Voluptuous Gloom Ultramarine

Latin voluptuōsus, pleasurable — derived from voluptās (pleasure). As a color modifier, voluptuous implies a saturated-and-rich-and-curving-sensual quality, the deep-rich color of Rubens-and-Boucher baroque-and-rococo flesh-and-fabric tonality. Sits at the bold-and-saturated end of the grid, parallel to lush and plush in tone.

Middle English gloumen, to-look-sullen. As a color modifier, gloom implies a sullen-and-darkened-and-overcast quality, the visual register of Northumbrian-moor-and-Scottish-glen-gloom hand-sullen-and-darkened-and-overcast Northumbrian-moor-and-Scottish-glen-and-Yorkshire-dale gloomed-and-darkened-and-overcast surfaces under Northumbrian-moor-and-Scottish-glen overcast-and-low-cloud heather-and-bracken-light. Sits at the modifier-and-mood end of the grid, parallel to murk and drear 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.