CARMINE
(cochineal, crimson lake)
Origin, History and Characteristics
Carmine is a natural organic dyestuff made from the dried bodies of the female cochineal insect, coccus cacti, which lives on various cactus plants in Mexico and in Central and South America. Carmine must be precipitated on clay, since it has no body of its own. It was brought to Europe shortly after the discovery of those countries, first described by Mathioli in 1549. The finest quality, known as nacarat carmine, is non poisonous and quite beautiful with the peculiarity of being more permanent in transmitted light as a transparent color, than when under direct light. According to Maximillian Toch, it is only legitimate as a food coloring, as exposure to the sunlight for three months, bleaches the pigment completely.
Since carmine is very transparent, it is an excellent pigment for glazing .
Carmine in Vermeer's Painting
Carmine has been detected in only two of Vermeer's paintings, The Love Letter. and The Procuress. In The Love Letter it was most likely used in the design of the leather guilt wall covering behind the two sitters or in the hanging curtain. Carmine may have been used more frequently by Vermeer.
Vermeer most likely used carmine more extensively but either in areas which have not been examined or else it has suffered fading.
How to Paint Your Own Vermeer: Materials & Methods of a Seventeenth-Century Master
by Jonathan Janson
the book
How to Paint Your Own Vermeer is a straightforward, practical guide on how to reproduce Vermeer's day-to-day painting procedures for today's discerning artist.
the CD-rom
Following the guidlines in the book, a hypothetical Vermeer can be viewed in a series of 180 sequential digital images as it progresses step-by-step from the stretching of the canvas to the final touches and glazes.
The deep red color of the leather guilt wall-covering may have been painter with carmine.
