Zinc green

Zinc green

Description

Zinc green at 100x. Visible light on left; UV light on right

Name used for three different paint pigments.

1) Most commonly, zinc green refers to a mixture of zinc yellow and Prussian blue. This composite pigment is permanent to light but not to alkali or water.

2) Zinc green is also incorrectly used for cobalt (Rinman's) green. Cobalt green is a solid solution of zinc oxide and cobalt oxide, CoO.ZnO. It is a fast drying, permanent pigment that has been available since the mid-1800s. Cobalt green was developed by a Swedish chemist named Sven Rinman in 1780.

3) The common name for zinc chrome green.

Raman (MFA)

SEM

EDS

XRF

Synonyms and Related Terms

3) zinc chrome green; Zinkgrün (Deut.); vert de zinc (Fr.); verde de cinc (Esp.); verde de zinco (Port.)

Resources and Citations

• M. Doerner, The Materials of the Artist, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1934

• Ralph Mayer, A Dictionary of Art Terms and Techniques, Harper and Row Publishers, New York, 1969 (also 1945 printing)

• Susan E. Schur, Conservation Terminology: A review of Past & Current Nomenclature of Materials, Technology and Conservation, Spring (p.34-39); Summer (p.35-38); Fall (p.25-36), 1985

• R.D. Harley, Artists' Pigments c. 1600-1835, Butterworth Scientific, London, 1982

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000