ABSTRACT
In this chapter, cultural commonplaces are shown to provide a supportive framework for the construction of affective patterns which are readily understood by the early modern audience. These patterns are, in part, helped by chromatic cultural associations. Visual culture, and in particular, the genre of emblems, is highlighted as one such cultural commonplace which lends itself to heightening the emotional register through colour connections. The social context of the technologies of colour is explored to illustrate how they are deployed in forming personal and cultural identities. Pertinent within this argument is the consideration of the chromatic register deployed in relation to race since this is an influencing factor in emotional responses to black people in the early modern context. This chapter illustrates the engagement between the nuanced and multivalenced chromatic references and the context in which they are positioned to augment the emotional register.
