Review on Old Holland Classic Colours Alizarin by Summer Hendricks

If you are familiar with the world's best art paint manufacturers, you already know that Old Holland ranks among the best along with several others. This is one of the oldest if not the OLDEST oil paint manufacturers. They have been active in the Netherlands since the 16th century (how cool is that?). Most of the production is still done in the traditional way. They still use windmills to grind pigment on stone rather than metal and to make linseed oil. I don't know about you, but I love this whole windmill idea. I feel like I went back in time while painting with the old Dutch masters. They still pack their oil paints in lead tubes instead of aluminum. Ah, history. As for her Alizarin Crimson Extra color, she's pretty nice. Because real Alizarin Magenta is not considered lightfast (permanent), most paint manufacturers make an alternative pigment blend that is designed to mimic the color of real Alizarin Magenta and still offer longer durability. At the same time, manufacturers add the word "extra" or "tint" to their Alizarin raspberry tubes. This "Extra" version of Old Holland's is a blend of Anthraquinone Red, Quinacridone Violet and Vandyke Brown. It comes VERY close in color and tinting strength/ability to the real Alizarin Crimson without fading over time.