a looking-glass, whose reflection is a _copy_ of the picture; and the
picture, being a _copy_ from nature, a kind of analogy is established:
they are both on even superfices, and both give the idea of something
_beyond_ their superfices. In viewing your picture in this manner, keep
one eye shut: seeing from both eyes surround the objects too much.
Looking at your picture through the medium of a glass, blackened on one
side, will, in divesting it of colour, show only its light and shade.
This is a capital way of ascertaining if the latter is right.
In painting, it is a good plan to leave _all you can_ to the
imagination! it is _flattering_ to the beholder; it gives him latitude
for the exertion of his own mind; and _he_ will supply, better than
_you_, what you wanted, entirely to his own satisfaction--and, of
course, to yours: deprive him of this, and you seldom fail to imbue him
with apathy. _His_ imagination assumes characters and forms of its own;
you have set it painting: he _finishes_ your picture, and is happy,
because he has had something to do with it; and he will not quarrel with
you, lest he should blame himself.
Painting should possess 'brilliancy without gaudiness, solidity without
harshness, truth without familiarity, and sweetness without insipidity;
all conjoined in the greatest breadth of colour.'
If a work possess the known and admitted excellencies of painting,
although in the smallest and most moderate degree, it will have the
peculiar appearance of _looking well_, which the want of them would
quite invest with another character. The _faults_ of a great mind,
capable of the greatest beauties, will never appear to have a vulgar
origin.
It is just possible a picture may possess no defects, nor any beauties;
but he who thinks entirely for himself, will give to his work an
appearance of originality; he will be consistent with _himself!_ even
faults will appear with some lustre in those to whom they are quite
natural.
In conclusion, jealously endeavour to ascertain if any thing has been
admitted, or omitted, that, consistent with these rules, may prejudice
the general harmony of the work in the _ensemble_.
If I have made use of any contradictory observations, it was because I
was impressed with the usefulness of their application to the principle
described; in which matter I may take shelter under the noblest
authorities of the Italian, English, or French, who have written on art.
I likewise trust I have said nothing the student will have to unlearn.
In a word, the grandest, the most exalted principle requires no more
_time_ to become master of than the lowest and the worst! And, 'As no
school ever excelled the Dutch--combining in itself all the excellencies
of the Italian--painters should go to the Dutch and Flemish schools to
learn the art of painting, as they would go to a grammar-school to learn
languages.'--'A close examination of their works will give us that
experience of the principles on which they wrought, in a _very_ short
space of time, which cost them ages to ascertain.
'The frequent allusions which every one, who treats of any art, is
obliged to make to others, in order to illustrate and confirm his
principles, sufficiently show their near connexion and inseparable
relation.'
However, 'The great business of study is to form a mind, adapted and
adequate to all times, and to all occasions; to which all nature is then
laid open.'
'The _highest_ point of art is to _conceal_ itself: and the very praises
we lavish on works that are 'true to nature,' only prove the perfection
of art.'
I have taken up the art as I found it in the practice of the most
approved methods: nor have I attempted to support any paradoxes for the
sake of novelty.
Theories herein investigated, and many rules here laid down, many loose
and scattered suggestions and successful results, that 'pass current
from one to another,' I have endeavoured to place in the readiest manner
before the student, that they may become immediately available to his
purpose, or occasionally refresh his memory, without caring whence they
may be derived. Even in the collecting of disjointed materials, a
structure is formed every way calculated to abridge his labours and
shorten the road, however carelessly thrown together; and will, in all
probability, stimulate him to further investigation.
Improve every hour, and the mind will become variously enriched by
systematic study: it will look through Nature with a discriminating
power, even to her minutest productions, but with a refinement of taste
and skill of selection that will reject all that is unworthy. When small
pretension finds a welcome, it usually arises from ignorance in those
who patronize. These persons, in their turn, generally pay the penalty
their errors or conceit bring upon them.
THE AUTHOR OF THIS WORK TEACHES UPON THE PRINCIPLES THEREIN
DEMONSTRATED.
ON WATER-COLOUR.
AS the object of this work was, in the first intention, initiatory, I
shall conclude it by addressing a few words to the student in
water-colour painting;--the more especially as water colour embraces so
many advantages, and as there is no elevated rank in art that it does
not involve in its capabilities.
After soaking and laying the paper,--an operation that must be _seen_ to
be learned,--and assuming you have proceeded to the colouring, it will
be essential that you use two palettes, or tiles; set one with the
colours required separately, not allowing them to run together; then
take sufficient colour up in the brush from each, and mix the tints on
another, kept a little wet that they may mix well together;--cleaning
this tile, as occasion may require, to make fresh tints on.
In the management of the greys, allowing the colours to run into one
another, will produce many accidental and useful tints.
When too much colour has got on the paper, dip a thick short-haired
brush in clean water, and wash into the paper with it, with sufficient
force to blend them more, and remove the superfluous colour. If this
method be not found sufficient, take a sponge, with very little clean
water in it, and pass it lightly over, which will remove all hard edges,
and greatly assist the atmospheric effect:--if this too much generalizes
the colours, supply the sharp markings, as may be required, with a fine
pointed sable, in their positive colours.
This method is not only the quickest way of bringing a drawing into a
finished state, but adds materially to its transparency and solidity;
and may be done at any period of the work.
A good master of the sponge will make several drawings, while one may
be done with the brush alone. The colour will remove most easily when
the surface of the drawing is previously wetted; taking great care, by
keeping the sponge very clean, that none of the green tints float into
the sky.
One colour laid over another, to produce the required tint, is in most
cases better than mixing the tint at once, as it tends more to procure
that 'internal light' so desirable in water-colour painting--taking care
the under colour is dry before the other is floated over it; and always
allowing for the density of the colour beneath qualifying the hue of the
one laid over it. Thus, blue laid upon yellow, produces green; green
over red, grey; and so on.
The slightest quantity of prepared ox-gall will make the colours wash
free from grease; triflingly reducing the brilliancy, but fixing the
wash more permanently.
_Flatness_ of tint is a matter of great consequence, and of equal
difficulty; and is considered a great excellence, as the clearness and
beauty of the gradations mainly depend on it. All mechanical means to
produce it will betray themselves;--regulated by any such principle, a
blue sky would become a tea-tray! Nature distinctly rejects all that is
mechanical: skill alone will enable the student to overcome this
difficulty, in addition to observing its process by a professor.
Meditate well the mixture before applying it; then dash it on with the
greatest decision,--always at once, and not backwards and forwards, and
the greatest clearness will be the result.
The greater the diversity of colour, from the transparency of most
colours in water, so much more will be its resemblance to nature.
Wiping out the lights, such as the foliage of trees, or any other forms
required, is performed by first wetting the part or form to be taken
out, with the brush--applied as it would be in painting--and, after the
gloss on the water has subsided, with a clean piece of cotton rag or the
pocket handkerchief, folded on the fore finger, the colour intended to
be removed must be whisked out with some smart degree of force: and in
the event of the light not coming out clean and sharp enough (from
perhaps being too dry), the application of the India-rubber to the part
will effect it. The colours intended are then laid over the parts so
wiped out.
OF TINTS.
MAKING good Tints has ever been a matter of extreme difficulty, great
perseverance, and too often entire loss of time; and, in the event of
success occasionally attending the student's exertions, it is a thousand
to one he never gets them twice alike; for that which is done by
_accident_ cannot be repeated. The very difficulty attending them, from
want of knowledge of those colours that blend well and harmonize in
their natures, and the many requisite to charge the memory with, renders
them so easily forgotten, that few but professors ever achieve the
object sought.
To obviate this,--to save the student's time, that he may devote the
more to the attainment of his pursuit,--that he may be enabled to tint a
drawing in half an hour, when he would have spent three in making a good
tint or two (presuming his capability to do it at all),--induced the
Author of this work, at a considerable outlay of time and expense, to
form a BOX OF TINTS, in permanent cakes, ready at once for use, and all
the necessary purposes of landscape or other painting, and for sketching
from nature without inconvenience or difficulty.
As water-colour painting has experienced so much revolution of late,
arising from its extensive capabilities,--the best drawings, or rather
water-colour paintings, being produced by the balance of opaque and
transparent colours,--those tints and mixtures that are found most
useful in oil-painting, and most wanting in water, has engaged his
particular attention.
He has confided the making them solely to Mr. Charles Smith, of
Marylebone-street, Piccadilly. The tints are expressed on the cakes in
numbers, which have reference to the coloured plates. In addition to
which the following colours are those mostly used:--
Indigo; to which may be added cobalt and French blue. Indian red.
Venetian red. Purple lake. Madder lake. Vermilion. Burnt sienna. Raw
sienna. Yellow ochre. Gamboge, Brown pink. Raw umber. Vandyke brown.
Ivory black.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATES ON COLOUR.
_Plate 7._--The sky is laid with tint No. 10;--the walls and foreground
are covered down with No. 1, varied here and there with burnt
sienna;--the tiles and roof with No. 4;--tints 6, 7 and 8 are mixed
together, varied and floated over for the cool greys;--the figure,
Indigo and No. 10; vermilion, ochre and burnt sienna. The greens are
composed of indigo, gamboge and burnt sienna, with brown pink. The
gallery is tint No. 6, floated over Vandyke brown. Cobalt and Vandyke
brown in the hollows.
_Plate 8._--The sky is done with No. 9, and thin cobalt floated over:
the horizon with No. 4, varied with Venetian red: the orange brought
down into the trees, and worked together with gamboge; the shadowed
parts of which are put in with No. 7--repeated in the bases of the
clouds. No. 9 is worked into the cool greys of the middle space. The
greens are varied with indigo, burnt sienna, gamboge and brown
pink;--the brightest lights with yellow ochre: foreground with No. 5.
_Plate 9._--The sky French blue and madder-lake;--distance with No. 1,
heightened here and there with ochre;--middle space worked in with 9 and
8--the greys with No. 7. Cobalt in the hollows; warmed, in parts, with
No. 4. Boats done with No. 9, strengthened with Vandyke brown;--the
water slightly washed with No. 5, varied with the same and
indigo;--steps and railing with Nos. 1 and 5.
_Plate 10._--The sky is washed with indigo and madder-lake, kept grey
towards the horizon;--the distant buildings with Nos. 7, 8;--No. 7 is
mixed with burnt sienna for the greys of the trees: the greens are
composed of indigo, burnt sienna, raw sienna, Venetian red, and
gamboge;--the gravel with No. 5, a little burnt sienna, and white;--the
shadows with No. 7;--figures with positive colours;--foreground slightly
washed with No. 1, varied with No. 5;--the pedestal with No. 5, varied
at the base with Nos. 6 and 9.
_Plate 11._--The sky, indigo and madder lake: the clouds varied with
Nos. 8 and 9, and floated over with cobalt: the warm lights with yellow
ochre and burnt sienna;--horizon with cobalt and indigo;--the sands with
No. 1, shaded with 2 and 6;--the mill with No. 1, lightly floated over
with No. 6, and touched in parts with No. 3;--the foreground brought
down with brown pink;--the mill, on the left, painted _into_ with
Vandyke brown, Indian-red, and No. 5; the lights with No. 4, and roof
with No. 3; the sail, Indian red and Vandyke brown; figures, cobalt and
vermilion, subdued with No. 6.
_Plate 12._--The walls and pavement floated down with No. 1, and toned
over with No. 6;--the architectural markings with No. 6 and cobalt, with
a little No. 9 in the darkest parts, to give them point;--hollows of the
arches with No. 9, and No. 7 worked in;--the window is all laid in with
positive colours, brought down on the figures, which are subdued with
No. 6;--the altar, banners, priests' robes, books, &c., with chrome and
white: their shadows with No. 3;--the curtain with Vandyke brown,
Venetian red, and burnt sienna.
And here I cannot but express how much the arts and the public are
indebted to the highly inventive genius of Mr. Hullmandel, for his
numerous inventions and improvements in lithography; having, in a few
years, by the most determined perseverance, industry, and singleness of
purpose, brought the first hard, dry, and uncertain drawing on stone,
through all its various improvements, until the introduction of the now
well-known printing of the tint with modified lights; to which we are
indebted for the many beautiful productions that have appeared of late;
and thence to the extraordinary invention, now dawning on us, of making
a _painting_ on stone, from which an impression is procured that may
scarcely be articulated from a sepia drawing: enabling _painters_ to
multiply their sketches _ad infinitum_, instead of being confined, as
before, to the merely practiced pencil draughtsman. The plates of this
work are indebted to his invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
AFTER what has been said already, a lengthened description of the plates
would be unnecessary.
_Plate 1_--Has been described in reference to the article on
Composition; as Plates 2 and 3 have, in the one on Light and Shade.
_Plate 4._--The Porch of Chartres Cathedral, has been referred to under
the inquiry into accidental Shadows.
_Plate 5._--The Temple of Jupiter Tonans, and the Forum of Nerva, have
been noticed in like manner: as has likewise Plate 6, an ancient
Wine-store in the Rhaetian Alps.
_Plate 7._--Here are the extremes of hot and cold. The strongest colours
are placed in the darks, from which they derive all the power of the
palette, while the point is preserved by the figure in red. A warm
light, surrounded by warm tints, has the greatest brilliancy when ably
supported by the intervention of a cold one. The cool grey centre is
repeated in the hollow of the door, the lower part of the figure, and
carried out by the blue of the sky; while the warm colours are dispersed
and diffused on the wooden gallery, the walls, the ground, and gathered
up by the rich red of the woman's gown and the warm brown of the figure
behind; the dark colour of which, being laid on the dark background,
helps the woman into her forward position;--the warm colour, projected
by the red gown, is again carried up by the cap and brown of the figure
behind into the balcony, tiles, &c., until, after mingling in every
possible way with the cool greys, it escapes by the walls; spreading its
influence every where, and investing the greens of the vine and the
foreground with its character. The high light on the wall is repeated on
the linen, carried across by the figure in the gallery, and brought down
by the figure and flowers in the foreground. The general tone of the
work is warm;--the blues, greys and greens are used as a foil to give
value to the warm colours, the shadows and middle tints: the greys are
glazed warm, to preserve the richness of the general effect throughout.
The reds and blues are combined of colours possessing the properties of
each. The quantity of warm and cold colours are to be principally
observed--the union of one part with another--preservation of the
breadth, and the general harmony.
_Plate 8._--A VIEW IN BELGIUM.--The disturbed and heavy clouds sweeping
across the country are kept of a low, subdued, but warm grey;
intersecting the distant trees, and invading the middle space, until it
is found among the greens of the foliage and grass of the foreground;
the stones, the chalky road, &c., ending in the darks of the figures.
The warm lights are scattered over the tops of the trees and sunny
browns of the middle space and foreground, repeated in the lower part of
the sky, and brought forward in the foliage and grass on the left; while
the reds are gathered up in the branches and stems of the trees, and
brought to a point in the figure on the right:--the white of the chalky
road is carried into their trunks, the rock, and up into the clouds by
the birds. The breadth is divided into two wedge-shaped forms, carried
at an angle across the work, and up into the bank and trees on the left;
opposed by the long stretching line of the horizon and round forms of
the clouds and foliage,--balanced by the mass of rock on the other side.
The harsh opposition of the cutting-lines of the foreground serves to
attract the eye, while it reposes the distance.
_Plate 9._--In this example, the darkest dark being of a warm brown, is
brought up, by contrast, against the half dark in the distance, which is
of a cold grey: it is then carried up into the dark markings of the
houses, the roofs at the sides, and repeated on the right; brought down
by the scaffolding over the steps, and woven throughout into the cool
greys of the half shade, occupying nearly two-thirds of the subject, and
carried, by the reflections of the boats, into the grey of the water and
the blue of the sky;--the density of the barge, deepened by positive
colour, clearing up all the half tints. The highest light, near the
centre, is gradated along the distant buildings, and repeated in the
warm red and yellow lights, catching at different intervals on the
houses, until lost in the water.
_Plate 10._--ST. JAMES'S PARK AND THE HORSE GUARDS.--This view was taken
from the side of the Column, looking from the steps towards the
Treasury. The two great masses, thrown at the boldest angle across the
picture, the opposing lines broken up and varied by the round forms of
the trees, and cutting it nearly in half, are divided between the bustle
of the middle distance and the repose of the sky, the steps, the
terraces, and the base of the column;--the colours employed in one
division are made to invade the province of the other, until all are
_placed_ by the bright red of the soldier's dress and darker markings of
the figures in the foreground, repeated here and there as uniting links,
and carried through by the figures in the distance; while the
communicating principle is sustained between the reds, blues and
yellows, by the colour of the sky and distant buildings being composed
of all three.
_Plate 11._--MILLS ON A SEA COAST.--The large and varied portion of
shadow, principally thrown into the wild uproar of the scudding clouds,
is gathered together, and focussed by the strong and positive colour in
the mill on the left, the stranded vessel, the horizon, the figures and
dark markings in the foreground; and brought gradually down by the half
shade into the cliff, the cottage, and the principal mill; and again
carried up, by the agency of its primitive cause, to the highest parts
of the clouds. The highest light is gathered up on the wall of the
cottage, repeated in the accidental light on the retiring mill, the
horizon, the figures on the sands, the birds in the air, &c., until it
comes down to the chalky rocks and stones, mingling with the weedy
greens of the foreground; the blues are carried down by the figures, and
on which the reds are centred, and repeated in the unities of the tiles,
collecting its force in the retiring mill, and insinuating itself into
the distant figures, the sail and flag of the vessel, until lost in the
warm colours of the clouds. The middle tints are kept much of the same
strength to sustain the breadth, while the dark line of the horizon is
graduated upwards and downwards for the same purpose. The shadow on the
steps in the cliff is brought up against the light on the cottage to
give it point; and the quantity of half shade that pervades the work is
gathered up by the depths of the darks. This effect was observed at
Cayeux, in Normandy.
_Plate 12._--THE CHANCEL OF A FLEMISH CHURCH.--In this instance a number
of positive, harmonizing and opposing colours, are thrown together and
collected in the middle space; diffused, and carried out, by the
intimacy of the union of their attributes, in the figures, the altar,
the banners, &c., forming a cone of colour surrounded and reposed by
warm grey. The greys are lost and found among the browns, insinuating
themselves into the recesses and tracery on the walls, and every where
influencing the warm colours. The figures, in red and blue, are placed
in the gallery to disturb the form of the cone: while the highest light
of the window intersects the deepest dark, which is repeated in the
hollow of the porch, cutting the arch at the side.
[Illustration: Plate 7]
[Illustration: PL. VIII]
[Illustration: Plate 9]
[Illustration: Pl. X.]
[Illustration: Pl XI]
HARRY WILLSON'S
GENERAL LANDSCAPE TINTS.
No. 1.--For foregrounds, and many parts of
landscape; architecture; sands; roads, banks,
lights of buildings (distant or near),
shoal-water, corn-fields:--generally useful from
its low brownish hue.
No. 2.--For many of the above purposes; and, being
deeper in tone, adapted for shadows to No. 1.
No. 3.--Darker parts of foregrounds, banks, broken
earth, waves, bark, timber, rocks, coasts, &c.,
useful in buildings and architecture. May be
beautifully and usefully varied with white.
No. 4.--Lights of mountains, rocks, trees, distant
masses of foliage, figures and animals in light,
autumnal tints in warm skies and
sunsets;--applicable to most purposes of warm
light, and to vary greens with.
No. 5.--For almost every part of landscape or
buildings; rich lights of earth in sunshine;
interiors, drapery;--applicable to numerous
purposes, near or distant, and to mix with and
vary other colours.
No. 6.--For skies in cloudy weather, and shadows
of clouds;--various pearly greys are produced by
its mixture with blues and lake. Mixed with burnt
sienna, it produces different degrees of warm
browns.
No. 7.--For shadows to mountains, distant clumps
of foliage, drapery, &c., for mixing with general
shadows: renders many beautiful tints by blending
it with lakes blues and browns, especially with
burnt sienna.
No. 8.--Used alone, in rocks, bark of trees, and
many useful purposes; assumes a variety of browns
when mixed with burnt sienna; and different greys,
when added to the blues.
No. 9.--Useful in clouds, warm shadows, earth,
mould;--mixed with cobalt, makes a good tint to
vary other greys.
No. 10.--For skies in fine weather, and to vary
shadows of distant hills, and otherwise useful in
subduing retiring parts of drawings.
CHARLES SMITH'S, LATE SMITH & WARNER'S,
=SUPERIOR IMPROVED MOIST WATER COLOURS,=