Interesting facts about blue colour

SEE-August27th: Homer in the Odysseys didn’t describe  the ocean as blue, but a "wine-red sea" because earliest humans were colorblind; they could only recognize black, white, red, and later yellow and green, according to some scientists.

Different shades of blue were discovered only less than a decade ago; early humans didn’t even have a word to describe the color which is associated with the sky and ocean.

Ancient Egyptians are the first to introduce blue color which continued to evolve for the next 6,000 years, and certain pigments were even used by the world's master artists to create some of the most famous works of art.

 

Egyptian blue which is also known as 'cuprorivaite' was created around 2,200 B.C.; it is considered to be the first ever synthetically produced color pigment, .

It was made from ground limestone mixed with sand and a copper-containing mineral, such as azurite or malachite, which was then heated between 1470 and 1650°F.

The result was an opaque blue glass which then had to be crushed and combined with thickening agents such as egg whites to create a long-lasting paint or glaze. Egyptians used colors to paint ceramics, statues, and even to decorate the tombs of the pharaohs.

Scientists discovered in 2006 that Egyptian blue glows under fluorescent lights, indicating that the pigment emits infrared radiation.

Blue remained popular throughout the Roman Empire and was used until the end of the Greco-Roman period (332 BC–395 AD), when new methods of color production started to evolve.

Egyptian Juglet, ca. 1750–1640 B.C. (Photo: Met Museum Rogers Fund and Edward S. Harkness Gift, 1922. (CC0 1.0)

 

 

 

'True blue' or ultramarine began around 6,000 years ago when the vibrant gemstone made from lapis lazuli began to be imported by the Egyptians from the mountains of Afghanistan. The word ultramarine means,“beyond the sea”.

The Egyptians tried to turn it into a paint, but failed when the result turned a dull gray.

In Medieval Europe, this blue was considered to as precious as gold; only wealthy people could use it.

The color usually  was reserved for only the most important commissions, such as Girl with a Pearl Earring painted by Baroque master Johannes Vermeer

“Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Johannes Vermeer, circa 1665.

 

This blue remained extremely expensive until a French Ultramarine was invented in 1826, by a French chemist.

Art historians believe that Michelangelo left his painting The Entombment (1500–01) unfinished because he could not afford buying more ultramarine blue.

 

 

Furthermore, while German dye-maker Johann Jacob Diesbach was working on creating a blood red color, he accidentally discovered the Prussian vibrant blue which is now used in a pill form to cure metal poisoning.

Pablo Picasso used the Prussian blue pigment exclusively during his Blue period.

English astronomer Sir John Herschel discovered that Prussian blue had a unique sensitivity to light, that proved invaluable to the likes of architects, who could create copies of their plans and designs that are today known as “blueprints.”

 

 

“The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katsushika Hokusai, 1831.

 

Professor Mas Subramanian and his then graduate student Andrew E. Smith at Oregon State University discovered in 2009 a new shade of blue. This shade was named YInMn blue, after its chemical makeup of yttrium, indium, and manganese, they released the pigment for commercial use in June 2016. It was late turned into a crayon.