In literature, "viridian" is much more than a mere color—it carries rich connotations both in art and in imaginative landscapes. Often noted as a specific pigment derived from chromium oxide, it appears as a refined, transparent blue-green that contrasts pleasantly with warmer hues such as cadmium orange [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Its use can evoke the cool, dewy freshness of turnip leaves brushed with morning mist [6], and it lends an air of vivid naturalism when describing scenes of rugged beauty, where trees and pastures burst with a keen, almost surreal green [7, 8]. Beyond its artistic applications, the term stretches into imaginative realms, serving as the name of an alien species or an entire planet with a mysterious allure [9, 10, 11]. In treatises on art and even in poetic descriptions, viridian is paralleled with luxurious tones like peacock-green or the subtle hints of greenish yellow, thus bridging the worlds of precise pigment formulation with that of evocative literary imagery [12, 13, 14].
- GREEN PIGMENTS Chromium Oxide, Viridian, Emerald Green.
— from Illumination and Its Development in the Present Day by Sidney Farnsworth
- Red Madder red or crimson vermilion. and Green blue Viridian, the emerald oxide of chromium with a little cobalt.
— from Colour Measurement and Mixture by Abney, William de Wiveleslie, Sir
- Viridian is also an oxide of chromium, but is transparent.
— from Illumination and Its Development in the Present Day by Sidney Farnsworth
- In illumination, the red contrasted by viridian will be found most beautiful and effective.
— from Field's Chromatography
or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by George Field
- In the same branch of art, illumination, cadmium orange, opposed to viridian, presents a most dazzling contrast, especially if relieved by purple.
— from Field's Chromatography
or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by George Field
- It was of the keen cold green known to painters as viridian—the colour of turnip leaves with the dew on them.
— from The Firebrand by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
- The ground is grey, the tall reeds are blue green, the trees viridian, the sky blue, the houses white with green window frames and red roofs.
— from The Letters of a Post-Impressionist
Being the Familiar Correspondence of Vincent Van Gogh by Vincent van Gogh
- There is no country like her in the world for colour—so delicately fresh in the rain- washed green of her pasture slopes, so keen the viridian
— from The Lilac Sunbonnet: A Love Story by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
- From space, the planet Viridian resembled a great green moss-covered tennis ball.
— from A Matter of Protocol by Jack Sharkey
- It was one of the two Viridian species whose types were as yet uncatalogued by the Space Corps, in its vast files of alien life.
— from A Matter of Protocol by Jack Sharkey
- "Things develop fast on Viridian," mused Jerry.
— from A Matter of Protocol by Jack Sharkey
- Crown, back, and rump brilliant peacock-green, upper tail-coverts viridian.
— from Descriptions of Three New Birds from the Belgian Congo
Bulletin of the AMNH , Vol. XXXIV, Art. XVI, pp. 509-513, Oct. 20th, 1915 by James Paul Chapin
- With cadmium and orient yellows, sepia, viridian, and many other colours, this ultramarine is of service.
— from Field's Chromatography
or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists by George Field
- { Greenish yellow Aureolin with a little viridian. and Violet blue French ultramarine.
— from Colour Measurement and Mixture by Abney, William de Wiveleslie, Sir