So it was that Eastlake replaced an earlier grayish-green hue with red, based on the latest research into sensory physiology. “The interaction with the golden frames and the mainly cooler colours of the paintings themselves led, according to this research, to a harmonious effect in the beholder’s visual experience,” Klonk claimed.

We should, I think, be questioning the dominance, or hegemony of the visual in contemporary society. We should all be asking whether this particular hierarchy of the senses that we find ourselves with currently is the right one, be it for ourselves or for the societies in which we live. Looking across cultures and history, one finds that there are