§ 55. DISCORDS. 93 



form a harmonious combination, as red, green, and russet 

 (fig. 6), blue, orange, and olive (fig. 7), and yellow, purple, 

 and citrine (fig. 8) ; but these again are, in fact, discords, 

 and are made much more discordant when such relative pro- 

 portions of each are introduced as 5 red, 11 green, and 21 

 russet; 8 blue, 8 orange, and 24 olive; 3 yellow, 12 purple, 

 and 19 citrine; though these are actually laid down as the 

 necessary quantities in which the colours harmonise with 

 each other. And without noticing any of the others it will 

 suffice to say, that no one with any real perception of the 

 harmony of colour would place in juxtaposition 5 red and 

 more than double the quantity of green. 



To these I shall add the following : — red, russet, green, and 

 lilac (or a purple) ; green, red, and lilac ; and russet and lilac 

 (or a purple); which, though given as illustrations of the 

 mode of arranging colours, are disagreeable discords ; and like 

 the former, should be carefully avoided by students in colour, 

 however plausibly theory may have recommended them as 

 harmonious concords. And though the combination of 2 

 blue, and 2 orange, and 4 purple is not a discord, it is a 

 defective arrangement of colour ; for here the blue and orange 

 balance each other; while the purple (which is also excessive 

 in quantity) has no other colour to balance it, and the effect 

 of the whole is consequently defective. 



I shall now offer some remarks on the arrangement of 

 colours. 



55. Section I. In all cases of polychrome ornament (con- 

 sidered apart from paintings) the three primaries — red, blue, 

 and yellow — should generally predominate; and, indeed, they 

 may be used alone with good effect without any other colour. 

 But it is not necessary, as some have maintained, that in 

 ornamentation the three primaries should alone be admitted, 

 to the exclusion of the secondaries and tertiaries; it will 

 suffice that these two last be less in proportion, and secondary 



