Editing Ultramarine (section)

== History ==
=== Antiquity and Middle Ages ===
The name derives from Middle [[Latin]] {{lang|la-x-medieval|ultramarinus}}, literally "beyond the sea" because it was imported from Asia by sea.<ref name="OED" /> In the past, it has also been known as ''azzurrum ultramarine'', {{lang|la-x-medieval|azzurrum transmarinum}}, {{lang|it|azzuro oltramarino}}, {{lang|fr|azur d'Acre, pierre d'azur}}, {{lang|de|Lazurstein}}. The current terminology for ultramarine includes natural ultramarine (English), {{lang|fr|outremer lapis}} (French), {{lang|de|Ultramarin echt}} (German), {{lang|it|oltremare genuino}} (Italian), and {{lang|es|ultramarino verdadero}} (Spanish). The first recorded use of ''ultramarine'' as a color name in English was in 1598.<ref>Maerz and Paul ''A Dictionary of Color'' New York:1930--McGraw Hill Page 206</ref>

Ancient [[Egyptians]] used lapis lazuli in solid form for ornamental applications in jewelry, however, there is no record of them successfully formulating lapis lazuli into paint.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Patterson |first=Steven |title=The History of Blue Pigments in the Fine Arts: Painting, From the Perspective of a Paint Maker |url=https://royalsoc.org.au/images/pdf/journal/153-2-04Patterson.pdf |journal=Journal & Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales |volume=153 |page=167}}</ref> Archaeological evidence and early literature reveal that lapis lazuli was used as a semi-precious stone and decorative building stone from early Egyptian times. The mineral is described by the classical authors [[Theophrastus]] and [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]]. There is no evidence that lapis lazuli was used ground as a painting pigment by ancient [[Greeks]] and [[Roman people|Romans]]. Like ancient Egyptians, they had access to a satisfactory blue colorant in the synthetic copper silicate pigment, [[Egyptian blue]].<ref name="Plesters-1966-64" />

The first noted use of lapis lazuli as a pigment can be seen in 6th and 7th-century paintings in [[Zoroastrian]] and [[Buddhist]] cave temples in Afghanistan, near the most famous source of the mineral. Lapis lazuli has been identified in Chinese paintings from the 10th and 11th centuries, in Indian mural paintings from the 11th, 12th, and 17th centuries, and on [[Anglo-Saxon]] and [[Normans|Norman]] illuminated manuscripts from {{circa|1100}}.<ref name="Plesters-1966-64" /> Ultramarine also appears in Islamic [[Illuminated manuscript|illuminated manuscripts]] from the 15th and 16th centuries throughout modern-day Afghanistan and [[Iran]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Exploring ultramarine |url=https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/libraries/our-work/conservation/exploring-ultramarine |access-date=2025-02-02 |website=www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk |language=en}}</ref>  

=== 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>

=== 17th and 18th centuries ===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="300px">
File:Sassoferrato_-_Jungfrun_i_bön.jpg|[[Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato|Sassoferrato]]'s depiction of the [[Blessed Virgin Mary]], ''[[The Virgin in Prayer]]'', c. 1654. Her blue cloak is painted in ultramarine.<ref>{{cite web |title=assoferrato-the-virgin-in-prayer |url=http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/sassoferrato-the-virgin-in-prayer |access-date=December 6, 2014 |publisher=www.nationalgallery.org.uk}}</ref>
File:Johannes_Vermeer_-_Girl_with_a_Pearl_Earring_-_WGA24666.jpg|''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'', by [[Johannes Vermeer]] (c. 1665)
File:Johannes_Vermeer_-_Lady_Standing_at_a_Virginal.jpg|''[[Lady Standing at a Virginal]]'', by [[Johannes Vermeer]] (c. 1675)
</gallery>[[Johannes Vermeer]] made extensive use of ultramarine in his paintings. The turban of the ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'' is painted with a mixture of ultramarine and lead white, with a thin glaze of pure ultramarine over it.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.girl-with-a-pearl-earring.info/palette.htm|title=Description of the painting at www.girl-with-a-pear-earring.info/pallette.htm}}</ref> In ''Lady Standing at a Virginal'', the young woman's dress is painted with a mixture of ultramarine and green earth, and ultramarine was used to add shadows in the flesh tones.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Gallery of London discussion of Vermeer's palette |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/about-research/the-meaning-of-making/vermeer-and-technique/vermeers-palette |accessdate=Dec 13, 2022}}</ref> Scientific analysis by the [[National Gallery]] in London of ''[[Lady Standing at a Virginal]]'' showed that the ultramarine in the blue seat cushion in the foreground had degraded and become paler with time; it would have been a deeper blue when originally painted.<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Gallery essay on the altered appearance of ultramarine in the paintings of Vermeer |url=https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/about-research/the-meaning-of-making/vermeer-and-technique/altered-appearance-of-ultramarine |accessdate=Dec 13, 2022}}</ref>

=== 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" />