Lazurite (Lapis Lazuli) Oil Paint

Lazurite is a deep blue color from genuine precious lapis lazuli stones used in historical painting. It is a transparent, medium grained color with good tinting strength. It is a very long paint and makes soft, cool tints with white. Our pigment is made from genuine lapis lazuli imported from Afghanistan.

The name lazurite is for the mineral that is found in lapis lazuli rock, usually found only at high elevations and at few locations on the earth. Lazurite is a complex sodium calcium aluminum silicate sulfate mineral found in calcite formations. It is a popular but expensive mineral found combined with other minerals in a rock called "lapis lazuli." Lapis lazuli or lapis for short is mostly lazurite but commonly contains pyrite, calcite and other minerals. The name lazurite means "blue rock" and is a brilliant blue with violet or greenish tints. Small crystals of pyrite are always present in lapis and their gold yellow color distinguishes lapis from a similar mineral, sodalite, and the synthetic pigment, ultramarine. The natural mineral exhibits different properties and color nuances from artificial ultramarine and is the reason why it is highly prized even today.

Composition and Permanence

For a detailed explanation of the terms in the table above, please visit Composition and Permanence.

Notes

Some separation of pigment and oil may occur in Rublev Colours Artist Oils and is a natural process when no wax or stabilizers are added to paint to prevent this from occurring.

All images of color swatches in this web site are only approximations of the actual color of the oil paint. We have taken every care to match the color in these pictures on calibrated color monitors to the actual color. However, because of the wide variance in color monitors the results you get may vary.

Color Swatch Note: The color swatch was created with a thick application (left side) of color and a tint (right side) made with equal parts of color and titanium white and applied on acrylic primed cotton canvas.

Drawdown Note: The image of the "drawdown" contains a pre-mixed paint film of 6 mil (0.006 inch) thickness applied to a standard test card for the purposes of examining color consistency, opacity and other qualities. The drawdowns show the color full strength (mass tone), on the left, and mixed in a 1:2 ratio with titanium white on the right. The bottom area of the drawdowns are scraped to show undertones.