We discuss some modern perspectives about the mathematical formalization of colorimetry, motivated by the analysis of a groundbreaking, yet poorly known, model of the color space proposed by H.L. Resnikoff and based on differential geometry. In particular, we will underline two facts: the first is the need of novel, carefully implemented, psycho-physical experiments and the second is the role that Jordan algebras may have in the development of a more rigorously founded colorimetry.