Theory and Practice 



219 



silks or linens where the stripes are too narrow ; when 

 seen at a little distance, instead of relieving, they will 

 destroy each other. In the application of this theory to 

 some familiar instances, particularly in the furniture of 

 rooms, I have observed that two colours, here deemed 

 discordant, may be used without offending the eye, as 

 green and blue, or green and yellow ; but I have always 

 considered such assortment intolerable, unless one were 

 very dark and the other very light ; and thus the effect 

 is again produced by contrast, although on a different 

 principle : it is the contrast, not between colours, but 

 between light and darkness. 



So far this theory is perfectly satisfactory with respect 

 to works of art, but, when carried to those of nature, 

 I confess my inability to reconcile a conviction of its 

 truth with certain appearances which seem to contra- 

 dict it. 



By the universal consent of all who have considered 

 the harmony of colours, it is allowed that in works of 

 art the juxtaposition of bright blues and greens is dis- 

 cordant to the eye, and the reason of this discordance 

 has been shewn by the foregoing remarks. Yet these 

 are the two prevailing colours in nature ; and no per- 

 son ever objected to the want of harmony in a natural 

 landscape, because the sky was blue and the surface of 

 the earth covered with greens, except he viewed it with 

 a painter's eye, and considered the difficulty or even 

 impossibility of exciting the same pleasurable sensa- 

 tions by transferring these colours to his canvas ; the 

 only way in which I can solve this seeming paradox is 

 by observing that the works of nature and those of art 

 must ever be placed at an immeasurable distance, from 

 the different scale of their proportions ; and whether 

 we compare the greater efforts of man with the system 



