Storied Colors
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Today’s Color Monday, 1st June<br>Logwood Purple<br>No. 126<br>First documented 16th century<br>Source C₁₆H₁₂O₆ (haematein)<br>Origin Campeche, Mexico<br>Era c. 1500 – early 20th c.<br>Hex #5D2966
Read today’s entry Discontinued (C₁₆H₁₂O₆ (haematein))<br>The Color Index An ongoing index, est. 2026
One color a day, told as it ought to be told: with its provenance, its chemistry, and the people who paid for it in poison.
Every pigment in this catalogue has a paper trail. Where it was first ground, in whose workshop, on whose canvas it dried, when it was banned, what replaced it. We do not invent provenance and we do not edit out the unflattering parts.
New entries arrive each Sunday at 06:00 GMT. Older entries are continually amended as conservation laboratories publish corrections.
253<br>Entries indexed · expanding
789<br>Citations
This Week’s Specimens<br>Curator’s notes · 1st to 7th June
From the desk of the curator<br>Plate 066<br>No. 066 c. 2500 BCE<br>Egyptian Blue<br>Synthetic · Cool · Mid<br>The oldest known synthetic pigment, fired from sand and copper by Egyptian artisans and recently found to glow under infrared light.
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Plate 068<br>No. 068 1814<br>Emerald Green<br>Synthetic · Cool · Dark<br>The commercial name for Paris green when sold as artist’s paint, blamed for slow poisonings in Victorian parlours and Napoleon’s death chamber.
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Plate 077<br>No. 077 1859<br>Fuchsia<br>Synthetic · Cool · Dark<br>An early aniline dye named after the fuchsia flower in 1859, briefly renamed ‘magenta’ to commemorate a French battlefield victory in northern Italy.
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Recent Acquisitions Six newest of 253 entries
No. 253 1936<br>Uranium Red<br>#D7350F
No. 252 c. 1145<br>Chartres Blue<br>#1F3F8E
No. 251 2016<br>Pinkest Pink<br>#FF1493
No. 250 1834<br>Zinc White<br>#FAFAFA
No. 249 2009<br>YInMn Blue<br>#2E5090
No. 248 Palaeolithic<br>Yellow Ochre<br>#CB9D06
The Collection at a Glance Browse all 253 →<br>096 005 175 184 224 111 154 100 147 153 214 085 040 237 151 045 067 137 131 199 023 107 252 218 016 148 171 234 227 188 187 179 202 038 205 242 233 123 122 +214 more
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© Storied Colors · MMXXVI
Set in Cormorant Garamond & Source Serif
253 entries indexed