Red Lead

Artificial inorganic pigment

Pigments sorted by Colour | Type | First date of use | Elements | Pigment timelines

Composition and Properties of Red Lead

It is a mixed lead oxide containing Pb²⁺ and Pb⁴⁺ lead ions with an overall formula of Pb₃O₄. The pigment has been artificially prepared since antiquity but can also be found in nature as the mineral minium.

The pigment is soluble in diluted acids, it cannot be used in fresco and in watercolor and it can blacken after prolonged exposure to air. It is not compatible with orpiment.

Pigment

Painted swatch

Powdered pigment

Image courtesy of Technisches Museum Wien

Names of Red Lead

Alternative names

Minium, Saturn red, Paris red, minium

During the Roman Empire, the term minium could refer either to the pigment made from ground cinnabar or to the less expensive red lead.

Color Index

PR 105, CI 77578

Word origin

Minium was named for the Iberian river known to the imperial Romans as Minius, now known as the Spanish Miño and the Portuguese Minho located near the main Roman cinnabar mines on the Spanish-Portuguese border.

From WordFinder

Mennige

German

Minium

French

Minio

Italian

Minio

Spanish

Preparation of Red Lead

Red lead can be prepared by heating lead (II) oxide in the air at about 450° C. It was also prepared by heating lead white (basic lead carbonate) in air.

Minium is a naturally occurring mineral of the same composition.

References

Paula M. Gonçalves, João Pires, Ana P. Carvalho, Maria Helena Mendonça, António João Cruz, “Theory vs practice: synthesis of red lead following ancient recipes“, in Luís Urbano Afonso (ed.), The Materials of the Image. As Matérias da Imagem, Lisboa, Cátedra de Estudos Sefarditas «Alberto Benveniste» da Universidade de Lisboa, 2010.

Mineral minium

History of Use

The pigment has been in use since antiquity until around the nineteenth century. The following graph gives the frequency of its use from the 14th until the 19th century in the paintings of the Schack Collection in the Bavarian State Art Collections in Munich (1).

red_lead_history_of_use

References

(1) Kühn, H., Die Pigmente in den Gemälden der Schack-Galerie, in: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen (Ed.) Schack-Galerie (Gemäldekataloge Bd. II), München 1969.

Example of use

Albrecht Dürer, Virgin with Child and St Anna, 1519

Timeline of Red Pigments

Identification

Fiber Optics Reflectance Spectrum (FORS)

FORS spectrum by A. Cosentino, Cultural Heritage Science Open Source (CHSOS)

Infrared Spectrum

IR Spectrum of the pigment in linseed oil by S. Vahur, Database of ATR-IR spectra of materials related to paints and coatings, University of Tartu, Estonia

IR Spectrum of the pigment in the ATR-FT-IR spectra of different pure inorganic pigments, University of Tartu, Estonia.

Raman Spectrum

Spectrum by Ian M. Bell, Robin J.H. Clark and Peter J. Gibbs, Raman Spectroscopic Library
University College of London

References

Howell G. M. Edwards, Dennis W. Farwell, Emma M. Newton and Fernando Rull Perez, Minium; FT-Raman non-destructive analysis applied to a historical controversy, Analyst, 9, 1999.