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Ultramarine, the most prized blue of the Renaissance, was made from lapis lazuli, a stone mined in the mountains of Afghanistan. Extracting the pigment was slow and wasteful, so at times it cost as much as gold, and painters saved it for the most important parts of a picture, above all the robes of the Virgin Mary.

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The name comes from Latin ultramarinus, “beyond the sea”, because the stone reached Europe by ship; Venice was the centre of the trade in the 14th and 15th centuries. The mines of Sar-i Sang, in the Badakhshan region, had supplied lapis lazuli for thousands of years, and the oldest known paintings made with it are 6th- and 7th-century murals in Afghan cave temples. Simply grinding the stone gives a dull greyish powder, so the pure blue had to be kneaded and washed out of it in a long process. The painter Cennino Cennini described it around 1400 and called ultramarine the most perfect of all pigments. Vermeer used it lavishly, as in the turban of Girl with a Pearl Earring. In 1824 a French society offered a prize for an artificial version; Jean-Baptiste Guimet produced one in 1826, and ultramarine became cheap.

Türkçe oku
Ultramarin, Rönesans ressamlarının en değerli mavisiydi ve Afganistan dağlarında çıkarılan lapis lazuli taşından elde edilirdi. Boyayı taştan ayırmak uzun sürer, taşın çoğu da boşa giderdi. Bu yüzden zaman zaman altın kadar pahalıya mal olur, ressamlar onu resmin en önemli yerlerine, özellikle Meryem'in giysilerine saklardı.

Adı, “denizin ötesinden” anlamına gelen Latince ultramarinus'tan gelir; çünkü taş Avrupa'ya gemiyle ulaşırdı. 14. ve 15. yüzyıllarda bu ticaretin merkezi Venedik'ti. Bedahşan bölgesindeki Sar-i Sang madenlerinden binlerce yıldır lapis lazuli çıkarılıyordu. Bu taşla yapılmış bilinen en eski resimler, Afganistan'daki mağara tapınaklarında bulunan 6. ve 7. yüzyıl duvar resimleridir. Taşı yalnızca öğütmek soluk, grimsi bir toz verir; saf mavi, bu tozun uzun süre yoğrulup yıkanmasıyla ayrılırdı. Ressam Cennino Cennini 1400 dolaylarında bu yöntemi anlatmış ve ultramarini bütün boyaların en kusursuzu saymıştı. Vermeer bu maviyi bolca kullandı; İnci Küpeli Kız'daki türban buna bir örnektir. 1824'te bir Fransız kuruluşu yapay ultramarin için ödül koydu; Jean-Baptiste Guimet 1826'da bunu başardı ve boya ucuzladı. Türkçedeki lacivert sözcüğü de lapis lazuli anlamındaki Farsça lâjevard'dan gelir; İngilizcedeki azure (gök mavisi) da aynı köktendir.

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Background reading: Ultramarine
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