James Ward

“ Now if the essentials of monumental painting, which we have named, and the special functions of the art of the painter are united in any scheme of mural decoration, the result would be an ideal work of decorative art, examples of which may be found in the frescos of Giotto, and in those of the majority of the Italian painters who followed him, down to the sublime creations of Michael Angelo. ”

“ THE WORK OF PINTURICCHIO AND GHIRLANDAJO
Bernardino Pinturicchio of Perugia (1454-1513) was an excellent painter in fresco, although Vasari, in his Lives of the Painters, has done scant justice to his great merits. In the face of much splendid work that has been done by Pinturicchio, the want of appreciation of his merits by Vasari is quite inexplicable. ”

“ The severe lines and proportional rhythm of the architecture are enriched by sculpture, which in its turn is chastened and modified by the contiguous severity of the former,{2} while painting adds the necessary colour finish to the bare spaces that are enclosed by the mouldings and constructional lines of the architecture, borrowing at the same time much of its dignity, restfulness of form, simplicity of composition, and whatever else that adds to its nobility and monumental fitness, from its close association with the architecture. ”

“ As regards the method of execution in painting it may be urged that the artist will work according to his own feeling or temperament: for example, some may decide to paint in thin transparent washes or glazings, as in water-colour painting; others may prefer to use the colours in a thick impasto method, as in oil painting. Either method may be adopted with success, but we should say that a judicious mixture of both methods, in the same work, will obtain the clearest and most luminous results, for, as a matter of technique, fresco lends itself admirably to either methods of painting. ”

“ Very little decoration is required on any article or object which has been designed on correct architectural principles, beyond that already expressed by the lines or mouldings and space divisions. If, however, the nature or use of the object permits of the display, or adventitious aid of such, in order to heighten its beauty, by making it still more attractive and comely to the eye, then the laws and principles of architecture will again help us by indicating where the decoration may be placed, the right amount to use, the scale of such, and the order of its disposition. ”

“ Even those who confined their attention chiefly to painting, thoroughly understood the principles of architecture, and often designed and carried out architectural work, as witness Giotto, Ghirlandajo, Michael Angelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and many others.
If we now consider another aspect of art, where it is applied to objects of general utility, we shall find that the design and decoration of such, when rightly understood, are in each case subject to the laws that govern good architecture. ”

“ The drapery of the kneeling king is masterly in the design of its folds, but the standing figure of the youthful king on the left is the most beautiful of the larger figures. In all the range of Italian art it would be difficult to match for beauty and for types of innocence the two little babes, or innocenti, who are kneeling at the bottom of the picture, adoring and adorable, as in every way they are. ”

“ Examples of artistic objects, designed on architectural principles, may be found in the Greek and Etruscan vases and Pompeian bronzes, and, on the other hand, if some examples may be mentioned where the laws of architecture do not find expression in their form or decoration, and where art is almost non-existing, we might safely point out the meretricious creations of the Chelsea and Dresden chinaware, and the gold and silversmiths’ work of the mid-Victorian period. ”

“ Painting, as the most ornate of the three, owing to its greater power of expression and beauty of colour, must nevertheless be employed to decorate, in the true sense of the word, the plain spaces in a building, and in the largest and simplest manner, without any definite attempts to represent the true facts of nature, or at least it should be suggestive of such facts rather than descriptive of them. ”

“ The only advantage that these varieties of wall painting seem to possess over the buon, or true fresco, process—and it may be considered as a questionable one—is, that as regards the number of the colours, the artist may use an almost unlimited or unrestricted palette, while in buon fresco his colours are limited to the very few which remain unchanged when subjected to the caustic action of the lime in the plaster. ”

“ Painting in tempera on the dry wall is a process in which the colours are tempered with a binding medium, such as glue size, gum, parchment size, or a size made from eggs beaten up with water; the Italian painters added the juice, or gum, of the fig tree, and sometimes vinegar to the egg size. Other methods are encaustic, or painting with wax as a medium, heat being afterwards applied to the wall to blend or to protect the colours; spirit fresco, in which the colours are ground in a wax medium and thinned with spirits of turpentine or oil of spike; water-glass, a German method of wall painting ”

“ The older art of the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Mediæval schools was, in each case, influenced by, and in perfect harmony with the architecture of the respective periods, and not less, but even more so, were the painting and sculpture of Italy from the middle of the thirteenth century till the end of the sixteenth century. ”

“ The simplest way to paint drapery in fresco is to first outline the work, and also indicate the principal folds in outline, then prepare three shades of the general colour so that the darkest or shadow tint will not be so dark as the final darkest shade, nor the lightest so light as the finished lights are intended to be. Paint in the shades and shadows first, the middle tints or half-tones next, and always finish with painting the lights; each tint, of course, in the operation must be lightly or delicately modelled into its neighbouring tint. ”

“ An iron trowel must not be used. After the plaster is laid on it should remain about ten minutes or so before painting, so as to allow it to set. It should then be coated with a tint, that would be a deep vellum colour when dry, made of a mixture of lime-white and a little raw sienna, about the thickness of cream; this will give a slightly smoother surface to the plaster and will act as a luminous ground for the subsequent colouring, besides acting a very important part as an under-coating on which the superimposed colours{22} will “bear out” more effectively. ”

“ The method of work is really, in the execution, a mixture of the techniques of oil and water-colour painting. One of its great advantages is the practically unlimited range of colours allowed on the palette, and another is that the artist can take up his work at any time, or stage, neither of which obtains in buon-fresco. ”

“ We learn, for instance, from architecture that we must not weaken the appearance of the constructive parts, such as the lines, or the mouldings, by any fretful ornamentation, but on the panels and plain spaces we may legitimately place our decoration, yet still restrained so far as not to interfere with the right uses of the object, and designed so as to harmonize,{7} and in some instances contrast, with the lines and contour. ”

“ The wall on which a work in buon-fresco is to be painted should be of good brick, or if a stone wall, it should be lined with brick on its inner face, or, better still, it should be what is known as a hollow brick wall—that is, one having an air-space between the outer and inner linings. The joints between the bricks should be scored out, so as to leave a key for the first coating of rough plaster; this should consist of old lime and coarse, gritty, well-washed river sand, mixed with ox-hair, or white asbestos cut into small bits, so as to bind the mixture more effectually. ”

“ When painting foliage, flowers, fruit, ornament, or architecture, the same method of working will also apply, but the treatment of such objects would be simpler, and will be found less difficult, than the painting of drapery. ”

“ And even when, in later times, the science of art, as expressed in anatomy and perspective, was well understood, this traditional treatment of the design was followed out by the Italian artists, both in their mosaics and wall paintings, and was never lost sight of by the painters subsequent to Giotto, until the seventeenth century, when the general decadence of art had set in. ”

“ The nature of the medium, however, does not always lend itself to the finishing of the work straight off in one painting; this is the case especially in the flesh tints, or in any elaborate drapery modelling. The method usually adopted was to lay in the tints with a full brush and solid colour, carrying the modelling as far as possible in the first painting. Too much working over the same part is liable to bring up the wax, and to cause the work to dry unpleasantly glossy. ”

“ We should also aim for the expression of contrasting elements of forms, such as curves with straight lines, sharp curves with others of less curvature, horizontal lines to counteract vertical tendencies, or mouldings and lines of varying widths arranged to fit in such positions that will give, or suggest, constructive strength; all of which are simply architectural principles, which, if applied to the design of common objects, would give them a definite claim to be considered as works of art. ”

“ A hunting party occupies the left wall, looking towards the window, where some leopards and hawks, used for hunting, are admirably drawn and painted. On the recessed wall surrounding the window the scene represented is Paradise, or the Garden of Heaven, in which many angels are in prayer, and others soaring in the clouds. The fine condition of these frescos presents a great contrast to the decayed and almost obliterated paintings executed by Gozzoli on the walls of the Campo Santa at Pisa. ”

“ Yellow ochre, though it has been used very much by the old Italian frescanti, is not to be depended upon when used in lime fresco in this country, as it consists of a mixture or combination of hydrate of iron and clay; it therefore attracts the damp that is nearly always present in our atmosphere. Of course, it can be safely used in very dry climates, but it may be mentioned that it has been one of the pigments which has largely perished in some of the frescos of the Houses of Parliament. ”

“ Gaudenzio Ferrari (1484-1549) was another Milanese painter, though a native of Piedmont, but Milan and its neighbourhood was strictly speaking the centre of his labours. He was a follower of Leonardo da Vinci, although he had worked with Perugino, and later with Raffaelle. He painted numerous frescos in Milan, Saronno, and Varallo; most of them are characterized by life and animation of pose in the figures, and as a rule his works contain many figures of great merit and beauty ”

“ All other varieties of so-called “fresco” paintings can only be designated as wall paintings, and qualified according to their kind, such as “fresco-secco,” or “dry” fresco, a kind of fresco where the wall is prepared in the same way as in true fresco, and is then allowed to dry. Before the painting is commenced, the wall is well saturated with lime water, and the colours used{9} are the same as those employed in fresco painting. It is not so permanent as work executed on the fresh, wet plaster. Some of the old writers frequently use the term “secco” when tempera painting is evidently meant. ”

“ Thus, while the three arts are each limited to their own special functions, they, at the same time, would appear to assimilate from each other what is lacking in themselves, and so contribute to the complete artistic harmony. ”

“ When one hears of frescos perishing in this country, like some of those in the Houses of Parliament, we may be sure that the causes are not always due to the damp climate, nor altogether to sulphur gases, but either to a badly prepared wall surface, or, what is more than likely, the use of one or two doubtful colours, that in perishing will even loosen or destroy other sounder colours when juxtaposed to or mixed with them. ”

“ It is true that all the paintings on the walls of the Campo Santa have always been exposed to the open air, but the real cause of the disintegration of the Gozzoli paintings in this place is from their being painted in tempera, or fresco-secco, and not, as in the case of the Riccardi frescos, in veritable or buon-fresco. ”

“ The works of Raffaelle and Michael Angelo in fresco painting which adorn the Stanze of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel, respectively, have been so much described, and are so well known to students, that any criticism which might be offered here would amount to an unstinted appreciation of their labours. It goes without saying that it is a{68} very serious thing for the sake of Italian Art that so much of the finest work of these masters has either gone very dark and dirty, or, what is worse, has in places almost perished by the disintegration of the colours. ”

“ When everything is in readiness to commence work, a portion of the rough wall surface should be thoroughly saturated with water, and the plaster ground, or intonaco, should be laid on with a wooden trowel, beginning at the top and at an angle of the wall, and large enough in area to constitute a day’s work, or, rather, as much as can be done in about five hours ”

“ Having outlined the portion selected for painting on the prepared light or cream-coloured ground, supposing it to be a head or other part of the human figure, a very good way to begin is to lay in the shadows first, using a soft or half-worn hog-hair brush, the shadow colour to be of a warm greenish tint, of a mixture of emerald oxide of chromium, raw sienna, and light red, used thinly to get transparency. ”

“ This plaster, or mortar, is a mixture of lime and sand, and the colours used in the painting are such as will remain unchanged in hue when in contact or in mixture with the lime. When all necessary details relating to the method of procedure connected with the work are carefully carried out, true fresco paintings may be said to have a higher degree of permanence and durability than those executed by any other method or medium. The fine surface texture and luminous quality of buon fresco pre-eminently distinguishes it as the most beautiful colour finish for mural decoration. ”

“ The finest authentic work from his hand is the fresco of “The Tribute Money,” which he painted on the left wall of the Brancacci Chapel, and this work still remains as a monument to his great powers. This work is a picture which includes three scenes in its composition; namely, (1) The central group, where Christ rebukes St. Peter, around whom are the standing figures of the apostles, with varied expressions of indignation; the figure in the foreground, back view, in this group is that of the tax-collector, and the last figure of this central group, on the right, is a portrait of Masaccio. ”

“ A finished coloured drawing or painting of the design, to a smaller, or even to the same scale as the fresco painting, must be prepared, and the artist should endeavour to make an exact copy of this on the plaster surface, as there is no time to experiment in colour schemes, or to make alterations from the original coloured design in the short period that is at the disposal of the painter when he is at work on the wet plaster. ”

“ Pinturicchio has been adversely criticised for his practice of giving undue prominence to some of the mouldings and other salient points of the painted architecture in his frescos, and the patterns of embroidery on the dresses of his figures, by modelling them in low relief and afterwards gilding them, the objection being that such a practice is not the function of painting ”

“ In the winter season water from the condensed moisture constantly runs down the surface of this fresco, but does not seem to injure it. No amount of damp or wet on the surface will injure spirit-fresco paintings, as the colours are practically locked up in wax, upon which water has little or no injurious effect, but if the wall is damp at the back, or water gets in by accident, the plaster ground behind becomes soft and friable, and the coloured surface is soon destroyed. ”

“ Black may also be used for the same purpose if mixed with burnt sienna or vermilion. At this stage the flesh-coloured
{27}
parts may be left to dry in a little and get firmer before finally finishing these parts, when attention may now be directed to the painting of the hair, head-dress, or any small accessory. These portions of the work may be laid in at once with an almost flat tint of strong local colour, and the lights and shades modelled into it. On coming back to the flesh portions it may be found necessary to do a considerable amount of retouching ”

“ It is common enough to-day to hear and to read of the condemnation of fresco painting by critics, and even by some eminent artists, all of whom seem to echo each other in pointing out the failures in the examples executed on the walls of the Houses of Parliament and other places; and all agree, because of these failures, that fresco painting is impossible in this country, owing to the dampness of the{vi} climate. ”