Composed Tart Ultramarine

The past participle of compose, to arrange together — used as a color modifier for hues that read as deliberate and balanced. Composed black, composed gray: the saturation is moderate, the hue is calmly positioned without aggression. Sits at the bold-and-quiet edge of the grid near settled and resolute.

Old English teart, sharp-or-acid-tasting. As a color modifier, tart implies a sharp-acid-and-fruit-puckered quality, the visual register of Bramley-apple-and-rhubarb-tart hand-sharp-acid-and-fruit-puckered Bramley-apple-and-rhubarb-tart-and-Yorkshire-orchard tart-and-sharp-acid-and-fruit-puckered surfaces under Bramley-apple-and-rhubarb-tart-and-Yorkshire-orchard Yorkshire-orchard-and-Kentish-Garden-of-England puckered-orchard-light. Sits at the modifier-and-flavor end of the grid, parallel to sour and tang 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.