CHAPTER II.
_On the Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colours in relation to Paper-Hangings with Figures, Landscapes, or large Flowers of varied Colours._
376. The study which I recommend to artists occupied in fabricating paper-hangings, is in some measure that immediately applicable to every pictorial composition, or, in other words, the tapestry of figures and landscapes. But, whatever be the merit of paper-hangings of this category, they are not sought by persons of refined taste, and they do not appear to me destined to be any more so in future, for the twofold reason that the taste for arabesques, painted upon walls, or upon wood, and that for lithographs, engravings, and paintings, is spreading every day. These last three objects exclude, at least, all those papers with figures and coloured landscapes.
377. The applications of the law of contrast to this class of paper-hangings are easy, when we thoroughly understand the divisions of the book to which I referred above. In order to prove the advantage to be derived from the knowledge of this law, I need only refer to the bad effect presented by contiguous bands of two tones of the same scale of grey (serving as the ground to the figure of an infant), in consequence of the contrast of tone arising from their juxtaposition (321).
378. _On the Law of Simultaneous Contrast of Colours in relation to Paper-hangings with Designs in a Single Colour, or in Colours but slightly varied._
The remarks in 372 are applicable here also, as are those of 374. The best executed, and in the best taste, are those with black figures, or of figures much darker than the ground.
Paper-hangings, I do not say the most tasteful, but those most convenient for use, present very light grounds, with white or grey figures.
379. Grey patterns, upon papers tinted of a light colour, exhibit the phenomenon of maximum contrast; that is to say, the grey appears coloured with the complementary of the ground.
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.]
Thus, conformably to the law, (Plate 14)
Grey patterns upon a _Rose_ ground appear _Green_. ” ” ” an _Orange_ ” ” _Blue_. ” ” ” a _Yellow_ ” ” _Violet or Lilac_. ” ” ” a _Green_ ” ” _Rose_. ” ” ” a _Blue_ ” ” _Orange-grey_. ” ” ” a _Violet_ ” ” _Yellow_.
380. I mention these examples to instruct artists, for, in manufactories of paper-hangings, disputes arise between the proprietors and the preparers of the colours. For instance, a few years ago, the proprietors of one of the first manufactories in Paris, wishing to print grey patterns upon grounds of apple green and of rose, refused to believe that his colour preparer had given any _grey_ to the printer, because the designs printed on these grounds appeared coloured with the complementaries of the colour of the ground. It was only when the colour preparer, having attended a lecture I gave for M. Vauquelin, at the Museum of Natural History, and hearing me speak of the mistakes that these contrasts of colours might occasion, suspected the cause of the effects which he had unconsciously produced, and which had really caused him much annoyance.
OF THE LAW OF SIMULTANEOUS CONTRAST OF COLOURS RELATIVELY TO THE BORDERS OF PAPER-HANGINGS.
381. Every paper of one colour, or one belonging to the second category, should receive a border generally darker and more complex in design and colour than the paper which it frames.
The assortment of two papers exercises a very great influence on the effects they are capable of producing; for each of them may be of a fine colour, ornamented with designs in the best taste, yet their effect will be mediocre, or even bad, because the assortment will not be conformable to the law of contrast.
382. The ground of a border contributes greatly to the beauty of the pattern, whether this be of flowers, ornaments, or any other object. As we cannot treat of this influence in an absolute or methodical manner, I shall select a certain number of remarkable facts which I have had occasion to observe, and I shall principally dwell on those from which we can deduce conclusions, which, apparently not flowing from previous observation, might escape many readers, in spite of the great interest they have in knowing them. Besides, the exhibition of these facts will give me occasion to apply the law of contrast to designs presenting many tones of the same scale, and of different hues, and also often of different scales, more or less distant from each other. I shall not treat of simple borders, presenting black or grey designs upon a uniform ground, for I have already spoken of the modifications which in this case black designs undergo (374), and grey designs also (379).
383. The design of a border, either of ornaments, flowers, or any other object, being cut out and pasted upon a white card, designs identical with the preceding, which had been pasted upon cardboard, were then cut out, and placed upon grounds of black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet; then compared, not only by myself, but also by many persons whose eyes are much accustomed to seeing colours. When we had perfectly agreed upon their value, the results were noted as follows:—
1.—BORDER OF EIGHT INCHES IN HEIGHT, REPRESENTING GILT ORNAMENTS UPON DIFFERENT GROUNDS.
Plate 15.
[Illustration: PLATE XV.]
384. These ornaments, executed by the ordinary processes of paper-staining, contained no particle of metallic gold; yellow, lakes, and orange, of different tones and hues, had been exclusively employed in their production. After having stated the modifications which the painted gilt ornaments experience from the colour of the grounds, I shall indicate those which the metallic gilt ornaments receive comparatively from the same grounds; this comparison presenting results which appear to me interesting.
_Black Ground._
385. Painted gilt ornaments placed upon black ground, compared with the same ornaments placed on a white ground, appear much more distinct than the latter; because the yellows and orange-yellows, colours eminently luminous, and the black ground, which reflects no light, give rise to contrast of tone, which the white ground, essentially luminous, cannot give with the colours which are themselves luminous. (See 53.)
We perceive thus, that the colours placed upon black are lowered in tone; but it must be noted that yellows and orange-yellows, far from being weakened (58), would only cause the black to gain in purity.
In considering more particularly the effects of two grounds, we see that a black imparts a red to the ornaments, and it is important to remark that the brightness of this red, instead of reddening the yellows, really gilds them. (See 394.)
We may thus understand how black, in taking away some grey, imparts brilliancy, and how this grey, which may be considered as a tarnished or subdued blue, may, with yellow, produce an olive colour. It is also necessary to remark, that the gilt ornaments in question present an olive-grey tint, which, far from being diminished by the white ground, is exalted by it.
Although the black ground lowers the tone of the colours, while white heightens them, it lowers yellow more in proportion than red, and consequently renders the ornaments redder than they appear upon a white ground; and, in taking away the grey, it purifies the colours, and acts also by giving them some red, or by taking away some green.
_Metallic Gilt Ornaments._
386. Gilt ornaments stand out better from black than from white, but the orange colour is weakened and really impoverished. The black ground then does not purify the real gilt ornaments as it does the painted imitation of gold.
_Deep Red Ground._
The yellows are more luminous, the whole effect with the painted ornament is clearer, more brilliant, less grey than upon a white ground.
Red much deeper than the ornament, lowers the tone of it; and this effect is also augmented by the addition of its complementary, green, a bright colour.
This example is of much importance, enabling us to see how the red, which appears as though it could be of but little advantage to ornaments, because it tends to weaken them by making them greener, is notwithstanding favourable, because the lightening or weakening of the colour is more than compensated for by the brilliancy of the complementary of the ground which is added to the yellow. We shall return to this effect in a moment. There is this analogy between the influence of the red ground and that of the black ground, that the tone of the colour is lowered; but there is this difference, that the ornaments become green on the first, while they become orange upon the second.
387. The red ground is not so advantageous for gilt ornaments as it is for the painted imitations of them, because the metal loses too much of its orange colour, and appears inferior to gold upon a black ground.
The red ground appears darker, and more violet than the ground upon which painted ornaments are placed.
Grounds of a light-red are still less favourable to the gold than red grounds of a dark tone.
_Orange Ground deeper than the Ornaments._
388. The painted ornaments are bluer or rather greener than upon a white ground. The yellow and orange are singularly lower in tone.
This ground, then, is very disadvantageous to ornaments, as might have been expected.
389. Orange is not favourable to metallic gilt. The metal becomes too white, while the orange ground is redder and more vivid than that upon which the painted ornaments are placed.
_Yellow Ground of Chromate of Lead more brilliant than the Yellow of the Ornaments._
390. The yellow of the painted ornaments is excessively enfeebled by the complementary of the ground which is added to it, the ornaments appear grey in comparison with those upon a white ground.
391. The yellow ground is not so unfavourable to gilt ornaments as it is to painted ones. The first assortment may, in certain cases, be recommended.
The yellow appears more intense, and perhaps greener.
_Bright Green Ground._
392. Painted ornaments are darker upon a bright green ground than upon a red or white ground. They have acquired some red, but not the brilliant tint which is given to them by black—it is a brick-red tint.
393. It follows from the comparison of the effects of ornaments upon red and upon green grounds, that the first is much more advantageous than the second, because it adds an essentially brilliant tint to the colour of the ornaments, while the latter, adding red, or taking away green, produces a brick-red.
394. Upon a bright green ground, _metallic gilt ornaments_ acquire red, as the painted ornaments do, while the red, not sensibly diminishing the brilliancy of the metal, but, on the contrary, augmenting the intensity of its colour, produces an excellent effect.
The green ground is more intense and bluer than the same ground upon which the painted ornaments are placed.
395. The study of the effects of red and of green grounds upon painted ornaments, on the one hand, and upon gilt ornaments on the other, is extremely interesting to paperstainers and decorators; it demonstrates to them the necessity of taking into consideration, in the juxtaposition of bodies which it is proposed to associate, the brilliancy which these bodies naturally possess, and the brilliancy we wish to impart to them, if they have none. The preceding examples (386, 394) explain why the paperstainer will choose dark red instead of green for his gilt ornaments, and why a decorator will prefer green to red for the colour of the hangings of a show-room of gilt bronzes, gilt clocks, &c.
_Blue Ground._
396. Observation agrees perfectly with the law that it is really upon a blue ground, that painted ornaments, whose dominant colour is the complementary of blue, show themselves to the greatest advantage with respect to intensity of the gold-yellow colour. This effect more than compensates for the slight difference which may result from the red ground giving a little more brilliancy. The ornaments upon the latter ground, compared with those on the blue, are less coloured and appear whiter.
With _metallic gilt ornaments_ the blue ground is deeper and less violet than with painted ornaments.
_Violet Ground._
397. Conformably to the law, the violet ground giving greenish-yellow to the painted ornaments, is favourable to them; they appear on this ground less olive-grey, more brilliant than upon the white ground, and less green than upon the red ground.
_Metallic gilt ornaments_ stand out quite as well, the ground is raised in tone, and the violet appears bluer or less red.
398. It is remarkable that gilt ornaments, compared with their painted imitations, heighten all the grounds upon which they are placed. We cannot say that this metal causes the grounds to lose their brilliancy, for orange gaining some red, by the juxtaposition of the gold, appears, nevertheless, more brilliant than the orange in juxtaposition with the painted ornaments. The gold, by its orange colour, gives also some blue, its complementary, to bodies which surround it.
2.—BORDER OF FOUR INCHES IN BREADTH PRESENTING ORNAMENTS COMPOSED OF FESTOONS OF BLUE FLOWERS, OF WHICH THE EXTREMITIES ARE HELD BY GREY LEAVES OF ARABESQUES.
Plate 16.
399. These ornaments are opposed in some respects to the preceding by their dominant colour, which is blue.
_Black Ground._
400. Grey lowered three tones in comparison with grey; upon white less reddened.
Blue flowers lowered two tones at least.
_Red Ground._
401. The grey is greenish, while upon white it is reddish.
The blue flowers are lowered three tones, and the blue inclines to green.
_Orange Ground._
402. Grey much lowered; less red than upon white. Flowers paler, and of a blue less red or less violet, than upon a white ground.
_Yellow Ground._
403. Grey higher than upon white ground, more violet.
Flowers of a more violet-blue, less green than upon a white ground.
_Green Ground._
404. The grey is reddish, while upon a white ground it appears greenish.
The blue gains red or violet, but it loses much of its vivacity; it resembles some blues of the silk-vat, which, giving yellow to the water, become slaty-blue-violet.
[Illustration: PLATE XVI.]
_Blue Ground._
405. The blue ground being fresher than that of the ornament, it follows that it gives _orange_ to the blue of the flowers; that is to say, it _greys_ them in the most disagreeable manner.
The grey ornament is _oranged_, and lighter than upon the white ground.
_Violet Ground._
406. Grey lowered, yellowed, impoverished. Blue tends to green, and is impoverished.
3.—BORDER OF FIVE INCHES AND A HALF IN BREADTH, REPRESENTING ROSES WITH THEIR LEAVES.
Plate 17.
407. This border is particularly useful as an example of the effect of two colours, red and green, which are very common in the vegetable world, and often represented upon paper-hangings.
_Black Ground._
The green is less black, lighter, fresher, and purer, and its brown tones redder than upon a white ground. With respect to its lighter tones, I see them yellower, while, on the contrary, they appeared bluer to three persons accustomed to observe colours. This difference, as I at last found, arose from my comparing the general effect of leaves upon a black ground with that of leaves upon a white ground; while the other persons instituted their comparison more particularly upon the browns and the light tones of green, placed upon the same ground. This difference in the manner of seeing the same objects will be the subject of some remarks hereafter.
Rose lighter, yellower than upon a white ground.
_Dark Red Ground._
408. Green more beautiful, less black, lighter than upon a white ground.
Rose more lilac, perhaps, than upon a white ground. The good effect of the border upon this ground is due chiefly to the greatest part of the rose not being contiguous to red, but to green; because the border and the ground exhibit flowers, the rose of which contrasts with the green of their leaves; while the same green contrasts with the red of the ground, which is deeper and warmer than the colour of the flowers.
_Orange Ground._
409. The green lighter, a little bluer than upon a white ground.
Red much more violet than upon a white ground.
The general effect not agreeable.
_Yellow Ground._
410. Green bluer than upon a white ground.
Rose more violet, purer than upon a white ground.
The whole exhibits a good effect of contrast.
Green ground, the tone of which is nearly equal to that of the lights of the leaves, and the hue of which is a little bluer.
Green of the leaves lighter, yellower than upon a white ground.
Rose fresher, purer, more velvety than upon a white ground.
[Illustration: PLATE XVII.]
Ground of an agreeable effect from harmony of analogy with the colour of the leaves, and from harmony of contrast with the rose of the flowers.
_Blue Ground._
411. Green lighter, more golden than upon a white ground.
Rose yellower, less fresh than upon a white ground.
Although the green leaves do not exactly produce a bad effect upon the ground, yet the roses lose much of their freshness, and the appearance of the whole is not agreeable.
_Violet Ground._
412. Green yellower, lighter than upon a white ground.
Rose faded.
If the ground does not injure the green of the leaves, yet it injures the rose so much that it is not agreeable.
4.—BORDER OF SIX INCHES IN BREADTH, REPRESENTING WHITE FLOWERS, AS CHINA ASTER, POPPY, LILY OF THE VALLEY, ROSES; SOME RED FLOWERS, AS THE ROSE-WALLFLOWER SOME SCARLET OR ORANGE, AS THE POPPY, POMEGRANATE, TULIP; BIGNONIA AND VIOLET FLOWERS, AS LILAC, VIOLETS, AND TULIPS WITH GREEN LEAVES.
413. This border was remarkable for the pleasing combinations of the flowers among themselves, and of the flowers with their leaves. In spite of the multiplicity of colours, and of the hues of red and violet, there was no disagreeable juxtaposition, except that of a pomegranate next to a rose; but the contact only took place at one point, and the two flowers were in very different positions.
_Black Ground._
414. The whole lighter than upon a white ground.
Orange finer, brighter than upon a white ground.
White the same.
Green lighter, redder. The roses and the violets gain nothing from the black.
_Red-Brown Ground._
415. The whole lighter than upon a white ground.
Whites and greens of fine effect. An orange-flower contiguous to the ground, for the reason explained above (407), acquires a brilliancy which it has not upon a white ground.
_Orange Ground._
416. The whole more sombre, duller than upon a white ground. Orange-flowers and roses dull, lilacs bluer.
This assortment is not good.
_Yellow Ground._
417. The orange-flower contiguous to the ground evidently loses vivacity in comparison with the white ground.
The whites are less beautiful than upon a red ground.
The greens are bluer than upon a white ground.
The roses become bluer, the violets acquire some brilliancy.
The whole effect is good, because there is but little yellow in the border, and but little orange contiguous to the ground.
_Green Ground._
418. The ground being fresher than the green of the leaves, had not a good effect, relatively to them. On the other hand, the green in the border was in too small a quantity to produce a harmony of analogy, and it had not sufficient red for a harmony of contrast.
_Blue Ground._
419. The oranges have a fine effect, the greens were reddened as well as the whites. The roses and the lilacs lost some of their freshness.
This arrangement did not produce a good effect, because there was not sufficient yellow or orange in the border.
_Violet Ground._
420. Orange more beautiful than upon a white ground.
Roses, and violets especially, less beautiful than upon a white ground. A poor assortment.
_Grey Ground._
421. As might be easily foreseen, this ground was extremely favourable to all the colours of the border.
422. The examination we have just made of four sorts of borders enables us to verify the exactness of the conclusions which are directly deducible from the law of simultaneous contrast of colours, and presents to us effects which we could scarcely have deduced from the same law without the aid of experiment. I now speak—
1. Of the influence which a complementary exercises by imparting _brilliancy_ to the colour to which it is added.
2. Of the very different manner in which not only different people, but even the same person, will judge of the colours of a more or less complex pattern, having a certain number of colours, according to the attention the spectator gives at a certain moment to different parts (407).
423. Our examination of the border of roses with their leaves (No. 3), and especially of that of the border of flowers varied in their forms and hues (No. 4), shows the necessity of a knowledge of the law of contrast to assort the colours of objects represented upon a border with the colour which serves as a ground to them. The examination of the border No. 4 has demonstrated experimentally that this assortment presents so much the more difficulty as we wish to have purer tints for the ground, and more varied colours in the objects we intend placing on it; besides, in demonstrating the good effect of grey as a ground for these latter objects, it has furnished an example of a fact which may be deduced from the law, and which is in perfect accordance with what practice taught us long ago.
PRINTED OR WRITTEN CHARACTERS ON PAPERS OF DIFFERENT COLOURS.
424. Having made it a rule in this work never to state any observations which I have not myself verified, I must mention that, not possessing every requisite for the examination of the subject of this section, I am obliged to develop certain points of it only.
We must regard—
1. The duration of the reading, and
2. The kind of light which illuminates the printed or written paper.
A.—INFLUENCE OF DURATION IN THE READING.
425. From the different conditions in which the eyei s found when it is apt to perceive the phenomena of simultaneous, successive, and mixed contrasts of colours (77 _et seq._), it may be conceived that in order to judge of the effect upon the sight of the assortments of the colour of the letters and that of the paper as to the degree of facility that they respectively present for reading, it may happen that one assortment will be more favourable during a brief reading, while the contrary will take place if the reading be prolonged during several hours. Besides, an assortment presenting the greatest contrast will be more favourable to a reading of short duration, while it will be less so to a prolonged reading; because, in consequence of the intensity of its contrast, it will fatigue the eye more.[2]
[2] Hence the pleasure of reading books printed on the modern _toned_ paper. De Morgan advises that tables of logarithms, and the like, should be printed on pale brown paper.
B.—INFLUENCE OF THE KIND OF LIGHT ON PRINTED OR WRITTEN PAPER.
426. The light we employ to supply the place of that of the sun, changing the relations of colour under which the same bodies appear to us illumined by daylight, it is evident that if we neglected this difference of relation it would give rise to error; because any assortment of colours favourable to read in diffused daylight, might be less so by the light of a lamp, &c.
427. I will now examine—
The influence of different assortments of the colours of writing and printing for reading by diffused daylight.
ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS FOR READING BY DIFFUSED DAYLIGHT.
_Reading of a Few Minutes’ Duration._
428. Letters upon paper can be read without fatigue only when there is a marked contrast between the letters and the ground. This contrast may be of tone, or of colours, or both.
429. _Contrast of tone_ is the most favourable condition for distinct vision, if we consider white and black as the two extremes of a scale, comprehending the gradations from normal grey; in fact, black letters upon a white ground present the maximum of contrast of tone, and may be read in a perfectly distinct manner without fatigue by diffused daylight. Indeed, all whose sight is enfeebled by age require the utmost contrast of tone.
FOURTH DIVISION.
_Employment of Colours in Architecture._
I. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS IN EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE.
430. The Egyptians employed various colours, as red, yellow, blue, green, and white, to decorate their monuments.
Lancret remarks, “All who have seen Egyptian paintings, can attest that when seen, even for the first time, they were not disagreeable; and, that if at first the colours appear distributed arbitrarily, it is because observers have not combined a sufficient number of observations, and that it will one day be found that this part of the arts of the Egyptians was, like all the rest, submitted to invariable rules.”
431. Champollion the Younger expresses himself in these terms on the application of colours to Egyptian architecture: “I should like to introduce into the great temple of Ipsamboul, all who refuse to believe in the elegant richness that painted sculpture adds to architecture; in less than a quarter of an hour, I engage that they would perspire away all their prejudices, and that their _à priori_ opinions would quit them through every pore.”
432. The fact of colouring hieroglyphics being once admitted, the colouring of the other figured objects which accompany them appears to have been a necessary consequence, either to bring out certain symbols, or allegories more distinctly and more agreeably, by the effect of their various colours, or because, if the hieroglyphics only were differently coloured, there would be no harmony between them and the other figured objects. No one can mistake the harmony between the hieroglyphics and other painted objects, and we therefore should not see any impropriety in them if we mistook them for figures traced by the capricious imagination of the artist. This harmony clearly justifies Lancret and Champollion the Younger, in the passages quoted above.
II. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE.
433. The discovery of Greek temples coloured on the exterior is doubtless a very remarkable fact in archæology; for if any monuments seemed to reject the application of colours to their external decoration, it was assuredly those of the Greeks. At this day, it is impossible not to admit that it was among these people that the alliance of colours with architecture was made, not in the declining epoch but at a period when monuments were erected in the best style; in fact, the ruins of coloured temples discovered by the excavations made in Greece, Italy, and Sicily, in places where many Greek colonies prospered, have this characteristic in a remarkable degree.
434. If we seek the cause which determined the Greek architect to seize upon one of the most powerful means that the painter has of addressing the eye, we shall find it especially, I think, in a taste for colours, rather than in the intention of rendering the various parts of an edifice more distinct from each other; and of substituting painted ornaments for ornaments in relief, whether sculptured or moulded, or of augmenting the relief these ornaments already possessed; indeed, the communication of the Greeks with the Egyptians, may have induced them to imitate the latter in this application of colours to ornaments.
435. In the coloured drawings of Greek monuments which I have been able to procure, I have remarked not only the number of colours employed in these monuments,—_white_, _black_, _red_, _yellow_, _green_, and _blue_,—but also the use which has been made of them under the relation of _variety_ and _purity of tint_, of _distinct view of the parts_, and of the _harmony of the whole_. For instance, the principal lines, as the fillets of the architrave and of the cornice, are _red_; the mutules _blue_, and their guttæ _white_; the triglyphs _blue_, their channels _black_, and their guttæ _white_; and the more extended parts of the frieze and the cornice, as well as the architrave, are of light _yellow_.
We see that _red_, a brilliant colour, indicated the greater part of the principal lines; that _blue_, associated with _black_ in the triglyphs and their channels, formed an harmonious and distinct union of the neighbouring parts: also that the dominant colour, light _yellow_, produced a much better effect than it would if the most intense or the most sombre colours had predominated. Finally, the colours were distributed in the most intelligent manner possible without being motley, presenting a variety and lightness in the tints, with easy separation of parts.
III. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS IN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.
436. In the great Gothic churches, colour has rarely been employed on the exterior, except in a few cases, and always in a restrained manner, and without injury to the general harmony; for the colour on porches and in niches is altogether insignificant in this point of view; and, besides, there is nothing to show that it was not added long after the erection of the structure on which it is found. One of the things I most admire in these vast edifices is the art, or, if you will, the luck, with which they have succeeded without colour, by having recourse only to architecture and sculpture, in giving to the exterior of the edifice a variety which in no respect injures the imposing effect of the whole.
437. If we now regard the interior of these churches, the magic of the colours of the stained windows will complete the enjoyments the sight can receive from colour allied to architecture—enjoyments which can only strengthen the power of the religious sentiment in all who enter these edifices to address their prayers to God. M. Boiserée, author of a work full of research, as original as profound, on the cathedral of Cologne, thinks that the ceilings of Gothic churches ought, according to a general custom, to represent the celestial vault, and be painted blue, studded with gilt stars.
438. If painting has from the beginning really concurred with architecture, and even with painted sculpture, in the interior decoration of Gothic churches, it can only have been in a secondary degree and on the system of flat tints, from the time when it had been decided to put in windows of stained glass; for no painting applied upon an opaque body, such as stone, wood, &c., could sustain itself beside the brilliant coloured light transmitted by the glass; and if this painting had been graduated according to the rules of chiaro-’scuro, all its merit would have disappeared, for want of pure and white light, the only kind suitable for illuminating it.
439. Is it true that the vicinity of stained glass necessarily requires as an effect of harmony, painting on the contiguous walls? Without deciding absolutely in favour of the contrary opinion, I confess that, after reflecting long upon the deep impressions I have received in great Gothic churches where the walls present only the simple effects of light and shade upon a uniform surface of stone, where there are no colours except those transmitted by the stained glass, I say that the sight of more varied effects would have appeared to me an error against the principle of suitability of the place to its destination; and this opinion was especially fortified by seeing, after the coronation of Charles X., the fine vault of the ancient cathedral at Rheims, which had been painted for the occasion blue, sprinkled with _fleurs-de-lis_. I am reminded of the impression it produced upon me some years before, when it presented to my sight only the uniform colour of the stone.
APPLICATION TO THE INTERIORS OF EDIFICES.
440. I shall treat in succession—
1. On the assortment of stuffs with the wood of seats, &c. 2. On the assortment of frames with the pictures, engravings, and lithographs which they surround. 3. On the general decoration of interiors of churches. 4. On the decoration of museums, galleries, &c. 5. On the decoration of houses, palaces, &c.
_On the Assortment of Stuffs with the Wood of Seats._
441. There should be between the two parts of the seat—the wood and the stuff—harmony of contrast and harmony of analogy. The beauty of the wood and of the stuff which accompanies it, may mutually enhance each other. From what has been said, it is evident that we must assort violet or blue stuffs with yellow woods, as the root of ash, the yew, satinwood, maple, &c. Green stuffs with rose or red-coloured woods, as mahogany, cherry-tree, rosewood, &c.
Violet, or blue-greys, are equally good with yellow woods, as green-greys are with the red woods.
But to obtain the best possible effect it is necessary to take into consideration the contrast resulting from depth of tone; for a dark blue or violet stuff will not accord so well with a yellow wood as a light tone of the same colours; and it is for this reason that yellow does not assort so well with mahogany, as with a wood of the same, but not so deep a colour.
442. Among the harmonies of contrast of tone that can be made with wood, may be mentioned ebony, the brown colour of which permits its employment with light stuffs to produce contrasts of tone, rather than contrasts of colour. We can use it with very brilliant, intense colours; such as poppy, scarlet, aurora, flame-colour, &c.
443. When we employ painted woods instead of those which retain their natural colour, it is better for a stuff to give the wood such a colour as will best assort with the stuff. For assortments of this kind, I believe we cannot do better than refer to the examples of the assortments of the principal colours with white, black, and grey. (P. 49 _et seq._)
444. Ebony wood, on account of its dark colour, be employed with dark stuffs to produce the assortments of analogy. In this case it can be allied with brown tones, and with red, blue, green, and violet. It is scarcely necessary to remark that these assortments prevent our using with ebony, white and yellow inlaying woods, which can be used with more or less advantage in those assortments which enter into the case of harmonies of contrast.
445. Frequent use is made of crimson woollen, velvet, and mahogany. This assortment, which is related to the harmony of analogy, is preferable to many others, only in consideration of the great stability of the colour of the stuff, and therefore independently of every idea of harmony. This induces me to examine it under several relations, that we may make the best possible use of it, according to the particular purpose.
When, in assorting crimson with mahogany, we wish to produce the harmony of analogy, by marking out the lines where the wood and the stuff touch, we can employ a cord or narrow galloon of yellow, or of golden yellow with gilt nails; or, better still, a narrow galloon of green or black, according to our wish to render the border more or less prominent.
When, in assorting these colours, we are guided by the twofold motive of the stability of the crimson colour and of the beauty of the mahogany, we must necessarily increase the distance which separates the stuff from the wood, by making the black or green border wider.
446. As the red woods always lose more or less of their beauty by the juxtaposition of red stuffs, we can never ally mahogany to colours which belong to the vivid reds, such as poppy or cherry; and more particularly to orange-reds, such as scarlet aurora; for these colours are so bright, that, taking away from this wood its peculiar tint, it becomes no better than oak or black walnut.
ON THE SELECTION OF FRAMES FOR PICTURES AND ENGRAVINGS.
447. If a frame is necessary to a picture, engraving, or drawing, to isolate it from the objects around it, it is always more or less injurious to the illusion the painter or designer has desired to produce, when it occupies its destined place. I only purpose here to examine the relation of colour between the frame and the object it surrounds.
448. Gilt frames accord well with large pictures painted in oil, when the latter do not represent gildings, at least so near the frame as to render it easy for the eye to compare the painted gold with the metal itself.
I will instance a bad effect from such proximity. A Gobelins tapestry, after Laurent, represents a genius armed with a torch, near which is a gilt altar, executed in yellow silk and wool, all of which are entirely eclipsed by the metallic brilliancy of the gilt bronzes profusely spread over the mahogany frame of the tapestry. This may convince us that the richness of a frame may not only be a fault against art, but also against common sense.
449. Bronze frames which have but little yellow brilliancy do not injure the effect of an oil picture which represents a scene lighted by artificial light, such as that of candles, torches, a conflagration, &c.
450. When black frames, such as ebony, detach themselves sufficiently from an oil painting, they are favourable to large subjects; but whenever they are used, it is necessary to see whether the browns of the painting or drawing which are contiguous, do not lose too much of their vigour.
451. A grey frame is favourable to many landscape scenes painted in oil, particularly when the picture having a dominant colour, we take a grey lightly tinted with the complementary of that colour.
452. Gilt frames accord perfectly with black engravings and lithographs, when we take the precaution of leaving a certain extent of white paper round the subject.
453. To conclude. The rule to be followed in assorting a frame to a picture is, that its colour, brightness, and ornaments also, injure neither the colours, nor the shadows, nor the lights of the picture, nor the ornaments which it represents.
When we propose to put a border between the frame and an engraving, plain or coloured, we must take into consideration,—
1. The effect of the height of tone of this border upon the different tones of the design.
2. The effect of the complementary of the colour of the border upon the colour of the design.
3. The intensity of the diffused light which is considered most suitable to light the design. Because for a given border the mutual relations between the browns, the half-tints, the lights and the whites, change with the intensity of the daylight, and change more for a given composition with certain borders than with others.
A composition of small or medium size may be painted so that the artist himself will do well to choose the frame best adapted to it, and to paint up those parts of his picture which are contiguous to it. (See also 483.)
ON THE GENERAL DECORATION OF THE INTERIORS OF CHURCHES.
I now resume this subject, no longer to treat of it relatively to a given architectonic form, but to consider it under the most general point of view.
Conformably to the principle enunciated above (346), of judging the productions of art by the rules drawn from the nature of the materials employed, I establish two distinct classes of churches, not according to their form, but to a fundamental consideration which subordinates the interior decoration to the quality of the light, coloured or colourless, diffused through plain or coloured glass.
_Stained Glass Windows._
1. From the bad effect of the mutual proximity of white and stained glass (365), it results that where one is employed in a church the other must be excluded, at least from the nave, choir, in a word, from all that the spectator can embrace at one point of view. The colourless glass in some of the chapels of the aisles is of no consequence in the general effect.
2. If pictures be near stained windows, they must be flat, or present subjects as simple as possible, since their effects are entirely sacrificed to those of the stained glass (438).
3. We can place pictures in a large church where the light is transmitted through coloured glass; but, for the view to be satisfactory, they must necessarily encounter such a union of conditions, that they will almost always be found out of place. In fact, if the pictures are not at a certain distance from the glass,—if the coloured lights which emanate from them are not, by their mutual admixture, in the requisite proportions for producing white light, or, at least, a very faintly coloured light—or if this feebly coloured light is insufficient to lighten the interior of the church properly, the pictures will lose their colour, unless they have been executed with reference to the nature of the light from the stained windows; but this is not, to my knowledge, ever realized.
_White Glass Windows._
454. Churches with white glass windows harmonize with every ornament we can imagine in the employment of wood, marbles, porphyry, granite, and the metals. Mosaics may ornament the floors and adorn the walls with true pictures, as we see in St. Peter’s at Rome. Painting in fresco, in oil, plain and coloured sculptures, also combine to ornament the interior.
1. In churches of this class, the profusion of riches at the disposal of the decorator, far from being always of advantage to him, may be the cause of difficulties; for, the more varied the objects he has to arrange, the greater the difficulty of presenting only such objects as are in keeping with the place he has to embellish. It is not enough to have precious woods, marbles, metals, pictures; he must also make these objects harmonize. Thus, he must avoid putting coloured marbles contiguous to the white stone of which the walls are constructed; he must also proscribe surrounding bas-reliefs in white stone with slabs or borders of red or green marble.
2. The cathedral of Cologne, for churches with _coloured_ glass, and St. Peter’s at Rome, for those with _white_ glass, are two types which it will be sufficient to mention when we wish to demonstrate that beauty is compatible with different systems.
3. Much as I admire the marvels which the arts have accumulated in churches where white light freely enters, and although I acknowledge the effects which certain pictures of the first order are capable of producing in the Christian mind, yet the churches in which we see these decorations, resemble museums of art more than temples consecrated to prayer; and under this aspect they do not appear to me to fulfil the conditions imposed by the principle of fitness of edifices to their purpose in the same degree as Gothic churches with stained glass windows.
ON THE DECORATION OF MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES.
455. The essential condition which these edifices must fulfil, is, that the light be as white and as vivid as possible; but always diffused and distributed equally and in the most suitable manner upon all the objects exhibited to the spectator, so that they may be seen without fatigue, and distinctly in every part.
_Picture Galleries._
456. There is generally a disposition to be prodigal of ornaments and gilding in such buildings. Without pretending that all decoration should be proscribed, yet I believe that there is less disadvantage in erring by deficiency than by excess; in fact, the pictures, &c., are the precious objects, and it is to them that we must attract attention. Let me add, that one of the most injurious things to the effect of pictures is their accumulation—their being crammed all together; the position they then occupy, so different from that for which the painters destined them, diminishes the illusion which each would produce if it were in its proper place. Few, except the intelligent connoisseur and amateur, on seeing a picture exhibited in a gallery, experience all the effect which the artist wished to produce. Even the contiguity of the frame to the picture is destructive of the illusion of perspective: hence the difference between the effect of a framed picture and the effect of the same picture when seen through an opening, which permits us to see neither frame nor limits: it then recalls all the illusion of the diorama.
_Sculpture Galleries._
457. Statues of white marble or stone, as well as plaster casts, stand out well in a gallery, the walls of which are of a pearly-grey colour; and if we would augment the whiteness of the statues by neutralizing the red hue which the marble, stone, or plaster might have, we could colour the walls with a chamois or orange-grey tint. If, on the contrary, we preferred giving to the statues a warm colour, which many sculptors esteem so highly, the walls must be of blue-grey. Green walls will give to the statues a rosy tint, which is not disagreeable.
The tone of their colour must be lower, the brighter we wish the sculptures to be.
458. When there are bronzes, the colour of the walls of the gallery must be determined by that which we wish to predominate in the statues; because, as is very well known, the metallic alloy of which they are formed yields two very different tints; one _green_, acquired by exposure to atmosphere; the other the peculiar _golden_ tint which it possesses where it is not oxidized. If we wish to exalt this green tint, the colour of the walls of the gallery must be _red_; while they must be _blue_ to bring out the brilliancy of the metallic bronze, which has not experienced the action of the atmosphere.
459. The walls of the gallery are considered as giving rise to effects of contrast, and not of reflection.
_Museums of Natural History._
460. In these edifices it would be wrong to give the walls any positive colour, for the objects exhibited should appear to the eyes of the naturalist of the colour peculiar to each; consequently the interior of cabinets, glass-cases, and drawers must necessarily be white, or normal grey, very light in tone.
_Wainscoting._
461. From the fact that wainscotings are generally concealed by the furniture placed before them, we may conclude that they must be of a dark, rather than of a light colour, and that, if they have ornaments, these must be simple, and not prominent. The wainscoting may be considered as serving as a ground to the furniture, whenever it is not entirely concealed by the latter. We shall see hereafter what colour is necessary to be given them that they may suit their purpose.
DECORATIONS OF THE INTERIOR OF HOUSES.
_Hangings._
462. In consequence of an apartment never being too light—for we can always diminish superfluous light—hangings should be of a light colour, that they may reflect, not absorb, light.
463. We proscribe all dark hangings, whatever be their colour, because they absorb too much light; we proscribe also red and violet hangings, because they are exceedingly unfavourable to the colour of the skin. For this latter reason we reject the light tones of the red and violet scales. Orange is a colour that can never be much employed, because it fatigues the eye too much by its great intensity.
1. Among the simple colours, there are scarcely any which are advantageous, except yellow and the light tones of green and of blue. Yellow is lively; it combines well with mahogany, furniture, but not _generally_ with gilding (see 469).
2. Light green is favourable to pale complexions as well as to rosy ones; to mahogany furniture, and to gilding.
3. Light blue is much less favourable than green to rosy complexions, especially in daylight; it is particularly favourable to gilding, it does not injure mahogany, and associates better than green with yellow or orange woods.
4. White or whitish hangings of a light grey (either normal green, blue, or yellow), uniform or with velvet patterns of the colour of the ground, are also very useful.
5. When we would choose hangings upon which to place a picture, their colour must be uniform, and make the greatest contrast possible with that which predominates in the picture, if the hangings are not of a normal grey. I shall return to this assortment (483).
464. Hangings in the best taste are those—
1. Which present designs of a light tone, either normal or coloured grey, upon a white ground, or the reverse, and in which the pattern is at least equal in extent of surface to the ground; for a small pattern has a very poor effect, at least in a large room.
2. Patterns of two or more tones of the same or very near scales assorted conformably to the law of contrast.
465. Hangings of brilliant and varied colours representing real objects, forming patterns more or less complex, do not admit of pictures; and as such hangings should exhibit themselves distinctly, they must not be concealed by the furniture in any of their parts.
466. When we have to adapt a border to a monochromous hanging, or to one presenting a dominant colour, we must first determine whether we can have recourse to a harmony of analogy or to a harmony of contrast; in all cases the border ought to detach itself more or less from the hangings, which it is intended to surround and separate from contiguous objects.
Harmony of contrast is the most suitable to papers of a uniform pure colour, such as yellows, greens, and blues; consequently we recommend for the dominant colour of the border, the complementary of that of the hangings, whether this border represents ornaments, arabesques, flowers, or imitations of fringes or tissues. But, as a contrast of colour ought not generally to offer also a contrast of tone, then the general tone of the border must only surpass that of the hangings so far as to avoid a deadening effect. If a double border be required, the exterior border must be of a much deeper tone than the other, and always narrower.
467. Among the colours suitable for borders we recommend the following as harmonies of contrast:—
1. For yellow hangings, violet and blue mixed with white; if a fringe, of flowers garnished with their leaves, or ornaments.
2. For green hangings, red in all its hues; the painted gilt-yellows upon a dark-red ground; the borders of brass.
3. For white hangings, orange and yellow; the borders of brass or gilt moulding: these are much better on blue than on green.
468. Among the harmonies of analogy, I recommend the following:—
For yellow hangings, a border of brass or gilt moulding.
_White or Whitish Hangings of Normal Grey, Pearl Grey, or very pale coloured Grey, of a uniform colour, or with a Velvet Pattern of the Colour of the Ground._
469. Although papers of this kind admit of borders of all colours, yet we must avoid too great a contrast of tone in a border containing pure colours; for the intense tones of blue, violet, red, green, are too crude to combine with these light grounds. Gilt brass borders accord well with these grounds, especially with the pure or grey whites. If a grey present a tint of green, of blue, or of yellow, we may use borders of the complementary of these tints, taken many tones above, or of a grey, deeply tinged with this complementary.
470. Among the harmonies of analogy, we may take for grey hangings, borders of some tones higher, and of a grey contrasting with their tint, but very lightly.
_For Borders of Hangings that present a pure Colour with White, or many Tones belonging either to the same Scale or to contiguous Scales_ (see 466).
For _chintzes_, we must have analogous borders.
For larger patterns than chintzes, repeated like the latter, a binding of galloon suffices.
Hangings with human figures, landscapes, or other pictures, require a frame either of painted, gilt, or bronzed wood, or, better still, a border imitated by painting.
_Colour of the Wainscoting relatively to the Hangings._
_When the Hangings and the Border make a Contrast of Colour._
471. The dominant colour of the wainscoting must generally be more or less approximating, and may be—
1. The same as that of the border, but a little darker, and especially more or less broken with black.
2. Grey lightly tinted with the colour of the border, and of the same tone, or very near it.
3. The complementary of the colour of the hangings, when the dominant colour of the border is not its complementary. If we employ a complementary lightly broken with black, the moulding must be picked out in brown on the border and on the wainscoting.
4. A grey complementary to the colour of the hangings, when the border is not the complementary of the hangings.
In these cases we bring out upon the colour of the hangings, properly so called, that of the wainscoting, which we always render more or less dull. Thus the colour of the hangings and the wainscoting are agreeably harmonized, and the border suitably separates them.
5. A normal grey of many tones, with which we may combine white.
472. When the colour of the wainscoting is the same as that of the hangings, but duller or deeper, in general it has a poor effect, arising particularly from the fact that the colour of the border, which contrasts with that of the hangings and of the wainscoting, is in too small superficial proportion to the other.
_When the Assortment of the Hangings and the Border make either the Harmonies of Contrast of Scale or of Contrast of Hue, or the Harmonies of Analogy._
The dominant colour of the wainscoting may be—
1. The complementary of the colour of the hangings, but more or less broken, and a little deeper.
2. Grey complementary to the colour of the hangings.
3. A colour which, without being complementary, contrasts with that of the hangings.
4. Grey, tinted by a colour which, without being complementary to that of the hangings, contrasts with them.
473. When the hangings are white, or of an extremely feeble tone of colour, and the border does not stand out very strongly by its colour, we may make a harmony of tone or of hue with the tint of the wainscoting. For example, white, or nearly white hangings, with a gilt or brass border, harmonize well with a wainscoting which differs only by some tones more from the colour of the hangings.
_Cornice of the Ceiling._
474. The cornice of a white ceiling must be of light colours, and but little varied; not according with those of the hangings, but of the wainscoting. White parts, which may be confounded with the ceiling, must be carefully avoided, as must also whatever will cause too much difference between the parts of the whole. When the hangings are white, or of a very pale grey, with a gilt or brass border, the cornice may present ornaments of the same material, and in this case they may stand upon a white or upon a grey, a little deeper than that of the hangings.
_Chairs, Sofas, &c., placed in front of the Wainscoting or Hangings._
475. The colour of the covering of chairs should be complementary to that of the hangings, properly so called, or, more generally, the same as that of the border, because this may be different from its complementary, and contrast, nevertheless, with the tint of the hangings. We see, then, that the chairs should contrast with the hangings, as may also the wainscoting; but the colour of the chairs being pure, it will also be purified by that of the wainscoting, which, for this reason, we have advised to be deadened.
1. The case of clearest contrast—_i.e._, when the colours of the hangings and the chairs are complementary—is the most favourable to distinct vision, as well as to successive contrast, whenever we observe first the hangings separately, and afterwards the chairs separately, and _vice versâ_.
2. When the colour of the hangings and of the chairs contrast without being complementary, we must take into consideration the degree of _light_ in the colour of the hangings. For example, if they are blue, and the border is yellow, the covering of the furniture being a yellow, more golden than citron, this stuff must be of a much higher tone than the blue tone of the hangings; and the tone of the wood of the chairs, &c., must be still higher than the yellow, to avoid a dull appearance.
3. We may border the stuff at the parts contiguous to the wood, either with well-assorted dark colours, or with the same colour as the hangings, but of a higher tone; there is also a means of harmonizing the hangings and the furniture, in uniting the same colours, but in inverse proportion.
4. When, instead of sofas, arm and other chairs, there is a _divan_ which entirely conceals the wainscoting, we must use the complementary colour of the hangings, when it is more advantageous for the colour of the border to form a contrast of scale or of hue with the hangings. In this case, yellow hangings bordered with brass in relief with a violet-coloured divan, will produce an excellent effect, at least by daylight; for we must not forget that yellow and violet lose in artificial light.
5. We regard as a harmony of contrast of colour light hangings of a pure colour with furniture of a grey, tinted with the complementary to that of the hangings.
476. Rooms differing in dimensions, according as they belong to the lively or grave harmonies, will be adapted to very different purposes.
1. In small rooms—such, for example, as boudoirs, where the hangings are bright—a harmony of contrast of hue, of scale, or a harmony of analogy, is generally preferable to a harmony of contrast of colour, if the hangings are uniform, or have a dominant colour. If they have a decided colour allied to white, or if they present patterns of various colours, such as _chintzes_, the furniture most suitable will be a divan of the same material as the hangings; and it is conformable with the object of boudoirs, or of similar places, to diminish their apparent extent to the eye, by employing only one material for the hangings and the chairs, instead of seeking to fix the eye upon distinct objects.
2. In large rooms there is an arrangement of good effect—viz., white, or very light grey hangings, with furniture of a pure colour, such as red, yellow, green, blue, and violet. When we employ these pure colours, we must heighten the tone only so much as to avoid a faded appearance. Sky-blue is the most suitable for this arrangement; crimson, which is also employed, is too harsh, especially if the room is neither very large nor well lighted.
477. _Grave Assortments_ are adapted to places devoted to quiet meetings, such as libraries, museums, studies, &c. In general, the smaller the place, or the less space there is to receive the hangings, the more the assortment must be that of a harmony of analogy.
The hangings or the pictures must present only normal grey, or a grey of a colour more or less broken; the chairs must be black or of a dark grey, either normal or coloured; and in this case we can take a grey tinted with the complementary of the colour of the grey of the hangings. If more contrast is desired, we can have recourse to the brown tones of this complementary of the colour, which tints the grey of the hangings.
478. _Window and Bed-curtains_ should be similar to each other.
_When the Chairs have a decided Colour—such as Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Violet_—the hangings should be of a pure colour, contrasting favourably with that of the chairs.
The curtains should generally be of the colour of the chairs, and their borders of the colour of the hangings, or of the colour of the hangings bordered with the colour of the chairs.
_The Chairs being Grey, or of a very subdued Colour_, and the hangings of a decided colour, the curtains should be either,—1. Of the colour of the chairs, with a border of the colour of the hangings: or, 2. Of the complementary of the hangings, or contrasting favourably with them; the colour of the border should be that of the hangings.
_The Hangings being of a Grey Colour, or White_, the curtains should be,—1. Of the colour of the chairs: or, 2. Of a pure colour, complementary to the grey of the hangings, if the latter do not belong to the scale of normal grey.
479. _Doors._—Doors being, by their use, size, and position, relatively to the plane of the wall, absolutely distinct from the wainscoting, should be distinguished from it by their colour, notwithstanding the contrary practice of painters, who make them the same. Their different parts might be painted in many low tones of the same, or of approximating scales, and always according to the harmony of analogy, as the parts of one object are concerned. The colour of the doors should be of normal grey, or of a grey tinged with the colour of the hangings or of its complementary, which will thus always unite with the hangings, either by harmony of analogy, or by harmony of contrast. The door frames should be darker than the door itself.
480. _Window Frames_ should be like the doors, according to a rule which has long been generally observed. The fastenings must be black, bronzed, or of brass.
_Carpets._
481. Whatever may be the dominant colours of the subjects represented in their central part, with regard to brilliancy and contrast, they should always be separated from the chairs by a sufficient interval to prevent discord with the colour of the latter.
1. The more numerous and vivid the colours are, the more we must control their brilliancy; and the carpet most suitable will be one of simple colours and pattern. In many cases, an assortment of green and black will have a good effect.
2. If the furniture is of a single colour, or of many tones, either of the same colour or of approximating scales, we can, without disadvantage, employ a carpet of brilliant colours, and thus establish a harmony of contrast between them and the dominant tint of the furniture.
482. But if the furniture is of mahogany, and we wish to bring out its colour, then we must not have either red, scarlet, or orange as a dominant colour in the carpet.
In short, to get the best effect of the colours of the furniture, in the first case, the colours of the carpet, more or less sombre, must enter into the harmonies of analogy; while in the second, where harmony of contrast of colour does not exist in the furniture, we can, if we choose, have recourse to this harmony in the carpet without ill effect.
_Pictures_ (See 453).
483. Whenever pictures are placed on hangings, the latter must be of a single colour, or of two very similar colours or tones of the same scale. The pattern of these hangings must be as simple as possible. Whenever a picture is placed on coloured hangings, we must always take care that the dominant colour of the hangings be complementary to the dominant colour of the picture.
Engravings and plain lithographs must never be placed beside oil paintings, or even coloured drawings.
Pearl grey, or rather deep normal grey, is a good tint to receive engravings and plain lithographs in gilt or yellow wood frames.
484. Yellow hangings can receive with advantage landscapes, in which green grass, and leaves, and a blue sky predominate. The most suitable frames in this case are those of violet ebony, or wood painted grey or black. Gilt frames have not a bad effect on the picture; but the gold of the frame and the yellow of the hangings do not contrast sufficiently to most eyes.
485. Oil-paintings in gilt frames have a good effect on hangings of olive-grey more or less deep, according to the tone of the picture. Carnations and the gold assort well on a similar ground. Papers of a deep green, and even of a deep blue, may also be advantageously employed in many cases.
ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS IN INTERIORS, THE WALLS OF WHICH ARE PANELLED OR COVERED WITH MARBLE, STUCCO, OR PAINTED WOOD.
_Panelled Interiors._
486. Notwithstanding the present taste for decorations, which it is so easy to satisfy by means of paper-hangings, woven fabrics, and other accessories, I think there are in large suites of apartments two rooms for which a paneling more or less finished is very suitable; these are the dining and the billiard rooms; the scene being, as it were, concentrated on the dining or billiard tables, there is no reason to distract the attention by clothing the walls with ornaments. Where an interior is paneled, the floor should be in parquetry; a pavement of tiles, stones, or marbles would be out of keeping.
487. The colour of the curtains, for paneled interiors, must be chosen conformably to the preceding principles. For example—
White curtains will heighten the tone of the woodwork;
Blue curtains will bring out the golden tint of many woods, especially of polished oak.
_Interiors covered with Marbles._
488. We can arrange marbles together on the principle of harmony of contrast or of harmony of analogy. Bronze adapts itself to them very well. If granite and porphyry are to be added, the lower courses must be composed of the latter.
Blinds are preferable to curtains, which are not suited to marbles.
_Interiors covered with Wood painted of several Colours._
489. The painting on a wainscot which is not beautiful enough to be seen uncovered has for its object the imitation—1. Of hangings; 2. Of wood more or less costly; 3. Of marble.
490. When we decorate walls of a pale grey ground, which require to be warmed with arabesques, we must endeavour to imitate pictures rather than mosaics.
491. The more carefully arabesques are executed, the more variety they will present in their forms and colours, and the less they should resemble the draperies, with which they are associated. Thus, white curtains with a simple and ample border, or curtains of a slightly-elevated tone of colour, or of an extremely simple design, should have the preference to curtains which are related to arabesques by their vivid colours, their varied patterns, or striking colour; in short, the colour of the curtain, if it has any, must be sacrificed to that of the arabesques.
FIFTH DIVISION.
CLOTHING.
492. In explaining the applications of the law of contrast to the colours of Male Clothing, my intention is to discuss principally the question of the combination of colours in military uniforms as a matter of State economy; and, in the case of Female Clothing, the combinations which are most suitable for a portrait. The first question is entirely one of administrative economy; the second belongs solely to the domain of art.
I shall attain my end if, in the views set forth, the portrait-painter find the means of selecting associations of colours which, by imparting to his works more brilliancy and harmony, render them thereby less likely to appear antiquated when the prevailing fashion of his time is forgotten.
I. _Men’s Clothing._
493. A dress composed of cloths of different colours may be worn much longer, and will appear better, although nearly worn out, than a suit of a single colour, even when the latter is of a piece of cloth identical with one of the first. The law of contrast fully gives the reason of this fact.
OF THE ADVANTAGES OF CONTRAST, CONSIDERED WITH REGARD TO THE APPARENT CLEANLINESS OF CLOTHS FOR CLOTHING.
494. Contrast in the colours of cloths composing a dress is not only advantageous to the brightness and _apparent preservation_ of the colours of these cloths, but also to render less visible the inequalities which a cloth presents on account of the colouring material not having equally penetrated to the centre of the stuff; the surface wearing unequally, according as it is exposed to different degrees of friction, the colour of the cloth becomes lighter, or, as it is commonly called, _whitens_, in the parts most exposed to friction. Many blue, scarlet, and madder-red cloths present this result, especially on the salient parts of the vestment, such as the seams.
495. This defect which certain cloths have of _whitening in the seams_ is much less apparent in a coat of two or more colours than it is in a monochromous coat; because _the vivid contrast of different colours, fixing immediately the attention of the spectator, prevents the eye from perceiving the inequalities, which would be visible in a monochromic coat_.
For this reason stains, on the same ground, will always be less apparent in a polychromous than in a monochromous garment or dress.
496. For the same reason also a coat, waistcoat, and trousers of the same colour cannot be worn together with advantage, except when new; for when one of them has lost its freshness, by having been more worn than the others, the difference will be increased by contrast. Thus new black trousers worn with a coat and waistcoat of the same colour, but old and slightly _rusty_, will bring out this latter tint, while at the same time the black of the trousers will appear brighter. White trousers or reddish-grey will correct the defect. We see, then, the advantage of having a soldier’s trousers of another colour than his coat, especially if, wearing this coat all the year, he only wears trousers of the same cloth during winter. We see also why white trousers are favourable to coats of every colour.
II.—_Female Clothing._
497. Although there are many varieties of the human race with respect to the colour of the skin, yet we may arrange them in the three following divisions:—The Caucasian, or white race; the American Indians, whose skin is red or copper-coloured; the negro race, the Malays, &c., who have black or olive skins.
_Colours for the Dress of Women with White Skins._
498. To give precision to this subject, we must begin by establishing certain distinctions.
1. That of the two types, with skins more or less white and rosy:—
The one with light hair and blue eyes. The other with black hair and black eyes.
2. That of the juxtaposition of the articles of the toilet, whether pertaining to the hair or to the complexion; for a colour may contrast favourably to the hair, yet produce a disagreeable effect with the skin.
3. That of the modifications of the complexion, by coloured rays emanating from the head-dress, and which, being reflected on the skin, tinge it with their peculiar colour.
499. The colour of light hair being essentially the result of a mixture of red, yellow, and brown, we must consider it as _a very pale subdued orange-brown_; the colour of the skin, although a lower tone, is analogous to it, except in the red parts. Blue eyes are really the only parts of the fair type which form a contrast of colour with the whole; for the red parts produce, with the rest of the skin, only a harmony of analogy of hue, or at most a contrast of hue, and not of colour; and the parts of the skin contiguous to the hair, the eyebrows, and eyelashes, give rise only to a harmony of analogy, either of scale or of hue. The harmonies of analogy, then, evidently predominate in the fair type over the harmonies of contrast.
500. The type with black hair shows the harmonies of contrast predominating over the harmonies of analogy. The hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and eyes, contrast in tone and colour, not only with the white of the skin, but also with the red parts, which in this type are really redder, or less roseate, than in the blonde type; and we must not forget that a decided red, associated with black, gives to the latter the character of an _excessively deep_ colour, either blue or green.
_Of the Colours of the Hair and Head-dress._
501. The colours which are usually considered as assorting best with light or black hair, are precisely those which produce great contrasts; thus, sky-blue, known to accord well with blondes, is the colour that approaches the nearest to the complementary of orange, which is the basis of the tint of their hair and complexions. Two colours, long esteemed to accord favourably with black hair—yellow, and red more or less orange—contrast in the same manner with them. Yellow and orange-red, contrasting by colour and brilliancy with black, and their complementaries, violet and blue-green, in mixing with the tint of the hair, are far from producing a bad result.
_Of the Colours of the Complexion and the contiguous Drapery._
502. The juxtaposition of drapery with the different flesh tints of women offers to portrait-painters a host of remarks, which are all the results of the principles already laid down. We shall state the most general: thus—
503. ROSE-RED cannot be put in contrast with even the rosiest complexions without causing them to lose some of their freshness. _Rose-red_, _maroon_, and _light crimson_ have the serious disadvantage of rendering the complexion more or less green. This is shown in the following experiment:—
Place two sheets of paper of either of the above colours beside two sheets of flesh-coloured paper, when it will be seen how much they are mutually injured, the lighter becoming greenish, and the darker rather of a violet hue. By substituting light green for the red, we shall find them mutually heightened and improved. The height of tone of the green influences the result: a very deep green, acting by contrast of tone, so enfeebles the complexion, that the slight contrasts of its colours will be inappreciable; a deep red, by contrast of analogy, blanches the complexion. It is necessary, then, to separate the rose from the skin, in some manner; and the simplest manner of doing this, is to edge the draperies with a border of _tulle_, which produces the effect of grey by the mixture of white threads, which reflect light, and the interstices, which absorb it; there is also a mixture of light and shade, which recalls the effect of grey, like the effect of a casement-window viewed at a great distance. Dark red is less objectionable for certain complexions than rose-red, because, being higher than the latter, it tends to impart whiteness to them in consequence of contrast of tone.
504. DELICATE GREEN is, on the contrary, favourable to all fair complexions which are deficient in rose, and which may have more imparted to them without disadvantage. But it is not as favourable to complexions that are more red than rosy; nor to those that have a tint of orange mixed with brown, because the red they add to this tint will be of a brick-red hue. In the latter case a dark green will be less objectionable than a delicate green.
505. YELLOW imparts violet to a fair skin, and in this view it is less favourable than the delicate green.
To those skins which are more yellow than orange it imparts white; but this combination is very dull and heavy for a fair complexion.
When the skin is tinted more with orange than yellow, we can make it rosy by neutralizing the yellow. It produces this effect upon the black-haired type, and it is thus _that it suits brunettes_.
506. VIOLET, the complementary of yellow, produces contrary effects; thus it imparts some greenish-yellow to fair complexions. It augments the yellow tint of yellow and orange skins. The little blue there may be in a complexion it makes green-violet. This, then, is one of the least favourable colours to the skin, at least when it is not sufficiently deep to whiten the skin by contrast of tone.
507. BLUE imparts orange, which combines favourably with white, and the light flesh tints of fair complexions, which have already a more or less determined tint of this colour. Blue is thus suitable to most blondes, and in this case justifies its reputation.
It will not suit brunettes, since they have already too much of orange.
508. ORANGE is too brilliant to be elegant; it makes fair complexions blue, whitens those which have an orange tint, and gives a green hue to those of a yellow tint.
509. LUSTRELESS WHITE, such as cambric muslin, assorts well with a fresh complexion, of which it relieves the rose colour; but it is unsuitable to complexions which have a disagreeable tint, because white always exalts all colours by raising their tone; consequently it is unsuitable to those skins which, without having this disagreeable tint, very nearly approach it.
510. VERY LIGHT WHITE draperies, such as muslin or lace, appear more grey than white. (See 503.) We must thus regard every white drapery which allows the light to pass through its interstices, and which is only apparent to the eyes by the surface opposed to that which receives incident light.
511. BLACK draperies, by lowering the tone of the colours with which they are in juxtaposition, whiten the skin; but if the vermilion, or rosy parts, are somewhat distant from the drapery, it will follow that, although lowered in tone, they appear relatively to the white parts of the skin contiguous to the same drapery, redder than if not contiguous to the black. This effect is analogous to that mentioned (385).
_The Head-dress in relation to the Coloured Rays which it may reflect upon the Skin._
512. The effect of coloured bonnets on the complexion can now be readily understood; and whether it is true, as is generally believed, that a rose-coloured bonnet gives a rose tint to the skin, while a green bonnet gives a green tint to it, in consequence of the coloured rays which each of them reflects upon it, it is no longer a question about those head-dresses which, being too small or too much thrown back to give rise to these reflections, can only produce the effects of contrast, as I have said above, when treating of the juxtaposition of coloured objects with the hair and skin (501, _et seq._)
513. If an object in relief is illuminated exclusively by a coloured light, it will appear tinted with the colour of this light. A white plaster figure, for example, placed in an enclosure where the red rays illuminate it, will appear red, at least to most eyes, and under most circumstances; for certain eyes, in some cases, may perceive the sensation of the complementary of the coloured rays in looking at some parts of the figure.
514. But if the figure is placed so as to receive, at the same time, coloured rays and diffused daylight, there will be produced on the eyes of a spectator, suitably placed, a complex effect; resulting—
1. From some parts of the figure being white, reflecting to the eyes of the spectator the coloured rays falling from above.
2. From some parts of the figure reflecting diffused daylight in sufficient quantity to appear white, or almost white.
3. From there being between the parts which reflect coloured light to the eye, and those which send diffused daylight, some parts in a condition which appears to be complementary to the reflected coloured light.
515. One very remarkable consequence of this is, that the rays of mutually complementary colours, successively lighting the same object, concurrently with the diffused daylight, give rise to _the same coloration_.
516. This may be proved thus:—Between two windows directly opposite to each other, admitting diffused daylight, place a white plaster figure in such a position that each half shall be lighted directly by only one of the windows. On completely intercepting the light of one of the windows, and hanging a coloured curtain before the other, the figure appears only of the colour of the curtain; but if we open the other window, so that the figure is lighted by diffused daylight, while it is at the same time lighted by the coloured light, we then perceive some parts white, and some parts tinted with the complementary of the coloured light transmitted by the curtain.
517. This experiment, then, teaches us, that if a bonnet, rose-coloured, for example, give rise to a reflection of this colour on a complexion, the parts thus made rosy by the effect of contrast, themselves give rise to green tints, since the figure, while it receives rosy reflections, receives also diffused daylight.
518. To consider the real influence of the bonnet, we place three white plaster casts of the same model in a position equally illuminated by daylight; then observe them comparatively, after having clothed the middle cast with a white bonnet, and the two others with bonnets of which the colour of one is complementary to that of the other. _In this way we may satisfy ourselves that the influence of reflection in colouring a figure is very feeble, even when the bonnet is placed in the most favourable manner for observing the phenomenon._
519. _Rose-coloured Bonnet._—Rose colour reflected upon the skin is very feeble, except on the temples; wherever the rosy parts are contiguous to parts feebly lighted by daylight, the latter will appear very lightly tinged with green.
520. _Green Bonnet._—Green colour reflected upon the skin is very feeble, except on the temples; wherever the green parts are contiguous to parts feebly lighted by daylight, the latter will appear slightly rosy; the effect of green in colouring it rose, is greater than the effect of reflected rose in colouring it green.
521. _Yellow Bonnet._—Yellow colour reflected upon the skin is very feeble, except on the temples; wherever the yellow parts are contiguous to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear very sensibly violet.
522. _Violet Bonnet._—Violet colour reflected on the skin is very feeble, even on the temples; wherever the violet parts are contiguous to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear slightly yellow; but this coloration is very feeble, because the reflections of violet have it themselves.
523. _Sky-blue Bonnet._—Blue colour reflected on the skin is very feeble, except on the temples; wherever the blue parts are contiguous to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear slightly orange.
524. _Orange Bonnet._—Orange colour reflected on the skin is very feeble, except on the temples; wherever the parts are contiguous to parts feebly illuminated by daylight, the latter will appear slightly blue.
525. It is evident, then, from these experiments, that a coloured bonnet produces much more effect by virtue of contrast, arising from juxtaposition with the flesh tints, than by the coloured reflections which it imparts to them.
526. Let us now see what advantage the painter can derive from the preceding observations, when he prescribes a bonnet to a model, belonging either to the light-haired or to the black-haired type.
FAIR-HAIRED TYPE.
527. A black bonnet with white feathers, with white rose or red, suits a fair complexion.
528. A _lustreless white bonnet_ does not suit well with fair and rosy complexions. It is otherwise with bonnets of gauze, crape, or lace; they are suitable to all complexions. The white bonnet may have flowers, either white, rose, or particularly blue.
529. A _light blue bonnet_ is particularly suitable to the light-haired type; it may be ornamented with white flowers, and in many cases with yellow and orange flowers, but not with rose or violet flowers.
530. A _green bonnet_ is advantageous to fair or rosy complexions; it may be trimmed with white flowers, but preferably with rose.
531. A _rose-coloured bonnet_ must not be too close to the skin; and if it is found that the hair does not produce sufficient separation, the distance from the rose colour may be increased by means of white, or green, which is preferable. A wreath of white flowers in the midst of their leaves has a good effect.
532. I shall not advise the use of a light or deep red bonnet, except when the painter desires to diminish too warm a tint in the complexion.
533. Finally, the painter should never prescribe either yellow or orange-coloured bonnets, and be very reserved in the use of violet.
TYPE WITH BLACK HAIR.
534. A _black bonnet_ does not contrast so well with the general appearance of the type with black hair as with the other type, yet it may produce a good effect, and receive advantageously accessories of white, red, rose, orange, and yellow.
535. A _white bonnet_ demands the same notice as that, concerning its use, in connexion with the blonde type (528), except that for brunettes it is better to give preference to accessories of red, rose, orange, and yellow, rather than of blue.
536. Bonnets _of rose-red or cherry-colour_ are suitable for brunettes, when the hair separates, as much as possible, the bonnet from the complexion. White feathers accord well with red; and white flowers, with abundance of leaves, have a good effect with rose.
537. A _yellow bonnet_ suits a brunette very well, and receives with advantage violet or blue accessories. The hair must always interpose between the complexion and the head-dress.
538. It is the same with bonnets of an _orange_ colour, more or less broken, such as chamois, with which blue trimmings are eminently suitable.
539. A _green bonnet_ is suitable to fair and light rosy complexions, rose-red or white flowers are preferable to all others.
540. A _blue bonnet_ is only suitable to a fair or light-red complexion; nor can it be allied to such as have a tint of orange-brown. When it suits a brunette, it may take with advantage yellow or orange trimmings.
541. A _violet bonnet_ is always unsuitable to every complexion, since there are none to which the addition of yellow will be favourable. Yet, if we interpose between the violet and the skin, not only the hair, but also yellow accessories, a bonnet of this colour may become favourable.
542. Whenever the colour of a bonnet does not realize the intended effect, even when the complexion is separated from the head-dress by large masses of hair, it is advantageous to place between the latter and the bonnet certain accessories, such as ribbons, wreaths, and detached flowers, &c., of a colour complementary to that of the bonnet, as I have prescribed for the violet bonnet. The same colour must also be placed on the outside.
ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS IN THE DRESS OF WOMEN WITH COPPER-COLOURED SKINS.
543. The tint of the complexions of the women of the North American Indian races is too positive to induce them to endeavour to dissimulate, either by lowering its tone, or by neutralizing it. There is, then, no alternative but heightening it, for which purpose we must use draperies either of white or of blue strongly inclining to green, when the tint will become of a redder orange.
ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS IN THE DRESS OF WOMEN WITH BLACK OR OLIVE SKINS.
544. If I have prescribed the harmony of contrast of tone where the colour of the complexion is copper-red, there is a stronger reason for it when we have to drape olive or black skins; we can then use either white or the most brilliant colours, as red, orange, and yellow. The consideration of contrast determines which one we ought to choose in a particular case. If the complexion is intense black, dark olive, or greenish-black, red is preferable to every other colour; if the black is bluish, then orange is particularly suitable. Yellow will best accord with a violet-black.
545. _Results applicable to Portrait painting._
The tint may be heightened without leaving its scale:—
1. By a white drapery which heightens by contrast of tone. 2. By a drapery the colour of which is exactly the complementary of the tint, and of which the tone is not too high; such as perhaps a green drapery for a rosy complexion; or perhaps a blue drapery for the orange complexion of a blonde. The tint may be heightened by making it leave its scale:— 1. By a green drapery of a light tone upon an orange complexion. 2. By a blue drapery of a light tone upon a rosy complexion. 3. By a yellow, canary, or straw-coloured drapery, upon an orange complexion, of which the complementary violet neutralizes some of the yellow of the complexion, and heightens its rose.
546. _Note._—The modifications resulting from the juxtaposition of parts diversely coloured are much more positive than those arising from reflection by one part upon another.
_If the Painter wishes to dissimulate a Tint of the Complexion—_
547. As above, he must distinguish two cases:—
1st, WHEN HE SEES THE COLOURS MODIFIED BY JUXTAPOSITION ONLY, _when the tint may be lowered without leaving its scale_:—
1. By a black drapery, which lowers it by contrast of tone. 2. By a drapery of the same scale as that of the tint, but of a much higher tone.
Such, perhaps, as a red drapery upon a rosy complexion; or, an orange drapery upon an orange-tinted complexion; or, the effect of a dark green drapery on a complexion of a green tint.
2nd, _The tint may be lowered by making it leave its scale_.
1. By a green drapery of very dark tone, upon an orange complexion. 2. By a blue drapery of a dark tone, upon a rosy complexion. 3. By a very dark yellow drapery, upon a very pale orange complexion.
APPLICATIONS TO HORTICULTURE.
SECTION I.
548. The applications I propose to make are of two kinds: the one relating particularly to the arrangement of plants in gardens, according to the colour of the flowers; the other, to the method of distributing and planting ligneous plants in masses, which I suppose to have been previously planned. Doubtless, I need not have discussed the latter subject, but I have been led to it so naturally, and the rules which guided me are so positive and simple, that I have no doubt of their proving profitable to those of my readers who follow them in laying out plantations, &c.
The artist who conducts these operations is called a Gardener, or Landscape Gardener.
ON THE ART OF ARRANGING ORNAMENTAL PLANTS IN GARDENS SO AS TO DERIVE THE GREATEST POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE FROM THE COLOURS OF THEIR FLOWERS.
549. Among the pleasures afforded us by the cultivation of choice plants, there are few so intense as the sight of a collection of flowers, varied in colour, form, size, and position. It is probably because we admire the plants individually, and become attached to them on account of the pains they cost us, that we have hitherto so generally neglected to dispose them in such a manner as to produce the best possible effect when their flowers are seen collectively.
Thus, no defect is more common than that of the _proportion_ in which flowers of similar colours are distributed in a garden. Sometimes the eye is struck by blue or white, sometimes it is dazzled by yellow. Add to this defect of proportion, the ill effect produced by placing together many species of flowers, which, although of the same colour, are not of the same tint: for instance, in spring we see the leopard’s bane (_doronica_), of a brilliant golden yellow, side by side with the narcissus, which is of a pale greenish yellow; in autumn, the Indian pink beside the African marigold, dahlias of various reds grouped together, &c.
Such arrangements as these cause the eye, accustomed to appreciate the effects of contrast of colours, to feel sensations quite as disagreeable as those experienced by the musician whose ear is struck with discords.
550. Previously to my observations on simultaneous contrast, and the demonstration of the law which governs it, it was impossible to prescribe rules which, by instructing horticulturists to place, with certainty of success, flowers in proximity whose colours reciprocally enhance each other, enabled them to avoid either the monotony resulting from the grouping of flowers of the same colour, or the disagreeable effect of a collection of flowers whose hues are mutually injurious.
ASSORTMENTS OF FLOWERS,
_Where the Plants are apart._
551. The associations of flowers which relate to the harmonies of contrast of colour, are first, those with colours mutually complementary to each other; such as blue with orange, or yellow with violet. Rose or red flowers contrast with their own leaves.
552. White flowers accord more or less favourably with blue and orange flowers, already allied together; and perfectly with rose or red flowers, but not so well with yellow or violet flowers, already allied. White associates much less favourably when the latter is brighter or greener.
White flowers are the only ones that possess the advantage of heightening light tones of any colour, and of separating those whose colours are mutually injurious.
553. Yellow flowers, especially those which incline to orange, accord very well with blue ones.
Flowers of a yellow, more green than orange, have a very good effect with flowers of a red inclining to blue, rather than to orange.
Deep red flowers accord well with deep-blue flowers.
Orange flowers are not misplaced near violet flowers.
ASSORTMENTS RELATING TO THE HARMONIES OF CONTRAST OF HUES.
554. It is so difficult to make associations of hues which will have a satisfactory effect, that I prescribe _in general_ the mutual association of flowers whose colours belong to neighbouring scales.
We must then separate
Pink flowers from those that are either Scarlet or Crimson. Orange ” ” Orange-yellow, Yellow ” ” Greenish-yellow,
I shall even go further in advising the separation of— Red flowers from Orange, Blue or Pink from Violet.
_Where the Plants are indiscriminately mixed._
555. Flowers which only present contrasts of hues and which spring from seeds sown thickly in borders, or in beds, will not have the same objection as when the roots are planted at a distance from each other.
556. Flowers, presenting a disagreeable contrast of hues, may still produce a good effect, when their assortment makes part of an arrangement of contrasts of colours, strongly opposed; in this case being no longer seen isolated, they become in a manner the element of a picture.
SECTION II.
ASSORTMENTS AS TO HARMONY OF ANALOGY.
557. I only reckon shrubs susceptible of this harmony; because only perennial plants afford to the horticulturist a guarantee that the flowers of one year will be identical with those of the preceding; consequently, if we plant woody shrubs in such manner as to secure a regular gradation of tones, the successive annual flowerings will be constantly according to that order. We may apply this kind of arrangement to standard roses.
558. But I do not advise any one to attempt submitting annuals to this arrangement, because of the uncertainty that exists in the tones of their colour.
_Harmonies of Analogy of Hues._
559. If I have spoken against the associations of _contrast_ of hues (554), I am more inclined to speak against the associations of _analogy_ of hues, always remembering the restrictions I have stated above (Section 1). We must not forget that my intention is to describe assortments, whose good effects are certain. Now the more the colours contrast, conformably to our law, the more latitude there will be, although the colours of individual flowers associated vary in tone and in hue.
560. An objection might be addressed to me _that the green of the leaves, which serves as a ground to the flowers, destroys the effect of their contrast_. But it is not so; and to be convinced of it, it is sufficient to fix upon a screen of green silk, two kinds of flowers in conformity with the arrangement of the coloured bands (_pl. 1. fig. 7_), and to look at them from a distance of about ten paces; for when the eye is fixed on two well-defined objects simultaneously, surrounding objects, especially distant ones, produce but feeble impressions.
ON THE ART OF ASSORTING LIGNEOUS PLANTS IN GARDENS, SO AS TO DERIVE THE BEST POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE FROM THE COLOUR OF THEIR FOLIAGE.
561. If we consider trees and shrubs no longer under the relation of the colour of their flowers, but with regard to the manner in which we may employ their foliage in the decoration of gardens, we shall perceive that there is only a very small number of contrasts of scale and hue which we can realize while vegetation is active; yet in autumn, when plants, losing their leaves before falling, assume various colours, as red, rose, scarlet, orange, and yellow, these, by their brilliancy, recall the season of flowers. Most trees and shrubs present, in the summer season, only the green of their foliage; and, although this green varies in tone and hue, the differences are always trifling.
562. _Harmonies of Contrast._—The most decided contrast of colour that we can establish between the leaves of ligneous plants, is that of green, with foliage nearest to red. But even the _purple beech_ is more of a red-brown than a dark _red_, properly so called, for the colour of leaves results from a mixture of red and green, which, according to the principle of mixing colours must produce black, if they are in suitable proportion, or a brown tone of the green or red scale, according as one or the other colour predominates. The contrast of hue is established by the assortment of a bluish-green and a yellowish green of tones unequally high, by the contrast of a bluish-green brown with a yellowish light green, &c.
563. _Harmonies of Analogy._—Nearly all the masses of various trees in our landscape gardens present certain harmonies of hues mostly resulting from associations established according to considerations foreign to those of the assortment of foliage—an evident result, remembering (561) that the colours of the leaves of the greater part of plants are of green belonging to scales more or less allied, and of tones but little distant from each other.
(_a_) Harmonies of analogy of hues formed of allied tones belonging to neighbouring scales, are those which it is least difficult to obtain.
(_b_) Arrangements of foliage presenting a series of equidistant tones of the same scale of green.
ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND PLANTING OF TREES, ETC., IN MASSES.
564. The principal object of the two following chapters is to supply a deficiency in works on gardening as to the manner of distributing and planting trees in masses, &c., the outlines of which have been previously sketched conformably with precise rules. For authors say nothing on this subject, and the embarrassment of a landowner who wishes to plant an estate already planned out, is further increased by this circumstance, that, in the majority of cases, the author of the plan of the projected garden, after having defined the lines of the plantations, indicated the places where isolated trees must be placed, designated the kinds of trees which should constitute groups, and others which must enter into the formation of masses with trees and shrubs (which he does not generally indicate), leaves the care of planting and other details to ordinary gardeners.
Yet the distribution of trees and shrubs, however easy it may appear, in a piece of ground otherwise perfectly planned, contributes more than is generally supposed to the pleasure of a landscape garden, and presents also more difficulties than to allow of its being effected in a satisfactory manner, when it is abandoned, as generally happens, to chance. In fact, if, at the end of a few years, we observe the greater part of masses planted as they frequently are, we shall be struck with defects which were not at first perceptible, because we were then under the influence of the pleasure we always experience at witnessing the development of plants which have been confided to a carefully prepared soil; and besides, there are some defects which are only perceptible after a certain time, such, for example, as that resulting—
1. _From the plants being placed too near together._
2. _From placing, in the front row, clumps which rise too high, or which lose their lower branches._ Such are the elder tree, and sumach.
565. It was after many years of lost enjoyments, through having planted without fixed rule, masses otherwise well designed in their contours, that I was led by my own experience to seek the means of avoiding similar errors in future. The rules I now give are not the result of reflection merely; they have been practised many years, and I am much deceived if those who observe them will not derive great facilities in their application, and experience from them a lively satisfaction.
566. I will now define several expressions employed to designate the different associations of plants which may form part of a landscape garden.
An assemblage of trees and shrubs, occupying a large space, is termed a _forest_. But in a landscape garden a similar assemblage, or that which has been arranged to present the appearance of a vast space, is called a _wood_, if it is composed of trees and underwood; and a _park_, if it consists of trees only.
[Illustration: ARRANGEMENT OF PLANTS IN LANDSCAPE GARDENING.
PLATE XVIII.]
A collection of trees, shrubs, bushes, and underwood, is called a _grove_; when it consists only of trees, it is termed _a group of trees_.
There are _thickets_ of shrubs, bushes, underwood, and of flowering herbaceous plants.
There are _thickets_ formed of a single species of plants, and thickets formed of several species. The first are called _homogeneous_, and the second _heterogeneous_, or _varied_.
There are _isolated masses_, and _masses subordinated together_.
A small mass of flowers or shrubs, isolated, and of a circular or elliptical form, is called a _bed_.