2. Ultramarine Blue, Natural and Artificial

Az(z)ur(r)unl ultranlarinu1l1, az(z)ur(r)lUll transl11arinunl, az(z)ur(r)o oltranlarino, azur d'Acre, pierre d' azur, Lazurstein, lapis lazuli ultran1arine (alternative spellings shown in parentheses). Early nOl11enclatureis c01l1plex.The nanle of the lllineral frolll which the pignlent is obtained, lapis lazuli, derives frolll the Latin lapis, a stone, and lazulus, a latinized forn1 of the Persian for blue. The tenll ultramarine was originally used adjectivally, as for exan1ple in azzurro oltrmnarino, and was applied to other illlported conlnlodities. It served to distinguish the genuine lapis lazuli ultral11arine, which "vas il11ported fronl Asia, frol11 other blue pign1ents, in particular frolll the blue copper l11ineral pign1ent azurite, which wellt under the nallles of az(z)ur(r)o dell'Allelllagna (frequently corrupted to az(z)ur(r)o della n1agna), or az(z)ur(r)o citranlarinum (see p. 54). The history of the nOl11enclature of ultral11arille has been discussed by M. Merrifield [62] (who forllled the opinion that the ternl ultral11arille lllUSthave been in use in Italy by the beginnillg of the 14th century), and by R. J. Gettens [37]. Certainly, Antonio Filarete [33], writing in