thegetty: POMPEIAN RED Pompeian red became a popular shade to paint the trendiest of 18th-century Eu

thegetty:

POMPEIAN RED

Pompeian red became a popular shade to paint the trendiest of 18th-century European dining rooms.

Named after the famous (and then brand-new) excavations at Pompeii, Italy, the color came into popularity after it was seen in frescoes inside excavated homes.

However, this red is actually a dehydrated form of yellow ocher. That is to say, these frescoes were most likely yellow during their creation, and only after extreme heat application (perhaps from a volcanic eruption) did the yellow become the ever-so-popular “Pompeian red.” Check out The Brilliant History of Color in Art for more.

Wall Fragment with a Woman on a Balcony, about 9 B.C.–A.D. 14, Roman. The J. Paul Getty Museum