the.com/verdigris
the slow green kiss copper gives the air, beautiful proof that even decay has taste
means The bluish-green coating that forms on copper, brass, or bronze as it weathers and corrodes over time.
from From Old French 'vert-de-Grece' — literally 'green of Greece' — which English borrowed and reshaped into 'verdigris.' Why Greece? Nobody is quite sure; some medieval sources oddly read it as 'vert de gris' (green of grey), and the spelling has wandered for centuries. The 'vert' part is solidly the French word for green, a descendant of Latin 'viridis.' The 'Greece' connection remains a charming puzzle rather than a settled fact.
- name origin
- from old french meaning green of Greece
- liberty's coat
- Statue of Liberty's green is verdigris
- old pigment
- painters used it before it turned brown
- actual chemistry
- copper carbonates and acetates, not rust
- slow timeline
- takes decades to fully form outdoors
statue of liberty patina — copper exterior turned blue-green after 30 years of oxidation starting in 1886, now 0.02 inches thick
big ben's copper roof — elizabeth tower's roof developed verdigris coating visible during 2017 renovation
notre-dame de reims roof — french cathedral's copper roof displays characteristic blue-green patina visible for centuries