Weathered Tartans

[figheadair]

That particular name may have been new, but didn't that colour palette exist at least as far back as the mid 1800s? MacLeay's portraits showed a lot of tartans in what we would today call "ancient" colours (which I assume is the descendant of "vegetable colourings"). Are these pretty much the same, or is there some difference I'm not seeing? Would the MacLeay portraits mostly be in old Wilson's colours, and the "vegetable colourings" be a shade lighter?

Macleay's drawings are excellent but one needs to be a little careful with his colouring. Several examples of tartans he depicts survive and they look quite different, generally darker, that he represents them. If we look at other specimens of the time they are all what we would nowadays call Modern Colours. I cannot think of an example of Ancient Colours amongst the specimens in Clans Originaux for example.