CHAPTER II.

SECTION VIII.

RUBENS' PRINCIPLE.

Rubens is the founder of another school in which the most violent contrasts of colour and Chiaroscuro are admitted in the focus of the picture. The deepest black, supported by rich yellows, crimsons, and blues, is opposed to the brightest vermilion, sometimes heightened with gold, and the purest white, which is graduated through every variety of pearly tint into bright blues, interspersed with purply greys, creamy and fleshy half-tints.

Great simplicity of Chiaroscuro is requisite in this style of colouring. Both the white and the black must graduate uninterruptedly into the half-lights, which form the greater part of the picture. The crimsons, blues, and yellows, that support the black, must all partake of the same tone. The vermilion must graduate into purply tints, which will emerge through greys and greens to the bright blue. Plate.