Cobalt Blue

According to Bustanoby’s Color Manual, copyright 1939, which in my book is, hands down, no contest, THE authority of color: 

"It is a deep blue. Compound of cobalt and alumina. 
In admixture with white, cobalt Blue yields Sky Blue tints.
  Cobalt itself is a tough, steel- gray metallic element similar to nickel, valued for the blue pigment it forms. A high percentage of the  world’s supply comes from a district near the town of Cobalt, in Ontario, Canada.”

“Dinky Bird” by Maxfield Parrish, 1904. Via Wikimedia Commons {{PD-US}}

     Cobalt blue is sometimes called Parrish blue because artist Maxfield Parrish used it to create his distinct, intensely blue skyscapes.

      Cobalt salts were first used to decorate ancient Chinese pottery with brilliant blue designs. Other ancient civilizations discovered the artistic potential of cobalt without knowing what metal they were using. One study done in 2014 found cobalt blue glass beads in a Danish grave 3,400 years old. The same glass is found in ancient Egyptian tombs, including that of King Tutankhamen.

 A purer version was later discovered by French chemist Louis Jacques Thénard in 1802, and commercial production began in France in 1807. Painters such as Turner, Renoir, and Van Gogh began to use the new pigment as an alternative to expensive ultramarine.

What I love about cobalt blue is that it goes with denim!

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