1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. One of our upcoming episodes this week is 2 00:00:06,040 --> 00:00:10,200 Speaker 1: on Sir William Henry Perkin, who accidentally discovered a synthetic 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: die in eighteen fifty six. That die, known as Malvin, 4 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,479 Speaker 1: produced a rich purple color and became enormously popular. We 5 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: mentioned Perkin very briefly in our August episode, A Brief 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: History of Colors, So that's our Saturday classic for to 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: day since it's sets the stage for that upcoming episode 8 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: with an overview of ways that people around the world 9 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: have been creating dies and paints since before the development 10 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,600 Speaker 1: of synthetic pigments. And we also went into more detail 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: about one specific color, which was the color blue and 12 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: a show that we recorded live at the National Gallery 13 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: of Art in Washington, d C. That one came out 14 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,920 Speaker 1: as an episode on October six, nineteen. So if you're like, hey, 15 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: I want some more colors for my Saturday, that's where 16 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: you can find that one. A World of Color Away 17 00:00:57,160 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: to enjoy. Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class 18 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 1: A production of I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to 19 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,440 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Tracy Wilson and I'm Holly Crying. And 20 00:01:17,480 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: we have gotten so many, so so many listener requests 21 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: to talk about the history of a specific color. UM. 22 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: Most recently it was Nicole who asked us to talk 23 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: about the creation of the color move and before that, 24 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: we had Door who asked us to talk about tell It, 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: which is a blue dye that's really important in the 26 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:41,679 Speaker 1: Jewish tradition. He wrote an entire book on that one, 27 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: and he sent us a review copy of it about 28 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,319 Speaker 1: a year ago. I'm absolutely certain we've gotten requests to 29 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,160 Speaker 1: talk about cockeneal red and a general history of the 30 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: color blue. And I think those must have been on 31 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:55,040 Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter, because I can't find them in our inbox. 32 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:59,440 Speaker 1: So we also very recently had a listener named Halah 33 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,120 Speaker 1: asked if you might talk about a general history of 34 00:02:02,160 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: color or of dies, and so that's where we are today. 35 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: A lot of these other specific requests that people have 36 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:10,919 Speaker 1: made of us are going to come up today. UM, 37 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,040 Speaker 1: but this is sort of an overview of dies and 38 00:02:14,080 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: pigments and how we've been using them during or throughout history, 39 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,400 Speaker 1: which I love because I love color, and you know, 40 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,440 Speaker 1: related to t Stile and art and all the other 41 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 1: people on earth. The nice, nice follow up to our 42 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: recent makeup episode, which featured lots of color talk, so 43 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: it all makes sense. So uh, animal, vegetable or mineral 44 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: could almost be a guessing game about pigments and dies. 45 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:41,959 Speaker 1: People have been using all of these to try to 46 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 1: make things prettier all the way back into prehistory. Are 47 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:48,119 Speaker 1: they most of the world people have had a lot 48 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:50,760 Speaker 1: of them to choose from. If there wasn't a plant 49 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: source of red, there could be an animal. And if 50 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: there were neither of those, perhaps they had a mineral 51 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: that they could source for red color. So to start, ochre, 52 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,799 Speaker 1: which is made of iron oxide, is found abundantly all 53 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: over the planet. Iron oxide itself is one of their 54 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: most common minerals, and ochre is probably the thing that 55 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:14,480 Speaker 1: people used to make their clothing and surroundings more colorful 56 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:17,600 Speaker 1: before they used anything else. That was probably the first pigment, 57 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: and ochre produces a range of earthy kind of yellow 58 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:24,280 Speaker 1: brown to red brown colors. It was used in some 59 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:27,160 Speaker 1: of the world's oldest cave paintings, so when you imagine those, 60 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: you can pretty quickly conjure what ochre looks like and 61 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: what the various levels of saturation of it looked like. 62 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: And it was also used in textiles. We have evidence 63 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: that prehistoric people's also used it to dye animal skins. 64 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: And while it's been used all over the world throughout history, 65 00:03:43,120 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: in particular, the Maori of New Zealand have traditionally used 66 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 1: ochre extensively. They've used it on their faces and hair, 67 00:03:50,240 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: on their canoes and homes, and on the bones of 68 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: the dead. There's also in the yellow family saffron, which 69 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:02,880 Speaker 1: comes from the dried stigmas of crocuses um. This makes 70 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: really rich yellows and oranges, and one of its most 71 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 1: recognizable uses as a dye is in the garments of 72 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 1: Buddhist monks. Saffron has a really long history of its own. 73 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,720 Speaker 1: It could almost go in the later part of this 74 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: episode when we're gonna be talking about a few colors 75 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: that have a longer history. But just as much of 76 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 1: its history is about being a spice and a medicine 77 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:27,720 Speaker 1: as it is about being a die. I'm just having 78 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:30,360 Speaker 1: a moment where I'm remembering my mom's awesome saffron bread 79 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:34,799 Speaker 1: as we talked about them. Saffron Saffron rice is also diligous, 80 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: so good uh Mata root can make all kinds of 81 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: shades of reds and yellows. Cinnabar, which is a sulfide mineral, 82 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,560 Speaker 1: has been used to make red as well, although it 83 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: is unfortunately toxic. So is lead, which we also talked 84 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: about in our cosmetics episode, which has also sometimes been 85 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: used to make red paints. In Europe, people used wode 86 00:04:57,920 --> 00:05:00,720 Speaker 1: to make blue and purple dyes for centuries. This is 87 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 1: a plant that changed in the seventeenth century and people 88 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: started importing indigo, which was a superior source of dye 89 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: from India. India is not the only place where indigo grows, 90 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: but once it started to catch on in in Europe, 91 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: the British started up a number of indigo plantations in India. 92 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,240 Speaker 1: This made India the main source of indigo for much 93 00:05:23,279 --> 00:05:25,839 Speaker 1: of Europe, and this sort of led to a cycle 94 00:05:26,080 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: of demand and more demand. Um they would plant plantations 95 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: and demand would increase and there would be more plantations, 96 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: and people were really working themselves to the bone on 97 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:42,640 Speaker 1: these indigo plantations. This eventually led to India's Indigo Revolt, 98 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: which was an uprising by the farmers against the plantations 99 00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:51,039 Speaker 1: and the European owners of the plantations. In eighteen fifty 100 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:55,440 Speaker 1: six and eighteen fifty seven, Indigo is still used extensively today, 101 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:59,040 Speaker 1: though especially for dyeing Denham for your blue jeans. So 102 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 1: green tone have come from lichen, fungi and especially minerals. 103 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:07,240 Speaker 1: Copper has been a big one here, but cobalt has 104 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: also been used to make some shades of green. When 105 00:06:10,880 --> 00:06:14,120 Speaker 1: it comes to shades of black, there are all kinds 106 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,279 Speaker 1: of very common things that you can use to make 107 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:20,160 Speaker 1: paints and inks out of, including soot, ivory and bones, 108 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 1: but you can't really die things with most of these 109 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,600 Speaker 1: because they don't stick to the fabric. For a long time, 110 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: there was no true black dye. People in Europe would 111 00:06:29,839 --> 00:06:33,080 Speaker 1: mostly make black fabric by dyeing at a series of 112 00:06:33,160 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: other colors, which unless it was sort of a byproduct 113 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: of re dyeing the same gown over and over as 114 00:06:39,920 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 1: it got older, this was just time consuming and expensive. Yeah, 115 00:06:43,480 --> 00:06:46,480 Speaker 1: that's even an issue that continues today when people purchase 116 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: an article of clothing or a piece of fabric and 117 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,640 Speaker 1: they want to diet black. Even the commercially available dyes, 118 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:55,280 Speaker 1: what you usually get is a very dark purple. It's 119 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,719 Speaker 1: very ticky to get a nice saturated black, and that 120 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 1: actually changed this sort of time consuming, really costly approach 121 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:08,160 Speaker 1: to multiple dye layers that they were doing after Europeans 122 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: started making their way to the America's and they actually 123 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: found a tree that became known as logwood, and the 124 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: heartwood of logwood is very very dark and a true 125 00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 1: black dye could be extracted from it. Because the primary 126 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: source of logwood was traitors from Spain, this die was 127 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:27,080 Speaker 1: actually banned in England from its introduction there around fifteen 128 00:07:27,080 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: seventy five all the way to sixteen seventy three. Parliament 129 00:07:31,640 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: claimed that logwood produced colors quote of a fugacious character. 130 00:07:36,440 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: The Anglo Spanish War and other tensions between England and 131 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: Spain probably had a lot more to do with it 132 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:45,760 Speaker 1: than whether the die faded quickly. There are also lots 133 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,600 Speaker 1: and lots of ways to make white pigments, including chalk, 134 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:51,720 Speaker 1: rice and limestone, and as we also talked about in 135 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: our Makeup episode, lead lead as kind of a multi 136 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: purpose component, depending on exactly what it's made with and 137 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,760 Speaker 1: how it's prepared. That's really why there's so much lead 138 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 1: based paint around for so many years, so in most 139 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: of the world, people have had quite a number of 140 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:13,080 Speaker 1: options for making a vast array of colors, but a 141 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: couple of specific diyes have turned out to have really, 142 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: really rich stories of their own, and we will talk 143 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,320 Speaker 1: about those more in just a moment. If Tracy would 144 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,760 Speaker 1: like to take a brief pause for a word from 145 00:08:23,760 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: our sponsor, I would. One source of red around the 146 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: world has been insects. The cocaneal is a scale insect 147 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: that's native to Central and South America. Some people also 148 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: pronounce it cocon eal, and Europeans got their first glimpse 149 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: of it thanks to the conquistor Hernan Cortes in the 150 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:54,839 Speaker 1: fifteen hundreds. The various species of insect used for this 151 00:08:55,080 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 1: dye are all in the genus Dactylopius, although Cortes's soldiers 152 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:05,840 Speaker 1: called them Cocnelia cultivada. The females live on prickly pear cactuses. 153 00:09:06,280 --> 00:09:09,080 Speaker 1: The wind blows them from cactus to cactus when they're 154 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: still nymphs, and then as they mature, they attached themselves 155 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: to the cacti. The females are harvested from the cacti 156 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,160 Speaker 1: and then dried, and then they are crushed and bathed 157 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:23,160 Speaker 1: in acid. And a pound of dye contains about seventy 158 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 1: thousand of these little insects. Some people, in addition to 159 00:09:27,040 --> 00:09:31,320 Speaker 1: pronouncing cockn eal two different ways, also use cockoneal and 160 00:09:31,480 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: carmine interchangeably. Other people sort of differentiate between cockneal and 161 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: carmine as two shades of red. Either way, carmine is 162 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: also made from these same bugs. Soon after Europeans were 163 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:48,280 Speaker 1: introduced to these insects, the Habsburgs decided to start up 164 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: a cockn eal business, and they started exporting cocon eal 165 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: back to Spain, and the cockon heal trade then spread 166 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: all over the world. In the sixteen hundreds, dyers started 167 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: figuring out how to modify cockneal to make all kinds 168 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:07,520 Speaker 1: of other shades of red, so the demand for its skyrocketed, 169 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 1: although occasionally it would dip a little bit thanks to 170 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:15,320 Speaker 1: various economic conditions or perhaps wars. Entrepreneurs in Europe kept 171 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,440 Speaker 1: trying to figure out how to move cockeneal production out 172 00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:21,560 Speaker 1: of the America's because, in addition to it being pretty 173 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:26,760 Speaker 1: expensive to ship these massive loads of of insects across 174 00:10:26,800 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: the ocean, this was the height of piracy's golden age, 175 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: which meant that ships that were carrying this red dye 176 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:37,440 Speaker 1: were always at risk. In the part of the Ocean 177 00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: that they needed to cross to get back to Spain. 178 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: And although the insects themselves live in many parts of 179 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,960 Speaker 1: the world today thanks to very deliberate efforts to transplant them, 180 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,960 Speaker 1: actually getting a usable number of them to grow somewhere 181 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:54,520 Speaker 1: else turned out to be really quite a task. Ship 182 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: after ship left the America has loaded down with plants 183 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 1: and insects, only for something, you know, unt it to 184 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,320 Speaker 1: befall them along the way. Either the insects would die 185 00:11:03,520 --> 00:11:05,959 Speaker 1: or their life cycle would be interrupted by the travel 186 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,880 Speaker 1: or a well meaning crew member would destroy those pesky 187 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: bugs with salt water. Once the insects finally did make 188 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 1: it to India, which was really one of one of 189 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,319 Speaker 1: the places people were hoping they could take off, it 190 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: was without a crop of cacti for them to live on. 191 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:25,520 Speaker 1: They wound up surviving on a similar species that already 192 00:11:25,600 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: lived in India. But even so, the Indian cockneal industry 193 00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: really never managed to supplant the American one. India was 194 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,079 Speaker 1: producing four thousand pounds of the die a year by 195 00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: sevente seven, but pretty much everyone in Europe thought it 196 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:43,160 Speaker 1: was vastly inferior to the die that was coming from 197 00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:47,480 Speaker 1: Central and South America and cockneal is still used today, 198 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: and one of those uses is actually food die, which 199 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: is a little bit chagrinning and disturbing to people who 200 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:57,600 Speaker 1: don't like the idea of eating bugs. Unless you are 201 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,319 Speaker 1: allergic to them, there is no health risk and having 202 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,200 Speaker 1: them in your food. Yeah, I kind of look at 203 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: that as one of those whenever I have a food 204 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: revelation about, oh, this is actually a gross thing you've 205 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: been consuming, I'm like, well, I've consumed it for years, right, 206 00:12:11,360 --> 00:12:13,480 Speaker 1: And cocknell is one of the many things that goes 207 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:16,680 Speaker 1: in that category. We also have a few fancy blues 208 00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:19,160 Speaker 1: to talk about, and I think blue is your favorite color, 209 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:22,640 Speaker 1: isn't it It is. That's not why we're talking about 210 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:28,600 Speaker 1: more than one fancy blue though. Egyptian blue is the 211 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:31,880 Speaker 1: oldest man made blue die and the oldest man made 212 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: die in general that we know of, as its name suggests. 213 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 1: That got to start in Egypt about three thousand years 214 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: ago with the combination of a lime, copper, oxide, and quartz, 215 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: and once these were put into a kiln in the 216 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 1: right proportions, they were fired down to a fine powder 217 00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 1: that could be made into paints and dies. And if 218 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:54,480 Speaker 1: you are confused because earlier we said that ochre was 219 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:57,200 Speaker 1: the oldest thing. You can pretty much make an ochre 220 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:59,959 Speaker 1: paint out of straight up ochre and something to moisten 221 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: it with, and this was a much more deliberate combining 222 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,080 Speaker 1: of multiple ingredients to make a die. Ultramarine has also 223 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,160 Speaker 1: been around for a really long time. It is made 224 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:14,079 Speaker 1: from lapis lazuli, which was primarily mined in Afghanistan. Making 225 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:19,280 Speaker 1: ultramarine from lapis lazuli was an intensely manual process. Powdered 226 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: mineral would have to be repeatedly needed with lie to 227 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: ultimately make this die. There's some evidence that the Chinese 228 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:30,480 Speaker 1: had access to ultramarine as early as the eighth century 229 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:34,360 Speaker 1: b c. There are some very ancient glazed beads that 230 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:38,079 Speaker 1: modern analysis has shown to have been made with ultramarine. 231 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:41,319 Speaker 1: There are also other blue pigments used in the glaze, though, 232 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: so it is possible that the ultramarine was accidentally synthesized 233 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: thanks to impurities in the kiln. We do know for 234 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:53,520 Speaker 1: sure that by the sixth century CE, deliberately made ultramarine 235 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: inks appear in Byzantine manuscripts. Its popularity really took off 236 00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:02,120 Speaker 1: during the Middle Ages in Europe, and because so much time, labor, 237 00:14:02,160 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: and travel was involved in its production and distribution, it 238 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: was exorbitantly expensive. This is one of the reasons it 239 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: was used with very particular significance and religious artwork. The 240 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,559 Speaker 1: Virgin Mary often wears ultramarine blue clothing in medieval art, 241 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: and the cost and expense is also why the French 242 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: Society for the Encouragement of National Industry announced a prize 243 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: for whoever could make a cost effective synthetic ultramarine in 244 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:34,240 Speaker 1: eighteen twenty four. And cost effective here meant less than 245 00:14:34,320 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: three hundred francs per kilogram. I got into some drama 246 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 1: about who eventually claimed that prize because there were two 247 00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,920 Speaker 1: two people who independently of one another, came up with 248 00:14:45,960 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: the same basic process for synthetic ultramarine, and then is 249 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: often the case, artists didn't want to use the synthetic 250 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: synthetic one because they thought it wasn't as good as 251 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: the real one. Hellette is a blue dye that's very 252 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: important in the Jewish tradition. It was traditionally used to 253 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: tie blue threads used in the tassels that are in 254 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 1: the corners of prayer shawls. This color comes from the 255 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: glands of a snail, most likely Heliplex trunculus, and at 256 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: first the color that the snails secretions produces kind of 257 00:15:20,560 --> 00:15:24,400 Speaker 1: a brownish yellow. But if you soak cotton in a 258 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,480 Speaker 1: vat of it sort of vat, dye this cotton and 259 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 1: then let it air dry in the sun, it turns blue. 260 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:35,600 Speaker 1: Talent is mentioned repeatedly in the Torah, and often in 261 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:38,600 Speaker 1: the same context as precious materials like gold and silk. 262 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,160 Speaker 1: The dye was so religiously important that the methods for 263 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:46,120 Speaker 1: making it were a very closely guarded secret. This unfortunately 264 00:15:46,200 --> 00:15:48,200 Speaker 1: meant that the knowledge of how to produce it was 265 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:51,920 Speaker 1: lost around the seventh century as Islamic people's moved into 266 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: the Eastern Mediterranean. Modern scholars have managed to recreate how 267 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 1: to produce this color, but there's still some debate about 268 00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: whether it's exactly the same as the ancient hue described 269 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:06,160 Speaker 1: in these texts. And before we talk about another die 270 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:08,720 Speaker 1: that was definitely made from snails, we will take a 271 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: brief break to talk about a word from a sponsor, stupendous. 272 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:24,520 Speaker 1: So we've already talked about some totally cost effective, widely 273 00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:28,080 Speaker 1: available ways to make purple, but in the Roman Empire, 274 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: people got a little weird about purple, and one color 275 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 1: purple in particular, as with tell It Tyrehne. Purple came 276 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: from sea snails, specifically Balinus brand daris, previously known as 277 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:45,200 Speaker 1: Murix Brandaris, and this die was primarily made in the 278 00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,760 Speaker 1: city of Tire in what is now Lemonon. Its height 279 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: of popularity was during the time of the Roman Empire, 280 00:16:51,760 --> 00:16:54,960 Speaker 1: and it's mentioned at least fifty times in the Christian Bible. 281 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: When it's living, this snail secretes a slightly toxic mukee 282 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: is that's part of how it kills its prey. And 283 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: if you crack open its shell you can puncture the 284 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: mucus gland and get out a drop of that mucus. 285 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: When this drop of mucus is exposed to light, it 286 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:15,679 Speaker 1: progresses through several colors on the blue green end of 287 00:17:15,680 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: the spectrum before winding up purple. It took twelve thousand 288 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:25,920 Speaker 1: snails to make enough die to die one Roman toga. Consequently, 289 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:29,720 Speaker 1: an enormous hill of discarded shells formed outside the city 290 00:17:29,720 --> 00:17:33,439 Speaker 1: of Tire, and today this hill has actually become usable land. 291 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: It's home to houses, businesses, there's a cemetery there, and 292 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:41,120 Speaker 1: it's actually known as Murex Hill. There are still broken 293 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 1: snail shells all around its base. That astounding twelve thousand 294 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:51,560 Speaker 1: snails number is why purple dye, especially tyrehene purple dye, 295 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,400 Speaker 1: was so expensive and associated only with the very rich, 296 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,280 Speaker 1: but by the year four hundred it's popularity had also 297 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:01,959 Speaker 1: made these snaps. E was pretty hard to find, so 298 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:05,399 Speaker 1: it became illegal for anyone who wasn't actually part of 299 00:18:05,440 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: the royal family to wear tyree and purple because it 300 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:11,920 Speaker 1: was just too scarce, and you know, the royal royalty 301 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:14,320 Speaker 1: didn't want to lose their purple that they were so 302 00:18:14,400 --> 00:18:19,320 Speaker 1: fond of. Both both Emperors Nero and Theo ds Is 303 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:23,399 Speaker 1: the Second considered the wearing of tyreean purple by Nod 304 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: royalty to be punishable by death. Following the end of 305 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: the Roman Empire, the color fell out of favor and 306 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: people went back to the old standbys of indigo and liken. 307 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:36,240 Speaker 1: This is one of those situations where you kind of 308 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 1: look at what it took to make this purple and 309 00:18:39,200 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: the fact that you could make purple other ways. It 310 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 1: was really it's not like that was the only purple 311 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: that existed. It was just the only one that was 312 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: so rare that people got a little strange about how 313 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:57,360 Speaker 1: they they were emotionally invested in it. Yeah, color status 314 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:02,680 Speaker 1: becomes a whole sociological studiable thing at that point. So 315 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: eventually people figured out how to make synthetic dies. William 316 00:19:07,320 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: Henry Perkin was an English chemist. He was actually trying 317 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,440 Speaker 1: to synthesize quinine, which we've talked about before. It's used 318 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,880 Speaker 1: to treat malaria in eighteen fifty six, and he stumbled 319 00:19:16,920 --> 00:19:21,240 Speaker 1: across something else entirely, which was mauve die. And he 320 00:19:21,640 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: was making this substance and it was kind of black 321 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:25,680 Speaker 1: and gross looking, and then he realized as he looked 322 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,159 Speaker 1: at it that it was actually kind of a pretty 323 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: color in spaces in different spaces. Um This came to 324 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 1: be known as analygine purple and as mauvine, and it 325 00:19:35,080 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 1: was the first truly synthetic die. Perkin then used his 326 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,600 Speaker 1: newly discovered chemical process to set up his own die factory, 327 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 1: and once Queen Victoria wore a move dressed to her 328 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:47,960 Speaker 1: daughter's wedding, which was in eighteen fifty eight, Europe was 329 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,000 Speaker 1: almost instantly caught up in mauve madness. Perkin then turned 330 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:54,280 Speaker 1: his eye to all kinds of other colors, and he 331 00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: ended up becoming very, very rich, but he gave most 332 00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:00,960 Speaker 1: of his profits away to charity. This didn't instantly put 333 00:20:01,000 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: an end to natural dies. There are still plenty of 334 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:08,360 Speaker 1: natural diyes being used even today. Many artists and artisans 335 00:20:08,520 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 1: really resisted the idea of using synthetic colors, and at 336 00:20:12,160 --> 00:20:15,960 Speaker 1: first analine was also very expensive. But the availability of 337 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: synthetic dies did really change the playing field significantly when 338 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,399 Speaker 1: it came to color. You know why I spend so 339 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,439 Speaker 1: much time and effort farming cockneal If you can just 340 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,280 Speaker 1: make it pretty synthetic red, that's basically the same shade. 341 00:20:29,359 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: And today colors have lost some of the connotations that 342 00:20:32,480 --> 00:20:35,080 Speaker 1: they carried in earlier parts of history, especially in the 343 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: industrialized world. It's pretty common knowledge that in many parts 344 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 1: of the world, blue and purple were the colors of royalty. 345 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,159 Speaker 1: But today you can get a blue sweater for the 346 00:20:44,200 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: same price as a brown sweater. You don't have to 347 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:49,640 Speaker 1: pay extra for a royal purple crayon. And today people 348 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: might use the colors you wear to judge your personality 349 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 1: or your sense of taste. But in places where synthetic 350 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,879 Speaker 1: dies are readily available, that doesn't actually extend to your 351 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: actual social class or net worth. Colors are democratized. Anybody 352 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:05,120 Speaker 1: can have them. Yeah, and I read a really interesting 353 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,840 Speaker 1: paper that was about Yeah, people pretty much now will 354 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:13,200 Speaker 1: judge your color literacy, like whether they think the combination 355 00:21:13,240 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: of colors you're wearing our tacky or two showy or 356 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: something like that. Um, but that doesn't actually translate to 357 00:21:21,640 --> 00:21:25,439 Speaker 1: how much those colors cost or what your actual social 358 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,000 Speaker 1: status is. Yes, it'll be uh, you know, to borrow 359 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: from Project Runway your taste level. That's discussed so much 360 00:21:34,720 --> 00:21:43,199 Speaker 1: your social standing. Thanks so much for joining us on 361 00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: this Saturday. Since this episode is out of the archive, 362 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,159 Speaker 1: if you heard an email address or a Facebook U 363 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: r L or something similar over the course of the show, 364 00:21:50,680 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: that could be obsolete now. Our current email address is 365 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 1: History Podcast at I heart radio dot com. 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