423. Our examination of the border of roses with their leaves (No. 3), and especially of that of the border of flowers varied in their forms and hues (No. 4), shows the necessity of a knowledge of the law of contrast to assort the colours of objects represented upon a border with the colour which serves as a ground to them. The examination of the border No. 4 has demonstrated experimentally that this assortment presents so much the more difficulty as we wish to have purer tints for the ground, and more varied colours in the objects we intend placing on it; besides, in demonstrating the good effect of grey as a ground for these latter objects, it has furnished an example of a fact which may be deduced from the law, and which is in perfect accordance with what practice taught us long ago.

PRINTED OR WRITTEN CHARACTERS ON
PAPERS OF DIFFERENT COLOURS.

424. Having made it a rule in this work never to state any observations which I have not myself verified, I must mention that, not possessing every requisite for the examination of the subject of this section, I am obliged to develop certain points of it only.

We must regard—

1. The duration of the reading, and

2. The kind of light which illuminates the printed or written paper.

A.—INFLUENCE OF DURATION IN THE READING.

425. From the different conditions in which the eyei s found when it is apt to perceive the phenomena of simultaneous, successive, and mixed contrasts of colours (77 et seq.), it may be conceived that in order to judge of the effect upon the sight of the assortments of the colour of the letters and that of the paper as to the degree of facility that they respectively present for reading, it may happen that one assortment will be more favourable during a brief reading, while the contrary will take place if the reading be prolonged during several hours. Besides, an assortment presenting the greatest contrast will be more favourable to a reading of short duration, while it will be less so to a prolonged reading; because, in consequence of the intensity of its contrast, it will fatigue the eye more.[2]

B.—INFLUENCE OF THE KIND OF LIGHT
ON PRINTED OR WRITTEN PAPER.

426. The light we employ to supply the place of that of the sun, changing the relations of colour under which the same bodies appear to us illumined by daylight, it is evident that if we neglected this difference of relation it would give rise to error; because any assortment of colours favourable to read in diffused daylight, might be less so by the light of a lamp, &c.

427. I will now examine—

The influence of different assortments of the colours of writing and printing for reading by diffused daylight.

ON THE ASSORTMENT OF COLOURS FOR
READING BY DIFFUSED DAYLIGHT.

Reading of a Few Minutes’ Duration.

428. Letters upon paper can be read without fatigue only when there is a marked contrast between the letters and the ground. This contrast may be of tone, or of colours, or both.

429. Contrast of tone is the most favourable condition for distinct vision, if we consider white and black as the two extremes of a scale, comprehending the gradations from normal grey; in fact, black letters upon a white ground present the maximum of contrast of tone, and may be read in a perfectly distinct manner without fatigue by diffused daylight. Indeed, all whose sight is enfeebled by age require the utmost contrast of tone.

FOURTH DIVISION. Employment of Colours
in Architecture.

I. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS
IN EGYPTIAN ARCHITECTURE.

430. The Egyptians employed various colours, as red, yellow, blue, green, and white, to decorate their monuments.

Lancret remarks, “All who have seen Egyptian paintings, can attest that when seen, even for the first time, they were not disagreeable; and, that if at first the colours appear distributed arbitrarily, it is because observers have not combined a sufficient number of observations, and that it will one day be found that this part of the arts of the Egyptians was, like all the rest, submitted to invariable rules.”

431. Champollion the Younger expresses himself in these terms on the application of colours to Egyptian architecture: “I should like to introduce into the great temple of Ipsamboul, all who refuse to believe in the elegant richness that painted sculpture adds to architecture; in less than a quarter of an hour, I engage that they would perspire away all their prejudices, and that their à priori opinions would quit them through every pore.”

432. The fact of colouring hieroglyphics being once admitted, the colouring of the other figured objects which accompany them appears to have been a necessary consequence, either to bring out certain symbols, or allegories more distinctly and more agreeably, by the effect of their various colours, or because, if the hieroglyphics only were differently coloured, there would be no harmony between them and the other figured objects. No one can mistake the harmony between the hieroglyphics and other painted objects, and we therefore should not see any impropriety in them if we mistook them for figures traced by the capricious imagination of the artist. This harmony clearly justifies Lancret and Champollion the Younger, in the passages quoted above.

II. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS
IN GREEK ARCHITECTURE.

433. The discovery of Greek temples coloured on the exterior is doubtless a very remarkable fact in archæology; for if any monuments seemed to reject the application of colours to their external decoration, it was assuredly those of the Greeks. At this day, it is impossible not to admit that it was among these people that the alliance of colours with architecture was made, not in the declining epoch but at a period when monuments were erected in the best style; in fact, the ruins of coloured temples discovered by the excavations made in Greece, Italy, and Sicily, in places where many Greek colonies prospered, have this characteristic in a remarkable degree.

434. If we seek the cause which determined the Greek architect to seize upon one of the most powerful means that the painter has of addressing the eye, we shall find it especially, I think, in a taste for colours, rather than in the intention of rendering the various parts of an edifice more distinct from each other; and of substituting painted ornaments for ornaments in relief, whether sculptured or moulded, or of augmenting the relief these ornaments already possessed; indeed, the communication of the Greeks with the Egyptians, may have induced them to imitate the latter in this application of colours to ornaments.

435. In the coloured drawings of Greek monuments which I have been able to procure, I have remarked not only the number of colours employed in these monuments,—white, black, red, yellow, green, and blue,—but also the use which has been made of them under the relation of variety and purity of tint, of distinct view of the parts, and of the harmony of the whole. For instance, the principal lines, as the fillets of the architrave and of the cornice, are red; the mutules blue, and their guttæ white; the triglyphs blue, their channels black, and their guttæ white; and the more extended parts of the frieze and the cornice, as well as the architrave, are of light yellow.

We see that red, a brilliant colour, indicated the greater part of the principal lines; that blue, associated with black in the triglyphs and their channels, formed an harmonious and distinct union of the neighbouring parts: also that the dominant colour, light yellow, produced a much better effect than it would if the most intense or the most sombre colours had predominated. Finally, the colours were distributed in the most intelligent manner possible without being motley, presenting a variety and lightness in the tints, with easy separation of parts.

III. ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF COLOURS
IN GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.

436. In the great Gothic churches, colour has rarely been employed on the exterior, except in a few cases, and always in a restrained manner, and without injury to the general harmony; for the colour on porches and in niches is altogether insignificant in this point of view; and, besides, there is nothing to show that it was not added long after the erection of the structure on which it is found. One of the things I most admire in these vast edifices is the art, or, if you will, the luck, with which they have succeeded without colour, by having recourse only to architecture and sculpture, in giving to the exterior of the edifice a variety which in no respect injures the imposing effect of the whole.

437. If we now regard the interior of these churches, the magic of the colours of the stained windows will complete the enjoyments the sight can receive from colour allied to architecture—enjoyments which can only strengthen the power of the religious sentiment in all who enter these edifices to address their prayers to God. M. Boiserée, author of a work full of research, as original as profound, on the cathedral of Cologne, thinks that the ceilings of Gothic churches ought, according to a general custom, to represent the celestial vault, and be painted blue, studded with gilt stars.

438. If painting has from the beginning really concurred with architecture, and even with painted sculpture, in the interior decoration of Gothic churches, it can only have been in a secondary degree and on the system of flat tints, from the time when it had been decided to put in windows of stained glass; for no painting applied upon an opaque body, such as stone, wood, &c., could sustain itself beside the brilliant coloured light transmitted by the glass; and if this painting had been graduated according to the rules of chiaro-’scuro, all its merit would have disappeared, for want of pure and white light, the only kind suitable for illuminating it.

439. Is it true that the vicinity of stained glass necessarily requires as an effect of harmony, painting on the contiguous walls? Without deciding absolutely in favour of the contrary opinion, I confess that, after reflecting long upon the deep impressions I have received in great Gothic churches where the walls present only the simple effects of light and shade upon a uniform surface of stone, where there are no colours except those transmitted by the stained glass, I say that the sight of more varied effects would have appeared to me an error against the principle of suitability of the place to its destination; and this opinion was especially fortified by seeing, after the coronation of Charles X., the fine vault of the ancient cathedral at Rheims, which had been painted for the occasion blue, sprinkled with fleurs-de-lis. I am reminded of the impression it produced upon me some years before, when it presented to my sight only the uniform colour of the stone.

APPLICATION TO THE INTERIORS
OF EDIFICES.

440. I shall treat in succession—

• 1. On the assortment of stuffs with the wood of seats, &c.
• 2. On the assortment of frames with the pictures,
• engravings, and lithographs which they surround.
• 3. On the general decoration of interiors of churches.
• 4. On the decoration of museums, galleries, &c.
• 5. On the decoration of houses, palaces, &c.

On the Assortment of Stuffs
with the Wood of Seats.

441. There should be between the two parts of the seat—the wood and the stuff—harmony of contrast and harmony of analogy. The beauty of the wood and of the stuff which accompanies it, may mutually enhance each other. From what has been said, it is evident that we must assort violet or blue stuffs with yellow woods, as the root of ash, the yew, satinwood, maple, &c. Green stuffs with rose or red-coloured woods, as mahogany, cherry-tree, rosewood, &c.

Violet, or blue-greys, are equally good with yellow woods, as green-greys are with the red woods.

But to obtain the best possible effect it is necessary to take into consideration the contrast resulting from depth of tone; for a dark blue or violet stuff will not accord so well with a yellow wood as a light tone of the same colours; and it is for this reason that yellow does not assort so well with mahogany, as with a wood of the same, but not so deep a colour.

442. Among the harmonies of contrast of tone that can be made with wood, may be mentioned ebony, the brown colour of which permits its employment with light stuffs to produce contrasts of tone, rather than contrasts of colour. We can use it with very brilliant, intense colours; such as poppy, scarlet, aurora, flame-colour, &c.

443. When we employ painted woods instead of those which retain their natural colour, it is better for a stuff to give the wood such a colour as will best assort with the stuff. For assortments of this kind, I believe we cannot do better than refer to the examples of the assortments of the principal colours with white, black, and grey. (P. 49 et seq.)

444. Ebony wood, on account of its dark colour, be employed with dark stuffs to produce the assortments of analogy. In this case it can be allied with brown tones, and with red, blue, green, and violet. It is scarcely necessary to remark that these assortments prevent our using with ebony, white and yellow inlaying woods, which can be used with more or less advantage in those assortments which enter into the case of harmonies of contrast.

445. Frequent use is made of crimson woollen, velvet, and mahogany. This assortment, which is related to the harmony of analogy, is preferable to many others, only in consideration of the great stability of the colour of the stuff, and therefore independently of every idea of harmony. This induces me to examine it under several relations, that we may make the best possible use of it, according to the particular purpose.

When, in assorting crimson with mahogany, we wish to produce the harmony of analogy, by marking out the lines where the wood and the stuff touch, we can employ a cord or narrow galloon of yellow, or of golden yellow with gilt nails; or, better still, a narrow galloon of green or black, according to our wish to render the border more or less prominent.

When, in assorting these colours, we are guided by the twofold motive of the stability of the crimson colour and of the beauty of the mahogany, we must necessarily increase the distance which separates the stuff from the wood, by making the black or green border wider.

446. As the red woods always lose more or less of their beauty by the juxtaposition of red stuffs, we can never ally mahogany to colours which belong to the vivid reds, such as poppy or cherry; and more particularly to orange-reds, such as scarlet aurora; for these colours are so bright, that, taking away from this wood its peculiar tint, it becomes no better than oak or black walnut.

ON THE SELECTION OF FRAMES FOR
PICTURES AND ENGRAVINGS.

447. If a frame is necessary to a picture, engraving, or drawing, to isolate it from the objects around it, it is always more or less injurious to the illusion the painter or designer has desired to produce, when it occupies its destined place. I only purpose here to examine the relation of colour between the frame and the object it surrounds.

448. Gilt frames accord well with large pictures painted in oil, when the latter do not represent gildings, at least so near the frame as to render it easy for the eye to compare the painted gold with the metal itself.

I will instance a bad effect from such proximity. A Gobelins tapestry, after Laurent, represents a genius armed with a torch, near which is a gilt altar, executed in yellow silk and wool, all of which are entirely eclipsed by the metallic brilliancy of the gilt bronzes profusely spread over the mahogany frame of the tapestry. This may convince us that the richness of a frame may not only be a fault against art, but also against common sense.

449. Bronze frames which have but little yellow brilliancy do not injure the effect of an oil picture which represents a scene lighted by artificial light, such as that of candles, torches, a conflagration, &c.

450. When black frames, such as ebony, detach themselves sufficiently from an oil painting, they are favourable to large subjects; but whenever they are used, it is necessary to see whether the browns of the painting or drawing which are contiguous, do not lose too much of their vigour.

451. A grey frame is favourable to many landscape scenes painted in oil, particularly when the picture having a dominant colour, we take a grey lightly tinted with the complementary of that colour.

452. Gilt frames accord perfectly with black engravings and lithographs, when we take the precaution of leaving a certain extent of white paper round the subject.

453. To conclude. The rule to be followed in assorting a frame to a picture is, that its colour, brightness, and ornaments also, injure neither the colours, nor the shadows, nor the lights of the picture, nor the ornaments which it represents.

When we propose to put a border between the frame and an engraving, plain or coloured, we must take into consideration,—

ON THE GENERAL DECORATION OF THE
INTERIORS OF CHURCHES.

I now resume this subject, no longer to treat of it relatively to a given architectonic form, but to consider it under the most general point of view.

Conformably to the principle enunciated above (346), of judging the productions of art by the rules drawn from the nature of the materials employed, I establish two distinct classes of churches, not according to their form, but to a fundamental consideration which subordinates the interior decoration to the quality of the light, coloured or colourless, diffused through plain or coloured glass.

Stained Glass Windows.

1. From the bad effect of the mutual proximity of white and stained glass (365), it results that where one is employed in a church the other must be excluded, at least from the nave, choir, in a word, from all that the spectator can embrace at one point of view. The colourless glass in some of the chapels of the aisles is of no consequence in the general effect.

2. If pictures be near stained windows, they must be flat, or present subjects as simple as possible, since their effects are entirely sacrificed to those of the stained glass (438).

3. We can place pictures in a large church where the light is transmitted through coloured glass; but, for the view to be satisfactory, they must necessarily encounter such a union of conditions, that they will almost always be found out of place. In fact, if the pictures are not at a certain distance from the glass,—if the coloured lights which emanate from them are not, by their mutual admixture, in the requisite proportions for producing white light, or, at least, a very faintly coloured light—or if this feebly coloured light is insufficient to lighten the interior of the church properly, the pictures will lose their colour, unless they have been executed with reference to the nature of the light from the stained windows; but this is not, to my knowledge, ever realized.

White Glass Windows.

454. Churches with white glass windows harmonize with every ornament we can imagine in the employment of wood, marbles, porphyry, granite, and the metals. Mosaics may ornament the floors and adorn the walls with true pictures, as we see in St. Peter’s at Rome. Painting in fresco, in oil, plain and coloured sculptures, also combine to ornament the interior.

1. In churches of this class, the profusion of riches at the disposal of the decorator, far from being always of advantage to him, may be the cause of difficulties; for, the more varied the objects he has to arrange, the greater the difficulty of presenting only such objects as are in keeping with the place he has to embellish. It is not enough to have precious woods, marbles, metals, pictures; he must also make these objects harmonize. Thus, he must avoid putting coloured marbles contiguous to the white stone of which the walls are constructed; he must also proscribe surrounding bas-reliefs in white stone with slabs or borders of red or green marble.

2. The cathedral of Cologne, for churches with coloured glass, and St. Peter’s at Rome, for those with white glass, are two types which it will be sufficient to mention when we wish to demonstrate that beauty is compatible with different systems.

3. Much as I admire the marvels which the arts have accumulated in churches where white light freely enters, and although I acknowledge the effects which certain pictures of the first order are capable of producing in the Christian mind, yet the churches in which we see these decorations, resemble museums of art more than temples consecrated to prayer; and under this aspect they do not appear to me to fulfil the conditions imposed by the principle of fitness of edifices to their purpose in the same degree as Gothic churches with stained glass windows.

ON THE DECORATION OF
MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES.

455. The essential condition which these edifices must fulfil, is, that the light be as white and as vivid as possible; but always diffused and distributed equally and in the most suitable manner upon all the objects exhibited to the spectator, so that they may be seen without fatigue, and distinctly in every part.

Picture Galleries.

456. There is generally a disposition to be prodigal of ornaments and gilding in such buildings. Without pretending that all decoration should be proscribed, yet I believe that there is less disadvantage in erring by deficiency than by excess; in fact, the pictures, &c., are the precious objects, and it is to them that we must attract attention. Let me add, that one of the most injurious things to the effect of pictures is their accumulation—their being crammed all together; the position they then occupy, so different from that for which the painters destined them, diminishes the illusion which each would produce if it were in its proper place. Few, except the intelligent connoisseur and amateur, on seeing a picture exhibited in a gallery, experience all the effect which the artist wished to produce. Even the contiguity of the frame to the picture is destructive of the illusion of perspective: hence the difference between the effect of a framed picture and the effect of the same picture when seen through an opening, which permits us to see neither frame nor limits: it then recalls all the illusion of the diorama.

Sculpture Galleries.

457. Statues of white marble or stone, as well as plaster casts, stand out well in a gallery, the walls of which are of a pearly-grey colour; and if we would augment the whiteness of the statues by neutralizing the red hue which the marble, stone, or plaster might have, we could colour the walls with a chamois or orange-grey tint. If, on the contrary, we preferred giving to the statues a warm colour, which many sculptors esteem so highly, the walls must be of blue-grey. Green walls will give to the statues a rosy tint, which is not disagreeable.

The tone of their colour must be lower, the brighter we wish the sculptures to be.

458. When there are bronzes, the colour of the walls of the gallery must be determined by that which we wish to predominate in the statues; because, as is very well known, the metallic alloy of which they are formed yields two very different tints; one green, acquired by exposure to atmosphere; the other the peculiar golden tint which it possesses where it is not oxidized. If we wish to exalt this green tint, the colour of the walls of the gallery must be red; while they must be blue to bring out the brilliancy of the metallic bronze, which has not experienced the action of the atmosphere.

459. The walls of the gallery are considered as giving rise to effects of contrast, and not of reflection.

Museums of Natural History.

460. In these edifices it would be wrong to give the walls any positive colour, for the objects exhibited should appear to the eyes of the naturalist of the colour peculiar to each; consequently the interior of cabinets, glass-cases, and drawers must necessarily be white, or normal grey, very light in tone.

Wainscoting.

461. From the fact that wainscotings are generally concealed by the furniture placed before them, we may conclude that they must be of a dark, rather than of a light colour, and that, if they have ornaments, these must be simple, and not prominent. The wainscoting may be considered as serving as a ground to the furniture, whenever it is not entirely concealed by the latter. We shall see hereafter what colour is necessary to be given them that they may suit their purpose.

DECORATIONS OF THE
INTERIOR OF HOUSES.

Hangings.

462. In consequence of an apartment never being too light—for we can always diminish superfluous light—hangings should be of a light colour, that they may reflect, not absorb, light.

463. We proscribe all dark hangings, whatever be their colour, because they absorb too much light; we proscribe also red and violet hangings, because they are exceedingly unfavourable to the colour of the skin. For this latter reason we reject the light tones of the red and violet scales. Orange is a colour that can never be much employed, because it fatigues the eye too much by its great intensity.

464. Hangings in the best taste are those—

465. Hangings of brilliant and varied colours representing real objects, forming patterns more or less complex, do not admit of pictures; and as such hangings should exhibit themselves distinctly, they must not be concealed by the furniture in any of their parts.

466. When we have to adapt a border to a monochromous hanging, or to one presenting a dominant colour, we must first determine whether we can have recourse to a harmony of analogy or to a harmony of contrast; in all cases the border ought to detach itself more or less from the hangings, which it is intended to surround and separate from contiguous objects.

Harmony of contrast is the most suitable to papers of a uniform pure colour, such as yellows, greens, and blues; consequently we recommend for the dominant colour of the border, the complementary of that of the hangings, whether this border represents ornaments, arabesques, flowers, or imitations of fringes or tissues. But, as a contrast of colour ought not generally to offer also a contrast of tone, then the general tone of the border must only surpass that of the hangings so far as to avoid a deadening effect. If a double border be required, the exterior border must be of a much deeper tone than the other, and always narrower.

467. Among the colours suitable for borders we recommend the following as harmonies of contrast:—

468. Among the harmonies of analogy, I recommend the following:—

For yellow hangings, a border of brass or gilt moulding.

White or Whitish Hangings of Normal Grey, Pearl Grey, or very pale coloured Grey, of a uniform colour, or with a Velvet Pattern of the Colour of the Ground.

469. Although papers of this kind admit of borders of all colours, yet we must avoid too great a contrast of tone in a border containing pure colours; for the intense tones of blue, violet, red, green, are too crude to combine with these light grounds. Gilt brass borders accord well with these grounds, especially with the pure or grey whites. If a grey present a tint of green, of blue, or of yellow, we may use borders of the complementary of these tints, taken many tones above, or of a grey, deeply tinged with this complementary.

470. Among the harmonies of analogy, we may take for grey hangings, borders of some tones higher, and of a grey contrasting with their tint, but very lightly.

For Borders of Hangings that present a pure Colour with White, or many Tones belonging either to the same Scale or to contiguous Scales (see 466).

For chintzes, we must have analogous borders.

For larger patterns than chintzes, repeated like the latter, a binding of galloon suffices.

Hangings with human figures, landscapes, or other pictures, require a frame either of painted, gilt, or bronzed wood, or, better still, a border imitated by painting.

Colour of the Wainscoting relatively
to the Hangings.

When the Hangings and the
Border make a Contrast of Colour.

471. The dominant colour of the wainscoting must generally be more or less approximating, and may be—

1. The same as that of the border, but a little darker, and especially more or less broken with black.

2. Grey lightly tinted with the colour of the border, and of the same tone, or very near it.

3. The complementary of the colour of the hangings, when the dominant colour of the border is not its complementary. If we employ a complementary lightly broken with black, the moulding must be picked out in brown on the border and on the wainscoting.

4. A grey complementary to the colour of the hangings, when the border is not the complementary of the hangings.

In these cases we bring out upon the colour of the hangings, properly so called, that of the wainscoting, which we always render more or less dull. Thus the colour of the hangings and the wainscoting are agreeably harmonized, and the border suitably separates them.

5. A normal grey of many tones, with which we may combine white.

472. When the colour of the wainscoting is the same as that of the hangings, but duller or deeper, in general it has a poor effect, arising particularly from the fact that the colour of the border, which contrasts with that of the hangings and of the wainscoting, is in too small superficial proportion to the other.

The dominant colour of the wainscoting may be—

1. The complementary of the colour of the hangings, but more or less broken, and a little deeper.

2. Grey complementary to the colour of the hangings.

3. A colour which, without being complementary, contrasts with that of the hangings.

4. Grey, tinted by a colour which, without being complementary to that of the hangings, contrasts with them.