78 ON COLOUR. Part I. 



It is precisely for the purpose of avoiding monotony that 

 contrast is required. And if variety instead of monotony is to 

 be desired any where, it must certainly be in coloured orna- 

 ment. The very principle of ornamenting a flat surface is 

 contrast ; and it is on this that all mosaic and inlaid work, 

 and every design whose effect is produced by dark and light 

 colours, depend. The dread, then, of the impropriety of 

 contrast may be dismissed; and those who have overcome 

 their scruples about the use of bright colours, may venture a 

 little farther without apprehension, and may tolerate contrast. 

 The taste has been pronounced by some to be "very French ;" 

 but our neighbours are right, and there is no fear of revolution 

 in adopting it beyond the very desirable one of improving 

 our coloured designs, and ridding many of a prejudice. For 

 though the French are not good artistic " colourists," they 

 are eminently successful in decorative ornament; and here 

 they excel the Dutch as much as these excel them in imita- 

 ting the colours of nature. And if the combination of bril- 

 liant contrasts in decorative, ornament will not always suit a 

 picture which represents nature, this is only consistent with 

 the fact that the two subjects should have a different treat- 

 ment. Colours in pictures do not of course admit of the 

 same contrasts as when applied to ornamental purposes ; the 

 mode of using them is also different, and the grey tints as 

 well as shades introduced into a picture prevent the contrast 

 of the different colours being so strong and decided. 



Nor are colours even for ornamental purposes to be used in 

 the same way on all occasions. Those which would suit fur- 

 niture, or decorate a wall, might not be adapted for dresses ; 

 and colours which suit a lady's toilet, would not always, 

 according to our modern taste, be admissible in the simpler 

 costume of men in the civilised communities of Europe. 

 Colours too which suit one complexion are not always adapted 

 to another. I remember a case which may serve to illus- 

 trate this remark. Happening one day to call at the house 



