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This short treatise on traditional color symbolism, written in a meticulous and exhaustive manner, is one of the few available in a language of the Western world. Its theoretical foundation consists of the concept that everything manifested essentially proceeds from a metaphysical principle and expresses reality according to its order of existence. Colors also obey this law and, with respect to their specific degree, fit into the main unity. Color symbolism is a universal mode of expression that has crossed cultures and religions from India to China and Persia. This important element of iconography is found in the temples of Egypt, the monuments of Greece and Rome, and then in the Middle Ages and the stained glass windows of Gothic cathedrals. Sacred books, from the Vedic texts to the Bible and the Koran, make constant use of the symbolism of color. Frédéric du Portal traces in detail the journey of symbolic colours through the centuries, and his extensive research has led him to the conviction that 'colors had the same meaning among all the peoples of high antiquity'. Based on exhaustive documentation, Portal explains the principles and laws governing the language of colors. A fascinating, thought-provoking book that remains a reference for artists and students of art history.
About the author
Pierre Paul Frédéric du Portal, Baron du Portal, was born in Bordeaux in 1804 and died in Paris in 1876. He was a lawyer, diplomat and state counsellor. He was the son of the shipowner and later Minister of the Navy Pierre-Barthélémy du Portal d'Albarèdes (1765-1845). In 1824, he was attached to the French embassy in Dresden, then in St Petersburg, and in 1838 he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour. His best-known book, The Symbols of the Egyptians, was published by Editions Obelisco in 1981 and republished in 1999.
