Verona Yellow Ochre

Description

Verona Yellow Ochre is a handmade single earth pigment made through the ancient process of grinding raw earth from the rich deposits of Italy in Verona. This ochre is naturally rich in iron oxides, giving it a warm, golden yellow hue that has been favored by artists for centuries. It is an exceptionally stable and versatile pigment, known for its great texture, excellent covering power, and soft, natural luminosity.

Verona Yellow Ochre has exceptional lightfastness, making it highly durable for both classical and contemporary artwork. It blends seamlessly with other earth pigments, offering warm and harmonious undertones in painting. Its semi-opaque quality allows for beautiful layering and depth in oil, watercolor, and tempera applications. Compared to synthetic yellows, it provides a softer, richer, and more natural color, ideal for landscape, portrait, and decorative painting.

History

Ochre has been used as a pigment since prehistoric times, with evidence of its application in cave paintings dating back over 100,000 years. Early humans used ochre mixed with animal fat or water to create some of the first known representational artworks, including cave depictions of animals.

During antiquity, ochre was widely used in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art. The Egyptians employed yellow ochre in tomb paintings, often as a substitute for gold. The Romans, known for their advanced mining techniques, sourced ochre from Italy, including the hills of Verona, for use in frescoes, ceramics, and architectural decoration.

In the Renaissance, ochre pigments gained prominence as artists sought natural, stable colors for painting. Masters like Titian and Veronese frequently used Verona Yellow Ochre to achieve warm highlights and rich, naturalistic skin tones. It was especially valued in oil painting and fresco work for its durability and harmonious blending with other earth tones.

By the 18th and 19th centuries, the extraction and refinement of ochre pigments became more industrialized, with Verona continuing to be a major source of high-quality yellow ochre. It remained a key pigment in landscape painting, particularly for depicting sunlit fields, earth, and golden tones in sky and water reflections. In the pictured artwork 'Jeanne Hébuterne' by Amedeo Modigliani, yellow ochre is used in both the hair of Jeanne as well as the chair she sits in to create warm rich colors. 

Today, Verona Yellow Ochre remains an essential pigment for artists, restorers, and conservators who value its historical authenticity, warm tone, and long-lasting performance in traditional and modern mediums.

Health and Safety

Precautions:  
Keep out of reach of children and pets.  
Do not consume.  
Not for cosmetic or food usage.  
Do not spray apply.  
For further health information contact a poison control center.  
Use care when handling dry pigments and avoid dust formation.  
Use particular caution with fibrous, fine, or toxic pigments.  
Do not eat, drink, or smoke near dry pigments.  
Avoid breathing in pigment dust and use a NIOSH-certified dust respirator with sufficient rating for dry pigment.  
Wash hands immediately after use or handling.  
If dust is likely, always wear protective clothing to keep out of eyes, lungs, off skin, and out of any contact as well as keep area ventilated.  
This product may contain chemicals known by the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm.  
Warnings and bottle information are abbreviated.

Pigment Information

Pigment Type: Natural (Iron Oxide) from minerals (Goethite - FeO(OH)) (Italy)  
Suitable Mediums: Watercolor, Oil, Tempera, Acrylic  
Lightfastness: Best  
Opacity: Semi-opaque  
Other Names: Italian Yellow Ochre, Golden Earth, Terra Gialla, Light Yellow Ochre, Yellow Earth  
Color Index Code: PY43
Image: 'Jeanne Hébuterne' by Amedeo Modigliani from the MET