The Symbolism of Colour

Interesting online lecture from the National Gallery discussing how to look at colour in pictures and what it might be telling us.

Taking pictures from the galleries collection Belle Smith looked at what colour in a painting and how it is used might be telling us about what the artist is trying to tell us. In many of the works colour is indicating status or wealth from showing the Virgin Mary in expensive ultramarine or red, to the role of an intense black in the 17th century. She used a wide range of images.

I was interested in the idea that the variety and rhythm of colour use in Jacopo de Cione’s “Coronation of the Virgin” from around 1370 could be referring to the visual depiction of divine harmony. I’ll think about that next time I look at the work.

I found using two pictures to talk about indigo and slavery a bit of an odd side issue in this talk. As she had said this talk wasn’t about pigments but use of colour. Neither of these pictures seemed to use blue to imply indigo but both sitters were involved in this aspect of the slave trade. An interesting topic but maybe not a good fit in this context.

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