Inquiries into the encaustic Fainting of the Ancients-. 23 ■ 

 that its solution can be found only in the different ways of 

 paintiii'' >)iacti>ed bv the ancients and moderns. 



Plinv'iliforms us that there still existed in his day, in a tem- 

 ple of Arde.i, a town of Latium, paintings more ancient than 

 the citv of Rome; and he expresses his astonishment that 

 the colours had preserved all their freshness, although they 

 were exposed to the air. Some verses underneath the^e 

 painrinos announced that they were the work of one Ludius, a 

 painter of Etolia. He also mentions some works ot the sama 

 painter, such as an Atalanta and a Helen, which were to be seen 

 at Lamauum, and which were also in good preservation, aU 

 thouph in the ruins of a temple. The same author also speaks 

 of still more ancient paintings which were to be seen at C.er^, 

 a city of Etruria. . 



We find, to our admiration, on the wrappings of some Egyptian 

 mummies, and on the monuments of this ancient country ot the 

 arts, colours which have not lost much of their lustre 1 have 

 seen fragments of ancient paintings brought from Volsena, th^ 

 ancient capital of the Etruscans ; and also from the baths ot 

 Titus:— these were in admirable preser\-ation, and they are 

 composed of coloured earths only. 



It remains to inquire, therefore, what was the method me^X 

 bv th2 ancients in paintinc:, and to compare it with our present 

 processes before we can decide on the causes ot the inaltera- 

 bility of the ancient paintings, and on those of the degradation 

 of modern paintings. . . 



Vossius informs us that the ancients formed the priming ot 

 their pictures with a coat of wax, and that this wax was cobured 

 accordino- to the subject which they wished to treat : he adds, 

 that after liaving applied this coating of wax, they heated it and 

 spread it. The painters, as Varro informs us, kept their co- 

 loured wax in boxes with compartments. 



Vitruvius describes a process little different from that which 

 we have described. He says that the coating was fornied with 

 melted wax, softened with a little oil, and applied with a pen- 

 cil : it was afterwards made to penetrate the wall by means ot 

 a stove heated with charcoal, and with cloths a polish was given 

 to it, as is practised with marble fi^^ures ; vessels were also coated 



by this process. . , •. 



' Pliny speaks of a third modification on this method : it con- 

 Vists in melting wax and a])plving it with a pencil. These va- 

 rious processes were employed for painting walls, wood, i^i:. ^ 



Athenieus describes a festival of Ptolemy Philadelphus, in 

 which were carried twenty amphorae of gold, fitcy ot silver, and 

 ;iijO others, which were painted in wax ot various colours, Ire- 

 ,erHas vtro omuU ntntris certs colorilus pictni. ' 



ii 4 >>a^'7 



