Techniques: The Passing of Mummy Brown
One of the favorite colors of the Pre-Raphaelite painters was called Mummy Brown and not out of joking affection. It was a warm pigment made from the bitumen used by ancient Egyptians to embalm their dead, famed for its preservative powers.
But now even Mummy Brown is gone altogether. Geoffrey Roberson-Park, managing director of London's venerable C. Roberson color makers, regretfully admits that the firm has run out of mummies. "We might have a few odd limbs lying around somewhere," he apologized, "but not enough to make any more paint. We sold our last complete mummy some years ago for, I think, £3. Perhaps we shouldn't have. We certainly can't get any more."
Most Popular »
- Sex, Please, We're British: London's Erotica Expo
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell
- How a California Judge Is Challenging Obama on Gay Rights
- Toilets
- Zhu Zhu Mania: Hamster Toys Are Ruling Christmas
- Obama's 'Mistakes': Way Too Early to Judge
- Woman Loses Benefits over Facebook Photo
- The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer
- East Antarctica, Long Stable, Is Now Losing Ice
- The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting
- Zhu Zhu Mania: Hamster Toys Are Ruling Christmas
- Toilets
- Obama's 'Mistakes': Way Too Early to Judge
- How a California Judge Is Challenging Obama on Gay Rights
- The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade From Hell
- Sex, Please, We're British: London's Erotica Expo
- East Antarctica, Long Stable, Is Now Losing Ice
- Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin
- Will Private Equity Be the Next Meltdown?
Quotes of the Day »
GREGG KEESLING on reports that he received a call from an Army official saying he wasn't eligible to receive a condolence letter from President Obama because his son committed suicide, rather than dying in action







RSS