Cobalt blue

This box shows the colour cobalt blue.

Cobalt blue is a cool blue colour. People used to make it using cobalt salts. Cobalt blue is used widely by artists. Many pieces of glassware have this colour--glassware that does have this colour is called cobalt glass.

The first written use of cobalt blue as a colour name in English was in 1777.

Meaning of cobalt blue

• John Varley suggested cobalt blue as a good substitution for ultramarine blue for painting skies.
• Maxfield Parrish, famous partly for the intensity of his skyscapes, used cobalt blue, and cobalt blue is sometimes called Parrish blue as a result.
• Cobalt blue was the primary blue pigment used in Chinese blue and white porcelain for centuries, beginning in the late 8th or early 9th century.

Tones of cobalt blue colour comparison chart

Name	Color	HEX Code	Red	Green	Blue	Hue	Sat	Lum	Source
Cobalt blue		#0047AB	0	71	171	215°	100%	34%
Zaffre		#0014AB	0	20	171	233°	100%	34%
Smalt		#003399	0	51	63	220°	100%	30%	(Dark Powder Blue)
Spanish Cobalt Blue		#00438A	0	67	138	211°	100%	27%	Cobalt Blue (Gallego & Sanz)
Thenard Blue		#333C87	51	60	135	234°	45%	36%	Gallego & Sanz

Cobalt Blue Media

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  An example of cobalt blue hue (not pure cobalt blue)

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  Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Boating on the Seine (La Yole), c. 1879

Related pages

• List of colors