Naples yellow

American  

noun

1. a poisonous pigment used in painting and enameling, consisting chiefly of lead antimoniate and characterized by its fugitive yellow color, rapid drying rate, and strong film-forming properties.

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Naples yellow British  

noun

1. a yellow pigment, used by artists; lead antimonate

2. a similar pigment consisting of a mixture of zinc oxide with yellow colouring matter

3. the colour of either of these pigments

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Etymology

Origin of Naples yellow

1730–40; so called because originally manufactured in Naples, Italy

Example Sentences

Naples yellow was a very prominent pigment with the older painters.

From The Painter in Oil A complete treatise on the principles and technique necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors by Parkhurst, Daniel Burleigh

We have spoken of Naples yellow in the past tense, because the pigment now sold as such is generally, or always, a compound colour, or manufactured with a zinc instead of a lead base.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas

Austin began to whistle a popular café-chantant air, as he bent over his palette, squeezing little dabs of Naples yellow out of a leaden tube.

From The Lovels of Arden by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)

As its name denotes, was likewise a preparation of that metal, of a deeper colour than Naples yellow, but similar in its properties.

From Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by Salter, Thomas

Mr Coathupe has clearly shown, that even Naples yellow does not suffer from contact with iron, otherwise than by abrasion, by which the steel of the knife becomes itself a pigment, as on the hone.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 357, June, 1845 by Various