Ultramarine, ultramarine blue or ultramarine blue. It is the name given to the pigments used to obtain the color of the same name. These pigments include ” natural ultramarine blue ” and “synthetic ultramarine blue”.
Being frequently used, it is usually found in color catalogs of paints, enamels, stains, fabrics, etc., sometimes overlapping with the chromaticism of navy blue, which is not specific either. A sample of this pictorial ultramarine blue is given in the box to the right, which in artist paint catalogs may vary by manufacturer. Navy blue represents the night and makes us feel relaxed and calm, like the vast dark sea at night.
Summary
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- 1 Etymology
- 2 Composition and properties
- 3 History
- 4 Denomination in the International Color Index
- 5 Uses
- 6 Sources
Etymology
The name of the ultramarine blue color derives from the medieval Latin ultramarinus, literally “from beyond the sea ”, referring to the fact that the natural ultramarine blue pigment was imported from Asia by sea.
Composition and properties
Its chemical formula is 3Na2O • 3Al2O3 • 6SiO2 • 2Na2S, and it basically consists of blue mineral particles extracted from the semi-precious stone called lapis lazuli . The lapis lazuli usually include other minerals, mostly lazurita , but also hauyna , sodalite and nosean , so it is not always uniformly blue . During the manufacture of the pigment, an attempt was made to separate the undesirable components ( calcite , pyrite , silicates , etc.) from the blue material., which, together with the hardness of the stone, made the procedure difficult.
History
Natural or true ultramarine blue is a highly stable, transparent blue pigment that was used from ancient times to around the 19th century , but is no longer in use today.
Natural Ultramarine Blue was prized for its color , brilliant and resistance to light of the sun , to the oil and the water hard . It is, however, extremely sensitive to dilute mineral acids and acid vapors. The HCl , the HNO3 and H2SO4 (even when diluted) rapidly destroy its color , blue , producing hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the process. The acetic acid attacks the pigment lesser extent than mineral acids.
This pigment was highly valued in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries, as its brilliance complemented the vermilion and gold in illuminated manuscripts and Italian paintings. But since lapis lazuli , which had to be crushed to obtain blue , is a very hard stone and also does not yield pigment easily, it is not surprising that natural ultramarine blue was compared to gold . In Byzantine texts it is already noted that, when trying to separate the blue pigment from lapis lazuli simply by pulverizing the stone and rinsing the resulting with water, only a pale bluish gray powder is obtained.
Around the 13th century the method of obtaining it was improved, which was described by Cennino Cennini at the end of the 14th century . This process consisted of finely grinding the lapis lazuli and joining it with wax , resins, and melted oils, wrapping the resulting mass in a cloth, draining it, and then kneading it with a dilute solution of warm caustic soda . In this way the blue particles were gathered in the liquid, while the impurities and the colorless crystals remained in the mass. This process was repeated until the mass no longer gave color .
The ultramarine pigment caustic solutions were allowed to settle, and then strained to leave only the pigment. Pigments from the earliest extractions were more intensely colored and considered highly valuable, although those from all extractions were used.
Medieval European artists used natural ultramarine blue mainly in illuminated manuscripts and panel painting, frequently reserving the best quality and most intensely colored for the vestments of the most important characters in a composition, such as Jesus and the Virgin Mary . Due to the high price of pigment, artists economized by using a cheaper blue , such as azurite , or ultramarine of lower quality, to give blue color to less important areas of a work. Other times the first layers of blue were given with azurite and then coated with ultramarine.
Natural ultramarine was only used for frescoes when it was applied dry, since its degree of absorption was so high that it was otherwise prohibitive to use it. The pigment was mixed with some pictorial medium such as egg tempera and applied on dry plaster (such as in Giotto’s frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua ).
At the beginning of the Renaissance , both overseas pigment and gold leaf were included in the contracts that painters entered into with their patrons: they established the transfer of these luxury materials as part of the payment to the artists. Similarly, the amount of ultramarine blue used in a painting influenced its value.
Since the lapis lazuli was mined in quarries oldest in Badakhshan (located in today ‘s Afghanistan ) and led from the Middle East to Venice , Italy , pigment blue overseas is rarely seen in German art or countries to the north from Italy .
Denomination in the International Color Index
- Pigment Blue 29, PB 29
- CI 77007
Applications
The earliest known use of lapis lazuli pigment dates from the 6th and 7th centuries AD , in cave paintings of Zoroastrian and Buddhist temples in Afghanistan , near the most famous source of the mineral. The lapis lazuli also has been identified in Chinese paintings of the tenth century and the eleventh century , Indian murals in the eleventh, twelfth and sixteenth centuries, and even in Anglo – Saxon illuminated manuscripts around the 1100 .
Ideal for business appointments where it is required to project an image that inspires respect, credibility, leadership and decision-making power. Combined with white and red it projects dynamic leadership. The best color to use in a job interview, as it is not as authoritative as black or as accessible as gray .
