Schmincke Horadam Retro Watercolour Collection Cochineal Red 15ml Limited Edition

Cochineal Red is a historical colour that is nearly extinct today. Made from a dye found in scale insects and produced by a highly labor-intensive process, cochineal red was the only bright red available to many artists and craftspeople for centuries.

Used by the Aztec and Maya civilizations as early as 200 BCE, cochineal was a major industry until it was replaced by synthetic alizarin in the late 19th century. Synthetic pigments offered much better lightfastness and a much cheaper production process, so this beautiful colour is almost never seen today in the artist's studio.

This unique colour has not been manufactured at Schmincke for many years—until now. Time-travel back to Schmincke's founding in 1881 with this Retro Line release, made with genuine, insect-derived cochineal dye and packaged with the original H. Schmincke & Co. brand and design.

The colour itself is incredible—and has to be experienced to be fully appreciated. Very deep and purplish in masstone, cochineal red opens up and becomes bright reddish-pink in dilution. The colour moves fluidly across watercolour paper, staining and intensely colouring every fiber it touches.

Because cochineal is fugitive and will darken over time, we recommend taking photographs of any work you create with it. In this way, you can have the best of both worlds: you'll get to enjoy this very rare colour while also preserving your work for the long term.