" "garance" as a French Infrantry distinctive color." Topic

I came across this color description in an Osprey book. I hope somebody can tell me what we would call this color today, in American English.

Thanks

Its a shade of red see this

link

That website shows 45 different shades of 'red' so 'colours' can be a bit of a pickle. If it was a 40mm figure I'd worry about getting it right but if it is much smaller, hey, red is red is red.

Appears that its English name is "Rose Madder" and it was basically the colour used in English " redcoats".

link

When they say that women "see" more colors than men, I think that they have never asked a wargamer how many colors he sees!

or how many shoes you need, or why handbags "simply must" multiply like mossies in summer….or why that coat is just "so" last year's colour…….

Now do not get me started on aurore as a colour….it's not orange, it's not pink. I suppose it is like Steve McQueen is said to wear a "pink" shirt in the Magnificent Seven……or the SAS landrover…..shades vary according to ambient light, texture of cloth, wear and tear, a century or two in a museum….

Garance is new to me though….thanks!

For the French in the Révolution/Napoléon era …. garance was supposed to be a darker red than écarlate, but still staying to the orange side of pure red. This would be contrasted to cramoisi, which was also a darker red than écarlate, but tinged toward the purple side of red. Rose was supposed to be a light cramoisi.

Similarly, aurore was supposed to be a lighter orange, tending toward the red/pink side of orange. Capucine was supposed to be a dark orange, tending toward red. In reality, I think they just left the clothe in the dye longer and made a more saturated orange and called it capucine. (I have never been able to see any consistent difference between orange and capucine in period images.) Chamois was supposed to be a darker then jonquille, tending toward the orange side of yellow.

In real life …. I think it was highly doubtful that these differences were very carefully preserved, especially after the clothe was exposed to the elements. And none of the colors were as saturated as we would expect today, with chemical dyes.

- Sasha

P.S. If I understand correctly, color vision deficiencies are more common (in men) as you go north and west in Europe among the early historical populations. So, it is farily common among Anglo-Saxons, but virually unknown among Eastern Slavs.

When they say that women "see" more colors than men, I think that they have never asked a wargamer how many colors he sees!

Or a theater lighting tech.

Almost sorry I asked, but thanks.

"Les pantalons rouges sont France!" -- a French general whose name I have forgotten.