Bruce R. Smith. The Key of Green: Passion and Perception in Renaissance Culture.

Abstract

"From Shakespeare's "green-eyed monster" to the "green thought in a green shade" in Andrew Marvells "The Garden," the color green was curiously prominent and resonant in English culture of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Among other things, green was the most common color of household goods, the recommended wall color against which to view paintings, the hue that was supposed to appear in alchemical processes at the moment base metal turned to gold, and the color most frequently associated with human passions of all sorts. A unique cultural history, "The Key of Green" considers the significance of the color in the literature, visual arts, and popular culture of early modern England." (Homepage Walther König)