copper greens

Ingredients

copper pigment, saffron

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Copper-based greens were often used. To prevent the degradation of the paper substrate, saffron was added as an anti-corrosion agent (p. 300).

Evidence

"if a painter is not aware of the anti-corrosion effect of saffron and uses copper greens without saffron, after a while copper will cause corrosion on the paper."

Remarks

The presence of corrosion by copper pigments is used as an indicator of the quality of the color preparation process by the artist (p. 301).