Rublev Colours Cassel Earth is a historically inspired, lightfast earth dark that recreates the look and working feel of traditional Cassel earth without the fugitive fading. Instead of lignite-rich “brown coal” earth, this colour is made from a carefully balanced blend of natural black iron oxides and umber (iron and manganese oxides) sourced from Italy and Cyprus, ground in linseed oil with no additives.

In use, Cassel Earth delivers a rich brown-black masstone with a softer, natural warmth than many carbon blacks. It is semi-opaque with good tinting strength, making it ideal for deep shadows, underpainting, toned grounds, and neutral mixes. With white, it produces a range of clean warm greys that are especially useful for portrait underlayers, grisaille, and atmospheric passages. It also mixes beautifully with earth reds, ochres, and blues to create natural, believable darks for landscape and figure work.

Key features

• 50ml professional oil colour, Series 1

• Natural iron and manganese oxide blend (PBr7 family)

• Semi-opaque, good tinting strength

• Linseed oil binder, no additives

• Lightfastness ASTM I, permanence A

• Note: slight oil separation can occur naturally - mix back in before use