Theory of Colours — trans. Charles Lock Eastlake (1840)
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[6] A Latin translation of Aristotle's Treatise on Colours, with comments by Simon Portius, was first published, according to Goethe, at Naples in 1537. In a later Florentine edition, 1548, dedicated to Cosmo I., Portius alludes to his having lectured at an earlier period in Florence on the doctrines of Aristotle, at which time he translated the treatise in question. Another Latin translation, with notes, was published later in the same century at Padua--"Emanuele Marguino Interprete:" but by far the clearest view of the Aristotelian theory is to be found in the treatise of Antonio Vidi Scarmiglione of Fuligno ("De Coloribus," Marpurgi, 1591). It is dedicated to the Emperor Rudolph II. Of all the paraphrases of the ancient doctrine this comes nearest to the system of Goethe; but neither this nor any other of the works alluded to throughout this Note are mentioned by the author in his History of the Doctrine of Colours, except that of Portius.
[7] An earlier Italian translation appeared in Rome, 1535. See
"Argelatus Biblioteca degli Volgarizzatori."
[8] "Della Pittura e della Statua," Lib. I, p. 16, Milan edition, 1804. Compare with the "Trattato della Pittura," p. 141. Other points of resemblance are to be met with. The notion of certain colours appropriated to the four elements, occurs in Aristotle, and is indeed attributed to older writers.
[9] See the notes to the Roman edition of the "Trattato della Pittura."
[10] Page 237.
[11] Page 301.
[12] In the Treatise _De Igne_, by Theophrastus, we find the same notion thus expressed: "Brightness (_τὸ λευκὸν_) seen through a dark coloured medium (_διὰ του μέλανος_) appears red; as the sun seen through smoke or soot: hence the coal is redder than the flame." Scarmiglione, from whom Kircher seems to have copied, observes:--"Itaque color realis est lux opaca; licet id e plurimis apparentiis colligere. Luna enim in magnâ solis eclipsi rubra conspicitur, quia tenebris lux præpeditur ac veluti tegitur."--_De Coloribus_.
[13] Page 122.
[14] _Τὰ ἂνθη_: translated _flores_ by Calcagnini and the rest, by Goethe, _die Blüthe_, the bloom. That the word sometimes signified pigments is sufficiently apparent from the following passage of Suidas (quoted by Emeric David, "Discours Historiques sur la Peinture Moderne") _ἂνθεσι κεκοσμημέναι, οἶον ψιμμιωίῳ φύκει καὶ τοῖς ὸμοίοις_. Variis pigmentis ornatæ, ut cerussâ, fuco, et aliis similibus. (Suid. in voc. _Ἐξμηθισμένας_.) A panel prepared for painting, with a white ground consolidated with wax, and perhaps mastic, was found in Herculaneum.
[15] Page 114.
[16] _Ἐν βάθει δὲ θεωρουμίνου ιγγυτάτω φαίνεται τῶ χρώματι κυανονοειδὴς διὰ τὴν ὰραιότητα._ "But when seen in depth, it appears (even) in its nearest colour, blue, owing to its thinness." The Latin interpretations vary very much throughout. The point which is chiefly important is however plain enough, viz. that darkness seen through a light medium is blue.
[17] Page 136-430.
[18] Page 121, 306, 326, 387.
[19] Page 306.
[20] Page 104, 369.
[21] Page 236, 260, 328.
[22] "De' semplici colori il primo è il bianco: beuchè i filosofi non
accettano nè il bianco nè il nero nel numero de' colori."--p. 125, 141.
Elsewhere, however, he sometimes adopts the received opinion.
[23] Leon Battista Alberti, in like manner observes:--"Affermano (i filosofi) che le spezie de' colori sono sette, cioè, che il bianco ed il nero sono i duoi estremi, infra i quali ve n'è uno nel mezzo (rosso) e che infra ciascuno di questi duoi estremi e quel del mezzo, da ogni parte ve ne sono due altri." An absurd statement of Lomazzo, p. 190, is copied verbatim from Lodovico Dolce (Somma della Filos. d'Arist.); but elsewhere, p. 306, Lomazzo agrees with Alberti. Aristotle seems to have misled the two first, for after saying there are seven colours, he appears only to mention six: he says--"There are seven colours, if brown is to be considered equivalent to black, which seems reasonable. Yellow, again, may be said to be a modification of white. Between these we find red, purple, green, and blue."--_De Sensu et Sensili_. Perhaps it is in accordance with this passage that Leonardo da Vinci reckons eight colours.--_Trattato_, p. 126.
[24] Page 122, 142, 237.
[25] On the authority of this explanation the word μιλάν has sometimes been translated in the foregoing extracts _obscurity, darkness_.