Alizarin Crimson

In times like these, one's thoughts roam all over the place.  And it suddenly occurred to me that something I take as common knowledge might not be.  So I thought I'd drop the occasional pedantic fact on you: if you get fed up with it, just tell me to shut up; and I will; I'll sulk, mind! Alizarin Crimson, PR83, is widely used by artists, and available in all media (but that's not entirely true: wait for the big reveal).  It was introduced as a replacement for Rose Madder Genuine, which was known to fade in glazes or tints.  Unfortunately, subsequent testing has shown that PR83 is not only no more fade resistant than Rose Madder, but actually rather worse.  This is a problem for those watercolourists who use the Ron Ranson palette, which always included Alizarin Crimson; and for those oil painters who use it in glazes, or in tints (i.e. mixed with white).  In mass tone, used on its own, in other words, it's said to be less unreliable: but personally, I stopped using it some time ago.   In acrylic, thanks to manufacturers' awareness of our weakness for traditional colour names, Alizarin(e) Crimson is also available.  But it's not PR83 - you can't make an acrylic PR83, because the pigment isn't compatible with acrylic medium (just don't ask me why, because if you do I'll have to go and find out, and that could get really boring).  So you can use Alizarin to your heart's content in acrylic because - it's not what it says it is on the tube.  Confused?  Blame the makers....  There are alternatives in the two main media in which real Alizarin is used: eg, Quinacridone red, or violet - it comes in a range of tints and shades, and is a good, reliable pigment.  It doesn't have the exact qualities of Alizarin - eg that bluish undertone - which makes it such a desirable colour; but it's a sacrifice probably worth making; and it has its own strengths.   Michael Harding, who makes some of the best oil paints available, acknowledges that PR83 verges on the fugitive, but says his version is free of added ingredients, which I'm sure it is, and I think has said it stands up to colour-fastness tests better than other varieties (but don't quote me; go to his very good website and see for yourselves) because it's pure pigment.  So use it if you wish, of course, but be aware of its problems if you do - and don't glaze with it or mix it with white if you want to give it the best chance of surviving as a crimson in your paint film.   Run your own lightfastness tests - I did that with watercolour, years ago: using Crimson Lake, Alizarin Crimson, Indigo (genuine, not the pthalo blue substitute that most makers offer nowadays), Yellow Ochre, and Cadmium Yellow.  Painted a piece of paper with strips of these colours, cut it in half, put one half in the window, the other in a drawer.  The Crimson Lake disappeared in a month - all that was left was speckles.  The Alizarin turned a weak brown; the Indigo faded dramatically; the ochre and cadmiums remained unchanged.  Be warned!

It is a lovely colour to mix, indeed - makes a range of gorgeous soft greys with viridian and white, and a very good chromatic black mixed with viridian or pthalo green alone.  It's a pity Alizarin isn't reliable, though - makes great plum reds, and rich darks.  But if I were forced to choose between it and Rose Madder Genuine (and wouldn't normally choose either) I'd go with the Rose Madder.

I can understand that!  It's very useful, for all sorts of reasons; a reliable crimson is good for glazing, in any medium - first find your reliable crimson.  I also go with the quinacridones - of which there are several.   Alizarin fades less in mass-tone than it does in tints and glazes - snag is, most of us used it for tints and glazes, I would think.  I'd like to know what Rembrandt used for his crimsons (now there's a project for someone...) because they've held up well.