Malachite

/ ma • luh • kite /

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Painted swatch of Malachite.

Brief description of Malachite:

It's a mineral basic copper carbonate, moderately permanent pigment of varying colour. Malachite is perhaps the oldest known green pigment. It is sensitive to acids and to heat. Occurs in egyptian tomb paintings, in european paintings it seems to have been of importance mainly in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Names for Malachite:

Alternative names: Bremen green, olympian green, iris green
Word origin: The name "Malachite" comes from Greek, malache = "mallow" in reference to green leaf color..
Non-English names:
German French Italian
Malachit malachite malachite
Origin: mineral and artificial
Chemical name:

basic copper(II) carbonate

 

Example of use by artists:

An early Renaissance Malachite shirt

Perugino, 1503, Museo Pinacoteca di S.Francesco, Montefalco, Italy

Perugino made a malachite green shirt on a green earth background.

 

 Sections:  

  purples  

  blues  

  greens  

  yellows  

  oranges  

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