I agree with you, Tim, that there are no secrets, really.
But what is it then that makes the one in 10 million painters so much better at pleasing the general population? One who makes a painting so nearly perfect that it can enchant generations? Yes, they used the very same elements and principles that an artist of today uses, so it can't really be any "secret".
However, if there were a secret, it might be that they used their colors and values more wisely than the ordinary artist does. And one of those could have been that they kept their overall color schemes very simple. So simple indeed that if one of the masters themselves could tell all modern artists to paint with an analogous, or complimentary color scheme, then artists of today might think the idea rediculous and/or boring.
Most of their really succesful and recognized masterpieces contain analogous or complimentary color schemes.
I am beginning to form the opinion that the reason for this is that color takes up space on the canvas. And the more that colors are closer in proportion then the more the painting loses its "one thing" as Curley told Billy Crystal in the movie, City Slickers.
It loses its identity as being a mostly red painting, or a mostly blue painting, or a mostly yellow painting. It loses its simplicity.
Look at the beautiful cover pages of the books that are featured on the left of this forum's home page. The book with the little girl is mostly blue. The book above that seems mostly green. The book above that is mostly monochrome/maybe analogous. The one above that mostly analogous. Very pleasing to the eyes.
Now, I am not saying that success cannot be acheived any other way, because a rainbow painting might be just what sells tomorrow for thousands of dollars and everyone just goes crazy over it.
But by studying the paintings of the old masters and the new masters and comparing them, then it will likely be that the rainbow painting won't endure generations unless it employs a lot of balance and proportion.
Take a look at the home decorating magazines that show beautiful room designs and you will see one thing in common. They have "just one" major color (or neutral). Now look at Van Gogh's painting.
