The Nomenclature of Colours.
—If half a dozen practical painters, experienced in colour mixing, were asked separately to mix a given colour, say a sea green, it is almost certain that when the six colours were compared there would not be two alike. Each of the six painters might have had precisely the same make of colours to work with and yet the “sea green” would in each case be different. The explanation, of course, is that opinions differ as to what is a “sea green.”
In giving the samples of colour which are contained in this work the author was, under the circumstances, somewhat puzzled to know exactly the right names to give each. His idea as to what was a bronze green, for example, might differ materially from the opinion of others, indeed, as it has already been explained, no two practical men would probably be found to agree as to the exact colour of two or three dozen differently named colours. Under these circumstances, he hit upon the plan of following what appeared to be the general rule in the trade. With this object he obtained the colour cards issued by all the leading paint manufacturing firms in the country, as well as some from abroad. He then took out the colours which he thought would be most useful to his readers, and then very carefully, and with a considerable amount of labour, compared each colour with similar colours in the different colour cards, taking note of the different names which different manufacturers called them. The result was very surprising, because it was found that in many cases there were as many names as there were manufacturers’ cards represented. When, however, the same name was used by several manufacturers, that name was selected for the purpose of this work. The reader may, therefore, take it that the names employed here are those which are most general in the trade. As an instance of the variation in these names we may cite a few examples.
Bronze green was called by different manufacturers’ dark green, olive green, and sage green. In this case bronze green occurred more frequently than any other name.
Tea green was called also olive green and Queen Anne green.
Apple green was called very light sea green and Eau de Nil green.
Sage green was called also olive and pale Quaker green.
Venetian green was called also Imperial French green, light green, shamrock green, bright green, mountain green, middle green, and engine green.
Light chocolate was called dark maroon, red lake, metallic brown, and in one case the sample given of burnt sienna was almost identical.
Olive green was called also sage green, deep olive green, and Quaker green.
Dark green was called also medium green, Brunswick green, middle green, and deep coach green.
Moss green some manufacturers evidently thought was the same thing as bronze green.
Pea green was called also sea green and eau de Nil.
Ivy green was called bronze green, sage green, Quaker green, olive green.
Slate was called also Quaker blue and dark lead.
Pearl gray was called also light gray.
Lilac was called also French gray.
Warm gray was called also deep stone, French gray, and light stone.
Silver gray was called also lavender.
Steel gray was called French gray in several instances, but we prefer to use the other term, as it appears to be nearer to what is usually known in this country as a French gray, that is one which has a touch of red and blue in it.
Another instance of the variation in the names of these colours is shown by light stone, which one would think was sufficiently well known to remove any doubt about it, but this was called smoke gray, French gray, and dove.
Middle stone was called also light drab.
Dark oak was called also dark drab and yellow bronze green.
Light drab was called also middle drab and doe colour.
Sandstone was called also dark stone.
Dove colour was called also deep stone.
Stone colour was called also ecru and light stone.
Colonial yellow was called also straw, light stone, and deep Naples yellow.
Buff in one case was called yellow ochre.
MEDIUM OAK | DEEP CREAM |
LIGHT OAK AND BIRCH | ROSE |
DARK OAK | SIGNAL RED |
POLLARD OAK | DARK SAGE |
PITCH PINE | SAP GREEN |
ROSEWOOD AND MAHOGANY | LIGHT BLUE |
LIGHT MAHOGANY | AMBER BROWN |
WALNUT | SKY BLUE |
GRAINING GROUNDS
Cream was called Manilla, light stone and deep deck.
Primrose yellow was called also mustard yellow, canary and straw colour.
Straw was called also Naples yellow and deep Naples yellow.
Deep cream was called also cream and lemon.
Fawn brown was called light drab and light lava.
Smoke colour was called rustic drab and drab.
Deep drab was called also dark stone, light drab, dark drab and fawn; one sample of raw Turkey umber was almost identical.
Dark drab was given also as dark lava and middle drab.
Dark oak was called also copper brown, light oak, and Imperial brown, whilst in one case a sample of dark ochre was almost identical.
Snuff brown was called also light brown, sepia, dark ochre, umber brown and Arabian brown.
Sienna brown was called also teak brown, coffee brown, deep Indian red and terra cotta.
Amber brown was called also bison brown, sepia, and dark oak.
Autumn leaf was called also leather lake, mast colour, middle oak, old gold, and light fawn.
Signal red was called also vermilion, geranium red and poppy red.
Moss gray was called also silver gray.
Acorn brown was called also umber, dark oak, dark brown, light brown, dark Indian brown, chestnut brown, middle chocolate and Portland brown.
With the above instances before him the reader will not, we think, take any exception to the names we have chosen for our sample colour. The same is true concerning the instructions for colour admixture. If a reader makes a mixture according to those instructions and finds the result disappointing, the reason will probably be that his conception of the particular colour differs from that of the author. And it should be mentioned again, here, that every one of the mixtures have been made in oil colours, checked and checked again.
For many years past efforts have been made by scientists and others to formulate a permanent nomenclature for colours, tints, shades, and hues, but it cannot be said that so far any success has been met with. Should the efforts made prove ultimately successful, there is no doubt it would be a great boon to decorators, painters, and others; for example, if a decorator wanted to order from his manufacturer a certain tint of colour, all he would have to do would be to send in the name. Prang, of Boston, in his work, “The Standard of Colour,” endeavoured to systematise the subject, and he did this in the following manner. He produced sheets of colour divided up into several thousand squares. On the first sheet at the top was the spectrum of pure colours divided up, and beneath this similar squares with similar colours, to which had been added a small portion of white. The line below this was the same again with more white added, and so on till the bottom of the sheet was reached, when the colours were greatly reduced by the while, the tints being naturally very light ones. The second sheet was exactly the same as the first, but a small portion of black had been added to all of the colours and tints. The third sheet was the same thing again, with more black added, and the fourth sheet more black still, and so on to the end of the work. The colours were distinguished with letters, and the lines indicated the amount of white added by numbers. To anyone who possessed a copy of the work it would be a comparatively easy matter to order any colour from the book by number and letter, but the reader will readily perceive that this work falls short of the requirements of practical decorators, inasmuch as it does not provide for the admixture of different colours, but only those which are in the spectrum. It is true enough that all colours are as a matter of fact included in the spectrum, but it is not so easy a matter to separate them for practical purposes.