Blue Pigments
5000 years of Art and Industry
By (author) François Delamare
Paperback (Published)
(January 2013)
ISBN: 9781904982371
7.44 x 9.69 inches
Price: $90.00
In stock
Traces the remarkable history of blue pigments, from rare natural sources like lapis lazuli and azurite to ingenious synthetic creations such as Egyptian blue, Maya blue, Prussian blue, and artificial ultramarine. Highlighting the technical challenges and cultural significance of producing blue, the book reveals how each civilization developed its own solutions-making blue pigments powerful markers of technological innovation and artistic identity across time and geography.
In the natural world, blue rocks from which objects can be fashioned are rare – a few marbles, lapis-lazuli and related rocks, and minerals containing copper. However those which, once ground, can be used as pigments are exceptional. Only lapis-lazuli and azurite come to mind. The long absence of blues from the palettes of our distant ancestors is therefore easy to explain as is the fact that blue pigments have always been an expensive commodity which became the objects of a very lucrative trade, spanning continents and oceans. The primary goal of this book is to show how much ingenuity man has needed to employ in order to make blue materials. From Egyptian blue to copper phtalocyanine, ranging through Maya and Han blues, smalt, blue ashes, Prussian blue and artificial ultramarine, we cannot help but be in awe of the variety of technical solutions found. Each civilization has produced its own solution, or sequence of solutions. Thus one can say that blue pigments can be considered as markers of civilizations.
Egyptian blue, the blue pigment of Mediterranean antiquity: From Egyptian hsbd iryt to Roman caeruleum
Zaffre, smalt, bleu d'esmail and azure: Tribulations of Saxon cobalt
Natural ultramarine: The essence of the blue pigment
German azurite and English blue verditer : Favourite pigments of European painters
Prussian blue: An unexpected destiny
The discovery of Thenard's (cobalt) blue: A time for scientists
Guimet blue and artificial ultramarines: The dream comes true
Copper phthalocyanines: A chance happily exploited
Rediscovering forgotten blues
The Rediscovery of Egyptian blue
The Rediscovery of Han blue
The Rediscovery of yax, the Maya blue
Appendix
Bibliography
List of colorants, colours, minerals and blue pigments mentioned in the text,
Egyptian blue, the blue pigment of Mediterranean antiquity: From Egyptian hsbd iryt to Roman caeruleum
Zaffre, smalt, bleu d'esmail and azure: Tribulations of Saxon cobalt
Natural ultramarine: The essence of the blue pigment
German azurite and English blue verditer : Favourite pigments of European painters
Prussian blue: An unexpected destiny
The discovery of Thenard’s (cobalt) blue: A time for scientists
Guimet blue and artificial ultramarines: The dream comes true
Copper phthalocyanines: A chance happily exploited
Rediscovering forgotten blues
The Rediscovery of Egyptian blue
The Rediscovery of Han blue
The Rediscovery of yax, the Maya blue
Appendix
Bibliography
List of colorants, colours, minerals and blue pigments mentioned in the text
- By (author) François Delamare
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