GOETHE'S THEORY OF COLOURS; TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN: WITH NOTES BY CHARLES LOCK EASTLAKE, R.A., F.R.S. "Cicero varietatem propriè in coloribus nasci, hinc in alienum migrare existimavit. Certè non alibi natura copiosius aut majore lasciviâ opes suas commendavit. Metalla, gemmas, marmora, flores, astra, omnia denique quæ progenuit suis etiam coloribus distinxit; ut venia debeatur si quis in tam numerosâ rerum sylvâ caligaverit." CELIO CALCAGNINI. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1840 TO JEREMIAH HARMAN, Esq. Dear Sir, I dedicate to you the following translation as a testimony of my sincere gratitude and respect; in doing so, I but follow the example of Portius, an Italian writer, who inscribed his translation of Aristotle's Treatise on Colours to one of the Medici. I have the honour to be, Dear Sir, Your most obliged and obedient Servant, C. L. EASTLAKE. THE TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. English writers who have spoken of Goethe's "Doctrine of Colours,"[1] have generally confined their remarks to those parts of the work in which he has undertaken to account for the colours of the prismatic spectrum, and of refraction altogether, on principles different from the received theory of Newton. The less questionable merits of the treatise consisting of a well-arranged mass of observations and experiments, many of which are important and interesting, have thus been in a great measure overlooked. The translator, aware of the opposition which the theoretical views alluded to have met with, intended at first to make a selection of such of the experiments as seem more directly applicable to the theory and practice of painting. Finding, however, that the alterations this would have involved would have been incompatible with a clear and connected view of the author's statements, he preferred giving the theory itself entire, reflecting, at the same time, that some scientific readers may be curious to hear the author speak for himself even on the points at issue.