Something about blue...

Just want to share a wee juicy bit of information from Victoria Finlay's book "Colour" about the Ultramarine blue pigment which is derived from the semi-precious stone Lapis Lazuli.

"Lapis Lazuli is a complex clump of minerals, including hauyne, sodalite, nosean and lazurite. In the best grades there is more sulphur, the yellow element curiously making the stone more violet, and in the worst grades there is more calcium carbonate, turning it grey.

Ultramarine blue used to be a very expensive blue pigment in Europe. During the Italian Renaissance, it was touted as the only blue good enough to paint the Virgin Mary's robe. This pigment originate from Chile, Zambia, Siberia and Afghanistan. The synthetic version of it was found in France by a chemist in 1828, henceforth the name "French ultramarine".

Finlay in her book found out from her Afghanistan guide that there are three main colours for grade one lapis lazuli.

"The most common is rang-i-ob which simply means 'colour of water' and is a general word for blue. This stone is the darkest, the shade that sea goes when there is nothing but deep sea beneath it...The second is rang-i-sabz or green...they looked as if shreds of bright lettuce had got caught in the teeth of the blue...But the greatest of the three is the extraordinarily named surpar or 'red feather'. It was puzzling and beautiful that the best blue should be described as red. It was an ex-miner who gave the most poetic explanation. 'It is the colour of the deepest moment of the fire..the very heart of the flame.'

The history of colours is a beautiful story that excites the mind and fires up the imagination. I wonder whether I'll approach my paintbox the same way again after reading these 'stories'...