Lapis lazuli, a semi precious stone has been used for centuries as a pigment for artists paint. It is a pigment more commonly known as Ultramarine Blue. However, modern ultramarine is a synthetic concoction far inferior to it its mineral counterpart.

The name of Ultramarine is derived from the Latin ultramines, meaning ‘beyond the sea’ as it was imported from Asia in the medieval ages and used extensively in Italian painting. Titians Bacchus and Ariadine is an example of the use of this pigment. It can be seen at the national gallery and the intensity of the colour is incredible. It has a physical presence and luminosity that cannot be seen as a jpg.  

’ a colour illustrious, beautiful, and most perfect beyond all other colours; one could not say anything about it, or do anything with it that its quality would still not surpass’

Cennino Cennini

Titian

Bacchus and Ariadine

Oil on canvas

176.5 x 191 cm

1520-3

Yves Klein with his synthetic version of ultramarine IKB

Where it was once originally mined in Persia, Tibet and China the modern excavation of high quality Lapis is rare. Today the finest quality stone comes from mines in Afghanistan beyond the Hindu Kush at the head of the River Oxus. Even these finest stones have to be intensively and meticulously refined through a complex process until the blue pigment is extracted.

Such an amazing pigment comes at a prize and if you want to buy this paint you will have to be willing to fork out $1,500 + for 50 grams (you cant get a huge amount of paint from that) of the pigment and more for the paint. To put that into perspective, lapis is about 30% more than the price of 24 carat gold.

That is rent for a few months.

No thanks.