Fifty shades of white...

White is the colour of winter, ironically when the days are shortest and darkest - what a glorious time of year for artists to chart the structure of trees, branches denuded of foliage against grey skies and blood-red sunsets! White symbolises purity, peace and cleanliness, but there is nothing tame or timorous about the shade. White light, actually a combination of all colours in the rainbow, is brilliant and strong, evoking the might of the thunderstorm with loud crashes and flashes, and bright forks renting leaden skies. White evokes the richness of milk and cream, the tenderness of pale-green meadows sprinkled with flowers of yarrow and myrtle, the beauty of white roses in a summer garden, the mystery of moonlight falling upon leaves of silvery artemisia. Like snow, white is evanescent and ethereal, happening rarely – in Great Britain, at least – and never lasting for long when it does come. Pure white is very volatile, ever threatening to “corrupt” into grey and lemon, pink violet and pale green. Artists have made much use of this volatility, giving us fifty shades and more, of white – just look at The White Duck (1753) by Jean-Baptiste Oudry. It was the longing for well-designed sheets in white linen that caused Chrissie Rucker to found the White Company. Twenty years down the line, it has built a reputation for selling quality bedding and towels, nightwear and cushions, candles and perfumes…