Mummy brown

Mummy brown was a rich brown bituminous pigment, intermediate in tint between burnt umber and raw umber, which was one of the favorite colors of the Pre-Raphaelites.^[1]

History

Mummy brown was originally made in the 16th and 17th centuries from white pitch, myrrh, and the ground-up remains of Egyptian mummies, both human and feline,^[2] one London colourman claiming that he could satisfy the demands of his customers for twenty years from one Egyptian mummy^{[citation needed]}. It fell from popularity in the early 19th century when its composition became generally known to artists.^[3] It was also considered extremely variable in its composition and quality, and since it contained ammonia and particles of fat, was likely to affect other colours with which it was used.^[4]

Mummy brown was produced up into the 20th century until the supply of available mummies was exhausted.^[1]

Present day

The modern pigment sold as "Mummy brown" is composed of a mixture of kaolin, quartz, goethite and hematite, the hematite and goethite (generally 60% of the content) determining the color - the more hematite the redder the pigment - with the others being inert substances that can vary the opacity or tinting strength.^[5] The color of Mummy brown can vary from yellow to red to dark violet, the latter usually called "Mummy Violet".^[5]

See also

• Caput Mortuum

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "The Passing of Mummy Brown". TIME. 1964-10-02. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940544,00.html 
2. ^ Adeline, Jules; Hugo G. Beigel (1966). The Adeline Art Dictionary. F. Ungar Pub. Co. 
3. ^ Church, A. H. (1901). The Chemistry of Paints and Painting. London: Seeley and Co.. 
4. ^ Field, George (2008). Field's Chromatography. BiblioBazaar, LLC. pp. 254–255. ISBN 1434669610. 
5. ^ ^{a b} "Mummy Brown". naturalpigments.com. http://www.naturalpigments.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=460-22S. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 

References

• Eastaugh, Nicholas (2004). Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments. Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 81. ISBN 0750657499. 
• Church, A. H. (1901). The Chemistry of Paints and Painting. London: Seeley and Co.. 
• Mayer, Ralph (1945). A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques. New York: Harper and Row Publishers.