44«6 Mr. A. Essex's Account of the 



property of easy fusion is obtained by the introduction of a 

 larger proportion of oxide of lead or of alkali, or of both, into 

 the composition of the colours ; which superabundance renders 

 the flux of the colours an imperfect glass, and consequently 

 lays it open to decomposition, from the attacks of those gases, 

 which, being continually evolved from putrescent and other 

 substances, are ever floating in the atmosphere. 



The difficulty of working the colours with delicacy, and the 

 extreme care required in eff*ecting this, render the process of 

 painting in enamel slow, and hence it has seldom been applied 

 with success to painting from life, but has usually been em- 

 ployed in copying*. Indeed its permanency obviously points 

 out, as perhaps its most legitimate use, the transmission to 

 posterity of faithful transcripts of those eminent works which 

 time is daily injuring and is certain ultimately to destroy. To 

 effect this object no other branch of art appears competent. 

 Engraving is adequate to transmit light and shadow, design 

 and drawing, but colouring is wholly unattainable by it. But 

 how much of the beauty and merit of a fine work of art is 

 dependent upon its beauty of colouring ! Nor can the richness 

 and sweetness of a good colourist be attained either on glass 

 or on porcelain, the chemical action induced by these sub- 

 stances, when at a high temperature, being inimical to really 

 good colouring, while that of enamel, on the contrary, tends to 

 impart depth and sweetness to every tint. Another advantage 

 possessed by enamel over glass and porcelain is worthy of 

 notice, and this is, that while the latter do not admit of being 

 subjected to the fire more than from three to five times, the 

 former knows no other limit than the finish of the picture. 

 Paintings in enamel are usually passed through the fire ten or 

 twelve times, and indeed sometimes oftener. This unlimited 

 application of his efforts affords to the artist the opportunity 

 of imparting to his work the finish of a Gerard Douw and a 

 Mieris, and also of attaining with precision the deep, rich, 

 and sweet tones which are seen in the productions of Cor- 

 reggio, of Guido, of Rubens, and of Reynolds. 



To obtain the richness of the master-colourists it is obviously 

 necessary that the painter in enamel should be in possession 

 of colours capable of emulating those of the painters in oil. 

 In this however the artists of former times were sadly defi- 

 cientf. But, fortunately for this durable and beautiful art, 



* Walpole states of Petitot, that " His custom was to have a painter to 

 draw the Hkenessin oil, from which he made his sketches, and then finished 

 them from the life." 



t Dr. Ure in his Chemical Dictionary gives, from the Transactions of 

 the Society of Arts, what he terms •* A valuable list of receipts for enamel 

 colours." The unfortunate artist who shall attempt to make colours for the 



