(kJ^M frW~ fcAJU^ 
 
MONT DTK 
 
 AMBERS; 
 
THE 
 
 LAWS OF 
 
 HARMONIOUS COLOURING, 
 
 ADAPTED TO 
 
 INTERIOR DECORATIONS, MANUFACTURES, 
 AND OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES. 
 
 By D. R. HAY, 
 
 HOUSE-PAINTER, EDINBURGH. 
 
 » Every opportunity should be taken to discountenance that false and vulgar 
 opinion^ that rules are the fetters of genius : they are fetters only to men of no 
 genius.". — Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
 THIRD EDITION. 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS; 
 AND ORR & SMITH, LONDON. 
 1836. 
 
EDINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY, 
 Shakspeare Square. 
 
TO THE HONOURABLE 
 
 THE 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT OF MANUFACTURES IN SCOTLAND, 
 
 THIS TREATISE 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY 
 
 THEIR MUCH OBLIGED, 
 
 AND VERY HUMBLE SERVANT, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 89, George Street, 
 February 15, 1836. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the two former editions of this treatise, I 
 merely endeavoured to adapt the laws of har- 
 monious colouring to interior decoration. In 
 this edition, however, I have given such a 
 general view of those laws as, I trust, may be 
 useful in all cases where various colours are 
 necessarily brought together; whether in deco- 
 ration, manufacture, dress, planting of flowers, 
 or in other ordinary matters. Independently 
 of such applications, however, I do not hesitate 
 to say that a knowledge of these laws will en- 
 hance the pleasure derived from viewing the 
 beauties, not only of pictorial art, but of Nature 
 herself, in so far as that knowledge is calculated 
 to cultivate and improve the perception. 
 
 The error of considering the arranging of 
 colours as a matter of taste merely, is very pre- 
 valent. Mere matters of taste, however, are 
 subjects upon which both nations and indivi- 
 duals differ widely, and there are no productions 
 
vi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of this kind, however extravagant or absurd, 
 that have not their admirers, while they bear 
 the gloss of novelty or stamp of fashion. Such 
 matters are subject to no rule whatsoever — they 
 are governed entirely by caprice ; but it is very 
 different with the arranging of colours, for that 
 is regulated by laws, founded on natural prin- 
 ciples. There are, no doubt, many varieties of 
 tastes in regard to colours, both individually and 
 arranged. Many have fancies for, and antipathies 
 to, particular hues. All have their tastes in 
 regard to particular styles of colouring; some 
 being fond of the gay and lively; some the rich 
 and powerful, and others the deep and grave. 
 Some have a partiality for complex arrange- 
 ments, while others prefer extreme simplicity. 
 But this is the case in music also; every variety 
 and style of composition has its particular ad- 
 mirers; yet it never is assumed from this, that 
 the arranging of the notes in a melody, or other 
 musical composition, is a mere matter of taste. 
 All know that the arrrangement of notes in 
 such cases is regulated by fixed laws, which 
 cannot be deviated from without giving offence 
 to the ear; and that a knowledge of these laws 
 is absolutely requisite to every one who wishes 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Vll 
 
 to cultivate that pleasing art. It does not 
 matter under what circumstances a variety of 
 colours is presented to the eye; if they be 
 harmoniously arranged, the effect will be as 
 agreeable to that organ as harmonious music 
 to the ear ; — but if not so arranged, the effect 
 on the eye must be unpleasant; and the more 
 cultivated the mind of the individual, the more 
 annoying will such discordance be. These facts 
 I have endeavoured to make apparent, by draw- 
 ing an analogy between the science of colour 
 and that of sound. 
 
 From circumstances which I have elsewhere 
 explained, I have added a few observations on 
 the application of the arts generally to our 
 manufactures, which I trust will be found of 
 some practical utility. 
 
ERRATUM. 
 Page 31, line 5 from bottom, for quality read quantity. 
 
THE LAWS 
 
 OF 
 
 HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 The laws of harmonious colouring seem not only to 
 have been thoroughly understood by those great paint- 
 ers of antiquity, whose works have been the admiration 
 and study of succeeding ages, but were, even so far back 
 as amongst the early Egyptians, carried to the greatest 
 perfection in the more humble, though equally useful, 
 art of internal decoration. Those travellers who have 
 visited the remains of the magnificent cities and tombs 
 erected by that wonderful people, speak of this branch 
 of art as having been executed upon an evidently re- 
 gular system of harmony, which had for its basis those 
 laws that still continue to be the study of followers of 
 the highest walks of art. 
 
 The Romans, too, at the period of their greatest 
 refinement, seem to have applied this science to the 
 useful arts. Of this the remains of Pompeii and Her- 
 culaneum afford ample proof. Such artists and araa- 
 
2 THE LAWS OF 
 
 teurs as have visited those interesting ruins, and whom 
 I have had an opportunity of consulting upon the 
 subject, speak in the highest terms of the scientific 
 manner in which the colours are arranged in the de- 
 coration even of the most ordinary dwellings. Accord- 
 ing to these accounts, and judging from many coloured 
 sketches made upon the spot, with the sight of which 
 I have been favoured, it appears to me that the know- 
 ledge of colour possessed by the Romans at that period 
 must have been of the most scientific nature* They 
 used upon all occasions the most brilliant and intense 
 colours, without either discord or crudity resulting 
 from their various combinations. 
 
 Even at this day the Italians seem to surpass us in 
 this particular. An eminent writer on the art of 
 painting, and one who has of late years done much in 
 an official capacity for the encouragement and im- 
 provement of our national manufactures, attributes 
 the inexpressibly pleasing effect of the mode of house- 
 painting practised by the modern Italians to their 
 knowledge of, and attention to, the rules of harmony 
 alone; and observes, that their bold and vivid tints 
 melt into each other with all the skill and harmony of 
 a piece of brilliant music. 
 
 Harmony of colouring is, at the present period, evi- 
 
 * The best sketches of this kind that I have seen were by Charles H. 
 Wilson, Esq., who visited those ruins professionally. These, I believe, he 
 intends publishing, in a series of coloured etchings, as soon as he has com- 
 pleted the beautiful series of exterior views upon which he is at present 
 engaged. 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. g 
 
 dently becoming one of the characteristics of our na- 
 tional school of painting; and this will no doubt event- 
 ually lead to a knowledge of it amongst the more humble 
 class of colourists to which I belong. Yet I consider 
 it a necessary step towards the attainment of this 
 knowledge, that the simple rules or groundwork of 
 the art should be disseminated amongst us in a popu- 
 lar form. 
 
 With these views, but confining myself to an appli- 
 cation of those rules to my own humble profession, I 
 published this little treatise. The success of the first 
 and second editions, my experience since, and, above all, 
 the study of Field's scientific and excellent works on 
 chromatics, have induced and enabled me, not only to 
 remodel and, I trust, greatly improve the present edi- 
 tion, but to extend its usefulness, by adapting it to vari- 
 ously-coloured manufactures, and indeed to every case 
 where colours are brought together to produce effect. 
 
 Harmonious arrangements of colours being such 
 combinations as, by certain principles of our nature, 
 produce an effect on the eye similar to that which is 
 produced by harmonious music on the ear, and as a 
 remarkable conformity exists between the science of 
 colour and that of sound, in their fundamental princi- 
 ples as well as in their effects, I shall probably best 
 pave the way to a proper comprehension of the former 
 by tracing this analogy, the more especially as the 
 science of music is so much more generally under- 
 stood. This analogy will help to show, that the laws 
 
4 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 which govern colour are as irrefragable, and, at the 
 same time, as practically necessary to the colourist, in 
 art, manufacture, or decoration, as those which govern 
 sound are to the musician. 
 
 I believe it will be generally acknowledged by 
 judges of such matters, that the dresses of most ladies 
 of the highly-educated class are arranged with an appa- 
 rent adherence to the laws of harmonious colouring. 
 This, I have no doubt, arises from their knowledge of 
 music, as well as from the improved perception conse- 
 quent upon a general cultivation of the mind. Field 
 makes an observation, the truth of which will be 
 pretty generally admited; he says "that the female 
 eye seems to be particularly receptive and perceptive 
 of the tender, beautiful, and expressive relations of 
 colours." This must no doubt assist the other facili- 
 ties I have alluded to. 
 
 Before entering upon this part of my subject, how- 
 ever, it will be requisite to give a short account of the 
 theories of colour. 
 
 When I first published this treatise there existed 
 two theories, and I hesitated long which of the two to 
 adopt. The one theory was that established by Sir 
 Isaac Newton, and adopted by Sir David Brewster, 
 and other philosophical writers on chromatics. A 
 short account of it may make what follows more 
 clearly understood by the generality of readers. It 
 was discovered or confirmed by Sir Isaac Newton in 
 the following manner: — 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 5 
 
 In the window-shutter of a darkened room he made 
 a hole of about the third of an inch diameter, behind 
 which, at a short distance, he placed a prism, so that 
 a ray of the sun's light might enter, and leave it at 
 equal angles. This ray, which before the introduction 
 of the prism proceeded in a straight line, and formed 
 a round spot upon a screen placed a few feet distant 
 from the window, was now found to be refracted, ap- 
 peared of an oblong form, and composed of seven dif- 
 ferent colours of the greatest brilliancy, imperceptibly 
 blended together, viz. violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, 
 orange, and red. This is called the solar or prismatic 
 spectrum. 
 
 The theory established by this experiment was, 
 that the white light of the sun is composed of several 
 eolours, which often appear by themselves, and that 
 this white light can be separated into its elements. 
 
 By making a hole in the screen upon which the 
 spectrum is formed, opposite to each of these colours 
 successively, so as to allow it alone to pass, and by 
 letting the colour thus separated fall upon a second 
 prism, Sir Isaac found that the light of each of the 
 colours was alike refrangible, because the second prism 
 could not separate it into an oblong image, or any 
 other colour; hence, he called all the colours simple or 
 homogeneous. 
 
 The other theory was that which seemed adopted 
 by almost all who had written on colouring connected 
 with the fine arts, and was, that there were only three 
 
6 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 simple or homogeneous colours, and that all others 
 resulted from them. Although this theory was not 
 set up in opposition to that of the natural philosophers, 
 but seemed only to be established in a practical point 
 of view, neither was it supported by any scientific 
 experiments; yet it appeared to me more consistent 
 with the general simplicity of nature, and I could not 
 believe that she required seven homogeneous parts to 
 produce what art could do by three. For instance, an 
 artist could make all the colours, and indeed a correct 
 representation of the prismatic spectrum (so far as the 
 purity of his materials would allow), with three colours 
 only; while, according to the theory of Sir Isaac 
 Newton, seven simple or homogeneous colours were 
 employed to produce the real one * The following 
 discovery, made by Buffon, and illustrated by succeed- 
 ing philosophers, helped to strengthen me in the con- 
 viction, that the scientific theory might, like that of 
 the practical artist, be reducible to three simple or 
 homogeneous parts. 
 
 If we look steadily for a considerable time upon a 
 spot of any given colour, placed on a white or black 
 ground, it will appear surrounded by a border of 
 another colour. And this colour will uniformly be 
 found to be that which makes up the triad ; for if the 
 
 * A similar view of the nature of the prismatic colours, as I have re- 
 cently learned, was communicated by Dr Milner to Humphrey Repton, 
 the celebrated landscape gardener, in the year 1802, published in his essay 
 on that subject, and afterwards quoted by Clark in his Progressive Lessons 
 on Landscape Painting, 1816. 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 ? 
 
 spot be red, the border will be green, which is com- 
 posed of blue and yellow; if blue, the border will be 
 orange, composed of yellow and red; and if yellow, 
 the border will be purple, making in all cases a tri- 
 unity of the three colours called by artists homoge- 
 neous. 
 
 With a view to throw such light upon the subject 
 as my limited opportunities would permit, I went over 
 the experiments by which Sir Isaac Newton esta- 
 blished his theory, and the same results occurred: 
 I could not separate any one colour of the solar 
 spectrum into two. The imperceptible manner in 
 which the colours were blended together upon the 
 spectrum, however, and the circumstance of the 
 colours, which practical people call compound, being 
 always placed at the adjunct of the two of which they 
 say it is composed, with my previous conviction, in- 
 duced me to continue my experiments; and although 
 I could not, by analysis, prove that there were only 
 three colours, I succeeded in proving it to my own 
 satisfaction synthetically, in the following manner : 
 
 After having tried every colour in succession, and 
 finding that noile of tllgffl COllld be separated into two, 
 I next made a hole in the first screen in the centre of 
 the blue of the spectrum, and another in that of the 
 red. I had thereby a spot of each of these colours 
 upon a second screen. I then, by means of another 
 prism, directed the blue spot to the same part of the 
 second screen on which the red appeared, where they 
 
8 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 united and produced a violet as pure and intense as that 
 upon the spectrum. I did the same with the blue and 
 yellow, and produced the prismatic green ; as also with 
 the red and yellow, and orange was the result. I tried, 
 in the same manner, to mix a simple with what I 
 thought a compound colour, but they did not unite; 
 for no sooner was the red spot thrown upon the green 
 than it disappeared. 
 
 I tried the same experiment with two spectrums, 
 the one behind, and of course a little above the other, 
 and passed a spot of each colour successively over the 
 spectrum which was farthest from the window, and 
 the same result occurred. It therefore appeared to me 
 that these three colours had an affinity to one another 
 that did not exist in the others, and that they could 
 not be the same in every respect, except colour and 
 refrangibility, as had hitherto been tausrht. 
 
 These opinions and experiments I published in 
 1828, as being a necessary part of a treatise of this 
 nature, and I did so with great diffidence, well know- 
 ing that I was soaring far above my own element in 
 making an attempt to throw light upon such a sub- 
 ject. 
 
 I had, however, the gratification to learn that " there 
 was read on the 21st of March 1831, at the Royal 
 Society of Edinburgh, a communication from Sir 
 David Brewster, containing a new analysis of white 
 solar light. He showed that it consists of the three 
 primary colours, red, yellow, and blue; and that the 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 other colours shown by the prism are also composed 
 of these."— Atlas, April 10, 1831. 
 
 I may, therefore, in this edition of my treatise, con- 
 fidently assume that there are only three primary 
 homogeneous colours in nature. 
 
 It is well known to all who have studied music that 
 there are three fundamental notes, viz. C, E, and G, 
 which compose the common chord, or harmonic triad, 
 and that they are the foundation of all harmony. So 
 also there are three fundamental colours, the lowest 
 number capable of uniting in variety, harmony, or 
 system. 
 
 By the combination of any two of these primary 
 colours, a secondary colour of a distinct kind is pro- 
 duced; and as only one absolutely distinct denomina- 
 tion of colour can arise from a combination of the 
 three primaries, the full number of really distinct 
 colours is seven, corresponding to the seven notes in 
 the complete scale of the musician. Each of these 
 colours is capable of forming an archeus, or key, for 
 an arrangement, to which all the other colours intro- 
 duced must refer subordinately. This reference and 
 subordination to one particular colour, as is the case 
 in regard to the key note in musical composition, gives 
 a character to the whole. 
 
 This characteristic of an arrangement of colour is 
 generally called its tone; but it appears to me that 
 this term is more applicable to individual hues, as it 
 is in music to voices and instruments alone. Yet, to 
 
10 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 avoid obscurity, I shall continue to use it in the sense 
 in which it is generally applied to colouring. 
 
 From the three primary colours, as will be after- 
 wards shown, arise an infinite variety of hues, tints, 
 and shades, so that the colourist, like the musician, 
 notwithstanding the extreme simplicity of the funda- 
 mental principles upon which his art is built, has 
 ample scope for the production of originality and 
 beauty, in the various combinations and arrangements 
 of his materials. 
 
 The three homogeneous colours, yellow, red, and 
 blue, have been proved by Field, in the most satisfac- 
 tory manner, to be in numerical proportional power as 
 follows — yellow three, red five, and blue eight. 
 
 When these three colours are reflected from any 
 opaque body in these proportions, white is produced. 
 They are then in an active state, but each is neutral- 
 ised by the relative effect that the others have upon it. 
 When they are absorbed in the same proportions, they 
 are in a passive state, and black is the result. When 
 transmitted through any transparent body, the effect 
 is the same; but in the first case they are material or 
 inherent, and in the second impalpable or transient. 
 Colour therefore depends entirely on the reflective or 
 refractive power of bodies, as the transmission or re- 
 flection of sound does upon their vibratory powers. 
 
 From the combination of the primary colours the 
 secondary arise, and are orange, which is composed of 
 * yellow and red, in the proportion of three and five ; 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 11 
 
 purple, which is composed of red and blue, in the pro- 
 portion of five and eight; and green, composed of yel- 
 low and blue, in the proportion of three and eight. 
 These are called the accidental or contrasting colours to 
 the primaries, with which they produce harmony in 
 opposition, in the same manner in which it is effected 
 in music by accompaniment ; the orange with the 
 blue, the purple with the yellow, and the green with 
 the red. They are therefore concords in the musical 
 relation of fourths, neutralising each other at sixteen. 
 
 This neutralising or compensating power, as will be 
 afterwards shown, is the foundation of all agreement 
 and harmony amongst colours, and upon it depends 
 also the brilliancy and force of every composition. 
 
 From the combination of these secondaries arise the 
 tertiaries, which are also three in number, as follow: 
 olive from the mixture of the purple and green, citron 
 from the mixture of the green and orange, and russet 
 from the mixture of the orange and purple. These 
 three colours, however, like the compounds produced 
 by their admixture, may be reckoned under the general 
 denomination of neutral hues, as they are all formed 
 by a mixture of the same ingredients ; the three pri- 
 maries, which always, less or more, neutralize each 
 other in triunity. The most neutral of them all being 
 grey, the mean between black and white, as any of 
 the secondaries are between two of the primaries, it 
 may appropriately be termed the seventh colour. These 
 tertiaries, however, stand in the same relation to the 
 
12 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 secondaries that the secondaries do to the primaries 
 
 olive to orange, citron to purple, and russet to green ; 
 and their proportion will be found to be in the same 
 accordance, and neutralising each other integrally as 32. 
 
 Out of the tertiaries arise a series of other colours, 
 such as brown, marone, slate, &c. in an incalculable 
 gradation, until they arrive at a perfect neutrality in 
 black, as shown in diagram 2. To all of these the 
 same rules of contrast are equally applicable. 
 
 Besides this relation of contrast in opposition, colours 
 have a relation in series, which is their melody. This 
 melody, or harmony of succession, is found in all the 
 natural phenomena of colour. Each colour on the 
 prismatic spectrum, and in the rainbow, is melodised 
 by the two compounds which it forms with the other 
 two primaries. For instance, the yellow is melodised 
 by the orange on the one side, and the green on the 
 other ; the blue by the green and purple, and the red 
 by the purple and orange. Field, in his excellent Essay 
 on the Analogy and Harmony of Colours,* has shown 
 these coincidences by a diagram, in which he has 
 accommodated the chromatic scale of the colourist to 
 the diatonic series of the musician, shewing that the 
 concords and discords are also singularly coincident. 
 It is, however, too complex for a work of this simple 
 kind; I shall therefore content myself by giving one 
 of the three clefs only, as in the following example : — 
 
 * This is a work of the highest class of those adapted to the fine arts, 
 and ought to be in the possession of every artist who wishes to approach 
 perfection in colouring. 
 
nnot conclude . this part of mf subject, 
 
 ing colo 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 13 
 
 
 EXAMPLE I. 
 
 > o /\ 
 
 
 
 
 ^—^ /\Purple.) 
 
 o / \ / 
 
 /Slue\f 
 
 
 \\ o / \ 7 
 
 
 
 I cannot conclude this part of my subject, without 
 noticing a striking coincidence between colour and 
 sound, which has not been referred to in any work that 
 I have consulted upon the subject. I have already 
 mentioned the phenomena discovered by BufFon, of the 
 accidental colour which appears with any given colour, 
 and that such accidental or compensating colour makes 
 up the harmonious triad or concord. This, as I am 
 informed by professors of music, is precisely the case 
 when any given note is sounded on an instrument. 
 It is always accompanied, or immediately succeeded, 
 by those which form a chord, and are termed in music 
 the harmonics. This phenomena, I believe, is most 
 perceptible in the sound of a bell in succession, and in 
 accompaniment on the string of the violincello. 
 
 Hitherto I have treated of all the colours, simple 
 
14 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 and compound, as in their most perfect state of inten- 
 sity or combination. I shall now show that they can 
 be multiplied in tint and shade, as well as in hue, 
 almost to infinity. By hue is meant any compound 
 colour undiluted. The primary colours cannot be 
 reckoned hues, because the introduction of any other 
 colour will change their name. It is not so with the 
 secondaries, for the subordination of either of their 
 component parts will change their hue, while their 
 names generally remain the same; hence arises an 
 incalculable number of various hues of each of these 
 colours — of orange from the yellowest to the reddest, 
 of green from the yellowest to the bluest, and purple 
 from the bluest to the reddest, with a few exceptions 
 which shall be afterwards stated. In the same manner 
 the tertiaries may be changed in hue to a much greater 
 extent, by the predominance or subordination of any of 
 their component parts, as also by the power of neu- 
 tralisation, possessed by each of these parts upon the 
 other two, as has already been noticed. 
 
 By tint is meant every gradation of a colour in 
 lightness, from its most perfect or intense state up 
 to white. This applies also to every one of the hues, 
 for they are, as well as the colours, capable of every 
 state of dilution. 
 
 The variety of tint is therefore incalculably greater 
 than that of hue. By shade is meant every gradation 
 of a colour or hue in depth, from its perfect state down 
 to black. 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 15 
 
 In their contrasting powers, colours must bear rela- 
 tion to one another, in point of tint, hue, and shade. 
 A tint of one colour, brought into an arrangement as a 
 contrast or equivalent to a tint of another colour, ought 
 to be equal in diluteness; and the same holds with 
 colours receding from their original purity towards 
 black. These contrasts are less and less powerful 
 according to their state of dilution or shade. Black 
 and white, however, as they form a perfect contrast to 
 one another, being the extremes of light and shade, 
 impart this quality to the colours with which they are 
 combined. Therefore, as a shade recedes towards 
 black in point of depth, the tint which is brought in 
 as a perfect contrast to it ought to approach in an 
 equal ratio towards white. All these equal contrasts 
 of hues, tints, and shades with one another, can be 
 easily performed by any one having a good eye, and a 
 slight knowledge of their relations. 
 
 The other kind of contrasts, however, require par- 
 ticular study before any thing like perfection can be 
 obtained, either in decorative colouring or that which 
 is useful in manufacture, and are used, not in a neu- 
 tralising or balancing point of view, but to give addi- 
 tional prominence, brilliancy, and effect to one parti- 
 cular colour. These contrasts may therefore be termed 
 imperfect or unequal, because the one colour is to a 
 certain extent neutralised or kept low in tone, in order 
 to give its antagonist more intensity and clearness. 
 As the effect of every arrangement depends as much 
 
16 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 on the media which accompany and unite them as on 
 the colours themselves, the greatest attention ought 
 to be paid to the tone and character of this class of 
 colours. It is by adapting them properly that the 
 greatest distinctions are reconciled and brought to an 
 imperceptible adjunct ; and it is by them that tone, 
 keeping, and repose is given to the whole. A neglect 
 of these mediatory colours is the chief cause of that cru- 
 dity and confusion of parts, so conspicuous in many of 
 the coloured goods manufactured at the present period. 
 
 In arranging colours, therefore, either in manufac- 
 ture or decoration, whether a few or a great variety 
 are to be employed, the effect of the whole, as well as 
 the several component parts, will depend as much on 
 attention to this as on the skill with which they are 
 harmonised in contrast and succession to each other. 
 And it must be borne in view, that no perfectly har- 
 monious arrangement of colours can be made unless 
 all the three primary colours be present, either in a 
 simple or mixed state, and that the distinctions of har- 
 mony depend upon a predominance of one of these three. 
 
 The following diagram exhibits a general harmony 
 of all the colours of any distinctive character, simple 
 and compound, except the neutral grey, which is re- 
 presented in the coloured copies, although imperfectly, 
 by the engraved groundwork. It will be observed that 
 each limb of this diagram forms a series of hues pro- 
 ceeding from one of the primaries, and producing a dis- 
 tinct melody or harmony, in succession, of that colour. 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 17 
 
 It will also be seen, that in each of these harmonies, 
 although the primary colour or key-note predominates,' 
 the other two primaries enter, in combination, into the' 
 arrangement. This, however, shall be more plainly 
 shown when these three melodies are exhibited sepa- 
 rately. There is also shown, upon this diagram, the 
 progress from light to darkness, or from white to 
 black; as also in its nine central divisions, the har- 
 mony in succession, and contrast of the primary and 
 secondary colours. The arrangement of this diagram, 
 I trust, will likewise show that all the colours, in their 
 greatest intensity, may be brought together without 
 crudity or harshness: 
 
18 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 In all general arrangements of colours, which are not 
 necessarily confined to any particular leading colour or 
 (to continue the analogy) key-note, it ought to be kept 
 in view, what nature has pointed out in the most dis- 
 tinct manner in all her colouring, namely, that those 
 cool-toned and neutralised colours which are most 
 agreeable to the eye should predominate, and that vivid 
 and intense colours should, upon all occasions, be used 
 with a sparing hand. The house-painter, in particular, 
 should be aware that vivid colours are only employed 
 to heighten the effect of splendour and richness, by 
 their attractive qualities. 
 
 The manufacturer has a greater latitude, for his 
 productions may, in most occasions, be neutralised by 
 what accompanies them in a more general arrangement. 
 In the finest specimens of Persian and Turkish carpets 
 the deep tones of indigo and brown predominate, while 
 the bright hues and tints only appear to detail and 
 heighten the effect of the pattern * 
 
 An eminent writer on the fine arts observes, that 
 colouring, like sound in music or poetry, should be an 
 echo to the sense; and according to the general senti- 
 ment which the subject should inspire, it will be gay, 
 lively, sombre, or solemn. This ought likewise to be 
 kept in view, not only in the colouring of the apart- 
 
 * This particular branch of manufactures has of late been brought to a 
 decree of perfection by Mr Whytock of Edinburgh, probably unequalled 
 
 Trustees, will be aware that I do not exaggerate the merus ot his worK 
 by this statement- 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. jg 
 
 ments of a dwelling-house, but in that of every build- 
 ing whatever. The same applies to every kind of 
 coloured manufacture employed in decoration. 
 
 Every artist in the higher branches has a particular 
 style of colouring to study, peculiarly adapted to the 
 nature of the generality of his subjects; but the house- 
 painter's styles must not only be as various as the uses 
 of the apartments which he decorates, but must vary 
 according to the different tastes of his employers. And 
 farther, he must take into consideration not only the 
 style of architecture, the situation, whether in town or 
 country, but the very rays by which each apartment 
 is lighted, whether they proceed directly from the sun, 
 or are merely reflected from the northern sky. He 
 must confine himself to neither a vivid, sombre, warm, 
 nor cold style of colouring; all must be equally at his 
 command, and in all the same strict attention to har- 
 mony must be observed. 
 
 The house-painter has often another very serious 
 difficulty to encounter. A variety of highly and va- 
 riously-coloured furniture is shown him, to which the 
 colouring of the different parts of a room must be 
 suited. It is here that his powers of balancing, har- 
 monising, and uniting are called forth; it is this which 
 obliges him, as Sir Joshua Reynolds says of the artist, 
 ever to hold a balance in his hand, by which he must 
 decide the value of different qualities, that, when some 
 fault must be committed, he may choose the least. 
 In toning and harmonising the colours in a picture, 
 
THE LAWS OF 
 
 an artist has the assistance of light and shadow, and can 
 make his shades accord with the tone in such a man- 
 ner as to improve the general harmony; but as the 
 colours of the house-painter and manufacturer are all 
 liable to be placed in full light, they must be toned in 
 themselves, to prevent that unnatural crudeness so an- 
 noying to the eye * How, then, can we account for 
 the prevalence of those gaudy paper hangings which 
 impinge the most obtrusive rays in all their vigour, or 
 those carpets where the preponderance of bright yel- 
 low and red, which are the more offensive from their 
 receiving the rays of light more directly than any 
 other part of the furniture, attracts the eye, and in- 
 jures the effect of every thing which is placed upon 
 them? And if, according to the rules which regulate 
 the higher branches of the art, simplicity of arrange- 
 ment prevents confusion where a variety of colours 
 are introduced, the colours, on the generality of such 
 articles, are most erroneously arranged. These errors 
 must proceed from a general negligence of the rules of 
 harmony. I do not mean by this that bright and 
 vivid colours are always offensive. I have already 
 said that they add richness and grandeur, when used 
 in their proper places, and in proper quantities; but 
 they should by no means cover the floor or walls of an 
 apartment, unless under very peculiar circumstances. It 
 
 * In treatin-r of this Burnet says, " We safely admit that the most 
 brilliant colours will receive an advantage in being toned to those hues 
 S common in nature, especially if they form a large mass m a p 1C - 
 tore." 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 21 
 
 may here be observed, that in all pictures representing 
 interiors, when a group of figures is introduced, there 
 may occasionally appear a piece of rich drapery or fur- 
 niture, painted in equally vivid and bright colours with 
 the figures, and which may in a great measure improve 
 the general effect and harmony; but who ever saw, in 
 a work of merit, the colours on the walls of the apart- 
 ment, or carpet on the floor, making a monopoly of 
 attraction, and causing those upon the figures and fur- 
 niture to sink into insignificance? 
 
 There may be many excellences in a picture which 
 may compensate for a defect in harmony, and the artist 
 may still retain a high character for drawing, expres- 
 sion, &c. ; but nothing can excuse a deficiency in this 
 respect either in an apartment or a piece of manufac- 
 ture. If the decorations are costly and gorgeous, the 
 defect in harmony is more glaring. 
 
 I have asserted that a general negligence of the rules 
 of harmony is the cause of our errors in decoration ; 
 and I have the authority of one of the first literary 
 works of the age for this assertion. 
 
 In the article on house-painting, in the Edinburgh 
 Encyclopaedia, the author says, " It is in this essential 
 point of harmony that our practice is particularly de- 
 fective. We rarely see, in the simple painting of our 
 apartments, any combination of colours that is not in 
 some part offensive against even the common rules of 
 art, although there are certain combinations pointed 
 out by the laws of optics which can as little be made 
 
22 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 to harmonise as two discordant notes in music. The 
 unpleasant effects arising from such erroneous mixtures 
 and juxtapositions we are often sufficiently aware of, 
 without having the skill requisite to assign the reason, 
 any more than the painter who chose them. We shall 
 not exemplify the particular defects of harmony so con- 
 spicuous in our practice, as it would lead us into tedious 
 details. We would only hint to our master painters 
 that it is a matter requiring far greater study than they 
 seem aware of." 
 
 The celebrated work from which I have taken the 
 above statement might be a sufficient guarantee for its 
 truth, but every one who has a knowledge of the laws 
 which ought to govern an assemblage of different co- 
 lours, must own that it is correct, even in regard to our 
 most splendid habitations and palaces; the apartments 
 in which, although often rendered pleasing from the 
 interest excited by the profusion of pictures with which 
 they are hung, too often display a want of harmony in 
 their other decorations ; and this does not always pro- 
 ceed from the painting alone, but often from a want 
 of unison between it and the furniture ; for each may 
 be perfect in its own way, and yet the harshest discord 
 exist betwen them. 
 
 As the author of the article quoted above declines 
 exemplifying the particular defects in our practice, 
 and as it seems to be a requisite part of this treatise, 
 I shall endeavour to point out a few, with their causes. 
 The first and most obvious defect is, when there is 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 23 
 
 no particular tone or key fixed on for the colouring of 
 an apartment, that is, when one part of the furniture 
 is chosen without any reference to the rest, and the 
 painting done without any reference to the furniture. 
 This generally produces an incongruous mixture; and 
 is, in comparison to a tastefully decorated apartment, 
 as far as regards colouring, what a child produces with 
 its first box of paints to the work of a great master. 
 
 A second, and more common fault, is the predomi- 
 nance of some bright and intense colour, either upon 
 the walls or floor. It is evident that the predominance 
 of a bright and overpowering colour upon so large a 
 space as the floor or wall of a room, must injure the 
 effect of the finest furniture. 
 
 This great error often arises from the difficulty of 
 choosing a paper hanging or carpet, and our liability to 
 be bewildered amongst the multitude of patterns which 
 are produced; the most attractive of which, on a small 
 scale, are often, from this very circumstance, the more 
 objectionable, in regard to their forming a large mass 
 in an apartment ; particularly as the artists who design 
 them seem to be regulated by no fixed principles, but, 
 from their repeated deviations from the established 
 rules of harmony, appear to give themselves up to the 
 vague pursuit of novelty alone. 
 
 A third error is introducing deep and pale colours, 
 which may have been well enough chosen in regard to 
 their hues, but whose particular degrees of strength or 
 tint have not been attended to. Thus the intensity of 
 
24 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 one or more may so affect those which they were in- 
 tended to balance and relieve as to give them a faded 
 and unfinished appearance. This may proceed from 
 applying the fundamental laws without any regard to 
 the minutiae ; for although it is always necessary to 
 subdue and neutralise such colours as are introduced 
 in large quantities, yet when they are reduced by 
 dilution alone the effect cannot be good. This error 
 is also very common in the colouring of carpets and 
 paper-hangings. In such productions the degree of 
 intensity of the individual colours is seldom taken into 
 account. A pale tint of blue is often introduced as an 
 equivalent to the richest orange colour, and sometimes 
 a small portion of lilac — one of the lightest tints of 
 purple — as a balancing colour to a quantity of the 
 most intense yellow. This is inverting the natural 
 order of colours altogether, as will be more particu- 
 larly shown in the sequel. 
 
 There is a fourth defect, and rather a common one, 
 and that is a want of the media already alluded to, 
 which unite and harmonise an assemblage of bright 
 colours, which may, in other respects, be perfectly well 
 arranged; for it is a rule in the higher branches of 
 the art, that confusion of parts of equal strength should 
 always be avoided. A room of this description resem- 
 bles a Chinese landscape, where foreground and distance 
 are jumbled together. 
 
 An opposite defect to this is monotony, or a total 
 want of variety; for some are so afraid of committing 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 errors in point of harmony, that neutral tints only- 
 are introduced, and sometimes one tint of this kind 
 alone prevails. Variety is a quality found to exist in 
 the most trifling as well as in the grandest combina- 
 tions of nature's colouring; and it is, as already 
 observed, in uniting and making an arrangement of 
 various colours harmonious and agreeable to the eye, 
 that the skill of the house-painter and manufacturer 
 chiefly consist. It is this which produces what is 
 termed repose in a picture, a quality equally desirable 
 in the colouring of an apartment. 
 
 The tone or key is the first point to be fixed, and 
 its degree of warmth or coldness will be regulated by 
 the use, situation, and light of the apartment. The 
 next point is the style of colouring, whether gay, 
 sombre, or otherwise. This is more particularly regu- 
 lated by the use of the apartment, and the sentiments 
 which it ought to inspire; for, as Sir Joshua Reynolds 
 says, in regard to colouring, " What may heighten 
 the elegant may degrade the sublime." Unison, or a 
 proper combination of parts, is the next consideration. 
 
 The tone or key is generally fixed by the choice of 
 the furniture ; for as the furniture of a room may be 
 considered, in regard to colouring, in the same light 
 as the principal figures in a picture, the general tone 
 must depend upon the colours of which it is composed ; 
 for instance, if the prevailing colour be blue, grey, 
 cool green, or lilac, the general tone must be cool; but 
 if, on the other hand, it is red, orange, brown, yellow, 
 
26 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 or a warm tint of green, the tone must be warm. But, 
 as stated before, there can be no pleasing combination 
 of colours without variety. This, by judicious manage- 
 ment, may be given without in the least interfering 
 with the tone, for it is merely the general colour of 
 the furniture which ought to fix the tone; and there 
 may be the most decided contrasts in its parts, which, 
 by the introduction of proper medial hues throughout 
 the room, can be reconciled and united. Apartments 
 lighted from the south and west, particularly in a sum- 
 mer residence, should be cool in their colouring; but 
 the apartments of a town house ought all to approach 
 towards a warm tone ; as also such apartments as are 
 lighted from the north and east of a country residence. 
 
 When the tone of an apartment is therefore fixed by 
 the choice of the furniture, it is the business of the 
 house-painter to introduce such tints upon the ceiling, 
 walls, and wood-work, as will unite the whole in per- 
 fect harmony. This, as I have already observed, is a 
 difficult task: the colours of the furniture may be ar- 
 ranged by a general knowledge of the laws of har- 
 mony, but the painter's part cannot be properly added, 
 without the closest attention to the principles of art. 
 
 The style of colouring is the next point to be fixed, 
 and will depend entirely on the use of the apartment. In 
 a drawing-room, vivacity, gaiety, and light cheerfulness 
 should characterise the colouring. This is produced 
 by the introduction of light tints of brilliant colours, 
 with a considerable degree of contrast and gilding; but 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 27 
 
 the brightest colours and strongest contrasts should 
 be upon the furniture, the effect of which will derive 
 additional value and brilliancy from the walls being 
 kept in due subordination, although, at the same time, 
 partaking of the general liveliness. 
 
 The characteristic colouring of a dining-room should 
 be warm, rich, and substantial ; and where contrasts are 
 introduced, they should not be vivid. This style of 
 colouring will be found to correspond best with the 
 massive description of the furniture : gilding, unless in 
 very small quantities for the sake of relief, should be 
 avoided. 
 
 Parlours ought to be painted in a medium style, 
 between that of a drawing-room and dining-room. 
 
 The most appropriate style of colouring for libraries 
 is solemn and grave, and no richer colouring should be 
 employed than is necessary to give the effect of gran- 
 deur, which can scarcely be done where one monotonous 
 tint prevails; but care should be taken not to disturb 
 the quiet and solemn tone which ought to characterise 
 the colouring of all apartments of this description. 
 
 In bed-rooms, a light, cleanly, and cheerful style of 
 colouring is the most appropriate. A greater degree 
 of contrast may here be admitted between the room 
 and its furniture than in any other apartment, as the 
 bed and window curtains form a sufficient mass to 
 balance a tint of equal intensity upon the walls. There 
 may also, for the same reason, be admitted gayer and 
 brighter colours upon the carpet. 
 
28 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 Stair-cases, lobbies, and vestibules, should all be rather 
 of a cool tone, and the style of the colour should be 
 simple and free of contrast. The effect to be produced 
 is that of architectural grandeur, which owes its beauty 
 more to the effect of light and shadow than to any 
 arrangement of colours ; yet they ought not to be so 
 entirely free from colour as the exterior of a mansion, 
 but should be in colouring what they are in use, a link 
 between exterior simplicity and interior richness. 
 
 Stair-cases and lobbies being cool in tone, and simple 
 in the style of their colouring, will much improve the 
 effect of the apartments which enter from them. 
 
 ON COLOURS INDIVIDUALLY. 
 
 White, as already stated, is produced by the reflec- 
 tion of all the colours simultaneously in their relative 
 neutralising proportions. Its contrasting colour is 
 black, with which it is corelative, being the opposite 
 extreme of neutrality. It lies nearest in series to yellow, 
 which may be reckoned its melodising colour. It, 
 however, harmonises in conjunction and opposition 
 with all other colours. Every colour in its series of 
 tints becomes subdued in force proportionally as it 
 approaches towards white. It is the representative of 
 light as black is of darkness ; its effect on the eye is 
 therefore cheerful and enlivening. 
 
 In Syme's Nomenclature of Colours, there are no 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 29 
 
 fewer than eight different tints of white enumerated ; 
 and although the terms reddish white, &c. are rather 
 anomalous, yet there seems to be no other way of 
 denominating the lightest tints of colours. For instance, 
 when the lightest tint of any colour is placed beside 
 the most intense, it will appear to the eye a pure white ; 
 but when placed beside the purest white, the colour 
 will appear with which it is tinged. Still it should be 
 understood, that if it be a single shade beyond the first 
 remove or gradation from pure white, its name must 
 be altered to a light tint of the colour with which it is 
 tinged. 
 
 The only white which is generally understood or 
 used besides the purest tint, is French white, which is, 
 properly speaking, the lightest shade of purple, and is 
 of all colours the most delicate and aerial. It is seldom 
 employed in house-painting ; yet, when the situation, 
 furnishing, and character of an apartment are properly 
 adapted, it has an extremely pleasing effect. I have 
 seen it made the prevailing colour of a drawing-room 
 in a country residence, where the furniture being com- 
 posed of light blue silk, satin-wood, various light mar- 
 bles, and gilding, it had the most lively and cheerful 
 appearance imaginable. It may be requisite to observe, 
 that the French white on the walls was kept rather 
 low in tone, so as not to interfere with the effect of the 
 furniture. French white can only be introduced when 
 all the other colours are light and cool in tone, as any 
 quantity of intense or rich colouring completely sub- 
 
30 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 dues it; and where gilding forms part of the arrange- 
 ment, a little additional warmth should be given to it. 
 The same may be said of pure white: all colours 
 brought into contact with it should be light and cool, 
 amongst which grey and green are the most suitable. 
 Very light yellow, of the tint of the primrose, forms 
 also a pleasing arrangement with pure white. 
 
 In rooms where white and other cool tints predomi- 
 nate upon the walls and wood-work, the furniture 
 should be of an equally light description. Bamboo and 
 satin-wood are the best woods. The same considera- 
 tions should regulate the choice of the carpet and cur- 
 tains. White not many years ago was the only colour 
 in use for the wood-work of rooms of every descrip- 
 tion; it has now almost entirely given way to shades 
 of various colours, and imitations of the finer kinds of 
 woods. It is still, however, adopted for bed-rooms, 
 particularly in summer residences, where its light, 
 cheerful, and cleanly effect is extremely pleasing, when 
 not destroyed by the introduction of violent and deep 
 colours. 
 
 A south light is the best for white, and all such 
 colours and furniture as assimilate with it. When it is 
 the predominating colour in a room lighted from the 
 north, it ought to approach slightly towards a cream 
 colour, so as to counteract as much as possible the cold 
 reflection of such a light. 
 
 In patterns for coloured manufactures, pure white 
 ought not to be used along with intense and rich colours, 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 31 
 
 unless melodised by light and delicate tints. Indeed 
 it ought, in manufacture as in decoration, only to be 
 used where the character of the arrangement is of a 
 light and delicate nature. Its effect in arrangements 
 of deep, rich, and intense colours, is generally harsh 
 and spotty. When employed as a groundwork for a 
 carpet, it ought to be to a certain extent reduced in 
 intensity, by which great additional effect will be given 
 to the tints with which the pattern is coloured. When 
 the general tone of a pattern of this description is warm, 
 that is, where red and yellow prevail, the white ought 
 to be slightly tinged towards a cream colour. On 
 the other hand, when the tone is cool, blue or green 
 being the prevailing colour, it may be tinged towards 
 purple, grey, or any other cool tint or shade. When 
 white, however, is used, not as the medium to an ar- 
 rangement, but as a contrasting colour to any particu- 
 lar tint, it ought to be toned with the opposite hue. 
 
 Yellow, of the three primary colours, partakes most 
 of the nature of white, being the lightest of all decided 
 colours, and the brightest on the prismatic spectrum. 
 Its contrasting colour is purple, a compound of the 
 other two primaries; its proportional power to which 
 is as three to thirteen, either in quality or intensity. 
 It constitutes, in combination with red, the secondary 
 orange; and, when compounded with blue, it produces 
 the secondary green. These two colours are, there- 
 fore, its melodising hues. It is the most powerful of 
 
32 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 the positive colours, and consequently the least agree- 
 able to the eye, when unaccompanied, or when pre- 
 dominating in a pure state. Being the lightest of 
 positive colours, it, next to white, forms the most 
 powerful contrast to black. There are fourteen va- 
 rieties of yellow enumerated in Syme's Nomenclature; 
 but what is here meant by yellow is the colour of the 
 yellow jasmyn, or deepest hue of lemon. Yellow, of 
 course, forms a component part of all the tertiary or 
 neutral hues, either in predominance or subordination. 
 
 The tertiary, in which it is the archeus or ruling 
 colour, is that called citron, which, being a compound of 
 orange and green, the two secondaries into which yel- 
 low enters, has a greater proportion of that colour than 
 either of the other two tertiaries. Citron is of itself a 
 soft and pleasing colour to the eye, and is the lightest 
 of all the distinct hues arising out of the treble combi- 
 nation of the primaries. It is very useful as a con- 
 trasting colour amongst low tones of purple and 
 crimson. In tracing yellow still farther down in the 
 scale, the next understood colour in which it predomi- 
 nates is the semi-neutral hue brown, a most efficient 
 colour in all the low parts of every warm-toned ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 The annexed Example, No. 3, shows the yellow in 
 contrast with purple, along with their deepest neutral 
 hues, brown and marone, and having the tertiaries 
 citron and russet as media. Example No. 4 exhibits 
 it in its various combinations and gradations of hue 
 
>ecoming ye 
 
Illllf ' II I 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 33 
 
 down to black. There are, of course, countless inter- 
 mediate hues and shades between any two of those 
 upon the diagrams. 
 
 EXAMPLE III. EXAMPLE IV. 
 
 In artificial lights pure yellow apparently loses much 
 of its intensity, because it cannot be easily distinguished 
 from white. This occurs from all such lights being 
 less or more of a yellow tone, and consequently dif- 
 fusing this colour over all objects within their in- 
 fluence; white thereby becoming yellow, and yellow 
 remaining unaltered. 
 
 In decoration, pure yellow cannot be employed in 
 large masses, but merely as a heightening colour; yet 
 
THE LAWS OF 
 
 light tints of yellow have a very pleasing effect in bed- 
 rooms, especially such as are lighted from the north and 
 east, and form an agreeable arrangement with white, 
 lilac, or chintz furniture. They have also the advan- 
 tage of being easily lighted, and thereby appearing very 
 cheerful at night. 
 
 There is no colour that requires more management 
 than yellow in coloured manufactures. This colour is 
 almost always employed in its purest and brightest 
 hues ; while the other colours which, according to 
 their relative powers, ought to predominate in inten- 
 sity, are very generally much inferior. Whether this 
 proceeds from the ease with which it is produced in 
 dyeing, or from a desire to produce a striking effect, I 
 know not; but its abuse in this way must be apparent 
 to all people of taste who have paid any attention to 
 the matter. It is, however, in its various tints and 
 combinations, of the greatest value in producing bril- 
 liancy and richness, as will be afterwards shown. 
 
 Orange is the next colour in power ; it is a com- 
 pound of yellow and red, in the proportions of three of 
 yellow to five of red. Between these two colours it 
 appears in the prismatic spectrum, rainbow, and other 
 natural phenomena; they may, therefore, be termed 
 its melodising colours. Its contrasting colour is blue. 
 Orange is the extreme point of warmth in colouring, 
 as blue is of coldness; they, therefore, form the most 
 perfect contrast in this respect, as they do in their 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 35 
 
 nuimerical proportional power, being eight to eight. In 
 its combination with green it produces the tertiary 
 cittron, and with purple the tertiary russet. 
 
 Although orange is perhaps the most powerful of 
 all colours, yet it possesses a mellowness and richness 
 wlhich renders it one of the most effective in all general 
 arrangements. It should, however, next to yellow, be 
 employed with a very sparing hand ; for it is, as well as 
 th at primary and red, offensive to the eye when viewed 
 alone, and unresolved by a proper proportion of its con- 
 trasting and melodising hues. The various beautiful 
 tints produced by the dilution of orange are the most 
 useful in heightening all ornamental colouring, amongst 
 which that termed gold-colour is pre-eminent. Orange, 
 like the two other secondaries, has great variety of hue, 
 according to the predominance of either of its com- 
 ponent parts. As it advances towards yellow, by a 
 predominance of that colour in its mixture, pure blue 
 can no longer be employed as a perfect contrast or 
 neutralising colour, but hues of purple, advancing 
 towards the perfect state of that colour in the same 
 ratio as the orange advances to the yellow. 
 
 On the other hand, when the orange colour recedes 
 towards red, by a subordination of the yellow in its 
 composition, green, in its various hues, becomes the 
 perfect contrasting colour; and as the red predomi- 
 nates in the orange, so ought the green to approach 
 towards its perfect or prismatic hue. It is not, how- 
 ever, always necessary or desirable that colours em- 
 
36 
 
 THE LAWS 01 
 
 ployed as harmonising accompaniments to one another 
 should be of equal power, although it is most essential 
 to the colourist to know the proper method of making 
 them so. 
 
 Suppose orange to be the archeus or key-note adopted 
 for an arrangement of colours, either in the decoration 
 of an apartment, or in the design of a carpet, or other 
 piece of manufacture, the blue ought to be subordinate, 
 either in intensity or quantity; and this subordination 
 in intensity ought to be in shade rather than tint, or 
 by neutralising the blue by the admixture of a small 
 portion of orange colour. 
 
 In the medial colours employed in an arrangement 
 of this character, the deep rich tones of russet, citron, 
 and brown ought to predominate, relieved occasionally 
 by the deepest shades of indigo. Black and white are 
 both out of tone in such an arrangement, especially the 
 latter. 
 
 Pure orange, from its great power, is not often 
 employed in decoration, yet many of its hues are the 
 best adapted for window curtains, chair seats, and 
 other furniture, where gorgeousness and splendour are 
 desirable. The gold and giraffe hues so employed, 
 along with the cool emerald tint of green on the walls, 
 produce, when properly harmonised by their accom- 
 paniments, one of the most pleasing effects in ordinary 
 decoration. In this case, however, the green is the ruling 
 colour, and such an arrangement will therefore admit 
 all such hues and tints as harmonise with that colour. 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 37 
 
 Red is the third in the chromatic series, and second 
 of the primaries. It is the most positive of all colours, 
 holding the middle station between yellow, which is 
 most allied to light, and blue, which is most allied to 
 shade; it is, as Field expresses it, pre-eminent among 
 colours. The hues with which it melodises in series, 
 are, of course, orange and purple, being its combina- 
 tions with the other two primaries. Its contrasting 
 colour is green, a compound of yellow and blue, in the 
 proportion of three yellow to eight blue. Red is de- 
 cidedly a warm colour, and, to a certain extent, com- 
 municates this quality to every hue into which it 
 enters. 
 
 This effect of warmth is most apparent in its com- 
 binations with yellow ; for in those with blue it becomes 
 more cool and retiring. From the medial situation of 
 red, and from its power in subduing the effect of such 
 colours as enter, in minute proportion, into combination 
 with it, its name is very indiscriminately applied. The 
 first decided hue produced, in its approach towards yel- 
 low, is scarlet; and, in its approach towards purple, it 
 produces the most splendid of all hues of this descrip- 
 tion, crimson. Rut before arriving at either of these 
 understood colours, there are an immense variety of 
 hues, to all of which the general term red is commonly 
 applied. It is not easy to describe what is meant by 
 pure red; probably the most intense geranium colour 
 is the nearest approximation generally understood. 
 
38 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 That which I have given upon the diagrams is the 
 nearest I could produce by a pigment, yet it is far from 
 being perfect. 
 
 Examples 5 and 6 show red in its harmony and 
 melody, as explained in treating of yellow. 
 
 EXAMPLE V. EXAMPLE VI. 
 
 The tertiary in which red predominates is russet, a 
 medial hue between purple and orange, and conse- 
 quently having a double occurrence of red in its com- 
 position; therefore, it is the most positive and warm 
 of the neutral colours. It is of great power and value 
 in all the deep parts of any warm-toned arrangement, 
 as a contrasting colour to the deep hues of green, neces- 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 39 
 
 sarily brought in as relieving colours. The semi-neu- 
 tral marone is the next understood hue in its descent 
 to black. This hue is the most useful of all semi- 
 neutrals in such arrangements as are best adapted for 
 patterns of carpets, and other similarly coloured manu- 
 factures. It is deep and clear, and although allied to 
 red, is sufficiently cool to admit of its being used as the 
 deepest shade in such arrangements as have a predo- 
 minance of cool-toned colours. 
 
 From the positive nature of red, there is no colour 
 that requires more toning and management, when 
 exhibited in large masses, either in decoration or in 
 variouslv-coloured manufacture. The effect of red indi- 
 vidually being striking and powerful, it has,like yellow, 
 been much too indiscriminately employed. We have 
 only to look at nature for the proper use of this colour. 
 We shall there see that red seldom appears in its full 
 intensity, and when it does so, it is at that season when 
 its effect is balanced and neutralised by the general 
 verdure which clothes the earth. Red, however, in 
 nature as in art, is indispensable in producing, by 
 combination, that variety of hue so essential to the 
 effect of every arrangement of colours. The landscape 
 painter knows well that neither sky, water, nor foliage, 
 can be successfully imitated without the introduction 
 
 of this colour. 
 
 Pure red, and its various hues of scarlet, are too 
 violent and obtrusive to be used in large masses, either 
 in decoration or in any general arrangements of colours 
 
40 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 upon a piece of manufacture, unless under very peculiar 
 circumstances. It forms, however, like orange, an 
 excellent leading colour or key-note. On all such 
 occasions its contrasting colour, green, ought to be 
 neutralised by being brought in tone towards olive : 
 bright green, if employed at all, ought to be used 
 in very small quantities. The tertiaries ought gene- 
 rally io be those in which red predominates, and blue 
 subordinate to yellow, and these relieved by deep rich 
 tones of green. A small proportion of gold colour adds 
 brilliancy and effect to arrangements of this descrip- 
 tion. 
 
 There is an exception, however, to this rule in de- 
 coration; some rooms are so lighted that the direct 
 rays are entirely thrown upon the floor, and the walls 
 left comparatively in shade. In cases of this kind, I 
 have known a bright scarlet upon the wall produce an 
 excellent effect, the want of direct light preventing it 
 from obtruding upon the eye. In such cases deep- 
 toned colours ought to predominate on the carpet. 
 Gilding is of much importance in melodising and 
 heightening the effect of apartments decorated in this 
 style. 
 
 Crimson is, of all the hues arising from the mellow- 
 ing of the primary red, the most gorgeous and useful 
 as a leading colour. The green which relieves it best 
 is that which approaches the citron hue. This colour, 
 from the splendid and rich effect which it always pro- 
 duces, and from its being, of all the hues of red, the 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 41 
 
 most cool and mellow, is much used in internal deco- 
 ration. It is also, when of a proper shade and tone, 
 an excellent ground for pictures, and associates well 
 with gilding. This latter quality proceeds from the 
 crimson partaking, in a small degree, of the property of 
 purple as well as red — the one being the contrasting 
 colour to yellow, and the other the melodising colour 
 to orange; the colour of gold in its lights and shadows 
 producing these two. 
 
 From these circumstances, crimson, of a proper depth 
 and hue, has been generally adopted by the proprietors 
 of those splendid mansions where the finest collections 
 of pictures are to be seen. This has led to its adoption 
 in general; but, from the great variety of hues which 
 are produced under this name, many glaring errors 
 have arisen. Most of the flocked papers so much in 
 use, and erroneously called crimson, partake more of 
 the hue of scarlet; while others are crimson on the 
 pattern, and a tint of pink on the ground. This often 
 arises from the pattern being of one material and the 
 ground of another; and even when the ground and 
 pattern are at first the same, the former, from its being 
 merely a thin wash of water colour upon white paper, 
 is soon reduced to a pale pink — while the pattern, from 
 its facility in collecting dust, becomes a dark sombre red. 
 
 From crimson proceeds that beautiful series of tints 
 called pinks or rose colours, which are so essential and 
 effective as heightening reds in all cool-toned arrange- 
 ments. 
 
42 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 There are various other denominations of red. Syme 
 has eighteen altogether; but they are all, with the ex- 
 ception of the purest colour, compounds of two or all 
 of the primaries. 
 
 Purple lies next in series to red, of which colour and 
 blue it is composed, in the proportion of five of the former 
 to eight of the latter. In this state of intensity it forms 
 the proper contrasting or neutralising colour to pure 
 yellow. The two primaries of which it is compounded 
 are its melodising colours. Although red be one of its 
 component parts, it is rather a cool colour, and very 
 retiring in effect : being also the darkest of the second- 
 ary colours, it bears the nearest relation to black or 
 shade, as its contrasting colour, yellow, does to white 
 or light. From these qualities, purple is a pleasing 
 and agreeable colour to the eye ; in this respect it is 
 second only to green. In its combination with green it 
 produces that soft and useful tertiary colour, olive, and 
 with orange, the most powerful of this class, russet. 
 
 Purple has, like the other compound colours, various 
 hues; but these are bounded in its approach to red by 
 crimson, and towards blue by indigo. Its tints have 
 also names peculiar to themselves, such as lilac, peach- 
 blossom, and several others. 
 
 Purple is not much used as a leading colour in deco- 
 ration, which, I believe, arises from its bad effect in 
 artificial light. It has been already noticed that all 
 artificial lights, used for economic purposes, are less or 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 43 
 
 more of a warm yellow colour, as any one may observe 
 in viewing the flame of a candle or gas-lamp in day- 
 light. This colour being the. natural contrast to pur- 
 ple, and being thus diffused over it, neutralises and 
 injures its effect. Indeed all cool colours are less or 
 more injured by the effect of such lights, while warm 
 colours, from their being allied to red, are improved in 
 brilliancy. The diagrams, by being viewed in clear 
 daylight, and immediately after in candle-light, will 
 illustrate this fact in a sufficiently satisfactory manner. 
 This effect of artificial light is worthy of particular 
 attention, for it is not only the positive colours upon 
 which it is produced, but upon compound hues of every 
 description, according to the predominance of one or 
 other of the primaries in their composition. 
 
 Purple may be used in large quantities in any gene- 
 ral arrangement, especially when of a cool tone. In the 
 richest patterns of carpets, shawls, and such like pieces 
 of manufacture, its deepest hues are invaluable. Its 
 power of contrast to all the warm tones of yellow gives 
 them additional warmth and brilliancy ; while its natu- 
 ral clearness prevents it from ever appearing murky or 
 heavy. 
 
 Blue is the third of the primary colours, and fifth 
 of the chromatic series. It is, of the primaries, the 
 nearest in relation to shade, as yellow is to light. It 
 is the only absolutely cool colour, and communicates 
 this quality to all hues into the combination of which 
 
44 THE LAWS OF 
 
 * 
 
 it enters. The contrasting colour to blue is the se- 
 condary orange, and its melodising colours in series 
 green and purple ; with the former of which, however, 
 it is more discordant than either of the other two pri- 
 maries are with either of their melodising colours. This 
 gives rise to the necessity of a seventh colour of a neu- 
 tral description, which ought generally to be interposed 
 between these two colours when in their perfect state 
 of intensity. This neutral hue is the medium between 
 warmth and coolness, and between light and shade, or 
 black and white. 
 
 The tertiary colour olive, from being the medial hue 
 between purple and green, and arising from their com- 
 bination, has a predominance of blue in its composi- 
 tion, and is therefore the tertiary that first occurs in 
 the progress of blue to black, or to negation in shade. 
 
 Olive, as an individual colour, is soft and unassum- 
 ing, and is of great use in all arrangements, whether 
 cool or warm. Its effect as a melodising hue with blue, 
 green, and purple, will be seen by the annexed diagram. 
 But it is in its contrasting powers in the lower notes 
 (to continue the analogy) of warm-toned or brilliant 
 compositions, that it is most valuable. It relieves 
 and harmonises, according to its various hues, the 
 tertiaries russet, citron, marone, and brown. Owing, 
 however, to the discord already noticed, it ought never 
 to be brought into immediate contact with blue; it is 
 absolutely necessary to introduce a semi-toned colour 
 between them. This colour may be a grey of a warm 
 
KXAWLH VI 1. KXAMTLK VIM. 
 
 IP**""'" 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 45 
 
 purply hue, and will melodise best in being \ blended 
 with the blue, and produce harmony in coming dis- 
 tinctly against the olive in its full warmth. Slate- 
 colour is the next hue in the progress of blue down to 
 black, which, from its peculiar nature, cannot be used 
 in any but cool-toned arrangements. 
 
 Examples 7 and 8 show these relations of the blue 
 in harmony and melody, as already explained. 
 
 EXAMPLE VII. EXAMPLE VIII. 
 
 Blue is individually a pleasing, and, at the same 
 time, a brilliant colour. It may, therefore, be used in 
 any general arrangement of colours, as it is in the 
 colouring of nature, in a much larger proportion than 
 
46 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 either of the other two primaries. As a leading colour 
 in decoration, it is extremely beautiful when in its 
 proper place. For instance, in the drawing-room of a 
 summer residence, especially when lighted from the 
 south, its effect as an archeus or key is cool and re- 
 freshing, as also in bed-rooms of the same description. 
 In all variously-coloured manufactures of silk, pure 
 blue, when properly introduced, is both sparkling and 
 pleasing; but in worsted manufactures its shades and 
 tints are the most useful ; as, probably from some diffi- 
 culty in procuring a proper dye, it is seldom, if ever, 
 produced in perfect purity in such fabrics. Pale tints 
 of blue, or any other cool colour, ought never to be 
 introduced into warm arrangements. In such cases it 
 ought always to be used in its deepest hues and shades. 
 This ought to be particularly attended to by designers 
 of patterns for manufactures, for the indiscriminate 
 introduction of light cool tints is a prevailing error 
 amongst them. It has already been explained, that 
 warm colours are naturally allied to light, and cool 
 colours to shade. Lights tints are therefore, when 
 employed in such designs, enhanced and strengthened 
 by being of a warm tone, and are consequently neu- 
 tralised and sunk as they approach to that which is 
 cool. In the works of the most eminent artists, this 
 coolness and subordination of the shades, and glowing 
 warmth in the lights, must be apparent to all who have 
 paid any attention to the subject. 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 47 
 
 Green, although the last in the general series which 
 I have adopted, is the medial or second of the second- 
 ary colours, being a compound of yellow and blue, in 
 the proportion of three of the former to eight of the 
 latter; the one primary being most allied to light, 
 and the other to shade. Its melodising colours are of 
 course these two primaries, and its contrasting colour 
 the remaining primary, red. As red is the most de- 
 cided or pre-eminent of the primaries, so green is the 
 most neutral and soft of the secondaries, and the most 
 pleasing and agreeable of all decided hues to the eye. 
 It is also unlike the other two secondaries in this re- 
 spect — that, in its approximation to either of its com- 
 ponent parts, it produces no other distinct denomination 
 of colour ; all its hues retaining the same name. Out of 
 the union of green with orange arises the lightest of 
 the tertiary colours, citron ; and out of that with pur- 
 ple, the deepest olive, to which it appears particularly 
 allied. 
 
 Green is the natural clothing of the vegetable world, 
 and, in a certain degree of purity, predominates in the 
 same ratio of quantity that red is held subordinate. 
 It is, in that infinite wisdom so conspicuous in all the 
 laws which govern the universe, in its greatest inten- 
 sity and depth when the sun's rays are most powerfully 
 directed to the earth, thereby counteracting the inten- 
 sity of their reflection, and refreshing the eye by its 
 soft and soothing influence. Green, however, like every 
 
48 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 other hue in nature's colouring, seldom appears in 
 vegetation in its primitive purity. Hence the beautiful 
 accordance between the green of the landscape and the 
 blue of the sky, so evidently assisted in both harmony 
 and melody by the intervention of the warm and neutral 
 grey, which prevails intermedially in the distance of 
 the one and the horizon of the other. In its various 
 hues, green, as may naturally be supposed, is a favourite 
 colour in decoration, and would be much more so, were 
 it not that in artificial light its effect is much deterio- 
 rated, becoming in most cases dull and heavy. 
 
 The cause of this I have already explained in treating 
 of yellow and purple. This, however, may in a great 
 measure be avoided by judicious management in keep- 
 ing it in its proper place, and in selecting proper colours 
 as an accompaniment to it. A rich hue of green upon the 
 walls of a drawing-room, accompanied by cream-colour, 
 French-white, and gilding on the cornice, ceiling, and 
 wood-work, with damask hangings of giraffe and gold 
 colour, and a suitable carpet, never fail to produce a 
 pleasing and splendid effect in any light. When this 
 arrangement is inverted, that is, when the hangings 
 and chair-seats are green, and the walls of a warm 
 tone, the effect is equally beautiful in daylight ; but 
 in artificial light it is injured by the green being neu- 
 tralised, and the warm tone on the wall rendered more 
 effective ; thus making that which is principal in the 
 arrangement, and of the smallest quantity, recede, 
 while that which ought to retire and be subordinate is 
 
HAR M ON I OUS COLOURING. 
 
 49 
 
 brought forward. This applies to all other colours 
 employed in decoration, according to their relative 
 powers of reflecting or absorbing such kinds of light. 
 
 Of all decided colours, green may be used with most 
 freedom in manufacture. In carpets especially it ought 
 almost always to preponderate. They receive the rays 
 of light more directly during the day than any other 
 part of the furniture or decoration ; and this colour is 
 not only in that light most pleasing, but also relieves 
 and harmonises others more generally in its various 
 hues than any other colour. Its bright and vivid hues 
 and tints are easily neutralised, and seldom produce 
 crudity or harshness of effect in any arrangement. 
 Rich and deep tones of green, especially when neutra- 
 lised towards a tertiary hue, harmonise with, and give 
 value to all denominations of warm colours. Its cooler 
 hues and shades ought, however, to be used with 
 more caution; for they are apt to appear blackish 
 and heavy. The blue no doubt predominates in them 
 to the same extent that it does in the hues of purple 
 called indigo, yet they have not the same clearness. 
 
 As already observed, there cannot be produced any 
 other absolutely distinct description of colour but one, 
 and that is by a combination of the three primaries, 
 or, what is the same thing, any two of the secondaries. 
 Of the infinite multitude of hues which arise out of 
 this triple combination, I have in another part adopted, 
 as the seventh colour, the most neutral of them all, 
 grey. Those tertiary hues that are distinguished 
 
50 
 
 THE LAWS OF 
 
 by a predominance of one of the primaries in their 
 composition, I have noticed in treating of such primary. 
 In decorative arrangements, oak may be reckoned of 
 a citron, and mahogany of a russet hue, and they will 
 of course bear the relation of these tertiaries to the 
 other colours with which they are associated. 
 
 Black, as already noticed, is produced by the ab- 
 sorption of the three primaries, and its natural con- 
 trast is white. It can only be used in large quantities 
 in arrangements of a cool and sombre character, and 
 ought always to be pure and transparent. For want 
 of this quality in the black employed in the generality 
 of worsted fabrics, it has always a sooty and heavy 
 effect. It ought therefore to be employed in such 
 manufactures with great caution. Perhaps the most 
 general error in the colouring of the carpets manufac- 
 tured in this country, is the too frequent use of black 
 and white. The deepest shades should never go below 
 indigo, marone, or brown ; and the highest tints, as 
 already observed, would be much improved by being 
 mellowed down by some warm colour. More latitude 
 may be taken with black in the colouring of silk 
 manufactures, as it can be produced on that material 
 in the greatest clearness and depth. Its use in modern 
 decoration is rather limited, being generally confined 
 to chair-seats, door-mountings, and dining-room chim- 
 ney-pieces. 
 
 In the decorative painting, however, of Pompeii and 
 
HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 51 
 
 Herculaneum, it was used in much profusion ; and in 
 combination with the intense and brilliant colours 
 which accompanied it, produced the most splendid 
 effect. This evidently resulted from the perfect 
 knowledge possessed by the colourists of that period 
 of the relative powers of their materials, which seem 
 to have been in their hands what the keys of a power- 
 ful organ would at the present period be in those of an 
 eminent composer of music. Yet this use of the 
 brightest and deepest colours by the ancient Romans, 
 was perhaps more a particular characteristic of style, 
 than a beauty in their decorative colouring. 
 
 Black and its contrasting hue, white, are the two 
 most dangerous colours in the whole chromatic series ; 
 the one being at the bottom and the other at the top of 
 the scale, they each require particular management. 
 When an arrangement of rich and intense colours is 
 here and there interrupted by patches or shadings of 
 black, as too often happens in patterns of carpets and 
 other subjects of a similar nature, the effect is harsh 
 and unpleasant. It ought, therefore, in all such de- 
 signs, to be accompanied and mellowed by such deep 
 hues as lie next it in the natural series. White should 
 in like manner, as before noticed, be introduced by a 
 gradation of the lightest tints, otherwise the effect will 
 be spotty and broken. 
 
 It will be observed, that the rules I have endeavoured 
 to lay down are quite general, and, as far as I could 
 
 y£ s y^ S 
 
 Sy / / 
 
 * j> t- »i —ar t C -*»<_ < ^ _» ^ y ^ At 
 
52 THE LAWS OF HARMONIOUS COLOURING. 
 
 make them, elementary; I therefore leave, in a great 
 measure, their particular application to those who fol- 
 low the various professions in which a knowledge of 
 colours and their relative qualities may be useful. 
 
ON THE APPLICATION OF THE ARTS 
 
 OF 
 
 DESIGN AND COLOURING 
 
 MANUFACTURES. 
 
 Since the preceding part of this treatise went to 
 press, I have had an opportunity of perusing a portion 
 of the evidence taken before a select committee of the 
 House of Commons, on the state of art as applied to 
 the manufactures of this country, from which it is 
 proved, that this branch of industry has suffered greatly 
 from an inferiority in the design and colouring of our 
 patterns of all kinds of fancy goods, when brought into 
 competition with those of other countries. 
 
 Mr Smith, one of the greatest silk-merchants in 
 London, stated in his evidence before this committee, 
 that in fancy silks, the superiority of the patterns in 
 French goods occasioned the sales to be in the pro- 
 portion of one-half or more of French ; that in fancy 
 ribbands, three-fourths of those sold were of French 
 
54 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 manufacture, and obtained public favour solely on ac- 
 count of superiority of design. 
 
 James Skene, Esq. of Rubislaw, the secretary to 
 the Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of Ma- 
 nufactures in Scotland, says—." It appears to me that 
 one thing in which the British manufacturer is most 
 deficient, is a knowledge of colours. At present, as far 
 as my acquaintance with manufactures goes, I believe 
 they copy entirely their patterns from France: in 
 doing so, if they introduce any alteration into them, they 
 often spoil them ; and we know quite well, that any 
 deviation from the regular established and fixed rules 
 of harmony of colours, produces the same effect to the 
 eye, as any deviation in music from the harmony of 
 notes. It produces an equally bad effect; and in 
 placing our manufactures or fancy goods along with 
 French fancy goods, it has often struck me as a re- 
 markable circumstance, to see how very little those 
 rules, which are exceedingly simple, are attended to in 
 the English copies." 
 
 Mr Crabb. a manufacturer of paper-hangings in 
 London, states, that the designs of the French room 
 papers are superior, in accuracy of drawing, to those 
 of the English; and that the colours are arranged 
 upon some fixed principle by the French artisan, while 
 in this country, not being sufficiently instructed, the 
 workman labours more at random, until he obtains the 
 effect he wishes, and this may be as often wrong as 
 right. 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 55 
 
 Charles Toplis, Esq., a vice-president of the London 
 Mechanics' Institute, and one of the directors of the 
 Museum of National Manufactures, says, " Many im- 
 portant branches of manufacture call for careful cultiva- 
 tion of the eye, for the purpose of arranging, assorting, 
 and contrasting colours, which, as an affair of taste, 
 calls for some portion of a painter's education;" and 
 he adds, " whatever partakes of the nature of ornament 
 will only be appreciated in a refined age, as it is cha- 
 racterised by grace and elegance of design, and by 
 delicacy and precision of execution." 
 
 In addition to this evidence, I may add the opinion 
 of Dr Ure upon the subject. In his excellent work, the 
 Philosophy of Manufactures, he says, " The opinion 
 generally entertained of the superiority of such French 
 silks as are figured, and which depend for their beauty 
 on tasteful arrangements, is no more a prejudice of 
 mankind than the feeling in favour of the works of 
 Raphael and Titian." * * " Taste is displayed 
 both in the forms and grouping of the figures, and in the 
 disposition of the colours." 
 
 Of the fact of a total neglect of the rules of harmo- 
 nious colouring prevailing amongst our manufacturers, 
 I have long felt convinced, and in the two former 
 editions of this little treatise, as well as in the present, 
 made particular allusion to it. Yet I was not aware 
 until now of the important nature of the subject, or 
 that it affected so materially the best interests of the 
 
56 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 country. I trust I shall, therefore, be excused for 
 adding a few observations on that subject. 
 
 The complaint seems to be, that there are not suffi- 
 cient opportunities, in this country, for young men 
 studying the art of design; and that, consequently, 
 there is not a sufficient infusion of talent, or of the 
 fine arts, into our manufactures. 
 
 It is, no doubt, true, that the cultivation of the fine 
 arts will, in course of time, improve the perception 
 and taste of a nation, from the highest to the lowest 
 grades of society; this is, however, the work of ages, 
 but the present state of our manufactures demands an 
 immediate improvement in this particular. 
 
 It is remarkable, that while we are so far behind our 
 continental neighbours in the application of the rules 
 of art to our manufactures, the British school of paint- 
 ing should have risen so far above that of every other 
 country in the world. And this is not all ; for it must 
 be evident to every one who may be in the habit of 
 attending our annual exhibitions of modern pictures 
 that mediocrity of talent in the fine arts is multiplied 
 beyond all probable means of employment. 
 
 I have had a good deal of experience in matters of 
 this kind, from having had, for upwards of twelve years, 
 seldom less, at any time, than ten or twelve apprentices 
 to instruct in ornamental painting. I trust it will not, 
 therefore, be reckoned presumptuous in me giving an 
 opinion in the matter. 
 
FINE AllTS TO MANUFACTURES. 
 
 57 
 
 In the first place, I believe this want of ornamental 
 designers, as Mr Skene has distinctly stated in one part 
 of his evidence, to arise as much from the nature of 
 the instruction given, as from the want of opportunities 
 afforded for study. It is seldom that the young men 
 who are admitted to our drawing academies consider 
 their studies as merely intended to improve them in 
 the useful arts to which they may be bred. They 
 almost uniformly imbibe the idea of rising into a higher 
 sphere; and seem to have no other ulterior object in 
 their studies than to leave their humble calling, at the 
 expiry of their indenture, and become artists. I speak 
 from particular facts which have come under my own 
 observation. Many an industrious young man, of 
 mediocre talent, but possessing sufficient to have raised 
 him to the head of ornamental painting, have I known 
 sacrifice himself to a life of penury and neglect from 
 this vain idea. 
 
 I shall here give an original anecdote of the illus* 
 trious author of Waverley, which relates directly to this 
 subject. A young aspirant of this kind, during his 
 apprenticeship, had produced some pictures which 
 attracted the notice of this great man, who, with that 
 goodness of heart for which he was so distinguished, 
 took the youth under his particular patronage, and got 
 him admitted to the academy of the honourable the 
 Board of Trustees. This young man, at the expiry 
 of his indentures, like most others in similar circum- 
 stances, turned his back upon the humble profession 
 
58 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 of house-painting, to which he was bred, and laboured 
 strenuously to gain a livelihood by painting pictures. 
 Whether the penetrating eye of this wonderful man had 
 seen, by the appearance of his protege, the difficulties he 
 was encountering, or by his works, that he had got a 
 long probation to undergo before attaining eminence 
 as an artist, is not known, probably both; but on one 
 occasion, shortly after the expiry of his apprenticeship, 
 when he waited upon his patron with a picture which 
 he had been commissioned to paint, Sir Walter ad- 
 dressed him nearly as follows " I have thought for 
 some time, that were young men who have a genius for 
 painting, and who are not possessed of sufficient patri- 
 mony to enable them to follow such a course of study 
 as alone can raise them to eminence in the fine arts, to 
 endeavour to improve those professions in which a taste 
 for painting is required, it would be a more lucrative 
 field for their exertion. I know no profession that 
 stands more in need of this than that to which you 
 have been bred, and if you will follow my advice, you 
 will apply yourself to its improvement, instead of strug- 
 gling with the difficulties that you must meet in fol- 
 lowing the higher walks of art." In conclusion, he 
 encouraged his protege by promising him his own 
 house at Abbotsford to begin upon, the building of 
 which had just commenced. I need scarcely add, 
 that this advice was followed, and the illustrious indi- 
 vidual who gave it lived to see and acknowledge the 
 satisfaction he felt from the beneficial effects that re- 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 
 
 59 
 
 suited from it, I trust its insertion here may be equally 
 serviceable to others, for it would have been well for 
 many who are now struggling with those difficulties 
 pointed at in Sir Walter's advice, had they, upon being 
 seized with the mania of becoming artists, had such a 
 counsellor. 
 
 Various reasons may be assigned for the prevalence 
 of this mania amongst young men who have had 
 opportunities of studying the art of drawing; the 
 flattery of their friends; injudicious patronage; the 
 desire to become, by the quickest and easiest means, a 
 gentleman, and various others, over which no national 
 institution can have any control. The most prominent 
 cause, however, seems to be, that nothing is reckoned 
 a work of art unless it be a picture. No matter how 
 superior an ornamental design may be, or how much 
 study and knowledge may have been required to produce 
 it, still the production of such, although it may increase 
 the wealth of the individual, cannot raise him one step 
 in the scale of society — he is only a mechanic in the 
 eyes of the public. 
 
 On the other hand, no sooner does the youth lay 
 aside his useful implements, and dash off upon canvas 
 something like a landscape — often with no eye to 
 nature, but in servile imitation of some popular 
 painter — than he seems to be by common consent 
 raised to the dignity of artist. In short, those branches 
 of the fine arts that are applicable to manufacture 
 and other departments of useful industry, do not in 
 
60 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 this country hold that relative situation to the more 
 intellectual and higher branches to which they are 
 fairly entitled. This is not the case in Italy, as I am 
 informed by an artist who has studied for several 
 years in that country * He says, that in the Academy 
 of the Fine Arts at Venice there are distinct professors 
 in the following departments of art: — 
 
 Architecture — painting — sculpture — engraving — 
 perspective — and ornament; and that in this latter 
 branch the pupils are so numerous that the professor 
 requires an assistant. Their examples are not only 
 the best ornamental models of antiquity, but fruit, 
 flowers, and foliage. Every fifteen days they are re- 
 quired each to make an original design within a given 
 number of hours — precautions being taken to prevent 
 deception ; and according to its merits, advancement 
 and preference are bestowed. 
 
 Dr Ure states, that " the town of Lyons is so con- 
 scious of the value of such studies, that it contributes 
 20,000 francs per annum to the government establish- 
 ment of the School of Arts, which takes charge of 
 every youth who shows an aptitude for drawing or 
 imitative design of any kind, applicable to manufac- 
 tures. Hence all the eminent painters, sculptors, 
 even botanists and florists, of Lyons, become eventually 
 associated with the staple trade, and devote to it their 
 happiest conceptions." 
 
 Even the Chinese seem to surpass us in directing 
 
 * Robert M'Innes, Esq. 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 01 
 
 the studies of their youth distinctly to their ulterior 
 object. 
 
 A writer on painting, in Arnold's Library of the 
 Fine Arts, mentions having seen a Chinese drawing- 
 book, with progressive examples, where the separate 
 character of land and water, rock and foliage, were 
 given in perfect detail; and to these were added im- 
 plements of various kinds, with figures separate and in 
 groups, all highly picturesque ; and adds, that the 
 object of all these preparatory studies of the pupil was 
 to enable him to paint a fan, which was the last ex- 
 ample given. 
 
 I feel quite assured that, were a similar course fol- 
 lowed in our academies, a sufficient portion of that 
 genius which at present seems to be all flowing into 
 one channel, would, like a mill-lead taken from a river, 
 be directed from that which is merely ornamental to 
 that which is essentially useful and beneficial to the 
 country. Art would not suffer from this; on the con- 
 trary, where real genius was discovered, the facilities 
 of encouraging it would be much greater, and we 
 should have less of that misapplied, and often selfish, 
 sort of patronage which fosters mediocre talent until 
 it is factitiously raised to where it cannot stand, and 
 is then, by the desertion of such injudicious patrons, 
 allowed to fall far below its own natural level. 
 
 I have attributed selfishness to some of these pre- 
 tended patrons of art, for I know that they are often 
 actuated by that feeling, They cannot bring their 
 
62 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 minds to encourage those who have really proved 
 themselves to possess the qualities that constitute the 
 real artist; the works of such are too expensive, because 
 their true value is known. Their proteges are the 
 undeveloped, and they procure the early attempts of 
 such for a mere pittance. They calculate that these 
 embryo artists are all to be Wilkies and Allans in their 
 day, and that their early productions will, like those of 
 such great men, consequently become highly valuable, 
 No doubt some have been successful, and on one occa- 
 sion, well known to artists of the present day, circum- 
 stances proved the motive of the patron to be of this 
 description. In many cases, too, injudicious patronage 
 is the means of fostering mediocrity, which, assisted by 
 other circumstances, is sustained in a situation injuri- 
 ous to the interests of true art. This is well known, 
 and much lamented, amongst artists themselves— I 
 mean such as really deserve the name. Hence the 
 necessity of national institutions, where merit alone 
 will receive patronage, and be honoured by the ap- 
 probation of those who are best able to be its judges. 
 
 But to return to my subject—Notwithstanding the 
 superabundance of mediocre artists, it must be admitted 
 that there is a want of proper instruction in the art of 
 drawing, where it would be of most service, namely, in 
 the populous manufacturing districts; and as this book, 
 being now adapted to the improvement of manufactures, 
 may probably find its way into those quarters, I shall 
 add a few hints for the assistance .of such as wish to 
 
PINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 
 
 63 
 
 commence this pleasing and useful study, and who may 
 not have had any previous instruction. The hest kind 
 of study to begin with, for those who intend to direct 
 their attention merely to ornamental designs for manu- 
 factures, is that of flowers and foliage. When they 
 are perfect in that branch, they may then soar higher 
 if they please. It is the fault of most students in draw- 
 ing to begin at the wrong end of their studies, by 
 attempting difficult subjects before they are capable of 
 drawing a single correct line; and this want of know- 
 ledge of the first elements generally sticks to them as 
 long as they live, for in very few cases do those who 
 neglect the attainment of this knowledge at the outset 
 ever descend to the drudgery of doing so afterwards. 
 
 A FEW ELEMENTARY INSTRUCTIONS IN ORNAMENTAL DRAW- 
 ING, WITH HINTS TO THE MORE ADVANCED. 
 
 A knowledge of drawing is, next to reading and 
 writing, an essential branch of education for the ma- 
 nufacturer and mechanic, and to every one a source 
 of enjoyment. The course of study I am about to 
 point out is within the reach of all— even those in the 
 most humble situations of life. They will find it of easy 
 acquirement, and a source of continual enjoyment, in 
 the improved medium through which it will lead them 
 to view the most ordinary productions of nature. She 
 shall be their instructor; for all that I can pretend to 
 do is to point out to them a practical mode of receiving 
 
64 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 her lessons. To the uninitiated I therefore address 
 myself; and let them not be dissuaded from beginning, 
 by having no predilection for the study— the more 
 they persevere, the more they will love it. 
 
 In the first place, your attempts ought to be of the 
 most simple nature, and on as large a scale as you can 
 conveniently adopt. Therefore begin by procuring a 
 black painted board or slate, of from two to three feet 
 square, and with white chalk practise the drawing of 
 squares, circles, and ovals, without any guide to your 
 hand. You may make yourself copies of these figures 
 by the ordinary rules. When you are pretty perfect 
 at these, upon the proper combination of which depend 
 all linear harmony, you may practise in the same way 
 triangles, hexagons, octagons, and such other figures 
 as arise from the various combinations of the straight 
 line. Next, by your circular and oval lines, you may 
 form crescents, circular and flattened volutes, regular 
 undulations, and other figures, which arise out of their 
 various combinations, first making an accurate copy to 
 yourself of each figure by measurement, and continuing 
 to practise until you can form it by the eye with per- 
 fect ease. Avoid forming your figures by little bits at 
 a time ; do each line as much as possible by one sweep 
 of the hand. 
 
 When you find yourself pretty perfect in this kind 
 of practice, I would recommend you at once to draw 
 from nature. You may take for your first subject a 
 cabbage leaf, the larger the better; and persevere in 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 65 
 
 copying it, full size, until you can represent it accu- 
 rately in outline, with its principal fibres. You may 
 then vary your practice by other simple subjects of a 
 similar kind, until you find, you can do them all with 
 ease. 
 
 Before endeavouring to draw more than one leaf at 
 a time, you must know a little of perspective. The most 
 simple mode by which you will attain such knowledge of 
 this art as will be most useful for your present purpose, 
 is to hang a circular object, such as a hoop, between 
 you and the window — set it a moving gently round — 
 recede a little from it — and you will find that, as one 
 side of it retires and the other comes forward, the cir- 
 cle which it describes becomes narrower and narrower, 
 until it disappears altogether, and leaves nothing but a 
 dark line, as if a stick instead of a hoop were hanging 
 before you. I recommend you to do this between you 
 and the window, because the hoop will appear like a 
 dark line, and you will thereby be better able to mark 
 the change that takes place in the shape of the circle. 
 Fix it in various positions, and draw from it, and observe 
 that it is a different figure from an oval. A knowledge 
 of this simple fact is all that you require of perspective 
 in the meantime.* You may now hang up your cab- 
 
 * Those who wish to prosecute the study of perspective will find plenty 
 of elementary works upon this art. An excellent method of teaching it is 
 adopted by Messrs Simson of Edinburgh, in their academy. They place 
 before their pupils figures of pyramids, cubes, spheres, and cylinders, of a 
 convenient size, to stand on a table, and cause them to make accurate 
 perspective copies of each figure by the eye alone. These models are 
 also very useful in the study of light and shade. They are made of 
 stucco, and in Edinburgh may be had at Regali's, St David Street. 
 
 E 
 
66 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 bage leaf, or that of any other large and well-developed 
 vegetable, and you will observe the same change in its 
 figure as it turns round. Make an outline of its shape 
 while its front is half turned from you, then bring it from 
 between you and the light, and place it where the light 
 will fall upon it, with its face half turned from you as 
 when it hung before the window. Take your outline, 
 and within it draw the principal fibres as you see 
 them. To do this properly will require a great deal of 
 practice, but it will pave the way to your being able 
 to draw the most complete groups of flowers and 
 foliage that can be placed before you. You may now 
 hang before you a small branch of any tree or plant 
 with two or more leaves upon it — the larger the leaves 
 are the better; and endeavour to make outlines of 
 them, varying their shape according to their perspec- 
 tive as already described ; be particular on this point, 
 for a great deal depends upon it. I knew an intelli- 
 gent tradesman so unaware of the simple fact of a cir- 
 cular object altering its shape by being seen obliquely, 
 that he returned his portrait to have all the buttons 
 made quite round ; for although they appeared so at a 
 little distance, he found they were not, by actual mea- 
 surement, like those upon his coat. 
 
 To gain anything like a tolerable accuracy in this 
 first stage of your lessons may occupy from six weeks 
 to two months ; that is, supposing you only practise at 
 leisure hours. 
 
 You may now lay aside your chalk and slate, and 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 
 
 67 
 
 provide yourself with a few sheets of common cartridge 
 paper, and some pieces of common charcoal — that made 
 from lime-tree is the best. Stretch a whole sheet of 
 your cartridge paper upon your board by a wafer or a 
 little paste at each corner. Place before you a cab- 
 bage, cauliflower, stalk of dock blades, or any such 
 large vegetable, and they will be more picturesque if 
 the outer leaves are hanging loose. Copy these care- 
 fully in outline, using your charcoal gently, that any in- 
 accuracy may be easily dusted off. A large thistle with 
 its foliage is likewise an excellent example, but more 
 difficult. Indeed you cannot go wrong in your choice ; 
 hemlock, fern, nettle, are all worthy of your study. 
 From these the richest and most effective of gothic 
 ornaments were taken by our forefathers. The more 
 you study such subjects, the more beauty and grace 
 you will find in their forms. I need not here remind 
 you of what suggested the richest of pure architectural 
 ornaments, the Corinthian Capital — a basket with a 
 weed growing round it. 
 
 Your next practice should be light and shade. 
 Bruise a bit of your charcoal to powder, take a piece 
 of any kind of cloth upon the point of your finger, 
 dip it into the powder, and rub it upon such parts of 
 your outlined subject as you observe in the original 
 do not receive the direct light of the window, and 
 where it appears lightest touch your copy with your 
 chalk, leaving the clean cartridge paper intermedially 
 
68 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 as a middle tint. Cany on with this sort of practice 
 for some months. 
 
 For the coarse paper upon which you have hitherto 
 practised, you may now substitute what is called 
 drawing cartridge, which, instead of being merely fixed 
 at the corners, must be pasted all round the edge; for 
 charcoal, a black lead pencil, a swan quill hair pencil, 
 and Indian ink — which latter article is now very 
 cheap. 
 
 You may, however, still sketch in your subject 
 lightly with charcoal, as it is more easily erased; and 
 when you have got it quite correct, go over it with 
 your black lead pencil. Rub down plenty of the In- 
 dian ink, for much of the freedom of your work will 
 depend upon the wholesale way in which your shades 
 are washed in. When you have diluted this to the 
 requisite degree of depth for your lightest shades, paint 
 them in with your camel hair pencil. Let this first 
 shading dry ; then give another coating where the 
 shades appear deeper, and darken the mixture for the 
 deepest touches. Continue this practice for six months 
 before attempting smaller subjects than those I have 
 described. You will now find little difficulty in copy- 
 ing the best examples of either ancient or modern or- 
 nament that can be laid before you; but flowers are 
 your best practice, as you will now have obtained 
 sufficient freedom, from practising upon the large sub- 
 jects that I have recommended, to prevent you from 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 6*9 
 
 getting too finical and "minute. I cannot lead you 
 farther; you must go to a drawing-master for the 
 proper use of colours. Should your patterns be 
 adapted to damasks, however, you will have no use 
 for this, unless for your amusement. 
 
 I am aware that this course of study would be 
 useless to many, were the present style of patterns in 
 their particular branches of manufacture to continue in 
 fashion ; for many of these designs are a jumble of 
 forms of the most nondescript nature. Improvement, 
 however, is loudly called for, and I trust these simple 
 instructions may prove a first step towards it. 
 
 To those who have gained a facility in copying the 
 beautiful forms which prevail in the vegetable kingdom, 
 and who have had such instructions in the use of water 
 colours as may enable them to copy individual flowers 
 with ease, I would recommend the acquirement of a 
 thorough knowledge of the laws of harmonious colour- 
 ing. They will then be able to group and arrange 
 flowers in the most agreeable and effective manner in 
 regard to colour, as their previous experience must 
 have taught them to accomplish in combination of 
 form. 
 
 Dr Ure says, that " The modes in which taste is 
 cultivated at Lyons deserve particular study and imi- 
 tation in this country. Among the weavers of the 
 place, the children, and every body connected with de- 
 vising patterns, much attention is devoted to every 
 thing in any way connected with the beautiful, either 
 
70 
 
 APPLICATION OF THE 
 
 in figure or colour. Weavers may be seen in their 
 holiday leisure gathering flowers, and grouping them 
 in the most engaging combinations. They are conti- 
 nually suggesting new designs to their employers, and 
 are thus the fruitful source of elegant patterns." Hence 
 the French flower patterns are remarkably free from 
 incongruities, being copied from nature with scientific 
 precision. 
 
 All these facilities for the improvement of our fancy 
 manufactures are within the reach of the most humble. 
 The pursuit of such a course of study as I have en- 
 deavoured to point out, would not only augment their 
 sources of innocent pleasure, but lead them to other 
 instructive pursuits. The youth, in searching for the 
 most graceful and picturesque plants in Nature's most 
 profuse and wildest productions, would be naturally 
 led to commence the study of botany; for he would 
 then have some interest in the enquiry. And it may 
 be easily imagined with what avidity the more ad- 
 vanced would add to his knowledge of that pleasing 
 science, or the gratification he would derive from the 
 study and practice of horticulture. 
 
 I need scarcely point out the advantages to be de- 
 rived from the cultivation of flowers by those engaged 
 in designing ornamental patterns. The productions 
 of a well managed flower garden to such would be, in my 
 opinion, of more real utility, as objects of study, than 
 the contents of the Louvre. In those productions of 
 nature they will find the most exquisite beauty and 
 
FINE ARTS TO MANUFACTURES. 71 
 
 elegance of form, and, even in single flowers, the most 
 perfect combinations of colouring. 
 
 In saying that the study of such subjects is of more 
 utility to the ornamental designer than that of those 
 great works of art which have been the admiration of 
 ages, I do not mean to undervalue the benefit that any 
 one, and especially the artist, may derive from study- 
 ing works of this description. I am aware that " the 
 eye has its principle of correspondence with what is 
 just, beautiful, and elegant, and that it acquires, like 
 the ear, an habitual delicacy, and answers, with the 
 same provisions, to the finest impressions. Being, 
 therefore, versed in the works of the best masters, it 
 soon learns to distinguish true impressions from false, 
 and grace from affectation."* I have therefore not 
 the least doubt, that those who have risen to some de- 
 gree of eminence as ornamental designers, would reap 
 great benefit in attaining a knowledge of the various 
 styles and subtleties of colouring, by carefully study- 
 ing and copying, in masses of colour alone, the best 
 works of art to which they can get access, and apply- 
 ing these arrangements to the particular figures of their 
 patterns. 
 
 An eminent artist, now residing at Rome, in writing 
 to me of decorative painting, says, " Why should we not 
 have rooms on all principles and harmonies of colours 
 —a Rembrandt, a Rubens, a Titian, and a Paul Ve- 
 
 * Webb's Inquiry, &c. 
 
72 APPLICATION, &c. 
 
 ronese — with the furniture and ornaments correspond- 
 ing to the character and tone of the apartment ? I 
 would extend it even to the introduction of flowers of 
 a suitable colour and character. Lucullus' hall of 
 Apollo would grow dim before a saloon of Titian." 
 
 This would certainly be a great refinement in deco- 
 ration, and is worthy of the particular attention of 
 those engaged in such matters. But how much more 
 practically easy would it be for the designer of the 
 pattern of a carpet, a shawl, or such other variously 
 coloured article, to adopt the hint? Yet it ought 
 always to be kept in mind, that the studying or copying 
 of pictures, in any way, is merely an auxiliary, and 
 that anything like an approximation to perfection in 
 ornamental designs or colouring, can only be attained 
 by having recourse to Nature herself, " who," as Sir 
 Joshua Reynolds says, " is always at hand; and, in 
 comparison of whose rules, the best coloured pictures 
 are but faint and feeble." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 EPINBURGH PRINTING COMPANY, 
 
 Shakspeare Square.