125. In every tone we have to distinguish two elements, the quantity
of light in it—what we call its value—and the quality of the light
in it—its color; and the color, whatever it is,—Red, Orange, Yellow,
Green, Blue, or Violet,—may be intense or neutral. By intensity I
mean the quality of a color in its highest or in a very high degree.
By the intensity of Red I mean Red when it is as red as possible. The
mixture of Vermilion and Rose Madder, for example, gives us a Red of
great intensity. That is about the strongest Red which we are able to
produce with the pigment-materials which we use. Intensity must not be
confounded with value nor value with intensity. By value I mean more or
less light. By intensity I mean a great purity and brilliancy of color.
Intensity stands in opposition to neutrality, in which no color can be
distinguished. The more color we have in any tone the more intensity we
have. The less the intensity the less color, and the absence of color
means neutrality or grayness. Neutrality or grayness, though it is the
negation of color, the zero of color, so to speak, must be classed
as a color because upon analysis it proves to be a result of color
combination or mixture. When I speak, as I shall from time to time, of
the neutral as a color, it will be understood that I am speaking of a
combination or mixture of colors in which no particular color can be
distinguished. I speak of the neutral as a color just as I speak of
zero as a number. We use zero as a number though it is no number, and
counts for nothing.