John Gage was an art historian specializing in the history of colour theory and practice, and this study works from direct engagement with the primary material, historical treatises on colour, liturgical texts specifying colour use, and Newton's own optical writings dividing the visible spectrum, rather than presenting colour symbolism as a timeless, uniform system. That primary source based, period by period method is the book's real evidentiary basis. Use it for established scholarly facts about the history of colour theory, pigment and symbolic colour use, including liturgical colour, across the periods and cultures it covers; a claim about a specific living tradition's current colour symbolism needs a source addressing that tradition directly, since this is a history rather than a current ethnography.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier1
John Gage's standard scholarly history of colour theory, symbolism and pigment across cultures, from Thames and Hudson, including Newton's division of the spectrum and liturgical colour use. NotesStandard scholarly history of colour theory, symbolism and pigment across cultures, including Newton's division of the spectrum and liturgical colour use.
Citation
AuthorJohn Gage
PublisherThames and Hudson
Publication Year1993
Source TypeMonograph
Claims Backed By This Source (49 claims)
This source backs 49 claims across the atlas. As facts: 25 well-attested. As cited relationships: 2 holds. Plus 22 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Colors, 28 claims: 4 well-attested, 2 holds, 22 general references.
- Articles, 14 claims: 14 well-attested.
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
Well-attested
25Articles
Amber, the Resin and the ColourGrey, the Colour Nobody MadeHow Brown Was Made, Including One That Should Not Have BeenHow Crimson Was Made, and What It CostHow Gold Was Put on a SurfaceHow Indigo Was Made, and Why It Is in the SpectrumHow Orange Was Made, and NamedHow Rose Was Made, and Why Pink Arrived LateHow Tyrian Purple Was MadeHow Violet Was MadeHow White Was MadeIndigo, the Sixth BandSilver as a Colour, and Why So Little SurvivesViolet, the Edge of the Visible Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
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