五種古舊顏料的多彩故事

The colors of art change not just with trends， but availability as well. For reasons of being incredibly toxic3）， expensive， or just involving way too many snails， here are five pigments that have disappeared from art.

藝術作品的用色不僅會隨著時尚潮流而改變，也會因是否有可用的顏料而改變。由于有劇毒或是過于昂貴，抑或僅僅是因為在制作過程中需要使用太多蝸牛，以下這五種顏料已經從藝術作品中絕跡了。

On murals4）， pottery， even possibly painted on the unlucky bodies offered as human sacrifices， a sky-blue color has been found in artifacts of the Maya and Aztec5）. It disappeared around colonial times in Central America， just like the pre-Columbian civilizations themselves. Known as Maya Blue， it's long been recognized as a mix of a natural clay and a dye from the indigo6） plant. But how it was so durable in not being subject to fading or even the deterioration of solvents7） and acids has been a mystery. Earlier in 2013， however， some chemists announced they may have found the secret.

The most prized pigment of the ancient world was actually made from a predatory9） snail. Tyrian Purple got its name from the best of the marine shellfish used to make the pigment being found off the shore of Tyre， according to Pigment Compendium10）. Not only was it a properly11） royal color of rich， slightly red purple， it was said to get even more beautiful and brighter when exposed to the sun and the elements12）. Yet since you needed a whole pile of snails to make it， it was very expensive， and eventually disappeared.

在瑪雅人和阿茲特克人的古器物上可以看到一種天藍色，比如在壁畫和陶器上，甚至可能連用作人祭的那些可憐人的身體上也涂著這種顏色。和前哥倫布時期的那些美洲文明一樣，大約在殖民時期，這種顏色也從中美洲消失了。這種被稱為“瑪雅藍”的顏料長期以來一直被認為是用天然黏土和從槐藍屬植物中提取的染料混合而成的，但是它為什么如此耐久（既不容易褪色，甚至也不容易被溶劑和酸腐蝕）則一直是個謎。不過在2013年初，幾位化學家宣稱他們可能已經發現了其中的秘密。

這種古代世界最為珍貴的顏料其實是用一種肉食性蝸牛制作而成的。據《顏料手冊》記載，推羅紫得名于一種上佳的海貝，它曾是制作這種顏料的原料，在推羅沿岸的海里可以覓得其蹤影。這種紫中稍微透點紅的濃郁色彩不僅非常高貴，而且據說在經過風吹日曬之后會變得更加美麗鮮艷。不過，制作這種顏料需要使用成堆的蝸牛，因此它十分昂貴，最后就消失了。

The luminosity13） of classical European oil paintings was due in large part to White Lead， a pigment of lead carbonate14） and sulfate15）. Artists like Vermeer used it to create a special kind of light that radiated16） from the canvas， the traces of which we can see in its grainy17） texture. Unfortunately， its striking brightness was rather poisonous. Yet as Applied Polymer18） Science explains about the lead paint： "Toxicity was recognized， but accepted." It's since been largely replaced by Titanium19） White， a less harmful pigment， yet some artists still seek out the White Lead for its superior color and permanence， even if it is more difficult to find and still toxic.

歐洲古典油畫作品的那種光亮感在很大程度上都要歸功于鉛白——一種由碳酸鉛和硫酸鹽制成的顏料。諸如維米爾（編注：荷蘭著名畫家）之類的畫家利用這種顏料創作出了一種從畫布中發出的特殊亮光，我們可以從顏料粗糙的質感中看到這種亮光的痕跡。遺憾的是，這種異常明亮的顏料毒性相當大。不過，這種含鉛的顏料正如《應用聚合物科學雜志》介紹的那樣：“當時人們明知它有毒，但還是要用它。”后來，鉛白顏料基本上被毒性較小的鈦白顏料所取代了，但有些畫家為了追求它那出眾的色彩和永不褪色的效果，仍然在尋找鉛白來作畫，盡管它比從前更難尋覓，而且毒性依舊。

Widely believed to be the most expensive pigment ever created， more expensive than even its weight in gold， the Lapis Lazuli pigment was made from grinding up Lapis Lazuli semi-precious stones. Its use goes back to the 6th century in Afghanistan， but its popularity really took off with wealthy Renaissance patrons21） who wanted the stunning blue on the robes of Mary and Jesus in religious paintings. The color largely disappeared as it was so incredibly expensive and required quarries22） to collect the stones.

用磨碎的天青石（一種半寶石）制作的天青石顏料被普遍認為是有史以來最為昂貴的顏料，甚至比同等重量的黃金還要貴重。這種顏料的使用歷史可以追溯到公元6世紀的阿富汗，但是直到文藝復興時期，隨著那些富有的藝術贊助人希望用這種美輪美奐的藍色為宗教畫上的圣母瑪利亞和耶穌的長袍著色，它才真正流行起來。由于這種顏料實在貴得出奇，而且只有在采石場才能開采到天青石，因此它已經基本絕跡了。

The pigment known as Dragon's Blood had the most epic and ridiculous of origin stories， a legendary mix of actual dragon's blood and elephant's blood during the battles between them. The pigment was in actuality made from a Southeast Asian tree—though the story certainly helped hype23） it to outside buyers， and its blood red color was popular in the ancient world. It faded out of mainstream popularity around the 19th century， probably alongside the very much waning24） story with elephant vs. dragon battles.

這種顏料號稱“龍血”，關于其來源有著最為傳奇和荒誕的傳說，據說它是在龍象交戰時由龍和象的血液交融而成的。但實際上這種顏料是從東南亞的一種樹木中提取出來的，不過這個傳說的確幫助它在外來的客商中打響了知名度，它那血紅的顏色在古代很受歡迎。大約在19世紀，它逐漸不再受到主流社會的歡迎，恐怕這與龍象大戰的故事影響力減弱有關。

1. obsolete [??bs?li?t] adj. 廢棄的；淘汰的

2. pigment [?p?ɡm?nt] n. 顏料；色料

3. toxic [?t?ks?k] adj. 有毒的；毒性的。toxicity [t?k?s?s?ti] n. 毒性，有毒性

4. mural [?mj??r?l] n. 壁畫；壁飾

5. Aztec [??ztek] adj. 阿茲特克人（墨西哥印第安人，有高度文化）的

6. indigo [??nd?ɡ??] n. 槐藍屬植物，木藍屬植物

7. solvent [?s?lv?nt] n. 溶劑

8. Tyrian [?t?ri?n] adj. 推羅紫的，推羅人的。Tyre [?ta??（r）] n. 推羅（古代腓尼基的海港城市）

9. predatory [?pred?tri] adj. 以捕食其他動物為生的；食肉的

10. compendium [k?m?pendi?m] n. 手冊

11. properly [?pr?p?li] adv. 大大地，非常

12. element [?el?m?nt] n. 惡劣天氣（尤指風雨）

13. luminosity [?lu?m??n?s?ti] n. 發光，光亮；光輝

14. carbonate [?kɑ?b?ne?t] n. 碳酸鹽；碳酸酯

15. sulfate [?s?lfe?t] n. 硫酸鹽（或酯）

16. radiate [?re?die?t] vi. （光、熱等）輻射；發散；傳播

17. grainy [?ɡre?ni] adj. 粗糙的

18. polymer [?p?l?m?（r）] n. 【化】聚合物

19. titanium [t??te?ni?m] n. 【化】鈦

20. lapis lazuli [?l?p?s ?l?zj?li] n. 天青石；天青石色

21. patron [?pe?tr?n] n. （藝術家等的）贊助人

22. quarry [?kw?ri] n. 采石場；露天礦場

23. hype [ha?p] vt. 大肆宣傳；炒作

24. waning [?we?n??] adj. （影響等）減少中的；衰落著的