Tuscan Red

[Site Man]

OLD FORUM POSTS

Posted by D.Bernhardt on April 29, 2003

Hi again Mike...thought i better put this up here in case you miss it. About the same time as (the below conversation)a client came in with that colour as a spec. They were a museum and when i told them i wasn,t exactly sure they said...oh we have some here! It was a gallon from pittsburg paint and last made as a special order for CPR railways in 1968. When i opened the can it smelled just like a train yard, but more to the point...mixed the colour almost exactly with one-shot purple and marroon and very transparent...probably why they discontinues it...fugitive! Still use it like that. Would love to see the tube colour someday.

Mike Jackson

Hi Doug,
Do me a personal favor and paint out a little swatch of it on a piece of cardboard and mail it to me someday. I'd like to see their Pittsburgh paint color of it. Sounds darker than the paint I found and used.

Thanks,
Mike Jackson

D. Bernhardt

Will do Mikey! The gallon i gave back but before doing so I painted out a section of wood with the CPR colours. Still have it someplace but you,ll get it with about 1 third purple(the regular old kind)mixed with marroon 1shot. The panel has changed colour over the years and lost most of it,s brilliance

Kent Smith

Railroad tuscan which was originally created for the Pennsylvania Railroad was a formulation of raw red oxide (red lead). Somewhere in my railroad history archives, I have the formula but the bottom line is that the non-lead synthetic pigments will tend to be transparent. Gumbacher used to make a tuscan/indian red which was a close match in oil color but I suspect it will be the same issue.

D. Bernhardt

Hi Kent...Tuscan...probably something to do with the Italian province and am beginning to think this may be or was more of a generic descriptive-adjective or term. Am familiar with the oxide reds especially as used in artist colours and the Indian as well are very full bodied...this sample i have-had was quite different than the effect you mention. All the same this is great conversation!!!

Tony Segale

Your right Doug,
tuscan is from the Italian province, though I'm not sure if the name is used more for color or class. My ancestors were from the Genoa province, Genevase we are, but the best color red I have is in the carignane home made wine I just racked this weekend and put through a second fermantation with a malolactic germ...
Oh sorry, I got of track here a little.

Doug Again

Well Kent must have some sort of psychic ability here!...and yuppers Tony that deep wine tone was a good description....when am I invited over to try some of your Tuscan delight!

Mike Jackson - 1950 Vanerwalker Tuscan Red

I dug around in my library and found a book printed in 1950 by F.N. Vanderwalker called "The Mixing of Colors and Paints". He was also the author of "Drake's Cyclopedia of Painting and Decorating".

He describes Tuscan Red as:
"Rather a bright red made by toning to brighten the color of oxide of iron red--reds like Venetian and Indian--wutg akuzarube redm wgucg us a coal tar red. As made today, it is premanent as to color, stable chemically and doesn't bleed."

I checked several other books and found lots of similar references, but I haven't actually seen a color swatch for it yet.

Mike Jackson

D. Bernhardt

This IS getting interesting!

Mike Jackson

Doug,
I wish you could see this little catalog I have here in front of me. It was made in 1922 by the Valentine & Company for their Superfine Colors for Automobile and Coach Work. These are absolutely beautiful colors! Wow, they are deep and rich...actual paint samples. The deep maroons, greens and blues are colors I wish I had right now. There are also a few groups of "Gary Anderson" grays, pewters, and browns. The book lists Tuscan Red as an available color, but I don't see it as a chip sample.

Mike

Doug again

At some point we should mix these up with approx formulas (in one shot) and post away here! Sounds wonderful and a great resource...also fitts with the colour i have of Tuscan...have you tried the approx mix (question mark)