May I ask a question about the colours of clothes during the Renaissance period. This is just out of interest - and I hasten to add that I'm not meaning to criticise anyone's work in painting figures of the period, much of which I find inspiring and I wish I could match.
I had reached this point in my life under the impression that until modern dyes were invented, the only really bright coloured cloth available was either red or blue. I had thought that because red cloth was cheaper than blue, this led to many regiments in the ECW being clothed in red jackets, people raising units wanting them in bright uniforms, which in turn led to the New Model Army and eventually the English army after the Restoration being uniformed in red. I had therefore assumed that all other coloured cloth would have been in muted colours. Is any of this true? It's just that I see Renaissance figures (landsknechts have brought this to mind, perhaps because there are quite a few new ranges coming out) painted in all sorts of attractive bright colours, and I wonder whether this is historically accurate or not.
I'd be interested to know as well whether bright colours other than red and blue might have been available to artists - so could artists have painted figures wearing brighter clothes than were available in real life?
Any thoughts would be very interesting. As I said, this is really just for my education.
Thanks in advance.