Cobalt Reds
:
ON THE PRIMARY, RED.
There are obtainable from cobalt by different processes rose and red
colours of more or less beauty and intensity, but all vastly inferior to
those of madder, in whose absence alone they could gain a place on the
palette. Durable as a rule, they are in general characterized by a fatal
chalkiness, and poorness of hue. More expensive than the madder colours,
and without their purity, delicacy, depth, or transparency, cobalt reds
have often been offered as pigments, and as often declined. A colour may
be good in itself, but if there is something better and at the same time
cheaper, its introduction into commerce is out of the question.