84 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[March, 



FRESCO PAINTING. 



A Paper by John \\'hite, Fellow, relative to two Tablets of Slate covered 

 ■with Pozzolano and Stucco, and painted in Water Colours, read at a 

 Meeting of the Poijal Institute of British Architects, January 31, 1842. 



As the public attention is at present directed towards ornamental wall 

 painting, particularly to the mode called Fresco, I have thought that it may 

 be interesting to the Royal Institute to inspect two preparations made in the 

 year 1824, on which have been painted in water colours subjects calculated 

 to demonstrate that there exists a capability of painting on a permanent base, 

 and with equally permanent colours. 



The mode which has been adopted, was to cover two tables of slate with a 

 coarse clay Pozzolano of British manufacture^ and upon t)ie surface to trowel 

 with a glass float a thin stucco, composed of finely-ground Ume and fine flint 

 Pozzolano, mixed with weai alum water. 



The paintings were executed before the stucco was thoroughly dry, and 

 on them was added a thin solution of white wax in spirit of wine : this was 

 done in order to insure the colours from being washed off when the paintings 

 required to be cleansed, which has recently been done. 



Seventeen years have elapsed, and the paintings are in the same condition 

 as when first done ; and I believe they will endure for any period of time. 

 The tablets were prepared by Mr. Henry Grace, who painted that which is of 

 an oblong form; the upright one was painted by a student of the- Royal 

 Academy, since dead, of the name of Robinson. 



The advances recently made on the Continent in the decoration of build- 

 ings, by the introduction, or rather the restoration, of fresco or wall painting, 

 has led me to observe that historical painting is capable of being executed in 

 this country, and of being employed as an embellishment of our public 

 edifices on a suitable basis, and to congratulate the Institute on the sentiment 

 which is rapidly progressing, that the artists of England ought to be patro- 

 nized in the enlargement of their ideas, by offering them the walls of our 

 newly-constructing buUdings as fields for their exertions on an expanded scale. 



That this sentiment may not be checked, it is hoped that the Royal 

 Institute wiU, by its expressed approbation, assist in forwarding even- effort 

 which it shall deem worthy its attention, and that the sense of the country 

 generally will exhibit itself in favour of such patriotic labours as those which 

 the late James Ban-y has displayed on the walls of the great room of the 

 Society of Arts in the Adelphi, unfortunately, alas ! too little imitated or 

 patronized since their execution, now much more than half a century ago. 



One difficulty in water painting on stucco has always presented itself, 

 namely, that arising from the caustic quality of the lime used destroying most 

 colours of a metallic or vegetable composition, leaving few more than the 

 earths as proper articles to be employed by the painter on fresh walls ; and 

 when the walls are become dry, then the water colours adhere ill, and never 

 are brilhant. 



To remedy the evil, it will appear, on the inspection of the tablets now 

 presented, that the surfaces they exhibit are not only sufficiently smooth to 

 admit of vast facility or rapidity of execution, but that, inasmuch as the 

 qiiantity of lime used in then- preparation is small, it has not materially taken 

 away the power or brilliancy of the work. In the upright tablet, which 

 represents a copy of a fragment of a cartoon by Julio Romano, in the pos- 

 session of Wm. Lambert, Esq. of the Woodbouse, Finchley, Cologne earth 

 and a little blue has been used, diluted with water, in which a Uttle shell lac 

 ■was dissolved, by pounding it with borax, this solution making the colour 

 pass very freely with the painting brush, and only tinting the mixture by the 

 rose colour arising from the lac — in my opinion not at all objectionable. In 

 the year 1825, this picture was shown at the Society of Arts, where it was 

 ■washed, and rather rudely rubbed by some persons in their investigations as 

 to its permanence. It has never been touched since that period, excepting 

 that within a few days it has been rubbed with a flannel, to remove the dirt 

 and smoke on the surface. The oblong tablet was painted, not in my presence, 

 by Mr. Henry Crace. I am not acquainted with what solution he \ised with his 

 colour, other than that it was water ; but it is not permanent against washing.* 

 Respecting it, it is to be observed that the artist, in proceeding from the left 

 to the right, has evidently improved, and that there is great deUcacy in the 

 shading of the figure on the right, more indeed than I have remarked on any 

 other surface, excepting enamel. 



There is a Uttle splendour on the face of both pictures, but it does not 



* I fear it was white of egg, too much used by ancient painters on walls 

 and stone. 



amount to the glare of oil paintings. I persuade myself that at almost any 

 distance from paintings executed in this mode, what they intend to re- 

 present will be conspicuous, whether observed far or near, with almost 

 equal advantage to the spectator, which is not the case with oil painting. 



I have noticed in my letter, that the stucco which has been applied on the 

 face of these tablets has been composed with very fine ground lime and calcined 

 flint reduced to a powder, mixed with a little alum water, and trowelled on 

 with a glass instrument. These materials have been smoothed down till the 

 surface was sufliciently perfect, l)ut yet not so triturated as to destroy the 

 setting quality of the lime : great care is to be observed in this particular, 

 and the skill of the workman is to be called into action. I need hardly 

 notice, that it is the combination of the mechanical disposition of the frac- 

 ture of the pozzolano flint and its burnt nature, which produce the strong 

 adhesion and strength of the whole plaster, as most architects now admit 

 this to be the fact. It was well known and understood by the Romans, who 

 so extensively used the natural as well as the artificial burned earths. 



This latter observation leads me to the importance of reflecting on the 

 necessity of constructing buildings with materials which are incompatible, 

 either by working them, as it were, stone and stone, or brick and brick, so 

 united by workmanship as that there should be no shrinking, either in the 

 foundation or superstructure ; and that no wood band should exist in them, 

 but that the union of the materials should be accomplished by a cement 

 which, neither by exsiccation, by frost, or by moisture, shaU shrink or perish, 

 for it will be a waste of effort to employ artists' labour on substances which 

 will neither resist the ordinary effects of time or acccident. Perhaps it may 

 be said, that when walls have become settled, as it is called, that little danger 

 can arise subsequently. This, however, is not always the case, as some sea- 

 sons (in this country especially,) have very injurious action on buildings, and 

 many salts escape from sands, stone, and lime, little expected by architects. 

 Now, in properly burned, properly combined, and properly worked mortar, 

 (the solid ingredients of which have passed through fire,) little change need 

 be calculated upon ; hence it probably is that pozzolano has been found to 

 be the best building sand, though it is true that that which is imported is 

 frequently brought from the shore of the Mediterranean, where the sea water 

 has been, wherefore it necessarily partakes of the variable quality of the salt, 

 and consequently is inferior to that fabricated of our own earths properly 

 prepared and selected. 



To return to the paintings exhibited : — it is hoped that the Institute will 

 make allowance for their being merely experimental. Doubtless, much im- 

 provement will take place, should there be made any future attempts : as 

 they are, they will perhaps show, that for such a city as London, the mode 

 used is proper and cheap for decorative and historical painting ; that the sub- 

 stance is, as well as the paintings, of a permanent nature; that the surfaces 

 are such as neither to harbour dust or dirt ; that they are easily cleansed, 

 and can be employed for the most magnificent and talented displays of the 

 efl'orts of our rising artists. 



ON EARTH WORK, EXCAV.ATION, CUTTING, AND FORMING 

 EMBANKMENT UPON RAILWAYS. 



Article I. — Getting, Filling, and Tipping. 



" Modern practice has reduced it to a price per cubic yard." 



Professor Vignoles^ Lecture. Dec. 1841. 



Sir — I need not occupy your space in any introductory remarks on the 

 importance of the price per cubic yard for earth work, both to the profession 

 and the public, and with your assistance I will endeavour to show what it is on a 

 medium cutting, or what in the execution can be taken oflf at a single lift, when 

 the material is common earth, the eye of practice alone is able to proportion 

 the cost when the material is of a harder or more obdurate nature. I shall 

 fine my present remarks to the quantity that can be moved or carried into em- 

 bankment per man per day from the cutting, the rate of wages of the excavator 

 at[the timev>ill then show the cost of getting and filling. The cutting I am about 

 to describe was in the line of railway, or what is called bacli-cutting, in contra- 

 distinction to earth got out of the line, which is called side-cutting, it consisted 

 of good gravel , covered with a varying depth of vegetable mould, and a small 

 quantity of brick earth, and would average in depth 14 feet, and one mile 

 in length, and was used to fill a valley of similar extent. The wagons used 

 were estimated to contain 2 J cubic yards each. The men were counted four 

 times each day, and the average taken on the number of men employed. 

 The wagons also were counted daily. The time of year was the most favour- 



