Color Spotlight: Venetian Red (PR101)

Venetian Red is an opaque earth red made from synthetic iron oxide (PR101), very similar to Indian Red but a bit more on the orange side of red (not violet-toned). It is notable for its opacity and dispersiveness.

Pigment stats for PR101

A common pigment with many personalities, also used for Indian Red and Transparent Red Oxide.

Chemical Composition: Synthetic red iron oxide

Lightfastness: Excellent

Toxicity: Nontoxic

Observations of WN Venetian Red

Hue: Earth scarlet, diluting to coral/peach. More toward red (less orange) than Burnt Sienna Deep, but not as far toward violet as Indian Red.

Granulating: Mildly granulating.

Opacity: Extremely opaque.

Comparison to Other Colors

Other Opaque PR101s: Indian Red, Caput Mortuum Violet

Other opaque PR101 variants are Indian Red and Caput Mortuum Violet aka Violet Iron Oxide. I think of the Venetian/Indian/Violet Oxide trio as earth scarlet/earth red/earth violet, respectively. Here they all are in the Winsor & Newton range:

WN’s opaque PR101s tend to be low granulating, with the violet the most granulating of the three. Daniel Smith and Da Vinci offers stronger granulators.

Venetian Red vs Indian Red

Venetian and Indian Reds can be especially similar. Generally, Venetian reds are more orangey or scarlet-y and Indian Reds are a bit more violet-undertoned. Winsor & Newton Venetian Red on the orange-toned side for a Venetian Red, and Daniel Smith Indian Red on the violet-undertoned side for an Indian Red (almost as violet as WN Caput Mortuum). DS Venetian Red and Da Vinci Indian Red give you some options in between those.

Comparison to Other Brands

Daniel Smith – Venetian Red

I’ve wanted to try DS Venetian Red for awhile but couldn’t justify buying a 15ml tube when I have similar colors at home, but a friend was kind enough to pass on a tube she no longer wanted! The Daniel Smith version sits smack in the middle between the orangey WN Venetian Red and the relatively more red-violet DV Indian Red. Since I sometimes struggled to decide between those two, this could be a good balance. It is moderately granulating (more so than the WN version but less so than DV Indian Red.)

Schmincke – English Venetian Red

A friend was kind enough to send me a dot. Because I tried it from a dot, it doesn’t look as strong as the versions I’ve been able to try from tubes. I think it is a little weaker, but not that much weaker. The hue is orangey; it’s nearly as orangey as Terra Cotta. (To me it quite resembles actual terra cotta, like on a plant pot.) You can see that the mixes are distinctly more orangey than the WN version. Also appears lower chroma than the WN version. Opaque and nongranulating.

Color Mixes

Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24)

Yellow Ochre (PY43)

Raw Sienna (PBr7)

Quinacridone Red (PV19)

VR deepens and warms the cool pinkish-red, allowing for luscious crimsons. I was hoping for an easy Alizarin Crimson hue, and while I’m gratified that it’s possible, I have to acknowledge it’s not super easy – I did have to do a fair amount of work to get the very darkest ones, and to use so much PV19 that the paint dried shiny.

Quinacridone Fuchsia (PR202)

Darker than the Quin Red mixes; almost maroon at balance. The coolness of the PR202 balances out the warmness of the VR into a very deep middle red.

Indanthrone Blue (PB60)

Brown side of neutral.

Ultramarine Blue (PB29)

Some lovely browns. More violet than the Venetian Red mixes with Indanthrone, but a less violet (more brownish or grayish ) than Ultramarine’s mixes with Indian Red.

Cobalt Blue (PB28)

Similar to UMB mixes, but they don’t get as dark.

Cerulean Blue (PB36)

Soft dove greys and cool browns.

Phthalo Blue RS (PB15)

Neutral grays are possible here, or deep Payne’s Gray hues with a bit of granulation.

Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15:3)

Some of these blacks and grays seem to have a greenish undertone, and I really like the deep indigo from mostly-blue.

Phthalo Turquoise (PB16)

Some pretty neutral shades here, as well as a very pretty cool brown.

Phthalo Green BS (PG7)

Very greenish browns, or brownish greens. I can see a use for these, though it’s not my favorite way to dull a green.

What Others Say

It’s really fun to drop into a dark wash, and know it’s going to do something and not just get buried underneath dark color. [That’s] a great reason to love those high-flow colors, and that’s the first thing that made me fall in love with Venetian Red.

Angela Fehr

The main drawback to this pigment is its dense opacity. The solution is to dilute the paint and use it as a tint wash, or add it in small quantities to color mixtures. It is extremely effective at warming sap green and yellow mixtures, subduing intense yellow, orange or red paints, neutralizing blue and cyan paints, and producing a wonderful range of salmon, pinkish and pale flesh tints. Winslow Homer’s favorite black was mixed with venetian red and iron [Prussian] blue; it makes fabulous sky grays when added to cobalt blue. I urge you to try it and apply it as delicately as you are able: the results may surprise you!

Bruce MacEvoy, handprint.com (2010)

My Review of Venetian Red

I found this color very attractive. The hue is the color of red clay or fall oak leaves. As its name suggests, it’s a lovely match for Italian houses and roofs. In dilute, it’s coral enough for sunset cloud edges.

It’s also possible to use it to mix deep, warm reds.

I also like its mixes overall; it does a fantastic job of muting green-blues to neutral grays (especially the tricky Phthalo Blue Red Shade); it makes gorgeous browns with a wide range of blues (including a tricky Raw Umber hue with Phthalo Turquoise), and soft granulating browns with Ultramarine and Cerulean.

There may be some palette overlap with other colors typically made from PR101/PR102:

• Indian Red has similar handling characteristics, but is typically slightly more violet-red, diluting to a dusty pink. This may be more useful for some animal use cases (Denise Soden uses it for animal ears) as well as for desert red rocks.
• Terra Cotta or Light Red typically is more orange, diluting to peach. A more orange color is more apt to neutralize Indanthrone Blue or Ultramarine Blue (see also Burnt Sienna, Transparent Red Oxide).

I think Venetian Red is a good balance between an earth orange and an earth red, without the dullness than Indian Red can sometimes bring to mixes.

Wanna buy it? You can support the blog by shopping through my affiliate links. 

Winsor & Newton – Venetian Red, 5 ml Tube: Blick | Utrecht