Goethe's Theory of ColoursGoethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Philosophy
Goethe's Theory of Colours
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von
Color
The Venetians went further than Leonardo in this view and practice;
and he seems to allude to them when he criticises certain painters,
who, in aiming at clearness and fulness of colour, neglected what, in
his eyes, was of superior importance, namely, gradation and force of
chiaro-scuro.[5]
That increase of colour supposes increase of darkness, as so often
stated by Goethe, may be granted without difficulty. To what extent, on
the other hand, increase of darkness, or rather diminution of light,
is accompanied by increase of colour, is a question which has been
variously answered by various schools. Examples of the total negation
of the principle are not wanting, nor are they confined to the infancy
of the art. Instances, again, of the opposite tendency are frequent
in Venetian and early Flemish pictures resembling the augmenting
richness of gems or of stained glass:[6] indeed, it is not impossible
that the increase of colour in shade, which is so remarkable in the
pictures alluded to, may have been originally suggested by the rich
and fascinating effect of stained glass; and the Venetians, in this as
in many other respects, may have improved on a hint borrowed from the
early German painters, many of whom painted on glass.[7]
At all events, the principle of still increasing in colour in certain
hues seems to have been adopted in Flanders and in Venice at an early
period;[8] while Giorgione, in carrying the style to the most daring
extent, still recommended it by corresponding grandeur of treatment in
other respects.
The same general tendency, except that the technical methods are
less transparent, is, however, very striking in some of the painters
of the school of Umbria, the instructors or early companions of
Raphael.[9] The influence of these examples, as well as that of Fra
Bartolommeo, in Florence, is distinctly to be traced in the works of
the great artist just named, but neither is so marked as the effect
of his emulation of a Venetian painter at a later period. The glowing
colour, sometimes bordering on exaggeration, which Raphael adopted
in Rome, is undoubtedly to be attributed to the rivalry of Sebastian
del Piombo. This painter, the best of Giorgione's imitators, arrived
in Rome, invited by Agostini Chigi, in 1511, and the most powerful of
Raphael's frescoes, the Heliodorus and Mass of Bolsena, as well as
some portraits in the same style, were painted in the two following
years. In the hands of some of Raphael's scholars, again, this extreme
warmth was occasionally carried to excess, particularly by Pierino del
Vaga, with whom it often degenerated into redness. The representative
of the glowing manner in Florence was Fra Bartolommeo, and, in the
same quality, considered abstractedly, some painters of the school of
Ferrara were second to none.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account