This is a bit of a palette secret - we quite enjoy manganese violet along with cobalt violet. Manganese Violet is a bit more of a red violet than Cobalt Violet Deep, though Manganese Violet comes in a range of hard-to-find purples.

A mixing violet with many uses. Years ago I read of a painter who suggested that this was one of those heroic colors that was underrated. They suggested using it in flesh tones. The uses for mineral purples are almost endless.

Violet is a tricky range for lightfastness and PV16 does receive excellent marks (all 8’s on the BWS).

Along with Cobalt Violet PV14, this color is superb as a mixing color to tame greens. It has some transparency to it, but usually for whatever reason when found in oil paint it's semi-opaque.

It does contain Manganese, which is probably part of the toxicity rating of B, meaning it does have toxicity. We have read horror stories of what have happened to people when exposed to the dust. While anecdotal, we feel it is only kind to say to steer clear of making the paint by hand. When bound in paint it is said to be far less of a hazard though one must follow careful studio safety with artist pigments in general. For more information on the hazards associated with manganese pigments, see Monona Rossol's book, The Artist's Guide to Health and Safety. Her most recent work can be found through her site.

This is among the pigments that has a very high oil content, however manganese acts as a drier. Both factors should be taken into account if painting in layers.