Ultramarine Blue in Venetian Painting
Six paintings. One concept
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Venetian Renaissance painting has a distinctive feature, which is the color ultramarine blue. Now, if it was such an exquisite color, why did they use it almost exclusively?
Ultramarine blue came from lapis lazuli, a semiprecious stone, quite scarce and in great demand since ancient times for jewelry making.
Extracting the blue pigment mineral from lapis lazuli was a very complicated process. But it was also very difficult to obtain the gemstone, since it was only obtained in deposits in what today would be Afghanistan. That is why ultramarine blue was only obtained by trading with the Far East (ultramarine means “beyond the ocean”).
It is not surprising then that this pigment was even more expensive than gold, and only a maritime trading power such as Venice could afford to provide it to its artists.
Recommended links:
Fundamental Painters of the Venetian School (15th and 16th Centuries).
The Venetian School of the 16th Century.
Characteristic Elements of Venetian School.
Artistic Movements I: from Classical Antiquity to Rococo.
Characteristic Elements of Renaissance Painting.
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