TRUE NAPLES YELLOW
MANY Artists feel that they get results with True Naples Yellow that they cannot get with anything else. There are a variety of shades of Naples Yellow on the market, running from a pale straw color to rather a deep Ochre; but, the True Naples Yellow, such as Rembrandt used on the cloak in the painting of Homer, now hanging in the Mauritzhuis, has all the freshness to-day that it evidently had when it was painted. The dark outlines of this cloak are painted with Ochre, which, of course, is a permanent color.
I could cite many examples of prominent painters who felt that Naples Yellow was essential to their palette. There is a picture in the Frick Collection by Turner—a view of the harbor of Dieppe; a full sun is standing high in the skies. The upper half of the sun painted with light Naples Yellow has been smoothed out with a steel knife, and this particular part is Gray, whereas the lower half is a light yellowish White, where it evidently had not been touched by the knife.
Naples Yellow imitation, which is made by mixing Litharge, pale Cadmium and White, also shows a black or very dark streak when touched with a steel knife. It is, therefore, best to avoid any steel coming in contact with this pigment.
By itself, genuine Naples Yellow is exceedingly permanent to light, and when used alone and varnished, is not affected by gases of any kind. As evidence of this, it is practically unchanged in all old paintings, with the exception of, perhaps, the Seventeenth Century pictures, and older productions show a slight deepening, which may have been caused by the action of gases where the pigment was unprotected. In Constable’s pictures of his later periods, he evidently used Naples Yellow unmixed, and apparently put it on with the aid of a knife. These pictures of Constable’s only show a very slight deepening.