History of Cobalt green:
The preparation of zinc oxide at the end of the eighteenth century made the development of cobalt green, also known as zinc green, possible. The Swedish chemist, Rinmann is credited with developing a process for making a compound of cobalt and zinc in 1780 that he published with the Stockholm Academy of Sciences. Arthur Herbert Church published Rinmann's process in his book, The Chemistry of Paints and Painting. According to Church, cobalt green was made with the compounds of oxides of zinc and cobalt by mixing them "with an alkaline carbonate" and then exposing the mixture to strong heat. After washing the sediment that resulted, the pigment was ready to grind. The pigment was always bluish-green in spite of the ability to widely vary the proportion of zinc to cobalt oxides in production. The compound that is formed is chemically joined.
When was Cobalt green used?
| Discovery | Used until |
|---|---|
| 1780 | continues in use |
Use of Cobalt green among paintings in the SchackGallery, Munich:
Source: Kühn
(intro) - Cobalt green - Copper resinate - Emerald green - Green earth - Malachite - Verdigris - Viridian