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February 15, 2017
“If you want to make a bit of good red paint, take an ox … ”
symbolically “negative” reds — those coloring the fires of hell, the face of the Devil, the coat or feathers of infernal creatures, and all impure blood of one kind or another—were often painted with the same pigment: sandarac, a resin lacquer more commonly called “cinnabar of the Indies” or “dragon’s blood.” Various legends circulated in workshops regarding this pigment, a relatively expensive one because it had to be imported from far away. It was believed to come not from a plant resin but from the blood of a dragon, gored by its mortal enemy, the elephant. According to medieval bestiaries, which followed Pliny and the ancient authors here, the inside of the dragon’s body was filled with blood and fire; after a fierce struggle, when the elephant had punctured the dragon’s belly with its tusks, out flowed a thick, foul, red liquid, from which was made a pigment used to paint all the shades of red considered evil. A Brief History of Red: How Artists Made the Elusive Color
Posted by gerardvanderleun at February 15, 2017 10:38 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Makes perfect sense.
Posted by: Jack at February 16, 2017 8:37 AM
We watched the entire 2hr10min worth of "The Red Violin" in ITALIAN because that is what it started out as and we never realized until it was over that we could have changed it to english.
Regardless, we enjoyed it in spite of the language barrier and recommend it.
That is, if you want to find out the haunting story about the color red.
Posted by: ghostsniper at February 16, 2017 9:23 AM