Lovely Alizarin, what are you using for a replacement?

Sharon Knettell · 02-22-2007, 03:25 PM

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Allan Rahbek · 02-22-2007, 03:49 PM

Sharon,
I use W& N 's Permanent Crimson Lake. Hope that it's permanent.
It has the "Permanence: A" mark

Allan Rahbek · 02-22-2007, 07:37 PM

Sharon,
I don't think that I need any stronger wine red. It mixes beautifully with Permanent Rose (W&N) and Ultramarine Blue to the cold side and with Cad. Red Light , Vermilion Light and Transparent Oxide Red to the warm side.

Claudemir Bonfim · 02-23-2007, 06:56 PM

Yes, Alizarin fades away leaving a brown remembrance of what the painter tried to depict.

I've tried all sorts of similar paints, but I wasn't satisfied. Faber Castell produced one deep red in the past which gave me a very similar result, but I don't know why they stopped the production (at least in Brazil). Now I'm still looking for something, but I keep on using the same one Allan does.

Julie Deane · 02-23-2007, 09:24 PM

I just did an online search, looking at major suppliers and haven't yet found W & N's "Permanent Crimson Lake" yet in the U.S. However, I have found "Permanent Alizarin Crimson Hue. These are different colors, correct? Any idea where to locate the former?

Richard Bingham · 02-24-2007, 03:18 PM

Alizarine colors (there's quite a range of caste and intensity from rosy to brownish) hit artist's palettes in the 1870's. An organic, synthetic pigment derived from coal tar (PR 83 - anthraquinone) it is in a class with pigments and dyes developed in the 1860's which made available the intensely brilliant red, purple, blue and orange fabrics which thrilled the eye, purportedly launching the Impressionists' "revolution" . . .

PR-83 Anthraquinone is classed by ASTM as "III" for lightfastness. Not great, but not fugitive, either. Depending on the date of the Sargent, it's possible early varieties were not as reliable as the pigment became later on.

What are we painting with? It depends on who's lying to you. Many of the colors in the range of intense deep reds are now labelled with "romantic" names rather than being identified as a specific pigment material. Labelling with "hue" in the description is not the same pigment stuff associated with the name, (e.g., "Terre Verte Hue") and nowadays the term "lake" on a color label is most probably a misnomer. In the past, "lake" colors comprised a group of mostly fugitive oil colors derived from dying clays and other inert substances with fluid dyes unavailable in dry pigment form which could be mulled in oil. The term "lake" is a corruption of "lacca", wherein seed lac was dyed to produce a pigment solid. (e.g."Madder Lake", the fugitive precursor of Alizarine Crimson, which colorant was extracted from madder root, to dye clay).

These days, there are a number of high-chroma synthetic resin pigments available such as the pyrol reds. (e.g. -Diketo Pyrole-Pyrole) They provide a wide variety of transparent reds analogous to "alizarine" ranging from very warm to very cool. Are these more permanent than Alizarine? Very likely, as this is the pigment chemistry responsible for the abundant number of red cars on the road the last 20 years. Prior to their advent, deep reds and maroons were notoriously fragile for auto finishes as well as expensive. We'll have to wait around another 130 years or so to find out for sure, though.

Oh! Yeah! You want to know what I"m using! I've been quite pleased with Robert Doak's Pyrol Ruby.