53:1 Red Pigment

Despite being light-sensitive and prone to fading, 53:1 Red Pigments are a vital component of the Dutch artist's palette. Red lakes were often employed as a glazing pigment on top of a different paint layer, resulting in beautiful depth and richness in paintings. Despite the need to be discrete, the pigments are utilized more unobtrusively in mixes to boost green shades or to rejuvenate a lackluster yellow color such as a yellow earth. Due to the fact that most colors now accessible are produced from a mineral source, Vermeer's palette contained many such 53:1 Red Pigments. While it is true that the colorant components of yellow and red pigments originated from natural dyes precipitated onto a white or colorless substrate, it is untrue that the dyes were derived from an inorganic source. 

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