Between broken root and artificial alizarin: Textile arts and manufactures of madder

Abstract

Summary The developments in preparing and fixing dyes, and in creating designs and patterns on cotton fabrics, were among the principal achievements of the European textile industry during the Industrial Revolution. The most widely used dyestuff was obtained from the root of the madder plant and was the basis of Turkey red and other colours. At first the dye was released by breaking open the root. By the middle of the sixteenth century it was available as a fine powder. This was much better suited to dyeing and hand block printing, and, later, Turkey red dyeing and dyeing of machine‐mordanted cloth. Isolation of the principal colorant, alizarin, was achieved in the 1820s, and the laboratory method suggested a means for preparing a more useful commercial product, known as garancine. It reduced the cost of madder prints, and permitted mixing with cheaper dyestuffs. The subsequent introduction of refined madder extracts enabled direct printing. The purer colorants were shortlived, however. Artificial alizari...