Mr Ball next treats us to a brisk description of the human eye (remember rods and cones from school biology?), an explanation of why Newton was right and Goethe wrong about the composite character of white light, and an account of the 19th-century regimentation of the continuous colour spectrum by means of colour wheels and other classifying devices.

ECONOMIST: Science and history of colour

Between them, they shook up the art world in the 17th Century with their subtle use of colour and penchant for striking religious paintings.

BBC: A second chance for Sevillian art

And it highlights the role of colour in the Russian abstract painters of the early part of the century, including a delightful harbour scene by the relatively unknown female artist Olga Rozanova.

BBC: A passion for colour

By the 16th century, oil bases and, later, a growing understanding of colour allowed for ever subtler combinations.

ECONOMIST: Science and history of colour

Inside a 13th-century building, the restaurant's thick, stone walls are the colour of butterscotch.

BBC: Krak��w, inside out