[In Stock] GMK Lazurite

An allusion to High Renaissance art and the value of the pigment ultramarine.

Blue was an extremely expensive pigment in ancient times. In order to create this pigment, painters had to grind up the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, and turn it into ultramarine, a deep blue pigment priced at the same value as gold during the Renaissance period. Ultramarine came from Latin "ultra marinus" which means "beyond the sea" as the lapis lazuli required to create the pigment is imported from Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Because of this, the pigment was only used for the most important subjects of paintings in Europe at the time. It became the hallmark of Renaissance paintings created by many historical painters of that period.

Lazurite is the blue component of the gemstone lapis lazuli, a lazurite-calcite-pyrite rock that has been mined from Badakhshan and was used for jewelries even before being discovered by the Egyptians and Europeans. Lazurite is ultramarine in color, commonly found embedded on a calcite marble, with pyrite accents.