Page:An Elementary History of Art.djvu/329

 Colour. 301 and blue, green; red and blue, violet or indigo, according to the quantities of each ingredient. The tertiary colours are those fine shades obtained by mingling two or more of the secondary ones. The complementary colour of any given shade or tint is that which will have to be added to it to produce white. The ancients added black, or total absence of light, white, or fulness of light, and half-tints to the three primary colours. Contrast of colour is of great importance in heightening in a picture the force of the colours contrasted ; any two of the primary colours are good contrasts to each other. Harmony of colour is the preservation of the same character of colouring in the whole of a picture : to retain it, without producing monotony, requires the greatest skill. The greatest colourists N were Titian, Tintoretto, Giorgione, Correggio, Paolo Veronese, Rubens, and Van Dyck. The tone of a picture is the general quality of shadow, of light, or of colour prevailing throughout an entire pic- ture. The phrase a " high " or a " low " tone are used to express either a forcible or a subdued rendering of these qualities. III. Composition. Composition is the assembling together of the different objects to be represented in the picture in such a manner that they shall combine to produce a harmonious impression on the eye as a whole, and shall each engage a suitable share of attention. The terms foregro un d, middle distance, and background have been given, the first to the portion of a picture nearest to the spectator, the second to that somewhat removed from him, and the third to that farthest off.