DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19955#0052
50
BACKGROUNDS.
not therefore repeat scarlet with scarlet, but by some other
red; since scarlet and crimson are equally reds, gamboge
and orange are both yellows, as indigo and cobalt are
equally blues, although of different tints. Indeed, avoid,
as far as possible, repeating the same colours with the same
tints of that colour.
If you must have a curtain, use an opaque colour for it,
whilst the skies or other parts should be of transparent
colour; it then gives a difference of texture.
When the flesh colour of your sitter is a very bad one,
you will find that a background of dull green (yellow ochre,
sepia, and a little indigo) will give it its full value; that is,
it will, by contrast, show the reds to the best advantage.
This "green" may vary according to the colour of the
dress and the other objects, from a yellow green to a drab.
I would not, however, recommend a cold, blue green; and
the shadows of this green background may be of a rather
purple or lake-coloured hue, produced by sepia, lake, and
perhaps a little indigo.
The following remarks will elucidate our views as to the
effect of contrast in colour. If a lady in a very white
dress have a very dark background, the white dress will
become intensely conspicuous, and will be in every way
offensive to the eye. The same principle must be applied
to a dark dress, which for similar reasons must not have a
very light background, or it will become too heavy : this is
that balance of power which is called " tone."
With a very fair lady of a very delicate complexion, the
dress ought to be white, or at least of some very delicate
BACKGROUNDS.
not therefore repeat scarlet with scarlet, but by some other
red; since scarlet and crimson are equally reds, gamboge
and orange are both yellows, as indigo and cobalt are
equally blues, although of different tints. Indeed, avoid,
as far as possible, repeating the same colours with the same
tints of that colour.
If you must have a curtain, use an opaque colour for it,
whilst the skies or other parts should be of transparent
colour; it then gives a difference of texture.
When the flesh colour of your sitter is a very bad one,
you will find that a background of dull green (yellow ochre,
sepia, and a little indigo) will give it its full value; that is,
it will, by contrast, show the reds to the best advantage.
This "green" may vary according to the colour of the
dress and the other objects, from a yellow green to a drab.
I would not, however, recommend a cold, blue green; and
the shadows of this green background may be of a rather
purple or lake-coloured hue, produced by sepia, lake, and
perhaps a little indigo.
The following remarks will elucidate our views as to the
effect of contrast in colour. If a lady in a very white
dress have a very dark background, the white dress will
become intensely conspicuous, and will be in every way
offensive to the eye. The same principle must be applied
to a dark dress, which for similar reasons must not have a
very light background, or it will become too heavy : this is
that balance of power which is called " tone."
With a very fair lady of a very delicate complexion, the
dress ought to be white, or at least of some very delicate