The Materiality of Color The Production, Circulation, and Application of Dyes and Pigments, 1400-1800

'The Materiality of Color is a remarkable collection of essays on the meaning of color as found in social and cultural contexts. While the aesthetics of color is duly taken into account, the focus is on color production - technology transfer, monopolies, labor regimes, and economies of exchange. The authors make clear that the substances of color production, such as arsenic, mercury, urine, and dung, are as important as the dazzling colors they produced. Blending the histories of technologies and commodities as well as cultural and literary history, the volume makes a distinctive contribution to understanding of the global context in which the modern world of color was born.' Robert Finlay, Department of History, University of Arkansas, USA

'The principal contribution of The Materiality of Color is to deepen our appreciation of colorants as commodities and the products of human labor. Through its focus on production, readers see the hardship and complexity of manufacturing dyes and getting them to market.' CAA Reviews

'Given their wide approach, every angle the authors consider gives the topic a fresh perspective. ... a welcome addition to a complex subject, which will be suitable to the fields of history, art history, and Latin American and colonial studies.' Renaissance Quarterly