Mary is frequently but NOT always depicted wearing a BLUE robe or cape.
Usually blue of an intensity that suggest ultramarine lapis lazuli was used as the pigment.
There are two main reasons why sometimes blue is used and sometimes its not.
ONE Lapis lazuli blue was an expensive imported mineral and well contracts for paintings survive they often specifiy actually how much lapis lazuli is to be bought and used as a dry pigment that can be measured out.
Only wealthy patrons could afford and commission Mary as Queen of Heaven images.
TWO Sometimes she is not shown wearing blue not just because of the expense of the blue pigment but because an other aspect of beliefs about her are being emphasized.
Here are some examples
This is part of the Ghent Altarpiece by Van Eyck
As Ghent was a major city cathedral blue is used here to make Mary stand out from the other 3 Marys at the Tomb.
However this Flemish painter does not use blue possibly to emphasize the role and presence of the Apostles?
If you're using blue for an illumined manuscript and covering a smaller area you can "blue mary"!
no ultramarine here though! the blue gray in the cape may be smalt or azurite mixed with something else.
and here its Christ who wears Blue not the women!
More examples next post!
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