The Milkmaid

c. 1660

Oil on canvas, 45.5 × 41 cm. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Yellow, blue and red, the painter's three primaries, carry the figure against a pale wall. The triad is plain to see, yet the picture stays calm.

Blue leads the composition; the yellow bodice and a smaller amount of red skirt support it.
The blue is natural ultramarine; as in several of his paintings, he used it even where cheaper azurite would have done.
The bodice is lead-tin yellow, and the skirt is madder lake laid over charcoal black.
The whitewashed wall, mixed from umber, black and lead white, is a neutral that lets the three hues stand apart.

Concepts

Image: Rijksmuseum open data · Public domain