Amsterdam Acrylic Paint 500ml Bottle - Caput Mortuum Violet
Our everyday low price
or 4 interest-free installments of $11.74 with
Own it now, pay later
Amsterdam Standard Series Acrylic Paint 500ml Caput Mortuum Violet (344) is a semi-opaque violet acrylic in a 500ml jar, made by Royal Talens in the Netherlands. It is made from quinacridone violet, carbon black and titanium white. Lightfastness is +++, rated to last at least 100 years under museum conditions. Art Shed ships it Australia wide, with same day dispatch before 11am AEST on business days.
The short answer: Buy the 500ml jar if you paint large, mix custom colours, teach, or run a mural or prop job. One jar holds about 4.2 times a 120ml tube. Buy the tube if this is an accent colour.
Specifications at a glance
How Caput Mortuum Violet behaves
The pigment mix tells you how it will behave:
- PV19, quinacridone violet: a transparent rose to violet that glazes beautifully and tints with real clarity
- PBk7, carbon black: a deep, neutral black that will flatten a mix quickly if you are heavy handed
- PW6, titanium white: a dense, highly opaque white that lifts a colour towards a tint and kills transparency
It is rated semi-opaque. It covers well but not completely. Two coats gives solid colour, one coat gives a veil that lets the ground show through.
Because titanium white is already in the mix, this sits in the tint range rather than at full chroma. More white will lighten it but will not make it cleaner. For a more saturated version, tint the pure pigment colour yourself instead.
Where Caput Mortuum Violet earns its place
Violet is the shadow colour. Painters who understand that use far more of it than painters who reach for grey.
- Cool shadows across a warm ground, the fastest way to make light look real
- Twilight and interior scenes
- Mixing subtle greys with a yellow, which beats black and white
- Contemporary work where violet is used as a flat field
Mixing with it
Quinacridone stays clean as you tint it, so this colour will not go chalky when you add white the way an opaque red would.
With three or more pigments already in the jar, this colour is doing some mixing for you. That makes it convenient and consistent, but it means mixes made from it go neutral faster than mixes made from single-pigment colours.
Why the 500ml jar
This comes down to how much paint you actually move. A 500ml jar holds about 4.2 times the paint of a 120ml tube, so it is the size for colours you genuinely empty rather than dip into. The wide mouth matters too: it takes a palette knife or a large brush straight in, which a tube nozzle will not, and it reseals properly between sessions. If Caput Mortuum Violet is an accent colour for you, buy the tube instead and see the full Amsterdam range for sizes.
Surfaces and drying
Amsterdam Standard Series grips virtually any slightly porous surface: canvas, canvas board, acrylic and watercolour paper, cardboard, MDF, plywood, raw and primed timber, stone, terracotta, plaster, concrete and render. It is alkali resistant, which is why it holds on masonry where many acrylics fail. Bare metal, glass and glossy plastic need a primer first. Thin layers can dry within half an hour, longer in heavy application, and it cures water resistant and permanent. Clean brushes with soap and water before it sets.
Buying online in Australia
Art Shed is an Australian owned art supplies retailer with a store in Moorabbin in Melbourne, a Brisbane store in West End, and warehouses shipping Australia wide. Same day dispatch on orders before 11am AEST on business days, outside sale periods. Express Post is about 1 to 2 business days to metro VIC, NSW, QLD, SA, ACT and TAS, and 2 to 3 days to WA, the NT and remote areas. Standard Post is about 2 to 5 business days to those metro areas and 6 to 8 days to WA, the NT and remote. Every order is tracked. Click and Collect from Moorabbin is ready in 1 to 3 business days, and we ship to New Zealand.
Frequently asked questions
Do you stock Caput Mortuum Violet in other sizes?
The Amsterdam Standard Series runs in 20ml, 120ml, 250ml, 500ml and 1 litre, though not every colour is made in every size. We carry the sizes that move, and the 500ml jar is the one to choose when you are painting large, teaching, mixing in volume or working on murals and props. If you want a size you cannot see on the site, ask us and we will check what Royal Talens produces in that colour.
What pigments are in Amsterdam Caput Mortuum Violet?
Caput Mortuum Violet (colour number 344) uses PV19/PBk7/PW6. It is rated semi-opaque with a lightfastness of +++. Knowing the pigment code matters more than the colour name, because names vary between brands while pigment index codes do not. If you are matching a colour across brands or checking permanence, the code is the thing to compare.
Is Caput Mortuum Violet opaque or transparent?
Caput Mortuum Violet is semi-opaque. That determines how you should use it. An opaque colour covers what is beneath it in one or two coats and is what you want for blocking in and correcting. A semi-transparent or transparent colour lets the layer underneath influence the result, which makes it ideal for glazing and shadow work but frustrating if you are trying to cover something. Check the swatch on the jar against a black bar to see it for yourself.
How does Amsterdam compare to other student acrylics?
The honest comparison is on three things: permanence, consistency and range. Amsterdam Standard Series carries ++ or +++ lightfastness across the line, has a medium buttery viscosity that holds a brush mark without being stiff, and runs to around 90 colours including metallics, reflex fluorescents and specialty finishes. Some competing student ranges are thinner, some are stiffer, and several carry fewer colours or do not publish lightfastness at all. If a range will not tell you its lightfastness, that is the thing to notice.
Do you ship art supplies to New Zealand?
Yes, we ship to New Zealand. Orders are charged in Australian dollars, and import duties, taxes and levies charged by New Zealand are not included in the order total or the postage and are the recipient's responsibility, so check locally before you order. We are not currently shipping to countries other than Australia and New Zealand.
How do I stop acrylic paint drying on my palette?
Use a stay-wet palette, which is a shallow tray with a damp sponge under a sheet of palette paper, and close the lid between sessions. Failing that, mist the palette with a fine water spray every few minutes and work in smaller mixes. Do not scrape half-dry paint back into the jar, because those lumps will never redisperse and you will find them in a later layer. Acrylic retarder medium buys extra open time if you need it.
Can I use Amsterdam acrylic for a mural?
Yes, it is a common mural choice, and the alkali resistance is the reason. It adheres to stone, plaster, concrete and render without a specialist masonry primer, provided the wall is clean, sound and slightly porous. For an exterior mural, finish with a UV resistant exterior varnish. The paint's lightfastness rating assumes indoor museum conditions, and an Australian north-facing wall is a very different ask.
How do I get dried acrylic paint out of clothes?
Act while it is wet if you possibly can, because soap and cold water lifts wet acrylic easily. Once it has cured it is a plastic film bonded into the fibres and there is no reliable removal. People have some success softening it with isopropyl alcohol or a dedicated paint remover and working at it with a brush, but the fabric usually shows the damage. The real answer is an apron and old clothes.
Do you supply schools, studios and bulk orders?
Yes. Schools, universities, community art programmes and studios are a large part of what we do, and the 500ml and 1 litre sizes exist for exactly this reason. If you need quantities across multiple colours, or a quote on school letterhead, contact us rather than working through the cart and we will put it together properly, including availability and lead time on anything we would need to bring in.
Related
- The full Amsterdam acrylics range, every colour and size we stock
- A guide to Amsterdam acrylic paints, Standard versus Expert explained
- All acrylic paints at Art Shed, every brand compared
(NU17723442)
| SKU | NU17723442 |
| Barcode # | 8712079394899 |
| Brand | Royal Talens |
| Shipping Weight | 0.6050kg |
| Shipping Width | 0.050m |
| Shipping Height | 0.050m |
| Shipping Length | 0.050m |
More From This Category
Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Colour 37ml S2 - French Ultramarine Blue
Was $41.95
Now
$33.56
