![]() ![]() Examples are minimum or red lead (vermillion), armenium (azurite), chrysocolla (malachite), cinnabaris (a plant resin from dracaena or dragon’s blood), indigo and Tyrian purple. ‘Florid’ ( floridi colores) pigments which were bright in colour, rare, expensive and frequently supplied by the employer or house owner.Pliny, however, collected his evidence from other writers such as Theophrastus’ (c371- c287 BCE) De Lapidibus and from the work of the architect Vitruvius (c75 – c15 BCE) in his multi-volume book De Architectura. Other sources of evidence have to be from contemporary writers such as Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) and his Naturalis Historia of the origins and history of art. It is from the collection of all this evidence that we have the best picture of the Roman styles and palette. They did however recognise crafts and skills and made much use of the crafts peoples’ expertise to style their homes in local and cultural fashion.įor art historians and archaeologists Pompeii and Herculaneum have become the main historical sources for identification of pigments and styles since they are rich in evidence, but that doesn’t mean that other sites around the Roman world don’t have something to add. Again, the Romans did not recognise art as a separate thing but very much part of the daily life and culture they had no word for art. This reflects the extent of trading between centres of pigment extraction and making and the main centres of art production. ![]()
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