is blue, the first one must necessarily see violet, and the second blue. Certainly it is not the possibility of the fact that I contest, it is the general conclusion drawn from a particular fact: indeed, if the difference between the manner in which various individuals see the same colour is as great and as general as is pretended, there would no longer be any comprehension of colour at all; and if there were a public who saw a picture too violet or too blue in comparing it with the model, another public would certainly exist who would see it as it is pretended the painter must have seen his model; hence for this public there would be no foundation for saying that the picture is too violet or too blue. However, as it is not so, I conclude that the preceding reason has no foundation, and that the general judgment of the public, in distinctly noticing in a picture a dominant colour which is not in the model, proves that the individuals composing this public see, if not in an identical at least in an analogous

manner.

(951.) It was while taking the experimental method for a guide, and after having determined by observation the modifications light is subjected to in relation to coloured bodies, that I have been led to conclude that in a monochromous object, or in a monochromous part of a polychromic object, all modifications except those which may be the result of coloured rays reflected upon this object or on this monochromous part, are susceptible of being faithfully imitated with the coloured material which corresponds to the colour of the model, the neighbouring scales of this colour, normal grey and white. This conclusion greatly simplifies the art of painting, and at the same time gives a solid basis to the critic who desires to judge of the truthful colouring of any picture.

(952.) To my conviction that the rules laid down in this work will save a great deal of time to such young painters as may follow them, is joined the hope that they will not take advantage of them in order to multiply their pictures, but rather those preliminary studies which are always demanded by every definitive performance. I have sufficiently explained myself so that the idea of reducing painting merely to the faithful reproduction of each particular object that enters into a picture cannot be attributed to me; not only

have I insisted upon the arrangement, the co-ordination of the principal objects, the subordination of those which are secondary, and upon those harmonies of colour necessary to connect them so as to form but one single whole, but in speaking of the expression of figures, I have expounded my opinion upon those qualities which may be gained from a master, and those which are only to be found in oneself, and which are only perfected by study, and which are the only ones which mark a work with the stamp of genius.

(953.) I have applied the conclusion to which I have been led for the reproduction of the model in painting, to the imitations of painted objects which are made in tapestries and carpets. I have shown that the exact representation of the modifications of colour in these models demands a knowledge of contrast still more imperatively than painting, properly so called, itself demands.

Experience has led me to establish very simple rules suitable for obtaining the most beautiful greens, oranges, violets, by the mixture of blue, yellow, and red threads, and to show that the weaver produces black or grey when he mixes together in certain proportions those three colours, or two colours mutually complementary.

I have, consequently, clearly shown in these rules how we may deceive ourselves if, with the intention of harmonising two colours appertaining to different parts of the same object, we do not distinguish the case in which these colours are complementary, and that in which they are not; when, for example, it is a rose surrounded by its leaves, and a stem of periwinkle garnished with leaves and blue flowers: so, if, in order to harmonise the local colours, we mix them in certain parts of the flower and the leaves, we obtain grey by the mixture of the red with the green, while, with regard to the periwinkle, by blending the local colours of the flower and its leaves, we make blue greenish, and green bluish; hence it is in the latter case, and not in the former, that the colours of the two parts approach each other.

Experiments have, moreover, enabled me to discover the method of working, in tapestries on coloured grounds, white shaded designs which do not appear of the complementary colour of these grounds.

(954.) In establishing the great difference which exists between paintings and works executed with materials of a certain size-in insisting on the necessity of employing for the latter, colours purer and less blended than those used in painting-in insisting on the necessity of making the harmonies of contrast predominate over the harmonies of analogy, I believe I have spoken for the benefit of the painter charged with the execution of the models, and for the interest of the artist who has to copy them. In indicating the qualities these models should possess, in pointing out the dangers arising from a desire to execute paintings with materials of a grosser kind, I have indicated the means of rendering the employment of these materials less servile, and consequently of giving more originality to the works of the

weaver.

(955.) I have subordinated to observation and to experiment, and not to any hypothetical view, everything that concerns the decoration of the interiors of edifices; and I have strenuously insisted upon the necessity of subordinating everything to its destination.

(956.) Finally, in applying the experimental method to the arrangement of flowers in gardens conformably with the law of simultaneous contrast of colours, I have had frequent occasions of remarking how much analogy there was in those arrangements between the colours and the forms, in relation to the special effects obtained from each in respect to diversity, symmetry, general harmony, &c., that I have been led to a generalisation which I had not in view when I commenced my work: but all the generalities at which I have arrived are the result of immediate observation, as prescribed by the experimental method, and it was only a long time after having seen many of the products of arts which make use of coloured materials, that I have come to the conclusion that this method to which the physical sciences owe their progress, might be applied in many cases to the practice as well as the theory of the fine arts, and that this extension must necessarily give a precise knowledge of the faculties that place man in connection with the works of nature and

art.

(957.) In conclusion, I have sought as much as possible

the rules in the nature of the things which they concern; but, in prescribing them, far from being exclusive, I have, on the contrary, avoided presenting a single type of beauty. It is in this spirit that I have spoken of the general effects of the harmonies of contrast and of analogy, leaving to those who employ them, either in painting, or in the assortment of any coloured objects whatever, all the latitude these rules. admit of, without injuring the beauty of the assorted objects. In the same spirit I have spoken of Grecian and gothic architecture, of geometric and landscape gardens, and, instead of making these works rest on opposite principles, or of considering some as derived from principles, whilst others are the product of artistic caprice, I have sought for their common affinities and the principles to which the differences that distinguish them actually belong.

Criticism made from this point of view of a work which, although very incorrect, has engaged the attention of a class of men, appears to me useful, if not to the author, at least to the theory of art and to the knowledge of our own nature; because under this double relation it is always interesting to trace out the cause that has attracted the attention of men, of those who are the least enlightened, or who are deficient in the elements of education.

Finally, in conformity with this mode of view, it appears to me that when a people has left traces in history by its annals, its literature, and its monuments, far from disdaining the products of its literary genius and its arts, it is, on the contrary, necessary to assiduously seek out what had led this people to adopt the form it has given to its works, and to see if it is possible to go back to the source of the admiration it entertained for them.

426

CONCLUDING REMARKS ON CONTRAST.

(958.) I Do not intend to finish the historical sketch of the researches composing this work without adding some remarks relative to the extension of which they appear to me susceptible.

These considerations bear on four different points:

The first concerns the observation of several natural phe

nomena;

The second relates to the contrast presented by two objects differing much in size;

The third relates to the question, if any other senses besides the sight are subjected to the law of contrasts;

Finally, the fourth has reference to the light which, as I believe, the study of contrasts is susceptible of shedding upon several phenomena of the understanding.

§ 1.

OF CONTRAST CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH THE OBSERVATION OF SEVERAL PHENOMENA OF NATURE.

1

(959.) In contemplating natural objects we discover many opportunities of applying the law of simultaneous contrast to certain phenomena exhibited by them.

(960.) Thus, whenever a surface on a dark ground reflects uniformly a strong light, the edges of the former appear more brilliant than the centre, whilst those portions of the ground contiguous to these edges appear darker than the rest of the ground; hence contrast tends to give relief to uniform surfaces.