William Michael Harnett Palette 1

Palette Analysis

Values in William Michael Harnett rest in the mid-range - neither dramatically lit nor steeped in shadow. A distinctly cool atmosphere runs through this palette: sky, water, and mist given colour form. Mid-saturation across the board: the palette has colour character without chromatic excess. 45.5% of the palette belongs to #A47B3C, a concentration that makes it the unmistakable visual centre. #E3D2A8 functions as the palette's exclamation mark: highest chroma, lowest percentage (1.7%). 46 units of value spread create a palette that is varied but unified - contrast in the service of harmony. High luminosity and cool temperature suggest the plein-air condition: unfiltered daylight and open sky. This is palette 1 of William Michael Harnett's sequence - a single chapter in a chromatic story told across many works.