Marian blue is a tone of the color ultramarine named for its use with the Virgin Mary.

This tradition can trace its origin to the Byzantine Empire, from circa 500 AD, where blue was "the color of an empress".

A more practical explanation for the use of this color is that in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the blue pigment was derived from the rock lapis lazuli, a stone imported from Afghanistan of greater value than gold.

Beyond a painter's retainer, patrons were expected to purchase any gold or lapis lazuli to be used in the painting.

Transformations in visual depictions of the Virgin from the 13th to 15th centuries mirror her "social" standing within the Church as well as in society.