Chrome Yellow American Mineral, American Fancy

Chrome yellow (PbCrO₄) was one of the most important colorants of the nineteenth century. This article illuminates its early American origins and its role in the decorative arts movement known as ‘American Fancy’. New research shows that American chrome yellow first appeared as a short-lived collaboration between the American Rubens Peale (1784-1865) and the French minerologist Silvain Godon (ca.1774-1840), who discovered sources of ‘cromate of Iron’ during mineralogical excursions in the Baltimore-Philadelphia region. However, their 1809 business venture to establish a ‘Manufactory of Crome Colours’ failed dramatically. The prohibitive cost of chrome yellow in the two decades that followed contributed to its slow acceptance, resulting in continued dependence on traditional inorganic yellows. This changed in 1827, when Isaac Tyson (1792-1861) re-discovered the significant chromium ores in the Baltimore-Philadelphia area and industrialized its production. The materiality of chrome yellow was explored through scientific analysis of early American artworks at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Taken together, these findings elucidate chrome yellow’s early history of use and how this pigment found its place in the painted finishes of the New Republic and eventually, the world.