Colour in the Middle Ages
Medieval vs. Modern Use of Color
- Commenters stress that medieval material culture was often extremely bright and “gaudy,” in contrast to modern fiction’s gray, earth-toned portrayal.
- Modern design trends, especially in homes and cars, are described as shifting toward “greige,” black, white, and muted earth tones.
- Some argue that, despite more available pigments and screens, intense colors are now used more sparingly and are often coded as “cheap” (e.g., bright plastic toys) versus “premium” (wood grain, gunmetal, muted devices).
Restoration and Changing Aesthetics
- Examples of chapel restorations in Europe show that interiors once vividly painted (blue skies, flesh tones, red lips) had been assumed to be austere stone.
- Similar controversy surrounded cleaning the Sistine Chapel, where vibrant original colors clashed with modern expectations of dark, muted art.
- Disputes in restoration projects often pit those favoring “authentic” bright schemes against those preferring the somber look they are used to.
Economic and Environmental Factors
- Historically, textiles and pigments were costly, incentivizing vivid, conspicuous colors as status markers.
- One view: today’s expensive items (like high-end electronics and cars) signal status with minimal or neutral color, perhaps as “anti-conspicuous” consumption.
- Another view links ancient bright palettes to dim interiors and poor lighting, making strong colors more functional.
What Counts as a Color?
- Debate over whether white, gray, and black are “colors” or just illumination levels; counterpoint that in practice anything in a paint store is a color.
- Discussion of spectral vs. non-spectral colors (magenta, brown, purple), achromatic colors, and metamerism.
- Some argue color categories are partly cultural and partly constrained by human biology; color science is described as a deep rabbit hole.
Language, Culture, and Color Terms
- Many examples of languages partitioning color space differently (e.g., Japanese blue/green, Russian light vs. dark blue, pink vs. red, brown vs. orange).
- Several commenters emphasize that lack of a distinct word doesn’t imply lack of perception; it affects labeling and speed of discrimination, not basic vision.
- References to known patterns in how languages historically add color terms (often starting with light/dark, then red, etc.).
Ancient Perception of Blue
- Strong pushback against claims that Greeks/Romans “couldn’t see blue.”
- Evidence cited: widespread manufacture and use of Egyptian blue, ultramarine, azurite, blue glass, and indigo dyes.
- Explanation that ancient texts often used “the color of X” (e.g., a pigment, plant, or stone) instead of abstract color words; modern scholars once misread this as absence of color concepts.
- Clarification that in antiquity “cyan” referred to a pure blue, not modern “blue-green.”
Other Historical Color Notes
- Medieval heraldic colors map closely to a traditional seven-color scheme (white, yellow, red, green, blue, purple, black), with some fluidity (e.g., purple as a red variant).
- Noted that religious and literary traditions outside Europe (e.g., Hindu depictions of deities) have long, explicit uses of blue.
- Brief etymological aside: certain monastic habit colors underlie later words for drinks and animals (e.g., cappuccino, capuchin monkey).