink dahlias and dotted with orange and with ultramarine.. .Whether I've actually sung a lullaby with colour I leave to the critics.. Quote of Vincent in his letter from Arles, on or about Tuesday, 22 January 1889, to his Dutch friend Arnold Koning; from text of letter 740, van goghletters – Van Gogh museum
Source: Vincent van Gogh
