Art Section 4

Question 1

It was until the dawn of the_______________ and the development of _______________ in the ______th century most colorants for oil paint were derived from ________________

Answer 1

Enlightenment, chemistry, 18, nature

Question 2

How did the discovery of Prussian blue change the use of fine blues for painters?

Answer 2

Before it was a luxury item that was not used as much because of its expense as well

Question 3

What does it mean by fine blues were chemically stable?

Answer 3

They do not fade when exposed to light (unlike other pigments)

Question 4

What is ultramarine?

Answer 4

An expensive saturated cobalt blue color

Question 5

How is ultramarine produced?

Answer 5

By grinding the lapis lazuli stone into a fine powder

Question 6

Where is lapis lazuli stone mined from?

Answer 6

Mountains of Afghanistan

Question 7

What type of religious paintings was ultramarine specifically depicted in?

Answer 7

Virgin Mary’s clothing

Question 8

Who discovered Prussian blue?

Answer 8

Jacob Diesbach, a German colormaker

Question 9

True or False? Diesbach was purposely trying to create a new blue pigment.

Answer 9

False. The discovery of prussian blue was an accident.

Question 10

What was Diesbach originally trying to make?

Answer 10

a standard batch of cochineal red lake (which required iron sulfate and potash)

Question 11

What alchemist did Jacob Diesbach purchase his potash from?

Answer 11

Johann Konrad Dippel

Question 12

What did Diesbach do differently when purchasing his potash from Dippel?

Answer 12

Asked for previously used potash (as he was trying to spend less)

Question 13

What happened when Diesbach tried to make red lake with the previously used potash that was contaminated with animal fats?

Answer 13

It originally turned pale
Then the mixture turned purple when he tried to concentrate it, and then deep blue

Question 14

What was Dippel’s explanation for why the pigment turned blue?

Answer 14

He thought that it was a reaction between iron and sulfate and the contaminated alkali

Question 15

What is the real explanation as to why the Diesbach’s pigment turned blue?

Answer 15

The alkali had reacted with Dippel’s oil to make potassium ferrocyanide which then combined with iron sulfate to make iron ferrocyanide or Prussian blue

Question 16

Early example of the use of Prussian blue in an oil on canvas composition in 1720

Answer 16

The Italian Comedians by Antoine Watteau

Question 18

Why does Prussian blue appear so little in The Italian Comedians?

Answer 18

When it was made in 1720, the powder was expensive and rare

Question 19

Benefits of Prussian blue

Answer 19

-Non toxic, stable, 1/10 of the cost of ultramarine
-Dry powder that could be mixed with any binding agent (chalk or oil) to color paper, canvas, or a different binding support

Question 20

Disadvantages of Prussian blue

Answer 20

When mixed with other colors, the pigment becomes diluted which makes it more sensitive to UV light

Question 21

A Girl with a Kitten

Answer 21

-Most likely by Jean-Baptiste Perronneau (a French artist who used pastels)
-Prussian blue is used on the girl’s vibrant dress and in the duskier, shadowed blue of the background
-Evidences muted colors, feather textures, and soft colors of the medium

Question 22

What are pastels?

Answer 22

type of colored chalk applied to a textured paper

Question 23

Why was Prussian blue used much more in A Girl with a Kitten than in The Italian Comedians?

Answer 23

It was much more common as it was being produced in manufacturing centers across Europe by 1740 than in 1720

Question 24

Antoine Watteau used the first synthetic pigment to evoke a sense of

Answer 24

Romanticism

Question 25

Who is Anna Atkins?

Answer 25

-Considered the first recognized female photographer
-Used prussian blue to create a series of plant cyanotypes

Question 26

Who painted the Self Portrait in a Straw Hat?

Answer 26

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigee Lebrun

Question 27

Why style does Vigee Lebrun paint in?

Answer 27

Rococo which deals with lavish excess, sinuous lines, pastel colors, and gilt furniture

Question 28

Where does the word Rococo originate from?

Answer 28

French for pebble, rocaille, that was used to decorate grotto interiors in period gardens

Question 29

Antonie Watteau uses Prussian blue in The Italian Comedians to color

Answer 29

the musicians socks

Question 30

What medium did Jean-Baptise Perronneau use for his portraits?

Answer 30

pastels

Question 31

Anna Atkins used Prussian blue to make

Answer 31

plant cyanotypes
-wanted to leave the imprint of the plant on the paper

Question 32

What monarch did Vigee-Lebrun frequently paint?

Answer 32

Marie-Antoinette - about 30 times

Question 33

Challenges Vigee-Lebrun face in her career

Answer 33

Forced into a bad marriage, rejected by the Royal Academy, father died when she was young, government confiscated her materials

Question 34

When painting “en plein air” you are

Answer 34

working outside

Question 35

What held paints prior to metal tubes being used?

Answer 35

pig’s bladders
- prone to bursting and could not be resealed

Question 36

A painting with impasto effect has

Answer 36

thick paint to create a textured painting that lifts off the canvas

Question 37

James Pollock used paint made out of

Answer 37

plastic, aka acrylic paint

Question 38

Monet painted the Argenteuil Bridge in 1874 how many times

Answer 38

7 times, wanted to show different reflections of the light

Question 39

Argenteuil Bridge crosses the

Answer 39

Seine River

Question 40

Color that is complementary to orange

Answer 40

Blue

Question 41

How did the Industrial Revolution affect paints?

Answer 41

quality paint was widely sold, new chemicals were used to create pigments, steam-powered mills ground pigments, a wider range of colors became available

Question 42

The first paint tubes used what metal

Answer 42

tin

Question 43

Artists were limited to naturally occurring pigments until the beginning of

Answer 43

the Enlightenment, when the field of chemistry began to develop

Question 44

Where was the first synthetic pigment discovered?

Answer 44

Berlin, in 1704 in a alchemist’s library

Question 45

What artistic institution rejected Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun because of her gender?

Answer 45

the Royal Academy

Question 46

The pose in the Self Portrait in a Straw Hat was inspired by

Answer 46

Portrait of Susanna Lunden, by Peter Paul Rubens

Question 47

What technique did squeezable metal paint tubes help most with?

Answer 47

impasto - where an artist squirts paint thickly onto a canvas