DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1183#0203
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. O
has been formed upon the contemplation of such colours, the general look
of nature can be given only by admitting large portions of such colours
into the picture; if they are more vivid than are most commonly observed
in nature, the charm is destroyed. All colours rendered familiar by the
introduction of artificial means are guided by the same laws; and a green,
though quite unnatural when employed upon herbage, might be strictly
natural in representing the local colour of a piece of drapery; yet we may
safely admit that the most brilliant colours may receive an advantage in
being toned to those hues most common in nature, especially if they form
a large mass in the picture. This breaking down of the colours by
glazing or scumbling is a great cause of that harmonious sweetness
observable in the works of the best colourists, and without which a work
will always look crude and unnatural.
Without entering into the philosophy of colours, or stopping to inquire
whether this harmony depends upon their possessing that order in ar-
rangement which they are found in nature to possess, when separated by
the prism or observable in the iris, we cannot but remark in nature a
certain accordance arising from each object possessing its due portion of
every arrangement. For example, in sunrise, when his disk is visible by
reason of the density of the atmosphere, we observe the yellow light round
his situation tempered and softened down with delicate gray; which tint
being also diffused over the local colours in the landscape gives truth and
harmony. In Claude we perceive the same breadth, delicacy, and soft-
ness. In the evening, when the atmosphere is less dense, we find the
colour of the light more brilliant and less interrupted, tinging with the
same hue every object placed within its influence; and this we find also
in Cuyp and others who have painted landscapes under the same cir-
cumstances.
Now as this union of one part with another, is observable to every one,
we see one great cause of harmony, which must be a good foundation for
the artist to commence upon; and seeing that this union depends upon
the medium between two extremes, we can only produce an agreeable
has been formed upon the contemplation of such colours, the general look
of nature can be given only by admitting large portions of such colours
into the picture; if they are more vivid than are most commonly observed
in nature, the charm is destroyed. All colours rendered familiar by the
introduction of artificial means are guided by the same laws; and a green,
though quite unnatural when employed upon herbage, might be strictly
natural in representing the local colour of a piece of drapery; yet we may
safely admit that the most brilliant colours may receive an advantage in
being toned to those hues most common in nature, especially if they form
a large mass in the picture. This breaking down of the colours by
glazing or scumbling is a great cause of that harmonious sweetness
observable in the works of the best colourists, and without which a work
will always look crude and unnatural.
Without entering into the philosophy of colours, or stopping to inquire
whether this harmony depends upon their possessing that order in ar-
rangement which they are found in nature to possess, when separated by
the prism or observable in the iris, we cannot but remark in nature a
certain accordance arising from each object possessing its due portion of
every arrangement. For example, in sunrise, when his disk is visible by
reason of the density of the atmosphere, we observe the yellow light round
his situation tempered and softened down with delicate gray; which tint
being also diffused over the local colours in the landscape gives truth and
harmony. In Claude we perceive the same breadth, delicacy, and soft-
ness. In the evening, when the atmosphere is less dense, we find the
colour of the light more brilliant and less interrupted, tinging with the
same hue every object placed within its influence; and this we find also
in Cuyp and others who have painted landscapes under the same cir-
cumstances.
Now as this union of one part with another, is observable to every one,
we see one great cause of harmony, which must be a good foundation for
the artist to commence upon; and seeing that this union depends upon
the medium between two extremes, we can only produce an agreeable