74 ON COLOUR. Part I. 



which are contrasts, have a very different effect in juxtaposi- 

 tion from that produced by the juxtaposition of red and 

 yellow, or of blue and yellow ; and because blue accords well 

 with scarlet or with orange, it does not follow that red must 

 accord with green, or purple with yellow. They affect each 

 other differently ; for while orange makes blue appear sharper 

 by contrast, green lowers red by not offering the same con- 

 trast. Green does not stand in the same relation to red, as 

 orange does to blue. It is therefore a fallacy to suppose that 

 because orange harmonises with blue, green must harmonise 

 with red, or yellow with purple. Besides, much depends on 

 what tone of one is placed in juxtaposition with the parti- 

 cular tone of another ; there is one tone of red which 

 approaches towards a concord with a particular tone of green, 

 while some other tones of these two colours are disagreeable 

 and even discordant; and so far from the blue-green (which is 

 the accidental colour of red) being the most harmonious com- 

 bination with it, a yellow-green is far more agreeable (see 

 below, Sect. VI.); and here, as in many other cases, theory is 

 at variance with fact. (See above, pp. 61, 62.) 



50. Harmony of colour has too often been limited to simi- 

 larity of colour; and Hundertpfund, using the words of 

 Leonardo, says, " harmony requires colours to be of the same 

 nature, contrast being produced by bringing colours in con- 

 tact with each other of an opposite character." Contrast is 

 certainly so produced, but there is also harmony by contrast, 

 as well as harmony by analogy ; and the term contrast cannot 

 be used in direct contradistinction to harmony. Blue and 

 yellow are contrasts, as Leonardo observes, but red and green, 

 which he also considers contrasts, are opposed to each other 

 under very different conditions. Blue with red is a contrast, 

 but of a very different kind from green with red, which are 

 opposed to each other as accidental colours. 



There are contrasts of various kinds. Some are opposed 



