being deficient in body, is only eligible in oil. A very pale greyish-white green in powder, it gives an agreeable yellowish green of some depth in oil, moderately bright, but not very pure or clear.
We are acquainted with another transparent chrome oxide of far greater beauty, brightness, purity, and clearness than the above. Of a bluish green hue, a difficulty in getting it to mix with oil renders it at present unavailable.
177. VERONESE GREEN,
or French Veronese Green, is a comparatively recent introduction, similar in colour and general properties to the following; beside which, however, it appears dull, muddy, and impure. It is often adulterated with arsenic to an enormous extent, which interferes with its transparency, mars its beauty, and renders it of course rankly poisonous.
178. VIRIDIAN
is a still later addition to the palette, and the only permanent green which can be described as gorgeous, being not unlike the richest velvet. Pure and clear as the emerald, it may be called the Prussian Blue of Greens, of such richness, depth, and transparency is it. In hue of a bluish-green, its deepest shades verge on black, while its light tints are marked by transparent clearness unsurpassed. No compound of blue and yellow will afford a green at once so beautiful and stable, so gifted with the quality of light, and therefore so suited for aerial and liquid effects. Used with aureolin, it gives foliage greens sparkling with sunshine; and, fitly compounded, will be found invaluable for the glassy liquidity of seas, in painting which it becomes incumbent to employ pigments more or less transparent. "The general failing in the representation of the sea is, that instead of appearing liquid and thin, it is made to bear the semblance of opacity and solidity. In order to convey the idea of transparency, some object is often placed floating on the wave, so as to give reflection; and it is strange that we find our greatest men having recourse to this stratagem. To say it is not true in all cases, is saying too much; but this we do assert, that as a general principle it is quite false, and we prove it in this way: water has its motion, more or less, from the power of the wind; it is acted upon in the mass, and thus divided into separate waves, and these individually have their surface ruffled, which renders them incapable of receiving reflection. The exception to this will be, where the heaving of the sea is the result of some gone-by storm, when the wind is hushed, and the surface becomes bright and glassy. In this state, reflections are distinctly seen. Another exception will be in the hollow portion of the waves, as they curl over, and dash upon the shore."
As viridian, like the sea, is naturally "liquid and thin, bright and glassy," the extract we have quoted from Mr. Penley, points to this green as a pigment peculiarly adapted for marine painting; in which, it may be added, its perfect permanence and transparency will be appreciated in glazing. Its fitness for foliage has been remarked; but in draperies the colour will prove equally useful, and in illumination will be found unrivalled. In the last branch of art, indeed, viridian stands alone, not only through its soft rich brilliancy, but by the glowing contrast it presents with other colours: employed as a ground, it throws up the reds, &c., opposed to it, in a marvellous manner. Like the three preceding oxides of chromium, viridian neither injures nor is injured by other pigments; is unaffected by light, damp, or impure air; and is admissible in fresco. In enamelling it cannot be used; the colour, depending on the water of hydration, being destroyed by a strong heat.
COPPER GREENS
are commercially known as Emerald Green, Malachite Green, Scheele's Green, Schweinfurt Green, Verdigris, Green Bice, Green Verditer, Brunswick Green, Vienna Green, Hungary Green, Green Lake, Mineral Green, Patent Green, Mountain Green, Marine Green, Saxon Green, French Green, African Green, Persian Green, Swedish Green, Olympian Green, Imperial Green, Mitis Green, Pickle Green, &c.
The general characteristics of these greens are brightness of colour, well suited to the purposes of house-painting, but seldom adapted to the modesty of nature in fine art; considerable permanence, except when exposed to the action of damp and impure air, which ultimately blacken most of them; and good body. They have a tendency to darken by time, dry well as a rule in oil, and are all more or less poisonous, even those not containing arsenic.