Frank Howard

“ And if the atmosphere be thick with vapour, the sky assumes a milky colour, and the blue tint is lost in that of the medium. When the atmosphere is just so rare as to be scarcely perceptible in its influence upon terrestrial objects,—as in Italy, or the eastern climes, where the most distant buildings appear diminished in size, but almost as distinct as those close to the spectator,—yet sufficiently dense to become a veil to the expanse of space, the colour of the sky appears the most intense blue. ”

“ Colouring is the decorative part of Art. It answers to Rhythm and Rhyme in poetry, as the means of attracting the senses. As it is a means of producing, so its indispensable qualification is,—BEAUTY. In the higher aims of Art it should be made subservient to Character and Expression, by according with the nature of the subject; but, still under the limitation and regulation of those principles which govern Pictorial Effect. ”

“ Sir Joshua Reynolds in one of his Discourses has stated, that the Edifice of Art has been gradually raised by the contributions of the great men of past ages, and that although every addition to knowledge required the exertion of a mind far in advance of its contemporaries to effect it, the results have now become the common property of all artists, and may easily be appropriated by every Student—"that much may now be taught, which it required vast genius to discover." ”

“ In Water colours, the greater number of pigments used are transparent, and the legitimate method of using them proceeds upon the principle of working entirely in transparent media; which has, at all times, excited great hopes with regard to that branch of Art, as affording a better means than Oil colours (in which the light tints are all composed with opaque white) of producing the brilliancy and truth of Nature, in combination with the transparency (tone) which is required in a work of Art. ”

“ Light is the origin, or immediate cause of colour, and the brighter the light, the greater variety of tints will be found or displayed. As we cannot rival the cause, the Bianchi contend that we must increase the effect by introducing colour in lieu of those tints which in nature appear neutral; and thus conceal the weakness of our imitation of the cause, by making it apparently produce greater effects. Thus all greys are rendered by pure Ultramarine blue tints, or delicate pearly purple, and the greatest possible variety of beautiful and delicate colours are introduced in the light ”

“ Skill is the natural result of practice or fortunate organization, and will, of course, differ with the perseverance or capacity of the student, which has led to the persuasion that the productions of Art are dependent upon what is called natural genius.
But what is known of Art may be as easily communicated as any other fact, and as easily acquired as a knowledge of history, or any other appeal to the memory, and is indispensable equally to the critic and to the amateur. ”

“ The development of a new principle of Art, whether relating to Composition, Chiaroscuro, or Colour, is as meritorious and worthy of distinction as, if not more so than, the production of an able work upon the principles of Art previously established by others. ”

“ Ludovico Caracci followed the Venetian school, but subdued the colours of the whole picture, to what Sir Joshua Reynolds calls a "cloistered tone," the effect of a "dim religious light, through storied pane." Neither white nor black are admitted: the deepest shadows do not descend below a rich brown; the brightest lights do not rise above a creamy yellow. The blue is no longer opposed to a brown of the same relative shade, but is introduced in the half-lights, and carefully blended into the shadows, by means of warm reflections, and the interposition of reddish purple shadows. ”

“ The art of composition, in regard to colour, consists in arranging objects in such a manner, that their true colouring will produce the combination required by the principle adopted. The art of too many of the artists of the present day, consists in introducing the colours required, without any reference to their being found in nature or not. ”

“ The atmospheric greys are introduced to no greater extent than is indispensable to prevent the picture appearing rusty. The shadows are deep rich browns, into which are thrown still warmer reflections; and the whole picture is subdued to a soft-mysterious effect, which is admirably adapted to produce what is technically termed repose, and to excite gentle, reverential, solemn, and even affectionate feelings. It is a style of colouring peculiarly suited to religious subjects; and in representations of interiors, may be said to be like nature, because Nature may be made to appear like it. ”

“ But this is, in fact, what may be taught or communicated in a short time; it is the knowledge resulting from the experience of ages,—the edifice built up of discoveries from time to time contributed to the fund of Art by the success and failures of our predecessors. This is the knowledge or science of painting, which should precede all practice or attainment of skill, and such portion as relates to colouring, it is the intention of the present work to supply. Skill will follow as a result of the endeavour to make use of the means to produce the end—Pictures. ”

“ The great principle of colouring being Variety within the limits of Harmony, such masses of similar tints should be of different sizes and shapes, and should be interspersed at different distances through the picture, so as to suggest an undulating line, traversing all, or at least three, of the four quarters of the picture, that all the particular colour shall not be on one side, and none on the other, nor all at the lower, and none in the upper half of the picture. ”

“ Titian has adopted another principle in the painted ceiling of the Hall of Judgment, in the Ducal palace at Venice. Pure greys are interspersed amongst masses of bright crimson, which are opposed to some pure white and blue, broken by flesh tints. The reds and greys are supported by some warm yellows, and the whole assimilated by rich brown shadows. The contrasts of colour and Chiaroscuro are vivid, and require care in the shapes, as well as the situations of the masses and points of relief. ”

“ Another principle adopted by Turner is, to contrast rich autumnal yellows in the foreground, with a brilliant Italian blue sky, graduated through a series of exquisitely delicate pearly tints, to meet the cooler green tints of the middle ground. The warm colours in the foreground are qualified by purply half-tints, and supported by warm shadows and some rich crimsons ”

“ The definition of "Mellowness," as "caused by those warm colours which, when blended, produce an agreeable tone or hue, and would then be said to sympathize and create harmony," is as incorrect and indefinite, as the remainder of the paragraph is without foundation:—"On the contrary, if, in mixing two or more colours, a disagreeable and harsh effect were produced, they would be said to have an antipathy, and create rawness—this adulteration of one colour by another causes what painters term a MUDDY effect." Painters term an effect muddy when it is dirty in colour and wanting in transparency. ”

“ The Bianchi are more regardless of truth than they need be, even to develope their principles to the utmost. And the Neri admit themselves to be wandering in a maze, without any fixed ideas of their own principles, and therefore are less frequently successful than the reverse; and they are equally obnoxious to the charge of departing farther from truth, than is necessary to give their own principles full play. Very recently a heresy of this faction adopted a peculiarity of tone, which is not to be found in the works of any of the great men of their party ”

“ The Landscape painters, on the other hand, almost universally belong to the Bianchi party; as truth or apparent truth is so much more indispensable in subjects that only display the scenery of nature, and which depend upon that resemblance for producing an impression, than in subjects which appeal to the passions by the display of some stirring incident. From the nature of the materials employed, the tendency of oil painting is to the side of the Neri; whilst the general inclination induced by Water-colour drawing, is in favour of the Bianchi party. ”

“ But in a statue, by reason of its convexity, the second species of appearance, the Pictorial, is much more readily appreciated, from the strong opposition of light and shadow, than in a flat surface,—a ceiling, a pavement, or meadow, in which the perception of the modifications of colour, arising from what is termed aerial perspective, is considerably influenced, by the Association above mentioned, until the eye has become educated to observe these minute and delicate gradations of tint. ”

“ Green, yellow, and orange objects become particularly brilliant in sunshine.
The shadows of the foreground are, in Nature, particularly negative or colourless; but as they recede, become gradually more blue. Sir Joshua Reynolds has made the shadows on the arm of his Sleeping Girl nearly black. He is one of the Neri. The Bianchi would have made them partake more of the colour opposite to that of light, purply brown, broken with red reflections. The shadows on green objects in the foreground would be rendered by dark crimson. ”

“ Such being the effect of the atmosphere, and such being the antagonizing influence of Association in looking at Nature, it has been found necessary for the purposes of Art, in representation, to exaggerate the former, to overstep the modesty of Nature, and thus to produce what may be termed conventional imitations or translations of Nature. ”

“ For, though light may be very beautiful; and the Rainbow may be very beautiful; a totally different kind of beauty is required for a picture. The colours of the Rainbow may perfectly harmonize; but it is more than doubtful whether the person whose whole picture was a representation of a Rainbow, would be considered to have produced a finely coloured work of Art.
Harmony, in Pictorial Colour, does not depend upon any particular proportionate quantities of the different tints; nor in any particular disposition or arrangement of them ”

“ The endeavour of the present work is to fix and develope, for the benefit of the Amateur and the Student, some of the acknowledged general principles of Colouring as a means of Art, without reference to the purposes to which such Art shall be applied,—without reference to poetical expression or character, or to the imitation of the details of Nature, which are requisite for the production of great works. ”

“ But, however, the union of Water-colours with Oil may be advantageous for these purposes, and thus Opaque Water-colours may receive a partial sanction; it cannot be denied that, in the instances previously alluded to, in which the Opaque Water-colours are used for no other purpose than the facility of recovering half-tints that had been too much obscured, the only advantage of Water-colours is abandoned, without obtaining the equivalent of richness, arising from texture in Oil; and the purity of the one art is lost, without attaining the force of the other. ”

“ As it is impossible with pigments to rival the brightness of light, it has been found necessary to adopt some method of forcing the effect of colours, so as to conceal or to supply a compensation for this deficiency, and apparently to produce the vigour of truth. ”

“ The eye is excited by Colour, and the object of painting, independent of poetical expression or character, is to excite the eye agreeably. But green is found to excite the eye less than any other tint, (thereby affording some corroboration to the idea that, strictly speaking, its opposite red, is the only true colour,) not even excepting black ”

“ The shadows are cooler than the lights, but very far from cold; being of a Sepia brown, and sometimes warmer, with some cool reflections from the air. The sky is gently graduated from a rich yellow to the most delicate warm grey. The middle ground affords some blackish-green half-tints or shadows; and some golden lights are introduced in front.
Cuyp treated figures, animals, and boats in this way. The points requiring attention and care are, first, the tone of the sky and yellow lights, which must be obtained from yellow and Roman ochres; the sky should have a creamy quality of colour ”

“ The lighter shades of Tone in this sense are technically included under the term Greys; warm, as they contain Orange; cool, as they contain Purple or Green. Tints and Tones are further classed as pure, as they approach purple, and those tints observed in Mother of Pearl, hence, also pearly tints; warm or hot as they approach Orange; heavy, and unless they are exceedingly transparent, muddy, as they approach Green.
Half-tints express those gradations of colour, and HALF-LIGHTS those gradations of light, between the greatest brilliancy and the shadows. ”

“ A little consideration will show, that this, as well as all restrictive regulations, such as that blue must not come in the front of the picture, &c. are unfounded, or nearly the whole of the Dutch school of landscape and interiors must be condemned as wanting in Harmony, or bad colourists; for Ruysdael and Hobbima, Teniers and Ostade, seem to have had a horror of warm colours, while, on the other hand, Cuyp and Both seem to have had an equal dread of cool tints. That a balance of warm and cold colour is one principle by which Pictorial Harmony may be obtained, is perfectly true ”