Brazilwood Lake Pigment

Brazilwood lake is a red pigment produced from the heartwood of several tropical trees of the legume family, known in Italian as verzino and in medieval Latin as braxillium or brexillium. The name derives from Old French brésil, ultimately from Latin brasa (“glowing coal”), a reference to the deep red color of the dyed wood. The original European source was sappanwood (Caesalpinia sappan), imported from Southeast Asia via the overland spice trade since at least the 12th century. When Portuguese navigators landed on the coast of South America in 1500, they discovered a closely related species (Paubrasilia echinata, formerly Caesalpinia echinata) in such abundance that the territory became known as Terra do Brasil, the “land of brazilwood,” giving the country its name.

The principal colorant in all brazilwoods is brazilin, a homoisoflavonoid that oxidizes upon exposure to air and alkali to form brazilein, the compound responsible for the red color. To make a lake pigment, the wood was rasped or filed into fine shavings and boiled in water, wine, urine, or lye to extract the dye. The colored liquid was then strained and precipitated onto an inert substrate, typically gypsum, chalk, or egg white, with the addition of rock alum to fix the color. Medieval treatises, particularly the Manuscript of Jehan le Begue, collected by Merrifield (see bibliography), record numerous recipes varying the substrate and mordant to produce a wide range of hues: pure brazilwood water yielded a rose color; the addition of lime water produced purple; lye gave violet; and tartar created a mulberry tone. Some recipes combined brazilwood with kermes and gum to make rosette, a composite pink pigment.

Brazilwood lake was considerably cheaper than cochineal or kermes lake and was widely used in manuscript illumination, textile dyeing, and as a component in mixed red pigments throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods. It served both as a body color (when precipitated on a substrate with sufficient body) and as a transparent wash for shading and glazing. However, brazilwood is notably fugitive: it is particularly sensitive to light and fades significantly over time, which is why it is rarely identifiable in well-preserved paintings today. For this reason it was often considered an inferior pigment, suitable for less important work or for mixing with more permanent reds. The South American species, being far more abundant than Asian sappanwood, dominated the European market from the 16th century onward, making brazilwood one of the most commercially important dyestuffs of the colonial era, even as its use as a fine art pigment declined in favor of more stable alternatives.

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