DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.68796#0214
i94 The. Work of Art as Beautiful part ii
more positive tints in larger masses, and the study of the
theory of colour is to him a distinct part of his professional
training.
In the cabinet-picture the colour-effects are so subtle that
only the native artistic tact of the artist can deal with them.
He may know, as Sir Charles Eastlake tells him, that
‘ Flesh is never more glowing than when opposed to blue,
never more pearly than when compared with red, never
ruddier than in the neighbourhood of green, never fairer
than when contrasted with black, nor richer or deeper than
when opposed to white,’1 and he will use the knowledge
by working for combinations of broken colour and not for
contrasts of definite tints. In fact it is only in virtue of
his having been born a colourist, that he will know how to
bring clear harmonies out of these varied notes in all their
exquisite gradations. The discussion of the theory of colour
belongs therefore rather to the subject of the decorative arts,
than to the present theme, and need not here be pursued
any further.
§ 121. and of ^Esthetic impressions of Form.
The physiological basis of our impressions of beauty in
form has not been studied so thoroughly as in the case of
colour, but the general theory above indicated applies here
also. The act of apprehending the form of a surface with
definite contours2 involves those muscular movements of
the organs of vision already described, and these come
under the law that the exercise bf bodily powers is under
1 Materials, etc. ii. p. 309.
2 The apprehension of solid forms, that is forms in all three dimen-
sions, is a more complicated matter altogether, and is arrived at partly
through binocular vision, or, the seeing with two eyes at once, partly
through our experience of the sense of touch, partly through that of
bodily movement from place to place.
more positive tints in larger masses, and the study of the
theory of colour is to him a distinct part of his professional
training.
In the cabinet-picture the colour-effects are so subtle that
only the native artistic tact of the artist can deal with them.
He may know, as Sir Charles Eastlake tells him, that
‘ Flesh is never more glowing than when opposed to blue,
never more pearly than when compared with red, never
ruddier than in the neighbourhood of green, never fairer
than when contrasted with black, nor richer or deeper than
when opposed to white,’1 and he will use the knowledge
by working for combinations of broken colour and not for
contrasts of definite tints. In fact it is only in virtue of
his having been born a colourist, that he will know how to
bring clear harmonies out of these varied notes in all their
exquisite gradations. The discussion of the theory of colour
belongs therefore rather to the subject of the decorative arts,
than to the present theme, and need not here be pursued
any further.
§ 121. and of ^Esthetic impressions of Form.
The physiological basis of our impressions of beauty in
form has not been studied so thoroughly as in the case of
colour, but the general theory above indicated applies here
also. The act of apprehending the form of a surface with
definite contours2 involves those muscular movements of
the organs of vision already described, and these come
under the law that the exercise bf bodily powers is under
1 Materials, etc. ii. p. 309.
2 The apprehension of solid forms, that is forms in all three dimen-
sions, is a more complicated matter altogether, and is arrived at partly
through binocular vision, or, the seeing with two eyes at once, partly
through our experience of the sense of touch, partly through that of
bodily movement from place to place.