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The extensive use of the costly pigment ultramarine in the paintings of Johannes Vermeer-creator of masterpieces such as Woman with a Lute (ca. 1662-1663)-was likely____ as much by the pigment's chemical durability as by its exclusiveness and vivid blue hue: relative to indigo and other blue pigments employed by Vermeer and his contemporaries, ultramarine is less susceptibie to degradation.