Our work might be considered incomplete without some allusion to the coal-tar colours, even though they are rather dyes than pigments, not possessing sufficient stability for the palette. To avoid repeated reference, we have preferred grouping them in this chapter, irrespective of hue. Consequently, yellow, red, blue, orange, green, purple, brown, and black, will be all comprised under the heading of coal-tar colours.
Previous to the year 1856 the colouring matters derived from coal-tar were practically unknown. Until then, that black evil-smelling substance was looked upon as almost worthless; but gradually the unsightly grub emerged into a beautiful butterfly, clothed first in mauve and next in magenta. After its long winter of neglect, there sprung from coal-tar the most vivid and varied hues, like flowers from the earth at spring. At a touch of the fairy wand of science, the waste land became a garden of tropic tints, and colour succeeded colour, until the whole gamut had been gone through. Never was transformation more dazzling or more complete. The once despised refuse was now a valued commercial product—indeed a trade in itself. Perfectly fascinated by the study, chemists threw themselves heart and soul into coal-tar, and coal-tar colours were to be seen everywhere.
It were beside our purpose to enter into the various stages through which coal has to pass to become colour. Enough to state that to the introduction of gas-light we are indebted for the acquisition of coal-tar colours, the starting point for the production of mauve, magenta, &c., being the manufacture of coal-gas. From the destructive distillation of coal, coal-tar oil results; and from this are obtained the products which yield the colours in question. Among these products may be mentioned aniline, rosaniline, napthaline, chinoline, carbolic acid, picric acid, &c., with their derivatives.
Of the fifty-one compounds furnished by the distillation of coal, perhaps the most popularly associated with coal-tar colours is aniline, to which we will therefore confine ourselves. Discovered in 1826, this body was formerly prepared from indigo—in Spanish, anil, whence the name; but is now produced on a larger scale from benzol, a coal-tar product. As the source of mauve and magenta, aniline must be considered the parent of coal-tar colours generally. Little was known of it at one time except that on being mixed with a solution of chloride of lime there was formed a splendid purple liquid, which immediately gave place to a dingy reddish precipitate. From the investigation of this simple fact, however, by Mr. W. Perkin, there was created a new and important branch of chemical industry—the manufacture of coal-tar colours. The violet mauve led the way, followed by the red magenta, the blue azuline, the yellow phosphine, the green emeraldine, the orange aurine, by purple, and brown, and black. Such were the hues, with many intermediate tints and shades, which one reaction brought forth. The world rubbed its eyes with astonishment; and truly it seemed almost as wonderful to produce the colours of the rainbow from a lump of coal, as to extract sunshine from cucumbers.
The history of these colours reads more like a romance than a sober story, but to the artist it is of slight practical interest. Sufficiently stable as dyes, though they be, coal-tar colours are not adapted to the palette. Mauve, magenta, with a few others, hare been introduced as pigments and fairly tried, but a want of permanence has been fatal to their success. Mauve is more durable than magenta, and the rest vary in stability, but none of them have proved really fitted for artists' colours. Exposed to light and air, they all more or less fade, especially in thin washes; and they have mostly the objection of staining and permeating the paper or canvas on which they are employed. Used in body, some may be found eligible in portfolio illuminations and the like, where the brilliancy of their colours shows to advantage; but in landscapes and pictures of life, coal-tar pigments are best avoided.
Cakes of red, blue, violet, and other hues, may be prepared for painting, by combining the colours with a mixture of starch and alumina, or with soap and alumina in a moist state—thus: 150 parts of white curd soap, dissolved in 1000 parts of hot water, are mixed with an alcoholic or a methylated spirit solution of six parts of the crystallized or solid coal-tar colour. To this are added 250 parts by weight of washed gelatinous alumina. The whole is then well stirred, collected on a filter, drained, and dried. Several hues, tints, and shades may be obtained by compounding: for instance, an orange is produced on admixture of picric yellow with aniline red, or a green by adding the same yellow to aniline blue.
98. Cobalt Reds.
There are obtainable from cobalt by different processes rose and red colours of more or less beauty and intensity, but all vastly inferior to those of madder, in whose absence alone they could gain a place on the palette. Durable as a rule, they are in general characterized by a fatal chalkiness, and poorness of hue. More expensive than the madder colours, and without their purity, delicacy, depth, or transparency, cobalt reds have often been offered as pigments, and as often declined. A colour may be good in itself, but if there is something better and at the same time cheaper, its introduction into commerce is out of the question.
99. Copper Reds.
A somewhat finely coloured red oxide is produced by exposing to a white heat for twenty minutes, a mixture of certain proportions of blue vitriol, mono-carbonate of soda, and copper filings. The product, however, is affected by impure air, and is otherwise not so desirable as an iron oxide.