Table of Contents

Introduction; the classical inheritance; the fortunes of Apelles; light from the east; a Dionysian aesthetic; colour-language, colour-symbols; unweaving the rainbow; "Disegno" versus "Colore"; the peacock's tail; colour under control: the reign of Newton; the palette: "Mother of All Colours"; colours of the mind: Goethe's legacy; the substance of colour; the sound of colour; colour without theory: the role of abstraction; acknowledgments; notes to the text; concordance.

Promotional Information

Winner of the Mitchell Prize for the History of Art

About the Author

John Gage was the former Head of the Department of History of Art at Cambridge University. He is an acknowledged international authority on the history of art and colour and has written many books on the subject, including Colour and Culture and Colour and Meaning, both published by Thames & Hudson.

Reviews

'In its wonderfully lucid command of detail, as well as in many other ways, this book is exemplary.' - Richard Wollheim in The Times Literary Supplement

'No one interested in painting can afford not to study it' - London Review of Books

'An altogether outstanding and seminal book' - The Tablet

'A good many of it chapters are likely to remain the standard treatment of their respective topics for years to come' - Sir Ernst Gombrich