Da Vinci Artists' Permanent Watercolor - Naples Yellow (CL), 15 ml tube

Pigment Information

This color contains the following pigments:

PY35-Cadmium Yellow

PY43-Yellow Ochre

Pigment Name

PY35-Cadmium Yellow

Pigment Type

inorganic, cadmium

Chemical Name

cadmium zinc sulfide

Chemical Formula

CdZnS

Properties

Cadmium Yellow is brilliant, dense, and opaque, with good tinting strength and very high hiding power. It is the artist's principal bright yellow and is available in light, medium, and dark shades. The deeper shades appear deep orange and have the greatest tinting strength. It is slow-drying in oil form and is used in both oil and watercolor form. It cannot be mixed with copper-based pigments. A clean Cadmium Orange is created when Cadmium Yellow is mixed with Cadmium Red. Hues vary by brand. Cadmium pigments have been partially replaced by azo pigments, which are similar in lightfastness to the cadmium colors, cheaper, and non-toxic. Cadmium Yellow is usually available in a pure grade, or in a cadmium-barium mix. This mix has the same permanence with a lower tinting strength.

Permanence

Cadmium Yellow is lightfast and permanent in most forms, but like most cadmium colors, it will fade in fresco or mural painting. The deeper shades are the most permanent. The pale varieties have been known to fade with exposure to sunlight in conditions where moisture is able to penetrate the binder.

Toxicity

Cadmium Yellow is a known human carcinogen. It can be hazardous if chronically inhaled or ingested.

History

Cadmiums get their names from the Latin word cadmia meaning zinc ore calamine, and the Greek word kadmeia, meaning Cadmean earth, first found near Thebes, the city founded by the Phoenician prince Cadmus. Metallic cadmium was discovered in 1817 by Friedrich Strohmeyer. Oil colors were first made from Cadmium Yellow pigments in 1819, replacing toxic Chrome (lead) Yellows. However, their production was delayed until 1840 due to the scarcity of cadmium metals. Landscape painters, such as Claude Monet, preferred Cadmium Yellow to the less expensive Chrome Yellow because of its higher chroma and greater purity of color.

Pigment Name

PY43-Yellow Ochre

Pigment Type

earth

Chemical Name

iron(III)-oxide, hydrated

Chemical Formula

Fe2O3H2O

Properties

Yellow Ochre provides artists with earthtones from cream to brown. It has good hiding power, produces a quick drying paint, and can be safely mixed with other pigments. Its transparency varies widely from opaque shades to more transparent ones, which are valued for their use as glazes. If gypsum is present, Yellow Ochre is not suitable for frescoing. (See Brown Ochre, PY43.) PY42 is made from synthetic iron oxides. PY43 is made from natural iron oxide.

Permanence

Yellow Ochre has excellent permanence because ochres are some of the most permanent pigments available.

Toxicity

Yellow Ochre is non-toxic unless it contains manganese.

History

Ochre comes from the Greek word ochros, meaning pale yellow. It was one of the first pigments to be used by human beings, and evidence of its use has been found at 300,000 year old sites in France and the former Czechoslovakia.