The Strauss Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at Harvard University is home to the rarest, most unusual colours in the world. This pigment library stores an unparalleled collection that is mainly used for scientific purposes, notably that of analysis. These pigments were collected by the late Edward Forbes, director and historian at the university who travelled the world in order to validate classical Italian paintings from the Renaissance by sampling their paint composition. “Artists today will use anything to get the idea that’s in their head into a physical form,” Khandekar says. In this article we will take a look at some of these rare colours. Notable examples include Brazilwood, Mummy Brown, Synthetic Ultramarine and Lapis Lazuli, being some of the rarest and most interesting examples held in this vault. Indeed, Lapiz Lazuli was so prized once that "people would mine it in Afghanistan, ship it across Europe, and it was more expensive than gold, so it would have it's own budget line on a commission," according to Narayan Khandekar, Director of the Strauss Center.
The Strauss Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at Harvard University is home to the rarest, most unusual colours in the world. This pigment library stores an unparalleled collection that is mainly used for scientific purposes, notably that of analysis. These pigments were collected by the late Edward Forbes, director and historian at the university who travelled the world in order to validate classical Italian paintings from the Renaissance by sampling their paint composition. In this article we will take a look at some of these rare colours. Notable examples include Brazilwood, Mummy Brown, Synthetic Ultramarine and Lapis Lazuli, being some of the rarest and most interesting examples held in this vault. Indeed, Lapiz Lazuli was so prized once that "people would mine it in Afghanistan, ship it across Europe, and it was more expensive than gold, so it would have it's own budget line on a commission," according to Narayan Khandekar, Director of the Strauss Center.