Jennifer Chevalier goes in search of the lost recipe
Throughout the nineteenth century little parcels arrived at irregular intervals at London 's dockyards from India. They were probably tied up with string and sealing wax, and addressed to colourmen like Messrs Winsor and Newton .
These artists' suppliers would take the raw material wrapped up in the packages and transform it into a workable paint, or sometimes a varnish. But today we can't say exactly what Indian Yellow was made from. It's no longer produced and the recipe has been lost.
But Victoria Finlay , the author of Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox, takes Jennifer Chevalier to Cornelissen, one of London 's oldest art shops, to try to find out.
Victoria Finlay, Colour: Travels Through the Paintbox, publisher: sceptre
