Another visual demonstration that historical clothing wasn’t dingy and monochrome.
All of these colours can be obtained from vegetable dyes, producing different shades depending on what mordant (colour fixative - alum, different metal filings, different vinegars) was used. See here and here for examples.
BRING THIS FASHION BACK.
Not clothes, but this was a palette developed by the National Museum of Denmark based on paint residue from archaeological finds for the purpose of painting a reconstructed hall.
Apparently, they can tell from the chemical composition that the colours
wouldn’t be mixed with black or white to mute them, but be used in
their brightest form. Bright yellow and red was achieved with expensive dyes (orpiment
and cinnabar) and was thus fashionable. (Source in Danish)
What is a man? An ecstatic little pile of pigments.
