BLACK UMBER
By combining two different umbers, the Venetian and the Cypriot one, burning them then together, we approach “melan”, the colour of darkness, the absense of colour. “Melan” is not exactly black, as we mean it today. It is rather an optical value, one of the four of ancient tetrachromy.
Chemical formula Fe(OH)3 • Mn
Stability to light 7 (scale 1/8)
Specific weight 3,50
For fresco, tempera, oil, encaustic
