For a long time, this was the most expensive pigment that artists could use, even more valuable than gold.

在很長一段時間裡，這種顏料是藝術家可以使用的最昂貴的顏料，甚至比黃金還要貴重。

Artists like Johannes Vermeer, Michelangelo, and Titian loved to use this pigment in their work.

約翰內斯-維米爾、米開朗基羅和提香等藝術家都喜歡在作品中使用這種顏料。

And in this video, I will discuss the exclusivity and special meaning of this color.

在本視頻中，我將討論這種顏色的獨特性和特殊含義。

This painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary, painted in 1654 by Sasso Ferrato, perfectly illustrates the unique results that can be achieved by applying ultramarine to the canvas.

這幅由薩索-費拉託（Sasso Ferrato）於 1654 年繪製的《聖母瑪利亞》完美地詮釋了將群青塗在畫布上所能達到的獨特效果。

It is the incredible luminosity and the shininess that sets it apart from all other colors.

令人難以置信的亮度和光澤使它與其他所有顏色區分開來。

But this spectacular effect came at a price.

但這種壯觀的效果是有代價的。

Let me start by explaining why it is so expensive.

讓我先解釋一下為什麼如此昂貴。

For a long time, ultramarine was made by grinding lapis lazuli into a powder.

長期以來，群青是通過將青金石磨成粉末製成的。

Only in 1826, a synthetic version of ultramarine was invented, after which its use became more economical and it lost its exclusivity.

直到 1826 年，合成版的群青才被髮明出來，此後群青的使用變得更加經濟，也失去了其獨特性。

Ultramarine comes from the Latin word ultramarinus, which means beyond the sea, referring to the origin of the semi-precious lapis lazuli rock, which was imported from a remote valley in the mountains of northeast Afghanistan, where it was already used in the 6th century for wall paintings.

群青來自拉丁語 ultramarinus，意為大海之外，指的是半寶石青金石的原產地，這種石頭是從阿富汗東北部山區的一個偏遠山谷進口的，早在 6 世紀就被用於壁畫。

It was not only hard to obtain the lapis lazuli rock, but it was also the most difficult pigment to grind by hand.

青金石不僅難以獲得，也是最難手工研磨的顏料。

The highest quality mineral was necessary to properly grind the stone to form the basis of the ultramarine pigment.

為了正確研磨石頭，形成群青顏料的基礎，必須使用最優質的礦物。

Before giving you a quick idea of what was necessary in the 15th century to turn lapis lazuli into ultramarine, let me ask you to As you can see, the lapis lazuli rock does contain the blue color, but the challenge was to extract the pure blue from the rock.

在簡單瞭解 15 世紀將青金石轉化為群青所需的條件之前，讓我先請大家看一下 如您所見，青金石岩石確實含有藍色，但難點在於如何從岩石中提取純淨的藍色。

To do that, the lapis lazuli rock was heated in fire, cooled rapidly in water, ground in a bronze mortar, after which the resulting powder was sifted through a strainer, mixed with pine resin, wax, and linseed oil.

為此，青金石要在火中加熱，在水中迅速冷卻，在青銅研缽中研磨，然後用濾網篩出粉末，與松脂、蠟和亞麻籽油混合。

This resulted in a paste that was kneaded for several days until the precious blue was ready for extraction.

這樣就形成了一種糊狀物，經過數天的揉捏，直到可以提取珍貴的藍色為止。

It was then mixed with some other materials, kneaded extensively again, and this process was repeated several times until the bright blue residue, known as ultramarine, could be extracted cleanly.

然後將其與其他材料混合，再次進行大量揉捏，這個過程要重複多次，直到可以乾淨地提取出被稱為群青的亮藍色殘留物。

This exclusive pigment became especially popular during the Renaissance, and it was often used for the most important elements in a painting.

這種獨特的顏料在文藝復興時期尤為流行，通常用於繪畫中最重要的元素。

In the first half of the 15th century, Fra Angelico was a big fan of ultramarine, which we can see, for example, in his Deposition of Christ from 1432.

15 世紀上半葉，弗拉-安傑利科（Fra Angelico）是群青的忠實擁躉，例如，我們可以在他 1432 年創作的《基督的沉睡》（Deposition of Christ）中看到這一點。

He used it so frequently compared to other artists that the pigment became known as Fra Angelico blue.

與其他藝術家相比，他使用這種顏料的頻率非常高，是以這種顏料被稱為 Fra Angelico 藍。

And during this period, the pigment was almost exclusively used in Italy, as it was imported through the port of Venice.

在此期間，這種顏料幾乎只在意大利使用，因為它是通過威尼斯港進口的。

The presence of ultramarine in Renaissance paintings from countries north of Italy is much more sparse.

意大利以北國家的文藝復興時期繪畫中出現群青的情況要稀少得多。

During the early Renaissance, a painter s handbook described ultramarine as noble, beautiful, and perfect beyond all other colors.

在文藝復興早期，一本畫家手冊將群青描述為高貴、美麗和完美，超越了所有其他顏色。

The price of an ounce of this lapis lazuli rock was for centuries similar to the price of an ounce of gold.

幾個世紀以來，一盎司青金石的價格與一盎司黃金的價格相差無幾。

But on top of that, the artist had to factor in the cost of turning the lapis lazuli into the ultramarine pigment, which was as explained a very laborious process.

但除此之外，藝術家還必須考慮將青金石轉化為群青顏料的成本，而這是一個非常費力的過程。

So the price of one ounce of this precious pigment was roughly equivalent to the yearly rent an average person would pay for their house in a city like Florence.

是以，一盎司這種珍貴顏料的價格大約相當於佛羅倫薩這樣的城市中普通人一年的房租。

During the early Renaissance, ultramarine was the mother of Jesus.

在文藝復興早期，群青是耶穌的母親。

We can see that clearly in this painting by Masaccio from 1426, showing the Virgin and Child, and also in this work by Pietro Perugino from the year 1500, showing the Virgin Mary with Jesus and some angels.

我們可以從馬薩喬 1426 年創作的這幅《聖母與聖嬰》，以及佩魯吉諾（Pietro Perugino）1500 年創作的這幅《聖母瑪利亞與耶穌和天使》中清楚地看到這一點。

Before the Renaissance, ultramarine was already used occasionally, maybe most noticeably so in the right panel of the famous Wilton diptych, which was created by the end of the 14th century.

在文藝復興之前，群青已經偶爾被使用，最明顯的可能是 14 世紀末創作的著名的《威爾頓雙聯畫》的右幅。

The unknown artist of this panel has lavishly used the expensive pigment to paint the robe of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus, as well as for the garments of the 11 angels surrounding them.

這幅壁畫的作者不詳，他在繪製抱著耶穌的聖母瑪利亞的長袍以及圍繞她們的 11 位天使的服裝時，大量使用了昂貴的顏料。

We can also see ultramarine in the sky of some of the frescoes painted by Giotto in the beginning of the 14th century, including this scene showing the arrest of Jesus.

我們還可以在喬託於 14 世紀初繪製的一些壁畫的天空中看到群青，其中包括耶穌被捕的場景。

Ultramarine was not only a spectacular color to include in a painting, it also gave an immediate sense of exclusivity to a painting, as artists, commissioners, patrons, and collectors were well aware of the cost of this pigment.

群青不僅是畫作中的亮麗色彩，還能讓人立即感受到畫作的獨特性，因為藝術家、委託人、贊助人和收藏家都非常清楚這種顏料的成本。

A good example of this is the famous painting of Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian, who used the pigment for two cloaks and part of the sky.

提香的名畫《巴克斯和阿里阿德涅》就是一個很好的例子，他用這種顏料繪製了兩件斗篷和部分天空。

This is different from some of the examples of the Virgin Mary that we saw earlier.

這與我們之前看到的一些聖母瑪利亞的例子不同。

Here the color is not used to emphasize an exclusive element in the painting, but rather to create a wow effect, as it clearly stands out from the other colors in the composition.

在這裡，這種顏色並不是用來強調畫作中的某個獨特元素，而是用來營造一種令人驚豔的效果，因為它在構圖中明顯有別於其他顏色。

And Michelangelo also used large quantities of this color for the background of his famous Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel.

米開朗基羅在西斯廷教堂著名的《最後的審判》壁畫中也使用了大量這種顏色作為背景。

A century later, Johannes Vermeer chose a different approach.

一個世紀後，約翰內斯-維米爾選擇了另一種方式。

Thanks to the support of a wealthy collector, Vermeer was able to use more ultramarine paint than his colleagues, but he did not just use it to show off its shininess or exclusivity.

得益於一位富有收藏家的支持，維米爾能夠使用比同行更多的群青顏料，但他使用群青顏料並不僅僅是為了炫耀其光澤或獨特性。

Vermeer was a perfectionist and a very refined artist, so he used the ultramarine in more subtle ways.

維米爾是一位完美主義者，也是一位非常精緻的藝術家，是以他使用群青的方式更加微妙。

For example, he sometimes mixed it with other colors to create accurate shadows in his paintings, like we can see in this lady standing at the virginal.

例如，他有時會將其與其他顏色混合，在畫作中創造出準確的陰影，就像我們在這位站在處女地的女士身上看到的那樣。

And this painting also provides a good moment to say that however expensive the pigment was, it did not guarantee its luminosity would last over time.

這幅畫也為我們提供了一個很好的時機，說明無論顏料多麼昂貴，都不能保證其光亮度能夠持久。

For example, Vermeer used ultramarine for the cushion of the chair in the foreground, but it would have been much more vivid back in the day, as scientific research has shown that the color has degraded and become paler over time.

例如，維米爾在前景中的椅子坐墊上使用了群青，但在當時群青的顏色會更加鮮豔，因為科學研究表明，隨著時間的推移，群青的顏色已經退化，變得更加蒼白。

And for Vermeer s a young woman seated at the virginal, it was used in the curtain, the dress of the woman, and in small quantities to highlight the arms of the woman.

在維米爾的作品《坐在童貞座前的年輕女子》中，它被用在帷幕、女子的裙子上，還被少量用於突出女子的手臂。

Sometimes, he used it just as underpaint, like for particular sections of The Girl with the Wineglass.

有時，他只是將其用作底色，比如《拿酒杯的女孩》中的某些部分。

It is hard to see, but Vermeer used the expensive ultramarine as underpaint for the shadows in the red satin dress here.

雖然很難看到，但維米爾用昂貴的群青作為紅色綢緞裙子陰影的底色。

As you could see throughout this video, the special effects and the exclusivity of ultramarine has contributed to many masterpieces over time.

正如您在這段視頻中看到的，群青的特殊效果和獨特性為許多傑作的誕生做出了貢獻。

And the works shown here are of course only a minor subset of all great works that contain this precious pigment.

當然，這裡展示的作品只是含有這種珍貴顏料的所有偉大作品中的一小部分。

I would love to hear in the comments below if you are familiar with any other paintings you love that contain this pigment.

如果您喜歡含有這種顏料的其他繪畫作品，歡迎在下方評論中告訴我。

Well, I hope you enjoyed this video.

希望你們喜歡這段視頻。

If you did, please consider hitting the thumbs up button to support the channel, and subscribe to the channel to be notified about new videos discussing art history.

如果您觀看了，請點擊 "豎起大拇指 "按鈕支持本頻道，並訂閱本頻道，以便收到討論藝術史的新視頻通知。

Thank you for watching.

感謝您的收看。