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COLOUR COLOURING. 



Many other curious facts might be noticed con- 

 nected with accidental colours, but they may be here 

 omitted, as of minor importance ; and we proceed to 

 show the practical application of what has already 

 been laid down. Whenever colours are employed, 

 and great distinctness required, as in the dial-plates 

 of watches, or books printed on small type, the 

 colour of the ground should be the accidental of that 

 of the character, as in this case the unavoidable motion 

 of the eye will not lie accompanied with images of 

 the accidental colours of the letters floating on the 

 ground, black letters are therefore best upon a white 

 ground ; the one being the accidental of the other ; 

 but if the book were printed with red ink, indistinct- 

 ness would follow, since green spectra would neces- 

 sarily be seen floating on the pages. The same prin- 

 ciple ought to be taken advantage of by painters and 

 the drawers of patterns ; for there must always be, 

 either in a picture or design, some principal object to 

 which all the others ought to be subservient; the 

 colour of this object must, therefore, in a great mea- 

 sure regulate the tints of the rest of the picture, 

 which ought to partake more or less of the accidental. 

 The contrast of the colours must not, however, be 

 carried to too great a length, otherwise the mellow- 

 ness of the piece will be destroyed, and the over- 

 distinctness of the colouring will form a gaudy, rather 

 than an agreeable picture. This the judicious artist 

 effects by the introduction of a class of colours called 

 harmonics or harmonizing colours. The harmonizing 

 colour of any original may easily be found, for it is 

 always that next to the original, and between it and 

 the accidental, in the order of the spectrum ; hence, 

 yellow will form the harmonizing colour to white, 

 orange to yellow, red to orange, violet to red, blue 

 to violet, &c. 



To show the application of what has been said, we 

 may remark, that in a composition of white objects 

 the pure colour will appear on the principal light 

 only, and black will be the contrasting colour, which, 

 however, may be too strong for the nature of the 

 subject, and may, therefore, be diluted into a grey. 

 In order to lead the eye agreeably from the white to 

 its contrasting colour, the harmonizing tint, yellow, 

 will be introduced, which, in proportion to its dis- 

 tance from the principal light, will harmonize into 

 the shade, by gradually losing its brightness, and 

 mingling with the contrasting ground. An isolated 

 spot, particularly if bright, is harsh and disagreeable, 

 and any object introduced must be tempered in 

 position and colour, so as to harmonize with and in- 

 crease the effect of the principal. Every principal 

 colour in a picture, will have its harmonizing colour 

 next it, and the contrasting one farther from it, the 

 intermediate space being occupied by tints neutraliz- 

 ed by these together, the intensity of the harmonizing 

 and contrasting colours diminishing towards each 

 other. The principal masses of light should be oc- 

 cupied of course, by the light colour as nearly as 

 possible in the order of their power of illumination ; 

 thus the yellow should follow white, orange yellow, 

 red orange, &c., and these again should be counter- 

 balanced by the deeper colours in the shades arrang- 

 ed according to their office as contrasting colours, so 

 as to produce harmony and consistency in the whole. 

 The sky and back ground will be found powerful 

 auxiliaries in producing harmony in a picture. Thus 

 a grey cloud may be opposed to a white object, and 

 by gradually resolving itself into blue becomes a 

 contrast to the yellow. In deep colours or broken 

 tints, as brown, dull green, blue grey, &c., harmony 

 may be less sparingly used. Thus much we liave 

 said on the practice of colouring to illustrate the ap- 

 plication of the theory we liave endeavoured to lay 



down, which will be found consistent with the pra<N 

 tice of the best masters. Although the laws of har 

 monious colouring liave not as yet been fully treated 

 of in detail by any writer ; yet they are founded in 

 the unchangeable laws of nature, and have been 

 floating in the minds of the leading artists of all ag'es, 

 particularly those of the Venetian school, who have 

 excelled all others in the beauty of their colouring. 

 Tlie silk dresses of France and Britain, exhibit some 

 beautiful illustrations of the application of these prin- 

 ciples, which liave been known and acted upon by de- 

 signers of patterns for many years, as may be seen by 

 reference to an excellent article on design, in Mur- 

 phy's Art of Weaving. The judicious decoration and 

 painting of apartments, as likewise the selection 

 and arrangement of coloured articles of dress, can 

 only be well performed by following the laws of har- 

 monious colouring. (See Hay on Harmonious Colour- 

 ing adapted to House Painting, Edin. 1828.) 



Colours of Plants. We find in Plants eight funda- 

 mental colours, which are called pure and unmixed 

 colours white, grey, black, blue, green, red, and 

 brown. Each of these exhibits seven varieties, which, 

 in respect to their gradations, are entirely equal and 

 alike. Thus, for example, of white, there are pure 

 or snow-white ; whitish or dirty white ; milk or blu- 

 ish white ; amianthus or greyish white ; ivory or yel- 

 lowish white ; parzellan or reddish white ; and chalk 

 or brownish white. The blue crocus often changes 

 to yellow ; the blue violet to white ; the blue co- 

 lumbine to red ; the red tulip to a yellow, and the 

 yellow to a white, &c. The same thing may be ob- 

 served in fruits. Linnceus has inferred the proper- 

 ties, and especially the taste of plants, from their co- 

 lour. Yellow is generally bitter, red sour, green 

 denotes a rough alkaline taste, paleness a flat taste, 

 whiteness a sweet, and black a disagreeable taste, 

 and also a poisonous, destructive property. Colours, 

 in the vegetable as well as in the animal world, ap- 

 pear to be in truth a secret of nature. How, for in- 

 stance, bright yellow and deep red or green are made 

 to appear side by side upon a leaf, separated by the 

 finest lines only, and yet not produced by any variety 

 of properties which is perceptible to any of our senses, 

 is a mystery to us. Moreover, nature, in some cases, 

 appears to distribute colours, with the greatest regu- 

 larity, while, hi other instances, she sports in the 

 most lawless irregularity. 



COLOURING ; one of the essential parts of paint- 

 ing (q. v.), viz. that part which relates to colours. 

 Besides a knowledge of the art of preparing and mix- 

 ing colours, and the whole mechanical process, from 

 the beginning to the finishing of a picture, which in 

 the various kinds of painting, varies according to the 

 materials of each, colouring comprehends the know- 

 ledge of the laws of light and colours, and all the 

 rules deducible from the observation of their effects 

 in nature, for the use of the artist. This subject has 

 been treated by Leonardo da Vinci, in his work on 

 painting ; Lomazzo and Gerard Lairesse, in books on 

 the same subject ; Mengs in his Praktischer Unter- 

 richt ; Goethe, in his Farbenlehre, &c. The skill of 

 the painter presupposes a natural ability, founded on 

 superior sensibility, viz. . the ability to image forth, 

 and, in the imitation, to express with characteristic 

 truth, the peculiar substance and colour of any object 

 under the influences of the light and air. To make 

 this imitation successful, an accurate attention to 

 the local tones and tints is requisite. By local tones 

 we understand the natural colour of an object as it 

 appears on the spot where it stands, or from the spot 

 where the spectator is supposed to be stationed. In 

 works of art, the natural colour of an object appears 

 always as a local tone, because every object must be 



