Turner: An Early Experiment with Colour Theory

Author(s): Gerald E. Finley

Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 30 (1967), pp. 357-366
Published by: The Warburg Institute
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TURNER:

AN EARLY EXPERIMENT
COLOUR THEORY1

WITH

By Gerald E. Finley

Few investigations

have been made on the use of colour in English painting

of the early nineteenth century and especially in the work of J. M. W.
Turner. In the following account, I wish first to indicate that theoretical
ideas based on optics, which had specific reference to artists' colours, were
developing in England during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. Second, I should like to suggest that Turner was aware of these
theoretical developments. Moreover, I shall try to demonstrate that he
attempted to apply these concepts in watercolours twenty years before becoming interested in the practical application of ideas contained in Goethe's
Farbenlehre.2
Newton's Optickswas first published in 1704 in English, and its publication
brought a new awareness of colour in nature. Newton discovered that colours
produced by directing a beam of white light through a prism were not in
fact created by the prism, but were actually components of ordinary daylight.
He verified this by recombining the rays producing these colours to recreate
the original white light.3 Newton believed there were seven primary colours
constituting the spectrum; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
By then selecting what is in fact an arbitrary choice of hues, he related them
to the seven tones of the musical scale,4 perhaps implying a harmony of colour
existing in nature. Moreover, by attempting to compound white by mixing
material colours 'which Painters use' (he actually produced grey), Newton
was equating the physical qualities of light with those of pigments. Although
he was wrong in assuming that the qualities of light were the same as those of
pigments, he implied the possibility of applying certain aspects of optical
theory to painting.5
In the later eighteenth century, Newtonian optics had considerable
1 The conclusions arrived at by Mr.
Lawrence Gowing in his Turner: Imagination
and Reality, New York 1966, were reached
by this writer and
quite independently
submitted as part of a doctoral thesis to The
Johns Hopkins University in 1965. I wish
to express my gratitude to Dr. Christopher
Gray and Mr. J. D. Stewart, both of whom
made valuable suggestions during the preparation of this article. The material here
presented will form part of a larger study on
the influence of optical theory on English
painting during the late i8th and early I9th
centuries.
2 The
Farbenlehre, originally published in
1810, was translated into English in 1840
(Theory of Colours, trans. C. L. Eastlake,
London 1840). Turner owned and annotated a copy of the translation.
Its

contents inspired two paintings exhibited at

the Royal Academy in 1843, now at the

Tate Gallery, Light and Colour, (Goethe's

Theory)and Shadeand Darkness: The Evening
of theDeluge. See the catalogue, TheRomantic
Movement,London 1959, pp. 227-28.
* Sir Isaac Newton,
Opticks,or a Treatiseon
the Reflections,Refractions,Inflections& Colours
of Light (hereafter Opticks),4th ed., London
173o, Bk. i, Pt. ii, Prop. v, Theor. iv. Esp.
Exper. 10, p. ii8.
* Ibid., Bk. i, Pt. ii,
Prop. iii, Prob. i,
Exper. 7, pp. Ilo-I 1 and Bk. ii, Pt. iii, Prop.

xvi, p. 259.
6 It was not until the
early
century
that distinctions between the 19th
qualities of
light and those of pigments were generally
realized and accepted.

357

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358

GERALD

E. FINLEY

influence on the vision of the poet, who saw a new world of colour opening
before him.6 The traveller in search of the Picturesque also became very much
aware of the iridescent hues of landscape.7 Therefore, it is not surprisingthat
this new realm of colour should affect ideas applicable to the painter's art.
While Newton's Opticksacted as a stimulant to theories of colour, especially
as Newton had attempted to equate coloured light with pigment, there was
often disagreement with his choice of seven generative hues constitutive of the
light of nature.8 Moses Harris, an artist-naturalist, was one art theorist who
disagreed. In his treatise, Natural Systemof Colours,9first published about
Harris purported to 'display the principles on which are produced,
177o,10
materially, or by the painter's art, all the varieties of colour which can be
formed from Red, Blue and rellow; which three GRAND or PRINCIPAL
COLOURS contain all the hues and teints to be found in the different
objects of nature'.11 Harris, 'having taken nature for his guide' found that two
colour harmonies could be distinguished; first that of 'prismatic' colours,
'admitting no other colour but those shewn in the PRISM', and second that
of 'compound' hues representing 'all the other colours to be found in Nature's
works'.12 These harmonies are illustrated in two colour wheels. The six
major hues of the 'prismatic' wheel are red, orange, yellow, green, blue and
purple, those of the 'compound' wheel, orange, 'olave', green, slate, purple
and brown.
For this investigation, Harris's 'prismatic' wheel (P1. 41a) is of greater
importance. The author observed that the three generative colours, red, yellow
and blue, produce the mediate or secondary hues which lie between the
generative colours, 'for if red and yellow be mixed together they will compose
an orange; and therefore it is placed between the red and yellow: if yellow
and blue are mixed together, green is produced, and accordingly takes its
place between those two colours; and, in like manner, blue and red producing
a purple, the purple must be placed between them'.13 Harris's 'prismatic'
wheel, then, contains six major colours, the three generative, red, yellow and
6 See Marjorie Hope Nicolson, Newton
Demands the Muse, Princeton 1946. This study
has shown the considerable extent to which
Newtonian optics affected the vision of the
poet in the I8th century.
' William
Bingley, travelling in Wales,
noted a scene in which 'the evening clouds
appeared across the end of the lake tinged
with various hues of red and orange from the
refracted rays of the departing sun. These
were reflected in full splendour along the
water.' (Excursions in North Wales, A Tour in
i8oo, 3rd ed., London 1839, p. 124.) John
Stoddart spoke of the hills in Scotland
'brilliantly tinted by the sun-showers, with
the prismatic colours of the rainbow; and
their rugged features, thus softened, appeared
like fairy visions, gleaming through the
.' (Remarks on Local Scenery and
mist
... in Scotland during the Years 1799 and
Manners
I8oo, i, London 180I, p. 286.)

8 See F.
Schmid, 'The Color Circles of
Moses Harris', Art Bulletin (hereafter Art
Bull.), xxx, I948, pp. 227-30.
* Natural
system of colours exhibiting in a
regular, simple and beautiful arrangement the
varieties of teints arising from the Three primitive
colours red, blue and yellow. The manner in
which each is Formed, its Composition. Their
dependenceon each other and Harmonious Connections...
(hereafter Natural System), Ed.
Thomas Martyn, London 1811.
10 Schmid notes that a first edition of this
work 'was published about 1770 (1766 or
1776)' (Art Bull., xxx, 227 n. 14). Thomas
Martyn, in the preface to the I8 I edition,
remarked that the dedication of the first
edition was accepted by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
11
Harris, Natural System, p. I.
12
Ibid., p. 2.
13
Ibid., pp. 4-5.

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TURNER:

COLOUR

THEORY

359

blue, and the three mediate or secondary hues, orange, green and purple,
lacking Newton's seventh colour, indigo.
Harris's 'prismatic' colour wheel had been foreshadowed already by
Newton. By including indigo between blue and violet, Newton had constructed a wheel of seven colours which he felt was proportional to the seven
musical tones. He did this even though the spectrum itself is actually in linear
progression, being neither cyclic nor circular. In Newton's wheel, colours do
not actually oppose each other and, therefore, diagrammatic relationships of
opposing colours beyond their sequential order is not clear.14 In Harris's
colour wheels, hues directly oppose one another, and his diagrams were to
establish the basic form for all subsequent colour wheels.15 Harris was able
to achieve a diagrammatic relationship since his 'prismatic' circle contains
six rather than Newton's seven hues.
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, two new theoretical
approaches to colour harmony can be distinguished, establishing relationships between optics and painting. The first dealt with establishing a harmony
through the prismatic sequences of colour, the second with creating a harmony
by juxtaposing hues that lay opposite one another on the 'prismatic' colour
wheel, as devised by Harris.
The first system was considered in Edward Dayes's treatise on painting.
The author-artist recommended that a sunset should follow the same sequence
of colours that is found in the spectrum.16 In M. Gartside's An Essayon a New
Theoryof Colours,the writer also stated that the 'prismatic order of colours
must in some degree, guide their arrangement in a group, this order must be
In 1817, Benjamin
deranged to suit the order of them in point of
West spoke at the Royal Academy, and the illumination'.17
'Principal point he attempted to
prove was That The Orderof Coloursin a Rainbowis the true arrangement of an
Historical picture'.s8
The second and more important way of producing harmony in painting
was effected by juxtaposing hues which oppose one another as they appear on
Harris's 'prismatic' colour wheel. These are complementary or 'contrasting'
colours as Harris called them; green is opposite red, orange opposes blue, and
purple is opposite yellow. Harris was aware that these complementary hues
could be useful in painting, but was not specific about their value.19
The practical application of complementaries, in so far as the artist was
concerned, is founded on optical theory. Normal mechanical mixture of two
14

Newton, Opticks, Bk. i, Pt. ii, table 3,

fig. 2.
15 F. Schmid, Art Bull., xxx, 227.
16 'Instructions for Drawing and Colouring
in
Landscapes'
(hereafter 'Instructions'),
The Works of the late Edward Dayes, A.R.A.,
ed. E. W. Brayley, London 1805, p. 304.
The colours are listed in cyclic order.
17 An Essay on a New Theoryof Coloursand on
Composition in General illustrated by Coloured
2nd ed., London i8o8, pp. 27-28.
Blots...,
18Joseph Farington, The Farington Diary,
ed. James Grieg, viii, London I922ff., p. 154.
that the 'contrasting
x9 Harris noted

colours' are 'frequently necessary in various

branches of painting..,
for if a contrast is
wanting to any colour or teint, look for the
colour or teint in the system [diagram] and
directly opposite you will find the contrast
wanted; vis. suppose it is required to know
what colour is most opposite, or contrary in
hue, to red; look directly opposite to that
colour in the system; and it will be found to
be green, which is the compound of the two
other primitives: the most contrary to blue is
orange, and opposite to yellow is purple...'
(Harris, Natural System, p. 6).

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360

GERALD

E. FINLEY

colours diminishes the chromatic strength of the resulting compound. However, the same two colours applied in small daubs, side by side, and viewed
at sufficient distance can produce a more brilliant colour effect. The small
daubs reflect rays of the respective hues which mix or coalesce on the retina
to produce what is termed an 'optical mixture'. The brilliance of colour so
attained is especially marked when complementaries are employed, for while
these colours do not actually combine to produce a new hue, they enhance
each other to create a vibrancy unequalled by optical fusion of noncomplementaries.
The physiological power of complementaries was explored in optical
experiments by Count Rumford. In 1794, Rumford read a paper before the
Royal Society concerning experiments which revealed the power of what
he called 'complements' or 'harmonizing colours'. He described an experiment in which a beam of coloured light and a beam of white or colourless
light of equal intensity arrived 'in different directions, and at equal angles of
incidence at a plane white surface'. Rumford then noted that if a 'solid
opaque body of any kind be placed, in each of these beams of light.., in such
a manner that the two shadows cast on the plane by these opaque bodies,
may be near each other, the intensity of these shadows will be equal, and...
will both appear to be coloured, but of very different hues'.20 He further
noted that 'that which is illuminated by the colouredlight will be of the colour
of that light. . . but that which is illuminated by the colourless
light. . . instead
of appearing colourless, will appearto be as deeply coloured as the other, but
of a different hue'.2' Rumford stated that the 'two colours exhibited by the
two shadows appear in all cases to harmonize in the most perfect manner; or,
in other words to afford the most pleasing contrast to the view' and that 'the
of
colour of the one shadow may with propriety be said to be the complement
the other'.22 He felt this relationship between colours could be of value to the
painter, although the brilliance and 'magic appearances' of shadow might be
difficult for the painter to achieve because of his 'imperfect colours'. However,
Rumford believed that the knowledge gained by these experiments would
doubtless enable artists
on sound philosophical principles, to contrast their colours in such a
manner, as to give their pictures, or rather, to what they chuse [sic] to
make the prominent parts of them, a great degree of force and brilliancy.
For, if any, and every simple and compound colour has such a power on
objects near it as to cause a neighbouring colourlessshadowto assume the
appearance of a colour, there can be no doubt but that, if, instead of the
shadow, a realcolour,nearly of the same tint and shade, as that so calledup,
be substituted in its place, this colourwill appearto great advantage,or will
assume an uncommon degree of strength and brightness.23
Other scientists began to speak of the physiological effects that complementaries had on the eye. In France, M. C. A. Prieur had made similar physiological experiments as Rumford and likewise discovered the power of the
2o

Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford,

'Conjectures respecting the Principles of
the Harmony of Colours', PhilosophicPapers, i,
London I802, p. 333. This paper was read

before the Royal Society, 20 February 179421 Ibid.

22 Ibid., p. 33423 Ibid., pp. 339-40.

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M. W. Turner, Shields, on the River T

c-J.
Water-colour. 6" x
London, British M
9?".

a -'Prismatic'
colour wheel. Moses
Natural
Harris,
System, opp. p. 4

(p. 358)

?~e~a

illustrating optical mixtures. J.

b--Diagram
Sowerby, New Elucidation (Tab. 4a). Enlargement 2 x (p. 365)

M. W. Turner, Norham Castle, on the Riv

61" x 81". London, British Museum (p. 364)

d-J.

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TURNER:

COLOUR

THEORY

361

complement. In March of 1805, Prieur read a paper presenting his findings

to the National Institute of France. In April of the same year, an abstract
of this paper 'Considerations sur les Couleurs . . .' appeared in the Annales
de Chimie.24 By the end of the year, this abstract appeared in translation in at
least two English journals.25 Prieur described certain experiments which he
had undertaken that demonstrated 'the effect of the simultaneous vision of
two substances differently coloured, when brought near together under certain
circumstances'.26 He proposed 'a new method of rendering the colours of
contrast very sensible'. Prieur observed that the method involved locating
the viewer 'in a room with good light, and placing against the window the
coloured papers on which he means to observe the contrasts'. He described
laying a sheet of coloured paper on a window, which then possessed 'a degree
of semi transparency', and over this placing a small slip of paper of a colour
other than that of the sheet. Prieur noted that because of the double thickness
of the paper, the slip was more opaque. A white slip of paper applied over
the coloured sheet assumed the hue of the complement. 'When the transparent body [the sheet] is red, the opake [sic] white appears bluish green; if
the ground be orange, it is decidedly blue; on a yellow ground, a kind of
violet; on a crimson ground, green, &c.; always corresponding exactly to the
complimentary [sic] colour.'27 Prieur stated that 'the knowledge of contrast
may be usefully applied to those arts which are employed on the subject of
colours. The painter is aware that it is not a matter of indifference what
colour is placed near another; but when he is acquainted with the law to
which their action on each other is subjected, he will know better what to
avoid, and how to dispose his tints, so as to heighten the brilliancy of that
which he wishes to bring forward.'28 In 1809, an article appeared in the
Repositoryof Arts entitled 'On Splendour of Colours'. The author of the article,
'Juninus', wrote of certain experiments undertaken by R. W. Darwin M.D.29
on the problem of 'ocular spectra' which 'will agreeably entertain the reader'.
One of these experiments described is of the same nature as of those of Rumford
and Prieur; 'place a piece of red silk, about an inch in diameter, on a sheet
of white paper, in a strong light. Look steadily upon it, from about the
distance of half a yard, for a minute. Then close your eyelids, cover them with
24 'Considfrations sur les Couleurs, et sur
plusieurs de leurs apparences singulibres',
Annales de Chimie, liv, I805, pp. 5-27.
25 W. Nicholson, A Journal of Natural
Philosophy, Chemistryand the Arts, xii, October
Monthly Magazine; or,
I8O5, pp. I12-22.
British Register. . . (hereafter Month. Mag.),
xx, November I8O5, pp. 344-6.
26 Month. Mag., p. 344.
27 Ibid., pp. 344-5.
28 Ibid., p. 345.
The original text of this
quotation in Annales de Chimie appears as
follows: 'Cette connoissance des contrastes a
des applications utiles dans les arts oii 1'on
s'occupe des couleurs. Le peintre ou le
d~corateur sentent que l'on ne peut en
placer une indifffremment dans le voisinage

de telle autre. Mais, lorsqu'on est instruit

de la loi & laquelle sont assuj~ties leurs
reactions, l'on sait mieux ce qu'il faut &viter
ou disposer pour rehausser l'6clat de la
couleur que l'on a interit de faire valoir.'
Prieur knew of
(Prieur, op. cit., pp. 14-15.)
with
coloured
Rumford's
experiments
shadows and made reference to them (ibid.,
p. II). The above passage seems to echo
ideas contained in Rumford's work.
29 This is Dr. Robert Waring Darwin
(1766-1848), father of Charles Robert Darwin. Dr. Darwin wrote of his findings in
'New Experiments in the Ocular Spectra of
Light and Colours', Philosophical Transactions,
lxxvi, 1786, pp. 313-48.

24

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362

GERALD

E. FINLEY

your hands, and a green spectrum will be seen in your eyes, resembling in
form the piece of red silk.
...'30
made reference to complementary colours in
Art theorists occasionally
In
their treatises.
1807, Clark, in his PracticalEssay,31 referred to a treatise
of
colours
on the theory
by a Dr. Milner in which the use of complementaries
an
is cited as
important aspect of the work.32 Dr. Milner, according to the
author of the PracticalEssay, asserted that when complementaries are physically mixed they approach 'greyness or dullness', but 'when kept distinct they
are found to make each other look more brilliant, by being brought close
together'.33 Clark realized, perhaps intuitively, that unlike lights, pigments
when mixed mechanically are sullied, reduced in strength, but when optically
mixed, their intensity is increased.
When Newton discovered that white light was composed of coloured
rays and implied an essential harmony in the seven hues he chose to form the
spectrum, he created a new awareness of colour as a pervasive element in

nature. Moreover, he stimulated the scientist and art theorist alike to delve
into the problem of nature's harmony of colour. Before 1805, it was possible
for some writers on art to assert that shadows in nature were not colourless
or black but full of light and colour.34 In stating this, there was an implicit

rejection of the conceptual idea that had directed painters in the representation of objects, 'the classical convention derived from Claude and
Poussin...

3o The Repositoryof Arts, Literature,Commerce, 'it is true, in a general sense, that all colour
Manufacturers, Fashions and Politics, 1809, p. is a modification of light and all shadow is a
privation of light: but as the rays of light, in
287.
31John Heaviside Clark, A Practical Essay passing through, or merely by the side of
on the Art of Colouring and Painting Landscapes bodies, undergo various degrees of inflection;
in Water Colours (hereafter Practical Essay), and above all, as the atmosphere and surfaces
London 1807.
surrounding bodies reflect very strongly the
32 Ibid., p. 15. The work referred to is rays of light falling upon them, such a total
entitled Theory of Colours and Shadows by the privation of light, or absolute shadow, does
'Reverend Dr. Milner, Dean of Carlisle and not exist; nor if it did exist, can the painter
President of Queen's College, Cambridge'.
hope to succeed in representing it, because
This treatise is found in Humphry Repton's no painting substances, nor compounds of
The Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, substances, can be found, which will totally
London 1803, pp. 214-19. Milner mentioned
absorb, and not in any degree reflect the
Rumford's experiments (ibid., p. 217) and lights falling on them: neither would shadows,
constructed a colour circle of the type formu- produced by such substances, were they to be
lated by Harris (ibid., p. 219).
found, be discernible by the eye, which
33 Clark, Practical Essay, p. 15. Concerning sees only through the medium of light' (p.
complementaries or 'contrasts', Milner ex- 247). Edward Dayes following tradition
advised the use of dark-brown shadows in
plained that 'their apparent brilliancy,
when they are placed contiguous to each painting. In his directions for the finishing
other is promoted in a remarkable manner, of a water-colour, Dayes cautioned the
but they cannot be mixed together without student 'not to disturb the shadows with
mutual destruction of their natural proper- color, otherwise the harmony of the whole
ties and an approach to a white or a grey will be destroyed'. Yet at the same time
colour' ( Theoryof Coloursand Shadows, p. 216.) Dayes was aware of light penetrating shadows,
34 T. Hodson and I. Dougall, The Cabinet and therefore allowed that the aspiring artist
of the Arts being a New and Universal Drawing might 'gently color the reflections' of
Book containing the whole Theory and Practice shadow, since 'all reflected rays of light will
of the Fine Arts in General (hereafter Cabinet of be tinged with the color of the reflecting
the Arts), London 18o5. The authors asserted, object' (Dayes, 'Instructions', p. 302).

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TURNER:

COLOUR

THEORY

363

distinguished by. . . deliberate self-abnegation of colour'.35 Colour could,

therefore, be viewed as something positive, and important in its own right,
not secondary or subservient to formal requirements. Moreover, writers could
confidently proclaim that for a student of art to excel in colouring he must

'make himself acquainted with that part of optics in particular which treats
of light and colours: otherwise he will never be able to account for the many
phoenomena of colours which he will observe when he comes to examine
the properties and effects of different tints'.36

Turner s interest in optics in relation to painting is manifest in his notes

for the Royal Academy lecture dealing with colours. This lecture was delivered as part of a series in his capacity as Professor of Perspective at the
Royal Academy, a post which he assumed in I8O7.aT Turner was still concerned with the problem of colour in his lectures delivered in the 1820's.38
From the manuscript notes for the lecture on colour, certain principles may
be educed. Turner selected the six major hues found in Harris's 'prismatic'
wheel; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.39 Moreover, he selected
and emphasized the importance of red, yellow and blue, the three generative
colours.

Further, Turner noted the qualitative

differences between the

mixture of coloured rays and pigments. He observed that while light rays
(red, yellow and blue) when mixed produced white, a mixture of the same
three colours in pigments resulted in a destruction of the colour, tending
towards 'minotony, [sic] discord and mud'.40 He implied that this should be
avoided in painting for colour properly employed 'aids, exalts, and in true
union with lights and shadows makes a whole'.41
In the early I820'S, Turner's paintings appear much brighter in colour.
35 C. F. Bell, 'Fresh Light on Some WaterColour Painters of the Old British School
from the Collection and Papers of James
Moore, F.S.A.', Walpole Society, v, 1915-17,
p. 56.
36 Hodson and Dougall, Cabinet of the Arts,
p. I72. Dayes also observed that a student
of landscape painting should have 'a knowledge of that part of chemistry that relates to
colors [which] will be of great service; and
also, that part of optics called chromatics,
which explains the colors of light and of
natural bodies' ('Instructions', p. 288).
37 A. J. Finberg, The
Life of J. M. W.
Turner, R.A., 2nd ed., Oxford 1961, p. 138.
Turner's lectures were delivered in I8II,
I812, I814, I815, I8I6, I8I8, I819, I821,
1824, 1825, 1827 and 1828. See W. T.
Whitley, 'Turner as a Lecturer', Burlington
Magazine, xxii, 205.
38 Colour diagrams, which are now in the
British Museum, were prepared for the
lecture. Diagram CXCV-I78, 'No. I' has
the water-mark 'I822', Diagram CXCV-179,
'No. 2' has the water-mark '1824'. See A. J.
Finberg, A CompleteInventoryof the Drawings of
the TurnerBequest (hereafter TurnerBequest), i,

London i909, p. 596.

39 Mr. Lawrence Gowing rightly observes
Turner's indebtedness to Harris's work by
pointing out the relationship between Harris's
diagrams and those prepared by Turner for
his R.A. lecture (Gowing, Turner, p. 23).
Turner's notes for the lecture make it abundantly clear that the six main hues espoused
by Harris form the basis of his colour system.
(British Museum [hereafter B.M.], Add. MS.
46151, sheets formerly pinned to p. 45 of
Fifth Lecture, p. 64 [old foliation].) Quite
correctly, Gowing (loc. cit.) notes the absence
of purple in Turner's diagrams, yet Turner
was evidently willing to accept this colour as
a component of light since he produced it
by means of optical mixtures of red and blue
(see below).
4o B.M., Add. MS. 46151, Fifth Lecture,
p. 35v (old foliation). See also the marginal
notes in Theory of Colours (see above, note 2),
p. 299. Here Turner attributes the remark to
Fuseli. (I am indeed grateful to C. Turner,
Esq., who kindly permitted me to examine
the artist's copy of the Eastlake translation.)
41 B.M., Add. MS. 46151, Fifth Lecture,
pp. 43-44 (old foliation).

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364

GERALD E. FINLEY

Undoubtedly Turner's brighter palette was stimulated by his trip to Italy in

I8I9. However, this new brilliance might also be attributed to a growing
interest in optics. This regard for optical theory seems implicitly stated in a
number of water-colours prepared for the engraved serials, 'River Scenery'
and 'Ports of England'.42 The system of colouring employed is so intricate
and yet so consistent that it would be difficult to consider it entirely fortuitous.
One finds in these views, and particularly in shadow areas of landscape
forms, that, by means of colour and brushwork, the artist has attempted to
synthesize on paper the effects of light and colour found in nature.43 Colours
occurring are in the main the six hues which are referred to by Turner in his
lecture notes, the identical colours making up the major divisions of Harris's
'prismatic' wheel; red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. The most
patent application of the system, and at the same time the most complex,
occurs in two water-colours executed in i823 for 'River Scenery', the Shields,
on the River Tyne (P1. 41c) and NorhamCastle,on the River Tweed (P1. 4Id).44
These water-colours are undoubtedly two of the most intense in colour executed for 'River Scenery' and 'Ports of England'. The varied colour, especially
that occurring in shadow areas, appears as fine threads or dots applied separately or in combinations. The brushstrokesare exquisitelyfine, placed very close
together, and as a result the colour fuses in the eye producing optical mixture.
The Shields,on theRiverTyneis a night piece but full of colour. The shaded
portion of the wharf on the lower right of the water-colour is crowded with
small, rounded spots of the complements red and blue-green, which interact
optically to produce a richly vibrant surface. This colour combination again
occurs in the plume of smoke rising from the fire, where the smoke, composed
of a light green wash is covered by fine, vertical threads of saturated vermilion.
In both instances, the richness of hue would have been impossible to achieve
had the colours been mixed mechanically.45 Such a system of brushwork and
42 Finberg, Turner Bequest, ii, 629-31.
43 Ibid. This colour system is especially

accounts of W. B. Cooke, Norham Castle was

executed in 1823 (Finberg, The Life of J.M. W.
noticeable in such water-colours as Totness, Turner, R.A., p. 281). On purely stylistic
on the River Dart, CCVIII-B (published in grounds the water-colour must have been
'River Scenery', March 1825); More Park, executed about the same time as the Shields.
near Watford, on the River Colne, CCVIII-H
46 It is certainly possible that Turner
(published in 'River Scenery', January 1824); combined red and green in this way without
Scarborough,CCVIII-I (published in 'Ports knowledge of complements as such. Howof England', April 1826); Whitby,CCVIII-J ever, the rather sophisticated technical
(published in 'Ports of England', April 1826); means of exploiting the combination suggests
Newcastle-onTyne, CCVIII-K (published in that he may have understood the theoretical
'River Scenery', June 1823); BroughamCastle, basis of the relationship. Because of his
near thejunction of the Rivers Eamont and Lowther, intensive study of optical theory, it seems
CCVIII-N
(published in 'River Scenery', unlikely that Turner had not read about
June 1825); Norham Castle, on the River Tweed, complementaries and their specific qualities.
CCVIII-O
(published in 'River Scenery', Certainly he knew about them later when he
January 1824); Shields, on the River Tyne, added marginal notes to his copy of EastCCVIII-V, signed and dated 'J.M.W.T., lake's translation of the Farbenlehre (see note
2). In one of these notations he objected to
1823' (published in 'River Scenery', June
statement that yellow and blue
on
the
River
Goethe's
CCVIIIRochester,
Medway,
1823);
W (published in 'River Scenery', January when mixed 'do not.., destroy each other'.
Turner's rejoinder was 'yet they do. The
1824).
" Finberg noted that according to the violet the green and the purple (he meant

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TURNER: COLOUR THEORY

365

colouring is even more highly developed in the second water-colour, Norham

Castle,on theRiver Tweed.
NorhamCastleis by far the more vibrant of the two water-colours. The
castle, situated on a rock promontory, is drenched in a purple-blue shadow.
Turner has created the shape of the castle by building up a rich fabric of tiny
stippled strokes of blue. Over this, in certain areas near the base of the castle
and upper portion of the prominence (which is also blue), the artist has
introduced twisting threads of vermilion. On the prominence to the lower
right of the main ruin, red dots have been spotted over the blue. Both threads
and spots of red optically fuse with the blue to create a vivid purple. Again by
separating strokes of colour, Turner has been able to achieve a brilliance of
hue that would have been difficult to create had he mixed the colours mechanically. Similar colour effects may be found in other parts of the landscape. In
the river reflection of the castle, fine broken strokes of colour again occur.
At the base of the inverted image of the castle, fine blue strokes intermingle
with those of green. Near the bottom of the reflection, slender, curving
bands and dots of vermilion, very pale in hue, are interspersed amongst
equally pale spots of green and yellow and spots and lines of blue. A rich
colour effect is found in the upper right portion of the castle ruin, where
openings occur in the broken wall. Here the shadow area is brimming with
opalescent colour. The colour is produced by a myriad of hues of equal
intensity, crowded together within a very restricted area. Once more fine
threads of vermilion intermingle with strokes of blue, yellow and green to
create an unusually vibrant and iridescent shadow.
The frequency and consistency with which such colour combinations occur
in these water-colours, and the careful and deliberate separation of colour
into individual strokes of specific shape, suggest that Turner was applying
certain principles of optics to painting. A treatise by the naturalist-artist
James Sowerby entitled A New Elucidationof Colours,46published in 1809,
contains ideas concerning optical mixing which anticipate Turner's technique
in both the Shields and NorhamCastle. Sowerby was well aware of optical
mixing, demonstrating it by means of a diagram in which fine parallel
bands of the three generative colours, red, yellow and blue, are arranged in
various combinations. The diagram (P1. 41b) illustrates pairs of these colours
combined to produce optical mixtures which Sowerby referredto as 'binaries',
the mediates or secondaries, orange, green and purple. ' In reference to these
orange) are negatives to Yellow Red and
Blue.' (Op. cit., p. 277.) (Cf. R. D. Gray,
'J. M. W. Turner and Goethe's colourtheory', German studies, presented to Walter
Horace Bruford...,
London I962, p. 114.)
Turner here is merely repeating a principle of
complementaries found in treatises on colour.
For example, Field noted that complementaries when opposed produce a harmony,
but when physically mixed their properties
are destroyed, 'thus blue is neutralised or
extinguished by orange; red by green, and
yellow by purple' (George Field, 'Aesthetics,
or The Analogy of the Sensible Sciences

Indicated..
.', The Pamphleteer,xvii, London
1820, pp. 200, 215).
46 A New Elucidation of Colours, Original,
Prismatic and Material, showing Their Concordance in Three Primitives, rellow, Red, and Blue,
and the Means of Producing, Measuring and
Mixing them . . (hereafter New Elucidation),
London 1809.
" The section of the
diagram (P1. 41b)
designated (i) contains horizontal bands of
yellow which in the centre alternate with
bands of red, (2) to produce an optical

orange, and with bands of blue (3) to

produce an optical green. Bands of blue (3)

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366

GERALD

E. FINLEY

diagrams of fine bands of colour, the author observed that 'we see . . . that
independent coloured rays may become so placed as to give the sense of a
perfect mixture, which would have been the case with these if the lines [the
engraved lines separating the colour bands] had not been made visible. . . .'48
But what is most interesting about Sowerby's discussion of optical blending
is that he suggested an alternative to the bands: 'fine dots of primaries among
each other would produce binaries. . . with a similar effect'.49 Both Shields
and NorhamCastlereveal a system of fine lines as well as small dots of colour.
It is quite possible that Turner may have read this treatise in search of material
for his Royal Academy lecture.5?
Both Shieldsand NorhamCastlewere executed in 1823. No other watercolours of 'River Scenery' or 'Ports of England' painted before or after 1823
appear to be so elaborate in colour technique. Therefore, it would seem that
1823 may mark one of the crucial periods in Turner's colour development,
especially since the lecture on colour was still of concern to the artist after
1824.51 It would perhaps be reasonable to conclude that the Shields and
NorhamCastlewere colour experiments, the products of deep reflection which
were intimately connected with the development of ideas for this lecture.52
Turner seems to have been one of the first painters to give concrete
expression to popular ideas concerning colour and light sifted from the strong
current of British scientific empiricism of the later eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. Through a study of recent developments in optics and
popular ideas concerning optics, possibly undertaken for his lecture at the
Royal Academy, he appears to have created a new pictorial equivalent of
the light and colour of nature. Turner's acceptance of a broader spectrum of
pigment, his possible comprehension of complements and apparent knowledge
of optical mixing helped him to produce a manifestly sophisticated colour
technique. His use of colour in water-colours for 'River Scenery' and 'Ports
of England' was a passing experiment, but does suggest the artist's awarenessof
the fresh world of colour revealed by optics which, moreover, may have helped
form a substantial base for his later more intuitive use of colour. The technique
he employed in the Shieldsand NorhamCastleantedates considerably and is to
a certain extent more intricate than that found in the works of Delacroix and
seems to anticipate the elaborate colour systems of Seurat. In this respect,
Turner must be considered an important precursor of the modern movement.

alternate with red bands (2) to produce an

optical purple.
48 Sowerby, New Elucidation, p. 24.
* Ibid.
5o There appears to be some relationship
between material in Turner's lecture notes
and Sowerby's treatise. In Turner's notes
(B.M., Add. MS. 46151, 'First Lecture,
Second Lecture', pp. 30-32 [old foliation])
the artist discussed a system whereby the

engraver is able to indicate colours by means

of variation in engraved line. A shorter
but similar reference indicating a different
set of linear equivalents occurs in Sowerby
cit., p. 32).
(op.
51 See above, note 38.
52 Turner does not appear to have carried
such specific experiments into his oil painting,
but this problem will require more study.

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