Painted swatch of Minium.
Brief description of Minium:
A dense, fine-textured red pigment with good hiding power but only fair stability. Minium was one of the earliest pigments artificially prepared and is still in use today. It was a favourite of Byzantine and Persian illuminators and commonly used in European manuscripts and paintings.
Names for Minium:
| Alternative names: | red lead | ||||||
| Word origin: | The name "Minium" comes from river Minius located in north west Spain. | ||||||
| Non-English names: |
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| Origin: | mineral and artificial | ||||||
| Chemical name: | Lead(II,IV)-oxide |
Example of use by artists:
Miniatures, images made of minium
Lovers in the Garden, Manesse manuscript ca. 1300
Minium was the Latin name given to the red pigments (actual minium but also vermilion) used in painting and in particular for illuminating manuscripts. From the word minium came the Latin verb miniare and then the English miniate and miniature to describe the image.
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