ITA ENG. historia tinctoria

Transcription

1 ITA ENG 1 historia tinctoria

2 2 The rich and surprisingly history of colours tells about the evolutionary journey of men through arts, politics, religion, psychology and sociology Colours were the first mean of communication for humanity and since the primitive age they have always influenced the way of thinking and habits of societies In ancient times in the most civilized areas all over the world, men tried to employ the products of nature for several purposes The possibility of extracting colouring agents from plants for colouring both body and clothing has played an import role from different points of view: symbolic, aesthetic, or of pure vanity Everything naturally coloured was used, such as the juice of fruits, the blood of animals, metal oxides, in particular iron oxide, which were easily available Men had the natural instinct to create mixtures and concoctions; later this instinct turned into something finer thanks to the man capability of acquiring knowledge, which allowed to recognize the different materials and to refine the art techniques men and colours

3 3 Environment and landscape changing day by day are colours themselves The passing of seasons combined with light give origin to the colour range we are used to Colours in nature can be found on the rocks, on the earth, and in all the vegetable world The fascinating world of natural colours and their ancient tradition find their expression in the dyeing plants, in the colours of the arts, in the ceramics, in the landscape as well The same dyeing plants used for colouring fabrics and yarns were also used to extract colours employed in the masterpieces of art nature is colour

4 4 The colours in the arts can be distinguished on the basis of their nature The main element is the pigment, which can be organic or inorganic Organic pigments have either vegetable or animal origins, obtained for example from bones, animal secretions, plants, flowers, resins, shells, etc, and are particularly suitable for dyeing natural fibres such as wool, silk, cotton, linen, hemp, cellulose, leather Obviously not every colouring substance in nature can be used for dyeing In order to be fixed on the fabrics to be dyed, they need a certain stability, resistance to the atmospheric agents and to the passing by of time In the past, the procedures for extracting the pigments from the raw materials occurred through infusions or fermentation The extract could then be employed for dyeing fabrics, for producing inks or other coloured pastes for decorating the miniatures of codes In painting the range of dyes was restricted to those being more stable Through a particular extraction process a special pigment could be obtained, the varnish, transparent and vivid the origin of natural colours

5 5 The inorganic pigments, or minerals, are classified in natural (those extracted from deposits such as ochre and coloured earths) or artificial (obtained from chemical procedures, such as oxides and some minerals) In nature particularly easy to obtain are those minerals composed of iron, rather in plentiful supply since it represents the 5% of the earth's surface The iron ends up in the alluvial plains carried from water together with clay Combined to oxygen and sometimes to other minerals such as manganese, the iron causes the colour of the clayish deposits which would be otherwise white For this reason it is easier to exploit these iron concentrations in clayish deposits than extracting the mineral the origin of natural colours

6 6 The first pigments to be used were the ochres (yellow) and carbon for wall paintings, whose usage is documented since the early Paleolithic, years ago More expensive and complex is the procedure of those colours which cannot be found in the earth directly, but have to be extracted from mines Lead, copper, mercury, cobalt and antimony compounds are rather rare in nature, and generally can be found in particular metal veins Their finding and extraction are consequently somewhat complicated In the arts coloured earths and minerals are the most used because of their solidity and we can still admire them on many paintings The vegetable lacquers of madder and reseda were fully employed with the coming of the oil paint The new oily binders enhanced the colours transparencies and effects which were essential for painters the origin of natural colours

7 7 The employ of natural colours reached its climax in the 15th century, along with cultural progress and the great availability of new dyes coming from the discovery of the New World In this period Venice had already business relationships with the Arab world since the 9th century and in its port arrived the best exotic dyes such as curcuma, safflower, dragon's blood, aloe, lapislazuli and so on It is not a case if in Venice were born the best colourists, Giovanni Bellini, Tiziano and Giorgione, who used a wide range of colours, from the luminous and audacious shades Many painters found their supplies in these markets, such as Leonardo who used the saffron flowers for his yellow to be mixed to the verdigris obtaining an excellent grass colour Many new dyeing materials coming from the New World sometimes began to be employed in substitution of those one once used in Europe This happened for the indigo colour, before extracted from the Isatis Tinctoria (guado) and later from the imported plant Indigofera tinctoria (Indaco) In the following centuries, the sectors strictly connected to dyes knew a prosperous period, especially the textile Between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century were established the first school for teaching the dyeing techniques, enhancing the experimentation of chemicals for the textile and colour production industry the natural colours in the history

8 8 In the 1859, Perkin discovered by accidence a lavender colour which was an aniline's derivative, the first of the synthetic colours, which later knew a widespread popularity At the end of the 19th century many natural pigments were substituted with synthetic products Until the thirties the production world still used vegetable dyeing agents such as indigo or logwood (Haematoxylum campechianum) for fabrics, and smoke tree (Rhus cotinus) in the leather tanning process In agriculture, following the principle of self-production, it was still used what the nature could offer, the walnut husk and leaves for the browns for example and the dyers rocket (reseda) for the yellows Simultaneously to the industrial growth, the vegetable colours went slowly disappearing in the field of dyes, while coloured earths and minerals, although their general decline, were never completely abandoned Over the time of 50 years the delicacy and harmony of natural colours have been forgotten All the colours we use for our clothes, for decorating our houses, for our paintings are invented by men, they are often disharmonic and violent Given the increasing environmental issues, we are now rediscovering these ancient and noble colours With the help of natural colours, we will come back to balance and co-existence of things based on the harmony of colours the natural colours in the history

9 9 The most known dyes in the vegetable kingdom are contained in several parts of the plants, in the wood of some trees for example: sandalwood, logwood, Brazil wood, and so on; in the roots of dyers madder, turmeric, anchusa (Alkanna tinctoria); in the leaves: indigo, henna, woad (Isatis tinctoria); in the flowers: saffron, safflowers; in the fruits: ramnus (fructus Rhamni Persici); in the seeds: achiote; in the chloroplasts: chlorophyll Those extracted from lichens (orchil), seaweeds, mushrooms, are dyes as well The red extracted from the dyers madder, rubia tinctoria, was one of the most important vegetable dye and was very appreciated for its brightness Its colouring agent, the alizarine, was widely used in the painting techniques thanks to its stability The best in the world, anyway, was considered to be the Carthamus tinctorius (safflowers) coming from Egypt The blue colour and its lighter shade were extracted from some plants of the indigoferae family, originating in the East Indies In Europe instead, the blue was extracted from Isatis Tinctoria The extraction procedures of indigo were extremely complicated, to the fermentation of the leaves followed the oxygenation at the open air As for yellow colours, the most valuable were those obtained from the saffron threads, Crocus sativus, and from the turmeric's rhizomes, Curcuma longa One of the most ancient yellow dye in the world is the one extracted from the roots of the dyers rocket (Reseda luteola), it was particularly preferred for its stability and brightness the extraction of colours

10 10 Among the dyes of animal origins the best known is the purple red The colouring substance was obtained from the hypobranchial gland of mollusk, particularly widespread in the Mediterranean Sea, such as the Murex brandaris, the Murex trunculeus and the Murex erinaceus This substance was extracted mainly in the ancient times, but nowadays it is interesting merely from an historical point of view Thousands of mollusk were necessary to dye only one piece of fabric, as a consequence the costs of finished fabrics dyed with red purple were extremely high, affordable by the higher social classes only Cochineal is another dye obtained from an insect of the Hemiptera family, such as the Dacthylopius coccus (Mexico) and Central America The cochineal females, which contains the colouring substance in a higher quantity, are gathered, let dry and then crumbled Nowadays we can find some foods coloured with these natural dyes, but they are more and more replaced by the synthetic ones, which are cheaper but have harmful effects on the health One more dye is chermes, which is extracted from the female of the Chermes ilicis or Coccus ilicis, from the Southern Spain Chermes is less covering if compared to cochineal and the shade of red obtained is less vivid and intense At present it is used locally to dye tissues or colouring liqueurs, it is for example contained in the alchermes liqueur the extraction of colours

11 11 Achiote, Bixa orellana It is a spontaneous plant and the colouring agent it contains is called bixina The colour extracted from this plant is a yellow, yellow-redit is used for colouring food (E160b) Achiote Safflowers Safflowers, Carthamus tinctorius It is a plant belonging to the family of Asteraceae It grows spontaneously in the Middle East and along the French Riviera as well The extracted colouring agent is the carthamin, and the colour is an intense saffron yellow Onion, Allium cepa Onion is the bulb of an herbaceous plant of a two- or three-year cyclelife, belonging to the family of liliaceae, from the Western Asia Allium is the name used by Virgilio, it comes from the celtic word all which means burning, hot On the other hand, Cepa comes from latin word, which means onion The colour is obtained from the outer skins and can vary from yellow to red Onion Barberry Barberry, Berberis vulgaris It is a shrub belonging to the family of the berberis Berberis comes from the Phoenician barbar which means shiny, with reference to the brightness of its leaves The colour which is obtained is the yellow the dyeing natural agents

12 12 6 Cochineal, Dactylopius coccus It is a parasite insect which generally affects succulent plants After drying the shells of the females a powder can be obtained, from which colour is extracted Cochineal is employed for the production of most food colours (E120) Cochineal Eucalyptus Eucalyptus Australian flowering tree from the myrtle family (known for the enourmous proportion of its trees) From its bark it can be extracted a red juice (australian kino), used for dying tissues and tanning leathers Oak gall The oak gall is an outgrowth on the plant's surface, caused by Hymenoptera insects, mistaken sometimes for a strange fruit of the tree Since ancient times galls have been used for dying, for manufacturing permanent inks and for tanning, and in medicine too, for their astringent properties Oak gall Woad Woad, Isatis tinctoria Woad is a plant in the family of Brassicaceae (the same of cabbage and rocket salad) It has a two years lifecycle and in the past it was cultivated in the whole Europe From the leaves of its first year of life it can be extracted a blue dye the dyeing natural agents

13 13 Walnut Husk, Juglans regia It is the fruit walnut or white walnut After the fruit harvesting (walnut) the husk can be reaped, which is the outer shell The colouring agent obtained is the juglone, from which derives one of the most sunlight and washing resistant brown colours Walnut Husk Common nettle Common nettle, Urtica dioica Herbaceous wild plant whose name come from the latin word urere=to burn, referring to its stinging properties Nettle is a dyeing plant, from which two different dyes can be obtained: the green from the upper parts of the plant and the yellow from its roots Rhatany, Kramaeria triandra Plant of the Krameriaceae family, it grows in Perù, Chile and Bolivia From the dried roots we can obtain a colouring extract rich in tannins The tones that are obtained in dyeing goes from red orange to brick-red In medicine it is known for its astringent properties and for strengthening gums Rhatany Weld Weld or Dyers Rocket, Reseda luteola Two years lifecycle plant, containing a colouring substance called luteolin The name reseda come from the Latin resedo which means calm, quiet and refers to its soothing properties The colour extracted is a very brilliant and solid yellow the dyeing natural agents

14 14 Dyers madder Dyers madder, Rubia tinctorum Perennial creeping herbs, it is used for herbal preparations and as dyeing plant Infact since the ancient time, from its roots it is extracted a dye: the alizarin From this you get a red violet laque Smoke tree or Smoke bush, Rhus cotinus It is a shrub of the family Anacardiaceae It was cultivated from 1200 until 1920 mainly for its tanning power given form tannins and also in dyeing The colour range obtained varies from yellow, brown-purple to red Tagetes, Tagetes erecta The genus is native to North and South America, from its flowers it is extracted the colour yellow The dyeing substance belongs to the family of carotinoids Tagetes Smoke tree the dyeing natural agents

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