White And Pure Black; The Grays Known To The Palette As Mineral Grey

: ON THE NEUTRAL, BLACK.

and Payne's Grey having been incorrectly named. Practically, the nearest

approach to a normal grey is furnished by Black Lead, which forms grey

tints of greater permanence and purity than the blacks in general use,

and is now employed for this purpose with approved satisfaction by

experienced artists.



Being compounded of white and black, grey partakes in some measure of

the qualities of both those colours
-for colours, as a matter of

convenience, they must be called; although white is often spoken of as

no colour, and black as the complete extinction of all colour. With

white predominant, grey is used, pure or coloured, for the general

lights of a picture; just as, with black predominant, grey is employed,

pure or coloured, for the shades. It helps to subdue the absolute white,

and to make the absolute black conspicuous. Black and white are in some

respects complementary to each other, and when in contact, appear to

differ more from each other than when viewed separately: both show with

best effect when harmonised by a medium of grey, normal or otherwise.

The primary colours, also, gain in brilliancy and purity by the

proximity of grey. With dark colours, such as blue and violet, and deep

tones in general, grey forms assortments of analogous harmonies; while

with the luminous colours, such as red, orange, yellow, and the light

tints of green, it forms harmonies of contrast. Although grey never

produces a bad effect in its assortments with two luminous colours, in

most cases the association is dull and inferior to black and white. The

only instance in which grey associates with two such colours more

happily than white is that with red and orange. Grey is inferior to both

white and black with red and green, red and yellow, orange and yellow,

orange and green, yellow and green; and is not so good as white with

yellow and blue. In association with sombre colours, such as blue and

violet, and with broken tones of luminous colours, grey gives rise to

harmonies of analogy which have not the vigour of those with white; but

if the colours do not combine well together, it has the advantage of

separating them from each other. Associated with two colours, one

sombre, the other luminous, grey will perhaps be better than white, if

white produces too strong a contrast of tone: on the other hand, grey

will be preferable to black, if that has the inconvenience of increasing

too much the proportion of sombre colours. Grey associates more happily

than black with orange and violet, green and blue, or green and violet.



TTITLE MIXED GREY.



When a ray of solar light (a sunbeam) is passed through a prism of flint

glass, and the image or 'prismatic spectrum' received upon a screen of

white paper, it is found to consist of numerous rays of different

colours, which are conveniently divided into six groups--red, orange,

yellow, green, blue, violet. Optically, the union of red, yellow, and

blue, in proper proportions, constitutes white light; whether the rays

of the three separate colours are mixed, or of one with the other two in

combination: the same result ensues when red is mixed with green as if

it were mixed with blue and yellow, because green is composed of blue

and yellow. Consequently, any primary mixed with a secondary composed of

the other two primaries, forms the complement of rays necessary to

constitute or make up white light, and vice versa.



There is, however, a very great difference between the results arising

from the mixture of the pure coloured rays of the spectrum, and those

from material colours or pigments. When, by means of a convex lens, we

reunite the coloured rays of the spectrum white light is reproduced; but

when we mix coloured materials, blues, yellows, and reds, the compound

is never white, but grey or black; even if these coloured pigments are

taken in the exact proportions in which their colours exist in the

spectrum. Ultramarine, our purest blue, reflects red rays as well as

blue rays; aureolin, our purest yellow, reflects blue as well as yellow

rays; and carmine reflects yellow as well as red rays. Now whenever the

third primary colour is present in any mixture of coloured materials, it

tends to form grey, by mixing with a sufficient quantity of the other

coloured rays to neutralize it, and the presence of this grey breaks or

tarnishes the pure colour. Hence it is that to obtain a pure green, a

blue should be taken tinged with yellow rather than with red, and a

yellow tinged with blue: if there were chosen either a blue or a yellow

tinged with red, this latter colour would go to form some grey in the

compound, which would tarnish the green. In like manner, to produce pure

orange, neither the red nor the yellow must contain blue; and similarly

with pure purple, neither the blue nor red should contain yellow.



As regards pigments, then, a proper mixture of yellow, red, and blue; or

of yellow and purple, red and green, or blue and orange; or of orange,

green, and purple, affords black if sufficiently intense, and grey if

sufficiently diluted. The black may be rendered grey by spreading a thin

wash over a white ground, or by the direct addition of white. It must be

remembered, however, that suitable proportions of the component colours

are essential. When all three of the primaries, for example, are mixed

together, colour is neutralised according as they are compounded of

equal strength and in right quantities: if proper proportions are

observed, pure black or normal grey results; but if not, there will be

produced a coloured black or a coloured grey, an excess of one or two of

the primaries giving rise to brown, marrone, or gray.



A reference to the lists of permanent primary and secondary pigments

will show to what extent durable greys can be compounded. As these

pigments differ so widely in hue and other properties, no fixed rules

can be given for their admixture: to ensure neutrality, practice and a

correct eye are indispensable. Without perfect neutrality, difficult to

attain and rarely to be met with, grey ceases to exist. In pure white,

pure grey, and pure black, colour is, so to speak, conspicuous by its

absence.










TTITLE NEUTRAL BLACK



Black is the last and lowest in the series or scale of colours

descending--the opposite extreme from white--the maximum of colour. To

be perfect, it must be neutral with respect to colours individually, and

absolutely transparent, or destitute of reflective power as regards

light; its use in painting being to represent shade or depths, of which

black is the element in a picture and in colours, as white is of light.



As there is no perfectly pure and transparent black pigment, black

deteriorates all colours in deepening them, as it does warm colours by

partially neutralizing them, but it combines less injuriously with cold

colours. Though black is the antagonist of white, yet added to it in

minute portion, it in general renders white more neutral, solid, and

local, with less of the character of light. Impure black is brown, but

black in its purity is a cold colour, and communicates a coolness to all



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