Lapis Lazuli is a stone created of other stones….Lazurite, Sodalite, Calcite, and Pyrite to name a few! The color, composition, and presentation is going to vary depending on the differing amounts of each mineral.
The name is said to be derived from the Latin, lapis, which means ‘stone’ and from the Arabic,aula, which means ‘blue’. Although when Lapis was initially introduced in Europe, it was called ultramarinum, which means “beyond the sea”.
Michelangelo couldn’t afford ultramarine. His painting The Entombment, the story goes, was left unfinished as the result of his failure to procure the prized pigment.
Rafael reserved ultramarine for his final coat, preferring for his base layers a common azurite; Vermeer was less parsimonious in his application and proceeded to mire his family in debt.
Ultramarine: the quality of the shade is embodied in its name. This is the superlative blue, the end-all blue, the blue to which all other hues quietly aspire. The name means “beyond the sea”—a dreamy ode to its distant origins, as romantic as it is imprecise.
The blue color has deep biblical roots in the Old Testament. According to Dr. R. Jared Staudt, color is specifically mentioned as the color of the people of Israel in the book of Numbers.
If you ever walk through the European Art wing of a museum, you might notice that the Virgin Mary almost always wears a blue cloak. This color symbolism can be attributed to a myriad of explanations, the simplest one being this: blue was the most expensive pigment throughout much of history.
Ultramarine, meaning “beyond the seas,” was known to come from a land so far away that no European had actually been there, not even Alexander the Great. Ultramarine paint is made from the semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli (meaning “blue stone”). It is found only in Chile, Zambia, a few small mines in Siberia, and – most importantly- in Afghanistan.
With few exceptions, all of the real ultramarine in both Eastern and Western art came from mines in Afghanistan. By the time it made its way down mountain passes, across ancient trade routes and into Europe in the 13th century, it had already been assigned a high value.
By standardizing liturgical color codes in the 16th century, reserving blue for the Virgin Mary, Pope Pius V bestowed even more prestige upon the color. Ultramarine retained its high status until a synthetic version of the color was discovered in France in 1828.
However, almost all of the masterpieces of the European Renaissance owe some of their charm to the beautiful blue paint that originated in the mines of Afghanistan.
The name is said to be derived from the Latin, lapis, which means ‘stone’ and from the Arabic,aula, which means ‘blue’. Although when Lapis was initially introduced in Europe, it was called ultramarinum, which means “beyond the sea”.
A Victorian Bracelet set with five ancient Egyptian Lapis Lazuli Scaraboids, 18th Dynasty, ca
Michelangelo couldn’t afford ultramarine. His painting The Entombment, the story goes, was left unfinished as the result of his failure to procure the prized pigment.
Rafael reserved ultramarine for his final coat, preferring for his base layers a common azurite; Vermeer was less parsimonious in his application and proceeded to mire his family in debt.
Ultramarine: the quality of the shade is embodied in its name. This is the superlative blue, the end-all blue, the blue to which all other hues quietly aspire. The name means “beyond the sea”—a dreamy ode to its distant origins, as romantic as it is imprecise.
If you ever walk through the European Art wing of a museum, you might notice that the Virgin Mary almost always wears a blue cloak. This color symbolism can be attributed to a myriad of explanations, the simplest one being this: blue was the most expensive pigment throughout much of history.
Ultramarine, meaning “beyond the seas,” was known to come from a land so far away that no European had actually been there, not even Alexander the Great. Ultramarine paint is made from the semi-precious stone, lapis lazuli (meaning “blue stone”). It is found only in Chile, Zambia, a few small mines in Siberia, and – most importantly- in Afghanistan.
With few exceptions, all of the real ultramarine in both Eastern and Western art came from mines in Afghanistan. By the time it made its way down mountain passes, across ancient trade routes and into Europe in the 13th century, it had already been assigned a high value.
By standardizing liturgical color codes in the 16th century, reserving blue for the Virgin Mary, Pope Pius V bestowed even more prestige upon the color. Ultramarine retained its high status until a synthetic version of the color was discovered in France in 1828.
However, almost all of the masterpieces of the European Renaissance owe some of their charm to the beautiful blue paint that originated in the mines of Afghanistan.
Hearst Castle
Derived from the lapis lazuli stone, the pigment was considered more precious than gold. For centuries, the lone source of ultramarine was an arid strip of mountains in northern Afghanistan.
The process of extraction involved grinding the stone into a fine powder, infusing the deposits with melted wax, oils, and pine resin, and then kneading the product in a dilute lye solution. Because of its prohibitive costs, the color was traditionally restricted to the raiment of Christ or the Virgin Mary.
European painters depended on wealthy patrons to underwrite their purchase. Less scrupulous craftsmen were known to swap ultramarine for smalt or indigo and pocket the difference; if they were caught, the swindle left their reputation in ruin.
The process of extraction involved grinding the stone into a fine powder, infusing the deposits with melted wax, oils, and pine resin, and then kneading the product in a dilute lye solution. Because of its prohibitive costs, the color was traditionally restricted to the raiment of Christ or the Virgin Mary.
European painters depended on wealthy patrons to underwrite their purchase. Less scrupulous craftsmen were known to swap ultramarine for smalt or indigo and pocket the difference; if they were caught, the swindle left their reputation in ruin.
Large Figural Bronze & Lapis Jewelry Box
In 1824, the Societé d’Encouragement offered a reward of six thousand francs to anyone who could develop a synthetic alternative to ultramarine. Two men came forward within several weeks of one another: Jean-Baptiste Guimet, a French chemist, and Christian Gmelin, a German professor from the University of Tübingen.
The prize was fiercely contested. Gmelin claimed he had arrived at a solution a year earlier but had waited to publish his results. Guimet countered by declaring that he had conceived his formula two years prior but—like Gmelin—had opted not to publicize his findings. The committee awarded the prize to Guimet, much to the displeasure of the German gentry, and the artificial blue became known as “french ultramarine.”
Johannes Vermeer, ca. 1660
"Natural ultramarine is the painter's dream; the natural ultramarine pigment with its crystalline structure and multiple surfaces reflect light like a finely faceted jewel thereby exhibiting ever-changing display of rich, vibrant blues.
This creates a three dimensional, gems like effect which is not at all possible with a tiny, round and uniformly shaped particles of the synthetic ultramarine pigment"
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/06/08/true-blue/
https://mysticcrystalimports.com/pages/lapis-lazuli-properties
https://becauseilovesand.com/2013/09/16/lapis-lazuli/
https://mysticcrystalimports.com/pages/lapis-lazuli-properties
https://becauseilovesand.com/2013/09/16/lapis-lazuli/
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