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10. Between Heritage, Militaria and Concept: The Magenta Case

Marie-Anne Sarda (author)

Chapter of: Colour Matters: Exploring Chromatic Materialities in the Long Nineteenth Century (1798-1914)

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Title	10. Between Heritage, Militaria and Concept
Subtitle	The Magenta Case
Contributor	Marie-Anne Sarda (author)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0501.10
Landing page	http://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0501/chapters/10.11647/obp.0501.10
License	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright	Marie-Anne Sarda
Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Published on	2026-05-11
Long abstract	In the decade that followed William Henry Perkin’s discovery of ‘Tyrian purple’ in 1856 and François-Emmanuel Verguin’s invention of ‘fuchsine’ in 1858, dyers and chemists submitted more than one hundred patents for synthetic purples. This article argues that, although the scientific competition which Perkin started is unique in the history of colour, the new purple and violet shades were not created ex nihilo and therefore have to be studied in an already prolific colour context. From the 1840s onwards, in response to demand from the garment industry, dyers, manufacturers and chemists developed processes to enhance the brilliance of natural purple dyes, as well as their yield and light fastness. The aniline revolution was marked by the invention of many new colour names, such as ‘harmaline’, ‘violine’, ‘roseine’ and ‘azaleine’, most of which referred to purplish flowers. But none of those terms had the lasting impact of ‘magenta’, which was linked neither to a natural material or a dyeing process.
Print length	22 pages
Language	English (Original)
THEMA	AGA PDX NHTB DSBF JHMC
BISAC	ART015260 HIS054000 SCI034000 LIT004130 DES003000 SOC002010
Keywords	Colour studies Material culture History of science Art history (long nineteenth century) Pigments and dyes Empire and identity

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Contributors

Marie-Anne Sarda

(author)

A senior heritage curator, Marie-Anne Sarda has worked as a researcher in the French National Institute for Art History in Paris since 2017. After studying art history and modern literature at Paris IV-Sorbonne University and the Institute of Fine Arts of New York (Fulbright Program), she began her career as a museum curator in 1988. During successive positions in charge of the Mallarmé Museum, the Royal Monastery of Brou and the General Inventory of Cultural Heritage, she has worked with very different artefacts, ranging from the architecture of the late Middle Ages to contemporary art, and comprising the decorative arts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, illustrated books and painting of the second half of the nineteenth century. She has curated many exhibitions and is especially interested in collaborations between artists and craftsmen as well as the dialogue between contemporary art and heritage. Committed to the study of material culture, since 2015 Sarda has undertaken interdisciplinary research on the history of dyestuffs with the aim of restoring them to their rightful place in the history of colour.

References

Chevreul, Michel-Eugène, Cercles chromatiques (Paris: Digeon, 1855).
Cardon, Dominique, Le monde des teintures naturelles (Paris: Belin, 2003; revised edition, 2014).
Cooksey, Christopher and Dronsfield, Alan, ‘Quirks of dye nomenclature. 4. Fuchsine: four shades of magenta’, Biotechnic & Histochemistry, 90.4 (2015), 288–93, https://doi.org/10.3109/10520295.2014.989543.
Courbevoie, Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI), 19th century patents database.
d’Albo, Jean, Instruction générale pour la teinture des laines et manufactures de laine de toutes couleurs, & pour la culture des drogues ou ingrédients qu’on y emploie (Paris: de l’Imprimerie François Muguet, 1671).
Darnétal, Archives départementales de Seine-Maritime (France), fonds Koechlin, 60 J 6 and 60 J 7.
David, Alison Matthews, Fashion Victims. The Dangers of Dress Past and Present (London, New York and Dublin: Bloomsbury, 2015).
Decaux, Charles-Auguste, ‘Couleurs, préparations et teintures’, in Exposition universelle de Londres de 1862: rapports des membres de la section française du jury international sur l’ensemble de l’exposition, ed. by Michel Chevalier (Paris: Imprimeries et librairies centrales des chemins de fer, 1862), pp. 334–35.
de Lacaze-Duthiers, Henri, ‘Mémoire sur la pourpre’, Annales des sciences naturelles, 4e série, Zoologie XII, 5–84.
——, ‘Histoire naturelle de la pourpre des Anciens’, manuscript of a scientific paper submitted to the Royal Society, 1859–1860, London, Royal Society, AP/43/6.
Edmonds, John, The Mystery of Imperial Purple Dye, Historic Dye Series No. 7 (self-published, 2000).
Emptoz, Gérard and Marchal, Valérie, Aux sources de la propriété industrielle (Paris: INPI, 2002).
Gaskell, Elizabeth, Mary Barton (London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994).
——, Cranford (London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994).
Koren, Zvi C., ‘Archaeological Shades of Purple from Flora and Fauna from the Ancient Near East’, in Archaeological Chemistry. A Multidisciplinary Analysis of the Past, ed. by Mary Virginia Orna and Seth C. Rasmussen (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020), pp. 256–300.
‘Loi relative aux découvertes utiles et aux moyens d’en assurer la propriété́ à ceux qui seront reconnus en être les auteurs’ [Law concerning useful inventions and means to guarantee their propriety to those whom may be considered as their authors], 7 January 1791.
‘Loi portant règlement sur la propriété́ des auteurs d’inventions et découvertes en tout genre d’industrie’ [Law organising the inventors’ propriety in any industrial field], 25 May 1791.
London, British Library, Business & IP Centre; Indexes to patents and Blue and Red bindings.
Macheboeuf, Christine, Exploitation et commercialisation de la pourpre dans l’Empire romain (Pessac: Ausonius éditions, 2022).
Nicklas, Charlotte, ‘Splendid hues: colour, dyes, everyday science and women’s fashion, 1840–1875’ (doctoral thesis, University of Brighton, 2009).
——, ‘New Worlds and Fanciful Names: Dyes, Colour, and Fashion in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’, in Bright Modernity: Colour, Commerce, and Consumer Culture, ed. by Regina Lee Blaszczyk and Uwe Spiekermann (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), pp. 97–111, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50745-3_5.
Office of the Registrar of Designs, 1839–1852; Board of Trade, Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Office, 1852–1923, National Archives, Kew, series BT 43/188-354 (representations) and BT 44/15-27 (registers).
Picard, Alfred, Exposition universelle internationale de 1889 à Paris. Rapport général, vol. VI (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1891–1892).
‘The Fashions’, Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, New Series, 1 (1860).
Travis, Anthony S., The Rainbow Makers: the Origins of the Synthetic Dyestuffs Industry in Western Europe (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 1993).
Van Bommel, Maarten R. and de Keijzer, Matthijs, Bright Colours from the Past. The History, Chemistry, Characterisation and Application of Synthetic Dyes Between 1856 and 1914 (Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025).
Whitworth, Isabella and Zvi Koren, ‘Orchil and Tyrian Purple: Two Centuries of Bedfords from Leeds’, Ambix, 63.3 (2016), 244–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2016.1246160.
Wurtz, Adolphe ‘Matières colorantes dérivées du goudron de houille’, in Exposition universelle de Londres de 1862: rapports des membres de la section française du jury international sur l’ensemble de l’exposition, ed. by Michel Chevalier (Paris: Imprimeries et librairies centrales des chemins de fer, 1862).

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10. Between Heritage, Militaria and Concept: The Magenta Case

Marie-Anne Sarda (author)

Export Metadata

Raw

Metadata
Title	10. Between Heritage, Militaria and Concept
Subtitle	The Magenta Case
Contributor	Marie-Anne Sarda (author)
DOI	https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0501.10
Landing page	http://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0501/chapters/10.11647/obp.0501.10
License	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Copyright	Marie-Anne Sarda
Publisher	Open Book Publishers
Published on	2026-05-11
Long abstract	In the decade that followed William Henry Perkin’s discovery of ‘Tyrian purple’ in 1856 and François-Emmanuel Verguin’s invention of ‘fuchsine’ in 1858, dyers and chemists submitted more than one hundred patents for synthetic purples. This article argues that, although the scientific competition which Perkin started is unique in the history of colour, the new purple and violet shades were not created ex nihilo and therefore have to be studied in an already prolific colour context. From the 1840s onwards, in response to demand from the garment industry, dyers, manufacturers and chemists developed processes to enhance the brilliance of natural purple dyes, as well as their yield and light fastness. The aniline revolution was marked by the invention of many new colour names, such as ‘harmaline’, ‘violine’, ‘roseine’ and ‘azaleine’, most of which referred to purplish flowers. But none of those terms had the lasting impact of ‘magenta’, which was linked neither to a natural material or a dyeing process.
Print length	22 pages
Language	English (Original)
THEMA	AGA PDX NHTB DSBF JHMC
BISAC	ART015260 HIS054000 SCI034000 LIT004130 DES003000 SOC002010
Keywords	Colour studies Material culture History of science Art history (long nineteenth century) Pigments and dyes Empire and identity

Locations

PDF

HTML

Publisher Website

Contributors

Marie-Anne Sarda

(author)

References

Chevreul, Michel-Eugène, Cercles chromatiques (Paris: Digeon, 1855).
Cardon, Dominique, Le monde des teintures naturelles (Paris: Belin, 2003; revised edition, 2014).
Cooksey, Christopher and Dronsfield, Alan, ‘Quirks of dye nomenclature. 4. Fuchsine: four shades of magenta’, Biotechnic & Histochemistry, 90.4 (2015), 288–93, https://doi.org/10.3109/10520295.2014.989543.
Courbevoie, Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI), 19th century patents database.
d’Albo, Jean, Instruction générale pour la teinture des laines et manufactures de laine de toutes couleurs, & pour la culture des drogues ou ingrédients qu’on y emploie (Paris: de l’Imprimerie François Muguet, 1671).
Darnétal, Archives départementales de Seine-Maritime (France), fonds Koechlin, 60 J 6 and 60 J 7.
David, Alison Matthews, Fashion Victims. The Dangers of Dress Past and Present (London, New York and Dublin: Bloomsbury, 2015).
Decaux, Charles-Auguste, ‘Couleurs, préparations et teintures’, in Exposition universelle de Londres de 1862: rapports des membres de la section française du jury international sur l’ensemble de l’exposition, ed. by Michel Chevalier (Paris: Imprimeries et librairies centrales des chemins de fer, 1862), pp. 334–35.
de Lacaze-Duthiers, Henri, ‘Mémoire sur la pourpre’, Annales des sciences naturelles, 4e série, Zoologie XII, 5–84.
——, ‘Histoire naturelle de la pourpre des Anciens’, manuscript of a scientific paper submitted to the Royal Society, 1859–1860, London, Royal Society, AP/43/6.
Edmonds, John, The Mystery of Imperial Purple Dye, Historic Dye Series No. 7 (self-published, 2000).
Emptoz, Gérard and Marchal, Valérie, Aux sources de la propriété industrielle (Paris: INPI, 2002).
Gaskell, Elizabeth, Mary Barton (London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994).
——, Cranford (London: Penguin Popular Classics, 1994).
Koren, Zvi C., ‘Archaeological Shades of Purple from Flora and Fauna from the Ancient Near East’, in Archaeological Chemistry. A Multidisciplinary Analysis of the Past, ed. by Mary Virginia Orna and Seth C. Rasmussen (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020), pp. 256–300.
‘Loi relative aux découvertes utiles et aux moyens d’en assurer la propriété́ à ceux qui seront reconnus en être les auteurs’ [Law concerning useful inventions and means to guarantee their propriety to those whom may be considered as their authors], 7 January 1791.
‘Loi portant règlement sur la propriété́ des auteurs d’inventions et découvertes en tout genre d’industrie’ [Law organising the inventors’ propriety in any industrial field], 25 May 1791.
London, British Library, Business & IP Centre; Indexes to patents and Blue and Red bindings.
Macheboeuf, Christine, Exploitation et commercialisation de la pourpre dans l’Empire romain (Pessac: Ausonius éditions, 2022).
Nicklas, Charlotte, ‘Splendid hues: colour, dyes, everyday science and women’s fashion, 1840–1875’ (doctoral thesis, University of Brighton, 2009).
——, ‘New Worlds and Fanciful Names: Dyes, Colour, and Fashion in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’, in Bright Modernity: Colour, Commerce, and Consumer Culture, ed. by Regina Lee Blaszczyk and Uwe Spiekermann (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), pp. 97–111, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50745-3_5.
Office of the Registrar of Designs, 1839–1852; Board of Trade, Patents, Designs and Trade Marks Office, 1852–1923, National Archives, Kew, series BT 43/188-354 (representations) and BT 44/15-27 (registers).
Picard, Alfred, Exposition universelle internationale de 1889 à Paris. Rapport général, vol. VI (Paris: Imprimerie nationale, 1891–1892).
‘The Fashions’, Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, New Series, 1 (1860).
Travis, Anthony S., The Rainbow Makers: the Origins of the Synthetic Dyestuffs Industry in Western Europe (Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 1993).
Van Bommel, Maarten R. and de Keijzer, Matthijs, Bright Colours from the Past. The History, Chemistry, Characterisation and Application of Synthetic Dyes Between 1856 and 1914 (Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025).
Whitworth, Isabella and Zvi Koren, ‘Orchil and Tyrian Purple: Two Centuries of Bedfords from Leeds’, Ambix, 63.3 (2016), 244–67, https://doi.org/10.1080/00026980.2016.1246160.
Wurtz, Adolphe ‘Matières colorantes dérivées du goudron de houille’, in Exposition universelle de Londres de 1862: rapports des membres de la section française du jury international sur l’ensemble de l’exposition, ed. by Michel Chevalier (Paris: Imprimeries et librairies centrales des chemins de fer, 1862).