Editing Verdigris (section)

== History ==

=== Etymology ===
The name ''verdigris'' comes from the [[Middle English]] ''{{Lang|enm|vertegrez}}'', from the [[Old French]] {{Lang|fro|verte grez}}. According to one view, it comes from ''vert d'aigre'',<ref>{{cite book|first=Henri|id=RC2|last=Dauthenay|location=Paris|page=240|publisher=Librairie horticole|title=Répertoire de couleurs pour aider à la détermination des couleurs des fleurs, des feuillages et des fruits|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k64453604/f94.image|volume=2|year=1905}}</ref> "green [made by action] of vinegar". The modern French writing of this word is ''{{Lang|fr|vert-de-gris}}'' ("green of grey"), sounding like the older name ''verdet gris'' ("grey greenish"), itself a deformation of ''verte grez''. It was used as a pigment in paintings and other art objects (as green color), mostly imported from Greece, and hence it is more usually given another etymology as ''vert-de-Grèce'' ("green of [[Greece]]").<ref name="StClair">{{Cite book|title=The Secret Lives of Colour|last=St. Clair|first=Kassia|publisher=John Murray|year=2016|isbn=9781473630819|location=London|page=215|oclc=936144129}}</ref><ref>''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology'', edited by T. F. Hoad (1996), and Merriam-Webster's dictionary give only this second etymology.</ref>

=== Production ===
Copper(II) acetate is prepared by treatment of [[copper(II) hydroxide]] with [[acetic acid]].<ref name="Solomon-2011" /> The historical methods used for producing verdigris have been recorded in artistic treaties, [[manuscript]]s on alchemy, works in natural history, and texts on medicine.<ref name="De la Roja-2007" />{{Rp|page=414}} The most common ingredients used were copper and vinegar. Throughout history, recipes changed. In the [[Middle Ages]], copper strips were attached to a wooden block with acetic acid; the block was then buried in [[Feces|dung]]. A few weeks later, the block was to be dug up, and the verdigris scraped off.<ref>Darnton, Robert. "A Bourgeois Puts His World in Order" in ''The Great Cat Massacre --and other Episodes in French Cultural History.'' New York: Vintage Books, 1985. p. 114.</ref> Another method of production was developed in 18th-century [[Montpellier]], France, a locale which had the ideal climate to produce verdigris for [[pulverization]].<ref name="Benhamou-1984"/>{{Rp|page=177}} The industry there was long dominated by women, with verdigris manufactured in household cellars using copper plates stacked in clay pots that were filled with [[distilled]] wine.<ref name="Solomon-2011">{{cite journal |last1=Solomon |first1=Sally D. |last2=Rutkowsky |first2=Susan A. |last3=Mahon |first3=Megan L. |last4=Halpern |first4=Erica M. |year=2011 |title=Synthesis of Copper Pigments, Malachite and Verdigris: Making Tempera Paint |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |volume=88 |issue=12 |pages=1694–1697 |bibcode=2011JChEd..88.1694S |doi=10.1021/ed200096e}}</ref> The acid in the grapes caused the copper to develop crystals. The crystals ripened into verdigris and were scraped off when matured.<ref name="Benhamou-1984" />{{Rp|page=172}} It was a profitable business, and 80% of production was sold abroad through certified female brokers. At the height of its popularity, in the 1710s, the government had to enforce inspection systems to address growing fraudulent practices. By the 20th century, the production of verdigris had moved away from Montpellier and more cost-efficient methods of producing green pigments sent the industry into decline after [[WWI]].<ref name="Benhamou-1984" />{{Rp|pages=179–182}}