Imposing Domus Ultramarine

Latin impōnere, to place upon — present-participle of impose. As a color modifier, imposing implies a deep-and-massive-and-architectural quality, the dark cool-gray of Citadel-and-Cathedral monumental architecture against the sky. Sits at the deep-and-architectural end of the grid, parallel to towering and looming in scale.

Latin domus, house-or-home. As a color modifier, domus implies a Latin-house-and-Roman-domus-and-atrium quality, the visual register of Pompeian-domus-and-Roman-atrium hand-Latin-house-and-Roman-domus-and-atrium Pompeian-domus-and-Roman-atrium-and-impluvium domus-and-Latin-house surfaces under Pompeian-domus-and-Roman-atrium-and-impluvium Pompeian-and-Herculaneum-domus Roman-villa-light. Sits at the modifier-and-Latin end of the grid, parallel to arbor and via in usage.

The pigment ground from lapis lazuli — the Afghan mineral imported through Venice in the late Middle Ages, more expensive by weight than gold during the Renaissance. The color refers to a freshly mixed ultramarine pigment in linseed oil: a saturated, slightly violet-shifted deep blue with the matte finish of micron-ground rock. Deeper than cobalt, cooler than royal, with the art-historical weight of the blue Vermeer reserved for Mary's robe.