When John Singer Sargent and when Winslow Homer died, their palettes were given to art museums where they were studied carefully by art historians. (I have a blog post on Homer’s palette elsewhere.)
It’s hard to analyze these palettes because the first question is what was the “universe” of paints from which they chose the paints they used, and in the case of “extinct” paints, what would be the modern day equivalent. I’ll keep revising this Chapter as I find out more.
Both Sargent and Homer worked with pan colors not tubes, and both work predominately on water color blocks (15 3/4 x 20 3/4 in the case of Sargent and 14 7/8 x 21 3/8 for Homer). This is the equivalent of a 1/4 of a full sheet of watercolor paper, the so-called Imperial size in England. The point is both worked relatively small. When Homer started selling a lot of watercolors, he increased the size of his paper somewhat. Homer also cut his paper to improve the design after he was done.
I think the best reference is Judith C. Walsh “Observations on Watercolor Techniques of Homer and Sargent” in Susan E. Strickler, American Traditional Watercolor: The Worcester Art Museum Collection, Worcester: Worcester Art Museum, 1957) pp 45-65.
Sargent’s Watercolors
Alizarin Carmine, Brown Pink, Burnt Sienna, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Chrome Yellow, Cobalt Blue, Gamboge, Lamp Black, Rose Madder, Ultramarine Blue, Vandyke Brown, Scarlet Vermillion, Deep Vermillion, Viridian, and an opaque white.
But the signature colors of Sargent are Ultramarine Blue and Vandyke Brown. His favorite green was Viridian.
Homer’s Watercolors
Antwerp blue, Aureolin, Bone Black, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Cadmium Yellow, Chinese White, Chrome Orange, Crimson Lake, Green Earth, Hooker’s Green 1, Hooker’s Green 2, Indian Purple, Indian Red, Indian Yellow, Prussian Green, Payne’s Grey, Scarlet Lake, Sepia, Warm Sepia, Vandyke Brown, Vermilion
I have not been able to track down “Indian Purple” except to find one reference it is as a “blue black.”
Homer added Cobalt blue when he worked in the tropics.
The signature color of Homer is Antwerp Blue and a gray mixed with Antwerp Blue and Indian Red.
There are a couple of ways you can “compare and contrast” these palettes. But the stuff I’ve been writing about palette design can help. The fact that a paint is on a palette doesn’t mean it was used much. For example, Sargent’s watercolors have large passages of Ultramarine Blue and Viridian which you could not find out from the palette. We have to know things like if a paint was used as a dark or as “eye candy”, and whether it was desaturated before it was applied. I think Homer used his Vermilion in flesh color, but also as a way of adding a little punch to the picture. You can usually find it, sometimes just one brush stroke, in his pictures.
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