I have re-immersed myself in the Journal of Eugene Delacroix. This work has always been a part of my aesthetic inquiry since I first delved into it as a student. Unfortunately, many of his color notes on his paintings are missing from the English translation of the Journal and the complete Journal is in French only after all this time. But there are still some color notes in the Phaidon edition that are worth exploring.
This past week, I have been experimenting with the palette that Delacroix used on the Apollo Ceiling in the Louvre. This is really a masterpiece and exhibits all of those qualities that Delacroix pushed himself to achieve- mastery of color; the suppression of details; and a largeness of effect. In the journal he lays out his process of laying in the color on the Venus, the children and the Nymph. All of the colors of the palette are inter-related between the various figures. It is not a simple palette by far yet it is one where Delacroix expends his energy achieving form through the use of a wide range of color temperature. Color temperature more than a change in value allows the forms to be felt. Therefore he expresses this color temperature change in very subtle ways. One way that he achieves this is by mixing a key color, such as violet, and creating that mixture in three different intensities with three different blues but using the same red-orange. So the red-orange ties the three different blues together. Here is an example of the violet with three different hues, in three intensities moving toward a near neutral:
Prussian Blue + Vermilion = violet (this carries the highest intensity)
Cobalt Blue + Vermilion= violet ( slightly less intense and more towards a deep violet brown)
Cassel Earth + Vermilion= violet (least intense- nuetral)
Delacroix often spoke to the colorist, Michel-Eugene Chevreul and through these conversations about color, Delacroix came to understand the idea of “simultaneous contrast of colors“. He notes in his journal how he observed this phenomena in nature and how he began to apply it in his painting. In the figure of the “Nymph”, Delacroix applies this idea of contrast in a very subtle and modern way.
Delacroix develops a palette that is much like Robert Henri’s. Both developed the subtle contrast between tertiaries such as OY to BV or a contrast of near complements such as OY to V. But what is different about the two artist is that Henri strove for an underlying unity and simplicity of color through a palette based on sets of triads whereas, Delacroix strove for diversity of hue held in balance by complements or near complements. So this combined with a hierarchy of intensity allows Delacroix a full range of color temperature on which to model the figure. As Delacroix paints more and more murals, which require a composition to have less contrast and lighter values but a more compelling sense of color, this becomes his primary mode of working.
Here is Delacroix’s Palette:
Vermillion Cadmuim Yellow (or Antimony) Naples Yellow(this was only used with a Viridian mix) Viridian Prussian Blue Cobalt Blue Cassel Earth White
These are the mixes he describes:
Lay-in of the Flesh:
Vermilion + White; Cadmuim Yellow + white; to these mixes is added Viridian+ Naples yellow +white; so one achieves an orange flesh color that is slightly neutralized by a yellow green.
He then creates a series of violets in several states of neutralization:
Prussian blue + vermilion: This is the primary violet he uses and it is mixed into the shadow area to cool it off
Cobalt+ vermilion: This is used for cast shadows and to render the drawing at the end
Cassel earth + vermilion (this is the most nuetralized): This is used along the dark shadow edge
Vermilion + white: This is thickly applied to the brightest lights
Cadmium yellow + white: Highlight
Viridian + naples + white: green half-tones
Prussian blue + vermilion +white: cool blue half-tones; This combination is also used as a glaze over the shadow side to unify it and also before applying the reflected lights
Vermilion + Cadmium yellow + white: a darker value used for the reflected light. The viridian + naples can also be added here
I found these combinations produced very surprising results that were colorful yet unified. I also found that the violets did not compete against one another and that the subtle variations between the blues added variety within the shadow area that might have otherwise appeared to unified. I also found that the constant juxtaposition of the warms and cools added a sinctillating effect. I also found that the yellow highlight worked exceptionally well in areas where the violet predominated. Delacroix took this technique from Rubens who used it constantly, although he could not identify why since one is apt to make the highlight violet.
Experimenting with color combinations is a practice that I use to enhance my feeling for color as well as my sense of color memory. With such a practice, whether it has a practical side or not, allows one to develop a heightened sensitivity to color increasing one’s awareness to color in the natural world. But more importantly, I am drawn to color and am fascinated by the effects of juxtaposed combinations. Delacroix states that color is the most important factor in painting because it affects the viewer immediately and unconsciously before the subject itself is understood. It is the musical quality of paint.
