Pompeian Red with mercury?

[richsc]

Curious how easy it is to find when you just look:<br>
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www.multimediaarts.com/wa...lrhist.htm<br>
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RED<br>
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Red is the symbol of active mind. In China, ruby is a symbol of long life. In Ireland the red hand protects the innocent from harm. In England, physicians wore red robes as a symbol of the healing profession. Red means love. In Goethe's color system, red has the highest energy. Its sound is middle C.<br>
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Artists have always wanted bright permanent reds and have historically worked with hazardous, rare, and expensive materials to get them. The artists' color Vermilion was originally prepared from cinnabar, a soft bright red mineral that is the principal ore of mercury. The mural artists of Pompeii used cinnabar from mines in Almaden, Spain. Since the thirteenth century CE, Vermilion has been artificially synthesized from mercury and sulfur. This Vermilion is a dense opaque color, but it may blacken when exposed to the air or when painted next to white lead.<br>
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The red earths were common in mural painting and easel painting throughout history. Red earths are completely permanent and lightfast, but they are dull when compared to the bright reds made from mercury. Other brighter reds were made from organic matter such as the madder root, dried bodies of insects or pomegranate peel. But they were not lightfast. <p>Legio XX<br>
Caupona Asellinae</p><i></i>