The Colourmen Archives: The Hidden World of Colour

The Colourmen Archives are the Fitzwilliam Museum’s collections of Charles Roberson & Co (founded 1820) and Winsor and Newton (founded 1832) represent  two of the most important colourmen companies manufacturing and supplying artists’ materials in London. 

These collections provide rare and detailed insights into artist business relationships and material supplies in the 19th and 20th century British art world. Previously inaccessible to researchers and general audiences, they comprise recipe books, colour charts, catalogues, account ledgers and artists’ letters, as well as actual paints, pigments and objects such as palettes, lay figures, paint boxes, paper and canvas samples. The collections reveal the internal workings of the companies and their relations with customers, suppliers of raw materials and fellow colourmen. They also hold valuable information on the materials and techniques of artists and designers working at all levels and across a wide range of disciplines.

We are undertaking the first stage of digitisation of the archive. The project makes use of cutting edge scientific analytical equipment enabled by the Fitzwilliam’s partnership in the Cambridge Heritage Science Hub CHeriSH, and will collaborate with Cambridge Digital Humanities, in looking at innovative ways of digitisation. 

Digitisation of the Colourmen archives will provide access to invaluable material to a wide network of interested researchers. It will also help to draw out connections with the Museum’s wider collections to tell stories to as broad an audience as possible.