276 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



edging his indebtedness to Briicke and 

 to Chevreul for niucli of the informa- 

 tion contained in them." 



These tables, then, are given as em- 

 bodying the results of artistic experi- 

 ence solely, and contain a comparison 

 of artistic results collected " with a 

 view of establishing principles." The 

 different triads of colors that are men- 

 tioned further on in the chapter belong 

 in the same category : we read on ])age 

 299 that " the triads tliat have been 

 most extensively used are spectral, red, 

 yellow, and blue," etc. These are fol- 

 lowed by a triad which, it is stated, 

 was much used in the middle ages, and 

 again by one which, it is claimed, 

 was a favorite in the Italian schools. 

 Throughout the whole list of pairs and 

 triads, good and bad, we fail to i3nd a 

 single case which it is not claimed em- 

 bodies the results of artistic experience. 

 It seems to us, then, that in this chap- 

 ter the first and main aim has been the 

 collection of " results with the view of 

 establishing principles." Our author, 

 then, having accepted without question 

 these fruits of artistic labor, proceeds 

 to analyze them for the purpose of as- 

 certaining the principles that have been 

 at work in their production. Among 

 these, he finds helpful and harmful con- 

 trast, the desire to employ warm rather 

 than cold color, etc. A less cautious 

 writer than Professor Rood would prob- 

 ably have endeavored to construct a 

 theory for practice based on the prin- 

 ciples thus more or less established, but 

 he attempts nothing of the kind. The 

 facts and their suggested explanations 

 are simply handed over to the student 

 for his consideration. Thus the method 

 pursued in this chapter by our author 

 is precisely that which the writer in 

 the " Nation " blames him for not fol- 

 lowing. 



A word may here be added respect- 

 ing the greater or less success with 

 which this correct method has been ex- 

 ecuted. The critic in the "Nation " is 

 apparently not aware that by far the 



larger part of the statements contained 

 in the tables is taken not from Chevreul 

 but from Briicke, and now for the first 

 time appears in an English dress. This 

 distinguished scientist states in the pref- 

 ace to his work (" Physiologie der Far- 

 ben," Leipsic, 1866), that he is the son 

 of a painter, has always been in con- 

 stant intercourse with painters, and 

 that from his youth he has studied op- 

 tics in connection with its artistic appli- 

 cations. His statements with reference 

 to the combination of the colors in 

 pairs and triads he asserts embody the 

 results furnished by artistic experience, 

 and he adds that he has been unable to 

 find any general rule which presides 

 over the facts he has collected. These 

 observations of Briicke are alluded to 

 by Von Bezold, in the preface to his 

 " Chromatics " ( " Die Farbenlehre," 

 1874), as a great mass of delicate 

 observations ; and, from the fact that 

 they are quoted by Professor Rood, we 

 may also safely conclude that he has 

 taken every pains to verify them as far 

 as possible. As to what value they 

 may ultimately be found to have for 

 the artist and decorator, time alone can 

 show, but for the present it will hardly 

 answer to dismiss them contemptuous- 

 ly without study, particularly when we 

 remember that they are not the fruits 

 of scientific investigation, but of obser- 

 vation on artistic results. 



We pass now to the second point 

 made by this critic : Should the artist 

 regard Chevreul's " laws of contrast " ? 

 The writer in the " Nation " thinks 

 that our author would say " Ay," but 

 he declares that most artists would say 

 "No," Now, the laws of contrast sim- 

 ply express in a condensed form the ef- 

 fects that colored surfaces experience 

 owing to the presence of other colored 

 surfaces ; it seems to us that to this 

 question there can be only one reply, 

 viz., that, consciously or unconsciously, 

 artists always have and always will 

 respect them ; a delicate obedience to 

 these laws in then- most subtile appli- 



