56 GOETHE'S "FARBENLEHRE." 



painter would not trust himself to wash further. He 

 could by no means see how a bright blue could under- 

 lie a dark black, still less that he could have so rapidly 

 washed away a coating capable of converting a blue 

 like that before him into the black of the original paint- 

 ing." 



Goethe inspected the picture, saw the phenomenon, 

 and explained it. To deepen the hue of the velvet coat 

 the painter had covered it with a special varnish, which, 

 by absorbing part of the water passed over it, was con- 

 verted into a turbid medium, through which the black 

 behind instantly appeared as blue. To the great joy 

 of the painter, he found that a few hours' continuance 

 in a dry place restored the primitive black. By the 

 evaporation of the moisture the optical continuity of 

 the varnish (to which essential point Goethe does not 

 refer) was re-established, after which it ceased to act as 

 a turbid medium. 



This question of turbid media took entire possession 

 of the poet's mind. It was ever present to his observa- 

 tion. It was illustrated by the azure of noonday, and 

 by the daffodil and crimson of the evening sky. The 

 inimitable lines written at Ilmenau 



Ueber alien Gipfeln 



1st Ruh', 



In alien Wipfeln 



Spiirest Du 



Kaura einen Hauch 



suggest a stillness of the atmosphere which would allow 

 the columns of fine smoke from the foresters' cottages 

 to rise high into the air. He would thus have an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing the upper portion of the column pro- 

 jected against bright clouds, and the lower portion 

 against dark pines, the brownish yellow of the one, and 



