The Use of a Box of Colours Part 3

The outline of the shadow should partake of the forms, at its edges, of the character of the surface receiving, as well as the one giving it.

In many, otherwise, excellent pictures of Claude's, the sun is placed at, or near the point of sight: so that all the shadows, running from that point, almost mechanically carry the eye into the picture. Whatever of good may proceed from this arrangement, its purpose is too easily detected; and it has an artificial effect.

Da Vinci says, 'The appearance of _motion_ is lessened, according to the distance, in the same proportion as objects diminish in size.'

Open the side of a book against the light, and observe the gradations of shadow on the leaf.

If you turn half a sheet of paper up against the light (in the manner of the book), it will explain, by its shadows on the parallel part, the phenomena of half or demi-tint.

In any body that has many indentures, there will be many shadows and their grades: that body will have a greenish hue over its superfice, where the light falls on it. To keep the colour of that light pure, in this instance, requires great management; as the markings of the ma.s.ses of foliage, &c., receiving the light. And yet, without these markings, or as it were carrying the shadow into the light, it would look _bald_.

As this is done cleverly, so it will have the effect of subduing the harshness of the lights; which not being in compact ma.s.ses, lose their force.

I often rumple a piece of paper, to observe the infinite variety of its shadows. And place a ball against the light, on a white surface, and observe its gradations. So, if you roll up a sheet of white paper, and lay it on a white surface, against the light, or make it stand up, it will describe the gradations of a column.

It is a very excellent method to keep a solid square, a solid sphere, a cylinder or tube, a cone (make a paper one), a cup, &c., by you, and place them in various directions in the light, making various memoranda of their lights, shadows, and reflexes, in one colour. By this means, light and shade will soon become familiar, and the task get easier at every trial.

A piece of white paper _folded several ways_, and laid on a table against the light, will reveal all the different degrees of shade. Then, observe the highest light and the deepest shade, with their gradations.

Observe, in a room with one window, having chairs, tables, sofas, &c. in it, where and how their shadows fall. This will a.s.suredly lead the mind into the mysteries of light and shade, which must end in knowledge. At the very least, the power to see things as they are!

To render bodies in sunshine, the shadows must be dark, and marked strongly and _distinctly_, and the lights extended and broad. So, _in-door_ objects have equally strong shadows, with the lights and shades _distinctly_ divided and precise. All should, as a peremptory rule, receive the light from above. The light should come in from a sufficient height to give a shadow on the ground the same length as the object is high.

If any projection occurs on a plain on which a shadow is thrown, the shadow takes the _form_ of the projection, as it _pa.s.ses_ it; but, if it ends _upon it_, the shadow will be shaped by the _object_ that flung it, still qualified by the section of the projection. The rough surfaces of many things would describe the same in a lesser degree.

Light objects, as they retire, become darker; and dark ones, lighter; but light ones are seen at a greater distance than dark.

The darkest opposing object brought up against the most retiring, should not extend itself to the edges of the picture, but let the half tints creep in, to bring the light down with more effect--diffusing it more extensively.

The shadow on the ground on which it is thrown, should be darker than the object projecting it; and, if the object be round, a reflected light will be found on the edge where it joins the shadow, as in a column.

I placed a chair in the shade, and the sun's _reflection_ threw a _shadow_ from it!

The light of every body is qualified by the ground that surrounds it.

Breadth is acquired by blending the light parts of the figures with the light of the ground; and the same rule will apply to the shadows.

When the ground of the picture is mostly dark, the lights, in my opinion, should take some one or other good decided _form_ in composition, in their developement, as their meaning is only to be explained by themselves. (_Plate 4._)

If a single light or luminous ma.s.s be surrounded on all sides by a dark ground, one or more of its edges should be strong and cutting; and if a dark centre be placed on a light ground, if the same management be not observed, it will look like a hole.

Leonardo says 'The ground which surrounds the figures in any painting, ought to be _darker_ than the light part of those figures, and lighter than the shadowed part.'

Great beauty is obtained by laying the shadowed part of an object against a darker ground; the light receiving increased brightness from this arrangement, and the softness of the shadow on the light side being nearly imperceptible, gives great relief and beauty. This mode is much resorted to in the management of portraits, while it equally applies to landscape.

Most _repose_ is obtained by placing a light group or object on the light side of the picture, and dark objects on the dark side, as no interference of the one or the other then occurs to disturb the ma.s.ses; but the effect will be less than when carried the one into the other, and the difficulty of uniting the two parts become greater.

In some of the best works of Ostade, and many of the Dutch school, a dark figure or group is brought out from a darker background, with great brilliance, and even force, when the colour of the one is cold, and the other warm.

Corregio's management of light and shade placed him in the highest sphere of this department of the art.

An object or figure, having a dark and a light side, the dark side being opposed to the light part of the ground, and the light side coming off the darker part, will have great effect.

When a dark body terminates on a light ground, it will detach itself. If a round object, it will not carry its light to the extremity of its outline, but finish in a half shade, darker than the ground.

A large ma.s.s of light in the middle of the picture, surrounded by shadow, is a rule; and, when reversed, has an equally imposing effect.

(_Plate 2, fig. 5._)

The largest division of the light and the dark parts of a picture, so they differ in quant.i.ty, will of necessity produce the greatest breadth; but the extent and magnitude of that breadth will be entirely qualified by the judicious management employed in producing a union between them.

One greatly approved method of producing this effect is, by bringing the light up to a brilliant focus, and absorbing the shadows into the darkest obscurity; while the larger portion of the work is pervaded by the half light and the half dark, as well as their shadows by strong local colour; while those in the shadow should come out sharp and distinct. The vigour of the light will dissolve all chance of influence in the half tints; while the extreme depth of the shadow, carried perhaps to a little excess, will gather up and absorb all the subordinate shadows. (_Plate 1, figs. 5 and 6._)

Marking, with a stump and bit of black lead, when we are abroad, the princ.i.p.al points, in sketching from nature; and noticing in what manner those points refer to, and a.s.sist each other; tracing their effects, and ascertaining the laws that bring them harmoniously, or by contrast, together, is the best method to be pursued for the arrangement of our own ideas in composing. Sketches so obtained, should be preserved as models to exercise the invention by.

A more distinct idea of light and shade is best obtained by the use of one colour only, as many only tend to perplex the eye, and divert the attention from the great object that should be distinctly kept in view.

In laying on the tints (of one colour only), the method to be pursued is as follows:--Mix the separate shades in separate saucers, three, four, or five, as may be required; keep the board you have previously strained the paper on inclined at moderate elevation, that the colour may flow freely; lay in the sky first; the farthest distance next; then all those ma.s.ses of shadow which princ.i.p.ally influence the division and interest of the picture; working downwards to the foreground from the middle distance, using a large brush, filled with colour, to produce clearness and transparency. Then proceed to delicately touch upon the lights, in order to blend them with the shadows, that they may not appear too abrupt, as well as to break down their asperity, and prevent the work looking bald. Now a darker shade than any should be mixed up, to put in the markings of the foliage and foreground, rocks, or whatever the composition may consist of. Lay the whole on with freedom and boldness; and, if any parts require strength, they may be lightly floated over again, when quite dry.

Do not disturb the surface of the paper more than can be avoided; and endeavour to keep all the tints _even_, or flat, in the first instance, without attention to the details. Always mind to take up enough of the colour at once to cover down the s.p.a.ce intended, without sweeping it contrary ways. Thick rough paper is the best.

The power of making large ma.s.ses of flat tints, commonly comes of great practice; it is, therefore, necessary that this difficulty is conquered, before attempting to blend them.

The use of that important thing, in the hands of an artist, the sponge, must be taught and seen to be understood.

The most forcible arrangement in the composition of light and shade is, where it is spread and diffused, until reaching the strongest point; which point, opposed immediately to the most retiring part, and clothed in strong colour, will have the effect of balancing and combining the most complicated forms, that, but for this method, had been all confusion.

If a sketch be too outliny, it will want solidity; if too much filled in, it will be heavy.

Do not let the lights be too scattered, or too equal, lest the struggle for precedence be observed.

When clouds are interposed between the sun and the object, the shadows will be soft, and their terminations almost imperceptible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Light and Shade Plate 2

C. Hullmandel's Patent.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Light and Shade Plate 3]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Light and Shade Plate 4]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Light and Shade Plate 5.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Light and Shade Plate 6.]

In conclusion, the concentration, the diffusion, or the contrast of light and shade, is best understood from a few blots made from the pictures of those great masters, who strike us as having excelled most in this department of the art, carefully preserving their arrangements, and applying them to our own compositions, until we feel and think like them. And a very little practice, in pursuing this method, will place the student in as quick a habit of effecting it, as of writing down his thoughts, together with the immeasurable advantage of s.n.a.t.c.hing from Nature her faultless effects of chiaroscuro--let them be as fleeting as they may--and the lights and shades of _our own minds_ will influence the effect they have on the minds of others.