Vermeer’s use of ultramarine in this way seems to be exceptional. The Delft artist Carel Fabritius also used ultramarine for the sky and for the mixed purple/blue of the tablecloth in A View of Delft of 1652, but the pigment was not included in mixed browns or other areas of the painting. What is perhaps most extraordinary is that the costly mineral blue pigment has been used to produce the mixed brown of the ceiling beams in 'The Music Lesson', with the likely aim of achieving an integrated colouristic harmony. Mixtures of ultramarine and green earth, often applied over an underpaint of green earth combined with black, have also been used for the patterned curtain in this painting. įig.11 Paint cross-section from NG2568 taken from the skirt showing ultramarine combined with green earth and a few tiny particles of red earth. Ultramarine is used in relatively small discrete regions of the distinctive true blue colour for which this expensive pigment is renowned such as for the upholstery of the chairs in Young Woman standing at a Virginal and 'The Music Lesson' (Royal Collection) and the panel of curtain behind the virginal in Young Woman seated at a Virginal. Apart from unifying the overall colouristic effect, its distinctive presence may have subtly enhanced the perceived value of the paintings for collectors. By contrast, Vermeer made liberal, almost unorthodox, use of this costly pigment, mixing it into a range of colours. Most artists used it sparingly, hoping to derive maximum effect from its distinctive intense blue colour. Ultramarine – extracted from finely ground lapis lazuli – was extremely expensive. 1 UltramarineĪn expensive mineral blue pigment extracted from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, which was imported into Europe via Venice from Afghanistan. Pigments reported in other paintings by Vermeer include: azurite, smalt, indigo, an iron phosphate pigment likely to be vivianite the copper green pigment verdigris as well as greens made from combining blue and yellow pigments and lake pigments likely to be weld (yellow), cochineal and madder (red). The palette also includes bone black, charcoal black and lead white. Yellows identified are lead-tin yellow, yellow earth and a yellow lake pigment. The only green is green earth, although a range of red pigments was employed: vermilion red lake and red earth.

In these four paintings Vermeer used ultramarine – by far the most expensive pigment available to artists – to the exclusion of all other blue pigments. Vermeer was a master of colouristic effects, but like most 17th-century Dutch painters he worked with a surprisingly limited palette.

Vermeer used equipment