jfxmxtis CUartmlL 
 
 
 ** 
 
 
 Ulrich Middeldorf 
 
THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES 
 
 OP 
 
 BEAUTY IN COLOURING 
 
 m 
 
 SYSTEMATIZED. 
 
 BY 
 
 D. R. HAY, 
 
 DECORATIVE PAINTER TO HER MAJESTY, 
 EDINBURGH. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXLV. 
 
 mam— 
 
TO 
 
 DAVID ROBERTS, ESQ. R.A. 
 
 THE COMPANION OF MY BOYHOOD, AND FRIEND 
 OF MY RIPER YEARS, WHO, BY HIS TALENT, ENTERPRISE, AND 
 INDUSTRY, AS AN ARTIST, HAS DONE SO MUCH HONOUR TO 
 HIS COUNTRY, AND WHO, BY HIS GOODNESS OF HEART AND 
 AMIABLE DISPOSITION, HAS SO ENDEARED HIMSELF TO HIS 
 FRIENDS, I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME AS A MARK OF MY CON- 
 TINUED ESTEEM AND REGARD, 
 
 D. R. HAY. 
 
 Edinburgh, 
 90 George Street, July 1845. 
 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 iii 
 
 I. 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND, . 1 
 
 II. 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR, . 
 
 III. 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS, 
 
 IV. 
 ON CONTRAST, OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS, 
 
 17 
 
 29 
 
 
 DEVELOPEMENT OF A NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HAR- 
 MONY, . 35 
 
 >• • 
 
 VI. 
 ON THE MODES IN WHICH THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY 
 
 ARE DEVELOPED IN COLOURS, ..... 51 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 To those who do not pretend to the possession of a high 
 genius in respect to colouring, but whose physical powers 
 of vision are tolerably correct, — who are possessed of an 
 ordinary degree of understanding, and are sufficiently un- 
 prejudiced to receive an elementary lesson from one like 
 themselves, this Treatise, I presume, may be of service. 
 To some of those it may be useful in so simple a matter as 
 enabling them to arrange properly the colours of their dress ; 
 others may find it of use in the arrangement of the furni- 
 ture of their dwellings, or the plants in their flower-gardens ; 
 while to a third class, whose professions involve an atten- 
 tion to the laws of harmonious colouring as a constituent 
 of beauty in their works, it will be especially serviceable. 
 
 Generally, I believe, an acquaintance with its contents 
 may be the means of leading to a more correct appreciation 
 of one species of visible beauty, widely diffused throughout 
 nature, and often forming a characteristic feature in works 
 of high art. 
 
 D. R. H. 
 
 Edinburgh, 
 90 George Street, 21st July 1845. 
 
•■•',•.?.•••''•• 
 
 ,y,_ 
 
 ON THE 
 
 EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE 
 
 MIND. 
 
 On examining into the nature of physical sensation, and 
 its connexion with the powers of the mind, it seems evident 
 that an intermediate link in the chain, by which that mys- 
 terious union is effected, is the faculty we possess of appre- 
 ciating visible beauty. 
 
 We find ourselves, in numerous cases, excelled by the 
 lower animals, in the degree in which their organs of sense 
 are susceptible of receiving impressions from external nature, 
 but this susceptibility is of an exclusively physical kind, and, 
 although, it may, and does lead in some animals to acts of 
 memory, and consequently of association, yet it never, in 
 the slightest degree, so far as can be ascertained, reaches 
 the sesthetical faculty of an appreciation of visible beauty. 
 This faculty then, it would appear, has been conferred on 
 man alone, and forms, therefore, one of his distinguishing 
 attributes. 
 
 A 
 
ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND. 
 
 Visible beauty is of two kinds ; — the first arising from 
 harmony of Form, — the second from harmony of Colour. 
 When combined in one object, these qualities enhance each 
 other, and, indeed, ought always to be associated ; for no 
 colouring will ever render a deformed object beautiful, nei- 
 ther will the most perfect configuration ever render a dis- 
 cordant arrangement of colours pleasing, although the one 
 kind of beauty may be admitted as the ruling principle in 
 a subject, and the other merely as an accompaniment. 
 Such arrangements, indeed, often present themselves, and 
 are fully appreciated, without our being aware that their 
 beauty is so constituted. As an instance of this, I may 
 refer to the universal concurrence of mankind in appre- 
 ciating the peculiar beauty of white marble statuary. That 
 the principal constituent of beauty in such works ought to 
 be harmony of form, no one will deny ; but this is not its 
 only element, as appears from the fact, that a cast in plaster 
 of Paris of a fine white marble statue, although identical in 
 form, is far less beautiful than the original. Now, this is 
 evidently in consequence of its being changed from a semi- 
 translucent to an opaque substance, and being thus deprived 
 of that exquisitely harmonious blending of the three primary 
 colours to which the balance of the transmission and reflec- 
 tion of light gives rise. This balance acts reciprocally upon 
 two opposite principles in colour, namely, warmth and cool- 
 ness, the one being the natural result of the partial trans- 
 mission of light through any substance, which, being semi- 
 
 
3 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND. 
 
 opaque like white marble, reflects the other. Thus we have 
 in the remains of Greek sculpture, the nearest approxima- 
 tion to the beau ideal of beauty in form of which human in- 
 telligence is capable, accompanied by a species of natural 
 chromatic harmony in the soft blendings of the light and 
 shadow which their configuration necessarily produces. 
 
 All the beauty of Nature's colouring arises from contrast, 
 or the operation of two opposite principles, amongst which 
 those just noticed most distinguish colours ; and although 
 the various modes in which they operate can only be dis- 
 cerned by careful observation and study, yet the beauty 
 thus produced, is fully appreciated by the generality of 
 mankind. When we gaze upon a cloudless sky, we are 
 struck with its beauty, yet here there is no form — no con" 
 figuration — and apparently only one colour. Now, as we 
 know that there can be no more beauty conveyed to the 
 mind, through the eye, in viewing one individual colour, 
 than through the ear in listening to one single continued 
 note, we are apt at first to imagine that the organ of vision 
 has in some measure conveyed a false impression to the 
 mind. But this is not the case. What I have endeavour- 
 ed to explain in regard to the effects of light in its action upon 
 and through white marble, in reflecting coolness and trans- 
 mitting warmth, applies equally to the common atmosphere 
 in which we move. When that which lies behind it is dark, 
 it reflects light to the eye in those cool tones of blue, gray, 
 and purple, which seem to clothe the distant mountains ; 
 
ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND. 
 
 but when it transmits the clear light of the horizon, it does 
 so in numerous warm tints, the extremes of which produce 
 the gorgeous effects which so often accompany the setting 
 sun. We have, therefore, in the upper part of a clear sky, 
 where the atmosphere may be said to be illuminated prin- 
 cipally by reflection from the surface of the earth, a com- 
 paratively cool tone of blue, which gradually blends into 
 the warm tints transmitted through the atmosphere from 
 the accumulated light at the horizon. Such a composition 
 of harmonious colouring is to the eye what the voice of the 
 soft breath of summer amongst the trees, the hum of insects 
 in a sultry day, or the simple harmony of the ^Eolian harp, 
 is to the ear. 
 
 When we examine the more palpable examples of Nature's 
 colouring, we shall find in that which clothes the general 
 face of the earth, a continual exemplification of the beauti- 
 ful effects produced by the combination of the opposite 
 principles of warmth and coolness ; and this may be 
 traced throughout all the ramifications of the vegetable 
 kingdom, from the largest objects to the most minute. 
 It is the same in regard to the colouring exhibited in 
 the animal creation ; for, as the colouring of every single 
 leaf of a plant or petal of a flower exemplifies the ope- 
 ration of fixed laws of harmony, so does each feather of 
 a bird, scale of a fish, or hair of a quadruped, afford a 
 separate object, by the minute examination of which the 
 visible beauty of harmonious colouring is developed. 
 
5 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND. 
 
 There is thus conveyed to the mind, through the sense 
 of vision, a kind of pleasure, as much superior to phy- 
 sical sensation as intellect is to instinct, the reflection 
 upon which, assists in leading us to the conviction that we 
 have an immortal nature, and that it is capable of subli- 
 mating the impressions made by matter upon matter, exem- 
 plified in the sensations with which external nature affects 
 our senses. 
 
 The perception of beauty is the first of the mental facul- 
 ties that developes itself, for, if we trace back our feelings 
 to the earliest periods of childhood to which memory can 
 lead us, we shall find it even then in operation, and pro- 
 ducing an excitement, which all our subsequent experience 
 fails to enhance. It is no doubt true, that an appreciation 
 of the beauty of colouring depends, in the first instance, on 
 the physical powers of the eye, in its capability of receiving 
 true impressions from the action of light. We may, how- 
 ever, possess a good eye for colour, and, by experience, be 
 enabled to make nice distinctions between the relative qua- 
 lities of tints and hues, in respect to their purity or inten- 
 sity, without possessing the higher power of appreciating, 
 to any great extent, the harmonious beauty which is so 
 profusely developed in Nature's colouring, and which the 
 artist attempts to imitate. 
 
 The principles which constitute this beauty are to be fouud 
 in certain mathematical combinations or motions of the ele- 
 ments of matter, which are responded to by a similar principle 
 
 
6 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UTON THE MINI). 
 
 of appreciation implanted in the human mind ; and a know- 
 ledge of the modes in which these principles mutually recipro- 
 cate to each other, forms the basis of the science of aesthe- 
 tics. By the study of this science the perceptive faculty may 
 be cultivated and improved, and a just appreciation of what 
 is most beautiful amongst the variety of objects which nature 
 presents to the organs of vision attained. Such a study also 
 enables us to form correct judgments as to works of art, while 
 it assists the artist in selecting proper objects for imitation. 
 The physical powers of the eye are often defective in re- 
 gard to the reception of impressions, from the peculiar 
 action of light that constitutes colour, while the impressions 
 that are made by those modes of action that constitute light 
 and shade are received with accuracy. This defect in the 
 visual organ has sometimes reference to one of the primary 
 colours, sometimes to two, but most generally to the whole 
 three ; and between this total privation and the most per- 
 fect power of appreciating colours, there lies an endless 
 variety of degrees. But, like the appreciation of the har- 
 mony of sound, mankind generally possess it to such an 
 extent as to offer a continual source of pure and intellec- 
 tual pleasure, while some have it in such perfection as to 
 enable them to transfer to works of art a vivid imita- 
 tion of the infinitely varied tints of the general aspect of 
 nature ; or, what is a still higher mark of genius, a represen- 
 tation of that perfection of colorific beauty peculiar to the 
 human countenance. 
 
■ 
 
 ■m 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND. 
 
 To attempt to convey a knowledge of what constitutes 
 harmonious colouring to those whose organs of vision are 
 naturally defective would be a useless labour ; and to pre- 
 tend to instruct the man whose intuitive genius enables him 
 to feel and imitate the infinitely various and beautiful com- 
 binations of Nature's colouring, would only be an act of pre- 
 sumption. But to the incalculably more numerous class 
 who stand between these extremes, I may freely address 
 myself ; and, while I continue to impress upon them the ad- 
 vantages derivable from an attention to the first principles 
 of beauty in the ordinary requirements of life, it is with a 
 view to assist in making one step towards a higher degree 
 of civilization. 
 
 We may estimate the prosperity of a nation by the gene- 
 ral enjoyment amongst its people of the necessaries and 
 luxuries of life, but we can form an opinion of its intellec- 
 tual refinement only by the manner in which the first prin- 
 ciples of taste are exhibited along with such enjoyment. 
 The decorations of temples and other public buildings form 
 no true criterion of judgment in this respect. These, for 
 the most part, are the works of great artists, and great 
 artists but seldom appear upon the stage of human life. 
 Such men possess intuitively a knowledge of the principles 
 to which I have alluded ; but although the same degree of 
 knowledge can never be imparted by instruction, yet such 
 a general understanding of the principles alluded to may 
 be diffused amongst a people as to elevate the character 
 
8 
 
 ON THE EFFECTS OF VISIBLE BEAUTY UPON THE MIND. 
 
 of the most simple attempts, and thus assist in rendering- 
 its effects visible through all the ramifications of society. 
 But, with all our Academies of Art, Schools of Design, 
 Institutes, Associations, &c, there has as yet been no such 
 general dissemination of these first principles, and, conse- 
 quently, there exists no statutes in the republic of art, no 
 code of laws for the guidance of public opinion, in forming 
 its judgment upon the merits of such works as are subject 
 to the rules of aesthetics. Under such circumstances, just 
 decisions regarding works of ornamental art and matters 
 of taste cannot be expected ; and it is thus we every day 
 see the principles of design openly violated, not only with 
 impunity, but frequently with encouragement. Nor can it 
 be expected that the public should endeavour to acquire a 
 knowledge of laws which many of those who profess to 
 follow high art seem to disregard. 
 
 Attention to the elementary principles of harmonious 
 colour in the decoration of our ordinary dwellings, in such 
 of our manufactures as admit of it, and even in our dress, 
 will, in some measure, assist in diffusing one kind of know- 
 ledge of what constitutes visible beauty, and the more 
 effectually that, in our climate, we are, for a considerable 
 portion of the year, compelled to dispense with the grati- 
 fication and instruction which external nature affords the 
 eye, and, in the absence of works of high art, to content 
 ourselves with that which the interior decoration of our 
 dwellings present. 
 
 
 
f '■■■'. ' 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR. 
 
 ?«?*?3© ; Rs* ¥«?»?' 
 
 In a former Treatise on Colour, I confined this part 
 of the subject to an attempt to point out the analogy 
 that exists between the harmony of colour and that of 
 sound ; and I did so from an idea, that in this country a 
 knowledge of the first principles of the science of music, 
 bore some proportion to the extent to which that art is 
 taught and practised, and that, in consequence, I should 
 more readily lead to an understanding of the one species of 
 harmony by comparing it to the other. But I am now con- 
 vinced that this was a mistaken idea, and that, instead of a 
 knowledge of the first principles of harmony being general, 
 it is so limited, that but few of the professors of painting, 
 sculpture, or architecture, to whom they ought to be fami- 
 liar, have paid any attention to the subject. Even among 
 teachers of music, there are few who are sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with the philosophy of their art. This is much to 
 be regretted, for the general principles of harmony are 
 
 B 
 
10 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR. 
 
 uniform throughout the whole science of aesthetics, and, as 
 in no department of that science have their effects been 
 more clearly developed than in music, there can be no better 
 method of pointing out their peculiar nature, than by re- 
 ference to the first principles of that art. I shall therefore 
 still refer to it, and in doing so, show that the harmony 
 addressed to the eye, like that addressed to the ear, is of 
 an exclusively mathematical nature. 
 
 In an attempt to define sesthetical taste, which, in the 
 form of a short Essay, accompanied the fifth edition of 
 " The Laws of Harmonious Colouring adapted to Interior 
 Decorations,' 1 '' I have shown that there appears to be im- 
 planted in the human mind a governing principle of harmony 
 of a mathematical nature, responsive to impressions made 
 upon the organs of sense by certain combinations, motions, 
 and affinities in the elements of matter. Of this nature are 
 the effects produced upon the mind by sensations received 
 through the eye from colours and forms, as also those re- 
 ceived through the ear from sounds. 
 
 These combinations, motions, and affinities, act by the 
 harmony of numbers, exemplified in the agreement of cer- 
 tain arithmetical ratios. To those acquainted with the 
 science of acoustics, this is known to be the case in regard 
 to the affinities which musical notes bear to one another, 
 and which are the cause of harmony when two or more are 
 simultaneously produced. These consonances are agreeable 
 to the ear, according to the degree of numerical simplicity 
 
11 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR. 
 
 which the notes bear to one another in the rapidity of the 
 vibrations which produce them, the affinity becoming less 
 and less as the complexity in this ratio increases. Upon 
 this the foundation of musical harmony rests, and its prin- 
 ciples being acknowledged as laws of nature, we are assured 
 that its beauty has a real existence, independently of any 
 opinion, fancy, whim, or association of ideas in the mind, 
 to which it is, through the organs of sense, addressed. 
 Upon such first principles are also based the harmony and 
 beauty of colours and forms, and it is in the operation of 
 these principles that the true analogy exists. — (Note A.) 
 
 It would, therefore, appear that the only means by which 
 a proper understanding can be arrived at of what consti- 
 tutes any kind of visible beauty, appreciable by the human 
 mind, is a development of the operations of those mathe- 
 matical laws in the combinations of visible matter. 
 
 The harmony of sound arises naturally from numerical 
 ratio in the following manner : — A musical note produced 
 by the agitation of a vibratory body, is uniformly accom- 
 panied by other two, bearing to it in the rapidity of the 
 pulsations from which they arise, the proportional ratios of 
 2 to 1, and 3 to 1. This is the fundamental principle of 
 the natural scale of musical notes, and of all successive and 
 combined harmony. The note produced may be acute or 
 grave, but whatever be the degree of rapidity in the undu- 
 lations of the atmosphere that act upon the organ of hear- 
 ing in producing the sensation of that particular sound, the 
 
 
 ■■■< 
 
12 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR. 
 
 undulations of the other two notes that accompany or im- 
 mediately succeed it are always in these ratios ; hence they 
 are called harmonics. When the original note is powerful, 
 these two first harmonics are succeeded by others in a gra- 
 dual descent from the original simplicity of ratio down to 
 those of a more complex kind, the affinity to the first note 
 as gradually decreasing. 
 
 The appearance of those apparitions called the acciden- 
 tal or compensatory colours is in perfect accordance with this 
 phenomenon, for they always accompany or immediately fol- 
 low any sensation produced by the impression from an indivi- 
 dual colour upon the optic nerve ; and these spectra are al- 
 ways at first in power to the original colour in the ratio of 
 I to 2, and are always such as make up the harmonic triad, 
 with the colour by which the impression is made. — (Note 
 B.) 
 
 When two notes are produced causing the same number 
 of atmospheric undulations in a given portion of time, they 
 are then in perfect consonance or unison as to their pitch 
 or place in the scale, however much the nature of the mate- 
 rials by which the undulations are caused may differ. In 
 the same manner do widely differing materials exhibit to 
 the eye colours of precisely the same nature, and conse- 
 quently belonging to the same place in the colorific series. 
 
 Notes that thus assimilate are, therefore, to one another 
 in their undulations in the simple ratio of 1 to 1, and their 
 effects upon the ear are exactly the same. So are the 
 
13 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR. 
 
 powers of any two colours that match each other in the 
 nature of their effect upon the eye, and their relation either 
 to light or to darkness, however much the substances so 
 coloured may differ in other respects. 
 
 The harmonic ratios, therefore, commence with those of 
 1 to 1, 1 to 2, and 1 to S ; and it is known as a fact in 
 acoustics, that all the melody and harmony of which the 
 human ear is susceptible, or the mind is perceptive, thus 
 originates in the operation of the numbers 1, 2, 3, in affect- 
 ing the affinities of quantity and motion of matter. These 
 numbers, it will be shown, are equally potent in regulating 
 the harmony of colours, and operate, in the first place, upon 
 the active and passive principles of light and darkness, in 
 producing the primary elements of all chromatic beauty — 
 red ? yellow, and blue. The active principle of light being in 
 yellow as 3, and the passive principle of darkness as 1 ; in 
 red, these two principles mutually operate ; and in blue, the 
 active principle operates as 1, and the passive as 3, as shall 
 be afterwards more fully explained. 
 
 So also do these ratios exist in the primary elements of 
 form, as in the case of the solid quantities contained in 
 cones, spheres, and cylinders, which, when of the same base 
 and altitude, whatever their size may be, bear the constant 
 ratio of 1, 2, 3. The three primary plane figures — the 
 circle, the rectangle, and the triangle, are sections of these 
 solid bodies, and consequently have proportional quantities 
 of superficies and perimeter to each other. 
 
u 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR. 
 
 The analogy is likewise perfect as to the number of pri- 
 mary and secondary elements of which their respective 
 scales are composed. In music, the notes are seven, and 
 are named do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, of which the tonic do, 
 the medient mi, and the dominant sol, may be reckoned 
 the primaries. In form, the characteristic plane figures are 
 seven — the circle, the oblong, the triangle, the rhomb, the 
 rectangle, the ellipse, and the polygon, of which the circle, 
 rectangle, and triangle are the primaries. In colour, also, 
 the scale is made up of seven parts — red, orange, yellow, 
 green, blue, purple, and gray, of which, as already stated, 
 red, yellow, and blue are the primaries. Out of these ele- 
 ments arise all the physical beauty which the understand- 
 ing is capable of appreciating through the eye and the ear ; 
 and the degree and nature of this beauty will always depend 
 upon the mode in which the harmonic ratios operate, either 
 in the combination, motion, or affinities of matter. 
 
 In the natural affinities of the parts of which these scales 
 are composed, the harmony of numbers operates by combi- 
 nation and division as follow. The first primary combina- 
 tion of the unit gives its multiple 2, which is a sub-multiple 
 of the numbers 4, 6, 8, progressively, as 2, 3, 4 ; and it is 
 the first even number. The number three is also simply a 
 multiple of the unit, and is the first tertiary combination or 
 odd number ; it is a sub-multiple of 6, 9, 12, <fcc. progres- 
 sively, as 2, 3, 4, and is at the same time a compound of 1 and 
 2 added together. The next multiple of 1, having no other 
 
15 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR, 
 
 aliquot parts, is 5, a compound of the first even and first 
 odd numbers 2 and S ; it is a sub-multiple of 10, 15, 20, &c. 
 
 These three numbers are therefore the first three mul- 
 tiples of 1 that are multiples of no other number, and upon 
 the proper operation of these numbers depends the harmony 
 which constitutes beauty. 
 
 The primary or leading harmonic ratios produced by the 
 operation of those numbers upon quantities, motions, or 
 powers of matter, are 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 4 to 5, and these are 
 called in the natural scale of music, the consonances of the 
 tonic and its octave, the tonic and its fifth or dominant, and 
 the tonic and its third or medient. The other parts of the 
 scale are, in this respect as 3 to 4, 3 to 5, 8 to 9, and 8 to 
 15, but no new mode of combination is here presented — 4, 
 8, 9, and 15, being multiples of 2, 3, and 5. 
 
 These are the elements of the natural scale of conson- 
 ances and dissonances, for 8 to 9 and 8 to 15, are of the 
 latter character, while there are two combinations not in 
 this scale, namely 5 to 6, and 5 to 8, which are of the first 
 character, but belong to the minor mode, and these com- 
 plete the series of perfect consonances. In a former work, 
 I gave these ratios in greater detail, and as the highest 
 example in nature, pointed out their existence in the pro- 
 portions of the human body, and, as the best evidence of 
 their application in art, a close adherence to them in the 
 proportions of the portico of the Parthenon. — (Note C.) 
 
 *9fP 
 
16 
 
 ON THE ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY OF COLOUR, 
 
 It seems, however, that it is not in sesthetical science 
 alone that this mathematical principle operates. A philo- 
 sophical writer, in a late number of a medical work,* ob- 
 serves : — " There is harmony of numbers in all nature — 
 in the force of gravity — in the planetary movements — in 
 the laws of heat, light, electricity, and chemical affinity — 
 in the forms of animals and plants — in the perceptions of 
 the mind. The direction, indeed, of modern natural and 
 physical science is towards a generalization, which shall ex- 
 press the fundamental laws of all by one simple numerical 
 ratio. We think modern science will soon show that the 
 mysticism of Pythagoras was mystical only to the unlet- 
 tered, and that it was a system of philosophy founded on 
 the then existing mathematics, which latter seem to have 
 comprised more of the philosophy of numbers than our 
 present.*" 
 
 Before showing the mode in which the harmony of num- 
 bers operates in combinations of colours, however, it will be 
 requisite to inquire into the phenomenon of their produc- 
 tion, and the relations they bear to one another. 
 
 * British and Foreign Medical Review, No. xxxv. p. 171. 
 
 
17 
 
 ON THE 
 
 NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 Light may be considered an active, and darkness a pas- 
 sive principle, in the economy of Nature, and colour an 
 intermediate phenomenon arising from their joint influence, 
 It is usual to consider colour as an inherent quality in light, 
 and to suppose that every coloured body absorbs a certain 
 class of its rays, and reflects or transmits the remainder ; 
 but it appears to me, that colour is more probably the re- 
 sult of certain modes in which the opposite principles of 
 motion and rest, or force and resistance, operate in the pro- 
 duction and modification of light, and that each colour is 
 mutually related to these active and passive principles. In 
 the three colours, yellow, red, and blue, now universally 
 acknowledged as the primary elements of chromatic beauty, 
 these principles seem to operate in progressive ratios, for, 
 if the purest powdered pigments be mixed in the propor- 
 tion of 1 yellow, 2 red, and 3 blue, a cool-toned gray is the 
 
 c 
 
 yp 
 
18 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OP COLOURS. 
 
 result, resembling a mixture of black and white : if the 
 mixture be changed to 1 blue, 2 red, and S yellow, we have 
 a warm-toned brown ; but the neutral gray in which light, 
 shade, and colour are equally represented, is the result of 
 a mixture of equal quantities. 
 
 White and black are the representatives of light and 
 darkness, while yellow, red, and blue, are the primary ele- 
 ments of colour. From the union of these elements in cer- 
 tain proportions, every conceivable variety of colour and 
 hue arises ; but their nature and qualities in relation to 
 light and shade, and to one another, must be well under- 
 stood before proper modes of combination can be adopted. 
 White and black, therefore, being only the representatives 
 of light and darkness, cannot be reckoned colours, but 
 merely their modifiers, in reducing them by their attenuat- 
 ing and subduing qualities to tints and shades respectively. 
 
 The relations that yellow, red, and blue, bear to light and 
 darkness, and the mode in which those relations operate 
 throughout the colorific circle, may be shown in the follow- 
 ing manner : — Let us suppose the active principle of light 
 divided into 180 parts, and the passive principle of shade 
 into the same number, so that the medial gray arising from 
 their joint influence, will be to each of these principles or 
 powers as 90, that is, in the ratio of 1 to 2, because they 
 mutually neutralize each other ; and the following are the 
 proportions in which light and shade will be found to be 
 combined in the primary elements of colour. 
 

 HBH^BI 
 
 19 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 
 
 Relation to 
 
 Relation to 
 
 Medial Power 
 
 
 
 Light. 
 
 Darkness. 
 
 as a Colour. 
 
 Yellow, 
 
 
 . 45 
 
 .... 15 . 
 
 SO 
 
 Red, 
 
 
 . SO .. 
 
 ... SO . 
 
 .... SO 
 
 Blue, 
 
 
 . 15 .. 
 
 .... 45 . 
 
 so 
 
 Neutral 
 
 Oay, 
 
 
 
 90 
 
 They may here, however, be reduced to their lowest deno- 
 minations, as the higher are only useful in reducing colours 
 to tints and shades.* These numbers are : — 
 
 Yellow, 
 
 Red, 
 
 Blue, 
 
 Light, 
 
 s 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 Darkness. 
 1 
 
 2 . 
 
 3 . 
 
 2 
 2 
 2 
 
 Neutral Gray, 
 
 Red, it will be observed, is the most perfect colour, from 
 its having an equal relation to light and shade, the two prin- 
 ciples being exhibited in it in the same ratio as in neutral 
 gray, but in a different and more vigorous mode. In yel- 
 low, the active principle being to the passive as 3 to 1, and 
 in blue, as 1 to S, these colours when united in green, ex- 
 hibit the two principles acting, as in red, in equal ratios ; 
 thus constituting green the most perfect of compounded 
 
 * In my " Nomenclature of Colours," &c. the higher denominations are 
 retained for this purpose. 
 
20 
 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 colours. The secondary colours are, orange, green, and 
 purple, and are produced by the pairing of the primaries. 
 In the hues, the three primary colours are combined, and 
 these combinations are of two classes — primary and secon- 
 dary. The primary class arise from pairing the secondary 
 colours, and are generally called citrine, russet, and olive, 
 but, for the sake of perspicuity, I shall name them after 
 the primaries to which they belong. From the pairing of 
 these primary hues, the semi-neutrals, or secondary class of 
 hues, are produced. These various modes of union are 
 shown in the following diagrams : — 
 
 Green 
 
 Yellow 
 
 Orange - 
 
 Red 
 
 Blue 
 
 Purple - 
 
 -Red-hue- 
 
 Purple Green Orange 
 Blue-hue ' ' Yellow-hue 
 
 Yellow-hue 
 
 Orange-hue 
 
 -Green-hue- 
 
 Red-hue 
 
 Blue-hue 
 
 -Purple-hue- 
 
21 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 The secondary colours may have an excess of either of 
 the two primaries of which they are severally composed, 
 and their tone thus be altered in various degrees. 
 
 Yellow 
 
 Yellow-green- 
 
 Green 
 
 -Blue-green- 
 
 Blue 
 
 Blue Purple 
 
 ■ Blue-purple ' ' Red-purple 
 
 Red 
 
 J 
 
 Red 
 
 -Red-orange 
 
 Orange 
 
 Yellow 
 
 Yellow-orange- 
 
 These modifications of the secondary colours are shown 
 in Example IV. From the binary union of these modified 
 secondaries, no farther variety of hue arises than the pre- 
 dominance or subordination of one or other of the primaries 
 in proportions similar to what arise from ternary modes of 
 union to be afterwards explained. 
 
 The following may be taken as the relative quantities of 
 the primary elements in these three classes of compound 
 colours : — 
 
22 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 Orange. 
 Yellow, 2 
 Red, 2 
 
 Blue-hue. 
 Yellow, 2 
 Red, 2 
 Blue, 4 
 
 Orange-hub. 
 Yellow, 6 
 Red, 6 
 Blue, 4 
 
 Green. 
 Yellow, 2 
 Blue, 2 
 
 Red-hue. 
 Yellow, 2 
 Red, 4 
 Blue, 2 
 
 Green-hue. 
 Yellow, 6 
 Red, 4 
 Blue, 6 
 
 Purple. 
 Blue, 2 
 Red, 2 
 
 Yellow-hue. 
 Yellow, 4 
 Red, 2 
 Blue, 2 
 
 Purple-hue. 
 Yellow, 4 
 Red, 6 
 Blue, 6 
 
 From these quantities, it will be seen, that the hues owe 
 their distinction exclusively to the proportionate predomi- 
 nance of one of the primary colours in each of the first class, 
 and a like subordination of one of these in each of the 
 second. This rule holds good throughout every species of 
 colouring in nature and art. 
 
 The primary elements are in the modified secondaries as 
 follow : — 
 
 Yellow-orange. 
 
 Yellow, 4 
 Red, 2 
 
 Blue-purple. 
 Blue, 4 
 Red, 2 
 
 Yellow-green. 
 
 Yellow, 4 
 Blue 2 
 
 Red-purple. 
 Blue, 2 
 Red, 4 
 
 Red-orange. 
 Yellow, 2 
 Red, 4 
 
 Blue-green. 
 Blue, 4 
 Yellow, 2 
 
 
23 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 The relations and powers of the three classes of colours, 
 as they naturally arise out of the binary mode of union, are 
 shown in the following table : — 
 
 Relation Relation 
 
 Primary Colours. 
 Yellow, . . 
 Red, . . . 
 Blue, . . 
 
 Secondary Colours. 
 Orange, . 
 Green, 
 Purple, . 
 
 Primary Hues. 
 Yellow-hue, . 
 Red-hue, . . , 
 Blue-hue, 
 
 Secondary Hues. 
 Orange-hue, . 
 Green-hue, . 
 Purple-hue, . 
 
 TO 
 
 Light. 
 
 3 
 2 
 1 
 
 5 
 4 
 3 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 7 
 
 . 17 
 . 16 
 . 15 
 
 TO 
 
 Darkness. 
 J 
 
 2. 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 8- 
 
 9- 
 
 15 
 
 16- 
 
 17 
 
 Degrees 
 
 of Relative 
 
 Contrast. Powers. 
 
 First. 
 
 Ninth. 
 
 Eleventh. 
 
24 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 The powers of the colours and hues in the foregoing 
 table, it will be observed, are in an inverse ratio to the 
 quantities which express their mode of combination, but as 
 each successive mode is a step towards neutralization, these 
 quantities express the rate of their approach to that nega- 
 tive quality. 
 
 The contrasts shown in this table are, so far as I know, 
 all that have ever been exhibited in any work on the subject 
 hitherto published ; but the situations which I find they 
 occupy, namely, the 1st, 9th, and 11th in the scale, which 
 I am about to lay before the reader, proves the necessity 
 that exists for some more extended and practical system of 
 harmony. 
 
 In this attempt to explain the nature and relations of 
 colours, it will be observed that I have adopted red, yellow, 
 and blue, as the primary elements ; but at the time my first 
 essay on this subject was published, there were seven such 
 elements recognised in the scientific theory of colours. In 
 the essay alluded to, I gave a short account of the origin 
 of this theory, and also stated my reasons for adopting 
 another, both of which I shall here repeat. 
 
 " The scientific theory of colour was established by Sir 
 Isaac Newton in the following manner. — 
 
 " In the window-shutter of a darkened room he made a 
 hole of about the third of an inch in 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 
 
 
25 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 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, of an oblong form, and to be composed 
 of seven different colours of the greatest brilliancy, imper- 
 ceptibly blended together, viz. violet, indigo, blue, green, 
 yellow, orange, and red. This is called the solar or pris- 
 matic spectrum. 
 
 " The theory established by this experiment was, that the 
 white light of the sun is composed of several colours, which 
 often appear by themselves, and that this white light can 
 be separated into its elements. — (Note D.) 
 
 " 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, 
 nor alter its colour ; hence, he called all the colours simple 
 or homogeneous. 
 
 " I had long known practically that four of these seven 
 colours could be produced by combining the other three, red, 
 yellow, and blue, in pairs, and that writers on the art of paint- 
 ing always treated those three colours as the only simple 
 elements of chromatics, and all others as compounds. 
 
 ' Thus the scientific theory of the natural philosopher in 
 treating of the transient colours in the phenomena of nature, 
 
 D 
 
 «« 
 
26 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 l> 
 
 differed from that of the practical artist, in treating of the 
 inherent colours of his pigments. 
 
 " I hesitated long which of the two to adopt ; the first was 
 established by the experimental inquiries of the greatest 
 natural philosopher of the age in which he lived— while the 
 other, if a theory it could be called, was simply an under- 
 standing resulting from practice. 
 
 "' Yet this latter 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 can make all 
 the colours, and indeed a correct representation of the pris- 
 matic spectrum (so far as the purity of his materials will 
 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 succeeding philosophers, helped to strengthen me in the 
 conviction 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 spot be red, the border will 
 be green, which is composed of blue and yellow ; if blue, 
 the border will be orange, composed of yellow and red ; and 
 
 
27 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 if yellow, the border will be purple, making in all cases a 
 triunity of the primary colours. 
 
 " With a view to throw such light upon the subject as my 
 limited opportunities would permit, I tried over the experi- 
 ments by which Sir Isaac Newton established his theory, 
 and the same results occurred : I could not separate any 
 one colour of the solar spectrum into two. The impercep- 
 tible manner in which the colours were blended together 
 upon the spectrum, however, and the circumstance of the 
 colours which practical people called compound, being always 
 placed at the adjunct of the two of which they understand it 
 to be composed, with my previous conviction, induced me 
 to continue my experiments ; and although I could not, by 
 analysis, prove that there were only three colours, I suc- 
 ceeded in proving it to my own satisfaction, synthetically, 
 in the following manner : — 
 
 ' After having tried every colour in succession, and find- 
 ing that none of them could 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 ap- 
 peared, where they 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, 
 
28 
 
 ON THE NATURE AND RELATION OF COLOURS. 
 
 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 the 
 former 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 followed. 
 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, as had 
 hitherto been taught, excepting as to colour and refrangi- 
 bility.' 1 — Laws of Harmonious Colouring, 5th edition. 
 
 These opinions I published in 1828, and I did so with 
 great diffidence, fearing that my temerity might be deemed 
 presumption, but I had, subsequently, the gratification of 
 learning that the facts I had advanced were afterwards 
 proved in a communication read to the Royal Society of 
 Edinburgh by Sir David Brewster, on the 21 st of March 
 1831, in which he showed that white light* consists of the 
 three primary colours, red, yellow, and blue ; and that the 
 other colours shown by the prism are produced by a mixture 
 of these. 
 
 I therefore now confidently adopt the theory which ac- 
 knowledges three primary homogeneous colours only. 
 
 * See Note D. 
 
2.9 
 
 ON 
 
 CONTRAST OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
 
 After becoming acquainted with the nature, relations, 
 and analogy of colour, the next step towards a perfect 
 knowledge of what constitutes its harmony, is to obtain a 
 clear understanding of contrast or opposition, for upon this 
 depends the character and beauty of every composition. 
 
 Eastlake, in one of those valuable notes which accom- 
 pany his translation of Goethe's Theory of Colours, observes, 
 that it is a fault in the examples accompanying all treatises 
 on colour hitherto published, that they do not convey a 
 proper idea of the contrasts upon which depends harmo- 
 nious effects in painting, because the colours brought into 
 contact are always of equal intensity, and differ only in the 
 abstract quality of colour. 
 
 It certainly is true, that examples confined to the ele- 
 ments of the colorific oircle, convey but a very crude idea 
 of the nature of harmonious combinations, the beauty of 
 
30 
 
 ON CONTRAST OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
 
 which, as this distinguished artist has shown in his works, 
 as well as his writings, consisting in their more subtile and 
 refined modifications. Such simple examples are, however, 
 the first steps towards a knowledge of the nature and rela- 
 tive powers of the scale of colours, and are consequently 
 useful, so far as they go, in forming initiatory lessons. 
 
 The three primary colours, out of the combination and 
 modification of which all chromatic harmony arises, are, as 
 already stated, yellow, red, and blue, and the result of their 
 first mode of combination is shown on Example I. 
 
 In this example three important principles are evolved in 
 the opposition of colours, by one of which the character of 
 each of the contrasts is distinguished. The first is that of 
 abstract colour exhibited in red and green ; the second is 
 the enhancement in power given to colorific opposition by 
 the light and shade which enter into the elements of colour, 
 apparent in the contrast of yellow and purple ; and the 
 third is coolness and warmth of tone, fully exemplified in the 
 contrast of blue and orange. These primary contrasts are 
 shown on this example in figures 1 and 4, 2 and 5, and 
 3 and 6. The first is the most perfect and pleasing, be- 
 cause these various principles are equally balanced, and 
 it is characteristic of gaiety and cheerfulness ; the second 
 is the most sombre, and is characteristic of dignity and 
 grandeur ; while the third is the most positive and power- 
 ful, even approaching in this respect to harshness. These 
 qualities prevail throughout all the various degrees and 
 
 
 
31 
 
 ON CONTRAST OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
 
 modifications of which the contrasts alluded to are indivi- 
 dually susceptible, as shall be shown in the sequel. Such 
 are the most important lessons in harmony which the dia- 
 gram of the six positive colours can give. 
 
 The second species of contrast that arises from the binary 
 mode of union, is the opposition of the secondary colours to 
 the primary hues. It is consequently of a much more mo- 
 dified and subdued kind than the first, because in it the 
 secondary colours predominate, and the primaries are held 
 in a low degree of subordination. See Example II. 
 
 The third species of contrast arising from the continu- 
 ance of the binary mode of union, is that of the primary 
 and secondary hues. This species is of a still more sub- 
 dued character, but it is only a modified repetition of the 
 first. See Example III. See also the Table page 23. 
 
 These examples, it has already been observed, show very 
 wide intervals of harmony, and consequently stop far short 
 of those more subtile and refined modes of contrast, upon 
 which the beauty of colorific harmony so much depends. 
 I shall therefore attempt, on the present occasion, to form 
 intermediate harmonies of contrast, and shall endeavour to 
 show that between any primary and secondary colour, a 
 series of sixteen systematised and specific varieties may be 
 established, and this by the modification of the three pri- 
 mary colours alone, without the assistance of more light 
 and shade than what has been shown to belong to them 
 inherently. 
 
32 
 
 ON CONTRAST OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
 
 Although the beauty of colour depends upon contrast, 
 yet it does not consist solely in those oppositions that are 
 most intense and powerful, such as shown in Example I., 
 or even in those that are most perfect in their elements, as 
 shown in Examples II. and III., but requires the assistance 
 of those modifications by which a prominence and an en- 
 hancement is given to one colour by a well graduated sub- 
 ordination of every other with which it is associated. This 
 value may be given, in any composition, either to a primary 
 or to a secondary colour, whether exhibited in a pure state, 
 or merely predominating in a hue, and as every hue owes its 
 specific nature to the predominance or subordination of one 
 of these primary colours, all contrasts refer to one of the 
 three elements, either as being plus or minus in the harmony 
 produced, that is, in either forming the subject or the ac- 
 companiment. 
 
 At the risk of repetition, I shall here give a more pre- 
 cise definition of what I have before advanced on this im- 
 portant part of the subject. 
 
 By the union of two simple colours we alter the nature 
 of both, and have a compound colour ; and as there are 
 only three simple colours in the scale, the two that are thus 
 united, form the natural contrast to the remaining simple 
 colour. When, therefore, we wish to reduce the intensity 
 of a simple colour, we must do so by mixing with it a cer- 
 tain portion of the colour produced by the union of the 
 other two primaries, and the simple colour thus reduced 
 
 .„ 
 
33 
 
 ON CONTRAST OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
 
 retains, to a certain extent, its nature and characteristic 
 qualities, until the compound colour assumes the character 
 of a primary hue, which it does when the ratio of the com- 
 pound to the simple colour is equal ; every farther addition 
 of the compound colour reduces the hue, until the ratio of 
 the compound be to the simple colour as 2 to 1, when 
 neutralization of both takes place. Hence all the hues in 
 which a primary or simple colour predominates above an 
 equal ratio, are tones of that primary colour, and when be- 
 low it, are tones of a primary hue. When, on the other 
 hand, we wish to reduce the intensity of a binary compound 
 or secondary colour, we must do so by mixing with it a 
 certain portion of the simple colour to which it forms the 
 natural contrast, and the secondary colour thus reduced 
 will retain its characteristic qualities, until the primary or 
 simple colour bear the ratio to the compound colour of 1 to 
 4, at which point the secondary hue is produced ; neutrali- 
 zation of both taking place at that of 2 to 4. Hence all the 
 hues in which one of the primary colours is subordinate to 
 the other two, are tones of the compound colour, which 
 these two simple colours would produce by their union. In 
 either case, if the addition of the subduing colour be con- 
 tinued beyond the ratio that produces neutrality, the hue 
 becomes a tone of the colour so added. It follows that in 
 every hue of red, yellow and blue are subordinate — in every 
 hue of yellow, red and blue are subordinate — and in every 
 hue of Hue, red and yellow are subordinate. In like man- 
 
 E 
 
 ' 
 
 SB 
 
 ... ,„•, , 
 
■Hi 
 
 DBHSE 
 
 34 
 
 ON CONTRAST OR OPPOSITION OF COLOURS. 
 
 ner, in every hue of green, red is subordinate — in every hue 
 of orange, blue is subordinate — and in every hue of purple, 
 yellow is subordinate. The secondary hues, as formerly 
 stated, therefore owe their character to the subordination 
 of one of the primary colours. 
 
 As all the variety that extends beyond the six positive 
 colours is thus simply constituted, it may be said that there 
 are only three proper contrasts of colour in nature, and that 
 all others, are only modifications of these. Pure red is the 
 most intense and perfect contrasting colour to green, because 
 neither blue nor yellow exist in its composition ; and, on 
 the other hand, pure green is the most perfect contrast to 
 red, because it is composed of yellow and blue only. "When 
 any two of the three primary colours are united together 
 in a secondary colour, they are mutually deprived by neu- 
 tralization of one half of their power, therefore, in the con- 
 trast of red and green, red is plus, and is in power to the 
 green as 2 to I. But when pure green is opposed to red- 
 hue, the red is minus, and green becomes the characteristic 
 colour of the contrast, because the yellow and blue by which 
 the red is neutralized to a hue are the constituents of green, 
 and consequently give it a species of predominance over the 
 red. Such is the simple nature of contrast, upon which 
 chromatic harmony solely depends. 
 
.35 
 
 DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW SYSTEM OF 
 CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 I shall now proceed to systematise and extend these prin- 
 ciples to the more modified and useful varieties of harmony ; 
 and, in doing so, I shall endeavour to adhere closely to the 
 method which nature seems to point out in the origin of the 
 elementary colours by the union of light and shade- 
 As just explained, all modifications of the elementary con- 
 trasts must be produced by the action of a primary upon a 
 secondary colour, or vice versa. A primary being to a se- 
 condary colour in power as 2 to 1, and to a secondary hue 
 as 4 to 1, my first attempt to extend the scale of Chromatic 
 Harmony, was to compound a secondary hue, to which a 
 primary colour would be in the ratio of 3 to 1 ; and finding 
 that the relative power of contrast between a primary hue 
 and secondary colour was in the ratio of 4 to 3, I com- 
 pounded a hue having the next degree of harmonic ratio to 
 the primary hue, namely, 5 to 3, and the result is given in 
 Examples V., VI., VII. In the first of these examples, the 
 hues thus produced (to which I shall give the name of tem- 
 pered colours) are placed in contrast with one another. In 
 the second, the primary colours are opposed to the tem- 
 
■ 
 
 se 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 pered secondaries, and in the third, the secondary colours are 
 opposed to the tempered primaries. This last is one of the 
 most beautiful species of contrast, and its parts are to one 
 another in the ratio of 3 to 2, as shall presently be shown. 
 On the beauty arising from this extended application of the 
 harmonic ratios to colour it is needless to insist, as the 
 examples just referred to, it is presumed, will give satisfac- 
 tory evidence on that point. 
 
 Seeing that on the other side of the primary and secon- 
 dary hues, there existed an equally wide interval towards 
 neutrality as towards colour in the opposite direction, I have 
 filled it up in a similar manner by two tempered hues, the 
 primary colour being in power to the tempered secondary 
 hue in the ratio of 5 to 1, and the secondary colour being 
 to the tempered primary hue in that of 5 to 4. These four 
 specific hues added to the primary, secondary, tertiary, and 
 semi-neutral colours (as the primary and secondary hues 
 are generally termed), complete my scale. 
 
 I shall take red and green to exemplify the mode in which 
 the degrees of this scale are compounded ; but it should be 
 understood, at the same time, that a similar scale may be 
 formed from yellow and purple, or blue and orange, upon 
 precisely the same principle. For reference to the coloured 
 examples, I have distinguished the degrees by the first eight 
 letters of the alphabet. 
 
 A primary being to a secondary in power as 2 to 1 , I shall 
 consider the former as consisting of four parts, and the lat- 
 
37 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 ter of eight, or double in quantity ; and upon this principle 
 the following scale is formed. — 
 
 Scale of Chromatic Harmony exemplified by the mixture 
 
 of Red and Green. 
 
 Ratio of Neutralizing 
 Colours Powers of the two 
 
 Degrees. and Hues. Composed of Colours in each Hue. 
 
 Jst, A, Red. Red> Green 
 
 ' „ { Tempered 1 Red, 4 ") 
 ^ B ' {'Bed, . } Green, 2 } 4 to * 
 
 3rf, C, { Red-hue, 1 ^ d ' H 4 ^ 2 • 
 
 ^ J Green, 4 j 
 
 A -, _ ( Tempered ) Red, 4 1 
 
 ( Red-hue, ) Green, 6 ) "" 
 
 ( Green-hue, J Green, 8 j 
 ««, F, | Gre e„-hue, } ^ *} 2 „ 4 
 
 M, &, jT-P-d j Bed, I) j 
 
 (^ Green, . ) Green, 8 ) 
 
 8tfA, H, Green.- 
 
 The hues thus constituted between red and green are 
 given in Example VIII. ; and the four Diagrams that here 
 follow, show how the sixteen varieties of contrast are pro- 
 duced between these colours. 
 
 
 f 
 
 
38 
 
 Diagram of the first four Contrasts between 
 Red and Green. 
 
 lrf,— 2d,— 3d — tih~~ A 
 
 B 
 
 G 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 F 
 
 .G 
 
 H 
 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Green-hue. 
 
 Tempered 
 Green. 
 
 Green. 
 
39 
 
 Diagram of the Second Four Contrasts between 
 Red and Green. 
 
 A 
 
 5th, — 
 
 6th, — 7th, — 8th, — B 
 
 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 F 
 
 G 
 
 H 
 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Red-hue. 
 
 Green 
 
40 
 
 Diagram of the Third Four Contrasts between 
 Red and Green. 
 
 B 
 
 9tL 
 
 0th, — Uth, — 
 
 2th,- 
 
 D 
 
 E 
 
 g 
 
 H 
 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Red-hue. 
 
 Tempered 
 Green-hue. 
 
 F Green-hue. 
 
 Tempered 
 Green. 
 
 Green. 
 
41 
 
 Diagram of the Fourth Four Contrasts between 
 Red and Green. 
 
 B 
 
 Red. 
 
 Tempered 
 Red. 
 
 
 
 "13$ — 14$,— 15$, 
 
 6th,- D I Tempered 
 Red-hue 
 
 -E 
 
 F 
 
 Tempered 
 Green-hue. 
 
 -G 
 
 -H 
 
 Green 
 
 F 
 
 
42 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 The Scale of Harmony exhibited in the foregoing Diagrams 
 
 of Contrast. 
 
 Degrees Letters on Harmonic 
 
 of Scale. Scale. Names of Colours and Hues. Ratios. 
 
 1 / A ci TT J Pri mar y colour to Secondary co- "| 
 
 't lour > j 
 
 2 t A ~ C Primary colour to tempered Se- ) 
 
 ' \ condary colour, .... ) 
 
 3d A V $ P rmiai 7 colour to Secondary 1 
 
 ' 1 hue, ........ | ~ 
 
 teh A F i P rimar y colour to tempered Se- 1 
 ' \ condary hue, j ' 
 
 ,., -r. TT ( Tempered Primary colour to Se- 1 
 
 5th, B ... H, 1 L J Is _2 
 
 ^ condary colour, . . . . J 
 
 n.j -r> p f Tempered primary colour to tern- ) 
 
 ' \ pered Secondary colour, . J 
 
 f?uz t» ti ( Tempered primary colour to Se- } 
 7^A, B ... F,4 , I [-5 ^2 
 
 ( condary hue, j 
 
 8 , -n F J Tempered primary colour to tern- ") 
 
 * \ pered Secondary hue, . . j 
 
 <)th C u ( Pri mar y hue to Secondary co- ) 
 
 ' 1 lour > j ~ ' 
 
43 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 Scale of Harmony — continued. 
 
 -, ^i n i n ( Primary hue to tempered Se- ) 
 10^, C and G-, •} / , r J- 5 to 3 
 
 ^ condary colour, . . . . ) 
 
 llth, ... F, Primary hue to Secondary hue, 6 ~ 3 
 
 ( Primary hue to tempered Secon- ) 
 12th, ... E, •< . >■ 7 - 3 
 
 (^ dary hue, j 
 
 _ n >'' _ TT f Tempered primary hue to Secon- ) „ 
 \Wi, D ... H, \ . r , J >• 5 ~ 4 
 
 (^ dary colour, j 
 
 , _ f Tempered primary hue to tem- 1 
 
 ' \ pered Secondary colour, . j 
 
 f Tempered primary hue to Secon- 1 
 ' \ dary hue, j 
 
 f Tempered primary hue to tem- ) 
 ' ( pered Secondary hue, . . ) 
 
 Amongst the contrasts exhibited in the four preceding 
 diagrams, and explained in the above scale, there are three, 
 namely, B and Gr, C and F, and D and E, which recede from 
 the primary contrast of A and H by an equally graduated 
 reduction of power, and thus form a regular and definite 
 series of equal contrasts between any primary and secondary 
 colour. In order to point out more clearly to the reader 
 
44 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 these peculiar modes of harmony, I have arranged them in 
 the following manner : — 
 
 A. 
 B. 
 0. 
 
 D. 
 
 E. 
 F. 
 
 g. 
 
 H. 
 
 Primary colour, .... 
 Tempered primary colour, 
 
 Primary hue, 
 
 Tempered primary hue, 
 
 Neutrality, 
 
 Tempered secondary hue, . 
 Secondary hue, .... 
 Tempered secondary colour, 
 Secondary colour, . . . 
 
 16th. 
 
 Uth. 
 
 6th. 
 
 1st. 
 
 The other contrasts pointed out upon the diagrams and 
 included in the general scale, it will be seen, have different 
 and specific chromatic or colorific consonances, according 
 to the harmonic ratios of quantity and power between each 
 two degrees of the scale that produce them, while the powers 
 of these degrees themselves originate, by the operation of 
 the same ratios, in the proportions of their ingredients. 
 
 It has been shown in the formation of the scale, exem- 
 plified by red and green (page 37.), that the colours are 
 reduced by graduating their relative powers, so that these 
 tempered colours and hues recede from the positive co- 
 lours to which they belong towards neutralization by three 
 stages. As they do so, they become gradually weaker 
 
45 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 in their power of contrast to the colour by which they are 
 neutralized, as exemplified in the first four contrasts in the 
 general scale, in which the ratios become more and more 
 remote. But the interval between a primary and secondary 
 colour, 2 to 1 (A and H), is the most perfect or complete, 
 because all the other consonances must be between those 
 two numbers. The second is that in which a primary colour 
 is subdued or neutralized, by being mixed with its contrast- 
 ing secondary, in the ratio of 4 to 1, as shown in the scale 
 of hues (P. 37), and then opposed to this secondary in a 
 pure state, by which the next most perfect interval of har- 
 mony is produced — 8 to 2 (B to H). The third consonance 
 is that which exists between a primary reduced to a hue, 
 by the admixture of its contrasting secondary, in the ratio 
 of 2 to 1, which, being opposed to this secondary in a pure 
 state, produces a contrast of the next most pleasing kind, 
 these elements being in the ratio of 4 to 3 (0 and H). 
 
 The third consonance arises from this same primary hue 
 being opposed to a secondary colour, which has been tem- 
 pered or subdued by the admixture of the primary colour 
 in the ratio of 1 to 4 (see Scale of Hues, P. 37). The ele- 
 ments of this contrast are in the harmonic ratio of 5 to 3 
 
 (0 to a). 
 
 The fourth consonance arises from a secondary colour in 
 a pure state being opposed to its contrasting primary neu- 
 tralized by the admixture of the same secondary, in the 
 ratio of 3 to 4, the elements being as 5 to 4 (D and H). 
 
46 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 By this explanation of the most prominent harmonies of 
 contrast exhibited in the above series, the remainder may 
 be easily understood and applied in practice. 
 
 Besides the series of contrasting colours and hues, exem- 
 plified by red and green, and given in Example VIII. many 
 of the contrasts described above occur in the other examples, 
 and may be here pointed out, in order that the reader may 
 examine and compare them, while engaged upon this part 
 of the subject. 
 
 1st, A and H, 
 
 2d, A ... a, 
 
 Also, 
 
 5th, H ... B, 
 
 6th, B ... G, 
 
 7th, B ... F, 
 
 9th, H ... C, 
 
 Also, 
 
 nth, c ... f, 
 
 Uth, G ... D, 
 
 Red and Green. 
 
 Example I. 
 VI. 
 
 figures 1 and 4 
 
 \.wvw 
 
 'X.-V-V-V.'W 
 
 •www 
 
 IX. 
 VII. 
 
 V. 
 IX. 
 
 II. 
 
 X. 
 
 III. 
 
 X. 
 
 1 ... 4 
 
 1 ... 4 
 
 1 ... 4 
 
 1 ... 4 
 
 2 ... 3 
 1 ... 4 
 4 ... 1 
 
 . 4 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 The hues that produce the 3d, 4th, 8th, 10th, 12th 13th, 
 15th, and 16th modes of contrast between these two colours, 
 will be found in Example VIII., and the modes of contrast 
 are described upon the four diagrams, Pp. 36, 37, 38, and 39. 
 I may here remind the reader that the letters adopted to 
 
 
47 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 stand for the colours and hues do not refer to red and 
 green with their hues, exclusively, but also to yellow and 
 purple, and to blue and orange with theirs. 
 
 Yellow and Purple 
 
 1st, A and H, Example I. 
 
 2d, A ... G, —~ 
 
 
 Also, 
 
 
 5th, 
 
 H ... 
 
 B, 
 
 6th, 
 
 B ... 
 
 G, 
 
 7th, 
 
 B ... 
 
 F, 
 
 9th, 
 
 H ... 
 
 Also, 
 
 c, 
 
 Uth, 
 
 C ... 
 
 F, 
 
 nth, 
 
 a ... 
 
 D, 
 
 1st, 
 
 A and 
 
 H, 
 
 2d, 
 
 A ... 
 
 Also, 
 
 G, 
 
 5th, 
 
 H ... 
 
 B, 
 
 6th, 
 
 B ... 
 
 a, 
 
 7th, 
 
 B ... 
 
 F, 
 
 9th, 
 
 H ... 
 
 Also, 
 
 o, 
 
 Uth, 
 
 ... 
 
 F, 
 
 im, 
 
 G ... 
 
 D, 
 
 www 
 
 wvw\ 
 
 WWW 
 
 ■www 
 
 '%.-W>,'W 
 
 wwvv 
 
 ■www 
 
 •wwvx, 
 
 Blue and Orange. 
 Example I. 
 
 ■w*vwv 
 
 -vwvw 
 
 ■%/VWW 
 
 ■wvwv 
 
 \w\A\ 
 
 'WVWV 
 
 'WWW 
 
 figures 2 and 5 
 
 VI. 
 
 WH.-V 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 5 
 
 XI. 
 
 "WWV 
 
 I . 
 
 .. 4 
 
 VII. 
 
 "VVW 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 5 
 
 V. 
 
 •W^X. 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 5 
 
 XI. 
 
 WW 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 3 
 
 II. 
 
 ^/V.'X/V 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 5 
 
 XII. 
 
 "VVW 
 
 4 . 
 
 .. 1 
 
 III. 
 
 WW 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 5 
 
 XII. 
 
 WW 
 
 2 . 
 
 .. 3 
 
 figures 3 and 6 
 
 VI. 
 
 "WWi 
 
 3 
 
 .. 6 
 
 XIII. 
 
 WW 
 
 1 
 
 .. 4 
 
 VII. 
 
 'WW, 
 
 3 
 
 .. 6 
 
 V. 
 
 ■WX'V 
 
 3 
 
 .. 6 
 
 XIII. 
 
 w^v 
 
 2 
 
 .. 3 
 
 II. 
 
 ■WW 
 
 3 
 
 .. 6 
 
 XIV. 
 
 •ww 
 
 4 
 
 .. 1 
 
 III. 
 
 vvw 
 
 3 
 
 .. 6 
 
 XIV. 
 
 •WW 
 
 2 
 
 .. 3 
 
48 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 All the examples except VIII. being of the same figure, 
 a perforated card or slip of paper, may be used to separate 
 any of these contrasts from the others with which they are 
 surrounded. 
 
 Before leaving this part of my subject, I may point out 
 . in what particulars the system here adopted, differs from 
 any one hitherto published. 
 
 The secondary colours arising from the binary combina- 
 tion of the primaries, the primary hues from the binary 
 combination of the secondary colours, and the secondary 
 hues from the binary combination of the primary hues, have 
 hitherto completed the scale. From the opposition of these 
 to one another, only four kinds of contrast arose, produ- 
 cing the harmonies of 2 to 1, 4 to 1, 4 to 3, and 6 to 3. 
 But here these wide intervals are filled up, and the syste- 
 matic harmonies of contrast extended from four to sixteen. 
 And it will be observed, that the intermediate kinds now, 
 for the first time, systematized, are the most refined, and 
 more closely resemble those which constitute the beauty of 
 pictorial colouring. 
 
 The mode of the harmony of succession is easily deduced 
 from that of the harmony of combination or contrast. The 
 intervals that produce this harmony are called dissonances, 
 two of which occur in the foregoing series at C to E, 7 — 3, 
 and D to F 7 — 4 ; and as no two hues in which the same 
 colour predominates can produce the harmony of contrast, 
 the others will be found in A to D, A to 0, A to B, corre- 
 
■•:' v* ■■•..' 
 
 49 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 sponding to 8 to 9, 9 to 10, .and 8 to 15; and E to H, 
 E to Gr, E to F, which, in like manner, may correspond to 
 7 to 8, 5 to 7, and 15 to 16. 
 
 This system, it will be observed, is applied to colours sup- 
 posed to be in a state of pure intensity, and from these all 
 the hues by which its harmony is regulated have been 
 compounded. I have, at the same time, attempted to 
 show that, even in this state of colorific purity, the primary 
 colours are allied to darkness as well as to light ; and in 
 all their combinations with one another, exemplified in this 
 Treatise, both principles have been understood to operate. 
 
 In a former part, page 1 7, it was stated, that the light 
 embodied in the three primary colours collectively, is in 
 power or quantity to white or pure light in the ratio of 
 1 to 2 ; it follows, that the shade embodied in them must 
 be in the same ratio to black or perfect darkness, thus 
 producing, when united, neutral gray. These two powers 
 are, therefore, the constituents of, and are inherent in co- 
 lour, and exist in the three primaries in the proportions ex- 
 plained at page 1.9. From these proportions full intensity 
 of colour is supposed to result. But when more light is 
 introduced into any colour or hue, such colour or hue be- 
 comes a tint, and when more darkness, a shade. 
 
 The number of tints between any colour or hue and pure 
 light is almost infinite, as also the number of shades be- 
 tween any colour or hue and perfect darkness, because the 
 colour is not altered, but simply attenuated or reduced like 
 
 G 
 
 

 50 
 
 NEW SYSTEM OF CHROMATIC HARMONY. 
 
 the diminuendo in music. . Yet this progression towards 
 negation may be arrested at certain points, by which tints 
 and shades may be individualised by specific divisions or 
 intervals, such as Nature points out in the phenomenon 
 of the production of colour itself. By such a mode of divi- 
 sion, a series of tints from the three primary colours may 
 be produced, capable of being subjected to the same pro- 
 cess of harmonious combination here pointed out, with re- 
 ference to intense colours. In like manner, various specific 
 serieses of colours, deepened beyond the medial power of 
 intensity here assigned them, might be systematically har- 
 monised by a similar mode of combination. — (Note E.) I 
 do not assume, however, that a perfect system of harmony 
 is more than indicated in this attempt, for much still re- 
 mains to be done before such a system as that which regu- 
 lates the harmony of music can be established for the co- 
 lourist. Yet, enough, perhaps, will be here found to urge 
 more talented and more learned investigators to farther 
 inquiry, in the same direction, and, in the mean time, to 
 serve as a guide to the student. 
 
51 
 
 ON 
 
 THE MODES IN WHICH THE PRINCIPLES OF 
 BEAUTY ARE DEVELOPED IN COLOUR. 
 
 In all the phenomena of colour, such as are presented in 
 the rainbow, the prismatic spectrum, and in other results 
 of refracted light, as well as in those of light reflected from 
 laminated substances, we find the union of the primary 
 colours in that simple binary mode only, by which the 
 secondary colours are produced; and however modified 
 they may be in tone, tint, and shade, they are uniformly of 
 this nature. Transient colours, therefore, seem to be ca- 
 pable of this simple kind of union only, and to be susceptible 
 of no ternary mode of combination, excepting that which 
 produces perfect neutrality. From this it would appear, 
 that some further change in the action of light than that 
 arising from mere refraction is necessary to produce those 
 hues on which the more subtile and refined species of har- 
 mony so much depends. The modifying power of a pri- 
 mary upon a secondary colour, and vice versa, may therefore 
 
52 
 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 be said to belong to inherent colours only ; and with this 
 understanding, I shall proceed to describe the nature of the 
 beauty produced by its application. 
 
 Every proper arrangement of colour must have a key or 
 tonic, and this key must be one of the primary or secondary 
 colours introduced into the composition, and whether pre- 
 sented in a positive state of intensity, or merely as a neu- 
 tralized hue, it must be assigned, and must be permitted to 
 retain, an ascendancy over all the other colours with which 
 it is associated. This ascendancy is given to the tonic 
 colour by the maintaining of a due subordination to it in 
 every hue, tint, and shade, with which it may be accompa- 
 nied ; while these accompaniments ought also to be subor- 
 dinated relatively to each other, with equal attention to the 
 laws of harmony. In the skill with which a balance of this 
 ascendancy and subordination is maintained in every part 
 of a composition, and in that with which the ruling tonic is 
 repeated and modulated into other keys of harmony, con- 
 sists the art of giving beauty and expression to colours. 
 
 When a primary or secondary colour in a pure state forms 
 a tonic in any composition, the subordination of the prin- 
 cipal contrasting colour by which it is accompanied is effect- 
 ed simply by its own tone being to a certain extent im- 
 parted to this contrasting colour, as exemplified in the con- 
 stitution of the hues of red and green which form the scale 
 (p. 37), exhibited in Example VIII. 
 
 As, according to Aristotle, " we are pleased with har- 
 
ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 mony, because it is the union of contrary principles having 
 a ratio to each other," so the most beautiful arrangements 
 of colour are those in which this subordination in the accom- 
 paniments to the tonic is effected by distinct and properly 
 articulated intervals, having a simple numerical or harmonic 
 ratio to it, and less simple ratios to each other. It is when 
 there is a visible operation of this principle in the colouring 
 of Nature, that the most beautiful effects are witnessed, and 
 to its evident application in high art that the works of the 
 best colourists of antiquity owe their excellence. 
 
 The colour introduced into any arrangement as the 
 principal accompaniment to a primary tonic, ought to be 
 that in which the primary itself exists in a small degree, 
 as in the hue called tempered secondary. By this parti- 
 cular degree of subordination in the power of the princi- 
 pal accompaniment, that of the tonic is enhanced, and the 
 primary colour rendered more brilliant and striking. But 
 when a secondary colour is adopted as the tonic of a com- 
 position, the primary necessarily employed as an accompa- 
 niment should be doubly removed from intensity ; because the 
 power of a primary to a secondary being as 2 to 1, a double 
 proportion of the latter colour is required for reducing it 
 sufficiently to hold this subordinate situation, and giving 
 the tonic, along with the harmony of contrast, the re- 
 quisite degree of importance in the composition. Again, 
 the power of the principal contrast ought to be softened 
 and melodised by the introduction of others of a less posi- 
 
 h | 
 
54 
 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 tive character, but having to each other certain specific 
 numerical ratios, as already pointed out. 
 
 The effect of the application of these general principles I 
 shall exhibit in a simple manner by six examples of colorific 
 harmony, in each of which one of the positive colours will 
 form a key. 
 
 The first two of these harmonies are those arising from 
 the contrast of red and green, which may be reckoned the 
 most perfect, as well as the most pleasing species of har- 
 mony, being that in which nature most delights. It is the 
 various modes of this harmony, developed in the stems, 
 leaves, buds, and blossoms of trees, shrubs, and plants, that 
 gives to spring and summer their colorific freshness and 
 beauty, two familiar instances of which may be referred to. 
 The first is the mellow contrast between the subdued red of 
 the tender shoot of the hawthorn, and the fresh vernal 
 green of its leaves ; the other is the lively harmony that 
 exists between the tint of delicately tempered green which 
 distinguishes the leaves of many varieties of the rose bush, 
 and the equally delicate, but more positive, tints of red pe- 
 culiar to the petals of their flowers. But examples are so 
 numerous that it is needless to particularise, for throughout 
 all Nature a systematic harmony of red and green developes 
 itself during these seasons of her joy and gaiety. 
 
 Of these two colours, namely red and green, individually 
 considered, I have elsewhere remarked, that intense red is 
 the most powerful of all colours in its effect upon the eye. 
 
55 
 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 In the colouring of the animal and vegetable productions 
 of Nature, it occurs but rarely in a state of pure intensity, 
 and always in comparatively small quantities. Its effect in 
 works of art is gorgeous and powerful, and on all occasions 
 its predominance is expressive of ostentation and grandeur. 
 Its contrasting colour, green, is of an opposite character, 
 being more soft and agreeable to the eye than any other 
 decided colour. Green is consequently Nature's favourite 
 colour, prevailing to a far greater extent in the clothing 
 of the earth's surface than any other ; but it seldom ap- 
 pears in the vegetable kingdom in its most intense purity, 
 its various tones being generally of a subdued and mellow 
 character. 
 
 Red is much enhanced in effect by artificial light, while 
 green is deteriorated and subdued, a fact which ought al- 
 ways to be kept in view in all decorative adaptations of this 
 species of harmony. 
 
 In Example IX. the harmony of red and green is exhi- 
 bited, red being the tonic, and tempered green the principal 
 accompaniment, both being melodised by the hues that lie 
 next them in series ; that is, red by tempered red, and tem- 
 pered green by green-hue ; and in Example X. is shown 
 the harmony of green and red, the secondary being the 
 tonic, and the primary the accompaniment, which latter is 
 held in double subordination, as already explained. 
 
 The harmony of yellow and purple is of a feebler kind 
 than that of red and green, in so far as the power of ab- 
 
 Mm - -*■ -. ** 
 
56 
 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 stract colour is concerned, but it is stronger in respect to 
 the opposition of the light and shade that necessarily enter 
 into every colorific harmony. It is, therefore, of a less gay 
 character, though far from approaching to gravity ; being 
 rather, as already remarked, characteristic of dignity and 
 grandeur. Some of the most striking effects that colour- 
 ing produces upon the general aspect of Nature, are the 
 result of this species of harmony. For example, when the 
 luxuriant green of summer gives place to the golden yellow 
 of the ripened grain, and when the autumnal winds are slowly 
 moving over the scene the massive, surcharged clouds of this 
 particular season, how often do the alternations of light and 
 shade thus produced between the brilliantly illumined fields, 
 and the deep purple shade of the distant mountain, present 
 this mode of contrast to the eye \ In some of the more 
 minute examples of Nature's colouring, this harmony is 
 also particularly conspicuous ; as one familiar example, I 
 may mention the pansy, in the innumerable varieties of 
 which, it is exhibited in every mode and degree of which 
 the two colours that produce it are susceptible. 
 
 The harmony of yellow and purple is subject to the laws 
 already referred to, in treating of red and green. Yellow, 
 as an individual colour, has a degree of gaudiness that ren- 
 ders a certain degree of modification always necessary when 
 it forms a large mass in a composition ; while its contrast- 
 ing colour, purple, is of an opposite character in this respect. 
 Yellow becomes lighter, and purple deeper, in artificial light, 
 
57 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 and as they both, at the same time, lose intensity of colour, 
 their harmony in such light nearly approaches that of black 
 and white. In Example XI., yellow is the key, and tem- 
 pered purple the accompaniment ; and in Example XII., 
 purple is the key, and yellow-hue the accompaniment. 
 
 Blue and orange is a harsh contrast, and to reduce it to 
 a pleasing harmony, the secondary ought to be doubly sub- 
 dued, but, in order better to exemplify its peculiar nature, I 
 have, in the examples, treated it in the same manner as the 
 other two. The great power of contrast in this case, arises 
 from the union of red with yellow in the orange, by which the 
 warmth of the red is enhanced, while the blue retains its 
 whole inherent coolness of tone. It is in regard to light and 
 darkness, the opposite to the harmony of yellow and purple, 
 for in it light predominates in the secondary, and darkness 
 in the primary. An approximation to this kind of harmony 
 is often seen in autumn, when the foliage of the woods has 
 attained its richest tints : for the same atmosphere that ap- 
 pears purple in contrast with yellow assumes the character 
 of blue when opposed to orange ; and the more the orange 
 colour approaches red in its tone, the more will the gray of 
 the atmosphere approach a greenish hue. When orange 
 becomes the tonic, tempered blue should form its accom- 
 paniment, because, as will be seen in Example XIV., the 
 neutralization of this primary to its hue is too great, as that 
 of the secondary in the previous example was in too small 
 a degree. The contrast of blue and orange however, is, 
 
 H 
 
58 
 
 ON THE PRINCIPLES OF BEAUTY IN COLOUR. 
 
 under various modifications;, productive of some of the most 
 splendid effects in the colouring of Nature : I allude to the 
 gorgeous combinations with which the day so often closes, 
 while not only in the sky, but over all the face of Nature, 
 the red golden lights of the setting sun are harmoniously 
 contrasted with the tempered blue of the shadows. 
 
 While these general principles of modification are at- 
 tended to, those of attenuation and reduction ought never 
 to be lost sight of, for the latter often enhance greatly the 
 beauty arising from the more precise mode of contrast pro- 
 duced by an adherence to the former. 
 
 The coloured examples show how beautifully warmth and 
 coolness of tone are balanced in the harmonies of red and 
 green, and of yellow and purple ; while, from the causes 
 just explained, these qualities produce a degree of harsh- 
 ness in that of blue and orange. Consequently it is often 
 requisite, in this species of harmony, to soften doubly the 
 asperity of the orange colour, by not only modifying it to 
 a hue, but by also attenuating it to a tint ; hence the 
 pleasing harmony of blue and fawn colour, the latter being 
 simply a tint of orange hue. The reduction of yellow to 
 the tint called primrose, from the same cause, forms a 
 pleasing contrast to pure purple ; and the same may be said 
 of the beauty arising from tints of red, when contrasted 
 with intense or deep green. — (Note F.) 
 
 The tints and shades arising from the colours and hues 
 in all the examples,: are to be found in my Nomenclature. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 — -— 
 
 . _„ 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Note A. p. 11. 
 
 
 The science of sesthetics, I conceive, to be thus constituted : — 
 The subject is the human mind, and the object is external nature. 
 Each individual mind may be considered as a homogeneous 
 existence — a unit in creation — a world within itself. These two 
 separate existences, the individual mind, and the world at large, 
 have a relation to each other : the subject is affected by the object, 
 and the media of communication by which this is performed, are 
 the sensorium, and its inlets the organs of sense, the former being 
 in direct contact with the subject, and the latter with the object. 
 The organs of sense are acted upon in various ways, and by various 
 modifications of the elements of the external world, but aestheti- 
 cally the subject is affected in two ways only. These affections 
 are either pleasing or displeasing — good or bad — the absence of the 
 one quality constituting the presence of the other. When these 
 qualities are equally balanced, no more effect is produced on the 
 mind, than what two opposite colours produce on the organ of 
 vision when they destroy each other in neutrality. This effect 
 upon the subject results from a homogeneous principle existing in 
 external nature, to the operations of which the internal sense re- 
 sponds. This response is called perception, and the science of 
 sesthetics is devoted to the investigation of the modes in which 
 
62 
 
 NOTE A. CONTINUED. 
 
 external objects — natural and artificial — affect this power of the 
 mmd. Beauty is pleasing to the perception — harmony in the com- 
 binations or motions of the elements of external nature constitute 
 beauty ; and harmony, according to Aristotle, is the union of con- 
 trary principles having a ratio to each other, so all beauty seems 
 based upon a mathematical principle, and the observance of this 
 principle in combining forms, colours, and sounds, may be consi- 
 dered an application of sesthetical science. 
 
 
 Note B. p. 12. 
 
 Goethe is, perhaps, the only writer upon colour, who does not 
 look upon the accidental colours as ocular spectra or mere phan- 
 toms, but considers them the necessary conditions of vision ; the 
 lively alternating action of which, with reference to external ob- 
 objects, indicates a principle of action within the eye. — Theory of 
 Colours, Part I. p. 2. 
 
 But the manner in which the harmonics arise, that accompany 
 or immediately succeed any given note in music, would lead us to 
 believe that the accidental colours are acts of the object rather than 
 of the subject ; because it is well known that the harmonics or acci- 
 dental notes in music arise from other undulations of the atmo- 
 sphere accompanying those that produce the original note, and that 
 these undulations are excited by a compound mode of vibration in 
 the body which causes them. I therefore conceive that light may 
 be 'an independent molecular action in the atmosphere, and that its 
 modes produce every variety of colour, in the same way that the 
 modes of undulation produce every variety of sound, and that con- 
 sequently the mode of action that produces one colour, simulta- 
 neously excites those modes that produce the harmonic colours. — 
 See Appendix to my Nomenclature of Colours, fyc. 
 

 63 
 
 Note C. p. 15. 
 
 The two exemplifications to which I have alluded, are given in 
 my Essay on Ornamental Design, and will, I believe, be found 
 sufficiently interesting to the general reader to excuse their im- 
 troduction here in illustration of the general principle. 
 
 Let the whole length of a perfect skeleton be divided into 90 
 parts, the first grand division is from the sole of the foot to the 
 os pubis, and it contains 45 of those parts (the ratio to the whole 
 of 1 to 2). The second from the same to the fifth or last vertebra 
 of the loins, 60 parts (ratio 2 to 3). The third from the same to 
 the upper bone of the sternum or breast bone, 72 parts (ratio 
 4 to 5), From the same to the bottom of the lower mandible or 
 jaw-bone 78f parts (ratio 7 to 8). From the same to the top of 
 the same bone, 80 parts (ratio 8 to 9). From the same to the 
 top of the os ileum or flank bone, 54 parts (ratio 3 to 5). From 
 the same to the bottom of the os sacrum or great bone of the spine, 
 48 parts (ratio 8 to 15). From the crown of the head to the bot- 
 tom of the patella or knee bone, 67 ^r parts (ratio 3 to 4). From 
 the crown of the head to the bottom of the first vertebra of the 
 back, and from the top of the os sacrum or great bone of the 
 spine, to the atlas or uppermost vertebra of the neck, are each 30 
 parts (ratio 1 to 3). From the bottom of the os pubis to that of the 
 patella, and from the bottom of the patella to the sole of the foot, 
 each 22| parts (ratio 1 to 4). From the crown of the head to 
 the bottom of the first bone of the sternum, from the os pubis 
 to the first vertebra of the back, from the clavicle to the lowest 
 rib, and from the top of the humerus or large bone of the arm to 
 its junction with the ulna and radius, each 18 parts (ratio 1 to 5). 
 From the os pubis to the top of the fifth or last vertebra of the 
 loins, and from the crown of the head to the twelfth or last ver- 
 tebra of the back, are each 15 parts (ratio 1 to 6). The fore-arm, 
 
64 
 
 NOTE C. CONTINUED. 
 
 from where the ulna and radius join the humerus to their union 
 with the lunar bones of the wrist, is about 13 parts (ratio 1 to 7). 
 The length of the facial surface from the crown of the head to the 
 point of the chin, the length of the sternum or breast bone, and 
 the vertical length of the pelvis are each 111 parts ( rat j 1 to g^ 
 The cranium from its highest point to where it joins the atlas, is 
 7| parts (ratio 1 to 12), 
 
 The parts of the human body are no less remarkable for the 
 harmony of their subdivisions. In the arm the radius and ulna 
 are to the humerus in the ratio of 2 to 3. The hand, from the 
 wrist bone to the point of the longest finger, is to the whole length 
 of the arm (hand included) in the ratio of 1 to 4. The length of 
 the foot is to the length of the leg, taken from the sole of the foot 
 to the head of the thigh bone, in the ratio of I to 4. The division 
 of the human countenance into the harmonic ratios is equally 
 worthy of notice in this place. On the transverse diameter, from 
 the crown of the head to the centre of the eye, is in the ratio of 
 1 to 2 of the whole length. From the same to the point of the 
 nose, 3 to 4; and to the mouth, 5 to 6. From the point of the 
 chin to the mouth, 1 to 6 ; to the nose, 1 to 4 ; to the centre of 
 the eye, 1 to 2 ; and to the setting on of the hair, 5 to 6. Upon 
 the conjugate diameter, the eye, the width of the nose and the mouth 
 are as 1 to 5. Every minutias of the human figure is full of this 
 species of harmony. The eye itself in its division into the parts 
 by which its extraordinary functions are performed, displays it in 
 an eminent degree, as I have endeavoured to show in another 
 work.* 
 
 * " Proportion, or the Geometric Principle of Beauty Analysed." William 
 Blackwood and Sons. London and Edinburgh. 1843. 
 
65 
 
 NOTE C. CONTINUED. 
 
 These ratios in the pulsations of the 
 atmosphere, produced by similar 
 divisions of the monochord, are 
 called, 
 
 An octave. 
 
 A twelfth. 
 
 . . . fifteenth or second octave. 
 
 ... fifth. 
 
 ... seventeenth. 
 
 ... nineteenth. 
 
 ... fourth. 
 
 ... sixth. 
 
 ... twenty-second or third octave. 
 
 ... third. 
 
 . . . third minor. 
 
 ... twenty-sixth. 
 
 ... major tone or second. 
 ... seventh. 
 
 The proportions of the portico of the Parthenon at Athens, have 
 for many ages excited the admiration of mankind, and are still re- 
 ferred to as the most perfect example of this kind of beauty known 
 in architecture. It is therefore a subject of some interest to inquire 
 into the nature of those proportions, and especially to ascertain how 
 far they are governed by the same principle of ratio just exemplified 
 in the human figure. The two subjects are quite dissimilar in gene- 
 ral contour, there being no conceivable likeness between a Grecian 
 portico and a human figure. But the beauty of their proportions 
 are traceable to a similar principle differently applied. In the 
 human figure it has been shown that the proportions consist in the 
 
 The ratios 
 body are 
 of their 
 follow :- 
 
 R 
 1 
 
 in 
 in 
 
 sin 
 
 ati( 
 to 
 
 the human 
 
 the order 
 
 iplicity as 
 
 )S. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 8 
 
 15 
 

 66 
 
 NOTE C. CONTINUED. 
 
 division of an imaginary or mathematical straight line passing 
 through the centre of the leading bones in the skeleton ; and in 
 the portico the operation of the same principle of harmonic ratio, 
 will be seen upon the imaginary line called the diagonal in each 
 of those rectangles which, combined together, forms what may be 
 fairly termed its skeleton. But it is not in the various lengths of 
 these diagonal lines that we are to look for the developement of 
 the harmonic ratios, but to the degrees of the angle they form 
 with the longest side of each rectangle, which, of course, when 
 vertically placed, must be above, and when horizontally placed, 
 below 45° ; and the following is the result. 
 
 The entire portico, from the extreme of the base of the outer 
 columns to the upper point or apex of the pediment is inscribed in 
 a rectangle, the diagonal of which is 30°, bearing to the angle of 
 45°, the ratio of 2 to 3, and to the angle of 90°, that of 1 to 3. 
 
 The angle of the pediment itself is 15°, bearing to the diagonal 
 of the inscribing rectangle the ratio of 1 to 2 ; to the angle of 
 45°, that of 1 to 3 ; and to the angle of 90°, that of 1 to 6. 
 
 The diagonal of the rectangle under the pediment inscribing 
 the columns with their architrave and frieze is 22° 30', bearing to 
 the diagonal of the inscribing rectangle, the ratio of 3 to 4 ; to the 
 angle 45°, that of 1 to 2 ; and to the angle 90°, that of 1 to 4. 
 
 The diagonal of the rectangle inscribing the columns is 18°, 
 bearing to the diagonal of the inscribing rectangle, the ratio of 
 3 to 5 ; to the angle of 45°, that of 2 to 5 ; and to the angle of 
 90°, that of 1 to 5. 
 
 The diagonal of the rectangle inscribing the architrave and 
 frieze is 5° 37' 30", bearing to the diagonal of the inscribing rect- 
 angle, the ratio of 3 to 16 ; to the angle of 45°, that of 1 to S ; 
 and to the angle of 90°, that of 1 to 16. 
 
 The rectangles of the six centre columns, which I have taken 
 at their mean diameter, have each a diagonal of 80°, bearing to 
 
67 
 
 NOTE C. CONTINUED. 
 
 the angle of 90°, the ratio of 8 to 9 ; and the five intercolumnia- 
 tions between these have each a diagonal of 75°, bearing to those 
 of the columns, the ratio of 15 to 16, and to the angle of 90°, 
 that of 5 to 6. 
 
 The rectangles of the two outer columns and their intercolum- 
 niations have diagonals of 78° 45', being to the right angle in the 
 ratio of 7 to 8. 
 
 The harmonic ratios of the 
 Parthenon are therefore 
 in the order of their sim- 
 plicity as follows : — 
 
 Ratios of 
 
 1 
 
 to 2 
 
 1 
 
 ... 3 
 
 1 
 
 ... 4 
 
 2 
 
 ... 3 
 
 1 
 
 ... 5 
 
 1 
 
 ... 6 
 
 2 
 
 ... 5 
 
 3 
 
 ... 4 
 
 3 
 
 ... 5 
 
 1 
 
 ... 8 
 
 5 
 
 ... 6 
 
 1 
 
 ... 16 
 
 8 
 
 .. 9 
 
 3 
 
 .. 16 
 
 15 
 
 .. 16 
 
 Names of those ratios when applied to 
 the vibrations produced by the division 
 of the monochord. 
 
 An octave. 
 A twelfth. 
 
 .. fifteenth or second octave. 
 
 .. fifth. 
 
 .. seventeenth. 
 
 .. nineteenth. 
 
 .. tenth. 
 
 .. fourth. 
 
 .. sixth. 
 
 .. twenty-second or third octave. 
 
 .. minor third. 
 
 . . twenty-ninth or fourth octave. 
 
 .. major second or tone. 
 An eighteenth. 
 A semitone or minor second. 
 
 
 When any object is presented to the eye, its variety, either of 
 colour or form, is at once apparent, and to a perfect organ and 
 quick perception its beauty also, if it possess any. But the manner 
 
"*" 
 
 68 
 
 NOTE C. CONTINUED. 
 
 in which the uniformity that constitutes beauty is imparted to this 
 variety, can be perceived only through a knowledge of that govern- 
 ing mathematical law of harmony and proportion already noticed. 
 The human figure owes much of its beauty to variety, but when 
 we examine carefully the relative proportions of its parts, it will 
 be found that in the most perfect specimens the uniformity is in 
 the ratio of the variety ; and further, that this uniformity amidst 
 variety is produced by the same harmonic ratios that regulate the 
 laws of acoustics and chromatics. * 
 
 Note D. p. 25. 
 
 It will be observed, that throughout this Essay, I have adopted 
 another hypothesis of the production of transient colours, that is, 
 that they are the result of the action of light upon shade, and not 
 the separation of light into its elements. This is not a new theory, 
 for it was originally advanced by Aristotle, and afterwards adopted 
 by Leonardo da Vinci. Neither has it been set aside by modern in- 
 vestigators, for Goethe has taken the place of Aristotle, and may 
 be said to have now established it as a fact in natural philosophy, 
 while his translator, Eastlake, has, like Leonardo da Vinci, adopted 
 and elucidated it as connected with the practice of high art. 
 
 Goethe states his opinion in the following terms : — " Light and 
 darkness, brightness and obscurity, or, if a more general expres- 
 sion is preferred, light and its absence, are necessary to the pro- 
 duction of colour. Next to the light, a colour appears which we 
 call yellow, another appears next to the darkness which we call 
 blue. When these, in their purest state, are so mixed that they 
 are exactly equal, they produce a third colour called green. Each 
 of the two first named colours can, however, of itself, produce a 
 
 * " Essay on Ornamental Design," &c. D. Bogue, London ; J. Menzies, Edin- 
 burgh. 1844. 
 
69 
 
 NOTE D. CONTINUED. 
 
 new tint by being condensed or darkened ; they thus acquire a 
 reddish appearance, which can be increased to so great a degree that 
 the original blue or yellow is hardly to be recognised in it ; but 
 the intensest and purest red, especially in physical cases, is pro- 
 duced when the two extremes of the yellow-red and blue-red are 
 united. This is the actual state of the appearance and generation of 
 colours. But we can also assume an existing red in addition to 
 the definite existing blue and yellow, and we can produce con- 
 trariwise, by mixing what we directly produce by augmentation 
 or deepening. With these three or six colours, which may be 
 conveniently included in a circle, the elementary doctrine of co- 
 lours is alone concerned. All other modifications, which may be 
 extended to infinity, have reference to the technical operations of 
 the painter and dyer, and the various purposes of artificial life. 
 To point out another general quality, we may observe, that colours 
 throughout are to be considered as half-lights, as half-shadows, on 
 which account, if they are so mixed as reciprocally to destroy 
 their specific hues, a shadowy tint or grey is produced." — Goethe's 
 Theory of Colours, translated by EastlaJce. Introduct. pp.xlii.xliii. 
 
 In a Note upon Goethe's Theory, p. 365, Eastlake says, " That 
 the opinion so often stated by Goethe, namely, ' that increase of 
 colour supposes increase of darkness, may be granted without 
 difficulty.' — In another note (p. 387) he observes : — " Aristotle's 
 notion respecting the derivation of colours from white and black, 
 may perhaps be illustrated by the following opinion on the very 
 similar theory of Goethe. 
 
 " Goethe and Seebeck regard colour as resulting from the mix- 
 ture of white and black, and ascribe to the different colours a 
 quality of darkness (<rx.ti%h) by the different degrees of which 
 they are distinguished, passing from white to black through the 
 gradations of yellow, orange, red, violet, and blue ; while green 
 appears to be intermediate again between yellow and blue. This 
 

 
 70 
 
 NOTE D. CONTINUED. 
 
 remark, though it has no influence in weakening the theory of co- 
 lours proposed by Newton, is certainly correct, having been con- 
 firmed experimentally by the researches of Herschell, who ascer- 
 tained the relative intensity of the different coloured rays, by illu- 
 minating objects under the microscope by their means. 
 
 " Another certain proof of the difference in brightness of the 
 different coloured rays, is afforded by the phenomena of ocular 
 spectra. If, after gazing at the sun, the eyes are closed, so as to 
 exclude the light, the image of the sun appears at first as a lumi- 
 nous or white spectrum, upon a dark ground, but it gradually 
 passes through the series of colours to black ; that is to say, until 
 it can no longer be distinguished from the dark field of vision ; 
 and the colours which it assumes, are successively those intermediate 
 between white and black, in the order of their illuminating power 
 or brightness, namely yellow, orange, red, violet, and blue. If, 
 on the other hand, after looking for some time at the sun, we turn 
 our eyes towards a white surface, the image of the sun is seen at 
 first as a black spectrum upon the white surface, and gradually 
 passes through the different colours, from the darkest to the 
 lightest, and at last becomes white, so that it can no longer be dis- 
 tinguished from the white surface." — " Elements of Physiology," 
 by J. Mutter, M. D. Translated from the German by William 
 Bailly, M. D. London, 1839. 
 
 " It is not impossible that Aristotle's enumeration of the colours 
 may have been derived from, or confirmed by this very experiment. 
 Speaking of the after-image of colours, he says, ' The impression 
 not only exists in the sensorium in the act of perceiving, but re- 
 mains when the organ is at rest. Thus, if we look long and in- 
 tently on any object, when we change the direction of the eyes, a 
 corresponding colour follows. If we look at the sun, or any other 
 very bright object, and afterwards shut our eyes, we shall, as if in 
 ordinary vision, first see a colour of the same kind ; this will pre- 
 
71 
 
 NOTE D. CONTINUED. 
 
 sently be changed to a red colour, then to purple, and so on, till 
 it ends in black and disappears." — De Insomniis. 
 
 Such authorities would have been quite sufficient to warrant me 
 in adopting this hypothesis of light and shade operating in the 
 production of colour. But previously to my acquaintance with 
 them, I felt convinced that the appearance of the three primary 
 colours in the solar spectrum, was the result of the ternary divi- 
 sion of the action of light upon darkness, performed by the three- 
 sided prism, and that its action was in the progressive ratio of 
 3, 2, 1, the ratio that the colours bear respectively to light and 
 shade. 
 
 
 Note E. p. 50. 
 
 In a previous work,* I have made such an attempt, and have 
 given examples of upwards of 220 tints and shades, which, by the 
 manner of their arrangement, are made to exhibit upwards of 100 
 varieties of contrast. 
 
 Regret has often been expressed by writers on this subject, that 
 the primary colours cannot be had in pigments of greater purity, 
 and more equally balanced in respect to their relative effects ; but 
 this want is not of so much importance as is generally attached to 
 it — the true desideratum having been a proper method of com- 
 bining and harmonizing such as are within our reach. From what 
 I have endeavoured to show in regard to the effects of the har- 
 monic ratios when applied to colour, it appears of little importance 
 whether the three elementary colours, employed as the tonic me- 
 dient and dominant in a composition, be perfectly pure or not, if 
 they be perfect in their relations of 1, 2, 3, and 3, 2, 1, to one 
 
 * " A Nomenclature of Colours, Hues, Tints, and Shades." W. Blackwood and 
 Sons. Edinburgh and London. 1845. 
 
M 
 
 Hi 
 
 72 
 
 NOTE E. CONTINUED. 
 
 another. Should they want purity, by being all more allied to 
 shade than to light, all the hues arising from their union will be 
 proportionately low, and the same quality will pervade the general 
 tone of the composition. If, on the other hand, they should want 
 power by being reduced in intensity, and more allied to light,— then 
 will lightness diffuse itself over the various harmonies that arise 
 from their modes of union. Light colours are of a retiring cha- 
 racter, consequently, as they receive additional depth they come 
 forward, until they attain the medial position of an equal balance, 
 which is the proper pitch of pure intensity, after which, if the 
 deepening process be continued, they again begin to lose their in- 
 tensity, and their power upon the eye, and to retire into shade. 
 
 v< 
 
 Note F. p. 58. 
 
 On this subject Eastlake truly observes, that the complimental 
 colour pictured on the retina is always less vivid, and always darker 
 or lighter than the original colour, and that this variety accords 
 more with harmonious effects in painting than those contrasts in 
 which the opposite colours are of equal intensity, because, " in 
 addition to the mere difference of hue, the eye, it seems, requires 
 difference in the lightness or darkness of the hue."— Note C. on 
 Goethe's Theory of Colours. 
 
 MACPHERSON & SYME, PRINTERS 
 31 East Rose Lane, Edinburgh. 
 
WORKS BY D. R. HAY, 
 
 Lately Published. 
 
 I. 
 
 A NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS, HUES, TINTS, AND SHADES. 
 
 With Coloured Examples. 21s. 
 W. Blackwood & Sons, London and Edinburgh. 
 
 II. 
 
 AN ESSAY ON ORNAMENTAL DESIGN, IN WHICH ITS TRUE 
 PRINCIPLES ARE DEVELOPED AND ELUCIDATED, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 Oblong Folio. 57 Plates, and numerous Woodcuts. Price £2, 2s. 
 
 D. Bogue, London • J. Menzies, Edinburgh. 
 
 III. 
 
 PROPORTION, OR THE GEOMETRIC PRINCIPLE OF BEAUTY, 
 
 ANALYSED. 
 
 Quarto. 17 Plates and 38 Woodcuts. Price 25s. 
 W. Blackwood & Sons, London and Edinburgh. 
 
 IV. 
 
 THE NATURAL PRINCIPLES AND ANALOGY OF THE HARMONY 
 
 OF FORM. 
 
 Quarto. 18 Plates and numerous Woodcuts. Price 15s. 
 W. Blackwood & Sons, London and Edinburgh. 
 
 V. 
 
 THE LAWS OF HARMONIOUS COLOURING ADAPTED TO INTERIOR 
 
 DECORATIONS. 
 
 Fifth Edition. Eight coloured Diagrams ; to which is added, an Attempt to define 
 iEsthetical Taste. Octavo. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 W. S. Orr & Co. London. 
 
 —_, 
 
NOTICES OF THE ESSAY " ON ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.' 
 
 I 
 
 !'ii 
 
 The Athenaeum, April 12. 1845. 
 
 " In conclusion, Mr Hay's book goes forth with 
 our best wishes. It must do good. It must be pro- 
 lific of thought — stimulant of invention. It is to 
 be acknowledged as a benefit of an unusual charac- 
 ter conferred on the arts of ornamental design." 
 
 The Spectator, January 4. 1345. 
 
 " Mr Hay has studied the subject deeply and 
 scientifically. In this treatise on ornamental de- 
 sign the student will find a clue to the discovery of 
 the source of an endless variety of beautiful forms 
 and combinations of lines, in the application of cer- 
 tain fixed laws of harmonious proportion to the pur- 
 poses of art. Mr Hay also exemplifies the applica- 
 tion of his theory of linear harmony to the produc- 
 tion of beautiful forms generally, testing its sound- 
 ness by applying it to the human figure and the 
 purest creations of Greek art." 
 
 will, from its intrinsic interest, prove an attractive 
 work for the study and the drawing-room." 
 
 Fraser's Magazine, Jan. 1845. 
 
 * * * " We come now to Mr Hay's last, and, 
 we are almost tempted to say, his best work, be- 
 cause of the more popular nature of its interest. 
 Each part is enriched by diagrams of great beauty, 
 direct emanations of principle, and consequently 
 presenting entirely new combinations of form. Had 
 our space permitted, we should have made some 
 extracts from this Essay on Ornamental Design ; 
 and we would have done so, because of the discri- 
 minating taste by which it is pervaded, and the 
 forcible observations which it contains, but we can- 
 not venture on the indulgence." 
 
 Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal, 
 »Xay 1345. 
 
 " Mr Hay has paid particular attention to this 
 branch of design, which is of extensive application, 
 and as to which few accessible examples exist. It 
 
 Scotsman, July IO. 1844. 
 
 " To illustrate and define first principles — and 
 to develope a system whereby an endless variety of 
 original geometric diaper designs can be produced, 
 based upon the true principles of harmony — seems 
 to be the aim of the author in this work ; and he 
 has, we think, been eminently successful, as indeed 
 might have been expected from his high standing 
 as a practical ornamental painter. We cordially 
 recommend this work to the attention of our ma- 
 nufacturers and decorators." 
 
 The Glasgow Constitutional, Feb. 1845. 
 
 " This fasciculus (Nos. VII. to XI.) brings Mr 
 Hay's ingenious, elegant, and useful work to a con- 
 clusion ; and now that the book is before us in a 
 perfect shape, we take the opportunity of reiterat- 
 ing the cordial commendations which from time to 
 time we have had to bestow upon its several parts. 
 It is avolume which, to the large class of artists 
 and operatives, for whose use it is specially designed, 
 must be absolutely indispensable ; and we may fur- 
 ther recommend it to the attention of all who are 
 interested in the fine arts, as containing much that 
 will gratify and delight them, and not a little that, 
 to most of them, will be new and instructive." 
 
 Renfrewshire Advertiser, Feb. 1845. 
 
 " So broad are the principles, and so pervading 
 the illustrations which Mr Hay has laid down in 
 this work, that it cannot be said to include no other 
 students than those connected with the industrial 
 arts, to whom he has addressed his able and im- 
 portant Essay. It involves the whole range of or- 
 namental design." 
 
 NOTICES OP THE THREE WORKS ON " PROPORTION," " FORM," AND " COLOUR," IN 
 
 The Edinburgh Review, Oct. 1843. 
 
 " These works are highly honourable to Mr Hay 
 as a practical man. He has been long known as an 
 extensively employed and elegant Artist in the de- 
 partment of Decorative Painting ; and he has found 
 leisure, notwithstanding the pressure of his profes- 
 sional avocations, to appear before the Public as an 
 Author, with strong claims to its attention and re- 
 spect. He is one of the few artists who have drawn 
 the resources of their profession from the recognised 
 fountains of knowledge ; and who, in offering the 
 lessons of their experience at the shrine of Science, 
 have been anxious to listen, in return, to her infal- 
 lible counsels. The disposition to this species of 
 exchange, and to introduce into the intellectual 
 community the principles of free intercourse, is by 
 no means general ; but we are confident that Art 
 will not sufficiently develope her powers, nor Science 
 attain her most commanding position, till the prac- 
 
 tical knowledge of the one is taken in return for the 
 sound deductions of the other. 
 
 " Many causes have concurred to place art and 
 science at variance ; but these causes have been gra- 
 dually diminishing, and in the present advanced 
 state of the mechanical and useful arts, they have 
 almost wholly disappeared. It is in the fine arts, 
 principally, and in the speculations with which they 
 are associated, that the controlling power of scien- 
 tific truth has not exercised its legitimate influence. 
 In discussing the principles of painting, sculpture, 
 architecture, and landscape gardening, philosophers 
 have renounced science as a guide, and even as an 
 auxiliary ; and a school has arisen whose specula- 
 tions will brook no restraint, and whose decisions 
 stand in opposition to the strongest convictions of 
 our senses. That the external world, in its gay co- 
 lours and lovely forms, is exhibited to the mind only 
 as a tinted mass, neither within nor without the 
 
eye, neither touching it nor distant from it — an ubi- 
 quitous chaos which experience only can analyse, 
 and touch transform into the realities which com- 
 pose it ; that the beautiful and sublime in nature 
 and in art derive their power over the mind from 
 association alone, are among the philosophical doc- 
 trines of the present day, which, if it be safe, it is 
 scarcely prudent to question. Nor are these opi- 
 nions the emanations of poetical or ill-trained minds, 
 which ingenuity has elaborated, and which fashion 
 sustains. They are conclusions at which most of 
 our most distinguished philosophers have arrived. 
 They have been given to the world with all the au- 
 thority of demonstrated truth ; and in proportion 
 to the hold which they have taken of the public 
 mind, have they operated as a check upon the pro- 
 gress of knowledge. 
 
 * * * " While opinions like these were consi- 
 dered as sound and well established, philosophers 
 never thought of studying the laws of visible direc- 
 tion in single and double vision, by which all the 
 difficulties of the subject have been subsequently 
 removed ; and in like manner, while the present 
 theories of taste prevail, there can be no induce- 
 ment to discover the rules of harmonious colouring, 
 or to investigate the origin of beautiful forms, or to 
 develope the laws of regular and irregular symme- 
 try. When speculation, however, is thus in the 
 ascendant, and theorists least apprehensive of dan- 
 ger, truth is often securing auxiliaries from locali- 
 ties the least likely to supply them. The sove- 
 reignty of association in matters of taste had never 
 been recognised by practical men, who study nature 
 principally through the eye ; and the painter, the 
 sculptor, the architect, and the landscape gar- 
 dener, had been striving in their respective spheres 
 to discover those ' Laws of Harmony,' both in 
 colour and form, which ought to regulate the taste, 
 and direct the hand of the artist. In so far as 
 we know, Mr Hay is the first and the only modern 
 artist who has entered upon the study of these 
 subjects without the trammels of prejudice and au- 
 thority. Setting aside the ordinances of fashion, 
 as well as the dicta of speculation, he has sought 
 the foundation of his profession in the properties of 
 light, and in the laws of visual sensation, by which 
 these properties are recognised and modified. The 
 truths to which he has appealed are fundamental 
 and irrefragable ; and the conclusions which he has 
 deduced from them, will admit of no modification 
 either from taste or fashion. In the adaptation of 
 his principles, indeed, to the various circumstances 
 in which they are to be applied, taste and judgment 
 are undoubtedly required ; and even in the decora- 
 tion of the boudoir and the drawing-room, harmony 
 of colour, and symmetry of form, may be made to 
 coexist with, and even to control, the caprices of 
 fashion, and the glitter of meretricious ornament. < 
 " Notwithstanding some trivial points of differ- 
 
 ence between Mr Hay's views and our own, we have 
 derived the greatest pleasure from the perusal of 
 these works. They are all composed with accuracy, 
 and even elegance. His opinions and views are dis- 
 tinctly brought before the reader, and stated with 
 that modesty which characterises genius, and that 
 firmness which indicates truth." 
 
 The British and Foreign EEedical Keview. 
 No. X3CKV. P. 171. 
 
 " There is harmony of numbers in all nature— 
 in the force of gravity— in the planetary movements 
 — m the laws of heat, light, electricity, and chemi- 
 cal affinity— in the forms of animals and plants— in 
 the perceptions of the mind. The direction, indeed, 
 of modern natural and physical science is towards 
 a generalization, which shall express the fundamen- 
 tal laws of all by one simple numerical ratio. We 
 would refer to Professor W he well's ' Philosophy of 
 the Inductive Sciences,' but more particularly to 
 Mr Hay's ' Researches into the Laws of Harmonious 
 Colouring and Form.' From these it appears that 
 the number Seven is distinguished in the laws re- 
 gulating the harmonious perception of forms, co- 
 lours, and sounds, and probably of taste also, if we 
 could analyse our sensations of this kind with ma- 
 thematical accuracy. We think modern science 
 will soon show that the mysticism of Pythagoras 
 was mystical only to the unlettered, and that it was 
 a system of philosophy founded on the then existing 
 mathematics, which latter seem to have comprised 
 more of the philosophy of numbers than our pre- 
 sent." 
 
 Fraser's Magazine. 
 
 " We have now gone over all Mr Hay's works ; 
 but, we confess, not in a manner calculated to do 
 them the justice they deserve. This, indeed, could 
 be done only in the pages of a work devoted to 
 scientific pursuits, and whose particular class of 
 readers may be supposed to possess that peculiar 
 turn of mind which delights in philosophical in- 
 quiry, and in the abstruse investigations of science. 
 In a periodical like ours, such inquiries would be 
 out of place. 
 
 " Yet, enough has been said, it is presumed, to 
 show that the author of the works we have just 
 been noticing is a remarkable man. He undoubt- 
 edly is. He is a leader in his vocation ; one of those 
 men who stand prominently out in the front of his 
 fellows, and who, by the force of original genius, 
 have acquired a certain ascendency over the public 
 mind. 
 
 " Looking to the philosophical spirit and cha- 
 racter of Mr Hay's treatises, we cannot but con- 
 sider them valuable acquisitions ; their purpose be- 
 ing to improve the general taste, and by conse- 
 quence, for it is a consequence thereof, to contri- 
 bute to the advancement of civilization. 
 
 
NOTICES OF " THE HARMONY OF FORM " IN 
 
 The Athenaeum. 
 
 " The study of the true, the good, and the beautiful, 
 has formed an important occupation of life in all 
 highly civilized nations, and has been inculcated bv 
 the truest patriots and the highest philanthropists. 
 Science, virtue, and beauty, form the noblest ele- 
 ments of creation, and of the human soul — they 
 form the first obj ects of our national institutions, the 
 highest elements of a national character, and the 
 best themes of a national literature. 
 
 " It would be a great step in the advancement of 
 our national civilization, were the love of the beau- 
 tiful and the power of appreciating the value of its 
 manifestations, more intimately mixed up with the 
 associations and habits of our countrymen. That 
 we have artists of high powers— architects of con- 
 summate skill— that we have, or have had, Barrys 
 and Cockerells, Wilkies and Ettys, Landseers and 
 Mulreadys, Flaxmans and Chantreys and West- 
 macotts, is matter of national congratulation ; but 
 does little to prove the existence of a high standard 
 of national taste. The habit of enjoying the beau- 
 tiful, and the power of appreciating it, should per- 
 vade the national character, should determine its 
 national institutions, and be diffused among the 
 peasantry of our streets and hamlets ' The farmer 
 and the mechanic (we quote Channing) should cul- 
 tivate the perception of beauty.'— < Everyman should 
 aim to impart this perfection to his labours.' Were 
 every man a judge and appreciator of beauty, 
 then indeed might we expect forms of loveliness 
 and grace to pervade the regions of domestic and 
 everyday life— to replace, in our streets, the expen- 
 sive ugliness of our street decoration — in our homes, 
 the vulgarities of ornamental deformity— and in 
 our churches, the distortions and anomalies of me- 
 retricious decoration. 
 
 " We hail, therefore, with delight the appearance 
 among us of any evidence of progress towards the 
 diffusion of correct principles in taste, of accurate 
 knowledge of art,— and we receive the work before 
 us as a harbinger of better times— as an index of 
 the wider diffusion of knowledge in art. 
 
 " ' Hay on Harmonious Colouring' formed the 
 precursor to ' Hay on the Harmony of Form.' The 
 former work was chiefly designed to correct and 
 direct the public taste in the decorations of do- 
 mestic life _; the present has a higher aim— the 
 determination of the forms and proportions which 
 give to objects and structures a maximum of 
 beauty. 
 
 " Mr Hay's proportions, as assigned to form, 
 are most correct and most beautiful : they are 
 not, however, those of the beautiful sounds to 
 which he assigns them, — and are not therefore 
 beautiful. But it does not follow that because 
 they are not therefore beautiful, they are neces- 
 sarily therefore not beautiful ;— on the contrary, 
 the beauty, whose proportions he assigns, has been 
 the beautiful of all time— at least, of all civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 " It is only necessary to glance the eye over Mr 
 Hay's eighteen beautiful plates, to learn that, how- 
 over we may differ from him as to why beauty is, we 
 
 cannot dissent from him as to whai is beautiful. 
 We feast the eye with geometrical symmetry as we 
 turn over the figures on his plates. 
 
 " The fact that Mr Hay, by an independent pro- 
 cess of his own mind, versant about proportion and 
 beauty, has arrived exactly at some of the identical 
 proportions of the Platonic Theory, as we under- 
 stand and apply it, is to be reckoned as an import- 
 ant psychological phenomenon, demonstrating the 
 inherence of certain fixed and essential principles 
 of proportion and beauty in the human soul. 
 
 " The two symmetrical triangles of Plato are, — 
 
 1. That triangle which is half of the square ; and 
 
 2. That which is half of the equilateral triangle. 
 The first exemplifies the relations of the number 
 two, and the second adds to these the properties of 
 the number three. Calling the least angle one, 
 the magnitude of the next is two, and of the next 
 three. If, then, we try these triangles by the canon 
 of criticism of Michael Angelo, we find them bear- 
 ing, in the highest possible degree, the combinations 
 of his numbers, one, two, and three. 
 
 " Now, then, Mr Hay's Do is the circle, his Re is 
 the parallelogram, which is composed of a pair of 
 triangles of the second species of Plato ; his Mi also 
 consists of a pair of the same, with their largest side 
 outermost ; his Fa is a group of four of these tri- 
 angles ; his Sol is a pair of the first species of Plato ; 
 his La is an ellipse, whose axes are in the propor- 
 tion of two of the sides of the second species of tri- 
 angle ; and his Si is a group of twelve of these tri- 
 angles ranged round a point. 
 
 " All Mr Hay's proportions are, therefore, good. 
 They exist in the best specimens of perfect archi- 
 tecture ; they are necessary elements injudicious 
 decoration. They give rise to symmetry and simple 
 numerical proportions in angular compositions. 
 They pervade the works of the Greek artists, and 
 were the identical principles taught by the philoso- 
 phers who gave wisdom to the times of Pericles and 
 Phidias." 
 
 The Court Gazette. 
 
 " This is a work of great talent and value. It has 
 the peculiar merit of being new and original, in the 
 midst of the sickly spirit of repetition, which seems 
 to shed its drowsy influence over the largest depart- 
 ment of modern publication. Tt is devoted to form. 
 The author is one of the individuals peculiarly en- 
 dowed with that rich gift which constitutes the 
 sculptor, the architect, and the painter ; and hence 
 the ingenious theory developed in this work, which 
 logically associates sight with sound, geometry with 
 acoustics. It is the developed theory of Plato, 
 who eloquently commented on the music of beauti- 
 ful forms ; a theory which Darwin, the Platonic 
 poet, in a note to his ' Temple of Nature,' practi- 
 cally carries out, by suggesting the construction 
 of a machine which, while producing the varied 
 notes of the gamut to the ear, should, at the same 
 time, present to the eye the ' various modulations' 
 of the prismatic colours. Mr Hays theory is some- 
 what like this ; but practically developed for the 
 painter, the sculptor, and the architect. The il- 
 
lustrated architectural examples deserve especial 
 notice. The geometrical production of the fafade 
 of a Doric temple, from the projected combination 
 of the vescica piscis, or double circle — (the free- 
 mason's secret of Ancient Egypt, and the monastic 
 architects of the middle ages) — is most curious. 
 We cordially recommend to our readers this inge- 
 nious work, which is profoundly philosophical in 
 its geometrical analysis of abstract form, and re- 
 plete with the exciting spirit of poetry and music in 
 its tasteful associations." 
 
 The Sun. 
 
 " The object of this treatise is to show that the 
 impressions made upon the eye by forms are really 
 founded on natural principles ; and that the pro- 
 portions and peculiarities of form which produce 
 the most pleasing impressions, are in reality, as well 
 as appearance, dictated by nature, being a response 
 to those principles in the human mind. The trea- 
 tise is singularly well written, both as respects man- 
 ner and matter, exhibiting a force and closeness of 
 reasoning which lead to the inference that the author 
 has a decided penchant for mathematical pursuits, 
 and is extensively acquainted with that difficult and 
 complicated science. Harmony of form, he observes, 
 depends upon three homogeneous parts, and these 
 
 Earts are analogous in every respect to the three 
 omogeneous primitive sounds, proved by the con- 
 current testimony of natural philosophers to be the 
 foundation of harmony in music. The writer then 
 goes on to state that there are only three kinds of 
 lines used in producing forms, and that these are 
 the straight line, the crooked line, and the curved 
 line : adding, ' all varieties of form, however com- 
 plex — all the similarity and dissimilarity that com- 
 bine in the harmony of forms, are produced by these 
 simple elements.'' The varieties of which these three 
 kinds of lines are capable are next considered, after 
 which the author gives several curious and interest- 
 ing plates, illustrative of certain theories advanced 
 in the course of his treatise. These plates are finished 
 off with the utmost nicety, and artists and men of 
 science will derive many a useful suggestion from 
 them. 
 
 would encourage him in his progress. Let him re- 
 member that the discoverers of truth are ever ulti- 
 mately honoured and rewarded." 
 
 The Scotsman. 
 
 " Mr Hay, our ingenious and respected towns- 
 man, has discovered a very remarkable analogy be- 
 tween the natural principles of Harmony in Form, 
 and those of Sound and Colour ; and in short he 
 has, in our opinion, unfolded another link in the 
 great chain of simplicity and unity, of similarity and 
 identity, which binds together all the elements of 
 the material creation. 
 
 " It is to the developement of this curious fact that 
 Mr Hay has devoted his ingenious work, which it is 
 our purpose warmly to commend to public notice. 
 Diagrams are given which bear out all his ideas. 
 We are glad to learn, however — the present essay 
 being too short — that the author has the intention 
 of giving his investigations a more popular and ex- 
 tended form ; and we may then hear those who 
 smile at the inquiry as fanciful though ingenious, 
 making admission that Mr Hay has in reality ad- 
 vanced one step onwards in the great course of 
 simplifying the phenomena of the universe. We 
 
 The Glasgow Herald. 
 
 " Mr Hay is well known as the author of an in- 
 genious work upon ' Colour,' in which he endea- 
 vours to show that an exact analogy exists between 
 the principles of harmony in colouring and harmony 
 in sound. But although this theory of harmonious 
 colouring is highly interesting, and is illustrated by 
 its author in such a manner as to create a strong 
 impression of its accuracy, it is not in its nature ab- 
 solutely capable of demonstration — at least our 
 knowledge of colour is yet too imperfect to furnish 
 an absolute test of its truth. But we are differently 
 placed in relation to music and form : the notes of 
 the former being ascertained simply to consist of 
 undulations of air following one another in certain 
 definite ratios of rapidity, and the proportions of 
 the latter being capable of accurate geometrical 
 measurement. Mr Hay's theory of the harmony of 
 form can, therefore, be put to a more rigid test than 
 that of his original one of the harmony of colour. 
 
 " Assuming that there are certain principles in 
 nature which regulate those relations which we in- 
 stinctively feel to be harmonious or discordant in 
 colour and form as well as in sound, Mr Hay's 
 doctrines, if ultimately proved to be correct, will 
 establish another illustration of the simplicity with 
 which nature works to all her ends, and produces 
 all her effects ; for their object is to show that what 
 constitutes beauty in the combinations of colours, 
 of forms, or of sounds, are all referable to the same 
 standard, and consists in their being placed, in re- 
 gard to each other, at certain intervals, correspond- 
 ing exactly with those of the musical scale. 
 _ " It is, of course, impossible, in a cursory notice 
 like this, to do more than indicate the general cha- 
 racter of the very profound, as well as extremely in- 
 teresting theory which Mr Hay has propounded. 
 In so far as the precise proportions of numbers are 
 concerned, we have seen it questioned whether the 
 ratios of vibrations in the musical scale, and of cir- 
 cumferences in his scale of form, correspond so very 
 accurately as he takes for granted. That they ap- 
 proximate there is no doubt, and their mere ap- 
 proximation is sufficient to give a high degree of 
 speculative interest to the investigation of those 
 principles of harmony of form which he has so ably 
 instituted. That they do exist in nature, and may, 
 by earnest philosophical inquiry, be successfully ex- 
 piscated, may at least be regarded as points already 
 established by his ingenuity and perseverance ; and 
 to have taken the lead in such an investigation, is, 
 of itself, an honour not much less than that of at- 
 taining, if attained by another, its ultimate demon- 
 stration. We have said enough to induce such of 
 our readers as take an interest in such inquiries to 
 consult Mr Hay's work itself as to his views. The 
 volume, we may remark in conclusion, contains nu- 
 merous most beautiful diagrams, illustrative of the 
 author's theory, and the reader may feel himself 
 amused, as well as instructed, by studying 'the 
 melody of the portico of the Parthenon,' expressed 
 in musical notes, as well as by the intervals of Mr 
 Hay's scale of harmony of form." 
 
 — 
 

 The Glasgow Citizen. 
 
 " .T*™ ' s decidedly an able as well as original 
 publication, in some degree in the subject, but more 
 so in the author's manner of treating it. 
 
 " Mr Hay considers that there is a strict analogy 
 betwixt forms, sounds, and colours, and that, as in 
 acoustics, there are three original or primitive 
 sounds — the tonic, the mediant, and the dominant ; 
 and in colours, three which are primary and un- 
 compounded — blue, red, and yellow ; so, in form, 
 harmony is dependent upon three grand elements 
 or primary forms — the circle, the triangle, and the 
 square. This forms the subject of the able and in- 
 genious treatise before us, and is supported, we might 
 say proved (did we consider ourselves competent to 
 the thorough examination of the proof), by a variety 
 of arguments closely and ingeniously put together, 
 and enforced by copious illustration and example, as 
 well as by various curious and well-imagined dia- 
 grams, and elevations of celebrated buildings. To 
 persons of taste and knowledge in art, Mr Hay's 
 work will be peculiarly acceptable, and we are con- 
 fident that such will consider it as no slight contri- 
 bution to the cause of art and science." 
 
 The Caledonian BSercury. 
 " This treatise on the principles of linear har- 
 mony, will eminently conduce, we think, to one 
 main object, which its ingenious author seems to 
 have had in view ; namely, the improvement and 
 
 guidance of the public taste in judging of works of 
 art that owe their excellence to beauty of form. Mr 
 Hay has here undertaken to demonstrate, and, so 
 far as we are able to judge, he has done so clearly 
 and convincingly, that the impressions made upon 
 the eye by forms are really founded on natural prin- 
 ciples ; that the proportions and peculiarities of 
 form which produce the most pleasing impressions 
 are dictated by nature, being a response to these 
 principles in the human mind ; and that forms are, 
 in all respects, analogous to sounds ; so that a sys- 
 ' tem of linear harmony may be established similar to 
 that which regulates the arrangement of musical 
 notes. It is impossible here to follow Mr Hay in 
 the train of reasoning by which he elucidates the 
 above positions, and traces the perfect analogy be- 
 tween the laws which regulate the harmony of sound 
 and of form, as his deductions are in a great measure 
 established by reference to a numerous series of 
 plates of figures, which render palpable to the eye 
 the beautiful theory of the text. We can only re- 
 fer our readers to the tasteful volume itself, as an 
 attentive perusal of it, we are convinced, they will 
 not esteem labour lost. To the architect, Mr Hay's 
 work indeed must be one of great interest and uti- 
 lity ; and generally to all who study the arts of de- 
 sign and analogous branches of taste, so novel and 
 original an exposition of the natural principles of 
 form in their analogy to those of sound and colour, 
 cannot fail to be singularly attractive." 
 
 NOTICES OF " THE LAWS OP HARMONIOUS COLOURING," &C. IN 
 
 Eraser's Miagazine. 
 
 " In the absence, in the general case, of all indi- 
 cations of taste in the internal decorations of our 
 dwellings, or which is, perhaps, yet more to be la- 
 mented, in the presence of the evidences of a bad 
 one, our understandings have been hitherto wrapped 
 in a kind of Cimmerian darkness, as regards the 
 employment of decorative painting for domestic pur- 
 poses, for the embellishment of our dwellings. A 
 ray of light, however, and a brilliant one, has been 
 let into this dark profound by Mr Hay, who not 
 only points to a better state of things, but leads the 
 way. Urged by the irrepressible energies of an ac- 
 tive, vigorous, and original mind, Mr Hay has 
 stepped from the ranks of a profession, hitherto of 
 the humblest pretension — a profession whose prac- 
 tice was thought to require little judgment and still 
 less taste — and has rendered himself remarkable by 
 the ability with which he exposes this fallacy. Mr 
 Hay has, in truth, elevated house-painting to the 
 dignity of an art ; an achievement which he has ac- 
 complished simply by recognising principles, the 
 power of which in producing the most beautiful, in 
 both form and colour, his own practice has long il- 
 lustrated. In his Laws of Harmonious Colouring, 
 Mr Hay blends the scientific with the practical, 
 which, in popular language, means two things : | 
 first, that he begins at the beginning of his subject ; ] 
 and, second, that he gives reasons for all he ad- ' 
 vances. 
 
 " The work which we have just named has been 
 too long before the public to render it necessary to 
 give a detailed account of its objects and purposes 
 here. We need but briefly state, that these are 
 principally to introduce a better taste in house- 
 painting or interior decoration than has hitherto 
 prevailed ; and to show that this can be effected 
 only by a very vigilant attention to the harmonious 
 relations of colours to each other throughout all 
 their ramifications of hues, tints, and shades ; tak- 
 ing care that no harsh contrasts nor incongruous 
 associations offend the eye, but that the whole pre- 
 sent that bland consistency which is so agreeable to 
 contemplate, and which fills the mind with such 
 pleasurable sensations. Such effect, cannot, how- 
 ever, be produced without a rigid adherence to 
 principles, without a knowledge of, and compliance 
 with, the laws that regulate the harmonious dispo- 
 sition of colours. It cannot be produced by chance, 
 neither can it be produced in all circumstances, nor 
 at any time, in greatest perfection, even by expe- 
 rience. Uniform and certain results can be derived 
 from the operation of principle alone. This Mr Hay 
 well understands, and it is the doctrine, par excel- 
 lence, which he most anxiously inculcates, and 
 which, in all his works, he most urgently presses on 
 the attention of the reader. He knows that amongst 
 a thousand diverging paths there is but one that 
 leads to the most beautiful ; and that, therefore, it 
 is next to an impossibility that this path should be 
 
 
taken by any but those who know the marks and 
 signs by which it is indicated. As well might the 
 mariner seek his way across the trackless ocean 
 without the aid of the compass, as the artist seek to 
 attain the most perfect results in his art without a 
 knowledge of, and adherence to, the principles on 
 which it is founded. For what the compass is to the 
 one, is such knowledge to the other. 
 
 " Mr Hay, as will be observed by the title, has 
 added to the present edition of his work on colour- 
 ing, An Attempt to define JEsthetical Taste. 
 
 " This treatise is characterized throughout by 
 a searching and highly philosophic spirit, by vi- 
 gorous thought, and a very remarkable clearness of 
 perception. So remarkable, indeed, is it for these 
 qualities, that we wish Mr Hay had quoted less and 
 written more ; that he had been more liberal of his 
 own opinions and more sparing of those of others, 
 as we greatly prefer his own remarks in almost 
 every instance to those of the authors he quotes. 
 
 " The art of house-painting has hitherto been 
 considered a very humble one ; but it would be no 
 difficult task to show, that it is far from being so in- 
 herently, and that its degradation was wholly the 
 result of combined negligence and incapacity. The 
 proof of tbis may be found in the elevation to which 
 it has been raised by the genius and talent of Mr 
 Hay." 
 
 The Spectator. 
 
 " Mr D. R. Hay, of Edinburgh, affords another 
 and a striking proof of the advantage, as well as the 
 pleasure, derivable by a craftsman in intellectua- 
 lizing his labour by scientific study. He thoroughly 
 understands his subject — a merit that does not be- 
 long to all writers — and he lays down the principles 
 of Harmony in Colour, as applicable to decorative 
 purposes, explicitly and fully, and in a practical 
 manner." 
 
 The Morning Chronicle. 
 
 " In the early part of his work, Mr Hay throws a 
 most important light on the theory of Colours, by 
 the agency of which he has been enabled to go much 
 further towards the elucidation of this subject than 
 any previous writer. He then, in a lucid manner, 
 explains the relations which colours, in their various 
 tints, hues, and shades, should have to each other 
 to produce an harmonious result. 
 
 " After the extracts we have made, it is hardly 
 necessary to observe, that this is a work of great 
 originality ; and we have not the least hesitation in 
 adding, that we believe that a diffusion of the know- 
 ledge of the principles laid down in it, would prove 
 of material use to our manufacturers. In addition 
 also to the utility of the study of those laws which 
 regulate Harmonious Colouring to those engaged in 
 productive industry, there can be little doubt that 
 a knowledge of them would greatly enhance the 
 pleasure derived from pictorial art." 
 
 The Atlas. 
 
 " This is a new and improved edition of Mr Hay's 
 work on the Laws of Harmonious Colouring, and is 
 adapted to every art and science in which colours 
 form an accessory. Every line of this useful book 
 shows that the author understands his business; 
 and he has contrived to intellectualize his subject 
 in a very interesting manner. The principles of 
 harmony in colour, as applied to decorative pur- 
 poses are explained and enforced in a lucid and 
 practical style, and the relations of the various tints 
 and shades to each other, so as to produce an har- 
 monious result, are descanted on most satisfactorily 
 and originally. The application of the laws of co- 
 louring to house-painting is an era in science ; and 
 the precepts given cannot fail to dignify the calling, 
 by converting it into an imaginative as well as an 
 agreeable and useful pursuit." 
 
 The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. 
 
 " Mr Hay's book is the fourth edition of a work 
 decidedly esteemed for its practicability, cheapness, 
 and the soundness of its principles ; and to it is 
 added, in this edition, an excellent treatise on house- 
 painting. It is, indeed, the cheapest and best book 
 on the subject, and one to which our readers of all 
 classes, may refer with advantage and delight." 
 
 The Architectural IVSagazine. 
 " It is impossible to peruse the work before us, 
 without being convinced that the author is tho- 
 roughly acquainted with the science of his art. We 
 have given as distinct an idea as we can of Mr Hay's 
 Treatise, without the aid of his coloured plates ; 
 and we have done so with a view of showing every 
 young architect, or other person connected with 
 houses or furniture, how much they may gain from 
 Mr Hay's book. In short, there is no other such 
 work on the subject of which it treats, and none of 
 which it maybe so truly said, that it ought to be in 
 the hands of every one at all connected, however 
 remotely, with building or furnishing. We repeat, 
 that we cannot too strongly recommend Mr Hay's 
 work to our readers." 
 
 The Edinburgh Chronicle. 
 
 " Mr Hay has struck out new lights as to his pro- 
 fession, and has shown in this publication that the 
 business of a house-painter should be founded on 
 science, and regulated by laws, as well as the higher 
 departments of art. And, what is more, he is the 
 great sublime he draws. In his own extensive bu- 
 siness, he has carried most successfully into effect 
 those great principles which he has so well deve- 
 loped in the work before us ; indeed, his own bright 
 example has done, for the art of " Harmonious Co- 
 louring," in this city and neighbourhood, more than 
 has been effected by his predecessors in the same 
 profession for centuries. This book and his example 
 combined will, in fine, form an era in the history of 
 the art to which they refer, and dignify a business 
 which has hitherto been conducted without repute 
 and without science." 
 
 ! i , , 
 
NOTICES OF " THE NOMENCLATURE OF COLOURS," &c. 
 
 The Scotsman. 
 
 " Here is another professional work by Mr Hay, 
 and one distinguished by all the characteristics by 
 which his other works recommend themselves to 
 public notice and favour — vigour, originality, and 
 an entire and thorough mastery of his subject. 
 
 " The work is enriched by a series of plates, on 
 which are exhibited specimens of the various colours 
 referred to in the text. These are tastefully got 
 up, and are marked by a precision which must ren- 
 der them extremely useful for practical purposes. 
 Taking the work altogether, there can be no doubt 
 of its being one of the very best of its kind that has 
 yet been presented to the public. The amount of 
 practical knowledge it contains, and the masterly 
 way in which that knowledge is placed before the 
 reader, cannot fail to impress him with sentiments 
 of the highest respect for the talents and acquire- 
 ments of the author. Nor will these sentiments be 
 weakened by noting the philosophical spirit in 
 which, when opportunity offers, he treats his sub- 
 ject ; affording in this, evidence of an order of intel- 
 lect equal to much greater things than the demands 
 of his profession." 
 
 The Courant. 
 
 " The whole tenor of the work evinces on the 
 part of the author a sincere desire to advance art, 
 a spirit of genuine philosophy, and a lively appre- 
 ciation of the beautiful. Never before has been ex- 
 hibited so systematic, so complete, so satisfactory an 
 arrangement of colours. The whole of the chro- 
 matic scale through all its gradations and modula- 
 tions is shown. Its melodies, harmonies, and con- 
 trasts, are all clearly defined. All the individual 
 colours, tints, and hues, are placed in their proper 
 position, extending through a series of two hundred 
 and forty. The arrangement is so skilful, that the 
 eye wanders delighted over them all, from the fiery 
 and exciting colour of red down to the most gentle 
 and retiring of the neutral tones." 
 
 The Glasgow Constitutional. 
 
 " This, perhaps, will be found to be the most ge- 
 nerally useful of the many valuable and very inge- 
 nious works with which its indefatigable author has, 
 within these few years, enriched our literature. It 
 so far surpasses all previous attempts of the kind as 
 to preclude any comparison with them. 
 
 " The book addresses itself more immediately to 
 those engaged in the study of the arts, sciences, 
 and manufactures ; and of its value and importance 
 to this class of persons we need say nothing. But 
 we would strongly recommend it also to the atten- 
 tion of all who take an interest in objects of taste, 
 as containing an amount of information which they 
 
 will find nowhere else, and from which even those 
 whose eye has been most carefully cultivated in the 
 perception and discrimination of colour, will find 
 that they have much to learn." 
 
 Edinburgh Weekly JournaL 
 
 " Mr Hay may in his works, both as an artist and 
 an author, be almost considered as the founder of a 
 new department of design, which, though inferior in 
 ambitious pretence to the historic or landscape 
 painter's, is perhaps more conducive to the general 
 amenity and improved civilization of our social con- 
 dition, for his object is to define and explain the 
 laws on which grace, proportion, and beauty depend, 
 and to apply them to all means of decoration, from 
 the magic combinations of the crowded gothic arch 
 — where apparent confusion is ever blending into ex- 
 quisite harmony — to the delicate tintings and asso- 
 ciated hues which make even the paper-stained walls 
 of the drawing room a continued challenge to criti- 
 cism, and delight to the eye of taste. That he was 
 thoroughly master of his subject, the warm appro- 
 bation which has greeted his works on Harmoni- 
 ous Colouring, Form, Proportion, &c. sufficiently 
 evinces ; and the present work may be considered 
 as the practical application of some of the theories 
 propounded, as, after teaching his disciples how to 
 use their tools to produce the best effects, he here 
 gives the tools themselves, viz. colours, mapped out, 
 arranged, classified, and described, not only as to 
 the essential composition, qualities and effects of 
 each, but also its relations to its neighbour and its 
 antagonist tints, and the exact influences over all 
 by the interference, more or less, of the two great 
 opposites, black and white, darkness and light." 
 
 The Glasgow Argus. 
 
 " Mr Hay is not alone a patron of the arts, but as 
 an instructor of the followers of art, he is a bene- 
 factor to the public. All his works, whether he 
 writes upon Ornamental Design, or the Harmony 
 of Form, the Laws of Harmonious Colouring, or 
 brings his comprehensive mind to bear analytically 
 upon the Geometric Principles of Beauty, while 
 they improve and delight the reader, render him 
 the more capable of being of use, by extending his 
 sphere of action, and placing him nearer that per- 
 fection it must be the constant aim of every artist 
 to arrive at. 
 
 "_ The primary colours are taken by Mr Hay in 
 their natural order ; and not only will the artist 
 and connoisseur find ample material for thought, 
 but the naturalist, the mineralogist, and the bota- 
 nist, will discover new lights opened out to him of 
 the most valuable tendency." 
 
 Edinburgh : Printed by Macpherson & Syme. 
 
-*:,' 
 
WorM(2~l 
 
' H— lllll 
 
. loirbi(2i 
 
\0~1 
 
EXAMPLE I. 
 
 THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY 
 COLOURS. 
 
 HHBaylnjr? 
 
 
 Sizars- Sc. 
 
tirbv^7 
 
~M (Q~1 
 
EXAMPLE II. 
 
 THE SECONDARY COLOURS CONTRASTED 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE PRIMARY HUES. 
 
 1 
 
 JD.RMay fnv} 
 
 .Lizaj's Se. 
 

 [ yyiSbV0~1 
 
: )^b{®~] 
 
EXAMPLE III. 
 
 THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY 
 HUES CONTRASTED. 
 
 DBJIay luv? 
 
 JIlzutw St. 
 

 
 
 VrM(9~7 
 
airb\.0"l 
 
.::■,,■: ;''■..■- Segggifo^Nsgaeggli 
 
 EXAMPLE IV. 
 
 BINARY MODIFICATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SECONDARY COLOURS. 
 
 I 
 
 DJLffay. 
 
 Xizau 
 

 
 '.A 
 
 rt 
 
.Wirbv^l 
 
EXAMPLE V. 
 
 THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY COLOURS 
 
 TEMPERED. 
 
 7).RJjaij I-'i.v 1 
 
 jbvzarx Sc, 
 
ir^v(?7 
 
 — 
 
>\<P 
 
 1 
 
EXAMPLE VI. 
 
 THE PRIMARY COLOURS CONTRASTED 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE TEMPERED SECONDARIES. 
 
 MJLZfa, . 
 
 Xiiuu:- Sr 
 
I 
 
 n^Wl 
 
 . . II JL^^— J < ■ ■ HI.. 
 

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■MH 
 
 i^S 
 
 ■ EXAMPLE VII. 
 
 THE SECONDARY COLOURS CONTRASTED 
 
 WITH 
 
 THE TEMPERED PRIMARIES. 
 
 UTf.lLly ,:•■,>* 
 
 JCtztaw Sc. 
 
>W 
 
 1 
 

"W/ 
 
 
m 
 
 EXAMPLE VIII 
 
 Red A 
 
 Tempered Red B 
 
 Red hue C 
 
 Tempered Red line D 
 
 Tempered Green liue E 
 
 Green line F 
 
 Tempered Green G 
 
 D.JiS.u/Jm' 
 
 Green H 
 
 ■: l 
 
MrO-1 
 
 
3% 
 
\rcb\.€^\ 
 
EXAMPLE IX. 
 
 HARMONY OF THE PRIMARY 
 RED. 
 
 _Z> JL&y . 
 
 ./jju^rrr Sc 
 
W^~bK97 
 
 
 k 
 

 
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 cO-1 
 
 . 
 

 
 
 EXAMPLE X. 
 
 
 HARMONY OF THE SECONDARY 
 
 
 GREEN. 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 k ^ W A Jk2 
 
 
 M Wq 
 
 H 
 
 G 3I ^ 
 
 
 
 C 1 
 
 ^.J^HBIHV 
 
 
 J w^^^ W 1 
 
 
 Tm ^ 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
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~^7 
 
 
 
 
 
EXAMPLE XL 
 
 HARMONY OF THE PRIMARY 
 YELLOW. 
 
 1 
 
 
 2).I(Jlay Jhv. 
 
■OP}{®~1 
 
ta r ir , A<9"7 
 
 
 
 ■■■■■i^^H 
 
• 
 
 EXAMPLE XIL 
 
 HARMONY OF THE SECONDARY 
 
 PURPLE. 
 
 1 
 
 A Wk ^ V A m 
 
 2 A m.m W A m 2 
 
 A m. ^1 W A ^ 
 
 M wk W W M Ik 
 
 
 H 
 
 
 /Ji ^G 
 
 
 
 ^ ■■■k> ) 
 
 C 
 
 dJ| V 
 
 -5 3 ; 
 
 ▼ A ^ ^ ^ 
 
 
 ■ 
 
roi 
 

 ~>^uo 
 
 -1 
 
 
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EXAMPLE XIII. 
 
 HARMONY OF THE PRIMARY 
 BLUE. 
 
 Dh'.Iim/ f,,v$ 
 
 JCt'z&r.r Sc- 
 
\&-CbW~) 
 
rp^\®~] 
 
 
EXAMPLE XIV. 
 
 HARMONY OF THE SECONDARY 
 ORANGE. 
 
 'i : Taif Jni-( : 
 
: ; n^v(?~7 
 
 - ■ - -; 
 
 ■ 
 
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