The umber pigment was first made from Italian soil. Kelly Grovier looks at how a shade of brown came to depict sinfulness and shadow. Umber is a conundrum, a rusty riddle of a colour. A cross ...

perhaps tinted with an earth pigment such as ochre or umber. Fabrics were used sparingly, and were assiduously reused and recycled. Colour schemes were largely drab; jewel-bright hues and rich ...