Parisian o Blu di Prussia

Historical Paint for Miniatures

Artiglieria prussiana delle Wars of Liberation 1813-1814, wearing the typical dark blue uniforms from which the name Preußisch Blau derived. Blu di prussia is a very dark blue, colourfast, non-toxic, synthetic pigment which was discovered accidentally by Berlin colour maker H. Diesbach in 1704. Diesbach produced red dye from cochineal insects (Dactylopius coccus). One day, when Diesbach’s supply of potash had run out, he borrowed left-over potash lye from his fellow chemist Johann Conrad Dippel, which Dippel had distilled from essential animal oils (Oleum Animale). When Diesbach added the potash lye to his concoction, the colour unexpectedly turned blue. He reported the incident to Dippel, who improved the recipy ed immediately recognized the market potential of their discovery. Dippel e Diesbach moved to Paris together e produced their Berliner Blue under the name of Parisian Blue. They kept their recipy a trade secret for a some time, but in 1724 the formula became known, e English chemists started producing the synthetic dye under the name of blu di Prussia.

Prior to the introduction of synthetic pigments, cloth was dyed blue con woad (Isatis tinctoria L.). From the 13th to XVI secolo, the woad plant was a source of great wealth for Thuringian woad farmers, dyers, weavers, e cloth makers. Woad leaves were crushed in woad mills e fermeted con human urin for due weaks. It was eventually discovered that the addition of alcohol created an even stronger blue. Alcohol was expensive at the time, e the dyers’ apprentices preferred to drink the alcohol themselves, to add their alcoholic urin to the fermentation vats later. Even today, the German term "Blau machen", literally making blue, refers to a form of absenteeism on blue mondays, typically caused by excessive drinking o partying.

Thuringian woad production declined in the late secolo XVI ed early secolo XVII, when chemically identical, but much cheaper indigo was imported from India. In addition, la guerra dei trent’anni hampered European trade. To protect the woad industry, the use of indigo was punished by law for some time, but indigo prevailed. Of the more than 300 Thuringian villages, which had produced woad powder, there were only tre near Erfurt e twelve near Gotha still engaged in this business by 1747.

Hans Bleckwenn writes in his series of paperbacks on the uniforms dell’armata prussiana della Guerra dei Sette Anni that "dark blue had always been a popular uniform colour in Brandenburg-Prussia", e he goes on to say that "it is difficult to determine if woad was still used e when indigo was introduced to dye the cloth; officer’s uniforms were probably dyed con indigo, ed a variety of dyes may have been used for the uniforms of the enlisted men".

Thuringian woad production flourished again briefly during the 1806 to 1813 Continental System imposed by Napoleon. The last woad factory at Neudietendorf was closed down in 1821; it resumed production in 1980 purely for the purpose of historic e scientific research. Indian indigo lost its market in 1897 to synthetic indigo manufactured by Badische Anilin und Sodafabrik (BASF). Chemist Adolf von Baeyer had begun synthesizing indigo in 1865, e he received a patent for the process 15 years later, on 19 marzo 1880.

Blue Cloth, blue Uniforms

The history of the blue dye has important implications for the soldatini hobby. Because of the variable quality of the blue dye, figure painters may use a variety of shades of blue even within the same "uniformed" regiment. Cloth dyed con woad o indigo would differ from batch to batch, ed it would fade quickly, because woad ed indigo dyes are not colourfast. The Museum at Festung Sonnenberg in Saxony had a Guerra dei Sette Anni grenadier uniform prussiana on display which had faded to a light blue colour of old stone-washed jeans.

Uniformi bavaresi della Guerra dei Sette Anni are reported to have been confusingly similar al uniformi di nemico prussiano. By conjecture, uniformi bavaresi are assumed to have been dark blue, ignoring the fact that uniformi prussiane may have faded to a medium blue which could indeed be confused con uniformi cornflower blue bavarese.

• Blue cloth dyed con woad from the XIII al XVI secolo
• Blue cloth dyed con woad o indigo from the XVI al XVIII secolo
• Blue cloth dyed con woad, indigo, o Parisian Blue from 1704
  It is not known if e when blue uniforms dell’armata francese, like those of the granatieri francesi, were dyed con Parisian Blue.
• Blue uniforms dyed con woad, indigo, Parisian o blu di prussia from 1724
  It is not known if blu di prussia was used to dye cloth for uniformi prussiane della Guerra dei Sette Anni and, if it was used, which market share the new pigment had in Prussia.
• Blue cloth dyed con woad from 1806 to 1813
• Thuringian woad production ceased in 1821
  By the mid XIX secolo synthetic blu di prussia e colonial plant indigo was used to dye cloth for uniformi prussiane.
• Synthetic indigo from BASF was used exclusively from 1897

Ufficiali preferred tailor-made uniforms of superior quality, which would not fade as quickly as the mass-produced uniforms worn by enlisted men. Soldati prussiani received a new uniform coat every year, e they must have been relatively uniformely dressed in dark blue, at least in times of peace. Figure painters need to mix their blu di prussia con approximately 30 percent white, to take into account the scale effect of colour. Artist colours con valuable indigo, Parisian Blue, o blu di prussia pigment are available at art stores.

Domande più frequenti

Per ulteriori informazioni, per favore contatta la redazione di Rivista Military Miniatures nel Miniatures Forum.

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– Pubblicato: 21.07.2004 – Aggiornato: 25.05.2007
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