Or French Veronese Green Is A Comparatively Recent Introduction

: ON THE SECONDARY, GREEN.

similar in colour and general properties to the following; beside which,

however, it appears dull, muddy, and impure. It is often adulterated

with arsenic to an enormous extent, which interferes with its

transparency, mars its beauty, and renders it of course rankly

poisonous.



TTITLE VIRIDIAN



is a still later addition to the palette, and the only permanent green

which can be des ribed as gorgeous, being not unlike the richest velvet.

Pure and clear as the emerald, it may be called the Prussian Blue of

Greens, of such richness, depth, and transparency is it. In hue of a

bluish-green, its deepest shades verge on black, while its light tints

are marked by transparent clearness unsurpassed. No compound of blue and

yellow will afford a green at once so beautiful and stable, so gifted

with the quality of light, and therefore so suited for aerial and liquid

effects. Used with aureolin, it gives foliage greens sparkling with

sunshine; and, fitly compounded, will be found invaluable for the glassy

liquidity of seas, in painting which it becomes incumbent to employ

pigments more or less transparent. "The general failing in the

representation of the sea is, that instead of appearing liquid and thin,

it is made to bear the semblance of opacity and solidity. In order to

convey the idea of transparency, some object is often placed floating on

the wave, so as to give reflection; and it is strange that we find our

greatest men having recourse to this stratagem. To say it is not true in

all cases, is saying too much; but this we do assert, that as a general

principle it is quite false, and we prove it in this way: water has its

motion, more or less, from the power of the wind; it is acted upon in

the mass, and thus divided into separate waves, and these individually

have their surface ruffled, which renders them incapable of receiving

reflection. The exception to this will be, where the heaving of the sea

is the result of some gone-by storm, when the wind is hushed, and the

surface becomes bright and glassy. In this state, reflections are

distinctly seen. Another exception will be in the hollow portion of the

waves, as they curl over, and dash upon the shore."



As viridian, like the sea, is naturally "liquid and thin, bright and

glassy," the extract we have quoted from Mr. Penley, points to this

green as a pigment peculiarly adapted for marine painting; in which, it

may be added, its perfect permanence and transparency will be

appreciated in glazing. Its fitness for foliage has been remarked; but

in draperies the colour will prove equally useful, and in illumination

will be found unrivalled. In the last branch of art, indeed, viridian

stands alone, not only through its soft rich brilliancy, but by the

glowing contrast it presents with other colours: employed as a ground,

it throws up the reds, &c., opposed to it, in a marvellous manner. Like

the three preceding oxides of chromium, viridian neither injures nor is

injured by other pigments; is unaffected by light, damp, or impure air;

and is admissible in fresco. In enamelling it cannot be used; the

colour, depending on the water of hydration, being destroyed by a strong

heat.





TTITLE COPPER GREENS