Editing Ultramarine (section)

=== Renaissance ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="300px">
File:The_Wilton_Diptych_(Right).jpg|The [[Wilton Diptych]] (1395–1399) is an example of the use of ultramarine in 14th-century [[England]]
File:Masaccio._Madonna_and_Child._1426._National_Gallery,_London.jpg|The blue robes of the [[Virgin Mary]] by [[Masaccio]] (1426) were painted with ultramarine
File:Pietro_Perugino_cat54b.jpg|[[Pietro Perugino]] economized on this painting of the Virgin Mary (about 1500) by using [[Azurite (pigment)|azurite]] for the underpainting of the robe, then adding a layer of ultramarine on top
File:Titian_-_Bacchus_and_Ariadne_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|[[Titian]] made dramatic use of ultramarine in the sky and draperies of ''[[Bacchus and Ariadne]]'' (1520–1523)
</gallery>

[[Venice]] was central to both the manufacturing and distribution of ultramarine during the early modern period. The pigment was imported by [[Italians|Italian]] traders during the [[14th century|14th]] and [[15th century|15th centuries]] from [[Mining|mines]] in [[Afghanistan]].<ref name="OED" /><ref name="York" /> Other European countries employed the pigment less extensively than in Italy; the pigment was not used even by wealthy painters in [[Spain]] at that time.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roy |first=Ashok |title=Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics |url=https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/artists-pigments-vol2.pdf |journal=National Gallery of Art |volume=2 |page=40}}</ref>

During the [[Renaissance]], ultramarine was the finest and most expensive blue that could be used by painters. [[Infrared photography|Color infrared]] photogenic studies of ultramarine in 13th and 14th-century [[Siena|Sienese]] panel paintings have revealed that historically, ultramarine has been diluted with white lead pigment in an effort to use the color more sparingly given its high price.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hoeniger |first=Cathleen |date=1991-01-01 |title=The Identification of Blue Pigments in Early Sienese Paintings by Color Infrared Photography |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/019713691806066782 |journal=Journal of the American Institute for Conservation |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=115–124 |doi=10.1179/019713691806066782 |issn=0197-1360}}</ref> The 15th century artist [[Cennino Cennini]] wrote in his painters' handbook: "Ultramarine blue is a glorious, lovely and absolutely perfect pigment beyond all the pigments. It would not be possible to say anything about or do anything to it which would not make it more so."<ref>Lara Broecke, ''Cennino Cennini's ''Il Libro dell'Arte'', a New English Translation and Commentary with Italian Transcription'', Archetype 2015, p. 89.</ref> Natural ultramarine is a difficult pigment to grind by hand, and for all except the highest quality of mineral, sheer grinding and washing produces only a pale grayish blue powder.<ref>{{cite web |title=Palette grinding and_materials |url=http://www.essentialvermeer.com/palette/palette_grinding_and_materials.html#.VINmSjGG-9E |access-date=December 6, 2014 |website=www.essentialvermeer.com}}</ref>

The pigment was most extensively used during the 14th through 15th centuries, as its brilliance complemented the [[vermilion]] and [[gold]] of illuminated manuscripts and Italian panel paintings. It was valued chiefly on account of its brilliancy of tone and its inertness in opposition to sunlight, oil, and slaked [[Calcium oxide|lime]]. It is, however, extremely susceptible to even minute and dilute mineral [[acid]]s and acid vapors. Dilute HCl, HNO<sub>3</sub>, and H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> rapidly destroy the blue color, producing [[hydrogen sulfide]] (H<sub>2</sub>S) in the process. [[Acetic acid]] attacks the pigment at a much slower rate than mineral acids.

Ultramarine was only used for [[fresco]]es when it was applied ''[[Fresco-secco|secco]]'' because frescoes' absorption rate made its use cost prohibitive. The pigment was mixed with a binding medium like egg to form a [[tempera]] and applied over dry plaster, such as in [[Giotto di Bondone]]'s frescos in the [[Cappella degli Scrovegni]] or the [[Arena Chapel]] in [[Padua]].

European artists used the pigment sparingly, reserving their highest quality blues for the robes of [[Mary (mother of Jesus)|Mary]] and the [[Christ child]], possibly in an effort to show piety, spending as a means of expressing devotion. As a result of the high price, artists sometimes economized by using a cheaper blue, [[azurite]], for under painting. Most likely imported to Europe through [[Venice]], the pigment was seldom seen in German art or art from countries north of Italy. Due to a shortage of azurite in the late 16th and 17th century, the price for the already-expensive ultramarine increased dramatically.<ref name="The blue color2">{{cite web |date=2012-03-28 |title=The blue color |url=http://artelisaart.blogspot.se/2012/03/famous-blue-history-of-color-in-middle.html |access-date=December 6, 2014 |publisher=artelisaart.blogspot.se}}</ref>