• Van Dyke Brown pigment, a rich, deep brown with warm undertones, historically favored for its transparency and excellent lightfastness. Ideal for oil, watercolor, and tempera painting, offering smooth blending and subtle shading. Used by Old Masters for glazing and earthy tonal depth in fine art and restoration. Finely ground for professional-quality applications. Available in various sizes.
  • A man sits on a muscular horse, towering above a servant who passes him a helmet to complete his suit of armour. A Latin inscription on the tablet hanging from a tree identifies him as ‚ÄòKing of Great Britain‚Äô ‚Äì this is Charles I, surveying his kingdom. Anthony van Dyck painted several portraits of Charles, but at over 3.5 metres high and nearly 3 metres wide, this is the largest.
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Cassel Earth Pigment

Cassel Earth Pigment

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Description

Cassel Earth (Van Dyke Brown) is a handmade single earth pigment made through a historical process of extraction, drying, and fine grinding earth from Verona. This deep, warm brown pigment is rich in organic matter and iron oxides, creating a rich, earthy tone with subtle transparency. It is highly prized for its deep, natural brown hue, which provides excellent depth, shading, and contrast in artwork.


Cassel Earth has exceptional lightfastness, making it highly durable for both classical and contemporary artwork. It blends seamlessly with other earth pigments, offering warm, harmonious tones in painting. Its Semi-Transparentquality allows for excellent layering, glazing, and shading effects in oil, watercolor, and tempera applications. Compared to synthetic browns, it provides a softer, more organic appearance, ideal for landscape, portrait, and decorative painting.


History

Cassel Earth has been used as a pigment for centuries and gained prominence in European painting traditions. Originally composed of lignite and iron oxide, it was valued for its deep, warm brown tones and ability to create soft shadows and rich glazing effects.


During antiquity, early artists used naturally occurring earth browns for cave paintings, murals, and frescoes. The high organic content of Cassel Earth made it particularly suited for naturalistic shading and tonal work.


In the Renaissance, artists like Rembrandt and Rubens favored deep brown pigments for underpainting, portraiture, and chiaroscuro techniques. Cassel Earth was an essential color for achieving rich, moody contrasts and subtle shading effects in oil painting.


By the 18th and 19th centuries, Cassel Earth became widely used in European academic painting and classical realism. The pigment's transparency and soft blending qualities made it a staple for glazing, underpainting, and atmospheric effects in landscape and figure painting. In the pictured artwork 'Equestrian Portrait of Charles I' by Anthony van Dyck, earth browns are used extensively to create subdued tonality and subtle earth colors.


Today, Cassel Earth remains an indispensable pigment for artists, conservators, and restorers, preserving its legacy as one of the most versatile and enduring brown pigments in art history.


Pigment Information

Pigment Type: Natural (Iron Oxide and Organic Matter) from minerals (Goethite, Lignite, and Hematite) (Italy)

Suitable Mediums: Watercolor, Oil, Tempera, Acrylic, Lime / Fresco, Encaustic, Cold Wax, Casein, Milk, Swedish Flour

Lightfastness: Great

Opacity: Semi-Transparent

Other Names: Van Dyke Brown, Cologne Brown, Natural Earth Brown

Color Index Code: NBr8

Image: 'Equestrian Portrait of Charles I' by Anthony van Dyck from the National Gallery