Vandyke brown

American  

noun

1. a medium brown color.

2. any of several dark-brown pigments consisting of iron oxide mixed with lampblack or similar materials.

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Vandyke brown British  

noun

1. 1. a moderate brown colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      a Vandyke-brown suit

2. any of various brown pigments, usually consisting of a mixture of ferric oxide and lampblack

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Etymology

Origin of Vandyke brown

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Vandyke brown

The first may be regarded as a superior Vandyke brown, the second as a superior umber.

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

She had well-formed eyebrows which, had her portrait been painted, would probably have been done in Prout's or Vandyke brown.

From The Woodlanders by Hardy, Thomas

He was an attenuated and rather effeminate person, exquisitely dressed and powdered, and not without a suspicion of rouge upon his hollow cheeks or of Vandyke brown upon his delicately penciled eyebrows.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 5 by Mabie, Hamilton Wright

Perfectly stable in either vehicle, it may sometimes be substituted for Vandyke brown, is eligible in fresco, and invaluable in buildings.

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

If I were Chancellor of the Exchequer I would lay a tax of twenty shillings a cake on all colours except black, Prussian blue, Vandyke brown, and Chinese white, which I would leave for students.

From The Crown of Wild Olive also Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing by Ruskin, John