Blue and Green as Compound Colors; Mirrored Color
Why blue and green are not simple, and how bodies borrow color and stand out against darkness
Continuing the color theory, this page argues that blue and green are not truly simple: blue is compounded of light and darkness (as in the air), and green is made from blue and yellow. It then treats color reflected on lustrous surfaces — a mirrored object always shares the color of the body reflecting it — and how a body's apparent whiteness or darkness depends on its surroundings and its distance. A closing note observes that a color of equal perfection looks most excellent beside its directly contrary color. The leaf is text only, headed PARTE, with a paragraph marker d at the top.
On this page
Blue and green are compound, not simple colors
Marked d, the passage argues that blue is not simple in itself but composed of light and darkness, like the color of the air, that is, perfect black joined with brilliant white. Green is composed of a simple and a compound — namely blue and yellow.
Mirrored color and contrast with surroundings
A mirrored thing always partakes of the color of the body reflecting it, the mirror tinting itself with what it reflects. Among bodies, the whitest is seen farthest off, and a body looks most candid when surrounded by greater darkness, while a color of equal perfection shows greatest excellence beside its direct contrary.