«If, however, the origin and the relationship of the colours are to be correctly observed, then one must begin with the five basic median colours, which are red, blue, green and yellow, with grey from white and black, and one must heed their grading, and whether they move nearer to the white because of their paleness or nearer to the black because of their darkness.» This is Forsius’ own description of his fundamental thoughts about his system. The construction is, as far as we can tell, the first drawn colour-system. (Detailed text)
The oldest colour system known today that’s worth its name originates from the Finnish born astronomer, priest and Neoplatonist Aron Sigfrid Forsius (died 1637), sometimes also known as Siegfried Aronsen. Forsius became Professor of Astronomy in Uppsala (Sweden) in 1603, later moving as a preacher to Stockholm and beyond. He was removed from office in 1619, after being accused of making astrological prophesies.
Eight years previously, a manuscript had appeared in which Forsius expounded his thoughts about colours, concluding that they could be brought into a spacial order. This 1611 text lay undiscovered in the Royal Library in Stockholm until this century, to eventually be presented before the first congress of the «International Colour Association» in 1969. It was in chapter VII — which was devoted to sight — of this work on physics that Forsius introduced his colour diagrams. He first of all discusses the five human senses, explains (for us in rather complicated and incomprehensible terms) how colours are seen, and then arrives at his colour diagrams, on the basis of which he attempts to provide a three-dimensional picture. Forsius states:
«Amongst the colours there are two primary colours, white and black, in which all others have their origin.» Forsius is here in agreement with Leonardo da Vinci who, more than three hundred years earlier, had included black and white amongst the colours, seeing them next to yellow, red, blue and green as primary colours. Forsius then continues:
«In the middle, between these colours (black and white), red has been placed on the one side since the classical antiquity, and blue on the other; yellow then comes between white and red, pale yellow between white and yellow, orange between yellow and red …» and so forth, until Forsius has completed the whole circle which can be seen above right, around which are placed the English translations of the Swedish appearing within. (We have used American terms because the Forsius manuscript was unearthed by American academics.) Following this circle in Forsius’ text is a drawing which is definitely intended to represent a colour-sphere. We have placed a smaller version containing the English translations next to the original Swedish version. Forsius uses four basic colours (red, yellow, green and blue) which he observes, together with grey as a «median colour», between the two extremes of black and white. With regard to his second diagram, he comments:
«If, however, the origin and the relationship of the colours are to be correctly observed, then one must begin with the five basic median colours, which are red, blue, green and yellow, with grey from white and black, and one must heed their grading, and whether they move nearer to the white because of their paleness or nearer to the black because of their darkness.»
In other words, Forsius had the idea of introducing four basic chromatic colours, applying for each colour a grey scale which runs from bright to dark along the central axis of the sphere. The colours on the sphere’s surface are arranged in such a way that three opposing pairs are created: red and blue, yellow and green, white and black.
As we shall see, Forsius had thus paved the way for modern colour systems (even though complementary colours are later subjected to a more exact description). Nevertheless, from the colours of the Forsius sphere we can see that its author experienced some difficulty with the overall perspective:
White
Life colour — tree and wheat colour — chalk grey — pale blue
Pale red — pale yellow — apple mould — verdigris — sky blue
Red — yellow — grey — green — blue
Purple — flame yellow — mouse grey — grass green — dark blue
Violet — black brown — black grey — black green — indigo
Black
Forsius’ colour sphere was just one of the widespread attempts made in the 17th century to create comprehensive colour scales, partly undertaken to enable very exact differentiation between the various styles of painters. A technical problem which initially remained unsolved — also in Forsius’ case — concerned a coordinated relationship between the two parameters colour hue and colour value (or brightness). Pure yellow is simply brighter than unmixed blue. In 1677, the English doctor Francis Glisson is credited with the creation of a colour-solid which, in this respect, was both coherent and of sufficient quality to become the ancestor of all colour systems of the New Age. According to John Gage in his Culture and Colour, the success of this undertaking has unfortunately not been substantiated. Glisson operated with the primary colours red, yellow and blue, and his grey scale was composed of 23 steps between black and white, which he constructed using lead-white and black ink.
Scientific progress would soon surpass those mixtures developed by Glisson in his «scale for red» (Scala Rubedenis) or his «scale for black» (Scala Nigredinis) — progress initiated by experiments conducted even while Glisson was mixing his pigments. And as we shall soon see, at the end of the 17th century in Cambridge, Newton separated the white light of the sun, to subject the colours to the scrutiny of physics.
Date: The system originated in 1611 in a text by the author on physics.
Country of origin: Finland
Basic colours: (Black, white), red, yellow, green-blue
Form: Sphere
Related systems: Grosseteste, Alberti, da Vinci — Fludd — Newton — Wundt
Bibliography: S. Forsius, «Physica», published by J. Nordström, Uppsala Universitäts Arsskrift, X, 1952; «A. S. Forsius, Physica Manuskript, 1611», published in 1971, ACTA Bibliothecae Regiae Stockholmiensis, pp. 315-321 (1971); C. Parkhurst and R. L. Feller, «Who Invented the Color Wheel?, Color Research and Application 7», pp. 217-230 (1982); John Gage, «Colour and Culture, Practice and Meaning from Antiquity to Abstraction», Thames and Hudson, 1993, p. 166 (mention and comment).