Umber is a natural earth pigment consisting of iron oxide and manganese oxide; it has a color that can vary among shades of yellow, red, and green.
History
The earliest documented uses of umber date from between 200 BC and 600 AD in the
Ajanta Caves found in India.
, a family of earth pigments which includes umber, has been identified in the caves of Altamira in
Spain and the
Lascaux Cave in
France.
Some sources indicate that umber was not frequently used in medieval art because of its emphasis on bright and vivid colors.
Other sources indicate, however, that umber was used in the Middle Ages to create different shades of brown, most often seen for skin tones.
Umber's use in Europe increased in the late 15th century.
Umber became more popular during the
Renaissance when its versatility, earthy appearance, availability, and inexpensiveness were recognized.
Umber gained widespread popularity in Dutch landscape painting in the eighteenth century.
Artists recognized the value of umber's high stability, inertness, and drying abilities.
It became a standard color within eighteenth-century palettes throughout Europe.
Umber's popularity grew during the
Baroque Period with the rise of the
chiaroscuro style. Umber allowed painters to create an intense light and dark contrast.
Underpainting was another popular technique for painting that used umber as a base color.
Umber was valuable in deploying this technique, creating a range of earth like tones with various layering of color.
Toward the end of the 19th century, the Impressionist movement started to use cheaper and more readily available synthetic dyes and reject like umber to create mixed hues of brown. The Impressionism chose to make their own browns from mixtures of red, yellow, green, blue and other pigments, particularly the new synthetic pigments such as cobalt blue and emerald green that had just been introduced.
Criticism
Beginning in the 17th century, umber was increasingly criticized within the art community. British painter Edward Norgate, prominent with British royalty and aristocracy, called umber "a foul and greasy color."
In the 18th century, Spanish painter
Antonio Palomino called umber "very false."
, a Belgian painter, opined, "umber should not appear on the palette of the conscientious painter."
Visual properties
Umber is a natural brown pigment extracted from
clay containing
iron,
manganese, and
.
Umber has diverse hues, ranging from yellow-brown to reddish-brown and even green-brown. The color shade varies depending on the proportions of the components. When heated, umber becomes a more intense color and can look almost black. Burnt umber is produced by
calcination the raw version. The raw form of umber is typically used for
because it is less expensive.
These warm and earthy tones make it a valuable and versatile pigment for oil painting and other artwork.
Notable occurrences
Umber became widely used throughout the
Renaissance for oil paintings.
In the
Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci used umber for the brown tones throughout his subject's hair and clothing.
Da Vinci also extensively used umber in his painting the
Last Supper to create shadows and outlines of the figures.
Throughout the
Baroque painting period, many renowned painters used umber.
Varieties
Raw umber
This is the color
raw umber.
Burnt umber
Burnt umber is made by heating raw umber, which dehydrates the iron oxides and changes them partially to the more reddish
hematite. It is used for both oil and water color paint.
The first recorded use of burnt umber as a color name in English language was in 1650.[Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 191; Color Sample of Burnt Umber: Page 53 Plate 15 Color Sample A12]
See also
-
Lists of colors
-
List of inorganic pigments
External links
-
— Discussion of umber and its use by Vermeer and other painters.
