These Colors Made History

We live in a truly vibrant and colorful world. The human need for color is innate, a part of the need for beauty in our everyday lives. We associate colors with emotions, powerful memories, and stories. And throughout history, colors have taken on more than just symbolic meaning: they’ve become a part of the human story. So, what are the most famous colors in history?

Titian Red

Tiziano Vecellio, a 16th-century Venetian painter, is one of those artists so important and influential he gets a cool nickname in English: Titian. Titian’s works are stunning, with his use of color being singled out as masterful.

In particular, Titian loved using red in his artworks and had a fondness for painting female characters with distinctly vibrant auburn hair… although that undersells it: he painted every female character as having coppery hair. Today, we now know that color as Titian red.

Titian’s popularity and artistic influence had a tangible effect: noblewomen of his time actually sought out hair-dyes so they could tint their own locks that same color.

Ultramarine

For centuries, the pigment that helped make ultramarine paint was worth more than gold. Until relatively recently, the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli - the ingredient behind the pigment - could only be found in one mine in modern-day Afghanistan. Distance (“ultramarine” translates to “beyond the sea”) and the labor involved in processing it made it prohibitively expensive for European artists. Even Michelangelo couldn’t afford it.

Because of how expensive it was, it was only used sparingly. Traditionally, artists were restricted by their patrons from using it at all unless they were depicting the raiment of Jesus or the Virgin Mary. It wasn’t until the 1820s that a synthetic pigment was created, and even to this day artists approach ultramarine blue with a certain veneration.

Royal Purple

The Ancient Romans figured out that crushing and processing the shells of a certain species of sea snail would produce a purple dye.

This is pretty cool on its own (unless you are the snail). But two things complicated the discovery:
1. To make 1 ounce of the purple dye, you would need to crush 250,000 shells.
2. At the time, this was the only purple dye in the ancient world.

Obviously, this made the purple dye ridiculously expensive and much desired… so much so that the Romans passed laws restricting who could wear purple garments. For generations only senators and later the emperor and his family could wear togas with purple in it. The association between purple and prestige and royalty has stuck.

Dutch Orange

Despite it not appearing in their flag (at least, not anymore), The Netherlands just love orange. National occasions will see the Dutch people bedecked in a sea of orange: Oranjekoorts (Orange fever) sweeps the country during soccer/football matches, and it’s the color of the Dutch royal family.

The history of orange in the Netherlands starts with an Orange - William I of Orange, to be precise. William led the Dutch Revolt against Spanish occupation during the Eighty Years’ War and helped the Netherlands become an independent kingdom in 1648. He is considered the father of the Netherlands and is the first ancestor of the current Royal Family (who are still part of the House of Orange).

Colors and their application throughout history are a significant thread in the tapestry of human experience! They’re worth enjoying and celebrating to the fullest!

References: Iconic Colors in Art History | 10 Amazing Ways Colors Have Been Significant In History | Why does the Netherlands love orange? The full explainer | Why are artists infatuated with red hair? | True Blue