Bister (painting)

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Watercolor in brown by Walter François (1785)

Bister ( French: bistre "nut brown", "chocolate brown") is a form of ink that is produced in various ways . It has a distinct yellow to deep brown color and can be glazed well .

nature

The classic brown ink is produced by evaporating soot from burned wood - so-called gloss soot - to powder and later diluting it again. Bister gets its color from yellow, reddish to black-brown due to the type of wood used for the soot. Beech wood , especially red beech , is most often used for a darker color oak .

Later, bister was often replaced by sepia . Umbra was named Manganbister used. The brown carmine was created by dissolving Van Dyck brown (brown coal, a natural charcoal) in soda . In modern production, manganese (II) chloride is precipitated with chlorinated lime and hydrated lime .

use

Bister watercolors are used to give pen , brush or charcoal drawings a warm, brownish background. But also to wash pictures (washed out). Bister itself is also used as a paint . These drawing techniques were used particularly in the 15th to 18th centuries by artists such as Leonardo da Vinci , Rembrandt , Claude Lorrain , Tintoretto and Titian .

Bister is still needed for restorations .

literature