DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.2086#0021
ON THE PRIMITIVE COLOURS, AND THEIR COMPOUNDS. 13
GREEN (YELLOW AND BLUF.).
Green is generally considered as the mean between the other two secondary-
colours, taking an intermediate position between light and shade. It is remarkably
distinct and striking in its effects on the eye, being at the same time highly refreshing
and soothing to that organ; it is far more prevalent in nature than any other colour,
though seldom seen in its pure and unmixed state. The green of nature accords
well with blue, being harmonized therewith by the warm purple and gray tones of
the atmosphere and distance. Nevertheless it is very doubtful whether a picture,
having a preponderance of green, is ever truly popular, or even pleasing to the eye,
however true to nature.
PURPLE,(RED AND BLlfE).
Purple is the coolest and darkest of the secondary colours. It possesses, in a
high degree, the modest retiring qualities of the primary blue, with which it is
most closely connected; and as the eye delights to dwell on those colours which
least fatigue it, perhaps purple may rank next to green in the pleasure it affords.
The varied purples, or warm grays, as the artists term them, are of the greatest
use to the landscape painter, in harmonizing the aerial blue of the sky and distance
with the richer tones of the foreground.
To these six, i. e. the three primaries and the three secondaries, may be applied
the name of colours; because with indigo (which artists scarcely consider as a
distinct colour, owing to its near approach to blue) they form the seven prismatic
colours of the spectrum.
THE TEBTIABY COLOUES, OE PEIMAEY HUES.
The tertiary compounds are hues composed of all the primary colours, one of
those colours, however, predominating. Repeating the previous experiment, sub-
stituting glasses of the three secondary colours, we obtain the primary hues, as seen
in Plate 3, fig. 2. The latter will evidently produce a much less striking effect on
the uneducated eye than the former, and this, doubtless, led Field to remark, that
" to understand and relish the harmonious relations and expressive powers of the
tertiary colours requires a cultivation of perception and a refinement of taste, to
which study and practice are requisite. They are at once less definite and less
generally evident, but more delightful, more frequent in nature, and rarer in common
art, than the like relations of the secondaries and primaries."
They form by far the greatest portion of every landscape, modulating and harmo-
nizing every scene. The attainment, therefore, of a just appreciation of their beauties
GREEN (YELLOW AND BLUF.).
Green is generally considered as the mean between the other two secondary-
colours, taking an intermediate position between light and shade. It is remarkably
distinct and striking in its effects on the eye, being at the same time highly refreshing
and soothing to that organ; it is far more prevalent in nature than any other colour,
though seldom seen in its pure and unmixed state. The green of nature accords
well with blue, being harmonized therewith by the warm purple and gray tones of
the atmosphere and distance. Nevertheless it is very doubtful whether a picture,
having a preponderance of green, is ever truly popular, or even pleasing to the eye,
however true to nature.
PURPLE,(RED AND BLlfE).
Purple is the coolest and darkest of the secondary colours. It possesses, in a
high degree, the modest retiring qualities of the primary blue, with which it is
most closely connected; and as the eye delights to dwell on those colours which
least fatigue it, perhaps purple may rank next to green in the pleasure it affords.
The varied purples, or warm grays, as the artists term them, are of the greatest
use to the landscape painter, in harmonizing the aerial blue of the sky and distance
with the richer tones of the foreground.
To these six, i. e. the three primaries and the three secondaries, may be applied
the name of colours; because with indigo (which artists scarcely consider as a
distinct colour, owing to its near approach to blue) they form the seven prismatic
colours of the spectrum.
THE TEBTIABY COLOUES, OE PEIMAEY HUES.
The tertiary compounds are hues composed of all the primary colours, one of
those colours, however, predominating. Repeating the previous experiment, sub-
stituting glasses of the three secondary colours, we obtain the primary hues, as seen
in Plate 3, fig. 2. The latter will evidently produce a much less striking effect on
the uneducated eye than the former, and this, doubtless, led Field to remark, that
" to understand and relish the harmonious relations and expressive powers of the
tertiary colours requires a cultivation of perception and a refinement of taste, to
which study and practice are requisite. They are at once less definite and less
generally evident, but more delightful, more frequent in nature, and rarer in common
art, than the like relations of the secondaries and primaries."
They form by far the greatest portion of every landscape, modulating and harmo-
nizing every scene. The attainment, therefore, of a just appreciation of their beauties