1.25 oz. W&N Artists' Oil Colors Cobalt Blue #178

Cobalt blue has a long and illustrious history. It is a very stable color (an aluminum-oxide, or cobalt aluminate) that was used by the Chinese as a coloring agent in their blue and white porcelain as early as the 8th century. It was discovered in its pure form in Europe in 1802 and was very popular as a substitute for the prohibitively expensive ultramarine pigment. It's often used to tint glass because of its ability to almost completely filter out yellow. Maxfield Parrish was famous for his use of cobalt blue, to the point that the color is sometimes known as Parrish blue. Today most cobalt blue comes from Norway or Germany, which is famous for its blaufarbenwerke (or blue color works) in the mountains of Saxony.