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82 Types of Victorian Colors

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Victorian colors are colors that were used in Britain, Commonwealth countries and the United States in the Victorian era of 1837 to 1901. This includes colors used in fashion, interiors, exteriors and art supplies. The Victorian era was an eventful time for color as the first synthetic dyes emerged in 1856. This resulted in a broad range of colors for paint and fabrics. The Victorians rarely painted interior walls as this was the age of peak wallpaper with unbelievably complex, ornate and colorful designs. Wallpaper of this age often used poisonous pigments such as Arsenic. As such, poisoning due to touching or licking wallpaper was a well known problem. The Victorians were so into color that they were literally willing to make health sacrifices for it. The following were common Victorian colors.
Prussian Blue
#003366
Bottle Green
#006a4e
Peacock Green
#006a50
Cadmium Green
#006b3c
Cerulean Blue
#007bbb
Azure
#007fff
Victorian Greenhouse
#00b191
Cobalt
#030aa7
Turquoise
#06c2ac
Victorian Peacock
#104a65
Dark Slate Blue
#214761
Brunswick
#236649
Bayberry
#255958
Emerald
#319177
Chocolate
#411900
Federal Blue
#43628b
Scheele's Green
#478800
Olympic Pine
#486358
Mahogany
#4a0100
Paris Green
#50c87c
Slate
#516572
Sea Green
#53fca1
Brown Stone
#593c39
Moss Green
#638b27
Olive Drab
#6f7632
Drab Green
#749551
Walden Blue
#789bb6
Cadmium Violet
#7f3e98
Maroon
#800000
Victorian Pewter
#828388
Light Ultramarine
#83ccd2
Sage
#87ae73
Crimson
#8c000f
Victorian Plum
#8e6278
Grant Drab
#8f8461
Mauve Taupe
#915f6d
Heliotrope
#ab98a9
Stone
#ada587
Victorian Valentine
#ae6aa1
Victorian Violet
#b079a7
Egyptian Brown
#b26530
Tapestry
#b37084
Chrome Red
#b4151c
Mars Red
#bc2731
Viridian Green
#bcd7d4
French Grey
#bfbdc1
Ruby
#ca0147
Terracotta
#cb6843
Yellow Stone
#cbbb92
Tan
#d1b26f
Victorian Rouge
#d28085
Gold
#d3af37
French Mauve
#d473d4
Victorian Cottage
#d4c5ca
Victoriana
#d6b2ad
Paris Pink
#da6d91
Mauve
#e0b0ff
Zinc White
#e2e5de
Cadmium Red
#e30022
Alizarin Crimson
#e32636
Rose Madder
#e33636
Indian Yellow
#e3a857
Straw
#e4d96f
Manganese Red
#e52b50
Cadmium Orange
#ed872d
Titanium Yellow
#eee600
Victorian Lace
#efe1cd
Buff
#f0dc82
Cream
#f0e9d6
Lead White
#f4f5f0
Rose
#fc8aaa
Camisole
#fcd9c7
Aureolin
#fdee00
Canary
#fdff63
Whitewash
#fefffc
Salmon
#ff8c69
Marigold
#ff8d00
Tangerine
#ff9300
Peach
#ffb07c
Chrome Yellow
#ffc300
Cadmium Yellow
#fff600
Lemon
#fff700

Notes

Unbelievably, Egyptian Brown pigment was made with white pitch, myrrh and the ground-up remains of Ancient Egyptian mummies. Beginning around 1900, people started to boycott this color as its production involved destroying antiquities. It was sold until at least 1915 in Britain. This color is also known as Mummy Brown.
Fashions, particular ball gowns, where also made with poisonous pigments in the Victorian era.
Indian yellow was originally produced with the urine of cows fed a diet of mango leaves. This was a cruel process that caused malnutrition in the animals that was banned in 1908. This lead to the development of synthetic equivalents made with nickel azo, hansa yellow, and burnt orange.
Victorian architecture was a series of revival styles that were loosely based on classical and medieval European architecture. As such, they often used colors that simulated the look of stone.
Many of the colors above were sourced from paint samples and advertisements produced in the 1890s and may differ from modern interpretations of the same color name.
In addition to poisonous pigments, 19th century paints included other hazardous materials such as asbestos.

Color Palettes

This is the complete list of articles we have written about color palettes.
Black
Blue
Bright Brown
Bright Orange
Bright Red
Champagne
Chocolate
Citrus
Color Combinations
Cool Colors
Cream
Dark Pink
Fruits
Green
Greige
Hawaiian
Jewels
Light Blue
Light Pink
Light Red
Lime
Medium Colors
Medium Pink
Neon Blue
Off-White
Orange
Periwinkle
Purple
Purple Pink
Red
Rust
Salmon
Tangerine
Taupe
Tea Color
Tropical
Victorian
Violet
Warm Colors
White
Yellow
More ...
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References

Moss, Roger W. Paint in America: The Colors of Historic Buildings. John Wiley & Sons, 1994.
Moss, Roger W. Century of Color: Exterior Decoration for American Buildings, 1820-1920. Amer Life Foundation, 1981.
Hawksley, Lucinda. Bitten by Witch Fever: Wallpaper & Arsenic in the Victorian Home. Thames & Hudson Limited/The National Archives, 2016.

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