Literary notes about palette (AI summary)
The word "palette" in literature has been employed in a variety of ways, ranging from its literal association with an artist’s tool for mixing colors to more symbolic and utilitarian connotations. In some texts, it signifies the essential apparatus of creative expression, as seen when characters clean, pick up, or even purchase a palette, underscoring the intimate connection between the artist and their work ([1], [2], [3], [4]). Meanwhile, derivative forms like "palette-knife" emerge in contexts that blur the boundary between art and action, transforming an instrument of creation into one of confrontation or construction—whether it is used to stir ingredients ([5]) or even as a weapon ([6]). Such varied usages, notably appearing across works by Anne Brontë, Robert W. Chambers, and others ([7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]), highlight the adaptability of the term to express both the physicality of artistic practice and its deeper metaphorical resonance in narrative settings.
- "It isn't a mere pleasure trip to me, girls," she said impressively, as she scraped her best palette.
— from Little Women; Or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy by Louisa May Alcott - He said, "All right," and picking up the palette, sat down upon the floor in front of the stove.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - She had already had made for her two travelling dresses of linen, had bought paints, brushes, canvases, and a new palette for the journey.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - Must not the artist who has conceived a picture, descend from the dream of his mind to mix colors on a palette?
— from The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness by Cecil B. Hartley - With the handle of a palette-knife he stirred the crumbs and milk together and stepped back as she thrust her nose into the mess.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - I snatched up my palette-knife and held it against him.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - The palette and the easel, my darling playmates once, must be my sober toil-fellows now.
— from The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë - "I will bet," he said, throwing down his palette and walking over to the window beside her, "that Colette has been here to-day."
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - Severn laid down his palette, and held out a hand of welcome.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - "Jack?" "Dearest?" "Don't forget to clean your palette."
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - He had every colour on his palette, and such skill was in his fingers that he could depict every variety of light and shade.
— from Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais - "Hayseed?" inquired Bowles, plastering in a background with a broken palette-knife and squinting at the effect with approval.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers - Yes, it was the long palette-knife, with its thin blade of lithe steel.
— from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - His head and shoulders were in the shadow, but the firelight fell across his knees and glimmered red on the blade of the palette-knife.
— from The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers
