The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq.: Composed from Materials Furnished by HimselfGalt, John
General
The Life, Studies, and Works of Benjamin West, Esq.: Composed from Materials Furnished by Himself
Galt, John
West, Benjamin, 1738-1820
"You will find that this experiment will instruct you, not only in the
principles of light and shade, but also of colours; for that there is a
corresponding hue with respect to colours is not to be disputed. In order
to demonstrate this, place in the ball which you have illuminated, the
prismatic colours, suiting their hues to those of the tints. Yellow will
answer to the focus of illumination, and the other secondary and primary
hues will fall into their proper places. Hence, on the enlightened side of
a group or figure, you may lay yellow, orange, red, and then violet, but
never on the side where the light recedes. On that side must come the
other prismatic colours in their natural order. Yellow must pass to green,
the green to blue, and the blue to purple. The primary colours of yellow,
orange, and red, are the warm colours, and belong to the illuminated side
of objects; the violet is the intermediate, and green, blue, and purple
are the cold colours, and belong to the retiring parts of your
composition.
"On the same principle, and in the same order, must be placed the tints
which compose the fleshy bodies of men and women, but so blended with
each other, as to give the softness appropriate to the luminous quality
and texture of flesh; paying attention, at the same time, to reflections
on its surface from other objects, and to its participation of their
colours. The latter is a distinct circumstance arising from accident.
"When the sun illuminates a human body, in the same manner as the ball,
the focus of the illumination in that body will partake of the yellow; and
the luminous or transparent tint, will have the orange and the red. These
produce, what is called, the carnation. The pure red, occasioned by the
blood, lies in the lips, cheeks, joints, and extremities of the figure,
and no where else. On the receding side of the focus is the local colour
of the flesh, and on the receding side of that is the greenish tint; in
the shade will fall the cold or bluish, and in the reflection will fall
the tint of purple. The most perfect tint of ground, from which to relieve
this arrangement of colours, is either blue, grey, or purple, for those
colours partake of the complexion of the watery sky in which the rainbow
appears, or the ground which best exhibits the prismatic colours.
"In acquiring a practical knowledge of the happiest manner of distributing
your colours according to nature, it will assist you, if you will copy
with attention some pieces of Titian, Correggio, Reubens, and Vandyke; the
masters in whose works you will most eminently find the system pursued,
which I have endeavoured to illustrate by the simple image of the ball.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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