Renaissance painters like Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein jun. or Leonardo Da Vinci have already used historical pigments like Vermilion, Yellow and Red Ochre or Cherry Black mixed with Gum Arabic – the traditional watercolor binder.
The Kremer Watercolor Set Renaissance offers the most popular choice of colors of the Renaissance period.
Azurite and Malachite have been used as pigments since the Copper Age. The two copper carbonates occur as natural by-product in copper mines. Azurite Blue is ideal for the depiction of clear blue skies, whereas Malachite serves as strong green tone.
Green Earth (Celadonite) is also known as Terra Verde and occurs in various European regions. Renaissance artists used this mineral green mixed with white and Vermilion for natural skin tones.
Yellow Ochre forms the ultimate link to soil and earthy tones. It is also the source material of Red Ochre and used to represent a symbol for life.
Cherry Black is a charred fruit seed. Along with charcoal and earth pigments with high manganese content, Cherry Black creates the most impressive contrast on any common support.
With the advent of metallurgy and alchemy, artists started painting with Vermilion. Alchemist created the pigment from mercury and sulfur. The dense, clear red powder can also be turned back into these two chemical raw materials which is why Vermilion used to be a symbol for resurrection.
Traditional Renaissance white pigments were made from Kaolin, dove excrement, egg shells or lead white. For our watercolor set we have opted for Zinc White since it is best suitable for mixtures with other colors.
