Williamsburg Alizarin Orange

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Oil

Williamsburg

Alizarin Orange

Pigments

PY83

Diarylide Yellow

PR177

Anthriquinone Red

Series

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Williamsburg

Alizarin Orange

Paint List Review

Similar to Alizarin Yellow, this color does not contain any Alizarin Crimson PR83, rather it contains PY83— this is a blend of diarylide yellow and an anthriquinone that is often used in permanent Alizarin Crimson blends. However keep in mind that despite using PR177 instead of PR83, the lightfastness of this paint is only fair. We appreciate Williamsburg’s committment to testing and clarity about their product line. Some forms of PY83 are very lightfast, however the Transparent form used here was not. This pigment was hard to replace for its unique qualities— a vibrant Transparent orange in masstone and a chromatic yellow when thinned. See the brand notes for additional information as well as their article on Just Paint: https: justpaint.org beauty-and-the-best-wrestling-with-changes-in-williamsburg

Information From The Manufacturer

Description by Williamsburg

“Transparent, clear, and rich. Beautiful as a golden glazing color. Very warm, almost sultry in its color saturation.” From Just Paint 2015: “Unfortunately…a type of Diarylide Yellow, comes in various forms that all share the same Color Index Name of PY 83. As you can imagine, this can lead to some confusion when assigning a rating. The opaque version, which carries the additional designation ‘HR-70’ in its chemical description, has excellent lightfastness and is on the ASTM list of rated pigments. However, our testing showed that the Transparent version Williamsburg had chosen could only be rated as Fair, or the equivalent to ASTM III. And here lies the crux of our quandary. These three colors [Alizarin Orange, Alizarin Yellow and Indian Yellow] have had exceptionally long and beloved histories within the Williamsburg brand, going back to its earliest days. Many painters who have used Williamsburg throughout these decades are passionately connected to their uniqueness, so a sudden change would be felt as particularly disruptive. And as if to confirm that, when searching for an alternative pigment we could use, we simply could not find anything with the same brilliance, transparency, and glow. So a choice needed to be made: dramatically change the look of these colors, discontinue them, or keep them as part of our offerings but clearly label their lighfastness as Fair, a rating similar to Alizarin Crimson.” -Williamsburg

Lightfastness Rating

ASTM III - Fair

Binder

Linseed Oil

Transparency

Transparent

Number Assigned by Manufacturer

6000534

Additional Note

This color is part of their Signature Color series: “Throughout Williamsburg's history, exploration and experimentation have led to the development of several unique colors. The Signature Colors set contains 8 colors representative of these discoveries.” Golden’s 2015 tests placed this at an estimated ASTM III equivalence for lightfastness. In 2023, Golden published new lightfastness testing. This is a mixture, and was only mentioned in part of the results dealing with diluted tints, however it is worth noting that Golden published groundbreaking lightfastness testing in various white colors. The choice of mixing white may affect the performance of certain pigments. See https://justpaint.org/astm-lightfastness-testing-for-oil-paints/ for more information.