Verona Gold Ochre
September 22, 2026
På SvenskaVerona Gold Ochre is a yellow ochre from Italy. Daniel Smith is the manufacturer of the paint. They do not state exactly where they source the pigment, only that it comes from an area near the ancient northern Italian city of Verona.
The color is therefore a genuine earth pigment with unique properties and should not be confused with the often opaque and rather uninteresting modern synthetic ochres. Genuine earth pigments are always special and have different characteristics depending on where the pigment is sourced. A natural ochre is always different from another natural or synthetic ochre.
Compared with most ochres, Verona Gold Ochre is less pure in tone; it is therefore more muted than most. It is also quite transparent for an ochre, which is often somewhat more opaque. The color has low tinting strength, meaning that it has less influence when mixed with other colors. A larger amount of paint is therefore needed to make a noticeable difference. Verona Gold Ochre is also transparent, non-staining and granulating.
Verona Gold Ochre is actually a slightly misleading name. The color is not particularly golden yellow, but rather a muted yellowish brown, with a tone reminiscent of old brass. Verona Brass Ochre would have been a much better name. But no paint manufacturer wants to compare their color with old brass – gold simply sounds much better.
The low tinting strength and transparency make Verona Gold Ochre well suited to thin glazes. Such layers can become heavy and dense with other ochre colors, but with Verona Gold Ochre they remain transparent and luminous. The color is very good for creating brilliance through thin layers of paint.
The same low tinting strength, which is an advantage when glazing, makes the color difficult to mix with other colors. The fine, muted greens that an ordinary ochre can produce when mixed with a blue are not possible to achieve with Verona Gold Ochre. One of my favorite triads – French Ultramarine, Burnt Sienna and a yellowish brown – simply does not work with Verona Gold Ochre as the yellowish brown.
Verona Gold Ochre should therefore not be regarded as a replacement for other yellowish-brown colors, but rather as a complement to an already complete palette. It cannot replace Ochre or Raw Sienna; instead, it is a pleasant addition that can be used in quite different ways from other yellowish-brown colors.
Color Index Name: PY43
Lightfastness: Excellent
Transparency: Transparent
Staining: Non-staining
Granulation: Yes
Hue: Muted Warm Yellow
