§5511.111. COMBINATIONS OF COLOURS. 95 



A favourite combination of the ancient Egyptians, on their 

 painted walls and columns, was red, blue, and green, fre- 

 quently with a yellow or a white fillet between each, for the 

 purpose already alluded to * ; and when yellow was used in 

 any quantity black was introduced to harmonise with it and 

 balance the effect, being a concord with yellow. The ceiling 

 of a temple was blue, with white or gold stars on that 

 ground ; and if any one colour was employed in a dispro- 

 portionate quantity, a compensation was made to its com- 

 panions in an adjoining part of the wall, or in some other 

 position sufficiently near to enable the eye to restore the 

 balance. 



It is a mistake to suppose they used colour with some 

 religious view unconnected with ornamentation, merely be- 

 cause it belonged to a particular god, or to certain rites. 

 One god, it is true, was always represented blue, another 

 red ; but when it was necessary to introduce the former, more 

 red was employed in the hieroglyphics and other accessories ; 

 which could be varied at pleasure. It is certain that more 

 green was admitted upon their monuments in later than in 

 earlier times, and in the Ptolemaic reigns large masses appear 

 on the capitals of columns f and other parts of the building; 

 but this was independent of any religious feeling, and it was 

 the usual sign of a debased taste, and the consequence, as 

 I have already stated, of people having become artificial, 

 and of their having lost the true appreciation of the harmony 

 of colours. 



The Grreeks also preferred the brightest red (ultramarine), 



* In some dresses they appear occasionally to have omitted the yellow, for 

 the very purpose of giving a purple effect to the blue and red pattern when 

 seen at a distance. But this should not he imitated in our glass windows. 



j- This may be seen in the Egyptian screen of columns at the Crystal 

 Palace of Sydenham (see p. 17). 



