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I do appreciate the feet-on-the ground research sentiment "Over the past 20 years, I visited 193 museums in 42 different countries. Equipped with 1,500 Munsell
by fsloth 5y ago
I do appreciate the feet-on-the ground research sentiment
"Over the past 20 years, I visited 193 museums in 42 different countries. Equipped with 1,500 Munsell colour chips .. I examined 139,892 works of art, searching for violet. ... there were only .. few artworks before the 1860s"
And the art historical conclusion feels convincing
"in 1864 the influential French art critic Charles Blanc ... described how violet, produced by mixing red and blue, is intensified by placing it next to yellow."
But unfortunately the last paragraph kind of places this immediately into pseudoscientific territory IMO. I wish humanists who do interesting research would not add nonsensical flourish like this:
" I can’t help but wonder whether a muon shower might have enhanced our ability to see violet midway through the 19th century on Earth."
- irthomasthomas 5y agoRelativity of colour is interesting. E.g. The only difference between orange and brown is context.
- rvba 5y agoFunny, my first conclusion is that after 1864 you could buy violet paint easier.
- fsloth 5y agoWell, you could mix it from blue and red. But if there are no subjects that are actually violet I presume you lack the incentive to incorporate this color. Violet cloths result in violet subjects etc. The observation of lack of violet before 19th century is interesting no matter which pedestrian explanation is the most correct one.