A painting from this spring. Mauve is the name of a light purple color that was the first synthetic dye color. It was created by accident in 1856 by an 18 year old chemistry student, William Henry Perkin, who was trying to synthesize the anti-malaria drug quinine. The name mauve was given to it from the French name for the mallow flower. The color of this dye is familiar to those of us who remember ditto machines- it was used in the ink.
