Q: What is the difference between the color “gamboge” and the
color “new gamboges”? What about “ultramarine” and “French ultramarine”?
A: Gamboge is a fugitive color made from a gum or resin
harvested from a type of evergreen that grows in Southeast Asia. New
gamboge is a synthetic yellow that simulates the effect of gamboge by
blending Hansa yellow with a little bit of red. “Ultramarine” is Latin
for beyond the sea, and it refers to the fact that the color was
originally made by milling lapis lazuli, a semi-precious stone that
likely came on ships from Afghanistan. In the mid-1800s art materials
manufacturers began calling synthetic versions of ultramarine “French
ultramarine.” All ultramarine blue pigments are now synthesized from
various elements.