The Best Chalk Pastels for Rich Pigments

A favorite of Renaissance artists, Old Masters, and Impressionists, chalk pastels have a history as rich as their pigment. Made of powdered pigment and a binder, pastels come in stick form and all colors of the rainbow. First produced in the 1400s, pastels were made popular by da Vinci. By the mid-1800s, French artists Delacroix, Manet, and Millet worked in pastels. A pastels innovator, Degas created many of his iconic dancer portraits with them. In the late 1800s, Whistler and Cassatt populariz