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

by George Field

It is the archeus, or prime colour, of the tertiary citrine; characterises in like manner the endless number of semi-neutral colours called brown, and enters largely into the complex hues termed buff, bay, tawny, tan, dan, dun, drab, chestnut, roan, sorrel, hazel, auburn, isabela, fawn, feuillemort, &c. Yellow is naturally associated with red in transient and prismatic colours, and is the principal power with it in representing the effects of warmth, heat, and fire. Combined with the primary blue, yellow furnishes all the variety of the secondary green, as well as, subordinately, the tertiaries russet and olive. It also enters in a very subdued degree into cool, semi-neutral, and broken colours, and assists in minor proportion with blue and red in the composition of black.

As a pigment, yellow is a tender delicate colour, easily defiled, when pure, by other colours. In painting it diminishes the power of the eye by its action in a strong light, at the same time becoming less distinct as a colour; while, on the contrary, it assists vision and becomes more distinct as a colour in a neutral somewhat declining light. These powers of colours upon vision require the particular attention of the colourist. To remedy the ill effect arising from the eyes having dwelt upon a colour, they should be either passed gradually to its opposite colour, and refreshed amid compound or neutral tints, or washed in the clear light of day. Hence, in viewing large collections of pictures, their colours will be more duly estimated by sometimes walking to the window, or by taking an occasional glance at a millboard, which may be carried in the hand, painted a cool gray.

In a warm light, yellow becomes totally lost, but is less diminished than all other colours, except white, by distance. The stronger tones of any colour subdue its fainter hues in the same proportion as opposite colours and contrasts exalt them. The contrasting colours of yellow are a purple inclining to blue when the yellow leans to orange, and a purple inclining to red when the yellow tends to green, in the mean proportions of thirteen purple to three yellow, measured in surface or intensity. Being nearest to the neutral white in the natural scale of colours, yellow accords with it in conjunction; while, of all colours, except white, it contrasts black most powerfully. Yellow is discordant when standing alone with orange, unsupported by other colours.

On account of the paucity of fine yellows among the ancients, we find that in many paintings and beautiful illuminated MSS. of old, glowing with vermilion and ultramarine, the place of yellow was supplied by gilding. Now, certainly, no such scarcity exists; of the three primary colours, good yellows being the most numerous. It may be observed of yellow pigments that their colour being primary and therefore simple, they cannot be composed by any mixture of other colours. The same remark of course applies to pigments which are red or blue.

20. AUREOLIN.

In these days a new pigment soon finds its level, standing or falling according to its merits. There are too many colours already on the palette for a fresh comer to have much chance, unless it possess some great distinguishing quality, or can take a place which has never been occupied. Such a void aureolin fills. This "magnificent yellow pigment," says the Chemical News, "supplies a desideratum hitherto in vain sought for by artists. It is the nearest approach to a perfect yellow in existence, and more closely resembles the purity of the prismatic spectrum than any other artificial colour. It is transparent, has great brilliancy and richness, both pure and in combination, and is very permanent, being entirely unaffected by exposure to sulphuretted hydrogen and other atmospheric impurities, or to the direct rays of the sun during an entire summer. Aureolin, with ultramarine and madder red, completes the triad of brilliant, permanent, and transparent primitive colours." The above only tallies with the statements of several scientific chemists and artists of note, statements which a prolonged personal experience of the colour enables us to endorse. To our knowledge, aureolin is quite uninjured by the severest tests to which a pigment can be subjected. We have found it bear with impunity, even in its lightest and faintest tints, the foulest gas and the brightest sunshine. Damp has no effect upon it; and in oil, water, or fresco, it is equally eligible. With all other colours aureolin mixes safely and readily, forming combinations of the utmost variety and value. It affords beautiful transparent tints, well defined, and of exceeding purity; the paler washes being at once clear and delicate, and admitting the most subtle gradations of tone. The artistic properties of aureolin, however, will be best described by quoting the following extract from Mr. Aaron Penley's English School of Painting in Water Colours:—

"I have fully tested the qualifications of Aureolin for the Landscape Painter, and, without hesitation, pronounce it to be the most valuable addition to the 'colour box' since the introduction of Rose Madder. It has supplied a deficiency of a very important character. Hitherto, no Primitive Yellow has been quite satisfactory as to its persistence; so that the Aureolin will not only be regarded by the artist as a great boon in the production of his works, but it must also be considered as a real and lasting benefit to pictorial art in general. The permanence and unaltered purity of its lightest and faintest tints we are assured may be confidently relied upon, inasmuch as they have been fully established by the most severe tests to which colour can be subjected, by several of our ablest and most talented chemists. It is, therefore, needless to enlarge upon its merits, other than that I, for one, feel grateful for its introduction. Its uses are manifold, and may be considered available for every purpose requiring a Yellow of its character. As to Gray—perhaps it is not possible to obtain more delicately pure and transparent aërial tints than are to be produced from a combination of Cobalt, Rose Madder and Aureolin; all of which are of a light description and well suited for the representation of soft and thin effects of the atmosphere. These colours are each of them beautiful, and yield a most exquisite range of tones, which, as they mix together most kindly, render them desirable where purity and delicacy are sought. As to Foliage.—In speaking of Aureolin as adapted for the colouring of foliage and herbage, it is impossible to say too much in its praise. It imparts the vividness and freshness of nature to every colour with which it is combined—a quality of the highest order. As a colour for drapery it has no equal, and may be employed with perfect success, either by itself or with any of the other pigments.

"The following table of compound tints will be found extremely useful:—

Aureolin.	Aureolin.	Aureolin.	Aureolin.
Burnt Sienna.	Vandyke Brown.	Sepia.	Sepia, or Rose Madder.
Indigo, or French Blue.	Indigo, or French Blue.		Cobalt.
Aureolin.	Aureolin.	Aureolin.	Aureolin.
Indigo.	Oxide of Chromium.	Emerald Green.	Light Red.
			Cobalt, or Indigo.
Aureolin.	Aureolin.	Aureolin.	Aureolin.
Burnt Sienna.	Burnt Umber.	Brown Madder.	Rose Madder.

"Aureolin, in combination with Cobalt and Sepia, or Rose Madder, gives most agreeable and delicate tints for distant trees, when under the influence of a soft light, or hazy state of the atmosphere. Having most impartially and diligently tested the qualities of the Aureolin, I can and do most conscientiously recommend its adoption by all who practise water-colour painting."