DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18972#0265
letter in.] on colouk and composition.
237
It is a favourite dogma among modern writers
on colour that " warm colours" (reds and yellows)
" approach " or express nearness, and " cold colours "
(blue and grey) " retire" or express distance. So
far is this from being the case, that no expression of
distance in the world is so great as that of the gold
and orange in twilight sky. Colours, as such, are
absolutely inexpressive respecting distance. It is
their quality (as depth, delicacy, &c.) which ex-
presses distance, not their tint. A blue bandbox
set on the same shelf with a yellow one will not
look an inch farther off, but a red or orange cloud,
in the upper sky, will always appear to be be-
yond a blue cloud close to us, as it is in reality. It
is quite true that in certain objects, blue is a sign of
prettier because it is flushed, but you would see the form of
the cheek bone better if it were not. Colour may, indeed,
detach one shape from another, as in grounding a bas-
relief, but it always diminishes the appearance of projection,
and whether you put blue, purple, red, yellow, or green,
for your ground, the bas-relief will be just as clearly or
just as imperfectly relieved, as long as the colours are of
equal depth. The blue ground will not retire the hundredth
part of an inch more than the red one.
237
It is a favourite dogma among modern writers
on colour that " warm colours" (reds and yellows)
" approach " or express nearness, and " cold colours "
(blue and grey) " retire" or express distance. So
far is this from being the case, that no expression of
distance in the world is so great as that of the gold
and orange in twilight sky. Colours, as such, are
absolutely inexpressive respecting distance. It is
their quality (as depth, delicacy, &c.) which ex-
presses distance, not their tint. A blue bandbox
set on the same shelf with a yellow one will not
look an inch farther off, but a red or orange cloud,
in the upper sky, will always appear to be be-
yond a blue cloud close to us, as it is in reality. It
is quite true that in certain objects, blue is a sign of
prettier because it is flushed, but you would see the form of
the cheek bone better if it were not. Colour may, indeed,
detach one shape from another, as in grounding a bas-
relief, but it always diminishes the appearance of projection,
and whether you put blue, purple, red, yellow, or green,
for your ground, the bas-relief will be just as clearly or
just as imperfectly relieved, as long as the colours are of
equal depth. The blue ground will not retire the hundredth
part of an inch more than the red one.