| Tonic. | Supertonic. | Mediant. | Subdominant. | Dominant. | Submediant. | Subtonic. | Semi-Subtonic. | Tonic. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I. | (¹⁄₂) | (⁴⁄₉) | (²⁄₅) | (³⁄₈) | (¹⁄₃) | (³⁄₁₀) | (²⁄₇) | (⁴⁄₁₅) | (¹⁄₄) |
| Yellow. | Yellow-orange. | Orange. | Red-orange. | Red. | Red-purple. | Purple. | Blue-purple. | Blue. | |
| II. | (¹⁄₄) | (²⁄₉) | (¹⁄₅) | (³⁄₁₆) | (¹⁄₆) | (³⁄₂₀) | (¹⁄₇) | (²⁄₁₅) | (¹⁄₈) |
| Purple. | Blue-purple hue. | Blue hue. | Blue-green hue. | Green. | Yellow-green hue. | Yellow hue. | Yellow-orange hue. | Orange. | |
| III. | (¹⁄₈) | (¹⁄₉) | (¹⁄₁₀) | (³⁄₃₂) | (¹⁄₁₂) | (³⁄₄₀) | (¹⁄₁₄) | (¹⁄₁₅) | (¹⁄₁₆) |
| Yellow hue. | Yellow-orange hue. | Orange hue. | Red-orange hue. | Red hue. | Red-purple hue. | Purple hue. | Blue-purple hue. | Blue hue. | |
| IV. | (¹⁄₁₆) | (¹⁄₁₈) | (¹⁄₂₀) | (³⁄₆₄) | (¹⁄₂₄) | (³⁄₈₀) | (¹⁄₂₈) | (¹⁄₃₀) | (¹⁄₃₂) |
| Purple hue. | Blue-purple-toned gray. | Blue-toned gray. | Blue-green-toned gray. | Green hue. | Yellow-green-toned gray. | Yellow-toned gray. | Yellow-orange-toned gray. | Orange hue. | |
| V. | (¹⁄₃₂) | (¹⁄₃₆) | (¹⁄₄₀) | (³⁄₁₂₈) | (¹⁄₄₈) | (³⁄₁₆₀) | (¹⁄₅₆) | (¹⁄₆₀) | (¹⁄₆₄) |
| Yellow-toned gray. | Yellow-orange-toned gray. | Orange-toned gray. | Red-orange-toned gray. | Red-toned gray. | Red-purple-toned gray. | Purple-toned gray. | Blue-green-toned gray. | Blue-toned gray. |
Should I be correct in arranging colours upon scales identical with those upon which musical notes have been arranged, and in assuming that colours have the same ratios to each other, in respect to their harmonic power upon the eye, which musical notes have in respect to their harmonic power upon the ear, the colourist may yet be enabled to impart harmonic beauty to his works with as much certainty and ease, as the musician imparts the same quality to his compositions: for the colourist has no more right to trust exclusively to his eye in the arrangement of colours, than the musician has to trust exclusively to his ear in the arrangement of sounds.
We find, in comparing the dominant parts in the first and second scales of the second series, that they are equal as to light and shade, so that their relative powers of contrast depend entirely upon colour. Hence it is that red and green are the two colours, the difference between which the colour-blind are least able to appreciate. Professor George Wilson, in his excellent work, “Researches on Colour-Blindness,” mentions the case of an engraver, which proves the power of the eye in being able to appreciate these original constituents of colour, irrespective of the intermediate phenomenon of tone. This engraver, instead of expressing regret on account of his being colour-blind, observed to the professor, “My defective vision is, to a certain extent, a useful and valuable quality. Thus, an engraver has two negatives to deal with, i.e., white and black. Now, when I look at a picture, I see it only in white and black, or light and shade, or, as artists term it, the effect. I find at times many of my brother engravers in doubt how to translate certain colours of pictures, which to me are matters of decided certainty and ease. Thus to me it is valuable.”
The colour-blind are therefore as incapable of receiving pleasure from the harmonious union of various colours, as those who, to use a common term, have no ear for music, are of being gratified by the “melody of sweet sounds.”
The generality of mankind are, however, capable of appreciating the harmony of colour which, like that of both sound and form, arises from the simultaneous exhibition of opposite principles having a ratio to each other. These principles are in continual operation throughout nature, and from them we often derive pleasure without being conscious of the cause. All who are not colour-blind must have felt themselves struck with the harmonic beauty of a cloudless sky, although in it there is no configuration, and at first sight apparently but one colour. Now, as we know that there can be no more impression of harmony made upon the mind by looking upon a single colour, than there could be by listening to a single continued musical note, however sweet its tone, we are apt at first to imagine that the organ of vision has, in some measure, conveyed a false impression to the mind. But it has not done so; for light, when reflected from the atmosphere, produces those cool tones of blue, gray, and purple, which seem to clothe the distant mountains; but, when transmitted through the same atmosphere, it produces those numerous warm tints, the most intense of which give the gorgeous effects which so often accompany the setting sun. We have, therefore, in the upper part of a clear sky, where the atmosphere may be said to be illuminated principally by reflection from the surface of the earth, a comparatively cool tone of blue, the result of reflection, which gradually blends into the warm tints, the result of transmission through the same atmosphere. Such a composition of harmonious colouring is to the eye what the voice of the soft breath of summer amongst the trees, the hum of insects on a sultry day, or the simple harmony of the Æolian harp, is to the ear. To such a composition of chromatic harmony must also be referred the universal concurrence of mankind in appreciating the peculiar beauty of white marble statuary. That the principal constituent of beauty in such works ought to be harmony of form, no one will deny; but this is not the only element, as appears from the fact, that a cast in plaster of Paris, of a fine white marble statue, although identical in form, is far less beautiful than the original. Now this undoubtedly must be the consequence of its having been changed from a semi-translucent substance, which, like the atmosphere, can transmit as well as reflect light, to an opaque substance, which can only reflect it. Thus the opposite principles of chromatic warmth and coolness are equally balanced in white marble—the one being the natural result of the partial transmission of light, and the other that of its reflection.
As a series of coloured illustrations would be beyond the scope of this résumé, I may refer those who wish to prosecute the inquiry, with the assistance of such a series, to my published works upon the subject.[24]
THE SCIENCE OF BEAUTY, APPLIED TO THE FORMS AND PROPORTIONS OF ANCIENT GRECIAN VASES AND ORNAMENTS.
In examining the remains of the ornamental works of the ancient Greek artists, it appears highly probable that the harmony of their proportions and melody of their contour are equally the result of a systematised application of the same harmonic law. This probability not being fully elucidated in any of my former works, I will require to go into some detail on the present occasion. I take for my first illustration an unexceptionable example, viz.:—