Williamsburg Handmade Oil Paint - Prussian Blue, 37 ml tube

Handmade Oil Paint

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$13.29

Blick Art Materials · recorded Oct 21, 2026, 8:22 AM UTC

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Product details
Size
37 ml
Blick SKU
01571-5223
About this product range

Dedicated to handmade integrity, Williamsburg Handmade Oils are crafted by skilled American artisans using top-quality pigments from around the world. Each of the more than 140 colors in the line possesses a unique consistency and texture — some are slightly gritty, while others are extremely smooth. This is what makes Williamsburg Handmade Oils so unique and prized by the painters who choose them.

Colors are made in small batches no larger than five gallons at a time to ensure the highest level of control. Pigments are carefully ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to each, and then combined with pure, premium, alkali-refined and pH-balanced linseed oil. Every ingredient is hand-measured, and every batch is scrutinized for quality.

Most Williamsburg Oils are considered to have excellent lightfastness (LF I), with the exception of Alizarin Crimson and Van Dyke Brown, which have very poor lightfastness (LFIII).

__Special Edition Colors__ — Williamsburg offers four Special Edition iron oxide colors that utilize the same pigments as standard Williamsburg colors, but are milled to a finer consistency to make them suitable for glazing. Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide is based on Stil De Grain, with a dark yellow-brown masstone that gives way to amber and light ochre when glazing. Transparent Orange Iron Oxide is based on Italian Pink, and produces a very deep red-orange masstone that results in rich orange-red glazes. Transparent Brown Iron Oxide has its origins in Dutch Brown, and results in translucent brown glazes reminiscent of coffee or tanned leather. Transparent Red Oxide is a finer version of Brown Pink, and results in red tones reminiscent of stained cherry wood when glazing.

Pigment information

General reference notes about pigments can describe other media (such as oil). They do not verify this product’s exact formulation or behavior.

Prussian Blue

Pigment code
PB27
Type
inorganic
Chemical name
ferric ferrocyanide/iron(III)-hexacyanoferrate(II)
Chemical formula
Fe7(CN)18(H2O)x or C6FeN6H4N
Properties
Prussian Blue is a semi-transparent, deep cyan-blue with a greenish undertone and a very high tinting strength unequaled by most pigments. It is similar to Phthalo Blue unless mixed with white, when it gives up intensity and becomes smoky. It can behave erratically and less reliably in oil and watercolor form depending on its manufacture. For permanent painting Phthalo Blue is considered a more reliable choice.
Permanence
Prussian Blue is lightfast and permanent in all techniques except for fresco. When mixed with Zinc White in watercolor or tempera form, it fades upon exposure to light and completely regains its chromatic strength in the dark. Modern manufacturing techniques have made this tendency less of an issue in recent years
Toxicity
Prussian Blue is moderately toxic if ingested. It will emit toxic hydrogen cyanide gas if heated, exposed to ultraviolet radiation, or treated with acid.
History
"The first of the modern pigments," Prussian Blue is the first artificial pigment with a known history. It was discovered by accident in 1704 by the Berlin color maker Heinrich Diesbach, who was trying to create a pigment with a red hue by mixing iron sulfate and potash. The potash Diesbach purchased from a local laboratory had been contaminated by animal oil and blood during previous experimentation. The resulting mixture yielded a very pale red that changed to purple and then deep blue when he tried to concentrate it. Since previous blue pigments came from lapis lazuli, an expensive stone, Diesbach’s discovery was extremely important for artists of the time.
Description
Berlin Blue, Bronze Blue, Iron Blue, Paris Blue, Paste Blue. Celestial Blue, Monthier Blue and Soluble Blue are varieties of Prussian Blue. Blue Lake is a reduced or let-down variety of Prussian Blue. Chinese Blue, Milori Blue, and Steel Blue are the three highest grades of Prussian Blue.

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