Black may be considered as the negation of colour, resulting from the absorption of the rays of light by certain substances. Painters produce it approximately by an unequal combination of red, blue, and yellow (see COLOUR; also DYEING). In medieval art, black was symbolical of evil, error, and woe; and is still a usual funereal colour (see FUNERAL RITES). For its use in Heraldry, see HERALDRY, HATCHMENT.
BLACK PIGMENTS, used in painting, are derived principally from animal and vegetable substances. The most important are: Lamp-black.—The finer kinds are prepared from the soot of burnt resin or resinous woods. The coarser varieties are made from the soot of an oil obtained from gas-tar and other cheap bodies. This black is much used by painters, and it is also employed for making printing ink.—Blue-black consists of levigated charcoal from vine twigs. It is also a very serviceable black for artistic work.—Bone-black and Ivory-black, as their names imply, are simply animal charcoal, and consequently possess the power of absorbing colour from animal and vegetable solutions. Therefore they cannot be safely mixed with other organic colours in water-colour painting. The above pigments are, of course, prepared either with oil or gum, according as they are to be used in oil or water-colour work.—Indian Ink (q.v.) is a black prepared from a vegetable carbon, and so far resembles lamp-black, but it is not very suitable for mixing with other colours. For black dyes, see DYEING.