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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[September, 



ities which, when not absolutely indispensable, are too often neglected. 

 Defects in composition, form, action, expression, and the treatment of 

 drapery may be redeemed in an oil |)aiuling by various merits; not so 

 in a fresco. A style of art thus circumscribed cannot, therefore, be 

 recommended for exclusive adoption; but if studied together with 

 oil painting, its influence can hardly fail to be beneficial. The great 

 Italian masters, as is well known, practised both methods; hence their 

 employment, frequent as it was, in fresco, led to no imperfection, but 

 on the contrary, may be considered to have been mainly conducive to 

 the vigorous character of Italian design. 



The immediate and necessary connexion of this mode of painting 

 with the highest aims of art, fits it to embody those inventions which 

 belong essentially to the domain of thought. As a mode of decoration 

 for public buildings it has peculiar recommeudations : no style of 

 painting is more clear, distinct, and effective at a distance. This is 

 partly to be referred to the thorough execution, founded on the intelli- 

 gence of form, which it requires, and to the brilliancy of the material 

 employed for tlie lights. But there are otlier causes of this distinct- 

 ness of effect more directly connected with general design. With 

 dimersions and distance, and a treatment that depends rather on power 

 of light than on intensity or quantity of shade for its effect, a style 

 arises which develops the elements of composition in some measure 

 distinct from chiaro-scuro. The influence of these conditions is 

 apparent in the best Italian frescos, which, at the same time that they 

 exhibit the happiest adaptation of perspective and foreshortening, 

 and often the most skilful management of gradations of light, are 

 remarkable for impressive clearness of arrangement. 



This style of composition is still more apparent in the celebrated 

 cartoons of Raphael, in which it is carried to the most emphatic sim- 

 plicity, still combining the picturesque principle of depth, as opposed 

 to the flatness of basso-relievo. These works were evidently treated 

 with reference to the material in which they were to be ultimately 

 executed, namely, tapestry ; in that material, as wrought in Raphael's 

 time, powerful effects of light and shade were unattainable — a defect 

 attempted to be remedied by heightening the relief of some of the 

 objects with gold. The figures are, however, colossal in size, as the 

 works were to be seen at a considerable distance, and the great artist 

 attained distinctness by means of composition almost alone. The 

 principal figures are rendered important chiefly by the place they 

 occupy, and the story is comprehended at the first glance ; thus a 

 skilful arrangement supplies tl.e absence of those modes of relief 

 which might be resorted to in oil-painting ; indeed the effect of light 

 and shade, making every allowance for the injuries of time, is far 

 weaker than that attainable in fresco. 



But assuming this general style of composition to be applicable to 

 fresco, it cannot be objected that, owing to its peculiar fitness in the 

 case referred to, it would in any degree disqualify the artist for the 

 practice of composition in oil-painting ; for the cartoons of Raphael 

 have always been considered to be among the most perfect examples 

 of arrangement and of masterly clearness iu telling a story, without 

 any reference to the particular conditions which may have influenced 

 the painter. 



In like manner as regards colouring, the practice of fresco has never 

 been foinid to have any unfavourable influence on that of oil painting, 

 but rather the reverse. Without referring tn particular works as 

 instances of the perfection in both methods which the Italian masters 

 of different schools— Francia and Raphael, Andrea del .Sarto and 

 Guido, Guercino and Pordencne* attained, it may be sufficient to 

 mention the example of Corregio— in the opinion of Reynoldst the 

 most consummate of painters as regards colour and execution. This 

 great artist painted more in fresco than in oil, looking to the quantity 

 of surface covered. In his case it is evident that even the compara- 

 tive absence of depth and mass of shade in fresco had no unfavourable 

 influence on his practice as an oil painter ; while the clearness of his 

 colouring in his oil paintings may not unreasonably be attributed in 

 some degree to his experience in the other method.^ And here it 

 may be allowable to express the opinion, that the great skill of the 



* For a descriiition of Pordenone's pr:ncipal fresco, the cupola of S. Roeco 

 at Venice, see Boschini, La Carta del Navcgar Pittoresco, Ven. Ili60, 

 pp. 90-91. 



t Notes on Du Frcsnoy, Note LV. 



i The works ot Corregio in fresco are here referred to merely to show that 

 the practice of that method has no disadvantageous influence on the practice 

 of oil painting ; but the cupolas of Corregio at Parma are by no means favour- 

 able examples of the durability of fresco. Their decay appears, however, to 

 have been owing to the former dilapidated state of the roots and the pene- 

 tration of damp, as the lower figures are better preserved. The fresco in the 

 tribune of S. Giovanni was destroyed in enlarging that part of the church ; 

 part of the principal group, the Coronation, of the Virgin, was fortunately 

 saved, and was inserted in the wall ot the library at Parma, It is in perfect 

 preservation, and is one of the noblest works of the master. 



English artists in water colours might be the means of introducing 

 new technical merits and a new perfection in the practice of colouring 

 in fresco, which might again directly benefit the school of oil painters. 

 The foregoing are among the considerations which, it is considered, 

 might induce her Majesty's Commissioners to recommend the promo- 

 tion and encouragement of historical painting in connection with the 

 rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament, while a hope may be here 

 expressed that the example will be followed on other occasions. The 

 employment of fresco, for a portion at least of the intended works 

 might be proposed conditionally, since it must necessarily depend on 

 the evidence of inclination and qualification on the part of the artists, 

 to work in that method. 



C. L. Eastlake, Secretary. 



St.itements of Director Fetes Von CcRNBtins, 

 Hclating to the Proposed Decoration of the Hmtses of Parliament. 



The following statements contain the substance of some opinions expressed 

 by Director Cornelius on the proposed decoration of the Houses of Parliament. 

 The parliculars relating to the practice of fresco painting are e.slrac.s only 

 from more copious details freely communicated by bim. For some few allu- 

 sions to facts, in the history of the arts, connected witli the subjects discuss- 

 ed, the Secretary of the Commission is responsible. These additions are dis- 

 tinguished by brackets, or are given as notes. 



TIw &"/!(«/ion.— Cornelius, the distinguished artist who has executed so 

 many wcrks in fresco at Munich and elsewhere, inspected the plans for the 

 new Houses of Parliament, as well as the site of the buildings, during his 

 short stay in London in November, 1811. His attention was first directed to 

 the general situation, with reference to works in fresco. He thinks the situa- 

 tion unobiectionable. He has no idea that the damp of the river can have 

 any effect on fresco paintings in rooms elevated as those in question will be 

 above the actual level of the w^ter. The effects of damp in the atmosphere 

 are not apprehended by the German painters. Many lailures that might 

 have been hastily attril.aited to damp, were really owing. Cornelius observes, 

 to the use of lime in too fresh a state. Of the experimental works painted at 

 Munich in the open air those only have faded which are known to have been 

 done without due attention to the materials. Thus, a figure of Bavaria 

 painted by Kaulbach. which has faded considerably, is known to have been 

 executed vi ith lime that was fresh. Similar failures in less exposed situations 

 have been traced to the same cause. The cupola of Val de Grace at Paris, 

 painted in the 17th century by Mignard, faded soon after it was done, though 

 sufficiently elevated above damp exhalations, because the lime used was too 

 new. 



The damji which, in the opinion of Coirelius, is really prejudicial to fresco, 

 is that which is occasioned by the use of unseasoned materials— new timber, 

 imperfeclly burnt bricks, &c. The nitre which is so destructive to fresco he 

 supposes to originate from the stones of the wall rather than from the mortar. 

 Such causes of decay might exist m high and dry situations from want of 

 care. But Cornelius lays the greatest stress on the necessity of using lime 

 that has been long kept, since this comes in immediate contact with the 

 colours, and is a colour itself* When this eminent artist, in conjunction with 

 others, painted the house of the Chevalier Bartholdy, in Rome, an old mason 

 who had been employed under Mengs (a not unskilful fresco painter,) directed 

 their attcniion to'this point, and it so happened that they were then sup- 

 plied with lime which had been pres-rved twelve years. The works alluded 

 to, though the first executed by the modern German fresco painters, have 

 stood perfectly well. 



Among other precautions it is des'rable to let the building itself dry well 

 before painting the walls: yet Cornelius painted intheGlyptothekat Munich, 

 not long after it was finished, from a confidence in the soundness and dryness 

 of the materials. Ho however took the precaution to use water that had been 

 boiled in moistening the surface and in thinning the lime. 



The Style of the Architecture.— Wilh respect to the question whether it is 

 possible to preserve a due congruty between the modern taste in painting and 

 Gothic architecture, the opinion of Cornelius is unhesitating; but this opinion, 

 it will appear, is the result of particular views respecting the standard of 

 pictorial excellence. He thinks the Italian works which the Germans most 

 approve, and modem German art itself perfectly fit for such a pm-pose. The 

 works of Heinrich Hess in the Allerheiligcn Kapelle at Munich are, he ob- 

 serves, in one sense, a case in point, since that chapel is in the Byzantine 

 style of architecture, the date of which is still earlier than the so-called 

 Gothic. In tliese frescos the space round the figures is often gilt, and thus 

 the rude splendour of a remote period is united with a grandeur of design 

 derived from the purest examples of Italian art. 



It is well known that in the middle ages the cathedrals and churches 

 throughout Europe, however varying in their style of architecture, were more 

 or less decorated with painted and gilded ornaments and scriptural or legen- 

 dary subjects. [Vestiges of paintings, even in churches where stained glass 

 had been used, are often found concealed under whitewash, and every year 

 brings some to light in our own country.jr Similar works in a ruined state 

 have lately been discovered in the choir of the cathedral at Cologne. These 

 are now to be replaced, Cornelius states, by Professor Steinle, and the general 



* As the opinion respecting the necessity of using lime that has been long 

 kept is frequently repeated in this paper, it may be necessary to state that 

 other German and Italian fresco painters do not consider it essential to keep 

 the lime longer than ten or twelve months. — See the remaining papers in the 

 Appendix. 



f Preston, Dartford, Rochester, the Chapter-house Westminster, &c. 



