Viridian

This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 7 September 2024.

Viridian is a blue-green pigment, a hydrated chromium(III) oxide, of medium saturation and relatively dark in value. It is composed of a majority of green, followed by blue. The first recorded use of viridian as a color name in English was in the 1860s.[2] Viridian takes its name from the Latin viridis, meaning "green".[3] The pigment was first prepared in mid-19th-century Paris and remains available from several US manufacturers as prepared artists' colors in all media.[4]: 276–77 

Viridian
 
About these coordinates     Color coordinates
Hex triplet#40826D
sRGBB (r, g, b)(64, 130, 109)
HSV (h, s, v)(161°, 51%, 51%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(50, 31, 160°)
SourceMaerz and Paul[1]
ISCC–NBS descriptorModerate green
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)
Chromium(III) oxide sample
Viridian(Pigment Green 18) (Left) And Phthalocyanine Green(Pigment Green 7) (Right) Gouache

History

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Viridian pigment was first prepared in 1838 in Paris by Parisian color chemist and painter Pannetier alongside his assistant Binet as a hydrated form of chromium oxide.[5][6] The preparation process was demanding, expensive, and shrouded in secrecy.[4]: 275  The French chemist C. E. Guignet developed and patented a cheaper manufacturing method in 1859 that enabled larger distribution and use of the pigment.[4]: 274  This method involved calcining a combination of boric acid and potassium bichromate, then washing the material.[4]: 280–281 

Winsor and Newton's catalogue listed the pigment as early as 1849. It was used as early as 1840 in a work by J. M. W. Turner.[4]: 275  Viridian was in prominent use by the mid-nineteenth century, but was less popular than three to four times more affordable alternatives including emerald and chrome greens.[4]: 276–77 

Visual characteristics

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Viridian is a bright shade of spring green, which places the color between green and teal on the color wheel, or, in paint, a tertiary blue–green color. Viridian is dark in value, has medium saturation, and is transparent .[4]: 275 

Variations of viridian

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Paolo Veronese green

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Paolo Veronese Green
 
      Color coordinates
Hex triplet#009B7D
sRGBB (r, g, b)(0, 155, 125)
HSV (h, s, v)(168°, 100%, 61%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(57, 49, 163°)
SourceGallego and Sanz[7]
ISCC–NBS descriptorStrong green
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Paolo Veronese green is the color that is called Verde Verones in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Paolo Veronese green was a color formulated and used by the noted 16th-century Venetian artist Paolo Veronese.

Paolo Veronese green began to be used as a color name in English sometime in the 1800s (exact year uncertain).[8]

Another name for this color is transparent oxide of chromium.[9]

Viridian green

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Viridian Green
 
      Color coordinates
Hex triplet#009698
sRGBB (r, g, b)(0, 150, 152)
HSV (h, s, v)(181°, 100%, 60%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(56, 45, 194°)
SourcePantone TPX[10]
ISCC–NBS descriptorModerate bluish green
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

At right is displayed the color viridian green.

The source of this color is the "Pantone Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #17-5126 TPX—Viridian Green.[11]

Generic viridian

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Generic Viridian
 
      Color coordinates
Hex triplet#007F66
sRGBB (r, g, b)(0, 127, 102)
HSV (h, s, v)(168°, 100%, 50%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(47, 41, 163°)
SourceGallego and Sanz[7]
ISCC–NBS descriptorModerate green
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Generic viridian is the color that is called Viridian inspecifico in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Spanish viridian

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Spanish Viridian
 
      Color coordinates
Hex triplet#007F5C
sRGBB (r, g, b)(0, 127, 92)
HSV (h, s, v)(163°, 100%, 50%)
CIELChuv (L, C, h)(47, 44, 154°)
SourceGallego and Sanz[7]
ISCC–NBS descriptorStrong green
B: Normalized to [0–255] (byte)

Spanish viridian is the color that is called Viridian specifico in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.

Permanence

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Viridian is considered durable and permanent as an artist's pigment.[4]: 278  Viridian is unaffected by temperatures up to 260 °C (500 °F), but it is unsuitable for use in ceramic glazes.[4]: 278  Viridian is compatible with all pigments in all media, and has high oil absorption.[4]: 278  Pure pigment formulations of viridian are hard and may separate in tubes, but adding barium sulfate in small quantities enables easy grinding and dispersion.[4]: 278 

Notable occurrences

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Viridian as a quaternary color on the RYB color wheel:
  green
  viridian
  teal

Although viridian is not a frequent color name in English, it is used in a number of cultural references, probably because it is derived from viridis, the Latin word for green, so using the word viridian sounds more elegant than simply referring to the Old English word green.[citation needed]

Fine art painting

  • Fritz Bamberger, Afterglow in the Sierra Nevada, 1863.[4]: 288 
  • Claude Monet, Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877, oil on canvas[4]: 287  includes traces of viridian in the grassy area.
  • Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Flowers, 1919.[4]: 288 
     
    Fritz Bamberger - Ansicht der Sierra Nevada, 1863. Bavarian State Painting Collections.
     
    Claude Monet - Arrival of the Normandy Train, Gare Saint-Lazare, 1877, oil on canvas. Art Institute of Chicago.
     
    Renoir - Flowers, 1919.
Automobiles
  • "Viridian Joule" was the winning color name in Chevrolet's Volt Paint-Color Naming Contest.[12]
Broadcasting
Television
Environmental design
Film
  • Viridian is mentioned by Otho when discussing remodeling, in the 1988 film Beetlejuice.[15]
Music
Literature
  • In the Space opera series Dread Empire's Fall, by American author Walter Jon Williams,[16] the first mention of viridian is in the initial book of the series, The Praxis ISBN 0-7434-2897-8[17][18][19] for both the sky color of Shaa Empire capital world Zanshaa as well as color of the uniforms of their Fleet.
Video games
  • In the Pokémon franchise, in the Kanto region, Viridian City is the first town one encounters after leaving Pallet Town via Route 1 and also home to the final gym.
  • In VVVVVV, the player character is Captain Viridian, who is a light blue-green color. All characters have names referencing their color and starting with the letter V.
  • In Knights of the Old Republic II the player character can find and use a viridian lightsaber crystal.
  • In League of Legends the champion Kayle has a viridian costume that is green with black wings.
  • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Trials and Tribulations, there is a running joke about the color, started by the character Larry Butz.
  • In the Steam game Aviary Attorney, the Viridian Killer is responsible for murders in France during the 1830s.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called viridian in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color viridian is displayed on page 79, Plate 28, Color Sample K11.
  2. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 206; Color Sample of Viridian: Page 93 Plate 79 Color Sample K11
  3. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 18 See: "Table--Polyglot Table of Principle Color Names" Pages 18-19
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Newman, Richard (1997). "Chromium Oxide Greens". In Fitzhugh, Elisabeth West (ed.). Artists' pigments : a handbook of their history and characteristics. Vol. 3. National Gallery of Art. pp. 275–293. ISBN 0-89468-086-2. OCLC 1224906722.
  5. ^ Eastaugh, Nicholas (2004). The pigment compendium : a dictionary of historical pigments. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 391. ISBN 0-7506-5749-9. OCLC 56444720.
  6. ^ Cardeira, A.M.; Longelin, S.; Costa, S.; Candeias, A.; Carvalho, M.L.; Manso, M. (2016). "Analytical characterization of academic nude paintings by José Veloso Salgado". Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy. 153: 379–385. Bibcode:2016AcSpA.153..379C. doi:10.1016/j.saa.2015.08.043. ISSN 1386-1425. PMID 26344483.
  7. ^ a b c Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guía de coloraciones (Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guide to Colorations) Madrid: H. Blume. ISBN 84-89840-31-8
  8. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 201 (It is listed under Paul Veronese green)
  9. ^ Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 142
  10. ^ Type the words "Viridian Green" into the indicated window on the Pantone Color Finder and the color will appear.
  11. ^ Pantone TPX Pantone Color Finder--Type the words "Viridian Green" into the indicated window on the Pantone Color Finder and the color will appear:
  12. ^ "Viridian Joule" was the winning color name in Paint-Color Naming Contest [1]
  13. ^ Sterling, Bruce (2001). "Viridian: The Manifesto of January 3, 2000". Archived from the original on January 8, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-28. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ Hughes, James (2002). "Democratic Transhumanism 2.0". Archived from the original on 2016-08-18. Retrieved 2007-01-26. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ ""Beetlejuice," shooting script, by Michael McDowell; and Warren Skaaren". Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2012-11-23.
  16. ^ "Aliens, spaceships, and fun: Walter Jon Williams's Dread Empire's Fall". Tor.com. 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  17. ^ "Review - Dread Empire's Fall: The Praxis, by Walter Jon Williams". SF Signal. 2005-06-30. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  18. ^ "The Praxis: Book One Of The Dread Empire's Fall by Walter Jon Williams". SFcrowsnest. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  19. ^ "The SF Site Featured Review: The Praxis". SF Site. Retrieved 2016-06-13.

Further reading

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  • Newman, R., Chromium Oxide Greens, in Artists’ Pigments, A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics, Vol 3: E.W. Fitzhugh (Ed.) Oxford University Press 1997, p. 273 – 286
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  • Viridian, Pigments through the Ages, Webexhibits. Information about the color viridian, its history, making of, and its chemistry
  • Viridian, Colourlex
  • Viridian Red Noida, Viridian Red Noida