Cobalt Green
:
ON THE SECONDARY, GREEN.
Rinman's Green, Vert de Zinc or Zinc Green. True cobalt green is made by
igniting a very large quantity of carbonate of zinc with a very small
quantity of carbonate of cobalt. To give a green tint to an enormous
proportion of the former, an inappreciable amount of the latter will
suffice. Some samples which were analysed, consisted almost entirely of
zinc, there being only two or three per cent. of cobalt present. This
green presents an example of a pigment being chemically good and
artistically bad, or at least indifferent. It is a moderately bright
green, apt to vary in hue according to the mode of manufacture,
permanent both alone and compounded, but so sadly deficient in body and
power, as to have become almost obsolete. With other physical defects,
and a colour inferior to the chrome oxides, cobalt green has never been
a favourite with artists, though justly eulogised by chemists.