i6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



bluish-gray, and faint tints of purple, which make it up, we never think 

 of putting into envious competition with the rich, intense colors of the 

 foreground, but enjoy each separately, and rejoice in the effects of at- 

 mosphere and distance which neither alone by itself could adequately 

 render. That is to say, for the sake of light and atmosphere or dis- 

 tance, we gladly sacrifice a large portion of the powerful tints at our 

 disposal and consider ourselves gainers. The same is also true in an- 

 other direction: we are ready to make the same sacrifice for the sake 

 of avoiding monotony and gaining variety, provided only we can justify 

 the act by a good reason. Cases of this kind often occur in large 

 masses of foliage, which, if of the same general color, are apt in a 

 painting to look monotonous and dull, unless great labor is bestowed in 

 rendering the light and shade and the small differences of tint which 

 actually exist in Nature. Under such circumstances the observer feels 

 a certain relief at the presence of a few groups of foliage, which are 

 decidedly paler in color than the surrounding masses, provided only 

 there is a good excuse for their introduction. Again, the mere contrast 

 of dark or dull tints enhances the color and luminosity of those that are 

 bright, and the observer receives the impression that he is gazing at a 

 mass of gay and beautiful coloring, scarcely noticing the presence of 

 the much larger quantity of tints that are darkened by being in deep 

 shade. These darkened shade-tints are usually not variations of the 

 same hue as the brighter ones, but are more bluish, so that technically 

 these combinations would often present instances of harmful contrast, 

 were it not for the fact that the bright and dull tints do not belong even 

 to the same chromatic circle, but to circles situated in different planes, 

 as explained in the previous chapter. Putting this into more ordinary 

 language, we should say simply that the strong contrast of light and 

 shade masked such effects of harmful color-contrast as were present. 

 There is, however, another case where we are not so indifferent or so 

 lenient s if two objects are placed near each other in a painting, and 

 there is good reason why both should display the same color with 

 equal intensity, if one is painted with rich color, the other with a pale 

 or dark shade of the same color, then the latter will look either washed 

 out or dirty, and a bad effect will be produced. As a familiar illustra- 

 tion of this kind of effect, we may allude to the use in dress of two 

 widely -differing shades of ribbon which have still the same general color. 

 There is a still more general reason upon which the pleasure that we 

 experience from contrast depends : after gazing at large surfaces filled 

 with many varieties of warm color, skillfully blended, we feel a peculiar 

 delight in meeting a few mildly contrasting tints ; they prevent us 

 from being cloyed with all the wealth of rich coloring so lavishly dis- 

 played, and their faint contradiction makes us doubly enjoy the richer 

 portions of the painting. So also when the picture is mainly made up 

 of cool bluish tints ; it is then extraordinarily strengthened and bright- 

 ened by a few touches of warm color. 



