Cerulean Blue

Inspired by Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada:

“You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select... I don't know... that lumpy blue sweater, for instance because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent... wasn't it who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.” (imdb.com)

 

Cerulean Blue was discovered by Andreas Hopfner in 1805, and the pigment’s primary chemical ingredient is cobalt stannate. It was not readily available until 1860, when it was introduced in England by George Rowney (http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/indiv/history/ceruleanblue.html). Thereafter, it became the preferred pigment for artistic use in painting the sky, because it lacked greenish hues and it retained its color very well (Wikipedia.org). As the above quote indicates, it has gone on to become utilized in fashion as well. In 1999, Pale Cerulean was named the color of the New Millennium by Pantone (pantone.com), while a bright tone of cerulean can be found in Crayola crayons. Cerulean is found in nature, on birds including: the cerulean cuckoo-shrike, cerulean kingfisher, cerulean paradise-flycatcher, cerulean warbler, and cerulean-capped manakin. (Wikipedia.org)

 

Perhaps not a meaning to another “culture,” per say, but evidently in the video game world, Lords of Madness specifically, one can invoke the Cerulean Sign, waving their hand in the air, and leaving a glowing blue rune in the air, which becomes a pulse of cerulean light (http://dndtools.eu/spells/lords-of-madness--72/invoke-the-cerulean-sign--1539/). Interesting!

More on the pigment can be found at http://www.paintmaking.com/blue.htm:

“Cerulean Blue  PB 35 ASTM l
Chemical type and description
Inorganic synthetic mixed metal oxide. Oxides of cobalt and tin. A bright sky blue color of great permanence. invented in 1805 it was not introduced as an artist's color until 1870 due to its high cost. it is one of the most opaque colors on the palette. Very useful for the landscape artist. It is an excellent drier and makes a fairly flexible oil paint. Do not confuse with the cobalt chromate also marketed under the name Cerulean Blue but tends to be greener (it comes in beautiful turquoise versions) and a little darker. Its color index number is PB 36. While it shares many excellent properties the chromium version lacks the unique sky blue character of PB 35 although it does tend to be cheaper and has its own beauty.
Toxicity
Cobalt is considered toxic. Do not breath dust.
Media suitability
Linseed oil, Alkyd, Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache, Tempera, Encaustic, Fresco.”

 

Photos within courtesy of Wikipedia.org.