Color is a wonderful thought provoking subject, and one that's been around for 20,000 years, as evidenced by early cave paintings. Throughout history, cultures have ascribed meanings and symbolism to almost all colors. For every region and age, pigments and dyes were produced.
It is believed that the Chinese were the first to manufacture and perfect color usage tens of thousands of years ago. The Chinese were also among the first to practice Color Healing with recorded "diagnoses" in a chronicle that was 2,000 years old, called, "The Nei/ching."
Egypt's use of color is legendary. Modern
commercial paintingis inspired by the technical achievements of the Egyptians. The ancient Egyptians believed color to have magical healing properties. Before early cave paintings that were made using iron oxides, the ancient Egyptians developed paints from pigments in the soil, which were yellow, orange, and red.
Prior to the 19th century, the term, "paint," was only applied to the oil-bound kinds; the kinds bound with glue were called "distemper." By 1,000 BC, the development of paints and varnishes from acacia tree gum or, gum Arabic was developed. During this period, ochers, umbers, and blacks were easily obtainable, and new colors were also being discovered.
Around 1500 BC in Greece and Crete, painting became known as an art form. It was during this time that the Romans acquired Egyptian color skills. The Romans created the color purple, made using a pound of royal purple dye that required the crushing of 4,000,000 mollusks. The Egyptians created the first new color during this period, known as "Egyptian Blue."
"Naples Yellow" was discovered around 500 BC. Genuine Indian Yellow was made from concentrated cow urine mixed with mud; it was then sent to London for purification. Sap Green came from the Blackthorn berry, and Sepia Brown from the dried ink sac of squid.
The discovery of mixing two colors together and creating a third was made by Plato. This then changes the manufacture of the color.
Even though color was an obviously important and at times, religious aspect in many cultures, none of these groups named very many colors. In the 1960s, two anthropologists conducted an international study of color naming. Frequently, many languages only had two color terms, equivalent to white light and black dark. 98 languages were studied by the anthropologists, and it was then discovered that the highest number of basic color terms were found in the English language, in which we have eleven: white, black, red, yellow, green, orange, pink, purple, blue, brown, and grey. The other millions of color names often heard are "borrowed" names, e.g., peach, graph, gold, tan, avocado, watermelon, etc.
Binder, which is what paint is comprised of, holds the paint together. Paint is easily applicable with the right thinners. The first synthetic pigment was produced by the Egyptians 5,000 years ago from grinded down blue grass – it was called "Blue Frit."
Pigment color depended on grown in or European or similar temperate regions indigenous dyestuffs before the 16th century. "Natural" dyestuffs were available from 1550 – 1850, but the range of available dyestuffs was extended with tropical dyestuffs from Indian, Central America, etc.
Between 600 BC – AD 400, the Romans and Greeks produced varnishes. Red dye was considered more valuable than gold in another culture across the ocean. The culture was the Aztec civilization, and they practiced Color Healing as well.
"Cochineal red" was discovered by the Aztecs and made using the female cochineal beetle. A million insects were needed to make one pound of water-soluble extract. Red was introduced to Europe in the 16th century by the Spaniards.
Around 2500, "red lead" was discovered by accident. Demand for white lead increased, and while it occurs naturally, the demand brought about manmade reproductions Vitruvius, a Roman writer, architect, and engineer, describes what white lead production was like in the 2nd century AD. By the 17th century, the Dutch exponentially increased white lead availability and lowered the cost by inventing the "Stack Process," a chemical process that casts metallic lead as thin buckles, stacks them up and leaves them for four to sixteen weeks, which turns the blue-grey lead to white lead all white lead paints have chalk in their undercoats; purer white lead is reserved for finish coats.
Henry Perkins discovered the first real synthetic dye, "Mauveine," in 1856. People know realized that many dyes could be made synthetically and relatively cheaply. Linseed oil and pigment-grade zinc oxide or, white paint began being produced from that point on.
The first washable paint was produced using cast-iron paint mills and zinc-based pigments in the 1870's, and it was called "Charlton White." The first ready-mixed paint was patented by D.R. Averill of Ohio in 1867, but it failed to catch on.
For ten years, Sherwin Williams tried to perfect a formula in which fine paint particles would remain suspended in linseed oil. In 1880, they finally succeeded assuming a formula was developed that greatly exceeded the available paint qualities during that time period. Emulsions with similar formulas were marketed and produced as "oil bound distempers." The new paints became available in tins that same year, in a wide array of colors and were exported all over the world.
And the rest is history – today, we have thousands and thousands of colors to choose from from many different paint manufacturers. From the Egyptians to today's painting contractors, colors have never been more fascinating.