426 ENCAUSTIC PAINTING. 



This ancient arf, after having been long lost, was restored by 

 count Caylus, a member of the Academy of Inscriptions in France ; 

 and the method of painting in wax was announced to the Academy of 

 Painfi! g and Belles Letters, in the year 1763 ; though M. Bache. 

 lier, the author of a treatise De 1'Histoire & du Secret de la Pein- 

 ture en Cire, had actually painted a picture in wax in 1 749 ; and 

 he was the first who communicated to the public the method of 

 performing the operation of inustion, which is the principal cha- 

 racteristic of the encaustic painting. The count kept his method 

 a secret for some time, contenting himself with exhibiting a picture 

 at the Louvre in 1754, representing the head of Minerva, painted 

 in the manner of the ancients, which excited the curiosity of the 

 public and was very much admired. In the interval of suspense, 

 several attempts were made to recover the ancient method of paint, 

 ing. The first scheme adopted was that of melting wax and oil of 

 turpentine together, and using this composition as a vehicle for 

 mixing and laying on the colours. But this method did not ex. 

 plain Pliny's meaning, as the wax is not burnt in this way of ma. 

 naging it. In another attempt, which was much more agreeable 

 to the historian's description of encaustic painting, the wax was 

 melted with strong lixivium of salt of tartar, and with this the co. 

 lours were ground. When the picture was finished, it was gra- 

 dually presented to the fire, so as to melt the wax j which was thus 

 diffused through all the particles of the colours, so that they were 

 fixed to the ground, and secured from the access of air or moisture. 

 But the method of count Caylus is much more simple: the cloth 

 or wood which he designed for the basis of his picture is waxed 

 over, by only rubbing it simply with a piece of bees. wax; the 

 wood or cloth, stretched on a frame, being held horizontally over, 

 or perpendicularly before, a fire, at such a distance, that the wax 

 might gradually melt, whilst it is rubbed on, diffuse itself, pene. 

 trate the body, and fill the interstices of the texture of the cloth, 

 which, when cool, is fit to paint upon ; but as water colours, or 

 those that are mixed up with common water, will not adhere to 

 the wax, the whole picture is to be first rubbed over with Spanish 

 chalk or white, and then colours are applied to it; when the pic. 

 ture is dry, it is put near the fire, whereby the wax melts and ab- 

 sorbs all the colours. 



Mr. J. II. Muntz, in a treatise on this subject, has proposed se. 

 teral improvements in the art of encaustic. When the painting it 



