DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1183#0219
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 17
which they are the foundation ? Colour, therefore, ought to be used only
to strengthen the effects of light and shade; or rather, perhaps, it ought
to take precedence, and light and shade be called in to support the
splendid effects of colour.
Strong colours and light seem incompatible; for though in nature light
renders colours more bright, yet it detaches the light parts of figures
(even though dressed in blue or black) from the most delicate background.
This may be observed on looking at objects placed between the spectator
and the sun. One of the many difficulties, therefore, with which the artist
has to contend is to represent the rotundity of objects composed of strong
local colour. In the earlier masters we find the figures possessing a flat
inlaid appearance, with the lights strongly charged with local colour; in
the next advances of the art we find the light part of figures kept nearly
white, though clothed in strong coloured draperies; which we even per-
ceive in many of the pictures of Raphael, such as his Transfiguration, &c.
till at length we find the strong colouring of Georgioni, and the delicate
light of Coreggio, combined in the works of Titian; who has united the
severity of the earliest masters with the softest effects of nature. Coreggio
was the first to attend particularly to the influence of aerial perspective,
and to preserve the breadth of light and shade undisturbed by colour;
and in this he has been followed by Rembrandt and Reynolds. His
lights are much impasted with white, over which are laid colours of the
most delicate nature, or semi-transparent washes, which permit the
ground to shine through, giving a luminous effect; or tints in which a
considerable portion of white is mixed: thus preserving the rotundity of
his figures, while his shadows are filled with a juicy vehicle, in which
transparent particles of rich warm colour are floating; thereby leading
the light into the darkest masses, without its being refracted from the
surface. This property of the illuminated parts to give back the light,
and the absorption of it in the shadow, Coreggio may have learned in
studying his models by lamplight; as his breadth of light and shade leads
us to suppose was his practice. Reynolds advises, " for the sake of
n
which they are the foundation ? Colour, therefore, ought to be used only
to strengthen the effects of light and shade; or rather, perhaps, it ought
to take precedence, and light and shade be called in to support the
splendid effects of colour.
Strong colours and light seem incompatible; for though in nature light
renders colours more bright, yet it detaches the light parts of figures
(even though dressed in blue or black) from the most delicate background.
This may be observed on looking at objects placed between the spectator
and the sun. One of the many difficulties, therefore, with which the artist
has to contend is to represent the rotundity of objects composed of strong
local colour. In the earlier masters we find the figures possessing a flat
inlaid appearance, with the lights strongly charged with local colour; in
the next advances of the art we find the light part of figures kept nearly
white, though clothed in strong coloured draperies; which we even per-
ceive in many of the pictures of Raphael, such as his Transfiguration, &c.
till at length we find the strong colouring of Georgioni, and the delicate
light of Coreggio, combined in the works of Titian; who has united the
severity of the earliest masters with the softest effects of nature. Coreggio
was the first to attend particularly to the influence of aerial perspective,
and to preserve the breadth of light and shade undisturbed by colour;
and in this he has been followed by Rembrandt and Reynolds. His
lights are much impasted with white, over which are laid colours of the
most delicate nature, or semi-transparent washes, which permit the
ground to shine through, giving a luminous effect; or tints in which a
considerable portion of white is mixed: thus preserving the rotundity of
his figures, while his shadows are filled with a juicy vehicle, in which
transparent particles of rich warm colour are floating; thereby leading
the light into the darkest masses, without its being refracted from the
surface. This property of the illuminated parts to give back the light,
and the absorption of it in the shadow, Coreggio may have learned in
studying his models by lamplight; as his breadth of light and shade leads
us to suppose was his practice. Reynolds advises, " for the sake of
n