ON THE SEMI-NEUTRAL, GRAY.
Of the tribe of semi-neutral colours, GRAY is third and last, being
nearest in relation to black. In its common acceptation, and that in
which we here use it, gray, as was observed in the third chapter,
denotes a class of cool cinereous colours faint of hue; whence we have
blue grays, olive grays, green grays, purple grays, and grays of all
hues, in which blue predominates; but no yellow or red grays, the
prevalence of such hues carrying the compounds into the classes of brown
and marrone, of which gray is the natural opposite. In this sense the
_semi-neutral_ Gray is distinguished from the _neutral_ Grey, which
springs in an infinite series from the mixture of the neutral black and
white. Between gray and grey, however, there is no intermediate, since
where colour ends in the one, neutrality commences in the other, and
vice versâ. Hence the natural alliance of the semi-neutral
gray--definable as a cool coloured grey--with black or shade; an
alliance which is strengthened by the latent predominance of blue in the
synthesis of black, so that in the tints resulting from the mixture of
black and white, so much of that hue is developed as to give apparent
colour to the tints. This explains why the tints of black and dark
pigments are colder than their originals, so much so as in some
instances to answer the purposes of positive colours. It accounts in
some measure for the natural blueness of the sky, yet not wholly, for
this is in part dependent, by contrast, upon the warm colour of sunshine
to which it is opposed; for, if by any accident the light of nature
should be rendered red, the colour of the sky would not appear purple,
in consequence, but green. Again, if the sun shone green, the sky would
not be green, but red inclined to purple; and so would it be with all
colours, not according to the laws of composition, but of contrast;
since, if it were otherwise, the golden rays of the sun would render a
blue sky green.
The grays are the natural cold correlatives, or contrasts, of the warm
semi-neutral browns, as well as degradations of blue and its allies.
Hence blue added to brown throws it into or toward the class of grays,
and hence grays are equally abundant in nature and necessary in art: in
both they comprehend a widely diffused and beautiful play of retiring
colours in skies, distances, carnations, and the shadowings and
reflections of pure light, &c. Gray is, indeed, the colour of space, and
has therefore the property of diffusing breadth in a picture, while it
furnishes at the same time good connecting tints, or media, for
harmonizing the general colouring. Consequently the grays are among the
most essential hues of the art, though they must not be suffered to
predominate where the subject or sentiment does not require it, lest
they cast over the painting that gloom or leaden dulness reprobated by
Sir Joshua Reynolds; yet in solemn works they are wonderfully effective,
and proper ruling colours. Nature supplies these hues from the sky
abundantly and effectively throughout landscape, and Rubens has employed
them as generally to correct and give value to his colouring, with fine
natural perception in this branch of his art: witness his works in the
National Gallery, and in that of the Luxembourg.
According to the foregoing relations, grays favour the effects and force
of warm colours, which in their turn also give value to grays. It is
hence that the tender gray distances of a landscape are assisted,
enlivened, and kept in place by warm and forcible colouring in the
foreground, gradually connected through intermediate objects and middle
distances by demi-tints declining into gray; a union which secures full
value to the colours and objects, and by reconciling opposites gives
repose to the eye. As a general rule, it may be inferred that half of a
picture should be of a neutral hue, to ensure the harmony of the
colouring; or at least that a balance of colour and neutrality is quite
as essential to the best effect of a painting as a like balance of light
and shade.
283. MINERAL GRAY,
or Mineral Gr_e_y, as it is often improperly spelt, is obtainable from
the lapis lazuli, after the blue and ash have been worked out. So
derived, it is a refuse article, worthless if the stone has been
skilfully exhausted of its ultramarine. As this is now generally the
case, the best mineral gray is no longer a waste product, but a lower
species of ash, a pale whitish blue with a grey cast. Possessing the
permanence of ultramarine, it may be regarded in colour as a very weak
variety of that blue, diluted with a large quantity of white slightly
tinged by black. A pigment peculiar to oil painting, it is admirably
adapted to that gray semi-neutrality, the prevalence of which in nature
has been just remarked. For misty mornings, cloudy skies, and the like,
this gray will be found useful.
284. MIXED GRAY
is formed by compounding black and blue, black and purple, black and
olive, &c.; and is likewise produced by adding blue in excess to madder
brown, sepia, &c., transparent mixtures which are much employed. It
should be borne in mind that the semi-neutrals, like the secondaries and
tertiaries, may be so compounded as to be permanent, semi-stable, or
fugitive. The due remembrance of this cannot be too strongly insisted
upon, seeing that in every picture the browns and grays are of frequent
occurrence. These it is that lend such charm to the whole, flowing, as
it were, like a quiet under-current of colour beneath the troubled
surface of more decided hues. In the work of every true artist--between
whom and the mere painter there is as much difference as between the
poet and the poetaster--there is sentiment as well as colour, whether
the subject be an exciting battle-scene or a bit of still life. This
sentiment, as strongly felt as the colour is clearly seen, is imparted
in no small degree by the skilful use of semi-neutrality, the
compounding of which, as time goes on, will therefore affect a picture
for good or for evil.
Subjoined is an analysis of the three semi-neutrals, which serves partly
to show in what great variety they may be obtained by admixture.
Brown = Black + Yellow }
" = " + Orange } + Red, Purple, &c.
" = " + Citrine}
" = 2 Yellow + Red + Blue
" = 2 Orange + Green + Purple
" = 2 Citrine + Russet + Olive
Marrone = Black + Red
" = " + Purple-red
" = " + Russet
" = 2 Red }
" = 2 Purple-red} + Dark Brown or Black
" = 2 Russet }
Gray = Black + Blue }
" = " + Purple-blue} + 2 White
" = " + Olive }
" = 2 Blue }
" = 2 Purple-blue} + Light Brown, or Black + 2 White
" = 2 Olive }
In the last division, the White has been added to remind the reader that
grays are coloured greys, not coloured blacks; and are therefore faint
of hue. This paleness, however, need not necessarily be produced by
admixture with white: it can be gained by means of thin washes. As a
pigment, gray may be to all appearance black in bulk.
285. NEUTRAL TINT,
or, more correctly, _Semi_-Neutral Tint, is a compound shadow colour of
a cool character. It is permanent, except that on exposure the gray is
apt to become grey, a change which may be prevented by a slight addition
of ultramarine ash. So protected, it becomes serviceable in landscape
for the extreme distance, which, it may be laid down as a general
principle, should be painted rather cold than otherwise. Blue being the
principal compound of atmosphere, it is of the utmost importance to
obtain this in the first instance, particularly as, from its being only
of a blue tint, not blue colour, it is so immediately altered and acted
upon by subsequent washes; whereas, the blue tone once lost, it will be
found very difficult to be recovered. Wherever a picture is wanting in
air effect, the cause will, upon examination, be seen to rest entirely
upon the absence of pure grays, bordering upon a bluish tone, not
tending, be it observed, to brown or purple. A bluish gray, then, of
rather a cold tone, such as the neutral tint, is recommended as the
prevailing hue with which to begin the extreme distances; and, as a
rule, it is better to pass with this over as much of the landscape as
possible, and thus lay the foundation for a general atmosphere.
286. PAYNE'S GRAY
resembles the preceding in being a compound colour and liable to assume
a grey cast by time, but differs from it in having more lilac in its
hue, and being therefore of a warmer tone. Giving by itself a clear
violet shadow, it may be rendered more neutral by a small portion of
burnt Sienna, an admixture which, whether the gray or Sienna
predominates, affords useful tints. Compounded with light red or Vandyke
brown, the gray is good for shipping and sails, or the stems and
branches of trees; while with gamboge or aureolin it is suited to glossy
leaves in high light, also to very cold tones in foregrounds, herbage,
&c. Yellow ochre, light red, and Payne's gray form a mixture for banks
and roads; the ochre, gray, and sepia, a most beautiful tint for stones;
and brown madder and the gray, a fine shade for the black head and feet
of cattle. Alone, the gray is serviceable for slate; and compounded with
light red, for bricks or tiles in shadow.
287. ULTRAMARINE ASH
is obtained from the stone after the richer and more intense blue has
been extracted. Although not equal in beauty, and inferior in strength
of colour to ultramarine, it is a valuable bye-product varying in shade
from light to dark, and in hue from pale azure to cold blue. With a grey
cast, it affords delicate and extremely tender tints, not so positive as
ultramarine, but which, as water-colours, wash much better. It furnishes
grays softer, purer, and more suited to the pearly tints of flesh,
skies, distances, foliage, shadows of drapery, &c. than those composed
of other blues, with white and black, which the old masters were wont to
employ. Ultramarine, however, produces the same effects when broken with
black and white, and is thus sometimes carried throughout the colouring
of a picture. The ash, compounded with lamp black, gives a soft cold
gray for dark louring clouds, or for twilight away from the sun's
influence. Alone it is adapted to very remote hills or mountains, and
with orient yellow or aureolin to distant foliage.
* * * * *
The native phosphate of iron, which has been already described in the
tenth chapter under its name of Blue Ochre, might have been classed
among the grays, being similar in colour to the deeper hues of
ultramarine ashes. Powdered slate, slate clays, and several native
earths, likewise rank with grays; but some of the earths we have tried
are not durable, being apt to become brown by the oxidation of the iron
they contain. It may be proper here to mention those other pigments,
known as tints, which, being the result of the experience of accredited
masters in their peculiar modes of practice, serve to facilitate the
progress of their amateur pupils, while they are more or less eligible
for artists. Such are _Harding's_ and _Macpherson's Tints_, composed of
pigments which associate cordially, and sold ready prepared in cakes and
boxes for miniature and water painting.
Of the four grays in use--mineral gray, ultramarine ash, neutral tint,
and Payne's gray--the two first are quite unchangeable, and the others
sufficiently stable to be classed as permanent.