Internet Colors - Set of 1035

Cerulean Blue Color 170 - #2A52BE

Discovered in 1805 by Andreas Höpfner, the pigment originally referred to as cerulean blue (or corruleum blue) was first marketed in 1860 as "coeruleum" by George Rowney of the United Kingdom. The primary chemical constituent of the pigment is cobalt (II) stannate.

It is particularly valuable for artistic painting of skies because of the purity of the blue (specifically the lack of greenish hues), its permanence (no other blue pigments retained color as well), and its opaqueness. In classical times, cerulean was used to describe blue pigments, particularly mixtures of copper and cobaltous oxides. These early attempts to create sky blue colors were often less than satisfactory due to greenish hues and lack of permanence. When the pigment cerulean blue was invented, it largely superseded all these prior pigments.