PAINTING 



4447 



PAINTING 



Linseed oil is the vehicle most widely used 

 for oil paints. The oil is usually heated to 

 a high temperature and a small quantity of 

 lead oxide is added. The "boiled oil" thus 

 produced dries quicker than the "raw" or un- 

 boiled. An oil paint contains a solvent, usually 

 turpentine, to make the color spread easily, 

 and a drier, usually a compound of lead and 

 manganese, to hasten the drying process. 

 Paints mixed with water are called water color 



paints. They are used for decorating interiors. 

 Usually a small quantity of glue or dextrin is 

 added to the mixture to make the paint stick. 

 Calcimine is a good example of this class of 

 paints. 



Fireproof paint contains boric acid or pow- 

 dered glass which is melted by the heat and 

 forms a protective glaze. Luminous paint con- 

 tains some compound of phosphorus. See arti- 

 cle OILS, in these volumes, page 4357. 



STORY OF PAINTING 



AINTING. We all love pictures for the 

 pleasure and inspiration they give us. An il- 

 1 ust ni ted book is more attractive than one 

 without illustrations, not alone because the pic- 

 tures may clarify the text, but because they 

 add an element of beauty which the writer 

 cannot express in words. A picture, if it is 

 a work of art, tells a story so that we feel it; 

 that is, beauty is experienced through the 

 emotions more than through the senses of 

 sight and hearing, and this is why a genuine 

 work of art appeals so strongly to us. It 

 seems to create a new atmosphere, in which, for 

 the time, we live apart from the world of 

 realities and care. 



Some people can see beauty everywhere. 

 They are conscious of it continually. The gift 

 of such perfect instinct for beauty comes by 

 nature to a few; it can, however, be cultivated 

 by almost everyone, and one of the benefits 

 derived from great pictures consists in their 

 cultivation of this instinct. Many of us have 

 overlooked the beauty that lies at our door 

 until some great artist has revealed it to us 

 in a picture. 



Painting concerns itself as much with the 

 world of fancy as with the world of fact. In 

 - by real artists fact and fancy are so 

 skilfully combined that none can toll where one 

 ends and the othor begins. "A picture is not 

 renlly the representation of n it the 



representation of the beauty of the thing, and 

 when it expresses the soul of it, as it 

 and not the more lineaments, then, lopicully 

 or illogically, art claims it as its child." The 



artist is more than a mere painter; he is one 

 who "fits some beautiful conception with some 

 beautiful expression." He is engrossed not only 

 with form and color in themselves; his chief 

 concern is to make these elements so express 

 his ideal that it will live in the hearts of men. 

 All great painters have been more than masters 

 of their art; they have been intellectual mas- 

 ters as well. Of Raphael, Whittier said 



Around the mighty marter came 



The marvels which his pencil wrought, 



Those miracles of power whoso fame 

 Is wide as human thought. 



Study of a Picture. Since concrete illustra- 

 tion is of far greater worth than mere verbal 

 explanation, the reader who desires help in 

 the study of pictures is asked to consider the 

 following analysis of the Song of the Lark, by 

 Breton, a reproduction of which is found in 

 this work, facing page 016. The plan should be 

 studied with the picture before the reader. 



1. The The inc., Day Is dawning over the fields 

 of Artois. The rising sun is calling the laborers 

 to the harvest field, and just aa it appears above 

 the horizon this strong young peasant girl rets 

 forth from her humble cottage to take her place 

 in the ranks of the harvesters. As she treads her 

 solitary path in the soft morn in? llTht. a flood of 

 melody bursts upon her ear. Enraptured, she 

 pauses a moment and gazes upon the lark whoso 

 heavenly message will lighten her hc-irt during 

 the long hours of toll. She Is a timp!e country 

 rli 1 and her knowledge of nature has be< 

 from her contact with the fields and woods. Re- 

 sponding to the menwuje, she drinks In the br 

 of the world about her, and seems to ralee to 

 n a client hymn of praise for the mere 

 ecstasy of living. 



