Organising Colours: Patrick Syme’s Colour Chart and Nomenclature for Scientific Purposes

Abstract

This article aims to reconstruct the making of a colour nomenclature displaying a colour chart with 108 samples, published for the first time in 1814 in a small work entitled Werner’s Nomenclature of Colours […]. The book’s author, Patrick Syme, was a professional artist and painter to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh. The publication’s title and the Society’s name refer to the German mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner, who in 1774 developed a nomenclature of colours, upon which Syme drew for the production of his booklet. This paper discusses Syme’s appropriation of Werner’s legacy, analysing the content and intentions of Syme’s work, and highlighting its reception among nineteenth century British scientists.