DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1183#0262
52 PRACTICAL HINTS
against it; while the blue and yellow of his skies find a corresponding
harmony in the green and brown of his foliage, and ground or stems of
his trees. The background to his "Peter Martyr" claims equal admiration
with the figures.
The great breadth of colour and effect in the few landscapes from the
pencil of Rubens stamps them with that splendour which his knowledge
of colour, and his practice in the higher departments of the art, so easily
enabled him to accomplish; as he has generally represented his scenery
under the influence of a rising or setting sun, he was enabled to employ
the most glowing colours with a greater appearance of truth. The yellow
light struggling amidst a multiplicity of delicate purples and blues in the
sky, assumes a deeper hue as it sheds its colour upon the trees and
herbage, until it reaches the foreground in one mass of warm and
transparent colour; and though the light commences in pale yellow and
white, it terminates in the foreground in rich brown and red. The land-
scape presented to the National Gallery by Sir George Beaumont, and
"The Watering Place" at Montague House, are excellent examples of
his mode of treating colours. In this latter the green of his middle
ground, and blue of his distance, are of a more positive character,
reminding one more of the colour of Van Uden. His figures are gene-
rally employed to enable him to introduce more naturally his strong reds
or browns, as his light falls into his shadow side of the picture; or to
focus his strong colours in the foreground. If his green colours are
sometimes more violent than we might expect to see in nature, under
such circumstances, they are kept in check, and counteracted by his warm
brown colours. In this particular he has been admirably imitated by
Gainsborough; whose later works possess the same brilliancy of effect
with the yellow tones approaching more to the depth of Titian. Reynolds,
speaking of the licence allowable in departing from truth, instances the
representation of a moonlight by Rubens.
" Rubens has not only diffused more light over the picture than is in
nature; but has bestowed on it those warm glowing colours by which his
against it; while the blue and yellow of his skies find a corresponding
harmony in the green and brown of his foliage, and ground or stems of
his trees. The background to his "Peter Martyr" claims equal admiration
with the figures.
The great breadth of colour and effect in the few landscapes from the
pencil of Rubens stamps them with that splendour which his knowledge
of colour, and his practice in the higher departments of the art, so easily
enabled him to accomplish; as he has generally represented his scenery
under the influence of a rising or setting sun, he was enabled to employ
the most glowing colours with a greater appearance of truth. The yellow
light struggling amidst a multiplicity of delicate purples and blues in the
sky, assumes a deeper hue as it sheds its colour upon the trees and
herbage, until it reaches the foreground in one mass of warm and
transparent colour; and though the light commences in pale yellow and
white, it terminates in the foreground in rich brown and red. The land-
scape presented to the National Gallery by Sir George Beaumont, and
"The Watering Place" at Montague House, are excellent examples of
his mode of treating colours. In this latter the green of his middle
ground, and blue of his distance, are of a more positive character,
reminding one more of the colour of Van Uden. His figures are gene-
rally employed to enable him to introduce more naturally his strong reds
or browns, as his light falls into his shadow side of the picture; or to
focus his strong colours in the foreground. If his green colours are
sometimes more violent than we might expect to see in nature, under
such circumstances, they are kept in check, and counteracted by his warm
brown colours. In this particular he has been admirably imitated by
Gainsborough; whose later works possess the same brilliancy of effect
with the yellow tones approaching more to the depth of Titian. Reynolds,
speaking of the licence allowable in departing from truth, instances the
representation of a moonlight by Rubens.
" Rubens has not only diffused more light over the picture than is in
nature; but has bestowed on it those warm glowing colours by which his