George Field

Chromatography: Or a Treatise on Colors and Pigments, and of Their Powers for Painters and Artists George Field

Chromatography is the study of colors and pigments; this book is designed to guide painters, artists and others to the classification and theory behind colors.

Celebrated for years after its release, Field's Chromatography has been used by thousands of professional painters, artists and others for its concise guidance. We receive a brisk but precise description of light's relationship to color, the theory of color, and how colors are categorized and referred to. The various methods of creating pleasant or eye-catching contrasts between different hues are likewise identified.

The second part of the book concerns pigments; a type of powder which, when mixed with a medium, produces a color. How the properties of a given pigment are categorized, and how advances in chemistry have resulted in refinements and enhancements to the range of pigments available to the artist, is discussed.

The latter part of the book is comprised of a list of the different colors, each of which is duly described for its appearance. Finally, there is a series of tables that arrange pigments according to their qualities. While the materials used in the creation of various pigments differ in the modern day, Field's descriptions remain useful in the context of art history.