The Colorist
Archive

A living archive of how artists work with color across time. Each artist profile scans publicly available works to trace dominant colors, a chromatic fingerprint, and the arc of a palette across a lifetime.A living archive of how artists work with color across time, tracing palettes, fingerprints, and lifetime arcs from public works.

Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.Begin with an artist, carry a palette into the drawing system, or read the wider project.

Scanning works…

Hans Holbein the Younger

Holbein's portraits achieve a crystalline precision of color — the exact blue of a silk sleeve, the precise pink of flesh, the cool grey of fur against warm gold of chain. Every hue is observed, never invented.

Palette: #1B1813 #5C4A35 #A07E5E #C0A17D #6D462E #985833 #E2DBD0 #7F2C22

  • Erasmus of Rotterdam (ca. 1532): #191816 #123C3D #54311E #422A1E #846248 #2F241C
  • Derick Berck of Cologne (1536): #171715 #0F302E #1E2E13 #2E2722 #86644E #704030
  • Joseph Interpreting the Dreams of Pharaoh (ca. 1547): #725E44 #9A8057 #C0A37A #514837 #975243 #3D372D
  • Margherita Gonzaga (1591-1632), Princess of Mantua (1591-1632): #12100E #403126 #59422F #7C6048 #28211B #AC8769
  • Terminus, the Device of Erasmus (ca. 1971): #24261F #3E3829 #665D43 #8A7E5B #AA9A6C #161712
  • An Allegory of Passion (about 1532-1536): #636363 #1B2214 #9C672A #792205 #0D0401 #7B5E3B
  • Portrait of a Young Woman with a Pink (1560-69): #0F0F07 #A08F6D #60461B #3F2D13 #D9D3C7 #2A2618
  • King Henry VIII (c.15): #38251B #21312A #553825 #734D2C #201A14 #BF9C7D
  • Portrait of Henry VIII: #3F2C1D #221A13 #A99D90 #0E0B08 #766756 #471D0D
  • Field of the Cloth of Gold (1545): #6F6133 #BBA470 #9F7D3F #494220 #5E451D #3C2410
  • Derich Born (1533): #3A3C3B #898988 #2A2B2B #C1A67F #6E6252 #957D5B
  • An Allegory of Passion: #E0DBD5 #0E110E #B88042 #9B2A1A #492818 #A2835F
  • Derich Born (1510?->1549) (1549): #181913 #A28561 #322113 #6A4C30 #0A1914 #0B0B04
  • Edward, Prince of Wales, Later King Edward VI: #708A9E #CC8D64 #E7D0B7 #957863 #804A35 #5C2C27
  • Edward VI as a Child (prob): #746857 #CEBAA5 #DE9F8B #62332B #A96439 #8B4C33
  • Noli Me Tangere ((152): #1A1B1A #332622 #788E92 #673A2B #CEB28C #B88851
  • Jean de Dinteville and Georges de Selve. Alternative Title(s): the Ambassadors. (1533): #13110E #433727 #6E5E41 #703927 #28201B #F1E7DF
  • John Fisher: #191719 #4C322C #A1A097 #A58B74 #D3D5C9 #614F40
  • A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling (Anne Lovell?): #CEBCA3 #12100A #06383A #C19574 #583F2C #A76E51
  • Nicholas Kratzer (late): #140E10 #836B53 #8B5730 #241715 #341C15 #5E371F
  • Photographic Print of Portrait Painting Attributed To: #684A32 #A69D90 #7C6653
  • Rehoboam (1530): #4B413B #B07A56 #6B564C #84604D #A6806C #634131
  • Portrait of Margaret Wyatt, Lady Lee (1540): #281410 #1F2425 #130F0B #8A6351 #AA9A8A #593A2B
  • Edward VI as a Child (1538): #615341 #C0A188 #935739 #41311D #A91C1F #682E19

The Palette

The Works

How the palette changed

Chromatic Comparison

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