Yellow ocher

Eros sculpture
MFA# 1979.477

Description

A natural yellow earth mineral primarily composed of Goethite (iron hydroxide) and Clay. Yellow ochers occur naturally throughout the world and have been used as a pigment since prehistoric times. Synthetically produced yellow ocher pigment, introduced at the end of the 18th century, is sold under the name of Mars yellow.

FTIR (MFA)

Raman (MFA)

XRD

SEM

EDS

XRF

Synonyms and Related Terms

goethite; limonite; jarosite; yellow ochre; ocre jaune (Fr.); yellow earth; earth yellow; Mars yellow; gold ochre; raw sienna; French ochre; raw umber

Additional Images

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  Yellow ocher
  Forbes pigment 258

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  Yellow ocher, pale
  Forbes pigment 589

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  Yellow ocher at 100x (visible light left; UV light right)

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  Yellow ocher at 500x

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  Yellow ocher at 200x polarized light

Resources and Citations

• Ruth Siddall, 'Mineral Pigments in Archaeology: Their Analysis and the Range of Available Materials' Minerals Vol 8, p. 201 (2018). Link
• G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p. 558
• Reed Kay, The Painter's Guide To Studio Methods and Materials, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1983
• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)
• Michael McCann, Artist Beware, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York City, 1979
• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996