HARMONY AND CONTRAST.
Harmony, as in Nature, is the agreeable accordance of the various colours that form the parts of a scene into a whole; divested, in their dispersion, of their harshness by the everywhere surrounding atmosphere: this may be tested by holding a piece of silk, the exact colour of the grass at our feet, up against a field, when the field will become grey in comparison.
The exact degree of strength, or of tone, greatly tend to reconcile the harmony of a picture.
Harmony consists more in the power of bringing colours together, than in the mere arrangement of the colours themselves.
Burnet, in his excellent Treatise, says—'When a picture is composed of the two extremes of hot and cold, we are certain of having employed the whole strength of the palette; and, if judiciously used to assist the chiaroscuro, an harmonious union will be kept up between these opposite qualities, more forcible and splendid than by the intervention of middle tint;' but immediately after he adds—'In producing variety and contrast, we ought never to lose sight of that imperceptible harmony arising from the union of two colours in producing a third, composed of both. Whether this be founded on any law existing in optics, or is merely the result of that sympathy which one colour has to another in producing harmony, we know not.'
Any colour too often repeated, will destroy its value in proportion to its repetition; but a continuation of the same colour carried with tact through the picture, from the highest light to the deepest shade, and strongly relieved by some colour of a different nature, produces the beautiful effect so admired in the Dutch and Flemish sketches of Vandyke and others; arising from the rich brown gradations, brought up to a 'high pitch' of red or yellow, or yellowish white, and subdued by a little cool grey, merging into blue or green.
Strong colours are generally more usefully applied in supporting the general whole, than by being employed on the more prominent parts of it. They are equally useful in focussing the shadows, or in giving them variety.
If the mixture of many colours be unharmonious and disturbed, perplexity and confusion will be the result.
When the general character of a picture is of a cool grey, its influence upon the eye is of a very agreeable description, from its tender and soft transitions; but its spirit is roused into energy at once by the introduction of a warm colour; increasing, by its opposition of character, the harmony of the whole. A red cloak on a figure crossing a field will explain this.
In Du Fresney I find we 'are not to let two hostile colours meet without a medium to unite them.' Notwithstanding which, we see the contrary practised with the greatest success;—blue brought against red, for instance, the value of each increasing as they antipathize.
The hot and cold colours—the balancing power produced by their combinations—the arrangement that gives to every object its place and value, are the principal circumstances that should engage the attention, when contemplating the works of the best colourists, or on gazing at a scene in Nature.
If the colouring of a picture is too harmonious, it will want solidity.