Articles about 'pigment'

Lucy Wrapson reports on her fieldwork analysing the curious cave paintings found on Isla de Mona, in the Caribbean, and their equally enigmatic artists.

The Cambridge Animal Alphabet series celebrates Cambridge's connections with animals through literature, art, science and society. Here, K is for Kingfisher. Look out for them among the swamp cypresses at the Botanic Garden, where the secrets behind their cyan and blue feathers are being studied by an extraordinary collaboration of scientists.

Illuminated manuscripts are revealing their secret histories thanks to the application of techniques more commonly found in scientific laboratories.

In the fourth report of our Egg Cetera series on egg-related research, conservator Spike Bucklow describes how far the simple egg has extended the richness and splendour of paintings.

The conventional colours of Christmas – red and green – are not, as many might suppose, a legacy of the Victorians. Instead, they hark back to the Middle Ages and perhaps even earlier, according to Cambridge research scientist Dr Spike Bucklow.

Through his exploration of the science of art, the recipes of medieval artists and the writings of alchemists, art conservation scientist Spike Bucklow sets out to disentangle the alchemy of medieval paint.

Bees see some flowers in multicolour because of previously unknown iridescence of the petals, usually invisible to the human eye, researchers from the University of Cambridge report this week in Science.

Dragon’s Blood, Purple of Cassius and Scarlet Lake – all pigments concocted by the 19th-century 'Colourmen' of Winsor & Newton artists’ suppliers. Now, a painstaking and methodical analysis of their hand-written recipe books has been developed into a searchable database.

From organic chemist, through maker of rubber monsters, to conservator of fine art, Spike Bucklow describes his career path as "something of a drunkard's walk". But you could say that it has always been leading to the same end: the application of science for the benefit of art.