40S 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL 



[Dkcember, 



praise for originality, if not for good taste,) to liang an enormous eagle 

 of bronze by tbe tips of its expanded wings from wall to wall, a little 

 below the springing of the dome. Borne up in tlie talons of the royal 

 bird, the sarcophagus would be suspended, jMahomet-like, 'twist 

 heaven and earth. 



Allliougli the exhibition contained ninch that was satisfactory, it 

 could hardly be said to be worthy of the architectural and arlislical 

 talent existing in Paris. .Some of the drawings were exquisitely 

 executed. 



ON COLOUR AS APPLIED IN DECORATION. 

 By Hyde Clarke, F.L.S., &c. 



At the present period, when so much interest is excited as to the 

 decoration of our public buildings, and when a better epoch for this 

 department of art seems opening, the subject of the laws which regu- 

 late it can scarcely fail to be attractive to the profession, as the theory 

 of colour and its relations to heat and electricity have been already 

 explained in the Journal, (Vol. II, p. IbS,) «e can at once consider 

 the ))ractical portion of tlie subject; but I should first wish to call at- 

 tention to M. Chevreul's theory of contrast, with some few remarks I 

 have to make upon it. M. Clievreul says (De la Loi du Contraste 

 Simultanc des Couleurs : par M. E. Chevreul, Menibre de I'lnstitut), 

 that where the eye sees at the same time two contiguous colours, it 

 sees them as dissimilarly as possible, both as to their optical com- 

 position, and as to the depth of their tone, so that there may be at the 

 same time simultaneous contrast, properly so c;dled, and contrast of 

 tone. Thus if two colours a and 'j are in juxtaposition, they will 

 difTer as much as possible from each other when the complement of a 

 is added to h, or the complement of b added to a. If we choose for 

 our experiment orange and green, and if we place orange by the side 

 of green, blue, the complement of the orange, is added to the green, 

 which thus becomes more blue and less yellow, and so similarly the 

 red, the complement of green, is rendered more vivid in the orange, 

 which also becomes less yellow. M. Chevreul has not suggested the 

 cause of this remarkable phenomenon, but I am myself inclined to 

 attribute it to a tendency which the colours have to balance each 

 other, in a manner like to that in which heat ditluses itself from a 

 heated body to one of a lower temperature, and similar to the law of 

 electrical distributior. If this should be the case, it would also be 

 confirmatory of a homogeneity of colour, which many other circum- 

 stances would lead us to believe, so that light, instead of being con- 

 sidered to be composed of three simple coloured rays, would, accord- 

 ing to that view only, owe the phenomena of colour to the different 

 arrangement of its particles, as ponderable substances, according to 

 the arrangement of their molecules, vary their forms. Colour, per- 

 haps, after all, is only dependent on electrical action, and could we 

 establish this, our way would be clear to the production of coloured 

 representations by electricity, instead of the present daguerreotypes, 

 and to many of the operations of dyeing. 



Pursuing his remarks M. Chevreul says that it is evident that the 

 phenomena of simultaneous contrast would increase the brightness 

 both of a and h, and make them appear more brilliant than they would 

 when looked at isolatedly. If the colours brought together belong to 

 the same group of rays, and gnly differ in intensity, the clearest in 

 tint w ill appear still clearer at the point of contact, while that deepest 

 in shade will ajipear deeper, the tints will be regularly affected from 

 the point of junction, the one set lighter and the other deeper. Co- 

 loured and white bodies, when put in juxta-posilion, become, the for- 

 mer more brilliant and deeper, and the latter of the complementary 

 colour of the others. Thus green and white : red, the complement of 

 the greon, is added to the white, and the green appears deeper and 

 more brilliant. In the juxta-position of coloured and black bodies, 

 the effect of the contrast of intensity is to deepen the black and lower 

 the tint of the juxtaposed colour; but a very remarkable fact is the 

 weakei.ing of the black itself, when the juxtaposed colour is deep, 

 and of such a kind as to give such a bright coin|)lementary colour as 

 orange, yellowish orange, greenish yellow, S.c., for instance, with blue 

 anil black, orange, the complement of the blue, is added to black, the 

 black becomes lighter, and the blue is clearer, perhaps greenish. All 

 gray bodies contiguous to coloured bodies may present the phenomena 

 of contrast in a manner more sensible than v\hite and dark bodies do. 

 Thus yellow and gray : the gray takes more of a violet cast by re- 

 ceiving the infiuence of the complement of the yellow, and the yel- 

 low appears more brilliant, and yet less iehgenrs. 



Besides this simultaneous contrast of colours, M. Chevreul distin- 

 guishes a successive contrast of colours, by which he means all those 



phenomena which are observed when the eye, having for some time 

 looked on one or more coloured objects, perceives, after having ceased 

 to look at them, images of these objects presenting the complementary 

 colour which belongs to each. He also defines a mixed contrast, 

 which is the result of the two others, it takes place when, having 

 looked at a red paper, for instance, and we turn towards a blue, it will 

 appear greenish ; if, on the other hand, we look first at the blue, and 

 then at the red, the red will appear orange. These are all well known 

 phenomena, but M. Chevreul makes a practical application of them; 

 he recommends the painter not to keep his eye too long fixed on his 

 model, and the purchaser of coloured goods to be similarly careful, if 

 he wishes to keep his eyes in a normal state to look at the last pat- 

 tern, otherwise the several patterns will, after the first, appear faded, 

 and less fresh in colour, although they may all be of the same quality. 

 A shopkeeper who shows several silks, say red, should show others of 

 a complementary colour, green in this case, in order to restore the 

 eye to its normal state, and better to prepare it for the red, by making 

 the red look more brilliant than it really is. 



I shall now make another halt to give a hint to those of ray readers 

 who consult French works as to the use of several words used by the 

 authois: thus /o)( we call intensit)', tint and shade, ^ajnmts, the key 

 colour or tone, and nuancm, hues. Two or three useful rules I shall 

 also advert to here. The best contrast, it must be remembered, is 

 produced by the complementary colour, and all colours must be of tlie 

 same intensity. 



When two colours do not agree, it is best to separate them by 

 white. Black is also useful for this purpose when applied with bright 

 colours, and, in some cases, preferable to white. 



Black may be advantageously apjdied w ith sombre colour.-, and with 

 some of the dark tertiaries. 



It w ill now be necessary to consider the several colours separately, 

 in doing which I shall principally avail myself of Mr. Hay's work on 

 colour,* the best and cheapest practical work on the subject, and one 

 which, to the professional man and to the student, is indisjjensable. 



Like Mr. Hay, I shall begin with white, the representative of light, 

 which is regarded as produced by the reflection of the three primary 

 colours simultaneously in their relative neutralizing proportions. Al- 

 though there are eight kinds of whites, there is only cue which is un- 

 derstood as a pure white. Its contrasting colour is black, being oppo- 

 site to it in the scale, but the arrangement in which its effect is the 

 most happy is with blue and orange. In the series it lies nearest to 

 yellow, which may be adopted as its melodizing colour. With nearly 

 all colours, however, it harmonizes in conjunction and opposition, and 

 to its properties in separating two discordant colours I have already 

 referred. It does not agree so well as gray with red and orange, and 

 with blue, violet, &c. it is harsh. It is to be preferred to gray with 

 yellow and blue, also with red and green, red and yellow, orange and 

 yellow, orange and green, and yellow and green. With very light 

 primrose, yellow forms an agreeable arrangement. All colours brought 

 in contact with pure white must be light and cool, amongst which 

 gray and green may be employed, and intense or rich colouring must 

 be avoided. A south light is the best for white, which, when it is the 

 predominating colour for a room lighted from the north, should be 

 made of a cream colour, so as to get rid of the cold reflection as far as 

 possible. 



French white is, properly speaking, the lightest shade of purple, 

 and is seldom used in house painting, but Mr. Syme says that he has 

 seen it made the prevailing colour of a drawing-room in a country 

 residence with good effect. It can only be introduced when all the 

 other colours are light and cool in tone, as any quantity of intense or 

 rich colouring completely subdues it. 



Black, the representative of darkness, is regarded as produced by 

 the absorption of the three primary colours, simultaneously in their 

 relative neutralizing proportions. In the series it lies next to purple, 

 which may be considered as its melodizing colour. Its contrasting 

 colour is while, we may also add yellow, but it is most happy in com- 

 bination with red and green, red and yellow, orange and yellow, orange 

 and green, and yellow and green. By being associated with sombre 

 colours, such as blue and violet, and with the lower tints of the bright 

 colours, it may be often made to produce a very good effect. It is 

 always hapj.y when used with two bright colours, as orange, yellow, 

 red, and bright green. As a separating colour it is often to be pre- 

 ferred to white. It is not so good as gray in combination with orange 

 and violet, green and blue, and green and violet. It is only in arrange- 

 ments of a cool and sombre character that it can be used in large 

 quantities, and it is recommended to be used always pure and trans- 

 parent. The ancients used it happily and in great profusion, and in 



" The l.aws of I[,.rmor.ious C'o'ouring. Bv D. R. Hay. London: M'. S. 

 Orr. 1M8, 



