Harvard's storied pigment library

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The history of pigments goes back to prehistoric times, but much of what we know about how they relate to the art world comes from Edward Forbes, a historian and director of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University from 1909 to 1944. Considered the father of art conservation in the United States, Forbes traveled around the world amassing pigments in order to authenticate classical Italian paintings. Over the years, theForbes Pigment Collection—as his collection came to be known—grew to more than 2,500 different specimens, each with its own layered backstory on its origin, production, and use. continue

Portrait of Edward Waldo Forbes, undated. Photograph by Bachrach. Fogg History Photographs, Fogg Benefactors, file 1.Harvard Art Museums Archives