Field's Chromatography - or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists

George Field

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• Publié par: eftya
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 83
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Field's Chromatography, by George Field This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists Author: George Field Editor: Thomas Salter Release Date: March 27, 2007 [EBook #20915] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIELD'S CHROMATOGRAPHY *** Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net S A L FIELD'S CHROMATOGRAPHY; OR, TREATISE ON COLOURS PIGMENTS USED BY ARTISTS. AND AS AN ENTIRELY NEW AND PRACTICAL EDITION ; REVISED, REWRITTEN, AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME. BY THOMAS W. SALTER, F.C.S. Ars probat artificem. L O WINSOR AND NEWTON, 38, RATHBONE PLACE, Manufacturing Artists' Colourmen by Special Appointment to Her Majesty, and Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales. [The Right of Translation is reserved.] C O N PART I. ON COLOURS AND COLOURING. Chapter Page I.—On Colouring II.—On the Relations and Harmonies of Colours 3 13 PART II. ON COLOURS AND PIGMENTS GENERALLY. III.—On Classes of Colours IV.—On the Durability and Fugacity of Pigments V.—On the General Qualities of Pigments 27 31 46 PART III. ON COLOURS AND PIGMENTS INDIVIDUALLY. VI.—On Colours and Pigments individually VII.—On the Neutral, White VIII.—On the Primary, Yellow IX.—On the Primary, Red X.—On the Primary, Blue XI.—On the Secondary, Orange XII.—On the Secondary, Green XIII.—On the Secondary, Purple 57 62 81 127 183 239 263 294 [vi] XIV.—On the Tertiary, Citrine XV.—On the Tertiary, Russet XVI.—On the Tertiary, Olive XVII. On the Semi-Neutral, Brown — XVIII. On the Semi-Neutral, Marrone — XIX.—On the Semi-Neutral, Gray XX.—On the Neutral, Grey XXI.—On the Neutral, Black Addendum Index 310 320 325 334 362 372 381 387 414 417 NOTICE. Among the works consulted in this Edition are the following, from most of which extracts have been taken: Bancroft's Philosophy of Colours. Brande's Manual of Chemistry. Chemical News. Chevreul on Colour. Fownes' Manual of Chemistry. Gmelin's Handbook of Chemistry. Handbooks on Art. Liebig and Kopp's Annual Report of the Progress of Chemistry. Mérimée's Painting in Oil. Muspratt's Dictionary of Chemistry. Normandy's Commercial Handbook of Chemical Analysis. O'Neill's Chemistry of Calico Printing. Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society. Ruskin's Elements of Drawing. Watts' Dictionary of Chemistry. PART I. ON COLOURS AND COLOURING. CHROMATOGRAPHY; OR, A TREATISE ON COLOURS AND PIGMENTS. CHAPTER I. ON COLOURING. How early, and to what extent, colouring may have attained the rank of science among the ancients, are questions not easily set at rest; but that some progress had been made, even at a very remote period, is proved by the magnificent tombs of the Egyptian kings at Thebes, where the walls of the royal mausoleum are described as being covered with paintings so fresh and perfect, as to require neither restoration nor improvement. So far from this, indeed, that with all care in copying, it was difficult to equal the brilliancy of the originals, which, as far as colours went, threw all others in the background. And yet, in spite of the scale having comprised pure vermilion, ochres, and indigo, it was not gaudy, owing to the judicious balance of the colours, and the artful management of the black. Nor was there an ornament throughout the dresses, wherein the red, yellow, and blue, were not so employed as to produce a delicious harmony. Moreover, it is stated that in one painting eighty feet high and proportionably broad, which was divided into two ranges of gigantic figures, these were glowing with most exquisite colours, suited to the drapery and naked parts; and in which the azure, yellow, green, &c., were as well preserved as though they had been laid on yesterday. Again, an apartment was discovered among the stupendous ruins at Carnac, on the site of ancient Thebes, one hundred paces wide and sixty deep, completely crowded with pillars, which, together with the ceiling, roof, and walls, were decorated with figures in basso-relievo, and hieroglyphics—all marvellously beautiful and finely painted, and as fresh, splendid and glorious, after so many ages, as if they had just been finished. In various accounts these colourings of the Egyptians are described in the warmest terms of admiration. The most charming are undoubtedly those on the tombs and temples: others of less merit have been found on the cases and cloths of mummies, and on papyrus rolls; but it is to the patterns on the walls and ceilings of their houses that they seem to have been most partial, and paid the most attention. The ordinary colours employed by them were red, yellow, green, and blue. Of the last there were two tints; black also was common. For white, the finely prepared stone-coloured ground was deemed sufficient. These colours were occasionally modified by mixture with chalk; but were always, or nearly always, applied singly, in an unmixed state. With regard to their composition, chemical analysis has shown several of the blues to be oxide of copper with a small proportion of iron; none containing cobalt. There is little doubt, however, that the most brilliant specimens—those which retain all their original force and beauty in the temples of Upper Egypt after an exposure of three thousand years, consist of ultramarine—the celebrated Armenian blue, possibly, of the ancients. The reds seem for the most part to be composed of oxide of iron mixed with lime, and were probably limited to iron earths and ochres, with a native cinnabar or vermilion. The yellows are said to have been, in many cases, vegetable colours; but it is likely earths and ochres were their chief source. The greens consist of yellow mixed with copper blue. The bluishgreen which sometimes appears on Egyptian antiquities, is merely a faded blue. The blacks are both of vegetable and mineral origin, having been obtained from a variety of substances in a variety of ways. But, as shown by Layard in his discoveries at Nineveh, a knowledge of colouring was not confined to the Egyptians; it was likewise possessed by the [4] [5] [6] Assyrians. The painted ornaments of the latter are stated to have been remarkably elegant; and although the colours were limited to blue, red, white, yellow, and black, yet they were arranged with so much taste and skill, and the contrasts were so judiciously preserved, that the combinations were in general agreeable to the eye. The pale yellowish-white ground on which the designs were painted, resembled the tint on the walls of Egyptian monuments, and a strong well-defined black outline was found to be as peculiar a feature in Assyrian as in Egyptian painting, black frequently combining with white alone, or alternating with other colours. As far as they have been analysed, the pigments employed were mineral, the brightest being a blue derived from copper. No traces of vegetable colours have been found; it is presumed that they existed, but being subject to more rapid decay than the mineral pigments, they have disappeared. That all the colours, indeed, employed by the ancients were not permanent, was proved by the fact of certain blues and reds, brilliant and vivid when the earth was removed from them, fading rapidly when exposed to the air. From Philocles, the Egyptian, and Gyges, a Lydian, both of whom, according to Pliny, acquired the knowledge of the art of painting in Egypt, the Greeks obtained the knowledge of their Ars Chromatica, which they are said to have carried by gradual advances during several centuries, from the monochromatic of their earlier painters, to the perfection of colouring under Zeuxis and Apelles, 450 to 350 B.C. Unfortunately, not long after, or about 300 B.C., art rapidly deteriorated; the invasion of the Romans commenced; and the principles of light, shade, and colours in painting as understood by the Greeks, together with their valuable treatises on the subject were lost. The early Roman and Florentine painters, so eminent in other respects, were almost destitute of those principles, and of truly refined feeling for the effects of colouring. The partial restoration of this branch seems to have been coeval with the earliest practice of painting in oil. The glory of it belongs to the Venetians, to whom the art of painting passed with the last remains of the Greek schools after the capture of Constantinople at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Giovanni Bellini laid the foundation of colouring, and Titian carried it to its highest practical perfection. From the Venetian it extended to the Lombard, Flemish, and Spanish schools. In the practice of these, however, there was perhaps as much of instinct as principle, colouring still remaining to be established in its perfection as a science. According to the true, natural, and philosophical classification of painting, there are but three principal classes or schools; viz.: the gross and material which is content with mere nature, and to which belong the Dutch and Flemish schools; the sensible, which aims at refined and select nature, and accords with the Venetian school; and the intellectual, which aspires to the ideal in beauty, grandeur, and sublimity, and corresponds with the Greek, Roman, and Florentine schools. Modern art as founded upon the intellectual school of the ancient Greeks, became grand, scientific, and severe in the practice of Michael Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci; graceful, beautiful and expressive in Raphael, Correggio, Dominichino, and Guido; and, aiming at sensible perfection, it attained harmony of colouring and effect in the works of Titian and T