[split] VM color palette

[R. Sale]

That's interesting, but on the other hand, through the simplified lens of basic heraldry, there are only five colors (red, blue, green, purple, and black (plus two metals: gold & silver). Just colors, no shades - and no brown.

[VViews]

Regarding the reds, compared to the examples discussed in this thread, the text on 67r2 seems to be the closest to a true red.
See You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.page by Stolfi and his color samples (copied below, the middle one is the text sample) :

[-JKP-]

I'm not sure where Stolfi sampled, but I sampled three areas and got more of the brick reds:

   

The Stolfi samples are staircased, which means he probably enlarged them, but the software might make adjustments to color when you enlarge to that extent.

Also, I'm wondering where he had access to color scans in 1999. I didn't find color scans until around 2008 or 2009 (maybe I didn't look hard enough).

[Koen G]

No matter where I sample in the images or the red text, I always get brick colors or rusty browns. This is true for averaging 3x3 pixels, as well as 5x5 and 11x11. 

(Normally 3x3 should be sufficient, you just want to avoid sampling single pixels since these may be an artifact of the file type).

[davidjackson]

I would imagine much of the red were the same basic recipe which changed colour according to the mixture. 
Over the centuries the colours will also have faded. Although if IIRC Iron reds tends to last along the best, they are stable but tends to darken if dehydration occurs. McCrone identifies the red as an iron lead ochre in a gun medium.

[davidjackson]

Koen, on the rosettes page is a colour sampler that should allow you to see sample colours in the scans. This is provided so you can adjust the scan resolution to reality. I think this is present in all the complete sets of original scans.

[-JKP-]

I would imagine much of the red were the same basic recipe which changed colour according to the mixture. 
Over the centuries the colours will also have faded. Although if IIRC Iron reds tends to last along the best, they are stable but tends to darken if dehydration occurs. McCrone identifies the red as an iron lead ochre in a gun medium.

I was wondering if it was ochre (I couldn't remember if McCrone had sampled the brick color). Ochre comes in many shades of yellow-brown, brown and reddish-brown, and you can also vary the shades with solvents (e.g., various acids). That might explain the great variety of brick colors. It's also easier to mix than blue and easier to obtain (cheaper) than true red.

[davidjackson]

Relatively good quality parchment and cheap paint. I've often wondered about that.

[Koen G]

Everything indicates cheap paint, doesn't it? Although if I recall correctly, all forms of blue were relatively expensive.

[davidjackson]

The blue paint is ground azurite with minor amounts of cuprite, again in a gun medium (McCrone again).
Azurite is a copper carbonate and was the most widely used blue pigment in the middle ages, and before. So the blue used was nothing special - it was as off the shelf as such a thing could be.