Barnard, George: The Theory and Practice of Landscape Painting in Water Colours (London, 1855)

LIGHT OK SHADE, OK CHIAKOSCUKO. 71

oated by a tint of blue, the middle distance by a deep warm gray, composed of the
sky and foreground tints, and the foreground by a rich warm colour ; in this way,
the general effect being gained at the expense of the smaller and less important
lights and shades, great breadth is the result; and, this secured, slight modifications
may, without detriment, be introduced both in the colour and the interior forms of
the masses. A discipline of this kind in perspective and aerial effect, but for very
different purposes, has lately been enforced among the Chasseurs de Vincennes; in
order to educate the sight of these young riflemen and enable them to judge of the
exact distance of objects; they are called upon to note the variations which occur
not only in the size, but in the colour of objects under every kind of light and shade.
In unclouded daylight, objects, whether in light or shade, will, for the most part,
be relieved from the sky by greater strength of tone. The sky being that portion
of the picture whence all light proceeds, will, generally, be much lighter than the
distance or any other part not having the highest lights ; dark stormy clouds, or
bright objects in sunlight relieved from a clear blue sky, are, of course, exceptions.
In treating of the most simple division of Chiaroscuro, namely, the light and
shade belonging to each object, it was remarked that the greatest depth of shade
and the most brilliant lights are seen in the nearest objects ; but it does not follow
that, in the larger masses of cast or accidental shadows, the greatest depths should
be placed either in the foreground, or, as was formerly the custom, with the view of
forcing the eye towards the centre, in the corners of the picture; the contrary more
frequently occurs in natnre, where, owing to the clouds, or the shadows and local
colours of trees and woods, the greatest mass of dark is often situated in the middle
distance. In explanation of this it must be observed that, in the foreground of the
picture the eye penetrates so clearly into the details of every object, that, to imitate
this transparency, it cannot be made so dark as in the middle distance, where these
details are lost in a breadth of shade.

As a general rule, neither the light nor shade should be represented crossing the
whole of the picture in lines parallel to the horizon; although in twilights there
may be much of this appearance in the lower clouds. More variety is obtained by
introducing it on one side, near an upper corner, and allowing it to pass in
unequal quantities towards the opposite side, as shown in Fig. 19—cottages on
the coast of South Devon, a sweet spot, where Collins painted some of his
most successful pictures. In this subject the light is introduced in a broad
mass on the left, rather behind the objects in the picture, thus casting nearly
all these into shadow, the greatest depth of which is, in this instance, increased
by the dark local colour of the thatch, bricks, &c, and these again, coming in
contact with strong light, the interest of the picture is thrown into the distance,