The Origins of Broken Colours

Abstract

This study examines the origins and understanding of the concept of 'broken colours' in the seventeenth century. The phrase relates to mixtures of colours, often to those resulting in a reduced chromatic value, but included more kinds of colour mixtures when used by early modern writers. It appeared in the art literature of England, the Low Countries, Germany and France in short sequence, and seems to have been directly associated with an ancient expression for colour mixtures, 'corrupted colours'. The interpretation of ancient mentions of 'corrupted colours' by the scholar Franciscus Junius, published in Latin, English and Dutch, are investigated together with discussions of 'broken colours' by Edward Norgate in England, Samuel van Hoogstraten in Holland, Joachim von Sandrart in Germany and Charles Alphonse Dufresnoy, Roger de Piles and the members of the Académie Royale in France.