Colour as a Means of Art Part 2

[Ill.u.s.tration: LUDOVICO CARACCI'S PRINCIPLE]

CHAPTER II.

SECTION VI.

LUDOVICO CARACCI'S PRINCIPLE.

Ludovico Caracci followed the Venetian school, but subdued the colours of the whole picture, to what Sir Joshua Reynolds calls a "cloistered tone," the effect of a "dim religious light, through storied pane."

Neither white nor black are admitted: the deepest shadows do not descend below a rich brown; the brightest lights do not rise above a creamy yellow. The blue is no longer opposed to a brown of the same relative shade, but is introduced in the half-lights, and carefully blended into the shadows, by means of warm reflections, and the interposition of reddish purple shadows. The Chiaroscuro is broader and more tranquil than in the works of the Venetian school. Plate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANOTHER PRINCIPLE OF t.i.tIAN]

CHAPTER II.

SECTION VII.

ANOTHER PRINCIPLE OF t.i.tIAN.

t.i.tian has adopted another principle in the painted ceiling of the Hall of Judgment, in the Ducal palace at Venice. Pure greys are interspersed amongst ma.s.ses of bright crimson, which are opposed to some pure white and blue, broken by flesh tints. The reds and greys are supported by some warm yellows, and the whole a.s.similated by rich brown shadows. The contrasts of colour and Chiaroscuro are vivid, and require care in the shapes, as well as the situations of the ma.s.ses and points of relief. Plate.

This principle of colouring is applicable to gorgeous historical subjects, portraits, and flowers. Sir Thomas Lawrence frequently adopted it with a slight variation, resulting from the combination of some portion of the following principle which was developed by Rubens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RUBEN'S PRINCIPLE]

CHAPTER II.

SECTION VIII.

RUBENS' PRINCIPLE.

Rubens is the founder of another school in which the most violent contrasts of colour and Chiaroscuro are admitted in the focus of the picture. The deepest black, supported by rich yellows, crimsons, and blues, is opposed to the brightest vermilion, sometimes heightened with gold, and the purest white, which is graduated through every variety of pearly tint into bright blues, interspersed with purply greys, creamy and fleshy half-tints.

Great simplicity of Chiaroscuro is requisite in this style of colouring. Both the white and the black must graduate uninterruptedly into the half-lights, which form the greater part of the picture. The crimsons, blues, and yellows, that support the black, must all partake of the same tone. The vermilion must graduate into purply tints, which will emerge through greys and greens to the bright blue. Plate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TURNER'S PRINCIPLE]

CHAPTER II.

SECTION IX.

TURNER'S PRINCIPLE.

Turner has controverted the old doctrine of a balance of colours, by showing that a picture may be made up of delicately graduated blues and white, supported by pale cool green, and enlivened by a point of rich brownish crimson. It requires some care in the graduation and shapes of the ma.s.ses of blue and white, and in the situation of the point of colour. Plate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANOTHER PRINCIPLE OF TURNER]

CHAPTER II.

SECTION X.

ANOTHER PRINCIPLE OF TURNER.

Another principle adopted by Turner is, to contrast rich autumnal yellows in the foreground, with a brilliant Italian blue sky, graduated through a series of exquisitely delicate pearly tints, to meet the cooler green tints of the middle ground. The warm colours in the foreground are qualified by purply half-tints, and supported by warm shadows and some rich crimsons; or sometimes reduced to comparative sobriety by the opposition of the brightest orange and white. Plate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MODERN MANNER]

CHAPTER II.

SECTION XI.

MODERN MANNER.

A very favourite manner of the present day is partially to relieve a tower, steeple, spire, or some upright object, rendered of a purple colour, against a white cloud which is graduated with purply greys, creamy and fleshy tints, and opposed to some bright patches of blue; the lower part of the building or object is graduated through cool greens or greys, into some warmer yellows or browns in the foreground, which are interspersed with points of bright colours, such as Cobalt blue, Vermilion, Lake, and sometimes white and black, but always introducing in front some dull red, as of bricks or tiles, contrasted with fresh greys. Plate.

CHAPTER II.

SECTION XII.

ABSTRACT PRINCIPLES TO WHICH THESE ARRANGEMENTS MAY BE REFERRED.

These several styles of colouring may be reduced to certain abstract principles, which may be made the foundation for other and different arrangements, as the taste and talent of the artist or amateur may dictate.

Pictures may be made up of a balance, or harmonic arrangement of TONES.

Or, of a balance, or harmonic arrangement of COLOURS.

Or, of a balance, or harmonic arrangement of TONES and COLOURS.

Or, by relieving a SPARK of COLOUR against a ma.s.s of TONES.

Or, by relieving a spot of black or white, _the concentration of_ TONES, against a general aspect of COLOURS.

Pictures may be warm in tone, qualified by so much cool tint as will prevent their appearing hot.

Or cool, with so much warm tint as will prevent their appearing cold.

A small spark of bright colour will balance a large ma.s.s of subdued tint. Equal brightness will require equal ma.s.ses.

For the principles by which the shapes and situations of ma.s.ses and points must be governed, the reader is referred to the Sketcher's Manual, where they will be found at length, and carefully ill.u.s.trated.

The same regulations that govern the distribution of several lights or shadows, must guide the positions of several ma.s.ses of the same colour. If two or more are introduced, they must not be equal in size, nor similar in shape, nor must they be so placed, that a line drawn through them, would be either horizontal or vertical--parallel with either base or side. The great principle of colouring being Variety within the limits of Harmony, such ma.s.ses of similar tints should be of different sizes and shapes, and should be interspersed at different distances through the picture, so as to suggest an undulating line, traversing all, or at least three, of the four quarters of the picture, that all the particular colour shall not be on one side, and none on the other, nor all at the lower, and none in the upper half of the picture. But if the arrangement of relieving a spark of colour against a ma.s.s of tones, or the reverse be adopted, it must not be placed in the centre of the picture, nor equidistant from either top and base, or the two sides.