John
Speed
John Speed: Cartographer of a Nation’s Soul John Speed, born in the Cheshire village of Farndon around 1551 or 1552 and passing away in 1629, stands as one of the most pivotal figures in early English cartography. More than simply a mapmaker, he was a …
A portrait built from John Speed's own colours
Every 1 approved work contributes its dominant tone to a single flowing field. Sorted along the hue wheel, the strip reads as a smooth spectrum. Click any band to reveal its full four-colour palette.
Bands follow the hue wheel; visually identical tones are merged.
Every painting, placed on the hue wheel
Each dot is a work — its angle set by hue, its distance from the centre by saturation. Hover a dot to see the painting.
The signature, in numbers
Where the colour came from
Up to 24 paintings representing the most frequent palette tones — each shown with its dominant colours.