Literary notes about gamboge (AI summary)
In literature, gamboge is frequently evoked as a vivid, bright yellow hue that evokes warmth and intensity in visual descriptions. Writers use gamboge both as a stand‐alone color and in combination with other pigments to create complex mixtures—for instance, employed alongside Prussian blue or indigo to enrich landscapes or illustrate delicate gradations in nature [1][2][3]. The color appears in varied contexts, from the light washes on painted papers that leave white spaces for highlights [4] to the natural coloration of flora and fauna, such as petals or the plumage of birds described as gamboge-yellow [5][6][7]. Its versatility as a pigment lends a distinctive, luminous quality that enhances both the literal and metaphorical vibrancy of a scene [8][9][10].
- Afterwards use lake to darken the upper half of the vermilion and gamboge; and Prussian blue to darken the cobalt.
— from The Crown of Wild Olivealso Munera Pulveris; Pre-Raphaelitism; Aratra Pentelici; The Ethics of the Dust; Fiction, Fair and Foul; The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin - For black hair use neutral tint, and a little indigo for the lights; for the local colour, indigo, lake, and gamboge.
— from Little Folks (December 1884)A Magazine for the Young by Various - This tint is composed of indigo and gamboge, and should be of a lively hue, which may be produced by giving predominance to the gamboge.
— from The Draughtsman's Handbook of Plan and Map Drawing Including instructions for the preparation of engineering, architectural, and mechanical drawings. by George G. André - Paint this in with a light wash of gamboge, leaving, as we have said, the white paper for touches of high light.
— from How to Amuse Youself and Others: The American Girl's Handy Book by Lina Beard - The ordinary form of Cattleya aurea is nankin yellow, but in the variety R. H. Measures , sepal and petal are gamboge.
— from The Woodlands Orchids, Described and Illustrated With Stories of Orchid-Collecting by Frederick Boyle - in length on outermost pair of rectrices; general color of under parts gamboge-yellow.
— from A Manual of Philippine Birds by Richard C. (Richard Crittenden) McGregor - In summer it is of a bright gamboge yellow, with black crown, wings, and tail.
— from Nature's Serial Story by Edward Payson Roe - GAMBOGE is extensively used as a pigment, from its bright yellow color.
— from The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. (Peter Lund) Simmonds - Crown with a patch of yellow, varying from lemon, through gamboge, to orange, and not surrounded by any whitish markings or suffusion.
— from A History of North American Birds; Land Birds; Vol. 2 of 3 by Robert Ridgway - The tint varies in depth from a faint gamboge-yellow, only discernible in a favorable light, to a deep greenish- or brownish-yellow.
— from A System of Practical Medicine. By American Authors. Vol. 2 General Diseases (Continued) and Diseases of the Digestive System
