Van Dyck Brown
Its the colour named after the Flemish painter of the same name, and an entire gamut of paintings from the period of the early 17th C.
It is a non-silver processes developed by Sir John Herschel in 1842 amongst many other alt-processes he invented. The process utilizes the action of light on ferric salts.
The Formula
Solution A
- Ferric Ammonium Citrate: 9.0 gm
- Distilled Water: 33.0 ml
Solution B
- Tartaric Acid: 1.5 gm
- Distilled Water: 33.0 ml
Solution C
- Silver Nitrate: 3.8 gm
- Distilled Water: 33.0 ml
The Van Dyck process is very similar to the Salt Print process I have been using. It is a POP or Printed Out Process in the main with some development taking place after exposure.
The chemicals used for the solution are much more economical than the Salt process I have been using, they also last much longer when kept in a suitable glass bottle and in the dark.
The tonal range of the process is on a par with Platinum/Palladium printing and VDB is known as the poor-mans Platinum/Palladium.
Rather than iterate my own interpretation of the process, I’ll link here to a substantial overview of the process.
It is a process I am looking forward to using and comparing the results I get with those of the Salt Prints previously.

Concrete
Camera/Lens: Nikon F801 + Nikkkor 28-80/2.8 G
Film: Digital Negative
Process: Van Dyck Brown, 4” x 5”, Bergger COT320