"It means: 'over the water'" - I heard one guide explain, about 'ultramarine', in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence one day. The beautiful Early Renaissance paintings, always glow with this ultramarine blue, and real gold leaf, laid on in sheets so thin, that the slightest puff of wind would blow them away. But the fabulous blue ultramarine pigment, is derived from the semi-precious stone Lapis Lazuli, which came from Afghanistan, as it still does, today.
Ground up, with mortar and pestle, to just the right point and mixed with egg yolk, it became the most prized and expensive colour of Renaissance paintings. Reserved for the robe of the Madonna and the sky of Heaven, the quantity used in the painting, was laid down in a formal contract with the patron. As you wander around the Uffizi, you can see the paintings which have been restored, they are brighter than the rest - over the centuries, the Madonna's blue robe darkened with over glazing and the smoke of a million candles and by removing the dirt, the paintings are revealed in their original form.
Stepping into the pottery workshop in Jaipur, was like walking into a Renaissance painting - the famous Jaipur Blue Pottery, is overwhelming in its radiance - surrounded by shelves and shelves of glazed blue pottery, the colour derived from cobalt oxide, gives the feeling of total immersion - there is something about that blue ! The technique came to India from Persia hundreds of years ago and developed in Jaipur with Rajputana patronage and continues to flourish.
Ground up, with mortar and pestle, to just the right point and mixed with egg yolk, it became the most prized and expensive colour of Renaissance paintings. Reserved for the robe of the Madonna and the sky of Heaven, the quantity used in the painting, was laid down in a formal contract with the patron. As you wander around the Uffizi, you can see the paintings which have been restored, they are brighter than the rest - over the centuries, the Madonna's blue robe darkened with over glazing and the smoke of a million candles and by removing the dirt, the paintings are revealed in their original form.
Stepping into the pottery workshop in Jaipur, was like walking into a Renaissance painting - the famous Jaipur Blue Pottery, is overwhelming in its radiance - surrounded by shelves and shelves of glazed blue pottery, the colour derived from cobalt oxide, gives the feeling of total immersion - there is something about that blue ! The technique came to India from Persia hundreds of years ago and developed in Jaipur with Rajputana patronage and continues to flourish.
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