jbiprtatloti on Painting in Oil. 13^ 



fcrlbed, than the one recommended by Mr. Sheldrake. Ti- 

 tian glazed on colour, Tmtoret often on white; and I thmk 

 it will invariably be found, that the works of the latter are 

 more periled than the former. That exquifite hghtnefs at- 

 tendant on a dead colourmg, may, in a great meafure, be re-, 

 ftorcd bv fcumbling. 



The plan he has propofed, and which feems to have been 

 reforted to, to remove the practical difficaUies he met with, 

 is merely to paint in varniai ; a method which always gives 

 brightnefs for a Ihort time. The objeaions to its adoption 

 mavbefommed up in a few words : firft, the difficulty of 

 blendincr the colours ufed to produce the effeft of light and 

 fliade ; Tnd fecondly, (which is by far the moft material,) the 

 want of durability in the colours, as they muft all be ac- 

 quired bv glazing; not to mention the ftrong fimihtude be- 

 tween it'and Sir Jofhua's method, as above defcnbed. 



As I never bought Mifs Provis's fecret, T cannot tell how 

 clofe the approximation may be between her method and the 

 one propofed by Mr. Sheldrake; but if I may judge from 

 practical experience, they would both be produdive of hard- 

 nefs ; and as fome of the colours in the pidures painted a.ter 

 her method carried evident marks of deRruaion on them, I 

 was immediatelv induced to fuppofe that fome calcareous 

 earth was ufed in the ground \ Though I much queftion 

 the utility of Mr. Sheldrake's plan, 1 think he unqueftion- 

 ably deferves the thanks of the public, and of artifts in par- 

 ticular, for the time and trouble he has bellowed on it. 



* Lime and terra ponderoCa deftroy the colouring niatttr of Pruir.ati 

 blue i fome d.awings, hung up in a houfc that hnd undergone a conMer- 

 »blc repair, loft all their blue colour, which had become a dirty iron grey. 



K a IV. Progrefs 



