The Chemistry of Art > Pigments in Painting
From earliest times, people have used colour to decorate themselves and their surroundings
Students learn to:
- identify the sources of the pigments used in early history as readily available minerals
- explain why pigments used needed to be insoluble in most substances
- outline the early uses of pigments for:– cave drawings– self-decoration including cosmetics– preparation of the dead for burial
- outline the processes used and the chemistry involved to prepare and attach pigments to surfaces in a named example of medieval or earlier artwork
- explain that colour can be obtained through pigments spread on a surface layer (eg paints) or mixed with the bulk of material (eg glass colours)
- describe paints as consisting of:– the pigment– a liquid to carry the pigment
- describe an historical example to illustrate the relationship between the discovery of new mineral deposits and the increasing range of pigments
- analyse the relationship between the chemical composition of selected pigments and the position of the metallic component(s) of each pigment in the Periodic Table
Students:
- solve problems and perform a first-hand investigation or process information from secondary sources to identify minerals that have been used as pigments and describe their chemical composition with particular reference to pigments available and used in traditional art by Aboriginal people
- process information from secondary sources to identify the chemical composition of identified cosmetics used in an ancient culture such as early Egyptian or Roman and use available evidence to assess the potential health risk associated with their use
- identify data, gather and process information from secondary sources to identify and analyse the chemical composition of an identified range of pigments
Extract from Chemistry Stage 6 Syllabus (Amended October 2002). © 2009, Board of Studies NSW.