Lapis lazuli or "blue stone" is prized for its depth and brilliance in paint as the color ultramarine. Before the 1800s, ultramarine pigment is made with an arduous process of grinding, washing and purifying. On the open market it becomes more valuable than gold.
For thousands of years, the rock comes from mines in Afghanistan. The dry raw stone looks dull and faded. Rich color bursts forth when the stone is wet, hinting at hidden secrets. The name ultramarine or "beyond the sea" refers to the origin place of lapis lazuli.
Simply grinding and washing lapis lazuli produces greyish-blue lackluster powder. This happens because, unlike most other gemstones, lapis lazuli is not a mineral.
Lapis Lazuli is a rock composed of three minerals:
lazurite (a complex blue mineral, 30 - 40%)
calcite (calcium carbonate, white)
pyrite (iron sulfide, pale gold color)
A coveted material for artists and craftsmen due to the vibrant blue hue, ultramarine pigment is first created by Renaissance artist Cennino Cennini (c. 1360-1427). Bringing forth luscious deep blues from lapis lazuli he revolutionizes art, introducing new levels of rich color.
According to Cennini:
"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."
The technique developed by the artist turns raw lapis lazuli into exquisite ultramarine pigment. The stone must first be ground. With a hardness of 5.5 on the Mohs scale, slightly less than glass, it takes some vigor. Use of a grinding stone is preferable.
Once ground it's blended with various substances like wax, resins and oils. The worker then wraps the mixture in cloth and kneads it in diluted lye solution made of wood ash and water. Each stage of the process contributes to the purity and brilliance of the final product.
Pigment is steadily strained through the cloth. During the process, blue lazurite particles settle at the bottom of the container, while colorless crystalline material and impurities rise to the top.
The extraction process is repeated at least three times, with each extraction producing lower quality material. The final extraction results in ultramarine ash, which includes mostly colorless product with a few blue particles. As a glaze this is prized for its pale blue transparency.
A couple of recipes from rom the Leyden and Stockholm Papyri (c. 300 AD) describe the preparation of lapis lazuli c. 1200 years before the creation of ultramarine pigment.
Preparation of Lapis Lazuli
"The lapis lazuli employed is first dipped in the bile of a tortoise and then placed in the dye bath for amethyst for just as many days as for this and so forth."
Preparation of Amethyst (dye bath)
"Corrode the stones beforehand with three times as much alum as stone. Cook them in it until it boils thrice, and let them cool down. Take and soften krimnos with vinegar. Then take and boil the stones in it as long as you like."
Krimnos refers to the Armenian cochineal insect, from which the color carmine is produced. These insects are an important source of red dye, creating bright hues. Those used here are found locally feeding on the sap of oak trees.
They specifically frequent Quercus coccifera or kermes oaks native to the Near East and the Greek side of the Mediterranean. Kermes is used as dye and lake pigment in ancient Egypt, Greece, Armenia and Near East.
Lapiz Lazuli & Ultramarine in History
In the 6th century BCE the Ishtar Gate is constructed at Babylon, the eighth gate traversed to enter the city. The bricks are carefully painted and glazed to resemble lapis lazuli.
The earliest known use of lapis lazuli as a pigment is evident in 6th and 7th-century artworks found in Zoroastrian and Buddhist cave temples in Afghanistan. These are in close proximity to the main source of the stone.
Chinese paintings from the 10th and 11th centuries, Indian mural paintings from the 11th, 12th, and 17th centuries use the stone as pigment. Anglo-Saxon and Norman illuminated manuscripts from around 1100 are found to contain lapis lazuli.
While ancient Egyptians use lapis lazuli in natural state for ornament and jewelry, there is no historical record of the stone as a pigment. Archaeological findings and early texts document use of lapis lazuli as a semi-precious stone and decorative building material.
Classical authors Theophrastus and Pliny describe the stone, but there is no indication early Greeks and Romans use lapis lazuli as a ground pigment for painting. Like the Egyptians, they have access to synthetic copper silicate pigment known as Egyptian blue.
Ultramarine isn't used in Renaissance frescos as the technique involves a lot of paint mixed into the wall plaster. It's too expensive. Thus ultramarine is a later addition to a fresco, painted on with egg yolk as a binder (egg tempera).
Renaissance artist Michelangelo is unable to purchase ultramarine due to its high cost. Legend has it his painting The Entombment c. !500 (below) remains unfinished because he couldn't get the costly pigment.
Rafael saves ultramarine for his last layer, opting for a cheaper azurite for the initial layers. Vermeer, on the other end of the spectrum, uses ultramarine generously, leading to financial crises for his family.
Examination of early artworks shows the attempt of many artists to stretch out the pigment with lead white. Although it's now synthetic, the thrall of ultramarine continues to keep artists poor today.
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