CHAPTER I. OF THE ELEMENTS OF GOBELINS TAPESTRY. (372.) THE Elements of Gobelins Tapestry are two in number: the warp (la chaîne), and the weft (la trame). The warp is formed of uncoloured woollen threads, extended vertically in front of the workman. The weft is formed of coloured threads, which entirely cover the threads of the warp. With variously coloured threads of a certain diameter we imitate all the colours of the most perfect pictures. (373.) The art of the tapestry-weaver is based upon the principle of mixing colours, and on the principle of their simultaneous contrast. (374.) There is a mixture of colours whenever materials of various colours are so divided and then combined that the eye cannot distinguish these materials from each other: in which case the eye receives a single impression; for example, if the materials are a blue and a yellow of the same strength, and in proper proportions, the eye receives an impression of green. (375.) There is a contrast of colours whenever differently coloured surfaces are properly arranged and susceptible of being seen simultaneously and perfectly distinct from each other; and we must remember that, if a blue surface be placed beside a yellow surface, instead of inclining to green, they, on the contrary, differ from each other, and acquire red. CHAPTER II. ON THE PRINCIPLE OF MIXING COLOURED THREADS, IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE ART OF WEAVING GOBELINS TAPESTRY. (376.) WITH a certain number of scales of different colours, pure and broken with black, we may by mixing them produce an infinite variety of colours. The mixtures are of two kinds; (377.) Firstly, we mix a thread of the 4th tone of the scale of a colour A, with a thread of the 4th tone of the scale of a colour A', more or less analogous to A. This is mixture by Threads. It is not made upon figured silks. (378.) Secondly, the weft is worked so as to interweave together either the threads of a scale of the colour A, or the threads of a scale of the colour A' mixed with the threads of a scale B, or with the threads of the scale B mixed with the threads of a scale B' more or less analogous to that of B. This is mixture by Hatchings. (379.) We can understand by this, how with these two kinds of mixture we can imitate all the various colours and tones of pictures which serve as patterns for tapestry. (380.) In the mixtures by threads and by hatchings, it is always indispensable to take into consideration the facts of which I have spoken (158.); and I am the more urgent on this subject, because M. Deyrolle, director at the Gobelins, perfectly understanding the processes of his art, has had the kindness to execute, at my request, different mixtures of coloured silk threads in a piece of tapestry, to enable me to prove the remarks I have made; they lie at the foundation of all the arts the palettes of which, so to speak, are composed L of coloured threads, and have also the advantage of referring to the same rules the art of modifying by mixture the colours of coloured substances, whether they are in a state of infinite division or of appreciable extent. The mixtures which I am about to mention were made with threads of two colours taken at the same tone; each thread covered the warp; they were arranged parallel to each other and stretched perpendicularly to the warp. When the mixture was composed of an equal number of threads of each colour, it presented very narrow stripes of equal size, and alternately of different colours. To make mixtures of coloured threads understandingly, we must satisfy the three following rules. The first two are principal, because they result directly from the observation of facts; the third is secondary, because it is the natural deduction from the facts comprised in the first two. I. RULE.-CONCERNING THE BINARY MIXTURE OF PRIMARY COLOURS. When we unite Red with Yellow, Red with Blue, Yellow with Blue, the threads must not reflect a palpable quantity of the third primary Colour, if we would have Orange, Violets, and Greens, as brilliant as it is possible to obtain them by this method. EXAMPLE. A. Red and Yellow. 3 Red threads with 1 Yellow thread yield mixtures which appear to the eye as they must do in proportion to the two colours mixed. There is no appearance of Grey in any of these mixtures when we employ a Red more inclining to Orange than to Crimson, and a Yellow more inclining to Orange than to Green. B. Red and Blue. 3 Red threads with 1 Blue thread give mixtures which appear to the eye as they must do relatively to the proportion of the two colours mixed. If we use a Red and a Blue inclining to Violet, the mixture will contain no Grey. c. Yellow and Blue. 4 Blue threads with 1 Yellow thread give mixtures which appear to the eye as they must appear relatively to the proportions of the two colours mixed. If we use a Yellow and a Blue inclining to Green more than to Red, the mixture will contain little or no Grey. Experiment on all the preceding mixtures demonstrates the rule enounced above, or rather this rule is only the expression of a generalisation of facts. II. RULE.-CONCERNING THE MIXTURE OF COMPLEMENTARY COLOURS. When we mix Red and Green, Orange and Blue, Yellow and Violet, the colours are more or less completely neutralised according as they are more or less perfectly complementary to each other, and as they are mixed in proper proportions. The result is a Grey, the tone of which is generally higher than that of the colours mixed, if these latter are of a suitably high tone. EXAMPLES. D. Red and Green. d. 3 Red threads with 1 Green thread give a dull Red. 2 Red threads with a Green thread give a duller and deeper Red than the pure Red employed. 1 Red thread with 1 Green thread give a Reddish Grey, the tone of which is a little higher than that of the preceding mixture. 3 Green threads with 1 Red give a Green Grey, the tone of which is higher than the Green and the Red. 2 Green threads with 1 Red give a Grey less Green, and of a higher tone than the two colours. d'. In repeating the same mixtures with higher tones of the same scales of Green and Red, we remark, that the tone of the mixture of 2 Green threads with 1 Red thread is higher relatively to that of the colours mixed, than it is in the mixtures d. d". 1 Red thread and 1 Yellowish-Green thread give a Carmelite Brown, or an Orange-Grey, the tone of which is equal to that of the colours mixed. d". 1 Red thread and 1 Bluish-Green thread give a copper-coloured mixture, or Catechu-Brown, of a higher tone than that of the colours mixed. Conclusion. From this we may conclude that red and green threads, properly assorted and in suitable proportions, yield grey. E. Orange and Blue. e. 3 Orange threads with 1 Blue thread, give a dull Orange. 2 Orange threads with 1 Blue thread, give a duller Orange. 1 Orange thread with 1 Blue thread, give a ChocolateGrey, browner than the colours mixed. 3 Blue threads with 1 Orange thread, give a VioletGrey. 2 Blue threads with 1 Orange thread, give a VioletGrey, redder than the preceding. e'. The results are the same with deeper tones of the preceding, except that the corresponding mixtures are browner. |