Naples Yellow

Naples yellow

Naples yellow, also called antimony yellow or lead antimonate yellow, is an inorganic pigment that largely replaced lead-tin-yellow and has been used in European paintings since the seventeenth century. While the mineral orpiment is considered to be the oldest yellow pigment, Naples yellow, like Egyptian blue, is one of the oldest known synthetic pigments. Naples yellow was used in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, finding widespread application during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Prior to its earliest occurrences in European paintings, the pigment was commonly employed in pottery, glazes, enamels, and glass. The pigment ranged in hue from a muted, earthy, reddish yellow to a bright light yellow.

Naples

Naples is the regional capital of Campania, southern Italy. With a population of 905,050 within the city's administrative limits as of 2026, it is the largest city in southern Italy and the third-largest city in Italy after Rome and Milan, while its province-level municipality is the third most populous metropolitan city in Italy with a population of 2,954,847 residents – or the second largest according to OECD data. Its metropolitan area, the seventh most populous in the European Union, has a population of approximately 4.4 million and stretches beyond the boundaries of the city proper for approximately 30 kilometres. Naples also plays a key role in international diplomacy, being home to NATO's Allied Joint Force Command Naples and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.

Yellow

Yellow is a color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575–585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the RGB color model, used to create colors on television and computer screens, yellow is a secondary color made by combining red and green at equal intensity. Carotenoids give the characteristic yellow color to autumn leaves, corn, canaries, daffodils, and lemons, as well as egg yolks, buttercups, and bananas. They absorb light energy and protect plants from photo damage in some cases. Sunlight has a slight yellowish hue when the Sun is near the horizon, due to atmospheric scattering of shorter wavelengths.

yellow

Noun

1. The color of sunflower petals and lemons; the color obtained by mixing green and red light, or by subtracting blue from white light; the color evoked by light of wavelength around 580 nm; one of the three primary colors in subtractive color systems.
2. The middle light in a set of three traffic lights, the lighting of which indicates that drivers should stop short of the intersection if it is safe to do so.

Adjective

1. Of a yellow hue.
2. Lacking courage.