A Brief History of Historical Natural Art Pigments
Before the advent of the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, art pigments were made almost exclusively from natural resources. Today, pigments are often blended entirely from synthetic, or lab created materials. Some pigments are made using a combination of the old natural pigments and new man-made materials.
Today pigments are available in an endless assortment of premixed colors, packed into convenient tubes and can be picked up at any art supply store.
A Modern method of creating art pigments.
What materials were used for pigment before synthetics? What natural materials did yesterday's artists use when creating their works? Thousands of formulas and methods existed, some carried from antiquity and still in use today. Natural pigments came from a variety of sources, including the Earth, Plants, and even Animals. Click the above tabs to explore a few of the many historical natural pigments.