Abstract
Broad historical studies of colour are often multidisciplinary, and include the perspectives of anthropologists and art historians who emphasize the importance of cultural and aesthetic problems.2 If we consider natural dyestuffs within the general framework of colour, there are conspicuous links between aesthetic values and design on the one hand and textile fibres and dyes on the other.3 So any assessment of the technological value of dyed and printed textiles should include an analysis of a coloured cloth as an artistic object.4 It is no coincidence that natural dyestuffs enjoy a prominent place in the history of decorative arts. Valuable collections of dyed and printed textiles are preserved in museums and published in illustrated catalogues which underline the importance of the interaction between art, fashion, design and technology.5
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
After a design is sketched, it is examined and studied in various ways before being engraved... it generally happens that only a very small proportion of the designs which are made are afterwards engraved for printing. A calico printer of Manchester... stated that in the year 1838 he had between two and three thousand patterns designed, of which only about five hundred were selected for engraving.1
George Dodd (1844)
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
George Dodd, The Textile Manufactures of Great Britain. Charles Knight. London 1844, p. 56.
On the question of a multidisciplinary approach to colours, see for example: Jordan Goodman, “A Cultural History of Colour. Thoughts and Possibilities” (unpublished contribution to the ESF Workshop on the History of Natural Dyestuffs. Oriel College, Oxford, 4–6 January 1996). From the perspective of the history of art, see: John Gage, Colour and Culture. Thames and Hudson. Singapore 1993; John Gage, Color and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbols. University of California Press. Berkeley 1999; Georges Roque, Art et science de la couleur. Chevreul et les peintres, de Delacroix à l’abstraction. Jacqueline Chambon. Nîmes 1997. For a cultural history approach, see: Daniel Roche, La culture des apparences. Une histoire du vêtement (XVlle-XVIlle siècle). Fayard. Paris 1989.
Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles from France 1760–1843. Toiles de bouy. Thames and Hudson. London 1989. (French edition: Adam Biro. Paris 1989).
Victor Margolin (ed.) Design Discourse: History,Theory, Criticism. University of Chicago Press. Chicago 1989; Victor Margolin, Richard Buchanan (eds.) The Idea of Design: A Design Issues Reader. MIT Press. Cambridge, Mass. 1995; Dennis P. Doordan (ed.) Design History: An Anthology. MIT Press. Cambridge, Mass. 1995. All cited by Barry M. Katz, “Review Essay: Technology and Design - A New Agenda”, Technology and Culture, 38, 1997, 452–466.
For example, see: Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3); Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s Textile Collection. Design for Printed Textiles in England from 1750 to 1850. Victoria & Albert Museum. London 1992.
John A. Walker, Design History and the History of Design. Pluto Press. London 1989, p. ix.
Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), p. 134.
James Thomson, A Letter to the Vice-President of the Board of Trade on Protection to Original Designs and Patterns Printed upon Woven Fabrics. H. Whalley. Clitheroe 1840.
Aileen Ribeiro, The Art of Dress: Fashion in England and France 1750 to 1820. University of Chicago Press. Chicago 1995.
George Dodd, The Textile Manufactures. op. cit. (note 1), p. 56.
Stanley D. Chapman, “Quantity vs. Quality in the British Industrial Revolution: The Case of Printed Textiles”, Northern History, 21, 1985, 175–192, p. 179.
Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), pp. 134,141.
Christian Simon, “Labour Relations at Manufactures in the Eighteenth Century: The Calico Printers in Europe”, International Review of Social History, 39, 1994, 115–144, p. 123. On designers, Simon cites: Pierre Caspard, “Mon cher patron: Lettres d’un ouvrier suisse à ses employeurs, 1770–1880”, Milieux, octobre 1980, 50–63; Pierre Caspard, “Gérer sa vie: étude statistique sur le profil de carrière des ouvriers de l’indiennage 1750–1820”, Revue du Nord,janvier 1981, 207–232.
Jean-François Persoz “Examen des produits en impressions et teintures qui figuraient à l’Exposition Universelle de 1851”, in Travaux de la Commission française sur l’industrie des nations. 5 vols. Imprimerie Royale. Paris 1854, V, 1–74, p. 12–13.
Exposition des produits de l’industrie française en 1839. Rapport du jury central. 3 vols. BauchardHuzard. Paris 1839, III, p. 317.
Peter Floud, “The British Calico-Printing Industry, 1676–1840”, CIBA Review, 1, 1961, 2–7, p. 5.
Jean-François Persoz, “Examen des produits”, op. cit. (note 14), p. 26.
The traditional assumption that France was the country of taste and England that of mechanics is in need of reassessment. See Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s. op. cit. (note 5); H. Clark, “The design and designing of Lancashire printed calicoes during the first half of the nineteenth century”, Textile History, 15, 1984, 101–118.
Peter Floud, “The British Calico-Printing Industry”, op. cit. (note 16), pp. 15–16; Peter Floud, Catalogue of an Exhibition of English Chintz. Two Centuries of changing Taste. Victoria & Albert Museum. London 1955; Peter Floud, English Printed Textiles. Victoria & Albert Museum. London 1955.
“Sur l’art de peindre sur les toiles, de manière à imiter des tableaux”, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 25, 1806, 47–59.
“Il ne suffit pas pour eux [les dessinateurs] de créer une belle oeuvre, de fixer sur le papier ou sur la toile une ingénieuse composition; il faut une autre chose encore: il faut que, tout en gardant sa beauté primitive, la pensée d’art se soumette aux nécessités matérielles de l’industrie”, Exposition des produits de l’industrie française en 1844. Rapport du jury central. 3 vols. Fain et Thunot. Paris 1844, 1, p. 386.
“Le jury central sait toutes les qualités diverses que doit réunir un habile dessinateur de fabrique. Il se plît à reconnaître en lui, non seulement un artiste, mais encore un savant industriel, et c’est à ce dernier titre surtout qu’il aime à lui donner des éloges bien mérités”, Exposition des produits. op. cit. (note 21), I, p. 387.
Benoît Garnot, “Le vêtement populaire fémenin à Chartres au XVIIIème siècle”, Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, I, 1987, 397–405, p. 401.
Friedrich Wilhelm I forbade the import of calicoes to German territories in 1721; printed cottons were not allowed in England before 1720; and similar policies were enforced in cities such as Lyons until 1759 Franco Brunello, The Art of Dyeing in the History of Mankind. Neri Pozza Editore. Vicenza 1973, p. 250. (1’ Italian edition, 1968).
John Imison, Elements of Science and Art: Being a Familiar Introduction to Natural Philosophy and Chemistry Together with Their Application to a Variety of Elegant and Useful Arts. 2 vols. J. Harding et al. London 1803, II, p. 443.
Pierre Caspard, “La fabrique-neuve de Cortaillod. Enterprise et profit au temps de la première révolution industrielle (1752–1854)”. PhD. Thesis. Université de Paris. Paris 1975, p. 136.
James Sheridan Muspratt, Chemistry,Theoretical, Practical and Analytical as applied and relating to the arts and manufactures. 2 vols. W. Mckenzie. London 1854–1860, II, p. 680.
This was for example the case of Walter Crane, an English designer on wall paper. George Turnbull (J.G. Turnbull ed.), A History of the Calico-Printing Industry in Great Britain St. Ann’s Press. Altrincharn 1951, p. 166.
Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), p. 88.
For example, in the same period, special cylinder printers (prensas de tórculo) were known in Barcelona to reproduce landscapes, historical battles and flowery handkerchiefs on cotton cloth. Caries Ardit, Tratado teorico prkctico de la fabricación de pintados o indianas. 2 vols. Viuda de Agustin Roca. Barcelona 1819, I, 56–62.
Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), p. 129.
Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s. op. cit. (note 5). There is documentary evidence of the importation of Indian methods to Western Europe, for example: P.R. Schwartz, “The Beaulieu manuscript”, Studies in Indo-European Textile History, 1966, 80–87. Cited by Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), p. 169.
Josette Brédif, Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), p. 106.
Johannes Hugo Koch, Mit Model Krapp und Indigo. Von Alten Handruck auf Kattun und Leinwand. Christians Verlag. Hamburg 1984, pp. 45–46.
“Whole chintzes” with three reds, two purples, blue, green and yellow; “half-chintz” with the same colours less two reds and the purples; “five-colour chintz”, with only one red; the “single purples”, Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s. op. cit. (note 5), p. 11.
Peter Flood, “The British Calico-Printing Industry”, op. cit. (note 16), pp. 16–18.
As shown in some English early te-t „ such as Charles O’Brien, The British Manufacturers Companion, and Calico-Printers Assistant,Hamilton and Co. London, s.d. [c. 1791].
Jean-François Persoz, Traité théorique et pratique de l’impression des tissus. 4 vols. Victor Masson. Paris 1846, I, p. x.
There were nine categories: 1: Horizontal stripes; 2. Block diaper or chequer; 3. Matting diaper very various in form; 4. Square line diaper; 5. Floriated square diaper; 6. Round diaper formed by contiguous circles; 7. The diagonal branch; 8. The net; 9. Powdering on the lines of the diagonal branch or of the net. William Morris, “Some Hints on Pattern Designing”. A Lecture Delivered by William Morris at the Working Men’s College. London, 10 December 1881. Longmans and Co. London 1899, p. 7.
Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s. op. cit. (note 5), p. 14.
Anthony S. Travis, “Between broken root and artificial alizarin: textile arts and manufactures of madder”, History and Technology, 12, 1994, 1–22, p. 7.
“Por to que mira al arte del diseno, hemos hallado que nuestros dibujantes no tienen ni gusto, ni invención propia, de forma que si en este ramo se halla mends atraso es porque de continuo procuran los due6os de fâbricas presentar a sus dibujantes pedazos de lienzo extranjero con buenos dibujos que saber algunos bastante imitar… Por lo que opinamos que seria muy conducente que la Junta enviara un dibujante a quien se reconociera con disposición y talento para sobresalir en esta arte por quien hiciese… acopios de buen gusto y gracia las cuales fuesen sucesivamente remitiendo a la Junta para que los distribuyera a los fabricantes del pais para imitarlos…” (1797). Arxiu de la Junta de Comerç (AJC). Biblioteca de Catalunya (BC). File 53, f. 34,1–4. Barcelona.
Frederic Mares, Dos siglos de ensefianaza artística en el Principado. La Junta Particular de Comercio. Escuela Gratuita de Diseno. Academia Provincial de Bellas Artes. Barcelona 1954.
“Ha dispuesto esta comisión extender el escrito del nuevo método de estampados que Simon Ardit posee, y se acompana decididamente arreglado para poderse insertar en los periodicos para el aprovechamiento públieo”. AJC. File 21bis, f. 29,30. BC. Barcelona. The Catalan lobby of calico printers also invested substantial amounts of money to provide training for young engravers outside Catalonia, later employing them as highly skilled workers in local factories. In 1804, Esteve Boix, engraver of plates, was a pensionado for two years, and Felix Sagau, a student at the School of Design was paid to go to Madrid to learn the techniques of engraving medals. Francisco Fontanals was also paid to go to Madrid and later to Florence to improve his skills in the engraving of copper plates. Archive, General de Simancas (AGS). Consejo Supremo de Hacienda (CSH). Junta de Comercio y Moneda (JCM), File 263–16.
William V. Farrar, “Andrew Ure, F.R.S., and the Philosophy of Manufactures”, Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 27, 1973, 299–324.
Thomas Graham was especially well known for his law of diffusion of gases and his achievements in dialysis, colloids and osmosis, and for his excellent qualities as a teacher of chemistry. Robert Agnus Smith, The Life and Works of Thomas Graham. John Smith. Glasgow 1884.
William H. Brock, Brian Gee, “The Case ofJohn Griffin. From Artisan-Chemist and Author-Instructor to Business-Leader”, Ambix, 38, 1991, 29–62.
Journal of the Chemical Society, 4, 1852, 347–449. Biographical Notes.
Robert Kargon, Science in Victorian Manchester. Enterprise and Expertise, Manchester University Press. Manchester 1977, pp. 88–89; “Obituaries of Eminent Manufacturers: Memoir of the late James Thomson Esq. F.R.S, of Clitheroe”, Journal of Design and Manufactures, 4, 1850–51, 65–72.
James Thomson, “On the Analysis of Sulphate of Barytes”, Nicholson’s Journal, 23, 1809, 170–176, p. 174.
James Thomson, A Letter to the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel… on Copyright in Original Designs and Patterns for Printing. Smith, Elder and Co. London 1840, p. 40; D. Greysmith, “Patterns and protection in the textile printing industry”, Textile History, 14, 1983, 163–194.
Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures. Charles Knight. London 1835.
James Thomson, A Letter. op. cit. (note 54), p.26.
James Sheridan Muspratt, Chemistry. op. cit. (note 27), II, p.682.
Peter Floud, “The British Calico-Printing Industry”, op. cit. (note 16), p. 19.
Stanley D. Chapman, “Quantity vs. Quality”, op. cit. (note 11), p. 188.
Toshio Kusamitsu, “British Industrialization and Design before the Great Exhibition”, Textile History, 12, 1981, 77–95.
Colin A. Russell, Noel G. Coley, Gerrylynn K. Roberts, Chemists by Profession: The Origins and the Rise of the Royal Institute of Chemistry. The Open University. Milton Keynes 1977, pp. 32–33. For the problem of Luddism ill industrial Europe, see: Adrian J. Randall, “Reinterpreting ‘Luddism’: Resistance to New Technology in the British Industrial Revolution”, in Martin Bauer (ed.) Resistance to new technology. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1994, pp. 57–80.
Toshio Kusamitsu, “British Industrialization and Design”, op. cit. (note 60), p. 82.
Stanley D. Chapman, “Quantity vs. Quality”, op. cit. (note 11), pp. 179–180.
Peter Floud, “The British Calico-Printing Industry”, op. cit. (note 16), p. 17. Some of the samples submitted to the Jury of the Great Exhibition in 1851, required more than 500 blocks to complete the pattern. Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s. op. cit. (note 5), p. 15.
George Turnbull, A History of the Calico-Printing. op. cit. (note 28), p. 79.
Stanley D. Chapman, “Quantity vs. Quality”, op. cit. (note 11), p. 182, 185.
Journal of Design and Manufactures, 4, 1850–51, p. 44.
James Thomson, A Letter. op. cit. (note 54), p. 52–53.
James Emerson Tennent, A Treatise of the Copyright of Designs for Printed Fabrics. Smith, Elder and Co. London 1841, pp. 10–22.
James Thomson, A Letter. op. cit. (note 54), p. 16.
James Emerson Tennent, A Treatise. op. cit. (note 70).
“James Emerson Tennent (1804–1869)”, Dictionary of National Biography, XIX, 545–456.
“Obituaries of Eminent Manufacturers. Memoir of the late James Thomson, Esq., F.R.S., of Clitheroe”, Journal of Design and Manufactures, 4, 1850–51, 65–72, p. 72.
James Emerson Tennent, A Treatise. op. cit. (note 70), p. 3.
James Thomson, A Letter. op. cit. (note 54), p. 11.
James Sheridan Muspratt, Chemistry. op. cit. (note 27), p 683.
James Emerson Tennent, A Treatise. op. cit. (note 70), pp. 84–155.
James Thomson, A Letter. op. cit. (note 54), p. 33. Quoted by James Emerson Tennent, A Treatise. op. cit. (note 70), p. 267.
James Thomson, A Letter. op. cit. (note 54), p. 32.
Barry M. Katz, “… Technology and Design”, op. cit. (note 4), pp. 456–457.
George Turnbull, A History of the Calico-Printing. op. cit. (note 28), pp. 137–154. Already in the eighteenth century, schools of drawing were opened in Rouen (1746), Paris (1749), Lyon (1758), Nantes (1757), and Hamburg (1767). Ernst Homburg, “From colour maker to chemist: episodes from the rise of the colourist, 1670–1800”, in Robert Fox, Agusti Nieto-Galan (eds.) Natural Dyestuffs and Industrial Culture in Europe,1750–1880. Science History Publications. Canton 1999, 219–256, p. 235. Thomson’s position had its equivalent in other contexts, such as the case of Hummel, a Prussian calico printer from Berlin, who was considered the last manufacturer of perrotines in Europe. Geert Verbong, “The Dutch calico-printing industry between 1800 and 1875”, in Robert Fox, Agusti Nieto-Galan (eds.) Natural Dyestuffs. op. cit. (note 82), p. 213.
Wendy Hefford, The Victoria & Albert Museum’s. op. cit. (note 5), p. 1 l.
Stanley D. Chapman, “Quantity vs. Quality”, op. cit. (note 11), p. 189.
Peter Floud, “The British Calico-Printing Industry”, op. cit. (note 16), pp. 19–20.
Dominique Zahan, “L’homme et la couleur”, in Jean Poirier (eds.) Histoire des moeurs. 3 vols. Gallimard. Paris 1990–91, I, 115–180; Rodney Needham, Symbolic Classification. Goodyear. Santa Monica 1979; Raymond Firth, Symbols. Public and Private. G. Allen and Unwin Ltd. London 1973, Chapter 10: “Symbols of Flags”, pp. 328–367; Mireille Pastoureau, Couleurs, images, symboles: Études d’histoire et d’anthropologie. Le Léopard d’Or. Paris 1989; Marshal Sahlins, “Colours and Cultures”, Semiotica, 16, 1976, 1–22.
“La différence entre les tissus dont les sociétés traditionnelles font leurs vêtements n’est pas seulement explicable par les propriétés (différentes) des matériaux utilisés ni même par l’outillage qu’elles ont développé… le vêtement… ses fonctions symboliques, sociales, esthétiques le modèlent”, Jean Baudrillard, Le système des objets. Gallimard. Paris 1968. Cited by Jean-Pierre Seris, La technique. Presses Universitaires de France. Paris 1994, p. 68.
Alain Corbin, Le miasme et la jonquille. L’odorat et l’imaginaire social XUIIIe-XIXe siècles. Flammarion. Paris 1982.
A key representative of the French Histoires des mentalités is Michel Voyelle, Ideologies et Mentalités. Sorbonne. Paris 1982; Michel Voyelle (ed.) Les images de la Révolution française. Sorbonne. Paris 1988. Criticisms of the excessively “vaporous” results of that school and the difficulties involved in quantifying feelings, emotions or deep personal thoughts are well developed in: Roger Chartier, Cultural History. Between Practices and Representations. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1988.
“ the significance of a technical artifact is not exhausted by its operational characteristics, and… it is suspended in webs of meaning that are multivalent, polysemic and omnicultural”, Barry M. Katz, “… Technology and Design”, op. cit. (note 4), p. 466.
Maurice Aguhlon, Pierre Bonte, Marianne. Les visages de la République. Découvertes Gallimard. Paris 1992; Maurice Aguhlon, Marianne au combat. L’imaginerie et la symbologie républicaines de 1789 à 1880. Flammarion. Paris 1979; Pierre Nora (ed.) Les lieux de mémoire. 3 vols. Gallimard. Paris 1984.
Raoul Girardet, “Les trois couleurs. Ni blanc, ni rouge”, in Pierre Nora (ed.) Les lieux de mémoire. op. cit. (note 91), I, pp. 5–35.
Raoul Girardet, “Les trois couleurs”, op. cit. (note 92).
Thus, the law of 15 February 1794 stated: “Le pavillon national sera formé des trois couleurs nationales en trois bandes égales, posées verticalement de manière que le bleu soit attaché à la gauche du pavillon, le blanc au milieu et le rouge flottant dans les airs”. Raoul Girardet, “Les trois couleurs”, op. cit. (note 92), p. 6.
Jean Chevalier, Alain Cheerbrant, Dictionnaire des symboles. Mythes, réves, coutumes, gestes, formes, figures, couleurs, nombres. Robert Laffont. Paris 1969. Frederic Portal, Des couleurs symboliques. Truettet Würtz. Paris 1857. (Reprinted by: Editions de la Maisnie. Paris 1978).
Deslogues, Histoire du drapeau fiançais. Chez l’auteur. Paris 1839, pp. 2–3.
Sany social group depends for its existence on certain values held in common by its members; the values are the objects of social sentiments; but without symbols, without enduring things that stand for the values, the sentiments could have only precarious existence. So the function of social symbols, by this view, is not merely to mark or enhance the importance of what is symbolized, but also to evoke and sustain an emotional commitment to what is decreed to be important in the social group in question“, Rodney Needham, Symbolic Classification. op. cit. (note 86), p. 5.
Firth emphasizes the idea of flags as symbols of nation, society, political power, social cohesion, dissent, etc. Raymond Firth, Symbols. op. cit. (note 86), p. 364. “The essence of symbolism lies in the recognition of one thing as standing for (re-presenting) another, the relation between them normally being that of concrete to abstract, particular to general”, Raymond Firth, Symbols. op. cit. (note 86), p. 15.
Mona Ozouf, La féte révolutionnaire, 1789–1799. Gallimard. Paris 1976; Robert Chagny, “Le symbole des Trois Ordres”, in Michel Voyelle (ed.) Les images de la Révolution française. Sorbonne. Paris 1988, pp. 267–282.
Maurice Aguhlon, Pierre Bonte, Marianne. op. cit. (note 91).
Jean Tarrade, Le commerce colonial de la France à la fin de l’Ancien Régime. 2 vols. Presses Universitaires de France. Paris 1972.
Alfred Fierro, André Palluel-Guillard, Jean Tulard (eds.) Histoire et Dictionnaire du Consulat et de l’Empire. Robert Laffont. Paris 1995, pp. 116–126, 361–370.
Albert Soboul, Dictionnaire historique de la Révolution française. Presses Universitaires de France. Paris 1989, p. 367; Alan Forrest, “Armée”, in François Furet, Mona Ozouf, Dictionnaire critique de la révolution française. Flammarion. Paris 1988, pp. 443–452; Alan Forrest, The Soldiers of the French Revolution. Duke University Press. Durham 1990.
In the early years of the nineteenth century, numerous papers were published on the different chemical treatments of military uniforms for protection from rain. The aim was to obtain tricolour uniforms that were resistant to rain and sunlight. Treatises on the art of dyeing cloth for the army emphasized the extreme importance of the solidity of the colours of the uniforms, which, in spite of the new Règlement of 1810, was not completely achieved before the Restoration. M.A. Dupré Lasale, Traité de fabrication et de teinture des draps pour l’armée française. Chez Dupré Lasale. Paris 1829. See also: Jean-Paul Bertaud, La Révolution armée. Les soldats citoyens et la Révolution française. Robert Laffont. Paris 1979, p. 239
Daniel Roche, La culture des apparences. op. cit. (note 2), p. 144. For some general links between fashion, dress and technology see: Jean-Pierre Seris, La Technique. op. cit. (note 87), p. 68.
Fritz Lauterbach, Geschichte der in Deutschland bei der Färberei angewandten Farbstoffe mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des mittelalterlichen Waidbaues. Verlag von Veit. Leipzig 1905, p. 85.
Luisa Dolza, “Dyeing in Piedmont in the late eighteenth century”, Archives Internationales d’Histoire des Sciences, 46, 1996, 75–83, p.77. See also: Luisa Dolza, “Flow did they know ? The art of dyeing in late-eighteenth-century Piedmont”, in Robert Fox, Agusti Nieto-Galan (eds.) Natural Dyestuffs. op. cit. (note 82), pp. 129–160.
cet indigo [woad], en l’employant pour la confection des teintures de l’habillement des troupes, il en eut resulté une grande économie pour l’état“, Archives Nationales (A.N.). Commerce et Industrie. F/12/2254.
Iron salts, potassium prussiate, animal substances, in a very similar procedure to that used with Prussian Blue, yielded the Bleu Souchon which was regarded a very consistent alternative to indigo: “… on peut raisonablement admettre que l’on verra bientôt l’usage de l’indigo pour la teinture des laines, disparaître de la France…”, Souchon, Mémoire historique sur l’hydro-ferro-cyanate de per-oxide de fer, hydrocyanate de fer, prussiate de fer, bleu de Prusse ou de la teinture sur laine en bleu-Souchon sans indigo. Durand et Perrin. Lyon 1825, pp.36–37; “… la grande consommation d’indigo qui se fait en France, et qui nos rend tributaires de l’étranger, son prix si élevé… ont dû surtout éveiller leur attention [des chimistes] et exciter leur génie. Le bleu Raymond est connu dans le commerce depuis plusieurs années. Ce que cette teinture est pour la soie, le bleu Souchon l’est pour la laine”, M.A. Dupré Lasale, Traité de Fabrication. op. cit. (note 104), p. 304.
Annales des Arts et Manufactures,32, 1809, p. 158.
“Note sur les services de M. J.L. Roard”. A.N. Commerce et Industrie. F/12/2437.
Giovanni Antonio Giobert, “Mémoire sur la teinture du coton et du fil en rouge avec la garance (traduction en français d’une mémoire de Giobert lue à Torino)”, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 32, 1809, 134–164. p. 158.
Aune grande impulsion est donnée sur la culture du pastel pour extraire de cette plante un indigo national qui atteste à jamais à nos ennemis combien la France est féconde en ressources industrielles“. Limouzin-Lamothe, ”Reflexions sur la culture en grand du pastel; par M. Limouzin-Lamothe, pharmacien à Alby“, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 47, 1813, 253–258, p. 253; See also: ”Instruction pratique sur la préparation de l’indigo-pastel par M. Heinrich de Vienne“, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 47, 1813, 273–307; ”Procédé russe et procédé égyptien pour tirer l’indigo du pastel“, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 49, 1813, 183–187. ”Sur les substances propres remplacer l’indigo dans les teintures“, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 31, 1809, 151–154.
“Le pastel donne sans indigo une couleur bleue qui n’a pas de l’éclat, mais qui est très solide. Comme il donne beaucoup moins de parties colorantes que l’indigo, et comme sa couleur est inférieur en beauté, la découverte de l’indigo a diminué considérablement la culture et le commerce du pastel”, Claude-Louis Berthollet, Eléments de l’art de la teinture. 2 vols. Didot. Paris 1791, II, p. 81.
Wilhelm Heinrich von Kurrer, “Über vaterländische Pflanzen, Pigmente welche in unseren Druck und Farbereien als Ersass der Ost und Westindischen Produkte zur Darstellung schöner und dauerhafter Farben angewendet werden können, nach Reihe von Versuchen im Grossen unternommen von W.H. Kurrer in Augsburg”, Neues Journal für die Indiennen, II, 1816, 16–28, 138–165, 241–256; II, 1817, 9195; IV, 1818, 40–44.
A.N. Commerce et Industrie. F/12/2260.
Rapport du jury sur les produits de l’industrie française présentés à S.E.M. de Champagny, Ministre de l’Intérieur. Imprimerie Impériale. Paris 1806, pp. 87–89.
Jean-Antoine Chaptal, L’art de la teinture du coton en rouge. Detreville. Paris 1807.
“De toutes les matières colorantes employées dans la teinture, la garance, dit-il, est bien sûrement celle qui doit nous offrir le plus grand intérêt, non seulement parce qu’elle croît en abondance dans nos contrées, et qu’elle y devient, par notre industrie la source d’une branche de commerce considérable, mais encore parce que’elle donne à très bon marché, pour quelques un de nos tissus, des couleurs variées, très solides et très brillantes”, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 32, 1809, 134–164.
Jean-Baptiste Vitalis, Manuel du teinturier surfil et sur coton filé. Mégard. Rouen 1810.
“Le bleu sur laine et sur soie; bleu qui resiste à l’air, à la lumière, à tous les débouillis acides. Je crois en outre pouvoir avancer qu’en supposant le prix de l’indigo, remené par les bienfaite de la paix au prix de 1789, c’est à dire, 12 francs la libre, l’emploi de mon bleu indigène peut encore offrir plus de 3 quarts d’économie”, Comte de la Boulaye-Marillac, Mémoire sur les couleurs inalterables pour la teinture. Pillet. Paris 1814, p. 8.
“L’art de la teinture, éclairé par le savant ouvrage de M. Berthollet, ne paraissait presque plus susceptible de nouveaux perfectionnements, après ceux que MM. Chaptal, Haussmann, Raymond et Roard ont apportés dans la plupart des manipulations, principalement sous le rapport de l’éclat et la vivacité, de la pureté de toutes couleurs connues et de leurs nuances, mais sous celui de leur inaltérabilité, presque tout restait à faire, puisque la plupart des couleurs sont détruites en très peu de temps par la réaction continuelle de l’air et du soleil sur leurs molécules”, Annales des Arts et Manufactures, 1 (2), 1815, 96–102, p. 96.
“Les hollandais font des violets en soie que nous ne pouvons imiter qu’en faux… les noirs de Gènes, et d’autres d’Italie sont plus beaux que ceux de France pour les soies… Les eaux ne contribuent pas peu à la perfection de cet art. Les drogues, par leur transport par mer, peuvent diminuer de leur qualité, ou ne pas produire le même effet sous un climat différent”. “Teinture”, in Encyclopédie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Briasson, David, Le Breton, Durand. Paris 1751–1780, XVI (1765), 8–31, p. 31.
Exposition des produits de l’industrie française en 1839. op. cit. (note 15), III, 292–295.
Henri Schlumberger, Auguste Scheurer, “Extrait d’un rapport fait par MM. Henri Schlumberger et Auguste Scheurer, sur quelques observations recueillies par eux en Angleterre, en juillet 1837”, Bulletin de la Société Industrielle de Mulhouse, 9, 1838, 33–57, 66–69, pp. 36–40.
Nous [in France] sommes pour tous et partout les arbitres de la mode: aussi cette exportation en articles de nouveautés est-elle importante; elle n’exclut pas les indiennes courantes, qui sont recherchés pour la beauté de l’impression, la solidité des couleurs, comparativement à ce qui se fait à prix égale chez nos voisins“, Exposition des produits de l’industrie française en 1844. op. cit. (note 21), III, pp. 500–503.
Jean-François Persoz, “Impressions et Teintures”, in Travaux de la Commission française sur l’industrie des nations. 5 vols. Imprimerie Royale. Paris 1854, V, 1–74, p. 6.
George Turnbull, A History of the Calico-Printing. op. cit. (note 28), pp. 132–133. Chapter V: “Design and Art in the Industry since the Eighteenth Century”.
George Dodd, The Textile Manufactures. op. cit. (note 1), p. 85.
Johannes Hugo Koch, Mit Model Krapp. op. cit. (note 36), p. 50.
Pierre Caspard, “La fabrique-neuve”, op. cit. (note 26), pp. 137–138.
James Emerson Tennent, A Treatise. op. cit. (note 70), p. 188.
In 1800, Félix Beaujour, a French traveller to Greece noted a division of functions of this kind in some Greek workshops that did not use any machinery: “Tandis que les hommes teignent le coton, les femmes le filent et le préparent”, Cited by Angélique Kinini, “La fabrication du rouge turc dans la Thessalie de la fin du XVIllème siècle: la manufacture de la ville d’Ampélakia leur grand renom sur le marché européen”, in Robert Fox, Agustí Nieto-Galan (eds.) Natural Dyestuffs. op. cit. (note 82), p. 84.
A good historiographic approach to the role of women in calico printing is found in Christian Simon, “Labour Relations”, op. cit. (note 13), p. 122.
William Haynes, American Chemical Industry. 6 vols. D. van Nostrand Company, Inc. Toronto, New York, London 1954, III, pp. 42–43.
Serge Chassagne (ed.) Une femme d’affaires au XVIllème siècle: la correspondance de Madame de Maraise, collaboratrice d’Oberkampf Privat. Toulouse 1981.
A.N. Commerce et Industrie. F/12/2260.
A.N. Commerce et Industrie. F/12/2260.
Exposition des produits de l’industrie française en 1844. op. cit. (note 21), III, pp. 685–703.
Johannes Hugo Koch, Mit Model Krapp. op. cit. (note 36), p. 47.
Reports by the Juries on the subjects in the thirty classes into which the Exhibition was divided (Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, 1851). W. Clowes and Sons. London 1852, pp. 42–50
Christopher Breward, The Culture of Fashion. A New History of Fashionable Dress. Manchester University Press. Manchester 1995.
Maxine Berg, The Age of Manufactures, 1700–1820. Industry, Innovation and Work in Britain. Routledge. London 1994, pp. 129–130. (1’ edition 1985).
Gorges Roque, Art et science de la couleur. op. cit. (note 2); Alan E. Shapiro, “Artists’ Colors and Newton’s Colors”, Isis, 85, 1994, 600–630; John Gage, Colour and Culture. op. cit. (note 2); Simon Schaffer, “Experimenters’ Techniques, Dyers’ Hand and the Electric Planetarium”, Isis, 88, 1997, 456483.
Alan E. Shapiro, Fits, Passions and Paroxysms. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1993.
This was the case of Jean Baptiste Huet and Jean Baptiste Legrenée in Jouy. Josette, Brédif Classic Printed Textiles. op. cit. (note 3), p. 134.
Alan E. Shapiro, “Artist’s Colors”, op. cit. (note 146).
For the uses of Prussian blue by painters, see for example: Edward H. Delaval, An Experimental Inquiry into the Cause of the Changes of Colours in Opake and Coloured Bodies. J. Nourse. London 1777, pp. lxix-lxx.
Canaletto, for example, used Prussian blue in the 1720s. Trevor Lamb, Janine Bourriau, Colour: Art and Science. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge 1995, pp. 22–23.
Frédéric Crace Calvert, Dyeing and Calico Printing. Palmer and House. London 1876, (Obituary), p. xii.
Rapport du jury sur les produits de l’industrie française (1806). op. cit. (note 117), p. 267.
Michel-Eugène Chevreul, De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs. Chez Pitois-Lerraut et Cie. Paris 1839.
Gorges Roque, Art et science de la couleur. op. cit. (note 2), pp. 38–45; Auguste Rosenstiehl, Traité de la couleur au point de vue physique, physiologique et esthétique, comprenant l’exposé de l’état actuel de l’harmonie des couleurs. Dunod. Paris 1913.
John Gage, Colour and Culture. op. cit. (note 2), p. 175.
Chantal Gastinel-Coural, “Chevreul à la Manufacture des Gobelins”, in Georges Roque, Bernard Bodo, Françoise Vienot (eds.) Michel-Eugène Chevreul. Un savant, des couleurs’. Editions du Musée Nationale d’Histoire Naturelle. Paris 1997, 67–80, pp. 68–69.
There is a vast literature on the figure of William Morris. For a general biographical approach and for his main contributions to calico printing, see: Helen Dore, William Morris. Hamlyn. London 1990; William Morris, “Some Hints on Pattern Designing”. A lecture delivered by William Morris at the Working men’s College. London, 10 December 1881. Longman and Co. London 1899; William Morris, “Textile Fabrics”. A Lecture Delivered in the Lecture Room of the Exhibition, July 11th 1884. International Health Exhibition. W. Clowes and Sons, Ltd. London 1884; William Morris, “The Decorative Arts. Their Relation to Modern Life and Progress”. An Address Delivered Before the Trade’s Guild of Learning. Ellis and White. London 1878.
Peter Floud, “The British Calico-Printing Industry”, op. cit. (note 16), p. 23.
George Turnbull, A History of the Calico-Printing. op. cit. (note 28), p. 163.
William Morris, “Textile Fabrics”. op. cit. (note 158), p. 28.
William Morris, “Textile Fabrics”. op. cit. (note 158), p. 28.
Helen Dore, William Morris. op. cit. (note 158), pp. 10–15.
Joan Pau Canals, Memorias sobre la púrpura de los antiguos, restaurada en Espana: que de orden de la Real Junta General de Comercio y Moneda, se dan al piiblico. Blas Roman. Madrid 1779.
In 1540, Giovanni Rosetti published the Plictho de l’arte dei Tentori, whereas some years later, in 1568, a typical sixteenth century book of Secrets, The Secrets of the Reverend Moister Alexis of Piedmont, became a popular text with further translations into Italian, French, Latin, English, Dutch, German, Polish, Danish and Spanish. Sidney M. Edelstein, Historical Notes on the Wet-Processing Industry. American Dyestuff Reporter. New York 1974, p. 31.
For a historical account of this kind, see: Jean Girardin, Leçons de chimie élementaire faites le dimanche à l’école municipale de Rouen. 2 vols. Librairie des sciences médicales (Paris), chez tous les libraires (Rouen). Paris, Rouen 1835, 11, pp. 236–241.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nieto-Galan, A. (2001). Artisans and Artists in Dyeing and Printing. In: Colouring Textiles. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 217. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1081-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-1081-7_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5721-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-1081-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive