Shown here is Azurite/Malachite Pigment from Natural Pigments, fine grade. It also is known as blue verditer, bice, and Mountain blue. I have seen wide ranges of intensities of this pigment ranging from a dullish gray to a very vibrant blue like this one. The early Egyptians were said to have used it in antiguity.
It can be costly – as much as $80.00 per 50 grams. Care should be used while handling the dry pigment as it is moderately toxic.
I hope artists are inspired or challenged to join your blog. I always look forward to what you generously share. Many painters say, “I’ll let the painting speak for itself” and that’s the end of it. Maybe they have nothing more to say or they are jealously guarding some secret or whatever. Your blog on vagone green inspired me to place an order with Natural Pigments… so far I have especially enjoyed the Vivianite and the lead tin orange, which I had never seen before. It has a mass tone like Cad Orange Lt. but with white it goes to pink not yellow.
This could be the same blue pigment used to color those beautiful homes and rooftops seen in the Greek Islands. I was told it originally came from Egypt, and if you had it on your home, it meant you were wealthy as it was very costly.
I too have admired the beautiful blues seen around the Med. but azurite and lapis have always been precious. The ancient Egyptians and Chinese created blue cobalt/or copper based glass frits. But the color we see especially on doors and windows is more likely a manufactured copper carbonate, as in Blue Verditer or in our times, probably an ultramarine. In northern Spain the average hardware store sells a blue powder simply called ‘azul’. every season, the locals limewash and repaint creating all those subtle weathered blues against whitewashed walls.