FRESCO. 
eartoon. By this means he ~ as = he trouble of 
bas tan the figures, and alfo ich would 
uired for dom it, ond eek ae once es the + painting, 
res facilitate the execution con enfure the fuccefs of which 
ia eral precautions are requi 
‘The colours being ground ee ne in water, os - teints 
idiot likely to be employed largely compofed, they fhould 
be arranged in pots or bafons, and feveral Reed with 
raifed edges fhould-be ready at hand to work from, an 
affit i in compounding the Naiaiaaig of hues neceffary for pro- 
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prove te much lighter oe ae than they appear when wet. 
'To be certain iheveroue of their hue, before he begins to ufe 
ara on pe pcan and to oot the trouble and neceffity 
(as = saa ae 
ome 
forbing the water, the bie ey bl & saat very neve 
of the fame hue they will be ef when the frefco is dry. 
‘Hence he may proceed with great fetarity in his work, and 
is fure to have it much ean frefh and vigorous in effect, 
than it would be if much labour had been employed to 
obtain the tone on the wa 
It will be requifite a alfa to have : pee a —_ or bafon of 
water, or a wet {ponge, to take care egin to 
ao till the layer of coe is a ao o refiit the 
reffion of the finger: otherwife the “colours would 
fea upon it, and prevent all poffi bility of neatnefs or clear- 
nefs in the execution, which fhould be effeted with great 
rapidity and lightnefs of hand, 
With refpect to the colours employed in frefco, they are 
fewer in qanbe: than thofe which may be ufed in oil painting, 
on — of the combined a¢tion of the lime, and the air 
the component parts of many of the latter. Thofe 
oe generally i in ufe are the following, viz 
Lime -White-—This, when made of eel wafhed burnt 
shall or lime,- is the beft and moft fimple white that can be 
ufed ; it mixes freely with all the other colours, and a 
in itfelf with a full body. The preparation of it require 
that the ene fhould be flacked a twelvemonth before iti is 
ufed, or at leaft fix months. It fhould then be diffolve 
gommon ear and poured carefully off, (after letting it fall 
fome fhort time, ) rie a veffel to fettle. 
Another white is mixing one third of white 
o ftrong for the ‘chalk, it will becom 
black. The an cold therefore do well to confine himfelf 
-to chalk white; provided it has been we ed and 
kept a long time. As this however has “frequently been 
ufed, we ee ee it acon en - ea artifts may, 
if m ture, an 
pm if they fi ite any eda valuable pee in it, to 
infure its continuance in clearnefs and nig 
Lgg-foell White.—There is alfo a hide made of egg- 
fhells, which, though it has not the full nie of the chalk, 
r ufe in frefco. 
th a little quick lime. Th 
o a pot and wafhed with pure water, then 
pounded fine, wafhed again till no teint is-given to the water, 
and then ground by the > muller’ and {tone to the degrée fit for 
ufe ; it is afterwards formed into Httle cakes which are dried 
in the fun. Care muit be taken not to let the powder ofthe 
shells remain too long in the fame ‘water, as jit will.exbale a 
= rnt ur er 
to Indian red, and gro fete ia its of wine acts well with 
the lime, refitts the action of the air, 
Colours if re textures ea ral —— when burnt 
r not burnt, umber, raw and - t, Spanifh red, verd 
a Verona, Vertice black, and blue black, made by bruifing 
vine ftalks, or fhells of p each-nut ts, are all excellent for 
the purpofes of frefco Lewes 
Of Blues,—the beft is the. ultramarine, as it never fuffers 
any change. malt or enamel blue od as to preferv- 
ing g its tone, and, if ufed early in the w aed will adhere ; but 
if the ground fhould become too dry before it is ufed, it is 
apt not to o incorporate flrengly with it, but to come off o 
the leat friétio 
White lead, ie verdigreafe, mafticott, Naples yellow, 
the orpiments a hs one black, are all unfit for this purpofe, 
being hable to ch 
This kind of ae cing, when carefully executed, is of all 
others the moft durable, and therefore the moft proper to 
public bu Al ule of it 
en {peaks 
in Egyptian palaces 8o feet high, Gbch Win- 
kelman qivene, concludes they were in falco, from the 
defcription given of the prepared grounds, and of the man- 
ner in which the colours appear to have been ufed. 
at Herculaneum, at Portici, and at 
“the fame materials. No other 
kind of painting would fo effe€tually have refifted the aGion 
of the air for fo great a length of time, and more particularly 
the exceffive aridity thofe of Herculaneum mutt have red, 
being > entirely from the light, and amidft glowing 
embers from Vefuvius, which of co ite muft at firft have 
caufed an intenfe heat around them. That however, in one 
point of view, was favourable to the prefervation of thofe 
that efcaped its immediate ation ; for damp is the moft 
againft which no hick pa taken 
. In this cafe of neum, it 
muit have been effectually ee “firf by ‘he. leet of the 
afhes, and afterwards as the ofe afhes was fo 
thick, ees from above ute aot penetrate fo Iow as to 
the pi ures, par rticularly after the upper part was covered 
with the clofe cake formed by the decompofed parts on and 
near the fuirface. 
In — fituations, the choice of a is the mof 
important part; that the durability of the may be 
eae particularly the preparation of the une and of 
the be — e it ane 
dene ng is, ather has been, chiefly For kee 
in palaces, tpl @ a 0 he: ane edifices. For lar 
rtan laces no other kind inti 
or heighten, their effect. 
is not time to meddle and dilturb the frefhnefs of the colour, 
or the fullnefs and freedom of the see But there can be 
no minute detail of forms, or extemtive variety, in the 
gradation of teints; the beauties of neatnefs, and delicacy of 
finifhing, make no part of the exceliencies of this branch of 
the art ; it will not bear the clofe examination which well 
finithed pictures in ae do ; there is fomething dry and x <— 
