English Perceptions and Representations of Venetian Chromatic Variations

While Newton was the first to split white light using a triangular prism in 1671, thus putting an end to the linear system of the Aristotelian chromatic scale, previous experiments using the prism as an optical instrument had been made a hundred years before by the Venetian Filipo Mocenigo, Archbish...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inE-rea : Revue d'etudes anglophones Vol. 12.2; no. 12.2
Main Author GEOFFROY, Anne
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherche sur le Monde Anglophone 14.06.2015
Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)
Subjects
16th century
17th century
colours
England
Humanities and Social Sciences
reception
Venice
pigments
or
couleurs
XVIIe siècle
réception
England
XVIe siècle
dyes
17th century
representation
Venice
gold
Angleterre
prisme
16th century
représentation
teintures
reception
prism
Venise
colours
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Summary:While Newton was the first to split white light using a triangular prism in 1671, thus putting an end to the linear system of the Aristotelian chromatic scale, previous experiments using the prism as an optical instrument had been made a hundred years before by the Venetian Filipo Mocenigo, Archbishop of Nicosia. These attempts at understanding colours need to be linked to the uniqueness of the Venetian environment and to the quality of light in the lagoon where refraction is a daily phenomenon. Although Venetian colours have traditionally been associated to painting, they also belong to the texture of the city itself as exemplified in marbles and mosaics. As early as the 15th century, the city boasted a flourishing industry of colour relying on trades such as, among others, dyers, glassmakers, tailors, or pigment sellers (i.e. vendecolori).This paper explores the material, cultural and linguistic influence of Venice on early modern England, focusing more precisely on glass, dyes and pigments. The perception and representation of the Venetian palette will be analysed through various sources, so as to shed light on the way colours informed the imaginative construct of the city while revealing the British travellers’ ability or inability to be responsive to Venice’s ubiquitous polychromy.
ISSN:1638-1718
1638-1718
DOI:10.4000/erea.4509