Robert Grosseteste's colours

Abstract

Here I am proposing a translation and discussion of the De Colore, one of the short scientific treatises written by Robert Grosseteste. In this very short treatise of the mid-1220s, Grosseteste continued the discussion on light and colours he started in the De Iride. He describes two manners of counting colours: one gives an infinity of tones, the other counts seven colours. In both cases, colours are created by the purity or impurity of the transparent medium when light is passing through it. This medieval framework survived until Newton's experiments with prisms.