OF COLOURING ZgffZ'- J.BACOi S^SSSS^i fesfc 7 .- ,_ .■):".■"■■*■' "■ - " MHHH^B^HH BHH1H I BBM^^H THE THEORY OF COLOURING. LIA&RAM OF COLOUR pn ^OtfSN GREEN ! THE THEORY OF COLOURING: BEING AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRINCIPLES OP CONTRAST AND HARMONY IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF COLOURS, WITH THEIR APPLICATION TO THE STUDY OF NATURE, AND HINTS ON THE COMPOSITION OP PICTURES, ETC., BY J. BACON, PROFESSOR OP DRAWING AND PAINTING. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. LONDON : GEO. ROWNEY & CO., MANUFACTURING ARTISTS' COLOUEMBN, 52, RATHBONE PLACE, & 29, OXPORD STREET, W. 1872. MBMHBnHHBHmHMMfl BnMn^HHMMMHB^H \j \j im ± m ±\ ± o . 1 J PAGE vii 1 Description of the diagram of colours .... 8 CHAPTER I.— Definitions 10 Section 1. Definitions and principles . 10 „ 2. Remarks on colour 11 „ 3. Remarks on pigments . 13 CHAPTER II.— On Harmony .... 15 Section 1. Simple harmony ■ 15 „ 2. Compound harmony . . 15 16 19 CHAPTER III. — On Studying Works of Art . 22 Section 1. Analysis of the composition 22 „ 2. Copying 23 „ 3. Recapitulation .... 24 CHAPTER IV. — On Studying from Nature 25 Section 1. Grey tints in nature 25 „ 2. Palpitating effect of colours, with Turner's method of observing it 27 „ 3. Varying beauty of sunset and sunrise i 28 „ 4. Effect of light on the eye 30 „ 5. Making a study from nature 31 „ 6. Remarks — .... 32 On rigid drawing 33 On different styles 33 On mannerism 34 On methods 34 CHAPTER V. — Composition of a Picture 36 CHAPTER VI.— Historical Painting . 40 APPENDIX 42 Analysis of pictures 42 Table of mixed tints . 56 Remarks ...... 57 PEEFACE. The object of the present handbook is to place before the student, in a short and simple form, the theory of artistic colouring. There are few who have not felt, in the earlier period of study, the want of general rules to guide them in the composition and arrangement of colour in a picture. Without entering into abstract and abstruse discussions on the nature of colour, a few of its more practically-impor- tant properties are pointed out, and general rules founded upon them. These are made so "simple as to be easily understood, and so few as to be readily remembered." A Diagram has been devised, for the purpose of exhibiting, at a glance, and of compressing, in a single figure, all the theoretical principles of combination, harmony, and contrast. By it the student is enabled to modify tints at pleasure, as well as* to subdue crudeness, or impart bril- liancy, as may be required in his picture. The various rules which these principles involve, will be found exemplified in the pic- VIII. W of the be S t artist , The student fa ^ led to discover an important secret in their zz h Aft ^ r mastering ae *»*- £» apphed he « Erected to study nature, and by tne study of nature, is prepared for th highest exerc.se of art, tne composition of pictures Many are averse to use theoretical principles n the study of art: science, it is said, may be Wrned by th ies> ^ arf ^ Truly, m ere "theoretical principles" will never make an artist without practice, which they are intended to direct, not to supplant. They arc to guide the student in his work, not to do his work for hnn The principles of colour stand in the same relationship to painting as the rules of perspective with regard to drawing, neither can be neglected with impunity. These princi- ples are not necessarily intuitive, but are to be learned by long, and often bitter experience. I the student will be guided by the experience of others, and adept the rules set forth, so for as they commend themselves to his judgement he may reap the fruit of their labours, and share with them the glory of success. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Some attention has been attracted to a new theory of colour, advocated by men of high scientific attainments ; and the terms, in which those, who hold with " Newton's " opinions on the subject are assailed, render it necessary to lay before the Student some of the reasons which induce the greater number of English Artists to cling to the old fashioned notions of colour. This is done in a short essay on light, in which is demonstrated the fallacy of the new theory, and the truth of that which is set forth in these pages. The favourable reception accorded to this little book encourages the hope that the in- troduction of fresh matter will secure to this edition a still wider field of usefulness. THE THEORY OF COLOURING. ■++- ON LIGHT. What we call light is an effect produced in the mind or spirit of an animated being, by the action of a subtle matter on the sensitive expansion of the optic nerve, which is spread over the interior of the eye, and which is called the retina. The action of this subtle matter, by some called ether, I prefer to call it the light medium, has been supposed to be exerted in straight lines, but the hypothesis that it is of a wavy or vibratory character has gained so much support, that the relative lengths of the waves producing the colours of the solar spectrum are now given in most treatises on light. The theory of the propagation of light by waves of the light medium is analogous to the universally accepted one of the propagation of sound through the sound medium, i.e., the air and grosser matter. The movement of the atoms of light medium is trans- mitted from one to another, the intensity diminishing as the distance from the exciting cause increases ; and besides the movement between atom and atom, there is also one of a symmetrical character, embracing a smaller or larger A THE THEORY OP COLOURING. number of atoms, it is this symmetrical movement which is called a wave. Modem discoveries teach us that the length of the wave determines the character of the mental effect which we call colour. White light consists of a number of sets of waves existing in the light medium simultaneously, the length of the waves of each set being equal, but differing from that of every other set. It follows that each of the colours of the spectrum, obtained by decomposing white light by means of a prism, might be designated by the length of the waves that produce it, those of red being longest, and those of violet shortest ; orange, yellow, green, and blue decrease in length, in the order in which they are named, as they leave the red and approach the violet. Since each colour has its individual wave length, each is a simple colour. The orange, green, and purple, of the spectrum, are not secondary or compound colours ; they have their proper wave measure, and are therefore as much entitled to the term primary, as red or blue. We are naturally led from the decomposition of white light to its recomposition. "Maxwell" and Helmholz offer elaborate and exhaustive experiments ; only a few of the facts established by them will be needed for our purpose. The principal of those put forward by Helmholz are that red and bluish green produce yellow, and the following groups produce white light ; — red + bluish-green + indigo, red + greenish-blue, yellow 4- indigo, and orange -f blue. He considers red, yellow, green, blue, and violet to be primaries; as with them, in varying proportions of two or three together, he obtains all the other colours of the spectrum almost pure. In choosing three colours to be called primaries THE THEORY OP COLOURING. he would prefer red, green, and violet, these enabling him, by combinations, to produce the greatest number of colours. "Maxwell's" experiments led him to choose red, green, and blue for his primaries. He calls the following couples complementaries ; red to sea green; green to pink ; and blue to yellow : these couples producing white light. It must be observed that the foregoing results are obtained only from coloured lights, not from pigments. Admitting the accuracy of "Maxwell's " observations, and the justness of his conclusions, it would appear to the unreflecting mind that we are bound, in reason, to put aside all our notions of colouring, based on the theory which takes red, yellow, and blue as primaries, and orange, green, and violet as secondaries, and accept or invent one based on Maxwell's choice. The charm of novelty is very great, and it often misleads men whose general attainments should make them superior to its influence ; but, before adopting the new theory, it would be well to enquire into the grounds of the old one. We will begin with a short statement of " Newton's" opinions, as they have been reproduced in almost all works on colour applied to the arts. He held that in white light there are three pure colours called primaries ; the others result from the mingling of couples of these three, and are called secondaries: thus the orange results from the mingling of the red and yellow rays, the green from those of yellow and blue, and the purple from those of blue and red. Maxwell and Helmholz have proved that the mingling of yellow and blue lights produces white light, not green ; that yellow may be produced by the mingling of red and green, and is therefore a compound or secondary colour, THE THEORY OF COLOURING. 1 (as it is when so compounded, yet they agree that the yellow of the solar spectrum is a simple colour, giving rise to the paradox that yellow is both simple and compound) . Newton's opinions were, therefore, mere assumptions, and afford the old theory no assistance. On experimenting with pigments we learn that with reds, yellows, and bines, by judicious mixing in couples, orange, green, and purple can be produced, so completing the set of spectrum colours. Here, the evidence in favour of the old theory is marked, while its bearing on the new one is not in any way con- firmatory of its teachings ; for instance, it is found impos- sible to get a yellow colour by mixing red and green pigments, while green can be obtained in all its shades by mixing yellow and blue. It is difficult in the face of this evidence to call yellow a secondary colour, and green a primary. By appealing to the human mind we shall arrive at con- clusive evidence of that relationship of colours to each other which is usually meant by the term complementary. The colours that are complementary in an art aspect may be discovered by the following experiments : — I suppose the observer to be capable of seeing all the colours of the solar spectrum. Obtain some of the. follow- ing pigments in powder; rose madder, pale cadmium or No. 2 chrome, ceruleum and cobalt, orange orpiment, emerald green, and mauve ; if this latter cannot be obtained, a mixture of rose madder and cobalt must do duty for purple. I have chosen the above colours because they (with the exception of mauve, which is chosen on account of its power) reflect a great deal of light to the retina, and so ■^■HHUBiMnm THE THEORY OP COLOURING. awaken the complementary image more rapidly. I shall now speak of them as red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple. Cut an opening, three quarters of an inch long, in a piece of pure white or strictly neutral grey paper, not less than six inches square. At the distance of a quarter ', I? r of an inch from the edge of the hole draw a line parallel with it, and in the middle of the line put a dot thus : — Place some of the red on a piece of paper so that it shall cover rather more than a space equal to that enclosed in the diagram between the figures 1 and 2, being careful to leave a clean straight edge on one side ; to this straight edge adjust some orange to occupy a space equal to that between the figures 2 and 3 ; the space 3 and 4 will be covered with some yellow. Lay the paper with the aperture in it over this group of colours so that each will be seen to occupy one third of the opening. Let the eye rest. Now look fixedly at the centre of the orange for a minute or two, the longer the better, then regard the dot in the middle of the black line, and the space between the line and the edge of the opening will be seen tinted with very delicate colours ; green appears beside the red, blue beside the orange, and purple beside the yellow. Treat the following triplets in the same way: yellow, green, and blue ; green, blue, and purple ; the complementary colours in these groups come as follows : — beside the yellow appears purple, beside the green a rosy red, beside the blue, orange. Purple has yellow, if it be made as nearly neutral as possible, but if it incline to red, then the yellow will be greenish ; if to blue, then the yellow will tend to yf ($*>! M 6 THE THEORY OF COLOURING. orange. The above blue must be compounded of ceruleum and a very little cobalt intimately mixed. Powder colours, from their opacity, are far more luminous than those which are ground up in a vehicle, so are preferable in these experi- ments. The above results will be very generally obtained, the exceptions will be due to some peculiarities of the eyes of the observer. I have called in the aid of young eyes, and those of adults, of cultivated and uncultivated ones, and am forced to accept their corroboration of my own experience as conclusive. From these experiments I deduce the following data : — red has green for its complementary colour, and blue and yellow have orange and purple respectively. How can we reconcile the proposition, purple is the complementary colour of yellow with that which affirms that blue is its complementary colour ? both are true, though inconsistent ; the inconsistency ceases as soon ao we regard things rather than words. I submit that the new theory of colour owes its existence to the misunderstanding or mis- application of the word complementary. The colours yellow and blue, and red, green, and blue, may be complementary in the production of white light ; but it does not follow that there is any connexion between the production of white light and the production of harmony in colour ; that there is any is pure assumption, which evidently arose from the apparent analogy between the order in which the colours exist in the solar spectrum, and the experience derived from the mixing of pigments ; the orange seeming to be produced by the apparent mingling of the red and yellow rays ; the green, where the yellow and blue came to- gether, and the purple might be supposed to owe its THE THEORY OF COLOURING. existence to the mingling of the bine with the red rays of another and fainter series of colonrs. The assumption, however, did not affect the results, since it was made to accord with truth, as shown by man's mental perceptions of colour and experience in pigments. When closer observa- tions showed that the colours of the spectrum bear a rela- tionship to each other very different from that ascribed to them ; it was time to lay aside the assumption, instead of falling into absurd errors by ignoring the true basis for the theory of colouring and taking the false one, which they have done who reasoned from the now recognized phenomena of the composition of white light. THE TRUE THEORY OF HARMONIOUS COLOUR- ING MUST BE BASED ON THE MENTAL PER- CEPTIONS OF MAN. Convinced that the matter in the following pages is founded on truth, the author has much pleasure in offering the second edition to the attention of all earnest students. THE THEORY OF COLOURING. DESCRIPTION OF THE DIAGRAM OF COLOUR. The black spot in the centre represents the effect pro- duced by the combination of all the pigments, and the encircling white represents the effect produced by the com- bmation of all the colours. Next are placed the Primary colours, Bed, Yellow, and Blue, occupying each one third part of the circle. Beyond these are the Secondary colours, Orange, Green, and Purple. Beyond these again are the three Tertiary* colours, Brown, Broken-green and Gray. The primary colours red and blue have for their comple- mentary! colour yellow, on the other side of the central spot. The terms citron, russet, and olive, employed by recent writers on colour to express the tertiaries, are arbitrary and somewhat vague. vll C i r ° n ' 1S n0t S enera % * sed by artists; the others are applied by them to other colours than those in the diagram It is thought more conducive to clearness here to apply to those combina- turns the well-known terms broken-green, brown, and gray Art nomenclature offers no simple term expressive of the first-named colour. Throughout this work the term GRAY will mean the tertiary shown m the diagram, while GREY will be used to signify what may be cafled diluted black. To make this perfectly clear, let the student take lamp-black and apply a light wash of it on white paper- the result will be a grey tint. Any tint of black, which is not perfectly black, is grey. Compare this tint with the gray of the diaa-ram Is it necessary to add that the above distinction is entirely Arbitrary and is adopted here solely for the sake of clearness ? t The term complementary is used to express that the colour which it qualifies is needed to make up the complement or complete the set of three pnmaries, without which no composition can please tor its colour. F THE THEORY OF COLOURING. 9 Red and blue form purple, which is also opposite to yellow in the inner, and to broken-green in the outer, circles. Hence yellow and broken-green are complementary to, and contrast with, red and blue, or purple. Yellow and blue are opposite to red; their compound, green, is opposite to red and brown. Red and brown are complementary to, and contrast with, yellow and blue, or green. In like manner blue and gray will be seen to be complementary to red and yellow, or orange. As the tertiary colours are not so familiarly known as the primaries and secondaries, their names are inserted against them in the diagram. They do not form a part of the true gamut of colour, but are necessary in the formation of a scale to aid the painter in colouring. This diagram serves to display the relative composition of the various colours, and embraces necessarily every possible variety that can be found in nature or in art. It serves, however, a far more useful purpose still, as a com- pendium of the laws of colour relationship and of har- monious contrast. Related colours are adjacent* Harmonious contrasts are opposite. * The term adjacent applies to those compartments in the diagram by which any colour is surrounded ; and those opposite are those lying on the other side of the centre. r-@>-OM 10 THE THEORY OP COLOURING. CHAPTER I. DEFINITIONS. Section 1. — Colour is the immaterial result of the decomposition of light. A ray of light, in passing through a triangular prism of glass, is decomposed into a series of colours, the same as those in the rainbow. Paint or Pigment is the material basis which decom- poses light so as to reflect or transmit only some of its constituent colours. Shade refers to the chromatic composition of a colour. Cobalt and ceruleum offer us different shades of blue. Tint is the condition of a shade of colour which arises from its admixture with water or white. It becomes thereby more or less intense without any change in its chromatic composition. Tone is the condition of a colour in which it appears other than it is. A light blue under the effect of a bright or a dull light will appear a light blue ; yet, in the repre- sentation of these different conditions, different shades must be used ; different tmts would fail to convey a just idea of the colour. Harmony is the effect of a proper arrangement of colours in a picture. Vide page 8, Chapter on Harmony. Contrast is the effect arising from different colours being adjacent to one another, as red beside blue or yellow, &c. V *rj — •■-'■ stf x&-*-*~ THE THEORY OP COLOURING. 11 The terms " Contrast " and " Harmony " are not the reverse of each other, although as sometimes carelessly used they seem to imply opposite things. Harmony may exist with or without contrast. The result of contrast is force, not necessarily a want of harmony. The primaries may be arranged to produce the greatest contrast or force without sacrificing harmony, as in PL 2, fig. 1. The same colours may be used and be blended or united together by intervening secondaries, which, being compounded of the same primaries, enable the eye to glide easily from one to the other, as in PL 2, fig. 2. This arrangement has greater variety, and is, therefore, more pleasing to the eye, but it has less force. Light and shade form a contrast independent of colour, as in sepia drawings, engravings, &c. Many of Turner's works appear to some deficient in contrast.* In his works in sepiaf is seen how well he understood the different powers of the materials used. To the uneducated eye contrast in delicate colours is almost unintelligible. ON COLOURS AND PIGMENTS. Section 2. — A Primary colour is simple, pure, unmixed. A Secondary colour is the combination of two primaries in any proportions. A Tertiary is the combination of two secondaries in any proportions, or a primary and its complementary secondary in any proportions. * See "Eivers of France," South Kensington Museum. t See " Liber Studiorum," at the same place. 12 THE THEORY OP COLOURING. Each secondary in the diagram is adjacent to the two primaries of which it is compounded, thus : — Yellow + Blue = Green. Blue + Red = Purple. Red + Yellow = Orange. Each tertiary is, in like manner, adjacent to the two secondaries of which it is composed, thus : — Orange + Green = Broken-green or Citron. Green + Purple = Gray or Olive. Purple + Orange = Brown or Russet. The primaries exist in light. The secondaries arise from the mingling of the primaries. The tertiaries depend entirely on matter for their existance. The primaries and secondaries are positive. The tertiaries are negative, and exist when some proportions of the three primaries in light have been destroyed, absorbed, or diverted (rendered negative in their effect) by the action of matter. Resolving the tertiary colours into their simple elements, it will be seen that each contains the three primaries, with one of them predominating over the rest, thus : — Green + Purple ( \ t Yellow + Blue + Blue + Red Purple + Orange K A r Blue + Red + Red + Yellow Orange + Green Red + Yellow + Yellow + Blue = Gray. = Brown. = Broken-Green Hence it appears that In Gray there is an excess of Blue. In Brown „ „ Red. In Broken-green „ Yellow. It will be well here to direct attention to the strange anomaly that in nature the combination of all the colours THE THEORY OF COLOURING. 13 produces light, "but in art the combination of the pigments which reflect those colours produces neutral grey or black. / This grey or black may be compounded of the three primaries, of the three secondaries, or of the three ter- tiaries. This identity of result will be most readily seen by applying successive washes of the primary colours to form their several compounds. It is important to observe that perfect purity in the primaries is essential to perfect neutrality in the grey produced. If they be not pure, the result will be a tertiary colour. So long as a colour has only two primaries in its composition, it is a secondary colour, however much one of its constituents may pre- dominate over the other. Green may approximate to yellow or blue, but the presence of the two primaries and the absence of the third will preclude its being classed with either the primaries or tertiaries. Since mathematical accuracy is not attainable nor desirable in the application of colour to art purposes, enough has been said on the abstract theory, yet in the foregoing remarks materials will be found for interesting occupation of tho mind. Section 3. — Pigments are formed of various substances and possess different qualities. Some are formed from minerals, as vermilion, emerald green, cadmium yellow, &c; others from vegetables, as indigo7 madder lakes, brown pink, &c. ; others from insects, &c, as lake, sepia, &c. ; others from earths, as terra verte, ochres, sienna, umber, &c. Some of the pigments are more durable than others; some are transparent, or at least partially so ; others opaque. Those made from vegetable substances are for the most 14 THE THEORY OP COLOURING. part transparent ; those from minerals and earths are opaque. The opacity or transparency of the pigments may be readily determined by their depth in the prepared state. Rose madder in the cake or tnbe is far more intense than vermilion in the same state. Compare yellow lake, gamboge, raw sienna, and Indian yellow with lemon yellow, yellow ochre, and cadmium yellow ; Prussian blue and indigo with ceruleum, cobalt, and ultramarine. Again, transparent colours offer some difficulty in pro- ducing depth on a light ground. The effect as it appears in the cake is scarcely attainable. On the other hand, opaque colours yield easily on paper or canvas the appear- ance which they have in the cake or tube. The opaque colours, attenuated with water, become debased in quality; the transparent ones retain their brilliancy in the lightest tints. In mixtures it will be found that the opaque colours do not work well together. Brilliancy of mixed tints or shades is best obtained by successive washes of the com- ponent colours, commencing with the opaque and finishing with the transparent ones. Care must be taken that each wash be dry before the application of the succeeding one.* This practice cannot often be carried out by the student, as it requires a knowledge of colours possessed only by the master. * It may be as well to explain that as a general rule the paper should he damped, after it becomes dry, shortly before the application of each wash of colour, to produce evenness of tint. THE THEORY OF COLOURING. 15 CHAPTER II. ON HARMONY. Section 1. — The primary colours, or their compounds y must be present in a picture to produce Harmony. The following are the simplest harmonious combina- tions : — 1. The three primary colours, Red, Yellow, and Bine. 2. „ secondary „ Orange, Green, and Pnrple. 3- „ tertiary „ Brown, Broken-green, & Gray. There is harmony in each of these triplets, the three primaries being present. The contrast is greatest in No. 1 and least in No. 3. The secondaries harmonize in full contrast with the primaries, and in subdued contrast with the tertiaries, as — Orange, full contrast with Blue, snbdned contrast with Gray. Green, „ „ Red, „ „ Brown. Purple, „ „ Yellow, „ „ Broken-green. Section 2.— The effect of the diagram of colon?, con- taining the primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, is most harmonious, every variety of colour being represented. In contradistinction to simple harmonies above enumer- ated, it may be considered as an example of compound harmony. It is impossible to contemplate a colonr withont its complementary colour springing into existence on the retina, mingling with the coloured rays from the external 16 THE THEORY OF COLOURING. object. This can be proved by closing the eyes after contemplating a colour for some minutes, when a spectrum is seen so coloured as to introduce what is needed to make up the complement of red, yellow, and blue. The following experiment will further exemplify this fact. Take a piece of cardboard about one foot square, having one hole in the centre about one inch square. Hold it before a window or strong light, with a piece of red stained glass covering the aperture, and look intently at it for some minutes (two or three), then close the eyes, placing the hand over them to exclude all light. In the darkness a bright green spectrum will be seen, similar in shape to the opening in the cardboard. If the observer's perception of colour be very acute, the spectrum will be observed to undergo a change, passing from green through blue, violet, purple, red, yellow, to green again. This change is repeated, the colours becoming fainter and fainter each time, until they become imperceptible on the retina. Section 3. — Place some blue colour at a little distance from some orange, of the same shades as those in the diagram, when they will be in strong contrast ; the inter- position of certain colours will subdue this contrast and produce another effect by offering to the eye a step in passing from the blue to the orange and vice versa. The colours interposed must partake of the characters of, or be related to, both blue and orange. On reference to the diagram of colour, it will be observed that blue is among the primary colours, and on the opposite side, among the secondaries, orange is seen. Blue is complementary to orange, which is a compound of red and yellow. Green ORANGE 5c BLUE. PIS. 2 3. \.