Giorgio Vasari

“ It happened, therefore, when matters stood at this pass, that Giovanni da Bruggia [5] working in Flanders, and much esteemed in those parts for the great skill which he had acquired in his calling, set himself to try different sorts of colours; and being a man who delighted in alchemy, he laboured much in the preparation of various oils for varnishes and other things, as is the manner of men of inventive minds such as he was. ”

“ No long time had elapsed be fore the fame of Giovanni’s invention spread, not only over all Flanders, but through Italy and many other parts of the world, awakening the utmost desire in all artists to know by what method he gave such perfection to his works. ”

“ Now, it happened that a certain Antonello da Messina, [10] a man of lively genius, of much sagacity, and considerable experience in his calling, having studied design during many years in Rome, had first retired to Palermo, where he worked for some time, and had finally returned to Messina, his native place, where he had confirmed by his works the good opinion entertained of him by his countrymen as one well-skilled in the art of painting. ”

“ According to Zanetti, the first oil-painting executed in Venice was a St. Augustine, painted in the vear 1475, for the church of San Giovanni e Paolo, by Bartolommeo Vivarini. In Florence, painting in tempera maintained its ground still longer, a circumstance to which the horror felt for the crime of Andrea del Castagno (whose life follows) , may possibly have contributed. Rumohr is doubtful Avhether Domenico Veneziano ever painted in oil. ”

“ He made experiments with many other substances, but finally decided that mixing the colours with these oils, gave a degree of firmness to the work which not only secured it against all injury from water when once dried, but also imparted so much life to the colours, that they exhibited a sufficient lustre in themselves without the aid of varnish, and what appeared to him more extraordinary than all besides was, that the colours thus treated were much more easily united and blent than when in tempera. ”

“ And even if they had found what they sought, they would still have wanted the art of making pictures “in tavola” as durable as those executed on the wall, as well as that of so treating them that they might be washed without removing the colours, and would endure without injury whatever concussion they might be subjected to in the process of execution. To discuss all these things, considerable numbers of artists frequently assembled, and had often held long disputations thereon, but always without any useful result. ”

“ Merrifield, is of great value. The German reader will find the subject treated, more or less at length, by Waagen, Rumohr, Passavant, and many others. ↑ Few notices of Ruggieri, or Roger of Bruges, exist. ”