One is a colourist by values, by colour and light; there are colourists
who are luminarists as there are colourists pure and simple. Titian is a
colourist but not a luminarist, while Correggio is a colourist and a
luminarist.
The simple colourists are those who content themselves with representing
the tones in their value and colour without troubling about the magic of
light; they also give to tones all their intensity.
The luminarists, as the word indicates, make light the most important
thing. Three names will make you understand; Rembrandt, Correggio, and
Claude Lorraine.
Claude, taking the light of the sun for a starting-point, justifies his
method by nature: you know that he starts from a luminous point, and
that point is the sun. To make this brilliant you must make great
sacrifices, for you have no doubt remarked that we painters always begin
with a half-tint; as our paintings are not brightened by the light of
the sun, and start with a half-tint, it is necessary by the magic of
tones to make this half-tint shine like a luminous thing. You see that
it is a difficult problem to solve; how does Claude do it? He does not
copy the exact tones of nature, since beginning with a dull one, he is
obliged to make it luminous. He transposes as in music; he observes all
things constituting light, remarks that the rays prevent us from seizing
the outline of a bright object, that then the flame is enveloped by a
bright halo; then by a second one less vivid, and so on until the tones
become dull and sombre. In short, to make myself understood, his picture
seen from distance represents a flame.
Correggio also works in this way. Take for example his picture of
Antiope.
The woman, enveloped in a panther skin, is as bright as a flame. The
soft red tone forms the first halo, then the light blue draperies with a
slight greenish tint form the second halo. The Satyr has a value a few
degrees below that of the draperies, making it the third halo. When the
bouquet is thus formed, Correggio surrounds it with beautiful dark
leaves, shading towards the extremities of the canvas. These gradations
are so well observed, that if you put the picture at so great a distance
that you cannot see the figures, you will still have the representation
of light.
_Couture._