Gamblin 1980 Oils - PB29 Ultramarine [Blue]

Ultramarine Blue is an excellent glazing colour. The warm Ultra Blue is one of the few mineral colours that is completely transparent. It is lightfast and has moderate tinting strength. Consider using Alizarin Permanent instead of Alizarin Crimson to mix violets.

Ultramarine is the standard warm blue, a brilliant blue pigment with the most purple and least green undertones. It has moderate to high tinting strength and beautiful transparency. Ultramarine dries slowly in oil and produces clean, though granular, washes in watercolour.

PIGMENT COMPOSITION AND PERMANENCE

• Pigment Name: PB29 Ultramarine [Blue] (Complex silicate of sodium aluminum with sulphur)
• Pigment Type: inorganic

PROPERTIES

Ultramarine is the standard warm blue, a brilliant blue pigment with the most purple and least green undertones. It has moderate to high tinting strength and beautiful transparency.

Synthetic Ultramarine is not as vivid a blue as natural Ultramarine. Ultramarine dries slowly in oil and produces clean, though granular, washes in watercolour.

French Ultramarine mixes well with Alizarin colours in oil and watercolour form to create a range of purples and violets. It can dull when mixed with white in acrylic form but mixes well with other colours. The shade varies based on the manufacturer. Considered a great colour for glazes, it is not suitable for frescoing.

PERMANENCE

Ultramarine has excellent permanence, although synthetic Ultramarine is less permanent than natural Ultramarine. Because of its sulfuric content, it may discolour if exposed to acid.

TOXICITY

Ultramarine has no significant hazards.

HISTORY

The name for this pigment comes from the Middle Latin ultra, meaning beyond, and mare, meaning sea, because it was imported from Asia to Europe by sea. It is a prominent component of lapis lazuli and was used on Asian temples starting in the 6th century.

It was one of the most expensive pigments in 16th-century Europe, worth twice its weight in gold, so it was used sparingly and when commissions were larger.

Ultramarine is currently imitated by a process invented in France in 1826 by Jean Baptiste Guimet, making blue affordable to artists and extending the range of colours on their palettes.