Editing Ultramarine (section)

=== 19th century (invention of synthetic ultramarine) ===
The beginning of the development of artificial ultramarine blue is known from [[Goethe]]. In about 1787, he observed the blue deposits on the walls of [[calcium oxide|lime]] [[kiln]]s near [[Palermo]] in [[Sicily]]. He was aware of the use of these glassy deposits as a substitute for lapis lazuli in decorative applications. He did not mention if it was suitable to grind for a pigment.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Goethe |first1=Wolfgang |url=https://archive.org/stream/goethesitalienis00goetuoft#page/264/mode/2up |title=Italiensche Reise |date=1914 |publisher=Insel Verlag |location=Leipzig, Germany |page=265 |language=de |trans-title=Italian Journey}} From p. 265: "{{lang|de|Doch wissen sie, außer diesen beiden, ... andern kirchlichen Verzierungen mit Glück angewendet.}}" (Yet they [viz, the stone cutters of Palermo] know, besides these two [types of stone], still more about a material, a product of the fire of their lime kilns.  In these is found, after roasting [the lime], a type of glassy [[flux]], which passes from the brightest blue color to the darkest, even to the blackest.  These lumps, like other rocks, are cut into thin slabs, appraised according to the level of their color and purity, and, with luck, used instead of lapis lazuli in the inlaying of altars, tombs, and other church decorations.)</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elsner |first1=L. |date=1841 |title=Chemische Untersuchung über die blaue Färbung des Ultramarins |trans-title=Chemical investigation of the blue color of ultramarine |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101076785466;view=1up;seq=399 |journal=Journal für Praktische Chemie |language=de |volume=24 |pages=385–397 |doi=10.1002/prac.18410240157}}  From pp. 385–386: "{{lang|de|Allein es scheint weniger bekannt zu sein, ... von Altären u.s.w. gebraucht würde.}}"  (Yet it seems to be less well known that von Göthe in the year 1787 during his stay in Palermo (see his ''Italian Journey'') cited a similar observation, as he recounted that in the Sicilian lime ovens, a product of fire, a sort of glassy flux, is found, [which is] of a light blue to dark blue color, [and] which was used as ''lapis lazuli'' by local artisans during the inlaying of altars, etc.)</ref>

In 1814, [[Tassaert family|Tassaert]] observed the spontaneous formation of a blue compound, very similar to ultramarine, if not identical with it, in a lime kiln at St. Gobain.<ref>Tessaërt gave a sample of the pigment to the French chemist [[Louis Nicolas Vauquelin]] for analysis:  {{cite journal |last1=Vauquelin |date=1814 |title=Note sur une couleur bleue artificielle analogue à l'outremer |trans-title=Note on an artificial blue color similar to ultramarine |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433062722727;view=1up;seq=98 |journal=Annales de Chimie et de Physique |language=fr |volume=89 |pages=88–91}}</ref> In 1824, this caused the {{lang|fr|[[Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale|Societé pour l'Encouragement d'Industrie]]}} to offer a prize for the artificial production of the precious color. Processes were devised by [[Jean Baptiste Guimet]] (1826) and by [[Christian Gmelin]] (1828), then professor of chemistry in Tübingen. While Guimet kept his process a secret, Gmelin published his, and became the originator of the "artificial ultramarine" industry.<ref>See:
* {{cite journal |last1=Gmelin |first1=C.G. |date=1828 |title=Ueber die künstliche Darstellung einer dem Ultramarin ähnlichen Farbe |trans-title=On the artificial preparation of a pigment similar to ultramarine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZjArAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA191 |journal=Naturwissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Herausgeben von Einer Gesellschaft in Würtemberg (Scientific Essays. Published by a Society in Würtemberg) |language=de |volume=2 |issue=10 |pages=191–224 |bibcode=1828AnP....90..363. |doi=10.1002/andp.18280901022}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Gmelin |first1=C.G. |date=1828 |title=Ueber die künstliche Darstellung einer dem Ultramarin ähnlichen Farbe |trans-title=On the artificial preparation of a pigment similar to ultramarine |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d00316722w;view=1up;seq=377 |journal=Annalen der Physik und Chemie |series=2nd series |language=de |volume=14 |issue=10 |pages=363–371 |bibcode=1828AnP....90..363. |doi=10.1002/andp.18280901022}}
* {{cite book |last1=Watts |first1=Henry |title=A Dictionary of Chemistry and the Allied Branches of Other Sciences |date=1869 |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |volume=5 |location=London, England |page=937 |chapter=Ultramarine |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WVNOaYdeSXgC&pg=PA937 }}</ref><ref name="EB19112" />