Colours

“ If you have a good eye for colours, you will soon find out how constantly Nature puts purple and green together, purple and scarlet, green and blue, yellow and neutral grey, and the like; and how she strikes these colour-concords for general tones, and then works into them with innumerable subordinate ones; and you will gradually come to like what she does, and find out new and beautiful chords of colour in her work every day. If you enjoy them, depend upon it you will paint them to a certain point right: or, at least, if you do not enjoy them, you are certain to paint them wrong. ”

“ That beautiful diffusion of æriel and fluctuating pearly reflections, that play equally over the surfaces of the strongest colours, shadows, and lights, in the tenderest hues and forms, and with which all nature appears invested, should engage our deepest attention and enquiry, as their properties so softly blend and break down the harshness and influence of positive colour, and the asperity of opposing tints, by tempering them with their airy and luminous sweetness. ”

“ Such is the truth of colour, such the exactness of perspective, that one might think to go in and walk on the pavement, tessellated with stones of divers colours, which, diminishing in size, make the room seem larger, and lead you to believe that there is atmosphere between each figure. ”

“ Do not care what be your colour — green, blue, or red — but mix up all the colours and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love. Ours is to work. The results will take care of themselves. ”

“ So we must imagine all these colours glowing with light and never still—perpetually changing from one to the other and shading off from one into the other, one colour emerging, rising to the dominant position, and then disappearing to give place to another, and effecting these changes imperceptibly yet rapidly also, for if we take our eyes away for even a few minutes we find that the aspect has altogether altered. ”

“ Taking ‘colour’ in this sense to stand for specific colours, not for classes or ranges of varying hues, sets of colours, where in certain spatial proportions and in certain relations of saturation, brightness and luminosity relatively to one another, excite responses of emotion and attitude with marked individual characteristics. ”

“ For he had curious colours, that could give
The human face, so like, it seem'd to live. ”

“ I call those simple colours, which are not composed, and cannot be made or supplied by any mixture of other colours. Black and White are not reckoned among colours; the one is the representative of darkness, the other of light: that is, one is a simple privation of light, the other is light itself. ”

“ For just as we experience the colours on the blue side of the spectrum as cold colours, and those on the yellow side as warm colours, so does green give man the impression of a neutral colour, influencing us in neither direction. ”

“ It is also well worthy of remark that the brightest colours are often used in broad masses, and when so, are always arranged chromatically, in the sequence of the rainbow’s hues, and are hence never displeasing to the eye. The hues, though bright, are subdued by the imperfect light: the countenances of the images are all calm, and their expression solemn. Whichever way you turn, the eye is met by some beautiful specimen of colouring or carving, or some object of veneration. ”

“ From what we have said, it will be seen that the relations and harmony of colours form a complex subject, requiring constant and careful study; one, indeed, into which he who would become a colourist must enter heart and soul. ”

“ Colours, whose nearest approach is to black, as they retire into distance, partake most of the azure of the air:—and those colours most dissimilar to black, preserve their proper colour as they recede. ”

“ If colours are not placed in harmony with each other, they must be in contact with such as give them value; as red against a cold, or green against a warm colour. In short, the grand principle, in all its constituent parts, simply amounts to this. ”

“ With the colourists, then, the light depends exclusively upon the choice of the colours employed to render it and is so intimately connected with the tone that we may truthfully say that with them light and colour are one. ”

“ It is this completeness which supplies the basis of our colour harmony. The colours, moreover, must be so [Pg 282] arranged that not merely their artistic contrast, but also their mediation and resolution, and a repose and reconciliation as the result of such, is made visible to the sight. Such effective contrast and repose in conciliated extremes is brought about partly by the way the colours are associated, and partly by the degree of intensity which characterizes each colour. ”

“ Suppose a picture, composed of one part shade and the other light—the light being warm, and the shadow composed of cold colours—a red or warm-coloured figure laid against the shadowed side, and a blue one brought out from the light, would, in addition to possessing the greatest force of colour, have a spirited and imposing effect. ”

“ As the quality of colours is discovered to the eye by the light, it is natural to conclude, that where there is most light, there also the true quality of the colour is to be seen; and where there is most shadow the colour will participate of, and be tinged with the colour of that shadow. ”

“ In landscape we see nature employing broken colours in harmonious consonance and variety, while, equally true to picturesque relations, she uses also broken forms and figures, in conjoint harmony with colours; occasionally throwing into the composition a regular form, or a primary colour, for the sake of animation and contrast. And if we inspect her works more closely, we shall find that they have no uniform tints. ”

“ Any single colour appears most beautiful and brilliant when near the same colour, but not having so much density in it. Observe how colours are blended or contrasted in the plumage of birds, the wings of butterflies, &c. ”

“ Being the most positive of colours, and holding the middle station of the primaries, red contrasts and harmonizes with black and white, which are the negative powers or neutrals of colours, and the extremes of the scale. ”

“ The second topic of interest is the inquiry into the number and tone of subjective colours. A perfect theory of colour ought, of course, to embrace all possible human sensations of the kind. Now many persons are able to see in dreams a rich amber light far softer and more pure than any tint ever beheld by the Eye. ”

“ Black, as the colour of Darkness, is expressive of gloom and melancholy. The colour of the heavens, in serene weather, is Blue: Blue, is therefore expressive to us of somewhat of the same pleasing and temperate character. Green, is the colour of the Earth, in Spring: it is, consequently, expressive to us of some of those delightful Images which we associate with that season. The expressions of those colours, which are the signs of particular passions in the Human countenance, and which, from this connexion, derive their effect, every one is acquainted with. ”

“ From the consideration of the proprieties of which impressions, we may collect these short definitions of Colours: That Blue is an impression on the Retina of an oblique and confus'd pulse of light, whose weakest part precedes, and whose strongest follows. ”

“ Of greater Moment in the Investigation of the Nature of Colours is the Controversie, Whether those of the Rain-bow, and those that are often seen in Clouds, before the Rising, or after the Setting of the Sun; and in a word, Whether those other Colours, that are wont to be call'd Emphatical, ought or ought not to be accounted True Colours. ”

“ If you mean that the proximity of one colour should give beauty to another that terminates near it, observe the rays of the sun in the composition of the rainbow, the colours of which are generated by the falling rain, when each drop in its descent takes every colour of that bow, as is demonstrated in its place [1] . ”

“ In connection with inlaid ornament, we give a few hints to guide the workman in choice of colours. Much of the effect produced will result from the relations which the colours will bear to each other. A well-executed piece of work may be spoiled by the injudicious selection of colours. If the finisher be ignorant of the lessons which nature teaches in the distribution of colours, he cannot expect to please a connoisseur whose taste has been corrected and refined by a study of the harmonies of colours. ”

“ The general tone of the work is warm;—the blues, greys and greens are used as a foil to give value to the warm colours, the shadows and middle tints: the greys are glazed warm, to preserve the richness of the general effect throughout. The reds and blues are combined of colours possessing the properties of each. The quantity of warm and cold colours are to be principally observed—the union of one part with another—preservation of the breadth, and the general harmony. ”

“ By compounding any two of the primary colours, as red and yellow, or yellow and blue, the intermediate colour, as orange or green, may be produced.
7. The colours of bodies arise from their dispositions to reflect one sort of rays, and to absorb the other.
8. Such bodies as reflect two or more sorts of rays, appear of various colours.
9. The whiteness of bodies arises from their disposition to reflect all the rays of light promiscuously.
10. The blackness of bodies proceeds from their incapacity to reflect any of the rays of light. ”

“ But they hardly seem to afford a sufficient explanation, either of the wonderful contrasts and total unlikeness of the sensations produced in us by the chief primary colours, or of the exquisite charm and pleasure we derive from colour itself, as distinguished from variously-coloured objects, in the case of which association of ideas comes into play. It is hardly conceivable that the material uses of colour to animals and to ourselves, required such very distinct and powerfully-contrasted sensations ”

“ If now to red and violet we add green, which has a rate of vibration about midway between red and violet, we obtain a sensation of white. Red, green and violet are therefore the three fundamental colours.
4. Physiological Characters of Colours.—Colour physiologically is a sensation, and it therefore does not depend only on the physical stimulus of light, but also on the part of the retina affected. The power of distinguishing colours is greatest when they fall on, or immediately around, the yellow spot, where the number of cones is greatest. ”

“ These powers of colours upon vision require the particular attention of the colourist. To remedy the ill effect arising from the eyes having dwelt upon a colour, they should be either passed gradually to its opposite colour, and refreshed amid compound or neutral tints, or washed in the clear light of day. ”

“ The result is, that instead of a spot of white light we have a narrow band of brilliant colours which succeed each other in regular order, from violet at one end through blue, green, and yellow to red at the other. ”

“ The nearer a colour is to the eye, the purer it will appear; arraying itself as it retires, with the colour of the air interposed between it; consequently, the purest colours should only occur in foregrounds,—where the shadows, for the same reason, would likewise be darkest. ”

“ White roses and red roses: those were beautiful colours to think of. And the cards for first place and second place and third place were beautiful colours too: pink and cream and lavender. Lavender and cream and pink roses were beautiful to think of. Perhaps a wild rose might be like those colours and he remembered the song about the wild rose blossoms on the little green place. But you could not have a green rose. But perhaps somewhere in the world you could. ”

“ The powers of colours in contrasting each other agree with their correlative powers of light and shade, and are to be distinguished from their powers individually on the eye, which are those of light alone. ”

“ A person in whom, either from natural gift or from cultivation, the impressions of colour were peculiarly vivid and distinct, if asked which of two blue flowers was of the darkest tinge, though he might never have compared the two, or even looked at them together, might be able to give a confident answer on the faith of his distinct recollection of the colours ”

“ Nature presents a multitude of colours corresponding with the colours of the scale; but these are extremely changeable, while the natural colours are altogether unchangeable, except in the particular cases specified in the last paragraph but one. Let us fix our attention for a moment on the green, which is more prevalent than any other colour. ”

“ Colour Separation.—The colour theory shows that complementary colours produce an effect pleasing to the eye, and this simple principle may be found quite a useful guide if the 125worker exercises discrimination in employing colours which are as nearly as possible of the same depth of hue or of the same weight of colour. ”

“ Colours are either simple or compounded, meerely tinctures of vegetables, or substances of minerals, or both: the simple colours are such as of themselves, being tempered with the water or oyle, doe give a colour. ”

“ The organ of colour well developed gives harmony and excellence in colouring and is useful to botanists, dyers, mercers, and all artists: That the faculty is abused, or rather wanting may be witnessed by the numberless facts that we meet with constantly, where people dress in gaudy colours and appear quite regardless of their being suitable or otherwise. ”

“ Colour'd (and Glossy) Body instead of the White Wall. As by throwing the Beams from a Yellow Body upon a Blew, there would be Exhibited a kind of Green, as in the Experiments about Colours is more fully Declar'd. ”