Werner's Nomenclature of Colours: Adapted to Zoology, Botany, Chemistry, Mineralogy, Anatomy, and the Arts

by Patrick Syme

Overview

<strong>First published in 1814, this small volume comprises a collection of 110 swatches displaying nature’s colour palette together with their poetical descriptions.</strong>

In the 18th century, German geologist Abraham Gottlob Werner set out to establish a standard reference guide to colour for use in the general sciences. Scottish flower painter Patrick Syme later enhanced and extended Werner’s work to include all of the most common colours or tints that appear in nature, with each colour swatch accompanied by examples from the Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms. The resulting work was used by many scientists, explorers and anthropologists to further their studies, including Charles Darwin during his time on the HMS Beagle.

Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours is considered the predecessor of modern systems such as Pantone and has even inspired heritage paint ranges from the likes of Dulux and Farrow & Ball.

Art Meets Science. is republishing this beautiful volume in a facsimile edition and has taken great care to reproduce the original text and art for a new generation of artists and scientists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781528789738
Publisher:	Art Meets Science
Publication date:	04/07/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	80
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Abraham Gottlob Werner (1749-1817) was a mineralogist and geologist at the mining school in Freiberg, Saxony. In his 1774 book On the External Characteristics of Fossils, he established a classification system to describe the colors of both fossils and minerals. Patrick Syme (1774-1845), an Edinburgh painter and art teacher, reconstructed Werner's colors by consulting actual minerals, paired the hues with examples from plant and animal life, and created the system of color swatches and descriptions that form the basis of this book.

Editorial Reviews

Werner’s system has long since been superseded by exact but rather bloodless alphanumeric versions from companies like Pantone and Munsell. Nevertheless, what Werner’s Nomenclature lacks in practicality it more than makes up for as a trove of beauty, mystery, and unintentional poetry. Where else could you find, for example, that the precise shade of both the neck ruff of the golden pheasant and the belly of the warty newt is Orpiment Orange? Or discover a name—Oil Green—for the waxy green hue of the Nonpareil apple?”—Architectural Digest

“The 1814 book has now been republished by Smithsonian Books as a pocket-sized guide, providing a historic connection to vivid colors found in the field for a future generation of artists, scientists, and curious naturalists.”—Colossal

“Specimens could degrade, paintings could fade, and color photography was still a far-off dream, but with Syme’s help Darwin could encode the colors of an unfamiliar world—and carry them safely home.” —New Yorker

From the Publisher