with the same name the colors change along the years... for sure in the past some brilliant colors were difficult to be obtained with manual technology and poor material available.

many illustrator read the description and think to modern interpretation of the colors...

All colours are relative to the light and to other colours surrounding them. So
it helps if we don't constrain ourselves by choosing them in absolute terms, as
if isolated by a colour-picker. An absolute version of Amaranthe, for example,
when placed against another colour - a Green say - might well look wrong and
unbalanced to the eye and need corrective adjustment. I often see figures that
although meticulously painted with exquisite details and everything, for me fail
because the colours jar and sometimes actually work against each other. Far
better for us to see colours relatively and balance their values and saturation
with each other harmoniously.

Mike

I too have very much enjoyed this thread and wholeheartedly agree with the comments of Ron, Steve, Mike and the great Ivo above. One cannot be totally dogmatic on what the correct shade was but neither can one say 'anything goes' in that regard. I am quite familiar with the research of Paul Dawson on Napoleonic colors and have corresponding with him in that regard. He has several articles on the subject on the net. He appears to be more precise than some on deciding what the correct shade should be. I believe that he is correct. On the other hand, I recall a conversation that I had years ago with the late great author and Napoleonic expert Colonel John Elting -US Army ( from 'Swords Around A Throne' fame) on the subject. He told me that the vegetable dyes used in that period were quite 'fugitive' and not color fast like modern chemically based dyes. Therefore there was variance to the color shades in his opinion. In other words, not all uniforms were 'uniform. He indicated that to get Imperial Green (very dark green) they would dye the cloth dark blue and then yellow to get Imperial Green. This was born out in the last few years when the Musee de l'Armee (if I recall correctly) did some conservation work on one of Napoleon's famous undress 'habits' of the Chasseurs a cheval de la Garde Imperiale. It had fades to dark blue!
The color of the correct shade for the 'sky blue' (bleu de ciel) has been of particular interest to me over the years. I have been very fond of the uniform of the 5th hussars. I actually have the original service record of Capitaine Arre Epinat of the 5 eme hussards. And as noted above the correct shade of bleu de ciel is actually much darker than is often depicted. Capitaine Epinat's uniform is still in the collection of the Musee de l'Armee. Here is an intersting discussion on that subject (in French): Le 5 ème hussard

I hope ou

I hope you don’t mind I started a conversation pm with you . Thanks rob

I would think you could get close enough with what you show here with a little trial and error ( pretty much what the joy of oils is all about)

Well that was close enough for me to take a snapshot

"You live in London and the blue sky is different there " I live in Glasgow and it is sure as hell different here when you can see it
I could go on and on re all the shades of blue sky I have seen all over the world , all kidding aside ; when looking at prints of military uniforms
artists tend to show darker colours a bit lighter in reality to get a tridimensional effect.


I tend to use the P Conrad plates for my Napoleonic stuff . If you compare some of the same regiment uniforms in the Paris museum compared to the Musee d Empri there are a lot of subtle differences esp in the facing colours . But then we all fade with age