Pigment Red

Red has been available to artists since prehistory in the form of red earth, but throughout art history, the color red has often been characterized by pigments with poor lightfastness and high toxicity. The poisonous Vermillion was made using mercury sulfide, and it was the predominant red pigment used by European artists from the Renaissance to the 20th Century. Alongside Vermillion were dye-based lake pigments like Carmine, Rose Madder, and, more recently, Alizarin Crimson, which are prone to fading. The faces in early Renaissance paintings sometimes have a distinctly green hue, due to the use of a thin layer of fugitive red which has faded to reveal the highly lightfast green earth underpainting. The 19th and 20th centuries saw the development of the Cadmium, Azo, Pyrrole, Quinacridone, and Benzimidazolone pigment groups, and today the red pigment family is one of the largest.

Pigment Red Comparison

Product Name

（pigment）

Color shade

（Color index N）

Physical data fastness properties

（Full shade）

recommended

（int）

Light Fast Pink Toner

P.R.81

Light Fast Pink Toner B

P.R.8:1

Light Fast Pink Toner -1

P.R.8:2

Light Fast Pink Toner B-l

P.R.8:3

Light Fast Pink Lake

P.R.8:5

Light Fast Pink Toner SH-CF

P.R.169