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IIRC there's a theory that blue paint is incredibly expensive in the past.

So ultramarine blue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramarine) is made from lapis lazuli which is a semi-precious stone. That was presumably quite expensive.

Rivaled the price of gold and was used on the most important figures eg the Virgin Mary - until a reward was offered for a synthetic version - https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-a-brief-histor...

TIL that the name "ultramarine" is because it came from "beyond the sea" (Afghanistan) from the perspective of Rome. I always figured it was because it's such a deep blue.

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