Calcite

Natural inorganic pigment

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Composition and Properties of Calcite

Calcite is the mineral form of calcium carbonate CaCO₃. There are other forms of calcium carbonate such as marble and also aragonite and vaterite, all of which have been used in painting. Calcite can be found in nature mainly in the form of chalk which had been formed from the fossil remains of marine algae.

The pigment is very stable under normal conditions but it dissolves in all acids under the evolution of carbon dioxide gas. It is lightfast and it does not darken in contact with environmental pollutants such as hydrogen sulfide and is also compatible with all other pigments.

Pigment

Painted swatch

Names

Alternative names

Chalk, lime white, St John’s white

Color Index

PW 18, CI 77220

Word origin

Chalk: from Old English cealc “chalk, soft white limestone; lime, plaster; pebble,” a West Germanic borrowing from Latin calx “limestone, lime (crushed limestone), small stone,” from Greek khalix “small pebble”
From Online Etymology Dictionary

Calcite: from German Calcit, coined by Austrian mineralogist Wilhelm Karl von Hardinger (1795-1871) from Latin calx (genitive calcis) “lime”.
From Online Etymology Dictionary

Kreide, Kalzit

German

Craie

French

Creta

Italian

Creta

Spanish

Preparation

Chalk is being quarried in England, Belgium, Germany, and other European countries. The raw material is sometimes left to weather and is then ground under water and dried.