Humans, with their inherent lack of body covering, have since antiquity made clothing to protect them from the elements. They have also harvested the colours in nature to adorn their clothing for purposes of attracting mates and for designation of social hierarchy. Carmine, a pigment harvested from dried and crushed cochineal insects, became Central America's second most valuable export next to silver following the Spanish invasion of the Aztec empire, and was used in the robes of Catholic cardinals. Tyrian purple, a pigment prepared from the mucus of Murex snails, was a symbol of wealth and power in the Greek and Roman empires. Ultramarine blue, the most expensive pigment from the Renaissance era and prepared from crushing the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli, was used in manuscripts and in paintings by famous artists, including Vermeer.
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