to me that painters of interiors, have, other things being equal,
more skill than historical painters in faithfully reproducing the
modifications of light. Historical painters, attaching more importance
to the attitudes and physiognomy of their figures than to the other
parts of their composition, attend less to small details, the faithful
imitation of which is the essential merit of the painter of interiors.
Besides, the historical painter is never in a position to see the whole
of the scene he would represent, while the painter of interiors, having
constantly his model before him, sees it completely, as he imitates
it upon the canvas. Hence, therefore, in every small composition the
colours, as well as the objects represented, must be distributed with a
kind of symmetry, so as to avoid being what I can best express by the
term _spotty_. In fact, for want of a good distribution of objects,
the canvas will not be filled in some parts, or, if it is, there will
be, in many places, evident confusion; so also if the colours be not
properly distributed, the picture will be spotty, because they are too
far isolated from the others. (See 249-251.)
343. I believe that those painters who will study the mixed and
simultaneous contrasts of colours, in order to employ rationally
the coloured elements of their palette, will perfect themselves in
_absolute colouring_ as by studying the principles of geometry they
perfect themselves in linear perspective. I have no doubt but that the
difficulty encountered by painters ignorant of the law of contrast,
of faithfully imitating their model, has been with many the cause of
a colouring dull and inferior to that of artists, who, less careful
than they in the fidelity of imitation, or not so well organized for
seizing all the modifications of light, have worked more by their first
impressions, or, in other words, seeing the model more rapidly, their
eyes have not had time to become fatigued; and thus, content with the
imitation which they have made, they have not returned to their work
too often to modify, to efface, and afterwards to reproduce it upon
a canvas soiled by the colours first put on. There are, indeed, many
painters, to whom the maxim, “Let well alone,” is peculiarly applicable.
SECOND DIVISION.
_Imitation of Coloured Objects by Materials of a Definite
Size, as Threads, &c_.
344. The tapestries of Gobelins and of Beauvais, and also the
carpets of Savonnerie, and certain very elaborate mosaics, may all
be considered as works which resemble the method of painting in
_chiaro-’scuro_; while the windows of Gothic churches correspond more
or less exactly to painting in _flat tints_; so also with tapestries
for furniture and carpets, which, instead of being fabricated with
scales of at least sixteen or eighteen tones, as they are in the royal
manufactories, are composed with scales consisting of three or four
tones only, and, far from imitating the effects of _chiaro-’scuro_, the
coloured objects produced present to the eye only small monochromous
bands of a single tone.
345. There are also some works whose coloured designs are upon a kind
of mixed system, being the result of the juxtaposition of monochromous
single tinted parts, of a visible size, but in which the effects of
_chiaro-’scuro_ are sought by using gradations of scale or a mixture of
hues; such are ordinary mosaics, carpets, embroidered tapestries, &c.
346. In the patterns of tapestries and carpets, when the principal
effects to be aimed at have been determined, it may be seen what points
of ordinary painting may be sacrificed to obtain them, and what must be
done for perfecting the _special portion of their imitation_. Beginning
with the physical condition of the coloured elements the weaver
employs, and the texture of the tapestry, we see the necessity of
representing in this kind of work only large, well-defined objects, and
especially such as are remarkable for the brilliancy of their colours.
The patterns for hangings must recommend themselves more by the
opposition of their colours than by the minute finish of their details.
To pretend to rival painting in these manufactures is to establish a
confusion most detrimental to the progress of arts, absolutely distinct
from painting, both in their purpose and their means of execution.
347. The principles truly essential to these arts of imitation being
once deduced from the peculiarities of each, it becomes easy to point
out by what efforts we may hope to obtain true perfection.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE ELEMENTS OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY.
348. To make mixtures of coloured threads intelligently, we must be
guided by the three following rules:—The first two resulting directly
from observation of facts; the third being the natural deduction from
the facts comprised in the two former.
RULE I.—THE BINARY MIXTURE OF PRIMARY COLOURS.
_When we unite Red with Yellow, Red with Blue, Yellow with Blue, the
threads must not reflect a perceptible quantity of the third primary
colour, if we would have Orange, Violet, and Green as brilliant as it
is possible, by this method, to obtain._
EXAMPLE A.—_Red and Yellow._
Plate 11.
3 Red threads with 1 Yellow thread,
2 ” ” 1 ” ”
1 ” ” 1 ” ”
3 Yellow ” 1 Red ”
2 ” ” 1 ” ”
yield mixtures which appear to the eye in proportion to the two colours
mixed. There is no appearance of grey in any of these mixtures, when
we employ a red more inclining to orange than to crimson, and a yellow
more inclining to orange than to green.
[Illustration: PLATE XI.]
B.—_Red and Blue._
3 Red threads with 1 Blue thread,
2 ” ” 1 ” ”
1 ” ” 1 ” ”
3 Blue ” 1 Red ”
2 ” ” 1 ” ”
yield mixtures which appear to the eye in proportion to the two colours
mixed. If we use a red and a blue inclining to violet, the mixture will
contain no grey.
C.—_Yellow and Blue._
4 Blue threads with 1 Yellow thread,
3 ” ” 1 ” ”
2 ” ” 1 ” ”
1 ” ” 1 ” ”
give mixtures which appear to the eye in the proportions of the two
colours mixed. If we use yellow and a blue inclining to green more than
to red, the mixture will contain little or no grey.
Experiment on all the preceding mixtures demonstrates the rule above;
or rather, this rule is but the expression of a generalization of facts.
RULE II.—THE MIXTURE OF COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS.
349. _When we mix Red with Green, Orange with Blue, Yellow with Violet,
the colours are more or less completely neutralized, according as they
are more or less perfectly complementary to each other, and as they are
mixed in proper proportions. The result is a grey, the tone of which is
generally higher than that of the colours mixed, if the latter are of a
suitably high tone._
EXAMPLES.—_Red and Green._
Plate 12.
3 Red threads with 1 Green thread give a dull Red.
2 Red threads with 1 Green thread give a duller and a
deeper Red.
1 Red thread with 1 Green thread give a Reddish-grey.
The tone a little higher than the preceding.
3 Green threads with 1 Red thread give a Green Grey,
the tone higher than the Green or the Red.
2 Green threads with 1 Red thread give a Grey, less
Green, and of a higher tone than the two colours.
In repeating the same mixtures with higher tones of the same scales of
Green and Red, the tone of the mixture of 2 Green with 1 Red is higher
relatively to that of the colours mixed, than it is in the mixtures
above.
1 Red thread and 1 Yellowish-green thread give a Carmelite-brown or an
Orange-grey, the tone of which is equal to that of the colours mixed.
1 Red thread and 1 Bluish-green thread give a copper-coloured mixture
or catechu-brown of a higher tone than that of the colours mixed.
Hence we may conclude that red and green threads, properly assorted,
and in suitable proportions, yield _Grey_.
_Orange and Blue._
3 Orange threads with 1 Blue thread give a dull Orange.
2 Orange ” 1 ” ” a duller Orange.
1 Orange ” 1 ” ” Chocolate-grey.
3 Blue ” 1 Orange ” Violet-grey.
2 Blue ” 1 Orange ” Violet-grey.
Redder than the preceding.
[Illustration: PLATE XII.]
The results are the same with deeper tones than the preceding, except
that the corresponding mixtures are browner.
3 orange threads with 3 blue threads present a remarkable phenomenon,
according to the intensity of the light and the position from which
it is observed. The tapestry being placed in a vertical plane before
the incident light when the warp is horizontal, we perceive _blue_ and
_orange_ stripes; but if the warp is vertical, we may then see the
upper part of each blue stripe _violet_, and its under part, as well as
the upper part of each orange stripe _green_, while the rest of each of
the latter will appear _red_, bordered on the lower part with _yellow_.
We may also see the upper part of each blue stripe, _violet_, and its
under part, as well as the upper part of each orange stripe, _green_,
and the rest of each of these stripes _red_, bordered on the lower
part with green, and in the upper part with yellow. We say that they
may be seen in this manner, because if the light were strong enough
for distinct vision, we should not see the horizontal blue and orange
stripes.
_Yellow and Violet._
3 Yellow threads with 1 Violet give a Greyish-yellow.
2 ” ” 1 Violet ” Yellow-grey.
1 ” ” 1 Violet ” Grey,
much nearer _normal grey_ than the preceding.
3 Violet threads and 1 Yellow give a Greyish-violet.
2 ” ” 1 Yellow ” dull Violet,
greyer than the preceding.
It is remarkable that in the mixture of a yellow with a violet
thread, seen from a greater distance than that at which they appear
neutralized, the yellow is so much weakened in proportion to the
violet, that the mixture appears of a dull violet.
Yellow and blue afford an analogous result.
RULE III.—THE MIXTURE OF THE THREE PRIMARY COLOURS IN
SUCH PROPORTIONS THAT THEY DO NOT BECOME NEUTRALIZED,
BECAUSE ONE OR THE OTHER OF THEM IS IN EXCESS.
350. _When Blue, Red, and Yellow are combined in such proportions that
they do not neutralize each other, the result is a colour much greyer
or more broken than if the proportion of complementary colour were more
equal._
As Red mixed with a Greenish-yellow gives a _Carmelite_ mixture, I
shall add the following:—
1. _Crimson-red and greenish-yellow_ give mixtures so much duller
as these colours more nearly neutralize each other. A mixture of
one crimson-red with one greenish-yellow thread produces a brick or
copper-orange, the tone of which is higher than that of the colours
mixed.
2. _Scarlet-red and greenish-blue_ give mixtures which are without
vigour or purity, relatively to the corresponding mixtures made with
crimson-red and violet-blue.
3. Red and blue-grey give violet mixtures, which are not so dull as the
preceding, because the colours contain no yellow.
4. The red of the mixture 3, worked with a green-grey, gives mixtures
much duller than the preceding, as might have been expected, on account
of the yellow contained in the green-grey.
5. Orange and blue-violet give very dull mixtures.
6. Orange and red-violet give dull mixtures, but redder or less blue
than the preceding.
ON THE PRINCIPLE OF CONTRAST IN CONNEXION WITH THE
PRODUCTION OF TAPESTRY.
351. The tapestry-weaver should therefore thoroughly understand the
effects of contrast, to know the influence which the part of the copy
he proposes to imitate receives from the colours surrounding it, and
so judge what coloured threads to choose. The following examples will
explain better than the most profound reasoning the necessity for the
tapestry-worker to possess a knowledge of the law of contrast.
_First Example._
352. If there be two coloured stripes in a picture, one red the other
blue, touching each other, the phenomenon of contrast between two
contiguous colours would have arisen, had not the painter sustained the
red by blue, and the blue stripe by making it red or violet next to the
red stripe (320).
353. Suppose a weaver wishing to imitate these two stripes, but
ignorant of the law of contrast of colours, after choosing the wools
or silks, he is sure to make two stripes, which will produce the
phenomenon of contrast; for he will select his wools or silks of only
one blue or one red, to imitate two stripes of different colours, each
of which appears homogeneous throughout, but which the painter has only
succeeded in making so by neutralizing the phenomenon of contrast,
which would undoubtedly have resulted had each been painted of a
uniform colour.
354. Suppose the painter has painted the stripes with uniform colours,
then contrast will arise, so that the red contiguous to the blue will
appear orange, and the blue contiguous to the red will appear greenish.
If the weaver be ignorant of the law of contrast, in attempting to
imitate his model he will be sure to mix yellow or orange with his red,
and yellow or green with his blue, in those parts of the stripes which
come in contact. Hence the contrast will be more exaggerated than if he
had worked the two stripes with homogeneous colours.
355. Suppose a weaver has to copy the series of ten grey stripes in
flat tints (fig. 3, Plate 1) described (11), it is evident that if he
is ignorant of such effects he will exaggerate it in the imitation;
for instead of working ten tints of the same scale so as to produce
ten bands in flat tints, he will make ten bands, each graduated
conformably to what he sees; he will probably also have recourse to
lighter and darker tones than those which correspond exactly to the
model, and thus he will require a greater number of tones than would
have been necessary had he been aware of contrast, rendering the copy
an exaggeration of the model.
When we attentively observe the rosy flesh tints of many pictures, we
perceive in the shadows a more or less apparent green tint, resulting
from the contrast of rose with grey. (I presume that the painter has
made his shadows without using green, and that he has not corrected the
effect of contrast by using red.) Now a weaver, ignorant of the effect
of rose upon grey, in imitating the shaded part will have recourse to
a green-grey, which will exaggerate an effect that would have been
produced naturally by employing a scale of pure, not of greenish grey.
QUALITIES WHICH PATTERNS FOR GOBELINS TAPESTRY MUST POSSESS.
356. To determine the qualities which model pictures for tapestry must
possess, we must decide what are specific qualities peculiar to this
kind of imitation.
The weaver imitates objects with coloured threads of a certain
diameter. These threads are applied round the threads of the warp.
Their surface is not uniform but furrowed, those which are parallel to
the threads of the warp being lower than those which are perpendicular
to it; the effect of these furrows being such as would be produced upon
a picture, by a series of dark parallel lines, cut at right angles by
another series of finer parallel lines, less dark than the preceding.
357. There are these differences then between tapestry and painting:—
1. Tapestry never presents those blended colours which the
painter obtains so easily by indefinitely mixing or dividing
his pigments.
2. The symmetry and uniformity of the furrows of tapestry
prevent the lights being as vivid, and the shadows as
vigorous, as in a painting; for though the furrows obscure
the lights, the salient parts of the threads which are in
the shades, have the ill effect of enfeebling the latter by
the light they reflect.
3. The lines surrounding the different objects in a
painting, although straight or curved in every direction,
may be of extreme fineness without ceasing to be perfectly
distinct, while the threads of the weft and the warp, always
crossing at right angles, interfere with such a result
whenever the lines of the pattern do not exactly coincide
with these threads.
4. The painter has other resources, which are denied to the
weaver, for increasing the brilliancy of the lights and
the vigour of the shadows. For instance: he opposes opaque
body-colours to glaring colours, he modifies an object of a
single colour by varying the thickness of the layer of paint
which he places on the canvas; and within certain limits he
can produce modifications, by changing the direction of the
strokes of his pencil.
358. Hence, to raise the effects of tapestry as nearly as possible to
those of painting, it is requisite:—
1. That the objects be represented of such a size that
the position of the spectator does not permit of his
distinguishing either the coloured elements from each
other, or the furrows which separate them; so that
threads of two mixed scales (377), and the hatchings
of different scales, more or less distant, interwoven
together (378), may be mingled into a homogeneous
colour, and that the cavities and salient parts may
appear as a uniform surface.
2. That the colours be as vivid and strongly contrasted
as possible, so that the lines which surround the
different objects be more distinct, and the lights and
shadows be as different as possible.
359. Thus patterns for tapestry must not only recommend themselves
by correct outline and elegant forms, but must also represent larger
objects: figures draped rather than nude, vestments decorated with
ornaments, rather than simple and uniform. Consequently, every thing
allied to miniature, by minuteness or by finish in details, is foreign
to its special object.
360. The elements of Beauvais tapestry for furniture are essentially
the same as those of Gobelins tapestry; but with this difference, that
the light and the middle tones are of silk, while in the Gobelins
tapestry these tones are almost always of wool. The scales of Beauvais
are less varied in colour than those of the Gobelins, and their tones
are less numerous. But the working of the threads is the same in both
kinds of tapestry; so that as to the employment of coloured threads,
depending in like manner on the knowledge and observance of the
principles of mixture and contrast of colours, I need not add to what I
have already said on this subject in the preceding section.
361. The furrows caused by the weft and the warp have not the
inconvenience they present in the Gobelins tapestry. In fact, the
regular grain of the tapestry for furniture is so far from producing
a bad effect in the image represented on it, that we are obliged to
give the appearance of this grain to many paper-hangings by means of
parallel lines cutting it, or by points symmetrically placed.
COLOURED GLASS WINDOWS IN LARGE GOTHIC CHURCHES.
362. I am about to examine, according to the preceding views, the
coloured glass windows which concur so powerfully with architecture,
in giving to vast gothic churches that harmony which we cannot fail
to recognise whenever we enter them. These structures rank with
those works of art which are most impressive by their size, the
subordination of their various parts, and by their complete fitness
for the purposes to which they are applied. The stained glass of
gothic churches has always a most appropriate effect, intercepting the
white light, which, by giving too vivid a glare, is less conducive
to meditation than the coloured light which this glass transmits. We
shall find its splendid effect to arise, not only from the contrast
of colours, but also from the contrast of its transparency with the
opacity of the surrounding walls, and of the lead which binds its parts
together. The impression produced on the eye by this twofold cause
becomes more vivid the more frequently it is repeated and the longer it
is sustained, when yellow, blue, violet, orange, red, and green stained
glass appears like most precious jewels.
363. The upright windows usually represent, within a border or a ground
analogous to the rose windows, the figure of a saint in harmony with
those which stand in relief about the portals of the edifice; and to be
fully appreciated they must be judged of as _parts of a whole_, and not
as a Greek statue which is intended to be seen isolated on all sides.
The glass is of two kinds, the one painted on its surface by pigments
afterwards vitrified (glass painting); the other, melted with the
material that colours it (glass staining); the first is generally used
in the composition of the nude parts of the human figure, and the
second in that of the drapery. All the pieces of glass are united by
strips of lead. What has struck me as being most effective in windows
with human figures, is the exact observance of the relations of size
of the figures and of the intensity of the light which renders them
visible, with the distance at which the spectator is placed; a distance
at which the strips of lead surrounding each piece of glass appear only
as lines or as small black bands.
364. It is not necessary, for an effective whole, that the _painted
glass_, when viewed closely, should exhibit fine hatchings, careful
stippling, or blended tints; for, with the coloured stained glass for
draperies, they should compose a system which compares with painting
in flat tints, and certainly we cannot doubt that a painting on glass,
executed entirely according to the system of _chiaro-scuro_, not to
speak of the cost of its execution, will have the disadvantage of the
finish in its details entirely disappearing at the distance at which it
must be viewed as a whole.
365. _The first condition, which must be fulfilled by every work of
art, is, that it be presented without confusion and as distinctly as
possible._ Let us add that paintings on glass, executed on the method
of _chiaro-’scuro_, cannot receive the borders and grounds of rose
windows which have such fine effects of colour, as they have less
brilliancy and transparency than the glass in which the colouring
material has been incorporated; they are also less capable of resisting
the injuries of time.
Variety of colours in these windows is so necessary to attain the best
possible effect, that those which represent figures entirely nude,
edifices, or large objects of a single colour, or slightly tinted,
whatever may be the perfection of their execution with regard to finish
or truth of imitation, will have an inferior effect to windows composed
of pieces of varied colours suitably contrasted; but a bad effect
results from the mixture of coloured glass with transparent colourless
glass, when the latter has a certain extent of surface in a window; yet
a good effect is obtainable by mixing ground glass with coloured glass,
and also of small pieces of colourless transparent glass, framed in
lead, so that at the distance at which they must be viewed they produce
the effect of a symmetrical juxtaposition of white parts with black
parts.
366. I conclude that we must refer the causes of the beautiful effects
of coloured glass of great churches—
1. To their presenting a very simple design, whose
different well-defined parts may be seen without
confusion at a great distance.
2. To their offering a union of coloured parts which
are distributed with a kind of symmetry, but
which are also vividly contrasted, not only among
themselves, but also with the opaque parts which
surround them.
367. Coloured windows appear to me to produce their utmost effect only
in the vast edifices where the different-coloured rays reach the eye
of the spectator on the floor of the church so much scattered that
they impinge upon each other, whence results an harmonious mixture,
not found in a small structure lighted by coloured windows. It is this
intimate mixture of the coloured rays, transmitted into a vast edifice,
which permits of tapestries placed on the ground floor. But when the
lower walls have not colourless glass windows, it is evident that, if
tapestries be placed too near coloured windows, the harmony of their
colours must be lost, as when blue rays fall upon red draperies, yellow
rays upon blue draperies, &c.
Thus, when coloured glass is to be put in a window, it is necessary to
take into consideration, not only its beauty, but also the effect which
the coloured light it transmits will have upon the objects illuminated
by it.
368. The coloured windows of a large church may be regarded as real,
transparent tapestries, intended to transmit light, and to ally
themselves harmoniously with the sculptures on the exterior, which
destroy the monotony of the high walls of the edifice, and with the
different monuments of the interior, among which tapestries must be
taken into account.
369. My ideas on the employment of stained glass for windows may be
summed up in the following terms:—
1. They produce their utmost effect only in the rose
windows, bay windows, or pointed windows of large
Gothic churches.
2. Only when they present the strongest harmonies of
contrast, not of colourless transparent glass with
the black produced by the opacity of the walls,
iron bars, and strips of lead, but of this black
with the intense tones of red, blue, orange,
violet, and yellow.
3. Their designs must always be as simple as possible,
and admit of the harmonies of contrast.
4. While admiring painted windows, of which a large
number consist of paintings of undoubted merit,
especially in regard to the difficulties overcome,
I confess that it is a kind of painting which
should not be much encouraged, because it never
has the merit of a picture properly so called, it
is more costly, and will produce less effect in a
large church than a stained window of much lower price.
5. Windows of a pale grey ground, with light arabesques,
have a very poor effect wherever they are placed.
See the relations of the law of contrast with the decoration of the
interiors of churches.
THIRD DIVISION.
_Colour Printing._
ON CALICO-PRINTING, AND PRINTING PAPER-HANGINGS.
370. I propose to examine only the optical, not the chemical, effects
produced by patterns printed upon woven fabrics.
Printing on textile fabrics was for a long time limited, so to speak,
to cotton cloths. It is only of late years that it has been extended
to fabrics of silk and wool, for furniture and clothing. This branch
of industry has now undergone an immense extension, fashion having
accepted these products with extreme favour; but, whatever may be the
importance of the subject, in a commercial point of view, I must treat
it briefly. This book is not directed exclusively to that branch of
inquiry, and as all the preceding part is intimately connected with it,
I shall merely state some facts which show, that, in ignorance of the
law of contrast, the manufacturers and printers of cotton, woollen, and
silk stuffs are constantly exposed to error in judging the value of
recipes or colours, or as to the true tint of the design applied upon
grounds of a different colour.
FALSE JUDGMENT OF THE VALUE OF RECIPES FOR COLOURING COMPOSITIONS.
371. At a certain calico-printer’s a recipe for printing green had
always succeeded up to a certain period, when it began to give bad
results. They were lost in conjectures upon the cause, when a person,
who at the Gobelins had followed my researches on contrast, recognised
that the green of which they complained, being printed on a ground
of blue, inclined to yellow through the influence of orange, the
complementary of the ground. She therefore advised that the proportion
of blue in the colouring composition should be increased in order to
correct the effect of contrast. The recipe, modified according to this
suggestion, gave the beautiful green which they had obtained formerly.
372. Thus every recipe for colours to be applied upon a ground of
another colour, must be modified conformably to the effect which the
ground will produce. It is this great facility in correcting the
ill effect of certain contrasts which explains why they so often
succeed without being able to account for it. Here, notwithstanding
their colour, the eye judges them to be colourless, or of the tint
complementary to that of the ground. These appearances have been the
subject of questions frequently addressed to me by the manufacturers
of printed stuffs, and by drapers: they are due to the _law of
simultaneous contrast of colours_. In fact, when the patterns appear
white, the ground acts by contrast of tone (9); if they appear
coloured (and this appearance generally succeeds to that where they
appear white), the ground then acts by contrast of colour (13). The
manufacturer of printed stuffs therefore will not seek to attribute
the cause of these phenomena to the chemical actions in his operations.
373. Ignorance of the law of contrast has, among drapers and
manufacturers, been the subject of many disputes, which I have been
happy to settle amicably, by demonstrating to the parties that they had
no possible cause for litigation in the cases they submitted to me. I
will relate some of these, to prevent similar disputes.
Certain drapers gave to a calico-printer some cloths of single colours,
red, violet, and blue, upon which they wished black figures to be
printed. They complained that upon the _red_ cloths he had put _green_
patterns; upon the _violet_, the figures appeared _greenish-yellow_;
upon the _blue_, they were _orange-brown_ or _copper_-coloured—instead
of the _black_ which had been ordered. To convince them that they had
no ground for complaint, it sufficed to have recourse to the following
proofs:—
1. I surrounded the patterns with white paper, so as to
conceal the ground; the designs then appeared black.
2. I placed some cuttings of black cloth upon stuffs
coloured red, violet, and blue; the cuttings
appeared like the printed designs, _i. e._, of
the colour complementary to the ground, although
the same cuttings, when placed upon a white ground,
were of a beautiful black.
374. The modifications which black designs undergo upon different
coloured grounds are the following:—
Plate 13.
Upon _Red_ stuffs they appear Dark Green.
Upon _Orange_ stuffs they appear of a _Bluish-black_.
Upon _Yellow_ stuffs they appear _Black_, the violet tint of which is
very feeble, on account of the great contrast of tone.
Upon _Green_ stuffs they appear of a _Reddish-grey_.
Upon _Blue_ stuffs they appear of an _Orange-grey_.
Upon _Violet_ stuffs they appear of a _Greenish-yellow Grey_.
[Illustration: PLATE XIII.]
These examples are sufficient to enable us to comprehend their
advantage to the printer of patterns in colours complementary to the
colours of the ground, whenever contiguous tints are to be mutually
strengthened without going out of their respective scales.
DESIGNS FOR PAPER-HANGINGS.
375. The manufacture of paper-hangings has now arrived at such a point,
that a knowledge of the law of contrast of colours is indispensably
necessary to this branch of industry. We cannot estimate the true
relations between the law of contrast and the art of paper-staining
without dividing the papers into several categories to which the law is
applicable.
1. Papers having figures and landscapes, or flowers of
different sizes, and of varied colours, not intended
for borders; these approach the nearest to painting.
2. Papers with patterns of one colour, or of colours
but slightly varied.
3. Those employed as borders.
CHAPTER II.
_On the Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colours
in relation to Paper-Hangings with Figures,
Landscapes, or large Flowers of varied Colours._
376. The study which I recommend to artists occupied in fabricating
paper-hangings, is in some measure that immediately applicable to every
pictorial composition, or, in other words, the tapestry of figures
and landscapes. But, whatever be the merit of paper-hangings of this
category, they are not sought by persons of refined taste, and they do
not appear to me destined to be any more so in future, for the twofold
reason that the taste for arabesques, painted upon walls, or upon wood,
and that for lithographs, engravings, and paintings, is spreading every
day. These last three objects exclude, at least, all those papers with
figures and coloured landscapes.
377. The applications of the law of contrast to this class of
paper-hangings are easy, when we thoroughly understand the divisions of
the book to which I referred above. In order to prove the advantage to
be derived from the knowledge of this law, I need only refer to the bad
effect presented by contiguous bands of two tones of the same scale of
grey (serving as the ground to the figure of an infant), in consequence
of the contrast of tone arising from their juxtaposition (321).
378. _On the Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colours in relation to
Paper-hangings with Designs in a Single Colour, or in Colours but
slightly varied._
The remarks in 372 are applicable here also, as are those of 374. The
best executed, and in the best taste, are those with black figures, or
of figures much darker than the ground.
Paper-hangings, I do not say the most tasteful, but those most
convenient for use, present very light grounds, with white or grey
figures.
379. Grey patterns, upon papers tinted of a light colour, exhibit
the phenomenon of maximum contrast; that is to say, the grey appears
coloured with the complementary of the ground.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.]
Thus, conformably to the law, (Plate 14)
Grey patterns upon a _Rose_ ground appear _Green_.
” ” ” an _Orange_ ” ” _Blue_.
” ” ” a _Yellow_ ” ” _Violet or Lilac_.
” ” ” a _Green_ ” ” _Rose_.
” ” ” a _Blue_ ” ” _Orange-grey_.
” ” ” a _Violet_ ” ” _Yellow_.
380. I mention these examples to instruct artists, for, in
manufactories of paper-hangings, disputes arise between the proprietors
and the preparers of the colours. For instance, a few years ago, the
proprietors of one of the first manufactories in Paris, wishing to
print grey patterns upon grounds of apple green and of rose, refused to
believe that his colour preparer had given any _grey_ to the printer,
because the designs printed on these grounds appeared coloured with
the complementaries of the colour of the ground. It was only when the
colour preparer, having attended a lecture I gave for M. Vauquelin, at
the Museum of Natural History, and hearing me speak of the mistakes
that these contrasts of colours might occasion, suspected the cause of
the effects which he had unconsciously produced, and which had really
caused him much annoyance.
OF THE LAW OF SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST OF COLOURS RELATIVELY TO THE
BORDERS OF PAPER-HANGINGS.
381. Every paper of one colour, or one belonging to the second
category, should receive a border generally darker and more complex in
design and colour than the paper which it frames.
The assortment of two papers exercises a very great influence on the
effects they are capable of producing; for each of them may be of a
fine colour, ornamented with designs in the best taste, yet their
effect will be mediocre, or even bad, because the assortment will not
be conformable to the law of contrast.
382. The ground of a border contributes greatly to the beauty of the
pattern, whether this be of flowers, ornaments, or any other object. As
we cannot treat of this influence in an absolute or methodical manner,
I shall select a certain number of remarkable facts which I have had
occasion to observe, and I shall principally dwell on those from which
we can deduce conclusions, which, apparently not flowing from previous
observation, might escape many readers, in spite of the great interest
they have in knowing them. Besides, the exhibition of these facts will
give me occasion to apply the law of contrast to designs presenting
many tones of the same scale, and of different hues, and also often
of different scales, more or less distant from each other. I shall
not treat of simple borders, presenting black or grey designs upon a
uniform ground, for I have already spoken of the modifications which in
this case black designs undergo (374), and grey designs also (379).
383. The design of a border, either of ornaments, flowers, or any other
object, being cut out and pasted upon a white card, designs identical
with the preceding, which had been pasted upon cardboard, were then
cut out, and placed upon grounds of black, red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, and violet; then compared, not only by myself, but also by many
persons whose eyes are much accustomed to seeing colours. When we had
perfectly agreed upon their value, the results were noted as follows:—
1.—BORDER OF EIGHT INCHES IN HEIGHT, REPRESENTING GILT ORNAMENTS UPON
DIFFERENT GROUNDS.
Plate 15.
[Illustration: PLATE XV.]
384. These ornaments, executed by the ordinary processes of
paper-staining, contained no particle of metallic gold; yellow, lakes,
and orange, of different tones and hues, had been exclusively employed
in their production. After having stated the modifications which the
painted gilt ornaments experience from the colour of the grounds,
I shall indicate those which the metallic gilt ornaments receive
comparatively from the same grounds; this comparison presenting results
which appear to me interesting.
_Black Ground._
385. Painted gilt ornaments placed upon black ground, compared with the
same ornaments placed on a white ground, appear much more distinct than
the latter; because the yellows and orange-yellows, colours eminently
luminous, and the black ground, which reflects no light, give rise to
contrast of tone, which the white ground, essentially luminous, cannot
give with the colours which are themselves luminous. (See 53.)
We perceive thus, that the colours placed upon black are lowered in
tone; but it must be noted that yellows and orange-yellows, far from
being weakened (58), would only cause the black to gain in purity.
In considering more particularly the effects of two grounds, we see
that a black imparts a red to the ornaments, and it is important to
remark that the brightness of this red, instead of reddening the
yellows, really gilds them. (See 394.)
We may thus understand how black, in taking away some grey, imparts
brilliancy, and how this grey, which may be considered as a tarnished
or subdued blue, may, with yellow, produce an olive colour. It is also
necessary to remark, that the gilt ornaments in question present an
olive-grey tint, which, far from being diminished by the white ground,
is exalted by it.
Although the black ground lowers the tone of the colours, while white
heightens them, it lowers yellow more in proportion than red, and
consequently renders the ornaments redder than they appear upon a white
ground; and, in taking away the grey, it purifies the colours, and acts
also by giving them some red, or by taking away some green.
_Metallic Gilt Ornaments._
386. Gilt ornaments stand out better from black than from white, but
the orange colour is weakened and really impoverished. The black ground
then does not purify the real gilt ornaments as it does the painted
imitation of gold.
_Deep Red Ground._
The yellows are more luminous, the whole effect with the painted
ornament is clearer, more brilliant, less grey than upon a white ground.
Red much deeper than the ornament, lowers the tone of it; and this
effect is also augmented by the addition of its complementary, green, a
bright colour.
This example is of much importance, enabling us to see how the red,
which appears as though it could be of but little advantage to
ornaments, because it tends to weaken them by making them greener,
is notwithstanding favourable, because the lightening or weakening
of the colour is more than compensated for by the brilliancy of the
complementary of the ground which is added to the yellow. We shall
return to this effect in a moment. There is this analogy between the
influence of the red ground and that of the black ground, that the
tone of the colour is lowered; but there is this difference, that the
ornaments become green on the first, while they become orange upon the
second.
387. The red ground is not so advantageous for gilt ornaments as it is
for the painted imitations of them, because the metal loses too much of
its orange colour, and appears inferior to gold upon a black ground.
The red ground appears darker, and more violet than the ground upon
which painted ornaments are placed.
Grounds of a light-red are still less favourable to the gold than red
grounds of a dark tone.
_Orange Ground deeper than the Ornaments._
388. The painted ornaments are bluer or rather greener than upon a
white ground. The yellow and orange are singularly lower in tone.
This ground, then, is very disadvantageous to ornaments, as might have
been expected.
389. Orange is not favourable to metallic gilt. The metal becomes too
white, while the orange ground is redder and more vivid than that upon
which the painted ornaments are placed.
_Yellow Ground of Chromate of Lead more brilliant than the Yellow of
the Ornaments._
390. The yellow of the painted ornaments is excessively enfeebled by
the complementary of the ground which is added to it, the ornaments
appear grey in comparison with those upon a white ground.
391. The yellow ground is not so unfavourable to gilt ornaments as it
is to painted ones. The first assortment may, in certain cases, be
recommended.
The yellow appears more intense, and perhaps greener.
_Bright Green Ground._
392. Painted ornaments are darker upon a bright green ground than
upon a red or white ground. They have acquired some red, but not the
brilliant tint which is given to them by black—it is a brick-red tint.
393. It follows from the comparison of the effects of ornaments upon
red and upon green grounds, that the first is much more advantageous
than the second, because it adds an essentially brilliant tint to the
colour of the ornaments, while the latter, adding red, or taking away
green, produces a brick-red.
394. Upon a bright green ground, _metallic gilt ornaments_ acquire red,
as the painted ornaments do, while the red, not sensibly diminishing
the brilliancy of the metal, but, on the contrary, augmenting the
intensity of its colour, produces an excellent effect.
The green ground is more intense and bluer than the same ground upon
which the painted ornaments are placed.
395. The study of the effects of red and of green grounds upon
painted ornaments, on the one hand, and upon gilt ornaments on the
other, is extremely interesting to paperstainers and decorators; it
demonstrates to them the necessity of taking into consideration, in
the juxtaposition of bodies which it is proposed to associate, the
brilliancy which these bodies naturally possess, and the brilliancy we
wish to impart to them, if they have none. The preceding examples (386,
394) explain why the paperstainer will choose dark red instead of green
for his gilt ornaments, and why a decorator will prefer green to red
for the colour of the hangings of a show-room of gilt bronzes, gilt
clocks, &c.
_Blue Ground._
396. Observation agrees perfectly with the law that it is really upon
a blue ground, that painted ornaments, whose dominant colour is the
complementary of blue, show themselves to the greatest advantage with
respect to intensity of the gold-yellow colour. This effect more than
compensates for the slight difference which may result from the red
ground giving a little more brilliancy. The ornaments upon the latter
ground, compared with those on the blue, are less coloured and appear
whiter.
With _metallic gilt ornaments_ the blue ground is deeper and less
violet than with painted ornaments.
_Violet Ground._
397. Conformably to the law, the violet ground giving greenish-yellow
to the painted ornaments, is favourable to them; they appear on this
ground less olive-grey, more brilliant than upon the white ground, and
less green than upon the red ground.
_Metallic gilt ornaments_ stand out quite as well, the ground is raised
in tone, and the violet appears bluer or less red.
398. It is remarkable that gilt ornaments, compared with their painted
imitations, heighten all the grounds upon which they are placed. We
cannot say that this metal causes the grounds to lose their brilliancy,
for orange gaining some red, by the juxtaposition of the gold, appears,
nevertheless, more brilliant than the orange in juxtaposition with the
painted ornaments. The gold, by its orange colour, gives also some
blue, its complementary, to bodies which surround it.
2.—BORDER OF FOUR INCHES IN BREADTH PRESENTING ORNAMENTS
COMPOSED OF FESTOONS OF BLUE FLOWERS, OF WHICH THE
EXTREMITIES ARE HELD BY GREY LEAVES OF ARABESQUES.
Plate 16.
399. These ornaments are opposed in some respects to the preceding by
their dominant colour, which is blue.
_Black Ground._
400. Grey lowered three tones in comparison with grey; upon white less
reddened.
Blue flowers lowered two tones at least.
_Red Ground._
401. The grey is greenish, while upon white it is reddish.
The blue flowers are lowered three tones, and the blue inclines to
green.
_Orange Ground._
402. Grey much lowered; less red than upon white. Flowers paler, and of
a blue less red or less violet, than upon a white ground.
_Yellow Ground._
403. Grey higher than upon white ground, more violet.
Flowers of a more violet-blue, less green than upon a white ground.
_Green Ground._
404. The grey is reddish, while upon a white ground it appears greenish.
The blue gains red or violet, but it loses much of its vivacity; it
resembles some blues of the silk-vat, which, giving yellow to the
water, become slaty-blue-violet.
[Illustration: PLATE XVI.]
_Blue Ground._
405. The blue ground being fresher than that of the ornament, it
follows that it gives _orange_ to the blue of the flowers; that is to
say, it _greys_ them in the most disagreeable manner.
The grey ornament is _oranged_, and lighter than upon the white ground.
_Violet Ground._
406. Grey lowered, yellowed, impoverished. Blue tends to green, and is
impoverished.
3.—BORDER OF FIVE INCHES AND A HALF IN BREADTH,
REPRESENTING ROSES WITH THEIR LEAVES.
Plate 17.
407. This border is particularly useful as an example of the effect
of two colours, red and green, which are very common in the vegetable
world, and often represented upon paper-hangings.
_Black Ground._
The green is less black, lighter, fresher, and purer, and its brown
tones redder than upon a white ground. With respect to its lighter
tones, I see them yellower, while, on the contrary, they appeared bluer
to three persons accustomed to observe colours. This difference, as I
at last found, arose from my comparing the general effect of leaves
upon a black ground with that of leaves upon a white ground; while the
other persons instituted their comparison more particularly upon the
browns and the light tones of green, placed upon the same ground. This
difference in the manner of seeing the same objects will be the subject
of some remarks hereafter.
Rose lighter, yellower than upon a white ground.
_Dark Red Ground._
408. Green more beautiful, less black, lighter than upon a white ground.
Rose more lilac, perhaps, than upon a white ground. The good effect of
the border upon this ground is due chiefly to the greatest part of the
rose not being contiguous to red, but to green; because the border and
the ground exhibit flowers, the rose of which contrasts with the green
of their leaves; while the same green contrasts with the red of the
ground, which is deeper and warmer than the colour of the flowers.
_Orange Ground._
409. The green lighter, a little bluer than upon a white ground.
Red much more violet than upon a white ground.
The general effect not agreeable.
_Yellow Ground._
410. Green bluer than upon a white ground.
Rose more violet, purer than upon a white ground.
The whole exhibits a good effect of contrast.
Green ground, the tone of which is nearly equal to that of the lights
of the leaves, and the hue of which is a little bluer.
Green of the leaves lighter, yellower than upon a white ground.
Rose fresher, purer, more velvety than upon a white ground.
[Illustration: PLATE XVII.]
Ground of an agreeable effect from harmony of analogy with the colour
of the leaves, and from harmony of contrast with the rose of the
flowers.
_Blue Ground._
411. Green lighter, more golden than upon a white ground.
Rose yellower, less fresh than upon a white ground.
Although the green leaves do not exactly produce a bad effect upon the
ground, yet the roses lose much of their freshness, and the appearance
of the whole is not agreeable.
_Violet Ground._
412. Green yellower, lighter than upon a white ground.
Rose faded.
If the ground does not injure the green of the leaves, yet it injures
the rose so much that it is not agreeable.
4.—BORDER OF SIX INCHES IN BREADTH, REPRESENTING
WHITE FLOWERS, AS CHINA ASTER, POPPY, LILY OF
THE VALLEY, ROSES; SOME RED FLOWERS, AS THE
ROSE-WALLFLOWER SOME SCARLET OR ORANGE, AS THE
POPPY, POMEGRANATE, TULIP; BIGNONIA AND VIOLET
FLOWERS, AS LILAC, VIOLETS, AND TULIPS WITH
GREEN LEAVES.
413. This border was remarkable for the pleasing combinations of
the flowers among themselves, and of the flowers with their leaves.
In spite of the multiplicity of colours, and of the hues of red and
violet, there was no disagreeable juxtaposition, except that of a
pomegranate next to a rose; but the contact only took place at one
point, and the two flowers were in very different positions.
_Black Ground._
414. The whole lighter than upon a white ground.
Orange finer, brighter than upon a white ground.
White the same.
Green lighter, redder. The roses and the violets gain nothing from the
black.
_Red-Brown Ground._
415. The whole lighter than upon a white ground.
Whites and greens of fine effect. An orange-flower contiguous to the
ground, for the reason explained above (407), acquires a brilliancy
which it has not upon a white ground.
_Orange Ground._
416. The whole more sombre, duller than upon a white ground.
Orange-flowers and roses dull, lilacs bluer.
This assortment is not good.
_Yellow Ground._
417. The orange-flower contiguous to the ground evidently loses
vivacity in comparison with the white ground.
The whites are less beautiful than upon a red ground.
The greens are bluer than upon a white ground.
The roses become bluer, the violets acquire some brilliancy.
The whole effect is good, because there is but little yellow in the
border, and but little orange contiguous to the ground.
_Green Ground._
418. The ground being fresher than the green of the leaves, had not a
good effect, relatively to them. On the other hand, the green in the
border was in too small a quantity to produce a harmony of analogy, and
it had not sufficient red for a harmony of contrast.
_Blue Ground._
419. The oranges have a fine effect, the greens were reddened as well
as the whites. The roses and the lilacs lost some of their freshness.
This arrangement did not produce a good effect, because there was not
sufficient yellow or orange in the border.
_Violet Ground._
420. Orange more beautiful than upon a white ground.
Roses, and violets especially, less beautiful than upon a white ground.
A poor assortment.
_Grey Ground._
421. As might be easily foreseen, this ground was extremely favourable
to all the colours of the border.
422. The examination we have just made of four sorts of borders enables
us to verify the exactness of the conclusions which are directly
deducible from the law of simultaneous contrast of colours, and
presents to us effects which we could scarcely have deduced from the
same law without the aid of experiment. I now speak—
1. Of the influence which a complementary exercises by
imparting _brilliancy_ to the colour to which
it is added.
2. Of the very different manner in which not only
different people, but even the same person, will
judge of the colours of a more or less complex pattern,
having a certain number of colours, according to the
attention the spectator gives at a certain moment to
different parts (407).
423. Our examination of the border of roses with their leaves (No. 3),
and especially of that of the border of flowers varied in their forms
and hues (No. 4), shows the necessity of a knowledge of the law of
contrast to assort the colours of objects represented upon a border
with the colour which serves as a ground to them. The examination of
the border No. 4 has demonstrated experimentally that this assortment
presents so much the more difficulty as we wish to have purer tints for
the ground, and more varied colours in the objects we intend placing on
it; besides, in demonstrating the good effect of grey as a ground for
these latter objects, it has furnished an example of a fact which may
be deduced from the law, and which is in perfect accordance with what
practice taught us long ago.
PRINTED OR WRITTEN CHARACTERS ON PAPERS OF DIFFERENT COLOURS.
424. Having made it a rule in this work never to state any observations
which I have not myself verified, I must mention that, not possessing
every requisite for the examination of the subject of this section, I
am obliged to develop certain points of it only.
We must regard—
1. The duration of the reading, and
2. The kind of light which illuminates the printed or written paper.
A.—INFLUENCE OF DURATION IN THE READING.
425. From the different conditions in which the eyei s found when it
is apt to perceive the phenomena of simultaneous, successive, and
mixed contrasts of colours (77 _et seq._), it may be conceived that
in order to judge of the effect upon the sight of the assortments of
the colour of the letters and that of the paper as to the degree of
facility that they respectively present for reading, it may happen that
one assortment will be more favourable during a brief reading, while
the contrary will take place if the reading be prolonged during several
hours. Besides, an assortment presenting the greatest contrast will be
more favourable to a reading of short duration, while it will be less
so to a prolonged reading; because, in consequence of the intensity of
its contrast, it will fatigue the eye more.[2]
[2] Hence the pleasure of reading books printed on the modern _toned_
paper. De Morgan advises that tables of logarithms, and the like,
should be printed on pale brown paper.
B.—INFLUENCE OF THE KIND OF LIGHT ON PRINTED OR WRITTEN PAPER.
426. The light we employ to supply the place of that of the sun,
changing the relations of colour under which the same bodies appear
to us illumined by daylight, it is evident that if we neglected this
difference of relation it would give rise to error; because any
assortment of colours favourable to read in diffused daylight, might be
less so by the light of a lamp, &c.
427. I will now examine—
The influence of different assortments of the colours of writing and
printing for reading by diffused daylight.
ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS FOR READING BY DIFFUSED DAYLIGHT.
_Reading of a Few Minutes’ Duration._
428. Letters upon paper can be read without fatigue only when there is
a marked contrast between the letters and the ground. This contrast may
be of tone, or of colours, or both.
429. _Contrast of tone_ is the most favourable condition for distinct
vision, if we consider white and black as the two extremes of a scale,
comprehending the gradations from normal grey; in fact, black letters
upon a white ground present the maximum of contrast of tone, and may
be read in a perfectly distinct manner without fatigue by diffused
daylight. Indeed, all whose sight is enfeebled by age require the
utmost contrast of tone.
FOURTH DIVISION.
_Employment of Colours in Architecture._
I. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS IN EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE.
430. The Egyptians employed various colours, as red, yellow, blue,
green, and white, to decorate their monuments.
Lancret remarks, “All who have seen Egyptian paintings, can attest
that when seen, even for the first time, they were not disagreeable;
and, that if at first the colours appear distributed arbitrarily,
it is because observers have not combined a sufficient number of
observations, and that it will one day be found that this part of the
arts of the Egyptians was, like all the rest, submitted to invariable
rules.”
431. Champollion the Younger expresses himself in these terms on the
application of colours to Egyptian architecture: “I should like to
introduce into the great temple of Ipsamboul, all who refuse to believe
in the elegant richness that painted sculpture adds to architecture; in
less than a quarter of an hour, I engage that they would perspire away
all their prejudices, and that their _à priori_ opinions would quit
them through every pore.”
432. The fact of colouring hieroglyphics being once admitted, the
colouring of the other figured objects which accompany them appears
to have been a necessary consequence, either to bring out certain
symbols, or allegories more distinctly and more agreeably, by the
effect of their various colours, or because, if the hieroglyphics only
were differently coloured, there would be no harmony between them and
the other figured objects. No one can mistake the harmony between the
hieroglyphics and other painted objects, and we therefore should not
see any impropriety in them if we mistook them for figures traced
by the capricious imagination of the artist. This harmony clearly
justifies Lancret and Champollion the Younger, in the passages quoted
above.
II. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE.
433. The discovery of Greek temples coloured on the exterior is
doubtless a very remarkable fact in archæology; for if any monuments
seemed to reject the application of colours to their external
decoration, it was assuredly those of the Greeks. At this day, it
is impossible not to admit that it was among these people that the
alliance of colours with architecture was made, not in the declining
epoch but at a period when monuments were erected in the best style;
in fact, the ruins of coloured temples discovered by the excavations
made in Greece, Italy, and Sicily, in places where many Greek colonies
prospered, have this characteristic in a remarkable degree.
434. If we seek the cause which determined the Greek architect to seize
upon one of the most powerful means that the painter has of addressing
the eye, we shall find it especially, I think, in a taste for colours,
rather than in the intention of rendering the various parts of an
edifice more distinct from each other; and of substituting painted
ornaments for ornaments in relief, whether sculptured or moulded, or of
augmenting the relief these ornaments already possessed; indeed, the
communication of the Greeks with the Egyptians, may have induced them
to imitate the latter in this application of colours to ornaments.
435. In the coloured drawings of Greek monuments which I have been able
to procure, I have remarked not only the number of colours employed
in these monuments,—_white_, _black_, _red_, _yellow_, _green_, and
_blue_,—but also the use which has been made of them under the relation
of _variety_ and _purity of tint_, of _distinct view of the parts_,
and of the _harmony of the whole_. For instance, the principal lines,
as the fillets of the architrave and of the cornice, are _red_; the
mutules _blue_, and their guttæ _white_; the triglyphs _blue_, their
channels _black_, and their guttæ _white_; and the more extended parts
of the frieze and the cornice, as well as the architrave, are of light
_yellow_.
We see that _red_, a brilliant colour, indicated the greater part
of the principal lines; that _blue_, associated with _black_ in the
triglyphs and their channels, formed an harmonious and distinct
union of the neighbouring parts: also that the dominant colour,
light _yellow_, produced a much better effect than it would if the
most intense or the most sombre colours had predominated. Finally,
the colours were distributed in the most intelligent manner possible
without being motley, presenting a variety and lightness in the tints,
with easy separation of parts.
III. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS IN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
436. In the great Gothic churches, colour has rarely been employed on
the exterior, except in a few cases, and always in a restrained manner,
and without injury to the general harmony; for the colour on porches
and in niches is altogether insignificant in this point of view; and,
besides, there is nothing to show that it was not added long after the
erection of the structure on which it is found. One of the things I
most admire in these vast edifices is the art, or, if you will, the
luck, with which they have succeeded without colour, by having recourse
only to architecture and sculpture, in giving to the exterior of the
edifice a variety which in no respect injures the imposing effect of
the whole.
437. If we now regard the interior of these churches, the magic of the
colours of the stained windows will complete the enjoyments the sight
can receive from colour allied to architecture—enjoyments which can
only strengthen the power of the religious sentiment in all who enter
these edifices to address their prayers to God. M. Boiserée, author of
a work full of research, as original as profound, on the cathedral of
Cologne, thinks that the ceilings of Gothic churches ought, according
to a general custom, to represent the celestial vault, and be painted
blue, studded with gilt stars.
438. If painting has from the beginning really concurred with
architecture, and even with painted sculpture, in the interior
decoration of Gothic churches, it can only have been in a secondary
degree and on the system of flat tints, from the time when it had
been decided to put in windows of stained glass; for no painting
applied upon an opaque body, such as stone, wood, &c., could sustain
itself beside the brilliant coloured light transmitted by the glass;
and if this painting had been graduated according to the rules of
chiaro-’scuro, all its merit would have disappeared, for want of pure
and white light, the only kind suitable for illuminating it.
439. Is it true that the vicinity of stained glass necessarily requires
as an effect of harmony, painting on the contiguous walls? Without
deciding absolutely in favour of the contrary opinion, I confess that,
after reflecting long upon the deep impressions I have received in
great Gothic churches where the walls present only the simple effects
of light and shade upon a uniform surface of stone, where there are no
colours except those transmitted by the stained glass, I say that the
sight of more varied effects would have appeared to me an error against
the principle of suitability of the place to its destination; and this
opinion was especially fortified by seeing, after the coronation of
Charles X., the fine vault of the ancient cathedral at Rheims, which
had been painted for the occasion blue, sprinkled with _fleurs-de-lis_.
I am reminded of the impression it produced upon me some years before,
when it presented to my sight only the uniform colour of the stone.
APPLICATION TO THE INTERIORS OF EDIFICES.
440. I shall treat in succession—
1. On the assortment of stuffs with the wood of seats, &c.
2. On the assortment of frames with the pictures,
engravings, and lithographs which they surround.
3. On the general decoration of interiors of churches.
4. On the decoration of museums, galleries, &c.
5. On the decoration of houses, palaces, &c.
_On the Assortment of Stuffs with the Wood of Seats._
441. There should be between the two parts of the seat—the wood and
the stuff—harmony of contrast and harmony of analogy. The beauty of
the wood and of the stuff which accompanies it, may mutually enhance
each other. From what has been said, it is evident that we must assort
violet or blue stuffs with yellow woods, as the root of ash, the yew,
satinwood, maple, &c. Green stuffs with rose or red-coloured woods, as
mahogany, cherry-tree, rosewood, &c.
Violet, or blue-greys, are equally good with yellow woods, as
green-greys are with the red woods.
But to obtain the best possible effect it is necessary to take into
consideration the contrast resulting from depth of tone; for a dark
blue or violet stuff will not accord so well with a yellow wood as a
light tone of the same colours; and it is for this reason that yellow
does not assort so well with mahogany, as with a wood of the same, but
not so deep a colour.
442. Among the harmonies of contrast of tone that can be made with
wood, may be mentioned ebony, the brown colour of which permits its
employment with light stuffs to produce contrasts of tone, rather
than contrasts of colour. We can use it with very brilliant, intense
colours; such as poppy, scarlet, aurora, flame-colour, &c.
443. When we employ painted woods instead of those which retain their
natural colour, it is better for a stuff to give the wood such a
colour as will best assort with the stuff. For assortments of this
kind, I believe we cannot do better than refer to the examples of the
assortments of the principal colours with white, black, and grey. (P.
49 _et seq._)
444. Ebony wood, on account of its dark colour, be employed with dark
stuffs to produce the assortments of analogy. In this case it can be
allied with brown tones, and with red, blue, green, and violet. It is
scarcely necessary to remark that these assortments prevent our using
with ebony, white and yellow inlaying woods, which can be used with
more or less advantage in those assortments which enter into the case
of harmonies of contrast.
445. Frequent use is made of crimson woollen, velvet, and mahogany.
This assortment, which is related to the harmony of analogy, is
preferable to many others, only in consideration of the great stability
of the colour of the stuff, and therefore independently of every idea
of harmony. This induces me to examine it under several relations, that
we may make the best possible use of it, according to the particular
purpose.
When, in assorting crimson with mahogany, we wish to produce the
harmony of analogy, by marking out the lines where the wood and the
stuff touch, we can employ a cord or narrow galloon of yellow, or of
golden yellow with gilt nails; or, better still, a narrow galloon of
green or black, according to our wish to render the border more or less
prominent.
When, in assorting these colours, we are guided by the twofold motive
of the stability of the crimson colour and of the beauty of the
mahogany, we must necessarily increase the distance which separates the
stuff from the wood, by making the black or green border wider.
446. As the red woods always lose more or less of their beauty by the
juxtaposition of red stuffs, we can never ally mahogany to colours
which belong to the vivid reds, such as poppy or cherry; and more
particularly to orange-reds, such as scarlet aurora; for these colours
are so bright, that, taking away from this wood its peculiar tint, it
becomes no better than oak or black walnut.
ON THE SELECTION OF FRAMES FOR PICTURES AND ENGRAVINGS.
447. If a frame is necessary to a picture, engraving, or drawing,
to isolate it from the objects around it, it is always more or less
injurious to the illusion the painter or designer has desired to
produce, when it occupies its destined place. I only purpose here to
examine the relation of colour between the frame and the object it
surrounds.
448. Gilt frames accord well with large pictures painted in oil, when
the latter do not represent gildings, at least so near the frame as to
render it easy for the eye to compare the painted gold with the metal
itself.
I will instance a bad effect from such proximity. A Gobelins tapestry,
after Laurent, represents a genius armed with a torch, near which is a
gilt altar, executed in yellow silk and wool, all of which are entirely
eclipsed by the metallic brilliancy of the gilt bronzes profusely
spread over the mahogany frame of the tapestry. This may convince us
that the richness of a frame may not only be a fault against art, but
also against common sense.
449. Bronze frames which have but little yellow brilliancy do not
injure the effect of an oil picture which represents a scene lighted by
artificial light, such as that of candles, torches, a conflagration, &c.
450. When black frames, such as ebony, detach themselves sufficiently
from an oil painting, they are favourable to large subjects; but
whenever they are used, it is necessary to see whether the browns of
the painting or drawing which are contiguous, do not lose too much of
their vigour.
451. A grey frame is favourable to many landscape scenes painted in
oil, particularly when the picture having a dominant colour, we take a
grey lightly tinted with the complementary of that colour.
452. Gilt frames accord perfectly with black engravings and
lithographs, when we take the precaution of leaving a certain extent of
white paper round the subject.
453. To conclude. The rule to be followed in assorting a frame to a
picture is, that its colour, brightness, and ornaments also, injure
neither the colours, nor the shadows, nor the lights of the picture,
nor the ornaments which it represents.
When we propose to put a border between the frame and an engraving,
plain or coloured, we must take into consideration,—
1. The effect of the height of tone of this border
upon the different tones of the design.
2. The effect of the complementary of the colour of
the border upon the colour of the design.
3. The intensity of the diffused light which is
considered most suitable to light the design.
Because for a given border the mutual relations
between the browns, the half-tints, the lights
and the whites, change with the intensity of the
daylight, and change more for a given composition
with certain borders than with others.
A composition of small or medium size may be painted
so that the artist himself will do well to choose
the frame best adapted to it, and to paint up those
parts of his picture which are contiguous to it.
(See also 483.)
ON THE GENERAL DECORATION OF THE INTERIORS OF CHURCHES.
I now resume this subject, no longer to treat of it relatively to a
given architectonic form, but to consider it under the most general
point of view.
Conformably to the principle enunciated above (346), of judging the
productions of art by the rules drawn from the nature of the materials
employed, I establish two distinct classes of churches, not according
to their form, but to a fundamental consideration which subordinates
the interior decoration to the quality of the light, coloured or
colourless, diffused through plain or coloured glass.
_Stained Glass Windows._
1. From the bad effect of the mutual proximity of white and stained
glass (365), it results that where one is employed in a church the
other must be excluded, at least from the nave, choir, in a word, from
all that the spectator can embrace at one point of view. The colourless
glass in some of the chapels of the aisles is of no consequence in the
general effect.
2. If pictures be near stained windows, they must be flat, or present
subjects as simple as possible, since their effects are entirely
sacrificed to those of the stained glass (438).
3. We can place pictures in a large church where the light is
transmitted through coloured glass; but, for the view to be
satisfactory, they must necessarily encounter such a union of
conditions, that they will almost always be found out of place. In
fact, if the pictures are not at a certain distance from the glass,—if
the coloured lights which emanate from them are not, by their mutual
admixture, in the requisite proportions for producing white light, or,
at least, a very faintly coloured light—or if this feebly coloured
light is insufficient to lighten the interior of the church properly,
the pictures will lose their colour, unless they have been executed
with reference to the nature of the light from the stained windows; but
this is not, to my knowledge, ever realized.
_White Glass Windows._
454. Churches with white glass windows harmonize with every ornament we
can imagine in the employment of wood, marbles, porphyry, granite, and
the metals. Mosaics may ornament the floors and adorn the walls with
true pictures, as we see in St. Peter’s at Rome. Painting in fresco,
in oil, plain and coloured sculptures, also combine to ornament the
interior.
1. In churches of this class, the profusion of riches at the disposal
of the decorator, far from being always of advantage to him, may be
the cause of difficulties; for, the more varied the objects he has to
arrange, the greater the difficulty of presenting only such objects as
are in keeping with the place he has to embellish. It is not enough
to have precious woods, marbles, metals, pictures; he must also make
these objects harmonize. Thus, he must avoid putting coloured marbles
contiguous to the white stone of which the walls are constructed; he
must also proscribe surrounding bas-reliefs in white stone with slabs
or borders of red or green marble.
2. The cathedral of Cologne, for churches with _coloured_ glass, and
St. Peter’s at Rome, for those with _white_ glass, are two types which
it will be sufficient to mention when we wish to demonstrate that
beauty is compatible with different systems.
3. Much as I admire the marvels which the arts have accumulated in
churches where white light freely enters, and although I acknowledge
the effects which certain pictures of the first order are capable of
producing in the Christian mind, yet the churches in which we see these
decorations, resemble museums of art more than temples consecrated to
prayer; and under this aspect they do not appear to me to fulfil the
conditions imposed by the principle of fitness of edifices to their
purpose in the same degree as Gothic churches with stained glass
windows.
ON THE DECORATION OF MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES.
455. The essential condition which these edifices must fulfil, is, that
the light be as white and as vivid as possible; but always diffused
and distributed equally and in the most suitable manner upon all the
objects exhibited to the spectator, so that they may be seen without
fatigue, and distinctly in every part.
_Picture Galleries._
456. There is generally a disposition to be prodigal of ornaments and
gilding in such buildings. Without pretending that all decoration
should be proscribed, yet I believe that there is less disadvantage in
erring by deficiency than by excess; in fact, the pictures, &c., are
the precious objects, and it is to them that we must attract attention.
Let me add, that one of the most injurious things to the effect of
pictures is their accumulation—their being crammed all together;
the position they then occupy, so different from that for which the
painters destined them, diminishes the illusion which each would
produce if it were in its proper place. Few, except the intelligent
connoisseur and amateur, on seeing a picture exhibited in a gallery,
experience all the effect which the artist wished to produce. Even
the contiguity of the frame to the picture is destructive of the
illusion of perspective: hence the difference between the effect of a
framed picture and the effect of the same picture when seen through
an opening, which permits us to see neither frame nor limits: it then
recalls all the illusion of the diorama.
_Sculpture Galleries._
457. Statues of white marble or stone, as well as plaster casts, stand
out well in a gallery, the walls of which are of a pearly-grey colour;
and if we would augment the whiteness of the statues by neutralizing
the red hue which the marble, stone, or plaster might have, we could
colour the walls with a chamois or orange-grey tint. If, on the
contrary, we preferred giving to the statues a warm colour, which many
sculptors esteem so highly, the walls must be of blue-grey. Green walls
will give to the statues a rosy tint, which is not disagreeable.
The tone of their colour must be lower, the brighter we wish the
sculptures to be.
458. When there are bronzes, the colour of the walls of the gallery
must be determined by that which we wish to predominate in the statues;
because, as is very well known, the metallic alloy of which they are
formed yields two very different tints; one _green_, acquired by
exposure to atmosphere; the other the peculiar _golden_ tint which it
possesses where it is not oxidized. If we wish to exalt this green
tint, the colour of the walls of the gallery must be _red_; while they
must be _blue_ to bring out the brilliancy of the metallic bronze,
which has not experienced the action of the atmosphere.
459. The walls of the gallery are considered as giving rise to effects
of contrast, and not of reflection.
_Museums of Natural History._
460. In these edifices it would be wrong to give the walls any positive
colour, for the objects exhibited should appear to the eyes of the
naturalist of the colour peculiar to each; consequently the interior of
cabinets, glass-cases, and drawers must necessarily be white, or normal
grey, very light in tone.
_Wainscoting._
461. From the fact that wainscotings are generally concealed by the
furniture placed before them, we may conclude that they must be of a
dark, rather than of a light colour, and that, if they have ornaments,
these must be simple, and not prominent. The wainscoting may be
considered as serving as a ground to the furniture, whenever it is not
entirely concealed by the latter. We shall see hereafter what colour is
necessary to be given them that they may suit their purpose.
DECORATIONS OF THE INTERIOR OF HOUSES.
_Hangings._
462. In consequence of an apartment never being too light—for we can
always diminish superfluous light—hangings should be of a light colour,
that they may reflect, not absorb, light.
463. We proscribe all dark hangings, whatever be their colour, because
they absorb too much light; we proscribe also red and violet hangings,
because they are exceedingly unfavourable to the colour of the skin.
For this latter reason we reject the light tones of the red and violet
scales. Orange is a colour that can never be much employed, because it
fatigues the eye too much by its great intensity.
1. Among the simple colours, there are scarcely any
which are advantageous, except yellow and the light
tones of green and of blue. Yellow is lively; it
combines well with mahogany, furniture, but not
_generally_ with gilding (see 469).
2. Light green is favourable to pale complexions as well as
to rosy ones; to mahogany furniture, and to gilding.
3. Light blue is much less favourable than green to
rosy complexions, especially in daylight; it is
particularly favourable to gilding, it does not
injure mahogany, and associates better than green
with yellow or orange woods.
4. White or whitish hangings of a light grey (either
normal green, blue, or yellow), uniform or with
velvet patterns of the colour of the ground, are
also very useful.
5. When we would choose hangings upon which to place
a picture, their colour must be uniform, and make
the greatest contrast possible with that which
predominates in the picture, if the hangings are
not of a normal grey. I shall return to this
assortment (483).
464. Hangings in the best taste are those—
1. Which present designs of a light tone, either
normal or coloured grey, upon a white ground, or
the reverse, and in which the pattern is at least
equal in extent of surface to the ground; for a
small pattern has a very poor effect, at least in a
large room.
2. Patterns of two or more tones of the same or very
near scales assorted conformably to the law of contrast.
465. Hangings of brilliant and varied colours representing real
objects, forming patterns more or less complex, do not admit of
pictures; and as such hangings should exhibit themselves distinctly,
they must not be concealed by the furniture in any of their parts.
466. When we have to adapt a border to a monochromous hanging, or to
one presenting a dominant colour, we must first determine whether we
can have recourse to a harmony of analogy or to a harmony of contrast;
in all cases the border ought to detach itself more or less from the
hangings, which it is intended to surround and separate from contiguous
objects.
Harmony of contrast is the most suitable to papers of a uniform pure
colour, such as yellows, greens, and blues; consequently we recommend
for the dominant colour of the border, the complementary of that of
the hangings, whether this border represents ornaments, arabesques,
flowers, or imitations of fringes or tissues. But, as a contrast of
colour ought not generally to offer also a contrast of tone, then the
general tone of the border must only surpass that of the hangings so
far as to avoid a deadening effect. If a double border be required,
the exterior border must be of a much deeper tone than the other, and
always narrower.
467. Among the colours suitable for borders we recommend the following
as harmonies of contrast:—
1. For yellow hangings, violet and blue mixed with
white; if a fringe, of flowers garnished with their
leaves, or ornaments.
2. For green hangings, red in all its hues; the
painted gilt-yellows upon a dark-red ground; the
borders of brass.
3. For white hangings, orange and yellow; the borders
of brass or gilt moulding: these are much better on
blue than on green.
468. Among the harmonies of analogy, I recommend the following:—
For yellow hangings, a border of brass or gilt moulding.
_White or Whitish Hangings of Normal Grey, Pearl Grey, or very pale
coloured Grey, of a uniform colour, or with a Velvet Pattern of the
Colour of the Ground._
469. Although papers of this kind admit of borders of all colours, yet
we must avoid too great a contrast of tone in a border containing pure
colours; for the intense tones of blue, violet, red, green, are too
crude to combine with these light grounds. Gilt brass borders accord
well with these grounds, especially with the pure or grey whites. If a
grey present a tint of green, of blue, or of yellow, we may use borders
of the complementary of these tints, taken many tones above, or of a
grey, deeply tinged with this complementary.
470. Among the harmonies of analogy, we may take for grey hangings,
borders of some tones higher, and of a grey contrasting with their
tint, but very lightly.
_For Borders of Hangings that present a pure Colour with White, or many
Tones belonging either to the same Scale or to contiguous Scales_ (see
466).
For _chintzes_, we must have analogous borders.
For larger patterns than chintzes, repeated like the latter, a binding
of galloon suffices.
Hangings with human figures, landscapes, or other pictures, require a
frame either of painted, gilt, or bronzed wood, or, better still, a
border imitated by painting.
_Colour of the Wainscoting relatively to the Hangings._
_When the Hangings and the Border make a Contrast of Colour._
471. The dominant colour of the wainscoting must generally be more or
less approximating, and may be—
1. The same as that of the border, but a little darker, and especially
more or less broken with black.
2. Grey lightly tinted with the colour of the border, and of the same
tone, or very near it.
3. The complementary of the colour of the hangings, when the dominant
colour of the border is not its complementary. If we employ a
complementary lightly broken with black, the moulding must be picked
out in brown on the border and on the wainscoting.
4. A grey complementary to the colour of the hangings, when the border
is not the complementary of the hangings.
In these cases we bring out upon the colour of the hangings, properly
so called, that of the wainscoting, which we always render more or less
dull. Thus the colour of the hangings and the wainscoting are agreeably
harmonized, and the border suitably separates them.
5. A normal grey of many tones, with which we may combine white.
472. When the colour of the wainscoting is the same as that of the
hangings, but duller or deeper, in general it has a poor effect,
arising particularly from the fact that the colour of the border, which
contrasts with that of the hangings and of the wainscoting, is in too
small superficial proportion to the other.
_When the Assortment of the Hangings and the Border
make either the Harmonies of Contrast of Scale or
of Contrast of Hue, or the Harmonies of Analogy._
The dominant colour of the wainscoting may be—
1. The complementary of the colour of the hangings,
but more or less broken, and a little deeper.
2. Grey complementary to the colour of the hangings.
3. A colour which, without being complementary,
contrasts with that of the hangings.
4. Grey, tinted by a colour which, without being
complementary to that of the hangings, contrasts
with them.
473. When the hangings are white, or of an extremely feeble tone
of colour, and the border does not stand out very strongly by its
colour, we may make a harmony of tone or of hue with the tint of the
wainscoting. For example, white, or nearly white hangings, with a gilt
or brass border, harmonize well with a wainscoting which differs only
by some tones more from the colour of the hangings.
_Cornice of the Ceiling._
474. The cornice of a white ceiling must be of light colours, and but
little varied; not according with those of the hangings, but of the
wainscoting. White parts, which may be confounded with the ceiling,
must be carefully avoided, as must also whatever will cause too much
difference between the parts of the whole. When the hangings are white,
or of a very pale grey, with a gilt or brass border, the cornice may
present ornaments of the same material, and in this case they may stand
upon a white or upon a grey, a little deeper than that of the hangings.
_Chairs, Sofas, &c., placed in front of the Wainscoting or Hangings._
475. The colour of the covering of chairs should be complementary
to that of the hangings, properly so called, or, more generally,
the same as that of the border, because this may be different from
its complementary, and contrast, nevertheless, with the tint of the
hangings. We see, then, that the chairs should contrast with the
hangings, as may also the wainscoting; but the colour of the chairs
being pure, it will also be purified by that of the wainscoting, which,
for this reason, we have advised to be deadened.
1. The case of clearest contrast—_i.e._, when the
colours of the hangings and the chairs are
complementary—is the most favourable to distinct
vision, as well as to successive contrast, whenever
we observe first the hangings separately, and
afterwards the chairs separately, and _vice versâ_.
2. When the colour of the hangings and of the chairs
contrast without being complementary, we must take
into consideration the degree of _light_ in the
colour of the hangings. For example, if they are
blue, and the border is yellow, the covering of the
furniture being a yellow, more golden than citron,
this stuff must be of a much higher tone than the
blue tone of the hangings; and the tone of the wood
of the chairs, &c., must be still higher than the
yellow, to avoid a dull appearance.
3. We may border the stuff at the parts contiguous to
the wood, either with well-assorted dark colours,
or with the same colour as the hangings, but of a
higher tone; there is also a means of harmonizing
the hangings and the furniture, in uniting the same
colours, but in inverse proportion.
4. When, instead of sofas, arm and other chairs,
there is a _divan_ which entirely conceals the
wainscoting, we must use the complementary colour
of the hangings, when it is more advantageous for
the colour of the border to form a contrast of
scale or of hue with the hangings. In this case,
yellow hangings bordered with brass in relief with
a violet-coloured divan, will produce an excellent
effect, at least by daylight; for we must not
forget that yellow and violet lose in artificial
light.
5. We regard as a harmony of contrast of colour light
hangings of a pure colour with furniture of a
grey, tinted with the complementary to that of the
hangings.
476. Rooms differing in dimensions, according as they belong to the
lively or grave harmonies, will be adapted to very different purposes.
1. In small rooms—such, for example, as boudoirs, where the hangings
are bright—a harmony of contrast of hue, of scale, or a harmony of
analogy, is generally preferable to a harmony of contrast of colour,
if the hangings are uniform, or have a dominant colour. If they have a
decided colour allied to white, or if they present patterns of various
colours, such as _chintzes_, the furniture most suitable will be a
divan of the same material as the hangings; and it is conformable
with the object of boudoirs, or of similar places, to diminish their
apparent extent to the eye, by employing only one material for the
hangings and the chairs, instead of seeking to fix the eye upon
distinct objects.
2. In large rooms there is an arrangement of good effect—viz., white,
or very light grey hangings, with furniture of a pure colour, such
as red, yellow, green, blue, and violet. When we employ these pure
colours, we must heighten the tone only so much as to avoid a faded
appearance. Sky-blue is the most suitable for this arrangement;
crimson, which is also employed, is too harsh, especially if the room
is neither very large nor well lighted.
477. _Grave Assortments_ are adapted to places devoted to quiet
meetings, such as libraries, museums, studies, &c. In general, the
smaller the place, or the less space there is to receive the hangings,
the more the assortment must be that of a harmony of analogy.
The hangings or the pictures must present only normal grey, or a grey
of a colour more or less broken; the chairs must be black or of a
dark grey, either normal or coloured; and in this case we can take a
grey tinted with the complementary of the colour of the grey of the
hangings. If more contrast is desired, we can have recourse to the
brown tones of this complementary of the colour, which tints the grey
of the hangings.
478. _Window and Bed-curtains_ should be similar to each other.
_When the Chairs have a decided Colour—such as Red, Yellow, Green,
Blue, or Violet_—the hangings should be of a pure colour, contrasting
favourably with that of the chairs.
The curtains should generally be of the colour of the chairs, and their
borders of the colour of the hangings, or of the colour of the hangings
bordered with the colour of the chairs.
_The Chairs being Grey, or of a very subdued Colour_, and the hangings
of a decided colour, the curtains should be either,—1. Of the colour of
the chairs, with a border of the colour of the hangings: or, 2. Of the
complementary of the hangings, or contrasting favourably with them; the
colour of the border should be that of the hangings.
_The Hangings being of a Grey Colour, or White_, the curtains
should be,—1. Of the colour of the chairs: or, 2. Of a pure colour,
complementary to the grey of the hangings, if the latter do not belong
to the scale of normal grey.
479. _Doors._—Doors being, by their use, size, and position, relatively
to the plane of the wall, absolutely distinct from the wainscoting,
should be distinguished from it by their colour, notwithstanding
the contrary practice of painters, who make them the same. Their
different parts might be painted in many low tones of the same, or of
approximating scales, and always according to the harmony of analogy,
as the parts of one object are concerned. The colour of the doors
should be of normal grey, or of a grey tinged with the colour of the
hangings or of its complementary, which will thus always unite with the
hangings, either by harmony of analogy, or by harmony of contrast. The
door frames should be darker than the door itself.
480. _Window Frames_ should be like the doors, according to a rule
which has long been generally observed. The fastenings must be black,
bronzed, or of brass.
_Carpets._
481. Whatever may be the dominant colours of the subjects represented
in their central part, with regard to brilliancy and contrast, they
should always be separated from the chairs by a sufficient interval to
prevent discord with the colour of the latter.
1. The more numerous and vivid the colours are, the more we must
control their brilliancy; and the carpet most suitable will be one of
simple colours and pattern. In many cases, an assortment of green and
black will have a good effect.
2. If the furniture is of a single colour, or of many tones, either
of the same colour or of approximating scales, we can, without
disadvantage, employ a carpet of brilliant colours, and thus establish
a harmony of contrast between them and the dominant tint of the
furniture.
482. But if the furniture is of mahogany, and we wish to bring out
its colour, then we must not have either red, scarlet, or orange as a
dominant colour in the carpet.
In short, to get the best effect of the colours of the furniture, in
the first case, the colours of the carpet, more or less sombre, must
enter into the harmonies of analogy; while in the second, where harmony
of contrast of colour does not exist in the furniture, we can, if we
choose, have recourse to this harmony in the carpet without ill effect.
_Pictures_ (See 453).
483. Whenever pictures are placed on hangings, the latter must be of
a single colour, or of two very similar colours or tones of the same
scale. The pattern of these hangings must be as simple as possible.
Whenever a picture is placed on coloured hangings, we must always take
care that the dominant colour of the hangings be complementary to the
dominant colour of the picture.
Engravings and plain lithographs must never be placed beside oil
paintings, or even coloured drawings.
Pearl grey, or rather deep normal grey, is a good tint to receive
engravings and plain lithographs in gilt or yellow wood frames.
484. Yellow hangings can receive with advantage landscapes, in which
green grass, and leaves, and a blue sky predominate. The most suitable
frames in this case are those of violet ebony, or wood painted grey
or black. Gilt frames have not a bad effect on the picture; but the
gold of the frame and the yellow of the hangings do not contrast
sufficiently to most eyes.
485. Oil-paintings in gilt frames have a good effect on hangings of
olive-grey more or less deep, according to the tone of the picture.
Carnations and the gold assort well on a similar ground. Papers of
a deep green, and even of a deep blue, may also be advantageously
employed in many cases.
ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS IN INTERIORS, THE WALLS
OF WHICH ARE PANELLED OR COVERED WITH MARBLE,
STUCCO, OR PAINTED WOOD.
_Panelled Interiors._
486. Notwithstanding the present taste for decorations, which it is so
easy to satisfy by means of paper-hangings, woven fabrics, and other
accessories, I think there are in large suites of apartments two rooms
for which a paneling more or less finished is very suitable; these
are the dining and the billiard rooms; the scene being, as it were,
concentrated on the dining or billiard tables, there is no reason to
distract the attention by clothing the walls with ornaments. Where an
interior is paneled, the floor should be in parquetry; a pavement of
tiles, stones, or marbles would be out of keeping.
487. The colour of the curtains, for paneled interiors, must be chosen
conformably to the preceding principles. For example—
White curtains will heighten the tone of the woodwork;
Blue curtains will bring out the golden tint of many woods, especially
of polished oak.
_Interiors covered with Marbles._
488. We can arrange marbles together on the principle of harmony of
contrast or of harmony of analogy. Bronze adapts itself to them very
well. If granite and porphyry are to be added, the lower courses must
be composed of the latter.
Blinds are preferable to curtains, which are not suited to marbles.
_Interiors covered with Wood painted of several Colours._
489. The painting on a wainscot which is not beautiful enough to be
seen uncovered has for its object the imitation—1. Of hangings; 2. Of
wood more or less costly; 3. Of marble.
490. When we decorate walls of a pale grey ground, which require to be
warmed with arabesques, we must endeavour to imitate pictures rather
than mosaics.
491. The more carefully arabesques are executed, the more variety
they will present in their forms and colours, and the less they
should resemble the draperies, with which they are associated. Thus,
white curtains with a simple and ample border, or curtains of a
slightly-elevated tone of colour, or of an extremely simple design,
should have the preference to curtains which are related to arabesques
by their vivid colours, their varied patterns, or striking colour; in
short, the colour of the curtain, if it has any, must be sacrificed to
that of the arabesques.
FIFTH DIVISION.
CLOTHING.
492. In explaining the applications of the law of contrast to the
colours of Male Clothing, my intention is to discuss principally the
question of the combination of colours in military uniforms as a matter
of State economy; and, in the case of Female Clothing, the combinations
which are most suitable for a portrait. The first question is entirely
one of administrative economy; the second belongs solely to the domain
of art.
I shall attain my end if, in the views set forth, the portrait-painter
find the means of selecting associations of colours which, by imparting
to his works more brilliancy and harmony, render them thereby less
likely to appear antiquated when the prevailing fashion of his time is
forgotten.
I. _Men’s Clothing._
493. A dress composed of cloths of different colours may be worn much
longer, and will appear better, although nearly worn out, than a
suit of a single colour, even when the latter is of a piece of cloth
identical with one of the first. The law of contrast fully gives the
reason of this fact.
OF THE ADVANTAGES OF CONTRAST, CONSIDERED WITH REGARD TO THE
APPARENT CLEANLINESS OF CLOTHS FOR CLOTHING.
494. Contrast in the colours of cloths composing a dress is not
only advantageous to the brightness and _apparent preservation_ of
the colours of these cloths, but also to render less visible the
inequalities which a cloth presents on account of the colouring
material not having equally penetrated to the centre of the stuff; the
surface wearing unequally, according as it is exposed to different
degrees of friction, the colour of the cloth becomes lighter, or, as it
is commonly called, _whitens_, in the parts most exposed to friction.
Many blue, scarlet, and madder-red cloths present this result,
especially on the salient parts of the vestment, such as the seams.
495. This defect which certain cloths have of _whitening in the
seams_ is much less apparent in a coat of two or more colours than it
is in a monochromous coat; because _the vivid contrast of different
colours, fixing immediately the attention of the spectator, prevents
the eye from perceiving the inequalities, which would be visible in a
monochromic coat_.
For this reason stains, on the same ground, will always be less
apparent in a polychromous than in a monochromous garment or dress.
496. For the same reason also a coat, waistcoat, and trousers of the
same colour cannot be worn together with advantage, except when new;
for when one of them has lost its freshness, by having been more worn
than the others, the difference will be increased by contrast. Thus
new black trousers worn with a coat and waistcoat of the same colour,
but old and slightly _rusty_, will bring out this latter tint, while
at the same time the black of the trousers will appear brighter. White
trousers or reddish-grey will correct the defect. We see, then, the
advantage of having a soldier’s trousers of another colour than his
coat, especially if, wearing this coat all the year, he only wears
trousers of the same cloth during winter. We see also why white
trousers are favourable to coats of every colour.
II.—_Female Clothing._
497. Although there are many varieties of the human race with respect
to the colour of the skin, yet we may arrange them in the three
following divisions:—The Caucasian, or white race; the American
Indians, whose skin is red or copper-coloured; the negro race, the
Malays, &c., who have black or olive skins.
_Colours for the Dress of Women with White Skins._
498. To give precision to this subject, we must begin by establishing
certain distinctions.
1. That of the two types, with skins more or less white and rosy:—
The one with light hair and blue eyes.
The other with black hair and black eyes.
2. That of the juxtaposition of the articles of the toilet, whether
pertaining to the hair or to the complexion; for a colour may contrast
favourably to the hair, yet produce a disagreeable effect with the skin.
3. That of the modifications of the complexion, by coloured rays
emanating from the head-dress, and which, being reflected on the skin,
tinge it with their peculiar colour.
499. The colour of light hair being essentially the result of a mixture
of red, yellow, and brown, we must consider it as _a very pale subdued
orange-brown_; the colour of the skin, although a lower tone, is
analogous to it, except in the red parts. Blue eyes are really the
only parts of the fair type which form a contrast of colour with the
whole; for the red parts produce, with the rest of the skin, only a
harmony of analogy of hue, or at most a contrast of hue, and not of
colour; and the parts of the skin contiguous to the hair, the eyebrows,
and eyelashes, give rise only to a harmony of analogy, either of scale
or of hue. The harmonies of analogy, then, evidently predominate in the
fair type over the harmonies of contrast.
500. The type with black hair shows the harmonies of contrast
predominating over the harmonies of analogy. The hair, eyebrows,
eyelashes, and eyes, contrast in tone and colour, not only with the
white of the skin, but also with the red parts, which in this type are
really redder, or less roseate, than in the blonde type; and we must
not forget that a decided red, associated with black, gives to the
latter the character of an _excessively deep_ colour, either blue or
green.
_Of the Colours of the Hair and Head-dress._
501. The colours which are usually considered as assorting best with
light or black hair, are precisely those which produce great contrasts;
thus, sky-blue, known to accord well with blondes, is the colour that
approaches the nearest to the complementary of orange, which is the
basis of the tint of their hair and complexions. Two colours, long
esteemed to accord favourably with black hair—yellow, and red more
or less orange—contrast in the same manner with them. Yellow and
orange-red, contrasting by colour and brilliancy with black, and their
complementaries, violet and blue-green, in mixing with the tint of the
hair, are far from producing a bad result.
_Of the Colours of the Complexion and the contiguous Drapery._
502. The juxtaposition of drapery with the different flesh tints of
women offers to portrait-painters a host of remarks, which are all the
results of the principles already laid down. We shall state the most
general: thus—
503. ROSE-RED cannot be put in contrast with even the rosiest
complexions without causing them to lose some of their freshness.
_Rose-red_, _maroon_, and _light crimson_ have the serious disadvantage
of rendering the complexion more or less green. This is shown in the
following experiment:—
Place two sheets of paper of either of the above colours beside two
sheets of flesh-coloured paper, when it will be seen how much they are
mutually injured, the lighter becoming greenish, and the darker rather
of a violet hue. By substituting light green for the red, we shall
find them mutually heightened and improved. The height of tone of the
green influences the result: a very deep green, acting by contrast of
tone, so enfeebles the complexion, that the slight contrasts of its
colours will be inappreciable; a deep red, by contrast of analogy,
blanches the complexion. It is necessary, then, to separate the rose
from the skin, in some manner; and the simplest manner of doing this,
is to edge the draperies with a border of _tulle_, which produces
the effect of grey by the mixture of white threads, which reflect
light, and the interstices, which absorb it; there is also a mixture
of light and shade, which recalls the effect of grey, like the effect
of a casement-window viewed at a great distance. Dark red is less
objectionable for certain complexions than rose-red, because, being
higher than the latter, it tends to impart whiteness to them in
consequence of contrast of tone.
504. DELICATE GREEN is, on the contrary, favourable to all fair
complexions which are deficient in rose, and which may have more
imparted to them without disadvantage. But it is not as favourable to
complexions that are more red than rosy; nor to those that have a tint
of orange mixed with brown, because the red they add to this tint will
be of a brick-red hue. In the latter case a dark green will be less
objectionable than a delicate green.
505. YELLOW imparts violet to a fair skin, and in this view it is less
favourable than the delicate green.
To those skins which are more yellow than orange it imparts white; but
this combination is very dull and heavy for a fair complexion.
When the skin is tinted more with orange than yellow, we can make it
rosy by neutralizing the yellow. It produces this effect upon the
black-haired type, and it is thus _that it suits brunettes_.
506. VIOLET, the complementary of yellow, produces contrary effects;
thus it imparts some greenish-yellow to fair complexions. It augments
the yellow tint of yellow and orange skins. The little blue there
may be in a complexion it makes green-violet. This, then, is one of
the least favourable colours to the skin, at least when it is not
sufficiently deep to whiten the skin by contrast of tone.
507. BLUE imparts orange, which combines favourably with white, and
the light flesh tints of fair complexions, which have already a more
or less determined tint of this colour. Blue is thus suitable to most
blondes, and in this case justifies its reputation.
It will not suit brunettes, since they have already too much of orange.
508. ORANGE is too brilliant to be elegant; it makes fair complexions
blue, whitens those which have an orange tint, and gives a green hue to
those of a yellow tint.
509. LUSTRELESS WHITE, such as cambric muslin, assorts well with a
fresh complexion, of which it relieves the rose colour; but it is
unsuitable to complexions which have a disagreeable tint, because white
always exalts all colours by raising their tone; consequently it is
unsuitable to those skins which, without having this disagreeable tint,
very nearly approach it.
510. VERY LIGHT WHITE draperies, such as muslin or lace, appear more
grey than white. (See 503.) We must thus regard every white drapery
which allows the light to pass through its interstices, and which is
only apparent to the eyes by the surface opposed to that which receives
incident light.
511. BLACK draperies, by lowering the tone of the colours with which
they are in juxtaposition, whiten the skin; but if the vermilion, or
rosy parts, are somewhat distant from the drapery, it will follow that,
although lowered in tone, they appear relatively to the white parts of
the skin contiguous to the same drapery, redder than if not contiguous
to the black. This effect is analogous to that mentioned (385).
_The Head-dress in relation to the Coloured Rays which it may reflect
upon the Skin._
512. The effect of coloured bonnets on the complexion can now be
readily understood; and whether it is true, as is generally believed,
that a rose-coloured bonnet gives a rose tint to the skin, while a
green bonnet gives a green tint to it, in consequence of the coloured
rays which each of them reflects upon it, it is no longer a question
about those head-dresses which, being too small or too much thrown back
to give rise to these reflections, can only produce the effects of
contrast, as I have said above, when treating of the juxtaposition of
coloured objects with the hair and skin (501, _et seq._)
513. If an object in relief is illuminated exclusively by a coloured
light, it will appear tinted with the colour of this light. A white
plaster figure, for example, placed in an enclosure where the red
rays illuminate it, will appear red, at least to most eyes, and under
most circumstances; for certain eyes, in some cases, may perceive the
sensation of the complementary of the coloured rays in looking at some
parts of the figure.
514. But if the figure is placed so as to receive, at the same time,
coloured rays and diffused daylight, there will be produced on the eyes
of a spectator, suitably placed, a complex effect; resulting—
1. From some parts of the figure being white, reflecting to the eyes of
the spectator the coloured rays falling from above.
2. From some parts of the figure reflecting diffused daylight in
sufficient quantity to appear white, or almost white.
3. From there being between the parts which reflect coloured light
to the eye, and those which send diffused daylight, some parts in a
condition which appears to be complementary to the reflected coloured
light.
515. One very remarkable consequence of this is, that the rays of
mutually complementary colours, successively lighting the same object,
concurrently with the diffused daylight, give rise to _the same
coloration_.
516. This may be proved thus:—Between two windows directly opposite to
each other, admitting diffused daylight, place a white plaster figure
in such a position that each half shall be lighted directly by only
one of the windows. On completely intercepting the light of one of the
windows, and hanging a coloured curtain before the other, the figure
appears only of the colour of the curtain; but if we open the other
window, so that the figure is lighted by diffused daylight, while it
is at the same time lighted by the coloured light, we then perceive
some parts white, and some parts tinted with the complementary of the
coloured light transmitted by the curtain.
517. This experiment, then, teaches us, that if a bonnet,
rose-coloured, for example, give rise to a reflection of this colour
on a complexion, the parts thus made rosy by the effect of contrast,
themselves give rise to green tints, since the figure, while it
receives rosy reflections, receives also diffused daylight.
518. To consider the real influence of the bonnet, we place three white
plaster casts of the same model in a position equally illuminated by
daylight; then observe them comparatively, after having clothed the
middle cast with a white bonnet, and the two others with bonnets of
which the colour of one is complementary to that of the other. _In
this way we may satisfy ourselves that the influence of reflection in
colouring a figure is very feeble, even when the bonnet is placed in
the most favourable manner for observing the phenomenon._
519. _Rose-coloured Bonnet._—Rose colour reflected upon the skin is
very feeble, except on the temples; wherever the rosy parts are
contiguous to parts feebly lighted by daylight, the latter will appear
very lightly tinged with green.
520. _Green Bonnet._—Green colour reflected upon the skin is very
feeble, except on the temples; wherever the green parts are contiguous
to parts feebly lighted by daylight, the latter will appear slightly
rosy; the effect of green in colouring it rose, is greater than the
effect of reflected rose in colouring it green.
521. _Yellow Bonnet._—Yellow colour reflected upon the skin is very
feeble, except on the temples; wherever the yellow parts are contiguous
to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear very
sensibly violet.
522. _Violet Bonnet._—Violet colour reflected on the skin is very
feeble, even on the temples; wherever the violet parts are contiguous
to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear
slightly yellow; but this coloration is very feeble, because the
reflections of violet have it themselves.
523. _Sky-blue Bonnet._—Blue colour reflected on the skin is very
feeble, except on the temples; wherever the blue parts are contiguous
to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear
slightly orange.
524. _Orange Bonnet._—Orange colour reflected on the skin is very
feeble, except on the temples; wherever the parts are contiguous to
parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear slightly
blue.
525. It is evident, then, from these experiments, that a coloured
bonnet produces much more effect by virtue of contrast, arising from
juxtaposition with the flesh tints, than by the coloured reflections
which it imparts to them.
526. Let us now see what advantage the painter can derive from the
preceding observations, when he prescribes a bonnet to a model,
belonging either to the light-haired or to the black-haired type.
FAIR-HAIRED TYPE.
527. A black bonnet with white feathers, with white rose or red, suits
a fair complexion.