An overview of Turner's colour

 Taken  generally,  the  chief  characteristics  of  Turner's  colour, whether  in  drawings  or  paintings, considered  only  with  respect  to  truth,  and without reference to composition or beauty, of which at present we can take no cognizance, are those above pointed out, which we shall briefly recapitulate. 

1.  Prevalence,  variety,  value,  and  exquisite  composition  of  greys.  The grey tones are, in the drawings especially, the most wonderful as  well  as  the  most  valuable  portions  of  the  whole  picture.

Some of the very first-rate drawings are merely harmonies of different kinds of grey: Long Ships lighthouse, Land's End, for instance. Several appear to have been drawn entirely with modulated  greys  first,  and  then  sparingly  heightened  with colour  on  the  lights;  but  whatever  the  subject,  and  however brilliant the effect, the grey tones are the foundation of all its beauty.

2. Refinement, delicacy, and uncertainty in all colours whatsoever. Positive colour is,  as  I  before  said,  the  rarest  thing  imaginable  in  Turner's  works,  and  the  exquisite refinement  with  which  variety  of  hue  is  carried  into  his  feeblest  tints  is  altogether unparalled in art. The drawing of Colchester, in the England series, is an example of this delicacy and fulness of tint together, with which nothing but nature can be compared. But I have before me while I write a drawing of the most vigorous and powerful colour, with concentrated aërial blue opposed to orange and crimson. I should have fancied at a little distance, that a cake of ultramarine had been used pure upon it. But, when I look close, I discover that all which looks blue in effect is in reality a changeful grey, with black  and  green  in  it,  and  blue  tones  breaking  through  here  and  there  more  or  less decisively, but without one grain or touch of pure blue in the whole picture, except on a figure in the foreground, nor one grain nor touch of any colour whatsoever, of which it is possible to say what it is, or how many are united in it. Such will invariably be found the case, even with the most brilliant and daring of Turner's systems of colour. 

3. Dislike of purple, and fondness for opposition of yellow and black, or clear blue and white.

4. Entire subjection of the whole system of colour to that of chiaroscuro. I have not before noticed this, because I wished to show how true and faithful Turner's  colour  is,  as  such,  without  reference  to  any  associated principles. But the perfection and consummation of its truth rests in  its subordination to light and shade...