‘Forgotten’ Egyptian blue pigment found in Raphael fresco
Scientists speculate that knowledge of making the ‘first synthetic pigment’ wasn’t quite as lost as some have supposed
The long-forgotten pigment Egyptian blue was used by the painter Raphael in a famous fresco, several centuries after the recipe for making it was thought lost, according to a new chemical study.
Scientists who studied the chemical composition of Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea, painted in 1514 on a wall of the Villa Farnesina in Rome, found evidence of Egyptian blue – calcium copper silicate – that the artist is thought to have synthesised through experimentation in his workshop.