574 



MINIATURE 



Miniature 

 Painting. 



Process of 

 painting 

 the fare. 



Hair, dra- 

 pery, and 



h;irk- 

 ground. 



Use of 

 opaque co- 

 lours in 

 Urupvries. 



The outline is sketched out with a warm neutral 

 tint, applied with a fine hair pencil. Some artists 

 make use of a black lead pencil for this purpose ; but 

 as it is much more easy to make corrections with the 

 water colours, the former method is preferable. The 

 whole face is washed over with a very delicate tint, ac- 

 cording to the complexion required ; as, for instance, 

 in a dark complexion, a wash of light red ; for a fair 

 one, a wash of yellow ochre or vermillion. The half 

 tints, and darker shadows, are to be made out, the 

 former with a neutral tint, composed of lake, a small 

 portion of Indian red, and a little blue, which form a 

 reddish pearly hue, the latter with lake and Vandyke 

 brown. The delicate shadows are to be made out in a 

 broad and flat manner, and the deeper markings are to 

 be added, rounding them delicately into the neutral lint, 

 according to the effect on the model. This neutral, or 

 halj'-lint, makes a good warm preparation for the more 

 decided colours. Others compose a good neutral tint 

 of Indian red, indigo, and burnt terra di Sienna. The 

 general effect of the face being thus made out, the more 

 positive colours, such as the reds of the cheek, and 

 other fleshy tones, are to be introduced, and may be 

 formed by a mixture of light red and a little lake. The 

 yellows are to be strengthened where it may be judged 

 necessary, and the face will now have received all its 

 warm tints, which are to be harmonized by the judici- 

 ous intermixture of the cold colours. 



The hair, drapery, back-ground, and, in short, every 

 part of the picture, ought to be brought, forward at the 

 same time as the face, in order to shew the proper 

 depth and strength of colour and keeping in every part. 

 The local colour of the hair is laid in with broad flat 

 tints, marking out only the larger masses and divisions 

 with their shadows. The colours for the hair may be 

 composed of burnt umber, lake, and indigo, in such pro- 

 portions as may best imitate the tints of the model ; 

 for light hair Roman ochre may be used instead of 

 burnt umber. 



Some artists, in laying on the back grounds, Jloal 

 them, as it is called, with a full mass of the proper 

 colour, perfectly transparent, leaving it in a horizontal 

 position to dry before it be touched upon, and after re- 

 touching it with repeated hatching and stippling till it 

 be brought up to the effect required ; in this way it is 

 extremely difficult to produce a smooth even tint. It 

 is therefore much more convenient to add to the colours 

 a little constant white, in order to give them a degree 

 of opacity, by which the ivory will be more easily co- 

 vered, the tint will be much smoother, and it will re- 

 quire much less labour in hatching it afterwards. 



In all draperies, except thin white ones, it is neces- 

 sary to add a considerable portion of opaque colour, in 

 order to give the requisite solidity of effect. In lighter 

 coloured draperies, constant nhite may be mixed with 

 the colours, but in stuffs where great strength of co- 

 lour is required, those pigments which are in them- 

 selves opaque, may be used, such as the ochres, ver- 

 million, Indian red, umber, which all give body and 

 consistency to any other colours. In dark grey, pur- 

 ple, and black, a little constant white will be most suit- 

 able. In representing thin white draperies, such as 

 muslins, and the like, the opaque white must only be 

 used in heightening the lights ; the shadows may be 

 done with transparent colours as delicately as possible, 

 in order to assimilate the style of handling as much as 

 possible to the quality of surface of the object. 



The draperies and back-grounds should be laid on 

 in full masses, with a large hair pencil, crossing and 



PAINTING. 



working the colour in every direction ; and if it be Miniature 

 sufficiently opaque, it will cover the surface of the ivory Painting, 

 without much retouching. The lights are to be com- N ~~Y~ < " " 

 posed of the proper colour, thickened with constant 

 tvhile. 



The general effect of the whole work being made 

 out according to the rules now given, it will be neces- 

 sary to carry on the several details through all their 

 stages in the same manner. 



In bringing the face to its proper strength of sha- Of gilng 

 dow and colour, the warm tints ought in general to clearness 

 predominate; it will require however various cool tints and bril- 

 to be introduced, in order to give brilliancy to the lights, Kncy to 

 and clearness to the shadows ; these tints must be re- 'I 18 earna * 

 gulated by the taste of the artist, but in general it may llon ' > 

 be recommended to use purple and olive tints, the for- 

 mer composed of carmine and indigo, or ultramarine, 

 the latter of indigo and burnt terra di Sienna. The 

 colouring of the flesh will acquire additional clearness, 

 by the introduction of reflected lights of a warm or 

 orange colour, finely blended into the cool tints, and 

 the full strength of tone and harmony required, will 

 be given by touches of carmine, ochre, and raw terra di 

 Sienna, in proper places. 



When any part of the carnations have too much of Of barmo- 

 any particular tint, so as to injure the harmony of the n ' zin g 'he 

 effect, it will be most easily corrected by the introduc- lints ' 

 tion of tints of a directly opposite colour ; thus, if too 

 blue, orange, its opposite or contrasting colour, must 

 be introduced ; if too red, it must be corrected by means 

 of green, and vice versa, and so on of the rest. In the 

 article ACCIDENTAL COLOURS, in the first volume of Accidental 

 this work, some account of these contrasts of colour colours, 

 will be found, which, though chiefly intended to eluci- 

 date a very singular optical phenomenon, affords very 

 important illustration of the laws of the harmony of 

 colour in painting. 



The doctrine of the contrast of colour is of the tit- Of the con- 

 most practical utility to the painter, by affording him trast f c - 

 the means of increasing or subduing the brilliancy of ' ours " 

 his tints in the most easy and agreeable manner ; for l 

 the appearance of any given colour in a picture, will 

 not be in the ratio of its actual intensity, but will be 

 modified by the colours with which it may be contrast- 

 ed. Thus white will derive much clearness and bril- 

 liancy by being contrasted with black, blue, or grey ; 

 yellow with orange, and so on of the other colours and 

 their contrasts. 



It is indispensible to the clearness and delicacy of Various 

 flesh, that transparent colours only should be admitted, processes 

 The constant white on the eye, and sometimes the in minia- 

 brightest light on the point of the nose, are the only . u 

 parts where opaque colours can with propriety be 

 used. 



In finishing the hair, the shadows are composed of 

 a deeper tint of the colour which forms the ground 

 work, its strength being increased by the addition 

 of a greater proportion of the mucilage of gum ara- 

 bic ; the lights may be taken off with the scraper, 

 or a sharp lancet, and filled in with a little transparent 

 colour of a proper tint. 



The deepest shadows of the draperies are composed 

 chiefly of transparent colours, worked with an increased 

 proportion of gum arable, by which the depth and 

 clearness of the colours will be greatly increased. Where 

 great richness in the tints of drapery is required, it 

 will often be found of great advantage to lay one co- 

 lour over another, instead of mixing them together in 

 one tint, as, for instance, a wash of lake or carmine 

 3 



