Contrast of Colours. 63 i 



The association of these colours and their numerous shades 

 in twos or threes, or in a greater number, produce a very 

 different effect upon the eye, according to the combinations 

 adopted. There are certain tints that mutually set off each 

 other by approximation, and are pleasing to the eye ; and there 

 are others which lose by association, producing a very poor 

 effect, and are even unpleasant and offensive to the eye. In the 

 arrangement of colours we cannot choose a better guide than 

 the eminent Professor Chevreuil, who has deeply studied the 

 subject as applied to art, dyeing of fabrics, and the dispo- 

 s : tion of flowers in a parterre. We give the substance of the 

 essential parts of his instructions. 



1. The three simple colours, blue, red, and yellow, when 

 pure, or nearly pure, contrast agreeably together ; hut in close 

 contiguity each of them absorbs, as it were, something of the 

 shade which would result from a proper combination with the 

 complementary colours of its neighbours. For instance, red 

 by the side of yellow assumes a slight tinge of violet, which is 

 the complementary of yellow, and the yellow a shade of green, 

 which is the complementary of red. 



2. The colours complementary to one another contrast 

 advantageously. This is sufficiently evident by the approxi- 

 mation of yellow and violet composed of red and blue ; red 

 and green composed of yellow and blue ; or blue and orange 

 composed of red and yellow. 



3. The binary association of composite colours will also pro- 

 duce pleasing results, because in each group all three of the 

 elementary colours will be found reunited. That the contrasts 

 will be strong and effective maybe judged by bringing together 

 violet (red and blue), and orange (red and yellow), or the 

 former with green (yellqw and blue). 



4. But the results are poor or bad when simple colours are 

 associated with mixed colours into whose composition they 

 enter, as in this case only two of the primary colours are re- 

 presented. Hence red contrasts badly with orange yellow 

 and red, and with violet red and blue ; blue with violet 

 red and blue, or with green blue and yellow. Yet if the 

 simple colour form but a small proportion of the mixed colour 

 with which it is associated, the contrast will be sufficiently 

 strong to please the eye. Thus a lively blue produces a good 

 effect by the side of a bright or yellowish green, and bright 

 yellow by the side of a deep green in which the blue element 

 predominates. But these two cases, as will be seen, come 



