A unique approach to the history of art told through the story of colour and pigments. Did you know that the ultramarine that shimmers at the centre of Vermeer¿s Milkmaid connects that masterpiece with 6th-century Zoroastrian paintings found on the walls of cave temples in Bamiyan, Afghanistan? Or that the surging waves that crest and curl in Hokusai¿s perilous Great Wave off Kanagawa owe their absorbing blue lustre to an alchemist who was born in Frankenstein¿s Castle in 1673? And were the Pre-Raphaelites really obsessed with a murky brown hue derived from the pulverized remains of ancient mummies? (Spoiler: they were.) Invented by prehistoric cave-dwellers and medieval conjurers, cunning conmen and savvy scientists, the colours of art tell a riveting tale all their own. Over ten scintillating chapters, acclaimed author Kelly Grovier helps bring that tale vividly to life, revealing the astonishing backstories of the pigments that define the greatest works in the history of art. Interwoven between these chapters is a series of features focusing on key moments in the evolution of colour theory ¿ from the revelations of the Enlightenment to the radicalism of the Bauhaus ¿ while reproductions of carefully selected artworks help illuminate the narrative¿s twists and turns. The history of colour is an epic saga of human ingenuity and insatiable desire. Read this book and you will never look at a work of art in quite the same way.

Introduction: Artymology 1. Red Red Ochre ¿ Carmine ¿ Rose Madder ¿ Vermillion ¿ Red Lead Colourful Minds: Isaac Newton¿s Opticks (1704) 2. Orange Orpiment ¿ Saffron ¿ Chrome Orange ¿ Cadmium Orange Colourful Minds: Tobias Mayer¿s The Affinity of Colour Commentary (1775) 3. Yellow Yellow Ochre ¿ Lead-tin Yellow ¿ Naples Yellow ¿ Indian Yellow ¿ Chrome Yellow ¿ Cadmium Yellow ¿ Arylide Yellow Colourful Minds: Mary Gartside¿s Essay on a New Theory of Colour (1808) 4. Green Verdigris ¿ Malachite ¿ Emerald Green ¿ Veridian Colourful Minds: Goethe¿s Theory of Colours (1810) 5. Blue Azurite ¿ Ultramarine ¿ Cobalt Blue ¿ Prussian Blue ¿ Artificial Ultramarines Colourful Minds: Philipp Otto Runge¿s Color Sphere (1810) 6. Purple Tyrian Purple ¿ Cobalt Violet Colourful Minds: Michel Eugène Chevreul¿s The Principles of Harmony and Contrast of Colours (1839) 7. Black Charcoal ¿ Bone Black Colourful Minds: Emily Noyes Vanderpoel¿s Color Problems (1902) 8. White Lead White ¿ Calcite ¿ Kaolin Colourful Minds: Albert Henry Munsell¿s Atlas of the Munsell Color System (1915) 9. Brown Umber ¿ Van Dyke Brown ¿ Mummia ¿ Excrement Colourful Minds: Johannes Itten¿s Utopia 1921 10. Precious Metals Gold ¿ Silver