Cochineal Red: Travel back in time with Schmincke

Opus Resource Library

Our friends at Schmincke have recreated an exquisite collection of watercolours inspired by their very own paint sets from over one hundred years ago! Read on to go back in time with Schmincke.

Schmincke Horadam Aquarelle in Cochineal Red

1912: Travel back in time with Schmincke

When we decided to launch and talk about Schmincke's rich history with a retro line, we gathered inspiration from our archives containing not only historical painting sets, but also lots of tubes, brochures and pricelists.

By doing so we discovered a beautiful pricelist from 1912 with one of our old owl logos and with the typical ornaments for the art nouveau time. This was unfortunately already pretty worn out, but the beautiful document was the starting point of our retro line.

1912 was a time when Schmincke was not only successful with its founding product Mussini, finest artists' resin oil colours, but also with the HORADAM watercolours developed by Josef Horadam. At this time Josef Horadam was also honoured with several high-ranking awards from the German Emperor, including for his achievement of exporting chemical products abroad (and thus competing with local artists' colours).

The limited annual promotion 2024 brings back to life a selection of our former HORADAM watercolour sets. As a special highlight, a historic colour with all its original characteristics is also being revived - cochineal red.

Beautifully designed retro-style packaging, the historic owl print on the boxes, retro labels around tubes and pans, a historical letter from the founders and a retro watercolour insert complete the concept.

a tube of Schmincke Horodam in cochineal red, lying behind a painted swatch of red

Cochineal Red is also included in the Schmincke HORADAM Watercolour Retro Luxury Walnut Box Set of 18 Half Pans

Thank you for also being part of our history and joining us on this exciting journey.

Schmincke HORADAM Watercolour Retro Cochineal Red 15ml

This historical special colour is exclusively produced for Schmincke's Retro Line. The original Cochineal Red is a transparent, deep red obtained from cochineal scale insects and was once an important colour for watercolour paintings.

Schmincke HORADAM Watercolour Retro Set of 12

Schmincke time travels to 1912: the retro line revives the compositions of historic HORADAM watercolour sets.

The art-historically significant colours form a range which created once the most beautiful watercolour paintings in the good old days. As a special highlight we have also reissued a historical colour with all its original characteristics - cochineal red.

Standard metal box: 12 x 1/2 pans
Solid, black special box with historical Schmincke owl print in classic configuration.

Schmincke HORADAM Watercolour Retro Travel Box

The smallest metal box in the Retro Line fits in any pocket and contains 8 half-pans of HORADAM watercolours – in a perfectly reduced colour palette – everything you need for painting and mixing. Includes 8 half-pans:

Chromium Yellow Hue Lemon
Vermilion
Ultramarine Finest
Viridian
Yellow Raw Ochre
Raw Umber
English Venetian Red
Schmincke Payne's Grey

Schmincke HORADAM Watercolour Retro Luxury Walnut Box Set of 18 Half Pans

Finest artists' watercolours in best quality.
Elegant, walnut-stained wooden box with 18 half-pans in a historical choice and colour palette, including the historical special tone Cochineal Red in a 15 ml tube.

Intended for direct use, the box also contains a porcelain palette and a limited edition da Vinci Cosmotop Mixed F brush in size 2.