Deadly chemical cousins: oranges and yellows

What makes two volcano-born pigments so dangerous? Hint: they weren’t scorching hot when artists used them. Orpiment and realgar both contain arsenic, a foe we’ve previously faced on ‘Stories in Colour’.

From volcanoes to ancient alchemical practices, art historian Evie Hatch joins Beks to uncover the origins and histories of these orange and yellow pigments. Together, they discuss how orpiment and realgar have been used, where their names come from and the risks artists faced painting with them.

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Evie Hatch is an art historian specialising in the history and characteristics of artist pigments. She is the writer and presenter of Jackson's Art Pigment Stories series and author of the 2025 book ‘Pigment Stories: The History of Artists' Colour’.

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You can email us with any questions via podcast@nationalgallery.org.uk

Find out more about the podcast on our website: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/podcast

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Paintings mentioned:

Titian, ‘The Holy Family with a Shepherd’, About 1510 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-the-holy-family-with-a-shepherd

Titian, ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’, 1520-3 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/titian-bacchus-and-ariadne

Jacopo Tintoretto, ‘Christ washing the Feet of the Disciples’, About 1575-80 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jacopo-tintoretto-christ-washing-the-feet-of-the-disciples

Jacopo Tintoretto, ‘The Origin of the Milky Way', About 1575 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/jacopo-tintoretto-the-origin-of-the-milky-way

Rachel Ruysch, ‘Flowers in a Vase’, About 1685 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/rachel-ruysch-flowers-in-a-vase

Margarito d’Arezzo, ‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned, with Scenes of the Nativity and the Lives of the Saints’, Probably about 1263-4 https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/margarito-d-arezzo-the-virgin-and-child-enthroned-with-narrative-scenes

Abraham Mignon, ‘Still Life with Flowers and a Watch’, About 1660-79 © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/collection/object/Still-Life-with-Flowers-and-a-Watch--7404dc80eb5bfc4161ed6ccf454e293f?tab=data

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Further reading:

Pliny the Elder, ‘Natural History’ [Book]

Find out more about Plutarch’s version of the tale of King Midas in "On Superstition" from *‘*Moralia’, produced about 100 AD [Essay]

Cennino Cennini, ‘Il Libro dell’arte’, produced in late 14th-century [Book]

Find out more about ‘Titian’s Painting Technique before 1540’ in the National Gallery’s Technical Bulletin, 2013: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/media/16259/vol-34-essay-1-2013.pdf

Find out more about the use of orpiment in Margarito d’Arezzo’s ‘The Virgin and Child Enthroned’: https://artsandculture.google.com/story/bAVhk85cvIns0Q

Find out more about research on degrading colours in yellow flowers in 17th-century still life paintings here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9176749/

Listen to our episode from series one of ‘Stories in Colour’ on deadly green pigments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PIn-7FesV8

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Episode credits:

Guest: Evie Hatch

Host and executive producer: Beks Leary

Producer: Harry Rosehill

Researcher: Hannah Rogers

Technicians: Ian Warren and Tom Gulliver

Video Producer: Alessandro Sorenti

Editor: Paul Frankl

Theme music: Theo Elwell