Today let us talk about one of the most
expensive pigments out there, and one
that has been prized
since antiquity, Lapis Lazuli. Lapis lazuli sometimes called a lapis for short
is a deep blue semi-precious stone
that's been mined in Afghanistan since
the 7th millennium BC and it's been exported to the
mediterranean and South
Asia since the Neolithic age. Lapis' main mineral component is lazurite which
gives it that deep
blue, blue-green color but it also
contains calcite
which is white, sodalite which is a
medium blue,
and pyrite which is a metalic yellow
which gives it up beautiful golden
sparkle against the deep blue.
The Bluestone was extremely popular,
fashioned into beads in the seventh
millennium BCE Pakistan
as well as in the fourth millennium BC Mesopotamia
it has been carved into dagger handles,
bowls, amulets
and used to inlay sculptures for their eyes
and eyebrows
Lapis is mentioned in  Mesopotamiam poems
in one of the oldest known works literature. In Egypt it was a favorite for
amulets and ornaments such as scarabs and jewelry
it was used for the eye brows of King
Tutankhamen. Powdered lapis was used
eye shadow for Cleopatra. In a late classic in the middle ages Lapis was actually
sometimes called
sapphire and this was the misnaming that
most scholars agree
suggests that lapis was the actual
stone referred to in the Old Testament
that's because sapphires as we know them
today we're not known before the Roman
Empire so
ancient Greek references to sapphires were actually lapis lazuli
at the end of the Middle Ages lot this
was ground up into a powder
and made into ultramarine the, finest and most expensive
of the medium blue pigments used by the
most important artists
the Renaissance and Baroque including
Perugino, Masaccio
Titian, and Vermeer. It was usually
reserved for the clothing
of the central figure especially the Virgin
Mary
the history of pigments is one of my
favorite videos to make because
every single color such a interesting
story
if you enjoyed this, you might enjoy my videos
about mummy brown and Maya
blue and please subscribe for future ones because I'm definitely going to be
making some more
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Green, so
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