PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 ON 
 
 COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 ON 
 
 COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY 
 
 Examples from tfje Wloxk% 
 
 VENETIAN, FLEMISH, AND DUTCH SCHOOLS 
 
 BY JOHN BURNET. 
 
 " With respect to Colouring, though it may appear at first a part of painting merely mechanical, 
 yet it still has its rules, and those grounded upon that presiding principle which regulates both the 
 great and the little in the study of a painter." sir j. Reynolds. 
 
 FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 JAMES CARPENTER, OLD BOND STREET. 
 
 1843. 
 
 3% 
 
TO 
 
 SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY, 
 
 ETC. ETC. ETC. 
 WHO NOT ONLY IN HIS OWN ADMIRABLE PRODUCTIONS 
 EXHIBITS THE BEST PRINCIPLES OF ART; 
 BUT WARMLY AND GENEROUSLY ENCOURAGES THE CULTIVATION OF THEM BY OTHERS 
 FOSTERING IN THE MOST LIBERAL MANNER EVERY EFFORT 
 CALCULATED TO CONTRIBUTE TO SO DESIRABLE AN OBJECT; 
 
 Cfns moth 
 
 IS DEDICATED, AS A SMALL TRIBUTE OF RESPECT, BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 b 
 
TH£ J. PAUL Gi£i i Y MUSEUM LiSRARY 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In this Third Part of the Work, which treats of Colour in 
 Painting, my endeavour has been to investigate and arrange 
 under some tangible form the many loose suggestions which lie 
 scattered in the different authors who have treated of the subject ; 
 to collect and commit to paper those rules of practice which 
 artists are guided by, without, perhaps, being aware from what 
 source they have been derived, but which, as Reynolds says, 
 " pass current from one to another and to illustrate by slight 
 examples many of the arrangements of Colour from the Venetian 
 school (who, with the Bolognese school, were the first to collect 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 into masses their warm and cold colours), down to the Flemish 
 and Dutch schools, who may be said, by the excellence of their 
 works, to have established upon unerring principles the whole 
 theory of chiaroscuro and colouring. All that constitutes harmony 
 and breadth of effect, and the soft and vigorous tones of nature, 
 is contained in their works ; and, various as their combinations 
 of colours appear, they seem to depend upon the simplicity of 
 arrangement for the certainty of their effect. 
 
 If, by these few hints thrown together, I have pointed out a 
 shorter road to the student, something has been gained; and 
 should it stimulate his mind to investigate the different combi- 
 nations of colour which please or offend his eye, a degree of 
 certainty will attend his practice, unattainable by the mere habit 
 of copying either from nature or from art. I have aimed at 
 establishing no theory but such as exists in the works of the best 
 colourists, and those effects in nature which are daily passing 
 before us. If my researches have led me to differ in opinion 
 from former writers, I trust it will be ascribed only to a desire 
 of establishing the truth, a feeling which ought at all times to be 
 paramount to every other consideration. Should it appear that 
 these hints carry the student but little on his way, it must be 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 ix 
 
 remembered that little exists in the shape of a practical treatise 
 upon the science of colour, and even that that little lies scattered 
 in a multitude of disjointed criticisms. To present these in a 
 collected and concentrated form must abridge his labour ; to 
 establish them by illustrations derived from widely scattered 
 sources, must abridge it still more. 
 
 February, 1827. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 f Colour 1 
 
 Plate 1 6 
 
 Plate II 12 
 
 Plate III 24 
 
 Plate IV 28 
 
 Plate V 44 
 
 Plate VI 46 
 
 Plate VII 56 
 
 Plate VIII 60 
 
PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 ON 
 
 COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 OF COLOUR. 
 
 The proper situation of strong colour is neither in the high light nor in 
 the deep shade, for it would destroy the character of either ; but if it is 
 made use of as an intermediate link, it will unite both j at the same time 
 preserve a greater consequence. Whether it is to be warm or cold must 
 depend upon the colour of the principal light, of which it is to be considered 
 as an extension, conveying its influence into the darkest recesses ; and the 
 light will be either warm or cold, according as it mixes itself with the 
 following arrangements : white, yellow, red, brown, black ; white, gray, 
 green, blue, black. Vide Plate I. Fig. 4 and 5. 
 
 Yet, although colour holds the station of middle tint, it is nevertheless 
 more capable of giving the true representation of natural objects than the 
 most scientific arrangements of chiaroscuro ; and by the judicious manage- 
 ment of it, a picture is rendered pleasing and attractive. Reynolds justly 
 observes, " By this the first effect of a picture is produced ; and as this is 
 performed, the spectator, as he walks the gallery, will stop or pass along." 
 That this principal light influences the other lights, we see in nature, and 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 in the best colourists; but Mengs says, "that the deepest shades ought 
 also to be of the tint of which the general harmony is composed ; because 
 it is supposed that the air is already tinged with this colour, through 
 which the light must of necessity pass." The general tone of the picture, 
 therefore, ought to be determined on in the first instance, as every thing- 
 ought to accord with it for the sake of harmony and truth ; what this 
 tone is to consist of is therefore of the utmost importance to the student to 
 inquire. Sir Joshua Reynolds, in the notes to Du Fresnoy, says, u The 
 predominant colours of the picture ought to be of a warm mellow kind, 
 red or yellow; and no more cold colour should be introduced than will be 
 just enough to serve as a ground or foil to set off and give value to the 
 mellow colours; and never should itself be a principal. For this purpose 
 a quarter of the picture will be sufficient ; those cold colours, whether blue, 
 gray, or green, are to be dispersed about the ground or surrounding 
 parts of the picture, wherever it has the appearance of wanting such a 
 foil, but sparingly employed in the masses of light." Also in his Eighth 
 Discourse he recapitulates the same advice. " It ought, in my opinion, 
 to be indispensably observed, that the masses of light in a picture be 
 always of a warm mellow colour, yellow, red, or a yellowish white; 
 and that the blue, the gray, or the green colours be kept almost entirely 
 out of these masses, and be used only to support and set off these warm 
 colours : and for this purpose a small proportion of cold colours will be 
 sufficient. Let this conduct be reversed; let the light be cold, and the 
 surrounding colours warm, as we often see in the works of the Roman 
 and Florentine painters; and it will be out of the power of art, even in 
 the hands of Rubens or Titian, to make a picture splendid and harmo- 
 nious." Now if this advice was always to be acted upon, the student 
 would not only become a mannerist, but the school to which he belonged 
 become a school of monotony. Pleasure can be conveyed only by imi- 
 tating the variety always existing in nature. I believe Gainsborough 
 painted the portrait of a boy dressed in blue, now in the possession of 
 Lord Grosvenor, to show the fallacy of this doctrine ; which, from his 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 3 
 
 surrounding the light with rich brown and warm shadows, has produced 
 a splendid effect. Gainsborough seems always to have been aware of the 
 value of warm and transparent shadows: his rich brown tones serve as a 
 foil to the green of his trees, &c, while this colour brings down the blue 
 and yellow tints of his sky and distance, and by this means unites the hot 
 and cold colours in harmony. In nature we as often find the light cool as 
 warm ; also in the pictures of many of the Flemish and Dutch schools, 
 where, as Sir Joshua himself mentions, " the silver gray or pearly is 
 predominant, and are valued by the connoisseurs in proportion as they 
 possess this excellence of a silver tint." In the Venetian school he 
 instances the famous Marriage at Cana, in St. George's Church at Venice, 
 (now in the Louvre), " where the sky, which makes a considerable part of 
 the picture, is of the lightest blue colour, and the clouds perfectly white ; 
 the rest of the picture is in the same key, wrought from this high pitch." 
 In Rubens we have many examples where the light is cooler than the 
 shadow : one in particular painted upon this principle struck me to be one 
 of the best of his works; the small picture of the " Fall of the Damned" 
 in Munich, formerly the Dusseldorf Gallery. Sir Joshua says " it is 
 impossible to form an idea of the powers of Rubens without having seen 
 this picture." The upper part of the picture, which represents the abode 
 of the Blessed, consists of sweet pearly tints, gradually diffused over 
 the falling group, while the under part is lighted up by the red glare 
 of the fiery gulf into which they are tumbling. This picture is finished 
 with the greatest care and delicacy, and many parts are drawn with the 
 refined taste of Vandyck. It therefore may be considered to have been 
 a carefully studied work. In Rembrandt, and others of the Dutch school, 
 we find this principle adopted, and the light which is admitted from an 
 opening into the apartment mixed with cool pearly tints, while the shadow 
 is illuminated by a fire in the opposite corner of the picture, evidently 
 introduced for this purpose. If, therefore, Le Brun and others of the 
 French school have failed in producing splendour by such arrangement 
 of colour, we must attribute their failure to some other cause. What 
 
4 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 appears to me of infinitely more consequence than the colour of the light, 
 are the colours which compose the shadows and middle tint; if these be 
 warm, the light may be cold, and yet a rich effect preserved; if these 
 are cold, no red or yellow will ever make the work splendid. It therefore 
 appears that strong colour requires rich deep shadow to support it, and 
 render it a portion of the light; and no one was more aware of this 
 than Sir Joshua himself. The warm rich browns of Titian, Rembrandt, 
 and Coreggio, authorize us in this conduct. That the picture should 
 consist of hot and cold colours seems therefore as indispensable as that it 
 should have light and shade ; but which shall form the shade, or which 
 the light, is entirely in the option of the artist. It is however necessary 
 that they should have separate situations, and also unite both extremes 
 of the work by an exchange of portions of each colour. We also 
 perceive that according as the shadow is increased in warmth, the light 
 partakes of a portion of its influence : thus in Rembrandt, where the dark 
 masses contain burnt sienna or lake, the blues and grays receive a tinge 
 of yellow ; while, in Teniers, whose shades are of a cooler brown, the 
 blues and grays retain a greater degree of freshness. The breadth and 
 harmony observed in nature are produced by the influence of one part 
 over another, and the greatest distinctions are reconciled by an imper- 
 ceptible adjunct. 
 
 That this harmony, however varied and endless in nature, can be 
 reduced to tangible precepts is proved by our receiving the same plea- 
 surable sensations from the contemplation of the best paintings, whether 
 the mind of the spectator be cultivated or uneducated. As the eye is the 
 organ through which we receive all the sensations derived from painting, 
 its prejudices, its likings and dislikings, and the circumstances which 
 have given rise to all these feelings, are to be investigated in the first 
 instance. Colours that are most agreeable to the eye are such as the eye 
 has become accustomed to from their constantly being presented to the 
 .sight; such as blue, white, or gray, in skies; green, in trees and grass; 
 brown, or warm gray, in earth, road, or stone. As, therefore, the eye 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 5 
 
 has been formed upon the contemplation of such colours, the general look 
 of nature can be given only by admitting large portions of such colours 
 into the picture ; if they are more vivid than are most commonly observed 
 in nature, the charm is destroyed. All colours rendered familiar by the 
 introduction of artificial means are guided by the same laws ; and a green, 
 though quite unnatural when employed upon herbage, might be strictly 
 natural in representing the local colour of a piece of drapery; yet we may 
 safely admit that the most brilliant colours may receive an advantage in 
 being toned to those hues most common in nature, especially if they form 
 a large mass in the picture. This breaking down of the colours by " 
 glazing or scumbling is a great cause of that harmonious sweetness 
 observable in the works of the best colourists, and without which a work 
 will always look crude and unnatural. 
 
 Without entering into the philosophy of colours, or stopping to inquire 
 whether this harmony depends upon their possessing that order in arrange- 
 ment which they are found in nature to possess, when separated by the 
 prism or observable in the iris, we cannot but remark in nature a certain 
 accordance arising from each object possessing its due portion of every 
 arrangement. For example, in sunrise, when his disk is visible by reason 
 of the density of the atmosphere, we observe the yellow light round - 
 his situation tempered and softened down with delicate gray j which tint 
 being also diffused over the local colours in the landscape gives truth 
 and harmony. In Claude we perceive the same breadth, delicacy, and 
 softness. In the evening, when the atmosphere is less dense, we find 
 the colour of the light more brilliant and less interrupted, tinging with 
 the same hue every object placed within its influence; and this we find 
 also in Cuyp and others who have painted landscapes under the same 
 circumstances. 
 
 Now as this union of one part with another is observable to every one, 
 we see one great cause of harmony, which must be a good foundation for 
 the artist to commence upon ; and seeing that this union depends upon " 
 the medium between two extremes, we can only produce an agreeable 
 
6 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 and natural appearance by employing such means. White and black can 
 be reconciled only by the interposition of gray, and red and blue by the 
 presence of a third colour, combining the properties of hot and cold. 
 Light will more easily be spread by the lesser lights partaking of the same 
 hue as the principal, and shadow diffused by the same means, we thus 
 preserve the breadth observable in nature : but as this would in many 
 cases produce monotony, we have a third quality to consult, which is 
 variety, and which in nature being endless, we have an inexhaustible 
 source to draw upon ; and very few colours are necessary to produce this 
 multiplicity of changes, in the employment of which we must however 
 always bear in mind the necessity of preserving the breadth of light and 
 shade, and the balance and union of hot and cold colours. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF PLATE I. 
 
 Fig. 1 represents the colours of the iris, which Sir I. Newton describes 
 as seven, their proportions when produced by means of a prism he 
 calculates to be as follows: supposing the whole to form 100 — Red 11, 
 Orange 8, Yellow 14, Green 17, Blue 17, Purple 11, Violet 22; whether 
 the harmony depends upon their natural arrangement, or upon the pro- 
 portions of each, is more an object of philosophy than of painting, which 
 has to produce an agreeable sensation, independent of all theoretical dis- 
 quisition. Treatises have been written to prove that the harmony existing 
 in the seven natural notes in music depend upon the same coincidence, 
 insomuch that ocular harpsichords have been constructed exhibiting 
 colours instead of sounds, and professing to give the same gratification to 
 the eye that the common ones give to the ear, thus endeavouring to prove 
 
.London. Published by J. Carpenter k. Son. OU Bond .Street IfiZ, 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 7 
 
 that painting and music are governed by the same laws of harmony. This 
 harmony arising from the iris is noticed by Leonardi da Vinci in his 
 chapter on the beauty of colour ; he says, " If you mean that the proximity 
 of one colour should give beauty to another that terminates near it, 
 observe the rays of the sun in the composition of the rainbow ;" and I 
 believe the late Mr. West endeavoured to establish a theory upon the 
 same foundation. However, as from any thing I have yet read, and after 
 a careful examination of the best pictures of the greatest colourists, from 
 Titian to our own Reynolds, I shall not perplex the student by a repe- 
 tition of the theory; that portion which may be of service to the student 
 (and the worst theory may have some remarkable points of coincidence 
 with that which I am about to discuss) I shall endeavour to preserve in its 
 proper place. 
 
 Plate L Fig. 2. I have given here the arrangement of Leonardi 
 da Vinci, who says, "The first of all simple colours is white, though 
 philosophers will not acknowledge white or black to be colours, because the 
 first is the cause or receiver of colours, the other totally deprived of them. 
 But as painters cannot do without either, we shall place them among the 
 others; and according to this order of things, white will be the first, 
 yellow the second, green the third, blue the fourth, red the fifth, and 
 black the sixth." From the little Da Vinci has written upon colour (for I 
 believe the work he contemplated upon the subject never was begun) he 
 reduces the number of primary colours to two, for he says, " Blue and 
 green are not simple colours in their nature; for blue is composed of light 
 and darkness, such as the azure of the sky, which is produced by the 
 transparent body of the air illumined by the sun, and interposed between 
 the darkness of the expanse above, and will appear bluer in proportion to 
 the darkness of the space behind it: and green is composed of a simple 
 and mixed colour, being by blue and yellow." 
 
 Harmony of colouring requires, he adds, " that the colours ought to 
 be of the same nature ; and contrast is produced by bringing colours in 
 
8 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 contact with others of an opposite character, such as a blue near a yellow, 
 a green near a red, &c. ; because each colour is more distinctly seen when 
 opposed to its contrary than to any other similar to it." In these two 
 modes of producing force and harmony he may be said to have laid a 
 foundation for principles to be traced through the works of the best 
 colourists to the present day. 
 
 Plate I. Fig. 3 represents the arrangement of Mengs, who . says, 
 " Colours, properly speaking, are but three ; yet as we cannot do without 
 black and white," he makes the primary colours five : viz. " white, yellow, 
 red, blue, black ; and secondary colours, or first tints mixed from them, 
 are orange, green, purple, gray, and brown. Harmony" he considers "to 
 consist in the true equilibrium of the different colours regulated by the 
 general tone of the light by which they are illuminated : thus, if the light 
 is yellow, all the colours will appear tinged with the same hue, as the air 
 interposed between them and the eye of the spectator is already tinged 
 with that colour. In the same manner when the air is clear, and the 
 objects illuminated without sunshine, the harmony will be blue, and in all 
 harmony one ought to observe particularly those colours most opposite to 
 the general tone, that they may be used in the foreground, as they will 
 appear more advanced or less under the influence of the atmosphere, also 
 upon their situation one with another : for example, if one employs pure 
 yellow, one should accompany it with the violet, because this is composed 
 of red and blue mixed together ; and if we use pure red, we should add 
 for the same reason green, which is a mixture of blue and yellow, using 
 as a foil to each colour one composed of the other two. 
 
 " Supposing that harmony has that effect in music which is commonly 
 attributed to it, the sweetness and acuteness of colours will depend upon 
 the natural effect which they occasion to our sight, or produce upon the 
 optic nerves. The most clear colours have more force than the most 
 obscure, because their luminous rays striking the visual nerves cause in 
 part the same effect as a direct light, by filling all the internal part of the 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 9 
 
 eye with light, occasioning a painful sensation to the eye. Obscure 
 colours have not this effect, because they do not reflect all the rays with 
 the same force : clear colours being most apt to give sensations to our 
 eyes, they ought to be employed where it is required that the eye of the 
 spectator should be attracted, and which the painter wishes shall be the 
 most principal." 
 
 Now in all these theories there seem many points of coincidence, and 
 much to be observed, that has a foundation in truth and nature ; but when 
 applied to the examination of the works of those who have excelled in 
 colouring, they are inapplicable. In many of the arrangements, the 
 coincidence leads us to conclude that a safe and certain combination 
 exists, equally applicable to the study of nature and the works of the 
 best colourists ; and which, therefore, must please the eye of the common 
 observer as well as the connoisseur. To endeavour to point out this 
 satisfactorily to the student, with the imperfect imitations which so small 
 memoranda of the colours can convey (especially as we find harmony to 
 consist more in the media which unite the several colours than in the 
 colours themselves), will require every indulgence. It will have the 
 advantage, however, of diminishing his labour, and enable him to examine 
 many works in a shorter period. I would chiefly have him to observe the 
 quantity of hot and cold colours in a picture, and how the equilibrium is 
 sustained under the infinite variety of combinations ; how the light and 
 shade is assisted by the arrangement, and the principal objects are 
 thrown into notice : he will then cease to censure those works which 
 have a cold colour where he expected to find a warm, or a harsh colour 
 where he would have placed a more retiring. 
 
 Plate L In Fig. 4 and 5, I have given the arrangement of warm and 
 cold colours, which constitute the scale of hot or cold pictures ; by a 
 proper balance of which the characteristic feature of nature may be given, 
 and an harmonious effect produced. In both arrangements we have the 
 greatest breadth preserved; a union of one part with another, and a 
 
 c 
 
10 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 general harmony pervading the whole. Cool colours produce a softer 
 influence upon the eye than warm, and excite it less; their predominance 
 therefore in subjects of a soft or tender nature is according to the practice 
 of the best masters, and founded upon a union of the several parts, to 
 preserve the general character of the picture. The introduction of a 
 warm colour will increase this harmony, as those tints which appear 
 distinct from each other will appear less so when compared with one of 
 a still more opposite character : thus the white, blue, gray, and green 
 existing in a landscape will appear more harmonious, and a greater 
 freshness will be produced by the introduction of a red, and that colour 
 will have greater point from the harshness arising from its situation. 
 
 Warm colours produce a greater excitement, and therefore arrest the 
 attention or attract the spectator in a greater degree ; and their union 
 will be increased by the introduction of a cold colour : thus we find those 
 figures red which are required to attract the eye ; and the harmony of a 
 picture, composed of white, yellow, red, and brown, is increased by the 
 introduction of a blue, which in its turn will have more value from its 
 partaking less of that harmony which unites the other colours. 
 
 This mode of making the light harmonize with the shade is one cause 
 why we often find a hot or cold colour introduced into a variety of 
 situations ; we also find the harmony of a picture sustained by a proper 
 equilibrium of hot and cold, which requires a warm colour to be placed 
 on the cold side of a picture, and vice versa ; we often find a red or blue 
 placed where the light rounds into the shadow, for the sake of breadth 
 and extension of the light : and seeing that they are the strongest and 
 more opposed than any of the other colours, they are often placed upon 
 the same figure, to draw the attention of the spectator to such point; and 
 notwithstanding we are told by Du Fresnoy and others, " not to permit 
 two hostile colours to meet without a medium to unite them," we see 
 from the earliest times it has been the practice of all the great painters ; 
 so that red and blue has in a manner become the dress, in which, from 
 custom, we always expect to find certain figures clothed, such as Christ, 
 the Virgin, &c. 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 11 
 
 Plate I. Fig. 6. The means by which a painter produces his effect 
 is by light and shade, hot and cold colours. By dividing the picture into 
 masses of warm and cold colours, he preserves the greatest breadth : his 
 warm tones increase in splendour and richness, from opposition and 
 contrast ; also the aerial perspective will be increased, and solidity given 
 to the foreground figures, without the assistance of black shadows. As we 
 find, in the management of chiaroscuro, a small portion of each sufficient 
 to produce an harmonious union, so in the balance of hot and cold 
 colours. By the same means harmony may be produced, and yet the 
 greatest breadth preserved. In nature we find that most objects illumi- 
 nated by the sun increase in splendour according as they are opposed to a 
 ground of a colder tone ; such as buildings, &c. in the evening coming- 
 in contact with the northern or eastern sky ; and even the moon and stars 
 assume a brightness as the blue deepens. We therefore find in nature 
 those principles existing which artists have applied to painting, in the 
 treatment of a single head, up to the most extensive compositions. 
 Independent, however, of our introducing cool colours for the purpose 
 of giving splendour and brightness ; by the means of contrast, of giving 
 breadth from its resolving the other colours into larger masses ; we give 
 that variety which is so characteristic a feature, and which is found to 
 exist in the most trifling as well as in the grandest combinations of 
 nature's colouring. 
 
 Fig. 7. The nature of light upon any object is to communicate the 
 colour of its rays to such object, either by impinging them with such 
 colour directly, or from their taking it on from reflection according as 
 they are more or less smooth, or from both causes. We, therefore, see a 
 reason, if the light is of a cool colour, for spreading its effects upon 
 objects receiving its rays, and depriving others of those effects less within 
 its influence ; thereby giving it its strong character. For example, when 
 in a picture of common daylight we introduce its rays into an apartment, 
 the objects receiving the strongest impressions from such rays ought to 
 
12 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 produce a sensation of the cool colours, such as the blue, grays, or 
 greens existing without doors, and which impression ought to become 
 more feeble, according as the light is broken up by the reflection of the 
 several colours within the apartment. For all reflected lights being of a 
 warmer colour when the light is cool and (vice versa), give a warmth to 
 the shadows. This then being the leading feature of light, the artist, in 
 conducting it through the picture, so places those local colours that they 
 will assist him in preserving such feature, and heightening with their oppo- 
 sites the properties of the shadows; the employment of science being the 
 investigation of the phenomena existing in nature, and the preservation of 
 their several features unimpaired in the representation. 
 
 PLATE II. 
 
 Fig. 1. That harmony arising from the reflection of one colour upon 
 the adjoining, so as to produce a blending and union of the several hues, 
 has been practised with the greatest success by many of the Dutch 
 school, producing a chain of connexion between the two extremes of hot 
 and cold. This reflection of colour is more or less powerful according to 
 the brightness of the colour receiving the light in the first instance, and 
 the degree of shadow existing on that part of the adjoining object which 
 receives such reflection. It also depends on the situation of the several 
 objects : it will also be guided by the smoothness or roughness of the 
 objects, for reflected light is regulated by both of these circumstances. 
 For example, the polished surface of grass or foliage, when the light falls 
 upon it, renders such part less green from its reflecting the colour of 
 the sky ; and, therefore, when that light is thrown off' upon any adjoining 
 object, it is less impinged with green colour. We must also bear in 
 mind that one object receives the colour of the adjoining from two causes; 
 for example, when a ray of light falls upon any object, it is refracted. 
 
■gam 
 
 M. I I iim if I unfa*-.. - \*u'. 
 
London, TuHuhed. byj Renter Sc. ton. Old Bond .Street. /327 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 13 
 
 impinged with the colour of such object, and which it communicates to 
 those adjoining; but, should the latter be of a polished nature., they will 
 also receive the colour from reflection. 
 
 Plate II. Fig. 2. When a picture is composed of the two extremes of 
 hot and cold, we are certain of having employed the whole strength of the 
 palette; and, if judiciously used to assist the chiaroscuro, an harmonious 
 union will be kept up between these opposite qualities, more forcible and 
 splendid than by the intervention of middle tint : which superiority will 
 always be perceived when such works are attempted to be imitated by 
 mere black and white. When a warm light is surrounded by warm tones, 
 it assumes a breadth and splendour from the appearance of its giving out 
 rays ; when it is surrounded by cold ones, it derives a value from contrast. 
 If the strongest colours are placed upon the darks, it will prevent them 
 from being heavy by their strength, and will enable them to appear as 
 influenced by the light, which sensation they otherwise could not convey. 
 
 Fig. 3. In producing variety and contrast, we ought never to lose 
 sight of that imperceptible harmony arising from the union of two colours 
 in producing a third composed of both. Whether this be founded 
 upon any law existing in optics, or is merely the result of that sympathy 
 which one colour has to another in producing harmony, we know not. 
 If in the arrangement we bring those colours in contact which have a 
 separate origin, we give a value to each from contrast. Thus a green 
 will give a value to red, and a purple to a yellow ; from neither of the 
 primitive colours containing any of those rays which produce the com- 
 pound colours. Sir Joshua Reynolds says, u That the same colour which 
 makes the largest mass must be diffused and appear to revive in different 
 parts of the picture ; for a single colour will make a spot or blot." 
 Though he adds, " This rule should never be neglected," yet we find 
 in the best works of all the great colourists a contrary practice often 
 adopted ; for if repeating a colour in several parts of the picture diffuses 
 
14 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 it, it also destroys its value from the repetition. We, therefore, often find 
 a colour not only single, but even surrounded by colours of a different 
 tone, thereby increasing its power. In figures of great interest, or in 
 such points as the artist wishes to produce great attraction, this is of the 
 utmost value ; and it will not only give such colour the greatest force of 
 the palette, but resolve the other colours into an agreement with one 
 another. Thus a knowledge of the theory of colour will enable the artist 
 to give a vigour to any part of his work, which, without such knowledge, 
 he would always run the risk of destroying. 
 
 Plate II. Fig. 4. There is a harmony arising from a continuation of 
 the same colour conducted from the extreme light to the deepest shade 
 passing through a variety of gradations. When a composition consists 
 of many figures, a variety of colours becomes necessary; to preserve 
 which from confusion requires simplicity of arrangement : and a union 
 of one part of a picture with another requires repetition of a colour in 
 different parts ; but the breadth of light and shade requires such colours 
 to be influenced according as they pass from the high lights into the deep 
 shadows : thus a pale yellow may terminate in a deep brown, and yet a 
 chain of communication be kept up ; or a pure white may find repose and 
 union in a pure black ; a bright red vibrate (to use a term in music) along 
 a chord terminating in the gentlest echo of such colour, &c. The weaving 
 of these lines of colour through the piece constitutes its harmony ; for it is 
 as necessary that colours should take agreeable forms, as light and shade, 
 or composition of lines. In this mode of conducting the colours in a 
 picture, the several schools may be united, and colours of the strong full 
 body found in the Roman school, such as we see in Raffaelle's works ; the 
 mixed and delicately toned colours found in the Dutch school ; and the 
 vivid and splendid colour found in the Venetian introduced. Rubens 
 seems to have formed his style from a combination of all the different 
 schools ; and even in the small pictures of Teniers we can trace the 
 different modes of producing harmony from the harshest reds and blues 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 15 
 
 to tints of the most complicated colours. Reynolds says, " Colouring is 
 true when it is naturally adapted to the eye from brightness, from soft- 
 ness, from harmony, from resemblance ; because these agree with their 
 objects in nature, and therefore are true, as true as mathematical demon- 
 stration ; but known to be true only to those who study these things : 
 but, with all this variety, a picture ought to possess repose, for we must 
 take care that the eye be not perplexed and disturbed by a confusion of 
 equal parts or equal lights, or offended by an unharmonious mixture of 
 colours, as we should guard against offending the ear by unharmonious 
 sounds." 
 
 Plate II. Fig. 5. When the principal light is chiefly composed of cool 
 colours, or tints of a delicate hue, as we often find in the open daylight 
 in nature, the darks ought, for the sake of contrast and force, to be warm ; 
 as we know all darks are influenced more or less by the interposition of 
 the atmosphere, which tends to rob them of their strength, and gives 
 them a cooler tone ; and as the situation of the strong darks and harsh 
 colours is nearest to the eye, they ought therefore to be less affected by 
 tints which have a retiring property, and the situation of the neutral 
 colours will be between the extreme of the hot and cold colours ; for we 
 find in nature a continual harmony kept up between these opposites by a 
 gradual encroachment on the province of each other. For example, in a 
 landscape, let us suppose the sky chiefly composed of blue and white, 
 the distance of blue and gray, the middle ground of warmer gray, inter- 
 spersed with yellow and green, and the foreground of brown and warm 
 colours ; we shall not only have great opposition and force, but the 
 colours of the picture will be constructed on the principles of aerial per- 
 spective, which in nature is so great a chain in the harmony of colours. 
 Some of the best of Hobbema's and RuysdaePs are painted upon this 
 arrangement ; which seems to have been derived from the practice of 
 Rubens, formed from the contemplation of the works of Titian, Veronese, 
 and the best colourists of the Venetian school. This principle, therefore, 
 
16 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 upon which the hot and cold colours of a picture are arranged, has its 
 foundation in nature, has the practice of the best colourists to sanction our 
 adopting it, and therefore may be safely recommended to the student. 
 
 In many pictures of the Dutch school we see a perfect harmony 
 sustained between the hot and cold colours of a picture ; and the warm 
 colour contained in the foreground, and strong darks wove into the 
 masses of neutral tint in a multiplicity of ways. To focus the warm 
 colour of the ground, we often find figures dressed in red, withered 
 leaves, bark of trees, pieces of brick, &c. made use of, and trace it 
 insinuating itself into the colder colour by a variety of channels. The 
 cool tints of the sky and distance we find diffused by the gray colour of 
 wood, stems of trees, gray road, or water taking on the reflection of the 
 sky. In many of the works of Richard Wilson and Gainsborough we see 
 the richest effects of colour produced by this mode of arrangement ; using 
 the middle ground as a ground of union between the warm and cold 
 colours. 
 
 In extending the light of a picture, a gradual influence seems necessary 
 to be kept up in the surrounding objects ; whether it be that the eye, 
 from being attracted to the principal light in the first instance, receives 
 an impression which prejudices it in favour of those tones approximating 
 to such colour as the principal light is composed of; and is therefore 
 more gently drawn off by lights of the same hue ; which in their turn 
 gradually subside in others of a less influenced quality : or that a union 
 really exists in nature from objects receiving a tinge of that colour of 
 which the principal light is composed (which, in many cases, we know to 
 be the fact, such as in sunset and midday), or both of these causes 
 operating on our mind, it is difficult to determine ; but we often see, 
 where this chain of union is broken by the introduction of colours of an 
 opposite nature to the light, that a harshness of effect is produced, for 
 which nothing can compensate. 
 
 Mengs expresses himself well when he talks of the colouring of light 
 and shade ; for what is colouring, if it is to destroy the great breadth of 
 
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 Raffaelle, such as his Transfiguration, Slc. 
 till at length we find the strong colouring of Georgioni, and the delicate 
 light of CoreggiOj combined in the works of Titian ; who has united th e 
 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 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 harmony, the colours, however distinguished in their light, should be 
 nearly the same in the shadows, of a 
 
 " simple unity of shade, 
 As all were from one single palette spread." 
 
 This, however, must be done with caution, as we find in nature and the 
 best colourists exceptions in the shadows of many of the colours. For 
 instance, in the shadows of red we find the local colour preserved more 
 strongly than in the shadows of other colours ; and white, when warm in 
 the light, is cool in the shadow. When the mass of shadow is warm, the 
 introduction of some dark blue or cool black will be of service to clear 
 it up, and give it air; while the introduction of red will often focus the 
 warm colours, and give them richness, with more appearance of truth. 
 I may also notice here that nothing gives a more natural look than 
 preserving the local colours of the objects in shadow, provided they are 
 not too light to disturb the breadth ; for they give clearness and precision, 
 and that particular relation which one colour bears to another; for in 
 shadow the colours have not the property of communicating their reflec- 
 tions to one another, whereas in the strong light the rays are refracted 
 from each colour, tinging the whole with an harmonious union. 
 
 Distinctness of local colour, and precision of outline, are the peculiar 
 character of objects placed out of the effect of strong light. In sunshine, 
 from the objects refracting the light, the outline is full and soft, sur- 
 rounded by tones of an indistinct nature. In Rembrandt we find par- 
 ticular attention paid to the effects of light upon colour, which his rough 
 manner of using the colours not a little contributes to give. Sir Joshua 
 seems to have constantly contemplated this bathing of his colour in the 
 splendour of sunshine ; and if he has given us an English translation of 
 the works of Titian unimpaired, it is from his having made use of the 
 Dutch version. That brilliancy of colour in the lights of Sir Joshua's 
 pictures ; the mixed chaotic hue made use of to give it value ; that 
 diffusion by means of carrying one colour into another, such as touching 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 19 
 
 in the white with yellow tints, working in the yellow with red touches, 
 and hemming in the red with a black of a cool tone, so as to make even 
 the shadows partake of the influence of light, thereby preserving the 
 greatest breadth of chiaroscuro, are the peculiar properties of Rembrandt. 
 In Titian we have the white drapery more distinct from the flesh tint 
 than in Rembrandt and Reynolds ; in whose pictures the luminous 
 character of the flesh seems to shed its influence upon the lights of the 
 white drapery, and tinges its gray shadows with a blush of yellow. This 
 extending of the light by means of colour is, therefore, the mode of 
 combining both, and is to be found in nature and the best colourists. 
 In a sketch of Rembrandt's (formerly in the Luxembourg) of " Christ and 
 the Disciples at Emmaus," he has placed the figure of Christ in the centre, 
 in white, with a glory of stars ; while one of the disciples is clothed in 
 yellow, and the other in red: from which we may gather some idea of 
 his treatment of light. In Cuyp we often find the same arrangement 
 diffusing his delicate pearly tints about his strong light. In nature, such 
 as in sunset, we find the delicate aerial tints gaining ground, and showing 
 themselves where the light passes into the strong colours; thereby 
 imbuing them with its effects. I have often thought Rubens's advice 
 in painting flesh founded upon this principle. " Paint your high lights 
 white; place next to it yellow, then red, using darker red as it passes 
 into the shadow; then with a brush filled with cool gray pass gently over 
 the whole, until they are tempered and sweetened to the tone you wish." 
 As flesh is of a smooth nature, we find the pearly reflections play upon 
 the surface, and are more evident where the colours are the tenderest. 
 In his compositions of many figures we find him adopt the same principle 
 in conducting the light across the picture ; for example, in the " Battle 
 of the Amazons," the principal light is on the white horse dappled with 
 gray, and diffused by touches of cool colours; the yellow tints of the 
 mane, &c. carry it on to the flesh of the figure in advance, who is naked 
 for the sake of spreading the light ; then comes a drapery of strong red : 
 the horse adjoining is a warm dun colour; the next is rich brown, 
 
20 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 carrying on the light into the shadow, which is focused by a black 
 surrounded by transparent rich tones; thus adding rich and warm colours 
 to the light, as it spreads itself into the shadow side of the picture : to 
 balance which he has given the Amazon, who is turning round with a 
 spear in her hand, a red drapery ; and, to repeat the cool tints in the 
 shadow side, he has given the female lying in the water a green dress, 
 and spread it by a few sedges of the same colour. We, therefore, see the 
 same principle pervading the works of different artists, from the glowing 
 sunshine of Titian and Rembrandt to the fresher and cooler tones of 
 P. Veronese and Rubens. 
 
 Before proceeding to investigate the different arrangements of colour 
 in the sketches which follow, I shall endeavour to make myself more 
 clearly understood, that the student may be better able to perceive what 
 is placed before him; and, for his more readily doing so, he ought to 
 understand what he is in search of; as nothing is more vague than the 
 word colouring, either as applied to the works of nature or those of art. 
 Reynolds says, " The striking distinction between the works of the 
 Roman, Bolognian, and Venetian schools consists more in that general 
 effect which is produced by colours than in the more profound excellences 
 of the art. At least, it is from thence that each is distinguished and 
 known at first sight. 
 
 " Grandeur of effect is produced by two different ways, which seem 
 entirely opposed to each other. One is, by reducing the colours to little 
 more than chiaroscuro, which was often the practice of the Bolognian 
 school ; and the other, by making the colours very distinct and forcible, 
 such as we see in those of Rome and Florence ; but still the presiding 
 principle of both those manners is simplicity. Certainly nothing can 
 be more simple than monotony ; and the distinct blue, red, and yellow 
 colours which are seen in the draperies of the Roman and Florentine 
 schools, though they have not that kind of harmony which is produced by 
 a variety of broken and transparent colours, have that effect of grandeur 
 which was intended. Perhaps these distinct colours strike the mind 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 21 
 
 more forcibly, from there not being any great union between them ; as 
 martial music, which is intended to rouse the nobler passions, has its 
 effect from the sudden and strongly marked transitions from one note to 
 another, which that style of music requires ; whilst in that which is 
 intended to move the softer passions, the notes imperceptibly melt into 
 one another." 
 
 « Next to these (viz. the Roman, the Florentine, and Bolognian schools) 
 we may rank the Venetian, together with the Flemish and the Dutch 
 schools; all professing to depart from the great purposes of painting, 
 and catching at applause by inferior qualities. I am not ignorant that 
 some will censure me for placing the Venetians in this inferior class, and 
 many of the warmest admirers of painting will think them unjustly 
 degraded ; but I wish not to be misunderstood. Though I can by no 
 means allow them to hold any rank with the nobler schools of painting, 
 they accomplished perfectly the thing they attempted. But as mere 
 elegance is their principal object, as they seem more willing to dazzle 
 than to affect, it can be no injury to them to suppose that their practice 
 is useful only to its proper end. But what may heighten the elegant 
 may degrade the sublime. There is a simplicity, and, I may add, severity, 
 in the great manner, which is, I am afraid, almost incompatible with this 
 comparatively sensual style." 
 
 " Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and others of the Venetian school, seem 
 to have painted with no other purpose than to be admired for their skill 
 and expertness in the mechanism of painting, and to make a parade of that 
 art which, as I before observed, the higher style requires its followers 
 to conceal." Further, 
 
 u However great the difference is between the composition of the 
 Venetian and the rest of the Italian schools, there is full as great a 
 disparity in the effect of their pictures as produced by colours. And 
 though in this respect the Venetians must be allowed extraordinary skill, 
 yet even that skill, as they have employed it, will but ill correspond with 
 the great style. Their colouring is not only too brilliant, but, I will 
 
22 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 venture to say, too harmonious, to produce that solidity, steadiness, and 
 simplicity of effect, which heroic subjects require, and which simple or 
 grave colours only can give to a work." 
 
 We from these passages may therefore find that colouring, as applied 
 to the art of painting, is to be conducted upon different principles 
 according to the character of the work in hand, as that which would be 
 applicable to one style would in some measure be destructive of another. 
 The student can know these distinctions only by examining the works 
 carefully of the several schools wherein they exist ; and though the 
 works may not be in the particular department in which his pencil is 
 engaged, he may rest assured that the lowest branches of the art will 
 derive a strength and grace from an acquaintance with those principles 
 which regulate the higher and more sublime. This infusion of the great 
 style into their own was the constant object of the Bolognian and 
 Venetian schools ; the Caracci, the great founders of the first, speaking 
 of Michael Angelo, style him Nostro Michael Angelo Riformato ; and 
 Tintoretto inscribed upon the walls of his painting room " II designo di 
 Michel Angiolo, e il colorito di Titiano." Reynolds says, " They (viz. 
 the Venetians) certainly much advanced the dignity of their style by 
 adding to their fascinating powers of colouring something of the strength 
 of Michael Angelo ; at the same time it may still be a doubt how far 
 their ornamental elegance would be an advantageous addition to his 
 grandeur. But if there is any manner of painting which may be said to 
 unite kindly with his style, it is that of Titian : his handling, the manner 
 in which his colours are left on the canvass, appears to proceed, as far as 
 it goes, from a congenial mind, equally disdainful of vulgar criticism." In 
 the same way was the simple grandeur of Raffaelle, or the sublimity of 
 Michael Angelo, infused into the Flemish school by the taste of Rubens, 
 however much deteriorated from its having passed through the medium 
 of the Venetian school, from whence he imbibed it. " In pursuing this 
 great art, it must be acknowledged that we labour under greater diffi. 
 culties than those who were born in the age of its discovery, and whose 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 23 
 
 minds, from their infancy, were habituated to this style ; who learned it 
 as language, as their mother tongue. They had no mean taste to unlearn ; 
 they needed no persuasive discourse to allure them to a favourable 
 reception of it ; no abstruse investigation of its principles to convince 
 them of the great latent truths on which it is founded. We are con- 
 strained, in these latter days, to have recourse to a sort of grammar and 
 dictionary, as the only means of recovering a dead language. It was 
 by them learned by rote, and perhaps better learned that way than by 
 precept." Equally vague with the phrase of " the colouring of the great 
 masters" is the phrase of " the colouring of nature." " Look at nature," 
 say the critics ; K Nature is the true school of art," is in the mouth of every 
 one : but the art of seeing nature is only to be learned by the contem- 
 plation of the works of art. "If our judgment," says Sir Joshua, "is 
 to be directed by narrow, vulgar, untaught, or rather ill taught reason, 
 we must prefer a portrait by Denner, or any other high finisher, to those 
 of Titi an or Vandyck ; and a landscape of Vanderheyden to those of 
 Titian or Rubens, for they are certainly more exact representations of 
 nature. If we suppose a view of nature represented with all the truth 
 of the camera obscura, and the same scene represented by a great artist, 
 how little and mean will the one appear in comparison of the other, when 
 no superiority is supposed from the choice of the subject." Again 
 Reynolds says, " Amongst the painters and the writers on painting, there 
 is one maxim universally admitted and continually inculcated. Imitate 
 nature is the invariable rule ; but I know none who have explained in 
 what manner this rule is to be understood : the consequence of which is, 
 that every one takes it in the most obvious sense, that objects are 
 represented naturally when they have such relief that they seem real. 
 It may appear strange, perhaps, to hear this sense of the rule disputed ; 
 but it must be considered that, if the excellence of a painter consisted 
 only in this kind of imitation, painting must lose its rank, and be no 
 longer considered as a liberal art, and sister to poetry, this imitation 
 being merely mechanical, in which the slowest intellect is always sure to 
 succeed best ; for the painter of genius cannot stoop to drudgery, in 
 
24 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 which the understanding has no part ; and what pretence has the art to 
 claim kindred with poetry, but its powers over the imagination ? To this 
 power the painter of genius directs his aim ; in this sense he studies 
 nature, and often arrives at his end, even by being unnatural in the 
 confined sense of the word. The grand style of painting requires this 
 minute attention to be carefully avoided, and must be kept as separate 
 from it as the style of poetry from that of history. Poetical ornaments 
 destroy that air of truth and plainness which ought to characterise 
 history ; but the very being of poetry consists in departing from this 
 plain narration, and adopting every ornament that will warm the imagi- 
 nation. To desire to see the excellences of each style united, to mingle 
 the Dutch with the Italian school, is to join contrarieties which cannot 
 subsist together, and which destroy the efficacy of each other. The 
 Italian attends only to the invariable, the great, and general ideas which 
 are fixed and inherent in universal nature ; the Dutch, on the contrary, to 
 literal truth, and a minute exactness in the detail, as I may say of nature 
 modified by accident. The attention to these petty peculiarities is the 
 very cause of this naturalness, so much admired in the Dutch pictures, 
 which, if we suppose it to be a beauty, is certainly of a lower order, that 
 ought to give place to a beauty of a superior kind, since one cannot be 
 obtained but by departing from the other." These remarks show that it 
 is always necessary for the student to bear in mind the nature of any of 
 the works of art which he investigates ; what is to be learned from them, 
 and how far such principles as they exhibit are founded upon truth, either 
 when viewing nature upon broad general ideas, or when investigating 
 the little intricacies of the detail in painting. 
 
 PLATE III. 
 
 Fig. 1 represents the Bacchus and Ariadne of Titian. Reynolds says, 
 u The conduct of Titian in this picture has been much celebrated, and 
 justly, for the harmony of colouring. To Ariadne is given (say the 
 
i 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 25 
 
 critics) a red scarf, to relieve the figure from the sea, which is behind 
 her. It is not for that reason alone, but for another of much greater 
 consequence ; for the sake of the general harmony and effect of the 
 picture. The figure of Ariadne is separated from the great group, and 
 is dressed in blue, which, added to the colour of the sea, makes that 
 quantity of cold colour which Titian thought necessary for the support and 
 brilliancy of the great group j which group is composed, with very little 
 exception, entirely of mellow colours. But as the picture in this case 
 would be divided into two distinct parts, one half cold, and the other 
 warm, it was necessary to carry some of the mellow colours of the great 
 group into the cold part of the picture, and a part of the cold into the 
 great group ; accordingly Titian gave Ariadne a red scarf, and to one 
 of the Bacchante a little blue drapery." If a diagonal line be drawn 
 across the picture, we find the picture composed of a mass of hot and a 
 mass of cold colours, laid out upon the broadest scale, and aiding each 
 other by their opposition. The blue is carried into the warm mass by a 
 little blue drapery, and a few blue flowers at the bottom of the picture ; 
 the next approach from the cool to the warm colours is by green, 
 produced by the green of the distance and the trees ; and is carried on 
 to the figures by the wreaths of vine tendrils, &c. and repeated by the 
 grass at the bottom. The warm colour is brought up against the cool 
 ground by the drapery of Bacchus, which is of a lake colour, and the 
 scarf of Ariadne of a strong red • which latter coming in contact with her 
 blue drapery, attracts the eye by its harsh opposition, this figure being 
 the point from which the action of the picture emanates. We find in 
 this arrangement not only the greatest breadth of colour, but also such 
 colour laid out in the general appearance of nature. When we compare 
 Titian with other colourists, we find in his tones a greater truth and 
 sweetness, his deepest brown shadows never appear black, his reds have 
 a less harsh appearance from their being less positive, his green colours 
 less violent, possessing more tone either of a brown or gray hue, and his 
 
 E 
 
26 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 deepest blues truer to the colouring of nature in extreme distances, or in 
 the deep blue of the sky, or in distant sea. 
 
 Plate III. Fig. 2. In this picture, u The Entombment of Christ," we 
 perceive the same broad principle of colour. The cool colour is carried 
 into the warm by means of the green dress of the figure kneeling ; and it 
 is extended by the lining of the dress of the figure on the opposite side. 
 Titian has also given this figure a scarf of a cool gray. The warm colour 
 is brought up against the cool by the red dress of St. John, and the 
 yellow dress and hair of the Magdalen. We may here notice the union 
 of the yellow of the Magdalen's dress and the blue of the mother's dress, 
 in producing a green as a medium, and the red dress of St. John finding 
 a repetition in the more delicate red of the servant's dress. The dark 
 green dress of Joseph serves as a shadow to the white drapery of Christ ; 
 and the strong red of St. John's dress gives the body of Christ a cold 
 deathlike appearance. Titian often has his red placed near the centre of 
 his picture, which gives it consequence, and he either throws it into 
 much light, or keeps it flat, according as he wishes it to tell as a dark or 
 light in his scale of chiaroscuro. Mengs supposes Titian to have used 
 colours more or less retiring upon his figures according to their situation. 
 Such is not, however, his principle ; and strong colours are more often 
 used by him to support his composition, without any reference to their 
 being employed upon the most prominent points. From Ratfaelle to 
 Rubens we often find them introduced upon background figures, as a 
 dark in light pictures, and a light in dark ones ; sometimes carrying the 
 eye to the point of attraction, or for the purpose of clearing up the 
 shadows. We often find portions of deep lake dresses running into the 
 dark masses of Tintoretto and P. Veronese ; and we know, the more a 
 picture is made out by colour, the lighter the effect will be, and the nearer 
 allied to the appearance of nature in open daylight. 
 
 I have noticed in another place the toning down of colours to the 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 27 
 
 general hue most commonly presented to the eye, as being not only the 
 most agreeable to the spectator from habit, but equally applicable to the 
 great historical style, from its giving an appearance of truth and reality. 
 Laying out the subject in large masses of hot and cold colours, carrying 
 them boldly into the provinces of each other, blending the warm light 
 with the rich warm shadow, by means of introducing decided dark blues, 
 thereby producing a union and splendour over the whole, are amongst 
 some of the leading features of Titian's works, and are founded upon 
 principles existing in nature, when under the influence of sunshine. 
 
 " It is to Titian," says Reynolds, " we must turn our eyes to find 
 excellence with regard to colour, and light and shade in the highest 
 degree. He was both the first and the greatest master of this art. By 
 a few strokes he knew how to mark the general image and character of 
 whatever object he attempted; and produced, by this alone, a truer 
 representation than his master Giovanni Bellino, or any of his prede- 
 cessors, who finished every hair. His great care was to express the 
 general colour, to preserve the masses of light and shade, and to give by 
 opposition the idea of that solidity which is inseparable from natural 
 objects. When those are preserved, though the work should possess 
 no other merit, it will have in a proper place its complete effect ; but 
 where any of these are wanting, however minutely laboured the picture 
 may be in the detail, the whole will have a false, and even an unfinished 
 appearance, at whatever distance or in whatever light it can be shown. 
 
 u It is vain to attend to the variation of tints, if, in that attention, the 
 general hue of flesh is lost ; or, to finish ever so minutely the parts, if the 
 masses are not observed, or the whole not well put together. 
 
 " Vasari seems to have had no great disposition to favour the Venetian 
 painters, yet he every where justly commends il modo di fare, la miniera, 
 la bella pratica ; that is, the admirable manner and practice of that school. 
 On Titian in particular he bestows the epithets of giudicioso, bello, a 
 stupendo. 
 
 " This manner was then new to the world, but that unshaken truth on 
 
28 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 which it is founded has fixed it as a model to all succeeding painters; 
 and those who will examine into the artifice will find it to consist in the 
 power of generalizing, and in the shortness and simplicity of the means 
 employed." 
 
 " Many artists/' as Vasari likewise observes," have ignorantly imagined 
 they are imitating the manner of Titian, when they leave their colours 
 rough, and neglect the detail ; but, not possessing the principles on which 
 he wrought, they have produced what he calls goffe pitture, absurd foolish 
 pictures; for such will always be the consequence of affecting dexterity 
 without science, without selection, and without fixed principles." 
 
 PLATE IV. 
 
 Fig. 1. In this subject, a Holy Family, with St. Francis, St. Catherine, 
 St. John, and St. Jerome, we have the warm and rich colours kept on 
 the dark side of the picture. The cool colour, commencing in the sky, 
 is spread over the shadows of the architecture and gray dress of St. 
 Francis, and collected in the dark blue of the Virgin's dress, which is 
 brought in contact with the strongest red, viz. the upper part of the dress 
 of St. Jerome, which latter is diffused by the softer colour in his under 
 garment, carried into the picture by the reddish marble inlaid in the 
 altar and on the pavement, and carried upwards by the dress of the 
 Virgin. The brown yellow dress of Joseph is spread by means of the 
 rich brocade behind the figures. Whether Veronese thought the yellow 
 and blue required a green to be present, or from whatever other cause, 
 he has given a little of that colour to the lining of the Virgin's dress. 
 Perhaps, from the same reasoning, or, to repeat the purple dress of 
 Joseph, he has given a purple tinge to the drapery (supported by a 
 cherub), reflected from the blue and red dress of the Virgin. 
 
 In considering the chiaroscuro of this picture, we find (as is often the 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 29 
 
 case in P. Veronese) the lights kept tender, and less charged with strong- 
 colour than the shadow side, which is made up of strong blue, reds, 
 brown, yellow, and blacks ; the brown hair of St. Catharine, the olive- 
 green branch, and book of St. Francis being the only colours which tell 
 upon the light side. He has brought the strong light of the lower group 
 (viz. the shoulder and arm of St. John, and the book of St. Jerome) in 
 contact with the strong dark of the upper group, produced by the dark 
 blue dress of the Virgin, which is carried into the lower part of the picture 
 by means of the black marble inlaid in the altar, and into the upper by 
 means of the strong darks in the tapestry. 
 
 Some artists have been at a loss to account for the harsh darks in the 
 upper part of the picture, as it is in a manner the background to the 
 upper group. Perhaps the introduction of them was for the purpose of 
 drawing the attention to such part of the composition ; or it may have 
 been the identical tapestry used in decorating the church on festival days ; 
 as we often see the Venetian painters introducing the architecture and 
 local circumstances of Venice. Thus the bright blue skies and sea, the 
 dazzling light clouds and buildings, the variegated marbles, and draperies 
 of black or crimson velvet, which we find introduced in their works, are 
 to be traced to this source. 1 cannot here refrain from noticing the high 
 opinion entertained by Barry of P. Veronese, as his lectures contain some 
 excellent remarks ; and though they are not so much known as those of 
 Reynolds, yet in many instances they may be read as an antidote to some 
 of the doctrines even of his more fortunate predecessor. We cannot but 
 regret the direction given to Barry's studies, and must consider him one 
 of those noble minds ruined by a close adherence to the dry manner of 
 the early masters. 
 
 In his lecture upon colour, he says, " Paul Veronese is an example 
 which I would hold out to you with much more pleasure j for the whole 
 economy and practical conduct of a picture no man is more worthy your 
 attention. His tints of colour, though often not equal in value to those of 
 Titian, are however equally true, and necessarily much more variegated, 
 
30 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 from the greater extent of his subjects. He has shown a most exquisite 
 sensibility in according his almost endless variety of broken tints with the 
 portions of pure vivid colour which accompany them ; and the harmony 
 resulting from all those variegated masses of colour, together with the 
 light, easy, graceful, spiritual manner in which the whole is conducted, 
 leaves nothing further to be wished for in this part of the art. 
 
 " In this school, then, is to be found all that can be desired respecting 
 the scientific, necessary conduct to be employed in the colouring of a 
 picture. In colouring, the Venetians were select and ideal, and have 
 proceeded with a finesse and management quite the reverse of the 
 conduct they adopted in the other parts of the art. Whilst those of the 
 other schools of Italy, who had availed themselves of the ideal respecting 
 design and composition, have been equally defective in not pursuing the 
 same selection in the chiaroscuro of their colours." 
 
 In comparing Titian with P. Veronese, the first great difference which 
 strikes us is the general warmth which seems diffused over the works of 
 the former. Titian's objects are represented under the influence of an 
 evening sky, when the white atmosphere is filled with yellow rays of the 
 setting sun, swallowing up the little differences of colour in one broad 
 universal splendour. The works of Veronese possess the freshness of 
 morn, when the dewy moisture spreads a delicate veil over the scene, and 
 every object glitters with pearls ; or when they give out the insufferable 
 brightness of midday in contact with masses of clear blue sky. 
 
 This difference in the general look of their pictures pervades the 
 most minute parts of the composition. We seek in vain, in the works 
 of Titian, for those delicate gray tones which we see in the flesh of 
 Veronese : in Titian they are absorbed in one general rich glaze ; in 
 Veronese the grays of the architecture, the shadows of the white drapery, 
 and of the clouds, &c. all partake of freshness and delicacy, having a 
 resemblance to the tender tints in size colour ; while in Titian, they 
 assume an appearance of the same tints washed over with a glazing of 
 transparent yellow. That they both reached perfection in their works may 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 31 
 
 be reasonably concluded, from the superiority they still hold above all 
 those who have worked upon the same principles. 
 
 The nearest approach to Titian is found in the works of Tintoretto, 
 particularly in his famous picture of the "Miracle of St. Mark," which is 
 a splendid combination of the rich tones of Titian with the more fresh 
 colouring of Veronese; and could we suppose it placed between two 
 of their most famous works, viz. the "Peter Martyr" of Titian and the 
 " Martyrdom of St. George " of Veronese, I am confident the one would 
 appear too hot, and the other too cold. If any picture deserves the name 
 of the triumph of painting, it is this work ; in the presence of which, 
 when in the Louvre, even the "Transfiguration" of Ratfaelle looked cold 
 and academic. 
 
 Why Sir Joshua should caution the student against imbibing the 
 manner of this artist, I cannot understand; for Michael Angelo, Tintoretto, 
 S. Rosa, and Rubens seem to have been born for the art of painting. 
 
 Plate IV. Fig. 2. The colours of this picture commencing with 
 St. Peter are the following. His dress is composed of strong blue and 
 yellow ; the blue is repeated upon the upper dress of the Virgin, and 
 carried up into the sky ; the yellow is spread by means of the embroidery 
 on the flag of St. George, and a few gold bars on the figure in white 
 in the opposite corner, and suffused over the clouds and architecture ; 
 they are united and broke into the harmony of the picture by the green 
 cloth of the altar, by the lights of the dark figure kneeling being of a 
 greenish tone, and the dull green dresses of the opposite figures partly 
 seen. The principal red is the flag of St. George, carried across the 
 picture by the dress of the Virgin, and the large mass of dull lake on the 
 figure kneeling, the reddish dress of the servant behind the saint, a red 
 binding to the upper dress of the dark figure on his knees, and a small 
 part of the red dress seen opposite, break it into the general mass. The 
 warm gray dress of St. Francis brings down the colour of the architecture 
 into the group ; and the black armour of St. George makes a mass with 
 
32 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 the figure upon bis knees, and is carried up by some bars of the arms 
 upon the flag. The white is produced by the veil of the Virgin, the book 
 of St. Peter, the white turban, a scroll upon the flag, and the white dress 
 of the figure in the lower corner of the picture. 
 
 Though there are few pictures of Titian where a multitude of figures 
 are introduced, such as we see in those of Paul Veronese, yet we can 
 gather sufficient from his works to give us a correct idea of his arrangement 
 of colour in such subjects, and must conclude that Veronese extended the 
 principles of his master over subjects of a more complicated character by 
 the same means, viz. a spreading out of the colours in large masses, 
 breaking them down by others of the same hue, but less positive, and 
 distributing his hot and cold colours in a judicious manner through the 
 picture. As this is the picture mentioned by Reynolds as an example of 
 grandeur and simplicity arising out of the regularity of composition, I 
 shall here give his remarks, which will place them more before the 
 student's observation than a reference to the pages where they occur. 
 " Here the Virgin and Child are placed on an altar instead of a pedestal ; 
 St. Peter, with an open book, leaning on the altar, and looking at 
 St. George and another figure which is kneeling. On the other side is 
 St. Francis, looking up to Christ, and recommending to his protection a 
 noble Venetian, with four other figures, who are on their knees. Nothing 
 can exceed the simplicity and dignity of these figures. They are drawn 
 in profile, looking straight forward in the most natural manner, without 
 any contrast or affectation of attitude whatever. The figure on the other 
 side is likewise in profile and kneeling : which, while it gives an air of 
 formality to the picture, adds also to its grandeur and simplicity. This 
 must be acknowledged to be above Rubens ; that is, I fear he would 
 have renounced it, had it occurred. Rubens's manner is often too 
 artificial and picturesque for the grand style. Titian knew very well that 
 so much formality or regularity, as to give the appearance of being above 
 all the tricks of art, which we call picturesque, is of itself grandeur. 
 There is a quiet dignity in the composition of Titian, and an animation 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 33 
 
 and bustle in that of Rubens ; one is splendid, the other is grand and 
 majestic. These two pictures may be considered among the best works 
 of those great painters, and each characterizes its respective author. 
 They may, therefore, be properly opposed to each other, and compared 
 together. 
 
 " I confess I was so overpowered with the brilliancy of this picture of 
 Rubens, whilst I was before it, and under its fascinating influence, that I 
 thought I had never before seen so great powers exerted in the art. 
 It was not till I was removed from its influence that I could acknowledge 
 any inferiority in Rubens to any other painter whatever. 
 
 u The composition of Titian is of that kind which leaves the middle 
 space void, and the figures are ranged around it. In this space is the 
 white linen that covers the altar; and it is for the sake of this white 
 linen, I apprehend, that he has made an altar instead of a pedestal, in 
 order to make the linen the principal light, which is about the middle of 
 the picture. The second light is the Virgin, and Christ, and the heads 
 of the figures." 
 
 The remarks regarding the effect of this picture Reynolds must have 
 made with the print of Le Febre before him, as in it the altar cloth 
 appears white, whereas in the picture it is of a dull green. There is a 
 splendour in the print which a breadth of light always conveys ; but, 
 keeping the cloth of a tone produced by the blue and yellow of St. Peter 
 seems to harmonize these colours with the picture, and gives it a greater 
 solidity of effect. We must, however, allow that keeping the cloth white 
 is conformable to the practice of Titian and Veronese, and in the print 
 there is no indication of a fringe, which is in the picture ; yet we cannot 
 suppose, with the high character Titian holds in Venice, that any alteration 
 in the picture would have been permitted, for the purpose of making the 
 Virgin and child more principal. The strongest point of light is brought 
 in contact with the strongest dark in the book which comes against the 
 dark dress of St. Peter, and is next taken up by the white veil of the 
 Virgin, and is carried up by the light in the sky to the upper part of the 
 
34 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 picture. In the lower part the light is carried across by the steps and 
 the figure with the white dress. Perhaps, were the altar cloth white, the 
 light in the upper part, and that in the under part of the picture, would 
 be too much united. 
 
 As nothing has given rise to greater uncertainty than the proper degree 
 of detail and style of colour to be used in subjects of an heroic nature, it 
 will be necessary in this place to draw the student's attention to the subject. 
 From the earliest specimens of painting which have been discovered in 
 Egypt and Herculaneum, we find colours used indiscriminately, and 
 without regard to harmony ; reds, blues, and yellows put down as mere 
 ornament, or perhaps symbolically, and such as we find now in uncultivated 
 nations. As the arts advanced, we find painting keeping pace with poetry 
 and sculpture ; and though from the remains of the two latter we can form 
 a more correct opinion of their excellence than of painting, as all remains 
 of this art are destroyed, we are nevertheless able to gather something 
 from contemporary authors and analogy of reasoning, which, if rightly 
 considered, will lead us to pretty just conclusions. Apelles and Zeuxis 
 are mentioned as two of the greatest painters at a time when Greece was 
 in her glory; and as the fragments of Phidias prove that its sculptors 
 aimed at a true representation of nature, we may infer that painting took 
 the same direction; especially as many anecdotes respecting the Grecian 
 painters confirm us in such supposition. For example, when we are told 
 Apelles altered even the tying of a sandal to accord with truth, and that 
 the birds attempted to peck at some grapes Zeuxis had painted, we may 
 conclude that detail, and colouring true to nature, were amongst some of 
 their excellences. Reynolds, in his notes to Du Fresnoy, says " There 
 can be no doubt but that the same correctness of design was required 
 from the painter as from the sculptor; and if what has happened in the 
 case of sculpture had likewise happened in regard to their paintings, 
 and we had the good fortune to possess what the ancients themselves 
 esteemed their masterpieces, I have no doubt but we should find their 
 figures as correctly drawn as the Laocoon, and probably coloured like 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 35 
 
 Titian. What disposes me to think higher of their colouring- than any 
 remains of ancient painting will warrant, is the account which Pliny gives 
 of the mode of operation used by Apelles ; that over his finished picture 
 he spread a transparent liquid like ink, of which the effect was to give 
 brilliancy, and at the same time to lower the too great glare of the colour : 
 ' Quod absoluta opera atramento illinebat ita tend, ut id ipsum repercussu 
 claritates colorum excitaret ; et cum ratione magna, ne colorum claritas 
 oculorum aciem offenderet.' This passage, though it may possibly perplex 
 the critics, is a true and an artist-like description of the effects of glazing 
 or scumbling, such as was practised by Titian and the rest of the 
 Venetian painters. This custom, or mode of operation, implies at least 
 a true taste of that in which the excellence of colouring consists ; which 
 does not proceed from fine colours, but true colours ; from breaking- 
 down these fine colours, which would appear too raw, to a deep-toned 
 brightness." 
 
 From these short observations we may conclude that possessing a 
 portion of detail, and a natural style of colouring, was considered 
 necessary by the ancients. 
 
 From the revival of painting in the thirteenth century to its perfection 
 in the fifteenth, we see a constant attention to these two objects ; though 
 with more or less success, according to the talents of the artists : and the 
 works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle seem in these respects carried as 
 far as they were capable of carrying them. The detail in the foreground 
 of the " Transfiguration" exhibits the scrupulous fidelity of Paul Potter. 
 If, therefore, such detail and an attention to truth are found in the works 
 of Raffaelle, why should we censure them in Titian, where, even in his 
 " Peter Martyr," the detail partakes of a less laboured character ? We 
 may, therefore, consider a certain portion of detail necessary to give the 
 work an appearance of truth. With respect to the harmony of colouring, 
 as it invites the spectator's attention, and detains him, from the agreeable 
 sensation it produces, it seems not only allowable but necessary. The 
 
36 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 mind may be improved through the gratification of the eye, and the most 
 sublime scenes represented, though clothed with the colouring of truth. 
 
 Reynolds, in his fourth Discourse, says, " However great the difference 
 is between the composition of the Venetian and the rest of the Italian 
 schools, there is full as great a disparity in the effect of their pictures as 
 produced by colours. And though in this respect the Venetians must be 
 allowed extraordinary skill, yet even that skill, as they have employed it, 
 will but ill correspond with the great style. Their colouring is not only 
 too brilliant, but, I will venture to say, too harmonious to produce that 
 solidity, steadiness, and simplicity of effect which heroic subjects require, 
 and which simple or grave colours only can give to a work. That they 
 are to be cautiously studied by those who are ambitious of treading the 
 great walk of history, is confirmed, if it wants confirmation, by the 
 greatest of all authorities, Michael Angelo. This wonderful man, after 
 having seen a picture by Titian, told Vasari, who accompanied him, ( that 
 he liked much his colouring and manner;' but he added, ' that it was a 
 pity the Venetian painters did not learn to draw correctly in their early 
 youth, and adopt a better manner of study/ " And again, 
 
 " Though it be allowed that elaborate harmony of colouring, a 
 brilliancy of tints, a soft and gradual transition from one to another, 
 present to the eye what an harmonious concert of music does to the ear, 
 it must be remembered that painting is not merely gratification of the 
 sight. Such excellence, though properly cultivated, where nothing higher 
 than elegance is intended, is weak and unworthy of regard, when the work 
 aspires to grandeur and sublimity." 
 
 Yet twelve years afterwards, when his notes to Du Fresnoy were 
 published, he makes use of the following observations, talking of Raffaelle 
 and Julio Romano : " Though it would be far from an addition to the 
 merit of those two great painters to have made their works deceptions, 
 yet there can be no reason why they might not, in some degree, and 
 with a judicious caution and selection, have availed themselves of many 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 37 
 
 excellences which are found in the Venetian, Flemish, and even Dutch 
 schools, and which have been inculcated in this poem. There are some 
 of them which are not in absolute contradiction to any style ; the happy 
 disposition, for instance, of light and shade ; the preservation of breadth 
 in masses of colours; the union of these with their grounds; and the 
 harmony arising from a due mixture of hot and cold hues, with many 
 other excellences not inseparably connected with that individuality which 
 produces deception, would surely not counteract the effect of the grand 
 style ; they would only contribute to the ease of the spectator, by making 
 the vehicle pleasing by which ideas are conveyed to the mind, which 
 otherwise might be perplexed and bewildered with a confused assemblage 
 of objects ; they would add a certain degree of grace and sweetness to 
 strength and grandeur. Though the merits of those two great painters 
 are of such transcendency as to make us overlook their deficiency, yet a 
 subdued attention to these inferior excellences must be added to complete 
 the idea of a perfect painter." 
 
 And further, in his Tour through Flanders, noticing three pictures by 
 Vaudyck, he says, " In the next room are three admirable pictures by 
 Vandyck ; ' St. Sebastian/ ( Susanna/ and a 6 Pieta.' The first two were 
 done when he was very young, highly coloured, in the same manner as 
 the c Jupiter and Antiope' at Mr. Dasch's at Antwerp; a picture on the 
 same subject, in the possession of Lord Coventry ; his own portrait at the 
 Duke of Grafton's ; and the portrait of Rubens, in my possession. He 
 never afterwards had so brilliant a manner of colouring; it kills every 
 thing near it. Behind are figures on horseback, touched with great 
 spirit. This is Vandyck's first manner, when he imitated Rubens and 
 Titian, which supposes the sun in the room : in his pictures afterwards he 
 represented the effects of common daylight; both were equally true to 
 nature, but his first manner carries a superiority with it, and seizes our 
 attention, whilst the pictures painted in his latter manner run a risk of 
 being overlooked." 
 
38 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 We may, from these conflicting opinions, suspect that Sir Joshua 
 Reynolds himself had become a convert to the idea of Tintoretto, that 
 the colouring of Titian might add a grace even to the design of Michael 
 Angelo ; but, be this as it may, the student can have no hesitation in 
 endeavouring to follow this school in the splendid ranks of Velasquez, 
 Rubens, Vandyck, Rembrandt, and even Reynolds himself, instead of 
 adding another to the cold though classic files of Poussin, Le Seur, 
 Le Brun, and Sebastian Bourdon. With the composition or expression 
 of the Venetian school we have at present nothing to do; we are 
 examining their mode of colouring, which may be said to possess 
 brilliancy without gaudiness, solidity without harshness, truth without 
 familiarity, and sweetness without insipidity ; all conjoined in the greatest 
 breadth of colour, overpowering every other work brought in competition 
 with it. In historical works the draperies often make the largest portions 
 of colour, and what in the first instance attracts the eye of the spectator. 
 It is, therefore, necessary that the most applicable colours should be 
 chosen, either from their appropriate quality, or with reference to the 
 situation of the figure as regarding the chiaroscuro of the picture. 
 
 That colours have a tendency to give either grandeur or meanness, 
 arising from their effect upon the eye, or from an association of ideas, no 
 one will question. Primitive colours, or such as have great opposition to 
 each other, seem to have been the first made use of. We read in Exodus 
 of garments of blue, purple, and scarlet; which colours, either from their 
 simplicity or forcible quality, have been employed by artists of all ages in 
 painting draperies of sacred or noble characters. Colours also have a 
 fitness according to the several personages represented. Thus we read 
 of the azure zone of Venus, of the seagreen garments of Neptune, and 
 the red mantle of Mars. The power of colour in conveying sentiment I 
 have mentioned already in that part of this work which treats of the 
 chiaroscuro. It may be seen in a variety of examples, from the murky 
 sky that envelops the " Murder of Abel " by Titian, where all positive 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 39 
 
 colours are kept out of the picture, down to the "Tragic Muse" by 
 Reynolds ; where the pale and sad colours seem illuminated only by the 
 yellow glare of the lightning. 
 
 Lavater, reasoning upon the effect of colour producing sad or pleasing- 
 sensations on the mind, endeavoured to establish a theory which should 
 stamp an aversion to those things which were injurious to man ; and 
 endeavoured to prove that all poisonous plants and noxious reptiles were 
 clothed with gloomy colours. Without discussing the truth or fallacy of 
 his reasoning, we may safely assert that darkness of colour gives sadness, 
 and that light and vivacity of colouring convey cheerfulness. 
 
 From the few fragments of early Greek paintings which have escaped 
 the obliterating hand of time, we perceive a mode of managing the local 
 colour of drapery, which was adopted at the revival of painting, and 
 existed during the perfection of many of the schools, viz. leaving the 
 light parts but faintly stained, and making use of the several colours for 
 the shadows ; thereby producing an effect of chiaroscuro by colour alone : 
 while in those figures which were in shadow, or in the background, a flat 
 wash of colour was made use of, that gave to the whole the appearance of 
 a basso-relievo, wherein those parts are most rounded which most project. 
 The introduction of aerial perspective into the art introduced at the same 
 time an harmonious breadth and union of one tint with another : this led 
 to a massing of the hot and cold colours; and in place of having a light 
 blue inlaid upon a ground of yellow or red, without any arrangement as 
 to its union, it was surrounded by tints of a corresponding hue, and broke 
 down and united with the ground, and harmonized into the other parts of 
 the picture by a repetition of the same colour ; and as the light parts of 
 the composition became more charged with the local colour of the several 
 objects, it became necessary to strengthen the dark masses to preserve 
 the luminous character of the lights ; and this, perhaps, gave rise to a 
 unity of tone in the shadows. 
 
 Before proceeding to investigate how far the higher branches of the 
 art contribute to the perfection of the inferior departments, it will be 
 
40 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 necessary to inquire whether the grand style of painting can be improved 
 by the addition of inferior qualities. The gratification and improvement of 
 the mind from the contemplation of pictures must arise out of grandeur, 
 novelty, or beauty. Addison says, "Our imagination loves to be filled 
 with an object, or to grasp at any thing that is too big for its capacity." 
 This quality in the mind has given rise to the most stupendous concep- 
 tions, either for gratifying the caprice of one man, or leading captive the 
 imaginations of thousands : it is to this sensation in the mind that we 
 are indebted for many of the greatest works of art. " We are obliged," 
 he adds, " to devotion for the noblest buildings that have adorned the 
 several countries of the world : it is this which has set men at work on 
 temples and public places of worship, not only that they might, by the 
 magnificence of the building, invite the Deity to reside within it, but that 
 such -stupendous works might at the same time open the mind to vast 
 conceptions, and fit it to converse with the Divinity of the place. For 
 every thing that is majestic imprints an awfulness and reverence on the 
 mind of the beholder, and strikes in with the natural greatness of the soul." 
 It therefore followed, if statues and pictures were to be introduced for the 
 purpose of increasing such emotions, that they should be of a grandeur 
 to correspond with the magnitude of the building, both in dimensions and 
 style. This has given rise to boldness in the design, simplicity in the 
 attitudes, a continuity of the outline, and a spreading out of the masses 
 of colour. Hence the superhuman conceptions of Michael Angelo, the 
 awe-inspiring dignity of Raffaelle, and the breadth and magnificence of 
 Titian and Paul Veronese. 
 
 What in another place would appear gigantic, there appears natural ; 
 what might be thought formal, there appears dignified • and what might 
 be too harsh or dazzling in the colouring, is there subdued into a grand 
 and harmonious union. By these component parts of one magnificent 
 structure, the imagination is enlarged and extended. Colouring must 
 either add to or diminish the effect of any work upon the imagination ; it 
 must add to it by increasing, or diminish it by destroying the deception. 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 41 
 
 The language in which the poet clothes imagery is not more necessary to 
 its identity, than the colouring in the hands of the painter to the identity 
 of the subject treated by him. 
 
 Addison, speaking of Shakspeare's language, says, "There is some- 
 thing so wild, and yet so solemn, in the speeches of ghosts, fairies, 
 witches, and the like imaginary persons, that we cannot forbear thinking 
 them natural, though we have no rule by which to judge of them, and must 
 confess, if there are such beings in the world, it looks highly probable 
 they should talk and act as he has represented them." This train of 
 reasoning is applicable to painting in a high degree ; and, by it, we may 
 investigate the superior beings of Michael Angelo or his followers in the 
 field of poetical imagery. Addison justly says, "We cannot indeed have 
 a single image in the fancy that did not make its first entrance through 
 the sight; but we have the power of retaining, altering, and compounding 
 those images which we have once received into all the varieties of picture 
 and vision that are most agreeable to the imagination." We can form no 
 idea of colouring beyond what has an existence in nature. From this 
 source all our materials must be drawn : both sacred and profane writers 
 have employed the same means. In the vision of Ezekiel, when describing 
 even the glory of God, he compares the brightness as like "unto amber, 
 with the appearance of a fire within it, and surrounding it, as the appear- 
 ance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain." 
 
 Michael Angelo and Raffaelle have both in the representation of the 
 Deity personified him in the likeness of a man ; not so much from our 
 "having been created after his own image," as from the impossibility to 
 conceive a grander idea of form and colour ; if those representations have 
 not the grandeur of colour which Titian could have imparted, it must be 
 ascribed to their want of power in this branch of the art, either from 
 fresco painting not admitting of such excellence, from the materials and 
 the despatch necessary in finishing it, or from their studies being directed 
 into another channel. Reynolds says, " Raffaelle and Titian seem to have 
 looked at nature for different purposes : they both had the power of 
 
 G 
 
42 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 extending their view to the whole; but one looked only for the general 
 effect as produced by form, the other as produced by colour." And he 
 adds: "If he (Raffaelle) had expressed his ideas with the facility and 
 eloquence, as it may be called, of Titian, his works would certainly not 
 have been less excellent, and that, praise which ages and nations have 
 poured out upon him for possessing genius in the higher attainments of 
 art, would have been extended to them all." This naturalness in the tone 
 of colour seems, therefore, equally applicable to the higher departments 
 as the outline or the light and shade. There seems a certain identity 
 necessary in representation, to give an appearance of reality of existence, 
 and awaken those ideas in the mind consequent upon such appearance. 
 The representation of beings like ourselves, in the " Last Judgment" of 
 Michael Angelo, or the " Fall of the Damned," by Rubens, strikes us with 
 more horror than if those beings were coloured with the etherial essence 
 which Milton describes spirits to inherit. 
 
 If we descend lower into the regions of fiction and allegory, this truth 
 of representation is still more essential, as in many respects it conveys 
 the images more strongly to the mind; for example, the Satyrs, Silenuses, 
 and Fauns of Rubens seem as if they had actually existed, so true to 
 reality do they appear in all that constitutes the sensual, unrestrained, and 
 bad passions of human nature when bereft of every thing mental ; while 
 in Poussin the cold formality of the antique, the dryness in colouring, and 
 the absence of that juicy luscious character throughout, clothe them with 
 chastity, and chill the imagination. Even with these few hints, perhaps, 
 the student will be able to continue the train of reasoning which places 
 colouring in so prominent a situation. The necessary detail must depend 
 upon the subject in hand; for the artist must never forget that the mind 
 is composed of ideas received from early impressions, from perceptions 
 frequently occurring, and from reflections founded on such perceptions. 
 Painting can reach the mind only through the medium of the eye, which 
 must be gratified sufficiently to interest it in the communication. 
 
 If the student keeps this steadily in view, he will see that there can be 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 43 
 
 no danger in his adopting a natural and harmonious style of colouring : as 
 by such means he will add a more captivating manner to the most sublime 
 walks of painting. 
 
 Reynolds says, "Poussin, whose eye was always steadily fixed upon 
 the sublime, has been often heard to say, c that a particular attention to 
 colouring was an obstacle to the student in his progress to the great end 
 and design of the art, and that he who attaches himself to this principal 
 end will acquire by practice a reasonable good method of colouring.'" 
 What sort of practice is here meant I cannot say ; but, unless the student 
 begins early to colour from objects in nature, and habituates himself to 
 examine well coloured pictures with attention, his eye never will acquire 
 a good method of colouring. Of all branches of the art, colouring is the 
 least mechanical. The eye may be taught to measure with great accuracy 
 the distance from one point to another, and the particular form of an 
 object as bounded by lines ; but colouring is a matter of much greater 
 subtilty, as the shades which separate one tint from another are not only 
 less tangible, but seem less under the control of the eye, even though the 
 mind is conscious of what constitutes good colouring. 
 
 Addison says, " The fancy delights in every thing great, strange, or 
 beautiful ; and is still more pleased the more it finds of these perfections 
 in the same object, as the pleasure arises from more than a single 
 principle. The figure of the rainbow does not contribute less to its 
 magnificence than the colours to its beauty : colour is, therefore, an 
 addition to the grandeur of an object. Among these several kinds of 
 beauty, the eye takes most delight in colours : we nowhere meet with 
 a more glorious or pleasing show in nature than what appears in the 
 heavens at the rising and setting of the sun, which is wholly made up 
 of these different stains of light, that show themselves in clouds of a 
 different situation." Further, he says, " Things would make but a poor 
 appearance to the eye, if we saw them only in their proper figures and 
 motions ; and what reason can we assign for their exciting in us many of 
 those ideas which are different from any thing that exists in the objects 
 themselves (for such are light and colours), were it not to add super- 
 
44 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 numerary ornaments to the universe, and make it more agreeable to the 
 imagination ? We are everywhere entertained with pleasing shows and 
 apparitions? we discover imaginary glories in the heavens and in the 
 earth, and see some of this visionary beauty poured out upon the whole 
 creation ; but what a rough unsightly sketch of nature should we be 
 entertained with, did all her colouring disappear, and the several 
 distinctions of light and shade vanish ?" 
 
 PLATE V. 
 
 Fig. 1. The colours of this subject, viz. a sketch of the " Good 
 Samaritan," by Rembrandt, are yellow, brown, red, and black, tempered 
 with masses of cool gray. In a work of this kind, it is impossible to give 
 any idea of the manner of Rembrandt's arrangement of colour ; as it 
 arises out of his excellence of tone more than his placing of the several 
 colours. 
 
 Fig. 2 is "The Prince of Orange going out in the Morning," by Cuyp. 
 The principal light is composed of yellowish white and cool gray ; the 
 mass of shadow, of warm brown ; the green dress of the servant, repeated 
 by some leaves, serves as a medium to unite them, and acts as a foil to 
 the dress of the Prince, which is strong red. The warm colour is led 
 into the shadow by the brown horse and pink saddlecloth of the servant 
 in a dark dress, and repeated by the pink feather ; the brown is repeated 
 upon the sleeves of the servant's green dress, and spots upon the dog. 
 The blacks are kept very decided, which is generally the practice of 
 Cuyp, in order to give clearness and lightness of effect to the whole. 
 He has brought a small portion of the dark group cutting against the 
 sky, and the strongest light sharp off the dark. The gray colour of the 
 sky and horse gives the red great value, as does also the presence of the 
 green. Many artists object to the opposition arising from red and green, 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 45 
 
 as being too violent; bat this may arise from the green not being 
 sufficiently of a neutral tone. 
 
 Plate V. Fig. 3 represents u The Descent from the Cross," by Rubens. 
 Reynolds remarks, speaking of this subject, " The composition of this 
 picture is said to be borrowed from an Italian print : this print I never 
 saw ; but those who have seen it say, that Rubens has made no deviation 
 from it, except in the attitude of the Magdalen. On the print is written, 
 ' Peter Passer invenit; Hieronymus Wirix sculpsuV 
 
 u The greatest peculiarity of this composition is the contrivance of 
 the white sheet, on which the body of Jesus lies : this circumstance was 
 probably what induced Rubens to adopt the composition. He well knew 
 what effect white linen opposed to flesh must have, with his powers of 
 colouring; a circumstance which was not likely to enter into the mind of 
 an Italian painter, who probably would have been afraid of the linen's 
 hurting the colouring of the flesh, and have kept it down of a low tint. 
 And the truth is, that none but great colourists can venture to paint pure 
 white linen near flesh ; but such know the advantage of it : so that possibly 
 what was stolen by Rubens, the possessor knew not how to value ; and 
 certainly no person knew so well as Rubens how to use. After all, this 
 may perhaps turn out another Lauder's detection of plagiarism. I could 
 wish to see this print, if there is one, to ascertain how far Rubens was 
 indebted to it for his Christ, which I consider as one of the finest figures 
 that ever was invented ; it is most correctly drawn, and, I apprehend, in 
 an attitude of the utmost difficulty to execute. The hanging of the head 
 on his shoulder, and the falling of the body on one side, give such an 
 appearance of the heaviness of death, that nothing can exceed it." 
 
 The celebrated work of Daniel di Volterra (which, from its receiving 
 the assistance of Michael Angelo, had acquired great celebrity), is perhaps 
 the picture from which Rubens obtained his idea, as the two works resemble 
 each other in several particulars. 
 
 " Of the three Maries, two of them have more beauty than he generally 
 bestowed on female figures, but no great elegance of character. The 
 
46 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 St. Joseph of Arimathea is the same countenance which he so often in- 
 troduced in his works : a smooth fat face, — a very unhistorical character. 
 The principal light is formed by the body of Christ and the white sheet ; 
 there is no second light which bears any proportion to the principal : 
 in this respect it has more the manner of Rembrandt's disposition of light 
 than any other of Rubens's works; however, there are many little 
 detached lights distributed at some distance from the great mass, such as 
 the head and shoulders of the Magdalen, the heads of the two Maries, the 
 head of St. Joseph, and the back and arm of the figure leaning over the 
 cross ; the whole surrounded with a dark sky, except a little light in the 
 horizon, and above the cross." 
 
 Rubens has given great brilliancy to his light by bringing his strongest 
 dark in contact with it in the most cutting manner; and he has supported 
 it by a mass of strong red in the dress of St. John, which colour is 
 repeated in the other side by the red cap of Joseph of Arimathea, and by 
 the blood on the hand and arm of Christ, &c. The Mother is dressed in 
 dark blue, repeated by the garment of the figure stretching over the cross. 
 The dress of Joseph, the hair of the Magdalen, the hair and dress of the 
 other Mary, and the light at the horizon, are of a yellow colour. The 
 dress of the Magdalen is of a strong green. The figure descending the 
 ladder is of a purple and brown. We may here notice the union of the 
 blue and yellow, in producing a green, as in the " Entombment," by 
 Titian; the bringing of this colour next to a red; and the presence of a 
 purple, arising from the union of a blue and red. 
 
 PLATE VI. 
 
 Represents the " Rape of the Sabines," by Rubens. As this work 
 embraces many of the peculiarities of that arrangement of colour which 
 afterwards was diffused through the Flemish and Dutch schools, I shall 
 particularize the different colours of which it is composed, with the 
 situation in which they are placed. The sky is composed of pale yellow 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 47 
 
 and blue ; the buildings, of a gray, are united to the figures by a small 
 portion being of a faint red ; the light is spread over the female group by 
 delicate colours, viz. gray, light flesh tints, and faint yellow; then pink and 
 blue, falling into dull yellow, black, red, and dark blue. The foreground 
 group commences with dark and light purple, red, black, yellow ; then 
 green (with a little red above); then brown and blue; a red, of a dull 
 tone, carried up to the figure on the throne, which is surrounded by dull 
 yellow. The buildings in shadow are gray ; the drapery at the top, of a 
 purple. We find in this composition the strong colour surrounding the 
 light, or placed where the one group unites with the other. With Rubens 
 this is generally the case, as it prevents the light subsiding too gently, 
 and enables him to keep up his splendour and force. He has given a 
 strong red to clear up the shadow of the female group, and placed a dark 
 blue in the warm side of his composition, to carry the cold colour into 
 this portion of the picture ; which is harmonized by a green coming 
 between the blue and yellow. Most of the colours are repeated and 
 broken down by a similarity of tints, except the green (for a faint blush 
 of this colour upon the festoon at the upper part does not amount to this), 
 which thereby acquires a force which it otherwise would not possess. 
 I have noticed in another place the practice of painters' often leaving 
 colours singly, when employed on a prominent object; or for giving 
 such colours the power of harmonizing the others in the picture. In 
 arranging his colours, Rubens always seems to have been guided by 
 his masses of light and of shadow; and to have made use of those tints 
 which contributed to the preservation and enrichment of both. His mass 
 of light is generally composed of delicate colours, and such as do not 
 destroy the breadth ; his mass of shadow, of strong warm colours ; using 
 dull yellow and brown for those figures under the influence of reflected 
 light. His principal light has, by this means, a freshness of appearance 
 when compared with Titian, whose delicate grays and tender blues are 
 generally swallowed up in a rich glazing of yellow; and Rubens, by 
 keeping blackness out of his shadows, gives the whole that splendour of 
 
48 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 effect which arises from the employment of colour in producing the 
 chiaroscuro. His colours are generally placed in harmony with each 
 other, or in contact with such as give them value ; such as red and black, 
 black and yellow, green and brown, &lc. : a blue, for the purpose of 
 carrying the cool colour into the shadow side of the picture ; or a red, 
 for repeating the warm colour in the cool side. Reynolds says, " The 
 difference of the manner of Rubens from that of any other painter before 
 him is in nothing more distinguishable than in his colouring; which is 
 totally different from that of Titian, Coreggio, or any of the great 
 colourists. The effect of his pictures may be not improperly compared 
 to clusters of flowers. All his colours appear as clear and as beautiful ; 
 at the same time he has avoided that tawdry effect which one would 
 expect such gay colours to produce ; in this respect resembling Barocci 
 more than any other painter." In comparing Rubens with Titian, we 
 find in the flesh of the one an assemblage and variety of tints, from the 
 strongest reds to the most tender grays, vieing often in brightness with 
 the white lines in contact with it ; the flesh of Titian is of a more uniform 
 colour, the high lights partaking of half tint, when compared with his 
 white drapery. 
 
 The flesh of Rubens has the character of flesh when viewed near, where 
 every variety of tint can be perceived ; that of Titian seems sufficiently 
 removed from the eye to lose the little varieties in one general blaze. 
 Perhaps this treatment, from possessing less detail, gives an appearance 
 of a higher character to the flesh of Titian. 
 
 The luminous breadth of colour observable in the works of Titian has 
 been successfully imitated by Vandyck, in what is termed his Italian 
 manner ; and his pictures of that period possess this character in per- 
 fection. His most delicate tints have a richness and warmth resembling 
 the deep tones of Rembrandt : this treatment of the light is supported by 
 deep browns and reds in the shadows and half lights, thereby preventing 
 the light from appearing heavy, and giving it an influence over the whole 
 picture. For example, in his picture of " Susanna," mentioned at page 37, 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 49 
 
 she is wrapping round her a garment of deep crimson, supported by 
 dark colours in the background; and, in his "St. Sebastian," the saint 
 is surrounded by rich warm tones, produced by the flesh of the figures 
 binding him, the brown horse, and a red flag (carried by one of the figures 
 on horseback), rising up against the dark blue sky. The red is repeated 
 upon the other side by an Asiatic in a red dress ; and the blue of the sky, 
 by one of the figures having a little blue drapery. Rubens, in many of 
 his works, has adopted the practice of Veronese in bringing the warm 
 tones of his flesh up against a bright blue sky; producing great brilliancy 
 and lightness of effect. His reds seldom partake of that deep laky cast 
 arising from the glazings of the Venetian painters ; neither do his blues 
 assume the depth of those generally found in the skies of Titian : they 
 have, however, the freshness of Veronese, without his coldness ; and 
 Rubens's colouring, if it has not the rich splendour of the Venetian 
 masters, has nevertheless a sweetness and force which fully compensates 
 for the absence of many of their best qualities. His leaving his colours 
 unbroken from the palette, and the easy decided manner of his handling, 
 give a great charm to his works ; and perhaps the tenderness of his 
 colours upon the lights, although it may impart to his pictures a tinted 
 appearance, contributes to the same end. 
 
 In inquiring how far the principles of colour, which govern the great 
 style of painting, are applicable to the inferior walks of the art, it will be 
 necessary to revert to what appears to be the constituent parts of those 
 principles, viz. breadth, or laying out the several colours in large portions ; 
 opposition, in bringing light and dark, and hot and cold colours in 
 contact ; and strength, in using the colours pure off' the palette, or 
 deepening them by repeated glazings. These properties seem to belong 
 more exclusively to the higher walks, from their harmonizing with the 
 grandeur of the subject and greatness of style necessary in the com- 
 position, as regards the outline or chiaroscuro ; for the most discordant 
 properties produce harmony, if the several parts are upon the same scale ; 
 yet, nevertheless, a certain portion of the harshest arrangement, and the 
 
 H 
 
50 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 strongest contrast of colour, is necessary in the humblest walks of the art, 
 to give the work that firmness and zest observable in nature. If we 
 examine such works from the time of Rubens, who was the first to 
 ennoble human scenes by his pencil, to the decline of the Dutch school, 
 we observe a want of decision, a timidity in the colour, and a total 
 absence of those fresh and vigorous tones so truly characteristic of this 
 department of the art. The breadth of local colour is here equally 
 necessary, from its being a strong feature in nature ; and referring many 
 colours to the adjoining figures, for their shadow and half tones, becomes 
 in a degree indispensable ; since the figures are generally of a smaller 
 size, and less capable of sustaining a colour, with all its intermediate hues 
 from light to dark, upon the same object. Hence also arises the necessity 
 of often employing the three principal colours, viz. red, blue, and yellow, 
 upon one figure, to give such figure that consequence over the others 
 which it ought to have, either from its situation in the group or its 
 importance in the story. In the inferior walks of the art, we ought never 
 to lose sight of that approach to deception, and the natural appearance of 
 objects, arising from their possessing the exact tone of colour observed in 
 nature under the same influence of atmosphere ; and here, perhaps, exists 
 a difference in the treatment of a subject in familiar life, and one founded 
 upon ancient history or a poetical basis ; the naturalness of the former 
 being indispensable, while the style of drawing necessary in the latter 
 requires a corresponding style of colouring. 
 
 In the landscapes of Claude we may perceive a breadth of colour and 
 effect, which has served as an example down to the present time ; and 
 which may be considered as furnishing hints for the treatment of subjects 
 embracing a wide expanse of country ; a softness in the colour, either 
 from the interposition of atmosphere, or breadth of shadow. His green 
 tints are seldom violent, and his blue of the sky and distance is filled with 
 retiring gray tones. His shadows, if illuminated, are touched upon with 
 cool reflected lights ; which treatment, if it deprives them of the rich 
 tones arising from transparent glazings, gives them that truth which they 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 51 
 
 possess in nature. At sunrise or sunset, his light generally possesses its 
 characteristic feature, and is seldom charged with strong colour; his 
 darkest shadows are prevented from being heavy, and receive a portion 
 of air from the introduction of figures dressed in strong blue draperies ; 
 and the warm colours of his buildings and ground are focused, or 
 rendered less harsh by figures dressed in still more positive colours. 
 Reynolds, speaking of the local principles which characterize the Dutch 
 landscape painters, mentions the practice of Claude as opposed to such 
 confined representations of nature : 
 
 " Claude Lorraine, on the contrary, was convinced that taking nature 
 as he found it seldom produced beauty; his pictures are a composition of 
 the various draughts which he had previously made from various beautiful 
 scenes and prospects. However, Rubens in some measure has made 
 amends for the deficiency with which he is charged ; he has contrived to 
 raise and animate his otherwise uninteresting views, by introducing a 
 rainbow, storm, or some particular accidental effect of light. That the 
 practice of Claude Lorraine, in respect to his choice, is to be adopted by 
 landscape painters, in opposition to that of the Flemish and Dutch schools, 
 there can be no doubt, as its truth is founded upon the same principle as 
 that by which the historical painter acquires perfect form. But whether 
 landscape painting has a right to aspire so far as to reject what the 
 painters call accidents of nature, is not easy to determine ; it is certain, 
 Claude Lorraine seldom, if ever, availed himself of those accidents; 
 either he thought that such peculiarities were contrary to that style of 
 general nature which he professed, or that it would catch the attention 
 too strongly, and destroy that quietness and repose which he thought 
 necessary to that kind of painting." 
 
 If we contemplate the landscapes of Titian, we find in them the same 
 greatness of style in composition and colour, which pervades his most 
 sublime works. The light of his clouds assumes a deep-toned brightness, 
 aided by the contrast of his dark azure and distances, and is often 
 rendered dazzling by a multiplicity of dark brown leaves rustling up 
 
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 
 landscape 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 generally 
 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 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 53 
 
 works are so much distinguished. It is so unlike what any other painters 
 have given us of moonlight, that it might easily be mistaken, if he had not 
 likewise added stars, for a fainter setting sun. Rubens thought the eye 
 ought to be satisfied in this case above all other considerations : he might 
 indeed have made it more natural, but it would have been at the expense 
 of what he thought of much greater consequence, — the harmony proceeding 
 from the contrast and variety of colours. 
 
 * This same picture will furnish us with another instance, where we 
 must depart from nature for a greater advantage. The moon in this 
 picture does not preserve so great a superiority in regard to its lightness 
 over the object which it illumines, as it does in nature ; this is likewise 
 an intended deviation, and for the same reason. If Rubens had preserved 
 the same scale of gradation of light between the moon and the objects 
 which is found in nature, the picture must have consisted of one small 
 spot of light only; and at a little distance from the picture nothing but 
 this spot would have been seen." 
 
 This is the case with a picture by Cuyp, in the possession of Lord 
 Grosvenor, where the moon appears a spot; and the effect of the whole 
 has a cold slaty character. But although most poets and painters have 
 represented moonlight shedding its cold influence over a scene, we cannot 
 refuse to Rubens a stricter adherence to nature in this instance than 
 Sir Joshua will allow ; as in moonlight we frequently may perceive the 
 most splendid effects of light and colour, both of which have been happily 
 imitated by Vanderneer. 
 
 We may give Albert Cuyp as another instance of ennobling the effect 
 of his landscapes by the breadth and splendour of his colour. His 
 colouring in many of his works is of a more chaste character, yet 
 possessing the same brilliancy as the works of Rubens. His blue is less 
 positive, and his green tones are more delicate ; indeed, the colouring of 
 his trees seldom exceeds those tints which may be imitated by a mixture 
 of yellow and black. Any positive green he generally introduces into the 
 foreground plants, which by this means repeat the cool tints in the upper 
 
54 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 part of his skies, and approach the eye from their being less influenced 
 by that yellow haze which the illuminated atmosphere spreads over his 
 distance and middleground objects. This effect is even heightened by 
 the decided black shadows underneath the foreground leaves, which give 
 them that effect of light, though charged with strong colour, which objects 
 in nature possess. In this he differs from Titian, Rubens, and many 
 others, whose shadows are warm brown. We may also observe a greater 
 attention to the blue tones in his skies ; they being seldom deeper than 
 those in nature under the influence of sunshine ; whereas manv artists 
 increase the blue in the upper part of the sky, to give a greater effect of 
 light to that portion near the situation of the sun ; which portion is less 
 charged with colour than is generally supposed. We may also notice 
 the attention to a breadth of local colour in Cuyp, Both, and others of 
 the Dutch school, who painted effects of sunshine. Instead of having 
 the shadows crossing a warm ground cooler than the light, which is to be 
 observed in nature, from their receiving the reflection of the cool part of 
 the sky, we perceive them preserving one general tone. This and many 
 other licences, for the sake of the general effect, the student ought to 
 weigh well before he adopts or rejects ; for, as Reynolds justly observes, 
 " An artist is obliged for ever to hold a balance in his hand, by which he 
 must decide the value of different qualities ; that when some fault must be 
 committed, he may choose the least." 
 
 In subjects of familiar life we find conducting the chiaroscuro and the 
 colouring upon broad scientific principles stamps them with a consequence 
 and interest unattainable by other means. Jordaens has given his merry- 
 makings and scenes of the most vulgar character a splendour of colour 
 and richness of effect which destroy every thing brought in contact with 
 them ; and he has tempered the whole by the introduction of delicate 
 gray tones amidst his warmest lights ; and has given to his shadows a 
 firmness of colour and lightness of handling which produce the most 
 natural and splendid harmony. Indeed we can trace the principles of 
 colouring introduced by Rubens, and diffused by his pupils Vandyck, 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 55 
 
 Jordaens, Teniers, and Snyders, into every walk of the art ; which renders 
 the Dutch school so completely a school of colour for the contemplation 
 of the student. Sir Joshua says, " The same skill which is practised by 
 Rubens and Titian in their large works is here exhibited, though on a 
 smaller scale. Painters should go to the Dutch school to learn the art of 
 painting, as they would go to a grammar school to learn languages. They 
 must go to Italy to learn the higher branches of knowledge. We must 
 be contented to make up our idea of perfection from the excellences 
 which are dispersed over the world. A poetical imagination, expression, 
 character, or even correctness of drawing, are seldom united with that 
 power of colouring which would set off those excellences to the best 
 advantage; and in this, perhaps, no school ever excelled the Dutch. 
 An artist, by a close examination of their works, may in a few hours 
 make himself master of the principles on which they wrought, which 
 cost them whole ages, and perhaps the experience of a succession of 
 ages, to ascertain." 
 
56 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 PLATE VII. 
 
 Fig. I represents " A Family Group," by Rubens. This is the picture 
 mentioned by Reynolds in his description of the Dusseldorf Gallery. 
 " Over the door is a portrait of a lady, whole length, with her hand on 
 a dog's head ; a gentleman behind ; a boy (her son) by her side, with a 
 hawk; and a dwarf behind the dog. This is called Lord and Lady 
 Arundel; but certainly does not contain their portraits. The arms on 
 the curtain have a lion and unicorn for supporters, and the garter as a 
 label under." Notwithstanding these remarks of Sir Joshua, I believe, 
 the picture does contain the portraits of Lord and Lady Arundel, and 
 that the arms are correct, viz. a lion and horse ; with the shield red and 
 white. It has always gone by this designation ; and we know that Lord 
 Arundel was ambassador at the time of Rubens, and was afterwards 
 painted by him in England. The principal lights in the picture are 
 composed of delicate colours, viz. the blue, gray, and yellow of the sky; 
 white dog; head and hands of the lady; boy's head; and hawk. The 
 principal mass of dark is the lady's black dress, diffused by the dull blue 
 curtain, jacket and sleeve of the dwarf, spots upon the dog, carpet, &c. 
 On examining the colours of this picture, we find them divided into a 
 mass of hot and cold ; the cool colour spread over the light is carried 
 into the shadow side by the gray hawk, boy's ruff, some cool gray in 
 contact with his red dress, some blue figuring upon the carpet. The 
 yellow dress of the dwarf is repeated by the stockings of the boy and 
 figure behind being of the same colour, and some gold embroidery upon 
 his dress. The boy's red dress, and carpet, make the principal mass of 
 red ; it is brought in contact with the black, also by the chair being of 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 57 
 
 the same colour, and carried over to the cool side of the picture by the 
 red mantle of the arms upon the curtain, its strings and tassels. We 
 here perceive the green situated between the blue and yellow ; and the 
 red interwoven with the mass of dark. This practice of keeping his red 
 on the shadow side of the picture Rubens learned of the Venetian 
 painters, as by its strength it would destroy the breadth of light, but 
 supports the shadows, and prevents them from being heavy. We may 
 also notice that red is a colour falling into shadow when a picture is 
 placed in a faint light, and that in twilight it becomes a dark. This may 
 be one reason why black and red produce harmony, and contribute to the 
 richness and strength of a work. If the shadow of a picture be supported 
 by warm colours, the effect must be splendid, even though the light 
 should be cold ; but if the warm and strong colours be used in the light, 
 and surrounded with cool colours, nothing will prevent the work from 
 being heavy and flat. 
 
 Plate VII. Fig. 2 is from the picture of "Titian and his Mistress" in 
 the Louvre. In this composition we perceive the same simplicity and 
 breadth which regulates his greater works. His principal light spreads 
 itself into the two extremes of hot and cold colours with the gentlest 
 harmony ; the white linen unites itself with the tints of the flesh, which is 
 softened into the ground by the yellow tint of the hair, rendered delicate 
 and supported by the still stronger colour of the figure with the glass in 
 his hand, viz. brown and deep lake ; thus deepening the colours as they 
 lose themselves into the background. As the light descends, it loses 
 itself in the cool portion of the picture passing over green, gray, and 
 blue. The keeping of the two extremes of hot and cold colour at opposite 
 sides of the composition, the using of such colours as enrich and support 
 the chiaroscuro, may be remarked even in this work; which, from its 
 taking in but a portion of the figure, affords so little space for arrange- 
 ment of colour. 
 
 I 
 
58 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 Plate VII. Fig. 3 is " The Portrait of Bentivoglio," by Vandyck, in 
 the Gallery at Florence. This celebrated picture was painted when 
 Vandyck visited Rome, after studying some time the splendid works of 
 the Venetian painters ; and, though he was then but twenty years of age, 
 is considered one of his best works. Reynolds, in his notes to Du Fresnoy, 
 speaking of the variety necessary in a single figure adds : u It is not 
 certain that the variety recommended in a single figure can with equal 
 success be extended to colouring. The difficulty will be in diffusing the 
 colours of the drapery of this single figure to other distant parts of the 
 picture ; for this is what harmony requires. This difficulty, however, 
 seems to be evaded in the works of Titian, Vandyck, and many others, 
 by dressing their single figures in black or white. Vandyck, in the 
 famous portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio, was confined in his dress to 
 crimson velvet and white linen : he has, therefore, made the curtain in 
 the background of the same crimson colour, and the white is diffused by 
 a letter which lies on the table ; and a bunch of flowers is likewise 
 introduced for the same purpose." 
 
 We may also notice the table cover, which is also deep crimson velvet. 
 The warm colours are harmonized by a half tone in the oaken floor; the 
 white and cool grays find a union and repose in the colour of the sky and 
 architecture. This mode of regulating the background by the dress of 
 the figure gives to the whole the greatest breadth and the most har- 
 monious effect. Titian, Vandyck, and others may have been regulated 
 in their colours by the dresses of those who sat to them ; but the advan- 
 tages resulting from their practice have rendered their works so many 
 precedents. For example, we know that bringing the strongest darks in 
 contact with the strongest lights gives the latter the greatest force and 
 clearness ; and dark dresses enable the artist to do this in the simplest 
 manner ; thereby giving the face and hands firmness, consequence, and 
 brilliancy of effect. Or if a light dress be adopted, these points of light 
 (the face and hands) are united with the figure in one great mass of 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 59 
 
 light; and on the background we must rely in giving the work solidity. 
 Many artists, when the dress is black, use the background as a middle tint 
 for the flesh and the drapery ; and, when the dress is of a middle tint, 
 keep the background dark, to unite the lights of the flesh with the figure ; 
 simplicity of effect being more necessary in a portrait than in any other 
 work ; since the face ought to be the great point of attraction, and many 
 lights and a diversity of colours distract the attention of the spectator. 
 Rubens and Vandyck have produced this simplicity by a union of the 
 figure with its ground in a variety of ways, either by carrying the colours 
 of the figure into the background, as in the example here given, or by 
 making some part of the dress of the same colour as the ground. Thus 
 we often find in the portraits of Rubens and Vandyck a scarf, of a stone 
 or drab colour, to unite the figure with the ground, and also to give the 
 tints of the flesh clearness and delicacy. Reynolds justly observes that 
 the management of the background requires the greatest skill and the 
 most comprehensive knowledge of the art. 
 
 " It must be in union with the figure, so as not to have the appearance 
 of being inlaid, like Holbein's portraits, which are often on a bright green 
 or blue ground. To prevent this effect, the ground must partake of the 
 colour of the figure ; or, as expressed in a subsequent line, receive all the 
 treasures of the palette. The background regulates likewise where and 
 in what part the figure is to be relieved. When the form is beautiful, 
 it is to be seen distinctly ; when, on the contrary, it is uncouth or too 
 angular, it may be lost in the ground. Sometimes a light is introduced 
 in order to join and extend the light on the figure, and the dark side of 
 the figure is lost in a still darker background; for the fewer the outlines 
 are which cut against the ground, the richer will be the effect, as the 
 contrary produces what is called the dry manner. 
 
 « One of the arts of supplying the defects of a scantiness of dress by 
 means of the background, may be observed in a whole length portrait by 
 Vandyck, which is in the cabinet of the Duke of Montagu. The dress 
 
60 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 of this figure would have had an ungraceful effect ; he has, therefore, by 
 means of a light background opposed to the light of the figure, and by 
 help of a curtain that catches the light near the figure, made the effect 
 of the whole together full and rich to the eye." 
 
 PLATE VIII. 
 
 Fig. I represents "An Interior," by P. de Hooge ; an artist who 
 carried the highest principle of the art into the humblest walks, and 
 thereby gave a consequence, by his decided management . of the chiar- 
 oscuro and colour to the most trifling circumstance ; stamping the whole 
 with the firmness and truth of nature. In his works we generally find 
 some strong effect of light represented, either upon the broad principle 
 of Cuyp, with the darks telling powerfully, or in the subdued tones of 
 Rembrandt, for the sake of imitating a particular effect of sunshine. 
 
 In this composition the strong darks and lights are of the most 
 powerful character, and are brought in contact in the most cutting 
 manner in the centre of the group. The black is extended by the hat 
 of the figure sitting at the window, and the trunk behind the door; also 
 repeated by the black frame. The principal light is composed of the 
 light dresses of the females, and is extended and repeated by the light 
 in the closet, in the window, by the dog, and by the linen of the men ; 
 and is diffused upon the wall. The mass of red, formed by the petticoat 
 of the female sitting, keeps up with the powerful opposition of the black 
 and white; and contributes to the harmony, from its strength of colour, 
 without destroying the consequence of either. It is repeated by the back 
 of the chair, and by the cushion ; and is carried across by some warm 
 colour in the glass and upon the outer window frame. The yellow jacket 
 
Zha* S. 
 
 DeHooge. 
 
 'tOnJvn.TuhXsb&l bv J. Giro 'enter 3c Son, Old BonJ Street 2SZ7. 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 61 
 
 makes a focus or point for the yellow colour of the table cover, and is 
 diffused by the floor, and the cabinet in the distant apartment. The blue 
 upon the chair-cover, and the cool tint of the wall in the passage, and 
 upon the window, constitute the cold colours of the picture. The dark 
 wood this master generally keeps of a warm brown, to prevent its inter- 
 fering with the value of his black dresses. We may observe the great 
 simplicity of the whole arrangement ; and that the darks, lights, and 
 strong colours take each agreeable forms ; which circumstance enables 
 the artist to give them the greatest force of the palette, without offending 
 the eye. The nearest object is here brought under the most distant; 
 which is often the case with the Dutch masters, to assist the perspective. 
 The blue and red coming in contact on the chair, assists it in keeping its 
 place ; and the cool tint in the passage gives a greater appearance of light 
 to the distant apartment. 
 
 Plate VIII. Fig. 2. In representing an effect of sunshine, De Hooge 
 has confined his light to small portions ; thereby giving these portions 
 a greater value. He has kept his middle tint of a low tone ; and to 
 prevent the whole having a heavy effect, he has kept his blacks firm and 
 positive. The yellow lights of the sunshine he has extended by repeating 
 them by a range of red colours, viz. the woman's jacket, the chairs, and 
 shoes on the floor. He has also given a little of the same colour in the 
 window, by representing the tiling, &c. of the houses without. He has 
 brought the red in contact with the blue of the woman's petticoat, and 
 carried it across the picture by the colour of the Dutch tiles skirting 
 the wall, and by the plate upon the chair. This subject, like many of 
 De Hooge's, is confined to simple effect of light taken from natural 
 objects. The half-shut window is accounted for in the original, by the 
 book having the word mors upon it, and the picture on the wall representing 
 a funeral procession indicates the solemn quietness of a sick chamber. In 
 these two subjects of De Hooge, we perceive strong red made use of as 
 
62 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS 
 
 the principal colour. In others of the Dutch school, and frequently in the 
 Venetian masters, we may observe the same harmony. 
 
 Plate VIII. Fig. 3. " Strolling Musicians at a Cottage Door." In this 
 composition by A. Ostade, we find the warm and cold colours placed 
 upon opposite sides, and upon the most prominent points. In the nearest 
 part of the circle he has brought the strong black and white in contact 
 by the spots upon the dog. 
 
 Fig. 4. " An Interior," by A. Ostade. The cool colour accompanies 
 the light in its entrance into the apartment by the blue dress of the child, 
 and the jacket of the man smoking. It communicates with the dresses 
 through the centre of the picture, and is led off by the blue dress of 
 the figure near the window, and the colour of the sky. The red com- 
 mences on the opposite figure, and is conducted across in a contrary 
 direction. In so small a scale little can be given, but the situation of 
 the hot and cold colours, leaving undefined the whole chain of inter- 
 mediate tints ; but, in making memorandums from pictures, the student 
 will find giving only the principal colours, with their several directions in 
 passing through the composition, will enable him more easily to detect 
 the different modes of employing these two extremes, in giving either 
 breadth or brilliancy to any work. Secondary colours, introduced for 
 the sake of harmony in diffusing the principal, or in giving them value, 
 are of too delicate a nature to be rioted down, without the greatest care j 
 as we find if too hot, or too cold, they injure the value of that which they 
 are intended to support. In referring to the several sketches of colour 
 contained in this part of the work, I have endeavoured to point out the 
 various combinations of the several colours, and their results ; but if I 
 have not sufficiently dilated upon any subject, it must be remembered 
 that these hints are to be considered as mere heads upon which the 
 student must employ his own contemplations. That which is gained by 
 
ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 63 
 
 reflection and study will, however, be of more service to him in the 
 pursuit of the art than lengthened criticism ; since what we acquire with 
 some trouble, we retain ; while information obtained without effort often 
 makes but a transient impression. 
 
 In directing the student's attention to the contemplation of the works 
 of the several schools, 1 would have him bear in mind the advice of Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds, who takes every opportunity of recommending a con- 
 tinued study of the works of former artists : 
 
 " The great use of studying our predecessors is to open the mind, to 
 shorten our labour, and to give us the result of the selection made by 
 those great minds of what is grand or beautiful in nature : her rich stores 
 are all spread out before us ; but it is an art, and no easy art, to know 
 how or what to choose ; and how to obtain and secure the object of our 
 choice. Thus the highest beauty of form must be taken from nature; 
 but it is an art of long deduction and great experience to know how to 
 find it. We must not content ourselves with merely admiring and 
 relishing; we must enter into the principles on which the work is 
 wrought: these do not swim on the superficies, and consequently are not 
 open to superficial observers. 
 
 * Art in its perfection is not ostentatious ; it lies hid, and works its 
 effect, itself unseen. It is the proper study and labour of an artist to 
 uncover and find out the latent cause of conspicuous beauties ; and from 
 thence form principles for his own conduct: such an examination is a 
 continual exertion of the mind, as great, perhaps, as that of the artist 
 whose works he is thus studying. The sagacious imitator does not 
 content himself with merely remarking what distinguishes the different 
 manner or genius of each master ; he enters into the contrivance in the 
 composition, how the masses of lights are disposed, the means by which 
 the effect is produced, how artfully some parts are lost in the ground, 
 others boldly relieved, and how all these are mutually altered and 
 interchanged according to the reason and scheme of the work. He 
 
64 
 
 PRACTICAL HINTS ON COLOUR IN PAINTING. 
 
 admires not the harmony of colouring alone, but examines by what 
 artifice one colour is a foil to its neighbour. He looks close into the 
 tints, examines of what colours they are composed, till he has formed 
 clear and distinct ideas, and has learned to see in what harmony and 
 good colouring consist. What is learned in this manner from the works 
 of others becomes really our own, sinks deep, and is never forgotten ; 
 nay, it is by seizing on this clue that we proceed forward, and get 
 further and further in enlarging the principles and improving the practice 
 of our art." 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 CHISWICK : 
 PRINTED BY C WHITTINGHAM.