Yellow is one of the three primary colours and is among the oldest colours used by humans to create art. Along with red (ochre), yellow is present in cave paintings from the Paleolithic era. During the Neolithic era, humans began to dye objects, with yellow being among the first pigments used as a dye. In the 19th century yellow had a bit of a questionable reputation. A genre of books called Yellow-back books, which were sold in railway stations, would have yellow covers to attract the eye. Some had a moral objection to the books as they were sensational tales that didn’t have much meaning beyond being entertaining. In the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, the titular character has a collection of these books, which is author Oscar Wilde’s commentary on people overindulging and putting too much thought into the sensational stories. There was a publication called ‘The Yellow Book’ which was illustrated by artist Aubrey Beardsley. When Oscar Wilde was arrested for ‘gross indecency’ he was rumoured to have had a copy of ‘The Yellow Book’, however it was just a French novel. Yet, the rumour stuck. Yellow-back books represented sin for some, but the sunshine of modernity through aesthetics for others; yellow became a symbol of the rejection of Victorian morals and ethics.
Yellow has been a popular colour amongst artists. Notably, artists from the 19th century frequently used yellow in their paintings. Vincent van Gogh used yellow frequently, including for the stars in his famous The Starry Night (1889). The Aestheticism movement was on the rise in the 19th century, which celebrated art for the sake of art. Aestheticism rejected the idea that art needed a moral or ethical story, which was a norm in Victorian artworks. A beautiful home with beautiful objects was on the rise of the Aesthetic movement. Yellow was such a part of this that some referred to the 1890s as the ‘Yellow Nineties’, representing the step away from the conformity typically found in Victorian art and culture. From cave paintings, to mysterious origins, to home décor, to rebellious and radical, the colour yellow isn’t just a sunshine-happy colour.
Lead-tin yellow
Lead-tin yellow, also known as massicot in Northern Europe or giallorino in Italy, as the name suggests, is the combination of lead and tin. This shade was commonly used in Europe and was at the height of its popularity in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Its use lessened in the 18th century and it was not used after 1750. It is a pale-yellow colour and was used in many famous artworks, including those of Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Vermeer and Peter Paul Rubens
Before being mixed as a paint, it was used as a ceramic glaze. It use as a glaze goes back before 1300. It was also utilised in glass manufacturing, specifically in Italy. Although the colour was very popular in its time, it was quite mysterious when it went out of use in the 1750s. It was then ‘rediscovered’ in 1941 by Richard Jacobi.
The Honeysuckle Bower (c. 1609) Peter Paul Rubens. Source: https://www.wikiart.org/en/peter-paul-rubens/the-honeysuckle-bower-1609
The Milkmaid (1657-58) Johannes Vermeer. Source: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/artists/johannes-vermeer
Indian Yellow
Though it has had many names throughout the centuries, the shade Indian Yellow was likely introduced to the people of India by the Persians in the 15th century. In the early days of use, it was utilised for watercolour and tempera paints, and sometimes employed as a glaze for ceramics. Produced using cow urine, unsurprisingly, it was rather smelly. Indian yellow was heavily employed in artworks in India during the late 16th to 19th centuries in the Mughal period, including in the illustrated version of the poem Gita Govinda (c. 1790). In the 19th century there were acts in India prohibiting the manufacturing of the pigment on grounds of cruelty to animals.
Gita Govinda (c. 1790) Indian School. Source: https://www.rct.uk/collection/1005114/gita-govinda-giit-govind-song-of-the-cowherd
In Europe, there is some evidence of English painters creating art using the pigment in the 18th century, however it is much better documented in the 19th century. Victorians were very curious about the pigment, but little was known about it. In the 1880s the director of Kew Gardens, Sir Joseph Hooker, was so pressed about the origins of Indian yellow that he began to make inquiries about the pigment. Artist JMW Turner favoured the colour so much that some called it Turner Yellow. It features in his painting The Angel Standing in the Sun (1846). Since the colour was so brilliant and long lasting, it was favoured by many artists. Another striking example of India yellow is in the above-mentioned Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night (1889).
The Angel Standing in the Sun (1846) JMW Turner. Source: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-the-angel-standing-in-the-sun-n00550
Gamboge
Gamboge is a transparent yellow pigment produce from the trees of the genus Garcinia, located in south and southeast Asia but mostly harvested in Cambodia. The yellow-orange pigment comes from the resin collected from the trees. Collecting the resin from the trees, or milking the trees, is a timely process which takes years. The earliest evidence of the pigment in use is in the 8th century CE in east Asia, specifically Japan. It has been popular and continues to be used into the modern era. Specifically in the 19th century Japan, it is noted in the artwork An Oiran Standing by a Plum Tree (mid-19th century) by Utagawa Kuniyuki.
An Oiran Standing by a Plum Tree (mid-19th century) Utagawa Kuniyuki. Source: https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/an-oiran-standing-by-a-plum-tree-artist-kuniyuki-utagawa/oAFcxaYk_TCaWQ?hl=en
Gamboge made its way to Europe in the 17th century when the East India Trading Company imported it to England in 1615. Although, it may have been used in illuminated manuscripts in the centuries before. In the 18th century it began to be imported to North America, as well as around the world. It is typically used as a watercolour pigment but when it was imported to Europe, Flemish artists use it in oil paints. Rembrandt used it, and it was present in his painting Saskia van Uylenburgh As Flora (1641). It was also utilised as a varnish for decorative art items and as a varnish on metals in the 19th century. As it is transparent, its brilliance depends on the layering of the pigment.
Saskia van Uylenburgh As Flora (1641) Rembrandt van Rijn. Source: https://colourlex.com/project/rembrandt-saskia-with-a-flower/
Since being imported by the East Indian Trading Company, gamboge was a staple to many European artists palettes. In the 19th century it was used by yellow enthusiast, JMW Turner. It was mixed with Prussian blue to create Hooker’s green, which was a favourite for painting foliage. It was eventually replaced by aureolin.
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament (1834-5) JMW Turner. Source: https://www.artisoo.com/OilPaintingBlog/the-burning-of-the-houses-of-parliament-by-turner/
Orpiment and Yellow Gold
Some of the objects in Dalnavert’s collection are a shade of yellow gold. Gold has been heavily used in art throughout space and time. Gold has been seen as a divine symbol, as well as a symbol of wealth and prosperity. It has been highly coveted since ancient times, something that you could say of the Victorians but also of us today. In the Byzantine Empire and Medieval art, gold was used to represent the divine and spiritual spaces. It was used as a background to symbolise that the figure was in a heavenly, not earthly space. Often gold is gilded onto other metals or surfaces as having a statue or object of pure gold would be quite costly. Another solution was to use paint the resembled gold, such as orpiment. Orpiment was a highly toxic mineral derived from arsenic that comes from volcanic rock. If heated, it turned from a yellowish colour to more of a yellow-orange. The more heat, the more orange. Orpiment was the pigment used in the striking Victorian painting Flaming June (1895) by Frederic Leighton. Leighton was one of the founders of the Aesthetic movement in the 19th century.
Flaming June (1895) Frederic Leighton. Source: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180227-the-toxic-colour-that-comes-from-volcanoes.
However, if an image was being produced for royalty or of a divine figure, the artwork would contain gold leaf. The practice of using gold leaf was carried on throughout the centuries, and perhaps one of the most famous Edwardian examples of the use of the material is in the images by Gustav Klimt. His Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) and The Kiss (1908-09) heavily use gold leaf to highlight figures.
The Kiss (1908-09) Gustav Klimt. Source: https://artuk.org/discover/stories/colour-in-art-a-brief-history-of-gold.
Cadmium Yellow
Early 19th century artists began to use a recent discovery, cadmium yellow. Cadmium yellow could be chemically altered to produce a variety of yellows and oranges, therefore ‘cadmium yellow’ typically refers to a range of colours. It was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Stromeyer, who recommended artists use the pigment in their palettes. The pigment was used by Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Claude Monet and it appeared in the iconic The Scream (1893) by Edvard Munch.
The Scream (1893) Edvard Munch. Source: https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/en/collection/object/NG.M.00939.
As highlighted by The Scream, many of these artists were stepping away from traditional Victorian art, painting in a more abstract, expressive and, in some cases, surreal fashion. Munch’s The Scream or the abstract cityscapes of Mondrian were dramatically different than the moral stories old fashioned Victorian’s saw in their art. The colour yellow represented the new appreciation for modernity and beauty, which is how the colour yellow is seen in Dalnavert’s objects. The colour yellow has gone from being one of the first pigments, to a pigment used in the artworks stepping away from Victorian traditions.
Dalnavert, in Colour: Yellow.
This is part of a series of blog posts related to our Dalnavert, in Cololur exhibit. Look out for posts on more colours!
Bibliography
Feller, Robert L. Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol.I. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1986.
Fitzhugh, Elizabeth West (ed.). Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. III. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1997.
Grovier, Kelly. “The murky history of the colour yellow.” BBC Culture. 06/09/2018 [retrieved 19/02/2021]. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180906-did-animal-cruelty-create-indian-yellow.
Hulsey, John and Ann Trusty. “Turner’s Mysterious Yellow.” Artist Network. N/D [retrieved 19/02/2021]. https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-subjects/plein-air/turners-mysterious-yellow/.
Mellor, Maria. “A Brief History of the Colour Yellow.” Arts & Collections. N/D [retrieved 19/02/2021]. https://www.artsandcollections.com/article/a-history-of-the-colour-yellow/.
Roy, Ashok. Artists’ Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol. II. Washington: National Gallery of Art, 1993.
St Clair, Kassia. The Secret Lives of Colour. London: John Murray, 2016.
Winsor & Newton. “Spotlight on cadmium yellow.” Winsor & Newton. N/D [retrieved 19/02/2021]. https://www.winsornewton.com/na/articles/colours/spotlight-on-cadmium-yellow/.