FRESCO. 
intended effect. .We flall- therefore only treat in this place 
of ies a of execution, and materials adopted in frefco 
painting 
Previoully to their being executed in any place, a careful 
examination fhould be made of its fitnefs to receive them. 
h it 1s covered. 
fre ainting, m o by artificial m The 
clulted to Told i plalter ceed a is mee. both on 
of its abforbing quality, and from the fmallnefs of 
the e a of the bricks caufin ng a num mber of interftices between 
evularity in the furface grea atly aflifts in 
: wa ap of rough: ftones W 
ry 
Ee 
frefco ; but if, inf ftead ¢ of ae it “a contracted of fmooth or 
polifhed ftones, it w Bs thea be neceflary to render : uneven 
ing | » faftening ats and Gaile 
‘wood which will hold the plafter together, and orc its 
‘Thefe precautions are of the utmoft confequence 
to prevent the danger of its bending or craciing, which the 
leaft alteration that hap ppens to the materials, or even the 
change of weather, producing alternately wet or dry, may 
occafion. 
The firft layer of plafter may be compofed of well-wathed 
chalk made into a cement with pounded brick, or river fand; 
which laf is better, being rather the coarfeft, and pro oduc ing 
thereby a roughnefs of furface which will better eee the 
fecond coat. 
Perhaps 
pounded ew ia 
tarras now in ule, which is compofed of 
aria would be better fill. 
ompoit for this 
pofe a is at 
covers various of their buildings ; particularly the aqueduct 
they conftructed near Naples, and the walls of the ruins of 
Herculaneum. 
Before the fecond layer is given, it is proper to wait till 
in drying ; but 
ceed to give it vie feco nd Goa tin 
ios) 
pe] 
air, as by that me 
the artift sa be more {ure of its general compete and 
freedom from {tony parts. 
It requires = confdersbe fkill in the perfon who pre pares 
9 lay it perfectly even, and be careful in 
nat once, which 
occafion ae 
himtclf Tune fuperintend this rocefs, for he alone 
ean ee propery as to ie rapidity with which he can 
ra 
labour, or the advantages he may make of atcidental e¢. 
currences. 
The operation of laying on the ground is performed with 
atrowel; and in doing it, care muft be ta - en to clean 
properly, that che furface may be even, particularly in thole 
parts moft expofed to view. The co eaelion of the mafon’s 
labour is polifhing to receive the painting. This is done by 
applying a piece of ba on furface, and pafling the 
trowel over it ; it is nece i. this fhould be we 
do one, for {mall heen in ed furfa might, i in certain 
pee produce great irregularities in the drawing’ of the 
When the fecond ground is thus prepared, cleaned, and 
polifhed, in the quantity, and on the part of the wall which 
the artift requires, he begins to trace his defign upon it, and 
proceeds to the Sand. fost i 
ped py iiea and ring "fo much of the picture in 
the courfe of the day, in pains a manner that he may not 
have occation to retouch i when ida ndis dry. This 
hing it wit 
tift, unlefs he’ be en 
taal powers “of imagination ae execution heel is 
that en may be no neceflity for m making 7 any effential altera. 
ons in the defign. This, which is a very ufeful mode of 
proceeding in all hiftoric works of ieee : poorer 
indifpenfible in frefco, to thofe who 
give the rein to their ideas, and ices as ones eee 
may firft prefent itfelf. There is no beginning iy this, by- 
drawing in the whole of the parts at one time, and correét- 
m with oil ei who. 
v ot only com a sted i in forn 
dificult, nay not impoffible talk, without cael prepared 
ketch, mutt erformed, viz. the part done in this fhort 
time mut hav at erfe& an accordance with what follows, 
or has Sreceies of the work, that when the whole is finifhed,, 
it may appéar as if it had been executed - once, or in the 
ufual mode, with fufficient ‘time to harm nize the various: 
forms and tones of colour. Inftead of proceeding by flov 
i to ig ee ~ objects, and increafe the vividnefs of 
the colours, manner fom: ewhat fimilar to the progrefs of 
nature in the rifing dey, till at laft it fhincs with all its in-- 
effet, which is the courfe of painting in oil ; the 
rd working in frefco muit at once rufh into broad “day. 
light, at once give all the force in light and fhade and colour, - 
which the nature of his fubjeét requires, and this w a 
ae: affiftance bs ae - fe commenceme ang) of contraft to - 
regulate his e _as has been faid, a well ie 
gefted and finthed a ee indifpenfibly requilite, 
The fketch bei as completed, the 
pare a cartoon ing of the defign on paper patted 
together to the ae of the intended frefco. 
Agures or other objects a the defign may be compofed 
of, on to the plafter, by either pricking with a pin through 
the paper, or by pafling a hard point over the — . the . 
Yy2 oon 
a 
