The color cerulean (

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

) or caerulean (

British English British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...

Commonwealth English The use of the English language in current and former Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, countries of Commonwealth of Nations, the Commonwealth was largely inherited from British Empire, British colonisation, with some exceptions. Eng ...

), is a variety of the hue of blue that may range from a light azure blue to a more intense sky blue. Cerulean may also be mixed with the hue of green. The first recorded use of ''cerulean'' as a color name in English was in 1590. The word is derived from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word '' caeruleus'' (), "dark blue, blue, or blue-green", which in turn probably derives from , diminutive of , "heaven, sky". "Cerulean blue" is the name of a blue-green

pigment A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly solubility, insoluble and reactivity (chemistry), chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored sub ...

consisting of

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

stannate (). The pigment was first synthesized in the late eighteenth century by Albrecht Höpfner, a Swiss chemist, and it was known as Höpfner blue during the first half of the nineteenth century. Art suppliers began referring to cobalt stannate as cerulean in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was not widely used by artists until the 1870s when it became available in

oil paint Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil. Oil paint also has practical advantages over other paints, mainly because it is waterproof. The earliest surviving ...

Pigment characteristics

The primary chemical constituent of the pigment is

(II) stannate (). The pigment is a greenish-blue color. In watercolor, it has a slight chalkiness. When used in

, it loses this quality. Today, cobalt chromate is sometimes marketed under the cerulean blue name but is darker and greener than the cobalt stannate version. The chromate makes excellent turquoise colors and is identified by ''Rex Art'' and some other manufacturers as "cobalt turquoise". Cerulean is inert with good light resistance, and it exhibits a high degree of stability in both

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (Commonwealth English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting metho ...

and acrylic paint. File:PB35 Bleu Céruléum.JPG, Cerulean blue PB35 File:Cerulean blue hue.png, A sample swatch of cerulean blue hue oil paint. " Hue" in this instance means that other pigments have been used to mimic the color of oil paint that contains the original pigment. File:Ceruleum.png, Cerulean blue pigment in oil. On the left as a standoil glaze over zinc white; on the right as a mass tone in oil-based paint.

History

Cobalt stannate pigment was first synthesized in 1789 by the Swiss chemist Albrecht Höpfner by heating roasted

and tin oxides together. Subsequently, there was limited German production under the name of ''Cölinblau''. It was generally known as Höpfner blue from the late eighteenth century until the middle of the nineteenth century. In the late 1850s, art suppliers begin referring to the pigment as "ceruleum" blue. ''The London Times'' of 28 December 1859 had an advertisement for "Caeruleum, a new permanent color prepared for the use of artists." Ure's ''Dictionary of Arts'' from 1875 describes the pigment as "Caeruleum ... consisting of stannate of protoxide of cobalt, mixed with stannic acid and sulphate of lime." Cerulean was also referred to as coeurleum, cerulium, ''bleu céleste'' (celestial blue). Other nineteenth century English pigment names included "ceruleum blue" and "corruleum blue". By 1935, Max Doerner referred to the pigment as cerulean, as do most modern sources, though ceruleum is still used. Some sources claim that cerulean blue was first marketed in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

by colourman George Rowney, as "coeruleum" in the early 1860s. However, the British firm of Roberson was buying "Blue No. 58 (Cerulium)" from a German firm of Frauenknecht and Stotz prior to Rowney. Cerulean blue was only available as a watercolor in the 1860s and was not widely adopted until the 1870s when it was used in oil paint. It was popular with artists including

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

, Paul Signac, and

Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

created his own approximation of cerulean blue using a mixture of

cobalt blue Cobalt blue is a blue pigment made by sintering cobalt(II) oxide with aluminium(III) oxide (alumina) at 1200 °C. Chemically, cobalt blue pigment is cobalt(II) oxide-aluminium oxide, or cobalt(II) aluminate, CoAl2O4. Cobalt blue is lighte ...

cadmium yellow Cadmium pigments are a class of pigments that contain cadmium. Most of the cadmium produced worldwide has been for use in rechargeable nickel–cadmium batteries, which have been replaced by other rechargeable nickel-chemistry cell varieties ...

, and white.

Notable occurrences

In 1877,

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

had added the pigment to his palette, using it in a painting from his series '' La Gare Saint-Lazare'' (now in the National Gallery, London). The blues in the painting include

and cerulean blue, with some areas of

ultramarine Ultramarine is a deep blue pigment which was originally made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder. Its lengthy grinding and washing process makes the natural pigment quite valuable—roughly ten times more expensive than the stone it comes fr ...

. Laboratory analysis conducted by the National Gallery identified a relatively pure example of cerulean blue pigment in the shadows of the station's canopy. Researchers at the National Gallery suggested that "cerulean probably offered a pigment of sufficiently greenish tone to displace

Prussian blue Prussian blue (also known as Berlin blue, Brandenburg blue, Parisian and Paris blue) is a dark blue pigment produced by oxidation of ferrous ferrocyanide salts. It has the chemical formula . It consists of cations, where iron is in the oxidat ...

, which may not have been popular by this time". Berthe Morisot painted the blue coat of the woman in her '' Summer's Day'', 1879 in cerulean blue in conjunction with artificial

and

. When the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

was formed at the end of World War II, they adopted cerulean blue for their emblem. The designer

Oliver Lundquist Oliver Lincoln Lundquist (September 20, 1916 – December 28, 2008) was an American architect and industrial designer who headed the team which was responsible for the design of the United Nations logo and who himself designed the Q-Tip box. B ...

stated that he chose the color because it was "the opposite of red, the color of war". In the Catholic Church, cerulean vestments are permitted on certain Marian feast days, primarily the

Immaculate Conception The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...

in diocese currently or formerly under the

Spanish Crown The monarchy of Spain or Spanish monarchy () is the constitutional form of government of Spain. It consists of a Hereditary monarchy, hereditary monarch who reigns as the head of state, being the highest office of the country. The Spanish ...

. File:Cerulean warbler catoctin mountain park 5.29.23 DSC 1869-topaz-denoiseraw.jpg, Cerulean warbler (''Setophaga cerulea''), named from its color File:The Saint-Lazare Railway Station 1522133478-43f10.jpg,

, ''La Gare Saint-Lazare,'' 1887 File:Berthe Morisot - Jour d'été, 1879.jpg, Berthe Morisot, Summer's Day, 1879 File:Flag-United-Nations-Logo.jpg, Symbol of the United Nations

Other color variations

Pale cerulean

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color order system used in a variety of industries, notably gr ...

, in a press release, declared the pale hue of cerulean at right, which they call ''cerulean'', as the "color of the millennium". The source of this color is the "

Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #15-4020 TPX—Cerulean.

Cerulean (Crayola)

This bright tone of cerulean is the color called ''cerulean'' by Crayola crayons.

Cerulean frost

At right is displayed the color cerulean frost. ''Cerulean frost'' is one of the colors in the special set of metallic colored

Crayola Crayola LLC, formerly the Binney & Smith Company, is an American manufacturing and retail company specializing in list of art media, art supplies. It is known for its brand ''Crayola'' and best known for its crayons. The company is headquartered ...

crayons called Silver Swirls, the colors of which were formulated by Crayola in 1990.

Curious Blue

Curious Blue is one of the brighter-toned colors of cerulean.

In nature

* Cerulean cuckooshrike * Cerulean kingfisher *

Cerulean flycatcher The cerulean flycatcher (''Eutrichomyias rowleyi'') is a medium-sized (up to 18 cm long), blue passerine with bright cerulean blue plumage, a bare white orbital ring, dark brown Iris (anatomy), iris, bluish black Beak, bill and pale blue-gre ...

* Cerulean warbler * Cerulean-capped manakin

Explanatory notes

References

External links

A page on Cerulean Blue

Cerulean blue
at ColourLex {{Color topics Quaternary colors Pigments Inorganic pigments Shades of azure Shades of blue Shades of cyan Bird colours Cobalt compounds