54 2 
PAINTING. 
dry. then it is taken out by taking the frame 
to pieces. 
in tills kind of mosaic the ground is the 
mo4 important part. 
Now, in order to the preparation of this 
sifted'gvpsum, which is to be applied on this 
ground, it should be dissolved and boiled in 
the best English glue, and mixed with t lie co- 
lour that it is to be of; then the whole is to be 
worked up together in the usual consistence 
of plaister, and then taken and spread on the 
ground live or six inches thick-. 
Observe, that if the work is such that 
mouldings are required, they are to be formed 
With gouges and other proper instruments. 
It is on tiiis plaister, thus coloured like 
marble or precious stone, and which is to 
serve as a ground to a work, either of lapis, 
agate, alabaster, or the like, that the design to 
be represented is drawn, having first been 
pounced or calked. 
To hollow or impress the design, you must 
use the same instruments that sculptors do, 
the ground whereon you are to work not be- 
ing much less hard than marble itself. 
The cavities being thus made in the ground, 
are to be tilled up with the same gypsum 
boiled in glue, only differently coloured, and 
thus are the different colours of the original 
represented. 
in order that the necessary colours and 
tints may be ready at hand, quantities of the 
gypsum must be tempered with the several 
colours in pots. 
After the design has been thus filled and 
rendered visible, by half-polishing it with brick 
and soft stone, it is to be gone over again, 
cutting such plates as are either to be weaker 
or more shadowed, and tilling them with 
.gypsum; which work is repeated tiil all the 
colours being added one after the other, re- 
present the original perfectly. 
When the work is finished, it is scoured 
with soft stone, sand, and water ; after that, 
w ith a pumice-stone ; and, in the last place, po- 
lished with a wooden mullet and emery. 
Then, lastly, it is smeared over with oil, 
and rubbed a long time with the palm of the 
hand, which gives it a lustre no ways inferior 
to that of natural marble. 
if vou would only make a variegated table, 
or other work, of several colours, without 
mosaic figures, the process is somewhat dif- 
ferent. 
Then you are to prepare separately, in 
bowls, as 'many colours as nature shews in the 
marble which you would imitate ; and after 
■you have incorporated these with gypsum 
and glue-water, take a trowelful of each and 
dispose them in a trough without any order; 
then, without mingling them, and only by 
cutting or crossing the gypsum of each trowel 
once with each of the rest, you will give them 
the appearance of beautiful natural marble. 
Of these you may make tables, or lay them in 
a mould, according to the nature of the work. 
Elydoric painting. 
This new method of painting was invented 
by M. Vincent, of Montpetit. It is little 
known. It takes its name from two Greek 
words, expressing oil and water, both these 
liquids being employed in its execution. 
Its principal advantages are, that the artist 
is able to add to the mellowness of oil-paint- 
ing, the freshness of water-colours, and the 
jfigh finishing of miniature, in such a manner 
that the work appears like a large picture seen 
through a diminishing glass. 
’1 he following is the manner of proceeding: 
A piece -of very line l.iien or wiiite taffetyT 
si/ed with starch in the most equal manner 
possible; or pieces of glass about two inches 
square, the angles o; which are blunted in 
order that the cloth may be without wrinkles. 
When these pieces of cloth are sufficient!} 
dry, a layer of white lead finely ground in oil 
of pinks or poppies (the whitest that can be 
procured) is applied on them with a knife. 
To this layer, when dry enough to admit of 
scraping, more may be added if necessary. 
As it is of the greatest importance for the 
preset vation of tins kind of painting;, t licit the 
layers are purged of oil, in order t hat they may 
imbibe the colours laid on them, it is necessary 
that their surface is made very smooth, and 
is very dry and hard. 
The artist is next provided with a circle of 
copper, nearly two inches in diameter, and 
one- fourth of an inch in height, extremely 
thin, and painted on the inside with black. 
This circle is employed to contain the water 
on the surface of the picture. 
Water distilled from rain or snow is prefer- 
able to any other; ordinary water, on ac-, 
count of the salts which it contains, being per- 
nicious, to this mode of painting. 
The colours, also, must be ground between 
two Oriental agates, most carefully preserved 
from dust; and mixed with oil of poppies, or 
any other siccative oil, which has been ex- 
tracted without iiie, and limpid as water. 
All the colours being ground, are pieced in 
a small heap, on a piece of glass covered with 
distilled water, in a tin box. 
The materials being thus prepared, the 
subject to be painted is faintly traced with a 
black-lead pencil on one of the pieces of cloth 
above-mentioned. 
4 he tints are formed on the pallet from the 
little heaps under the water, and the pallet 
placed as usual in the left hand. 
The picture is held between the thumb and 
tore finger, supported by the middle, and the 
necessary pencils between the third and little 
fingers. The hand rests on the back of a 
chair, to give a full liberty of bringing the 
work near, or removing it from, the eye. 
The pencils are cleaned with essence of 
rectified t urpentine. 
After having made the rough draught with 
the colours still fresh, the circle of copper 
which ought to surround the picture is lilted 
exactly to the surface. 
The distilled water is poured within this 
circle till it rises to the height of one-eighth of 
an inch, and the eye is held perpendicular 
over the object. The third linger of the 
right hand must rest on the internal right angle 
of the picture. 
The artist retouches his work, adding co- 
lour and softening as he finds requisite. 
As soon as the oil swims on the top, the 
water is poured off, and the picture carefully 
covered with a watch-glass, and dried in a 
box by a gentle heat. 
When it is dry enough to be scraped nearly 
smooth with a knife, the artist repeats the 
same method till he is satisfied with his work. 
It is at this period that the advantage of this 
new method particularly shews itself for the 
purpose of finishing; as the water poured on 
the picture discovers every fault of the pen- 
cil, and gives the power of correcting and 
perfecting with certainty. 
When the work is finished, it is put under 
a crystal, from which the externa! air is ex- 
cluded, and it is then dried by means of a 
gentle heat. 
HISTORY OF PAINTING. 
Rise, progress, and decline of the art among 
ike antients. 
As far as history reaches back into past 
ages, it presents us with manifest proofs of the 
antiquity of painting and the other arts of de- 
sign. 1 he first writers of history were in no 
little degree indebted to those arts for their 
best materials and surest vouchers in com- 
piling their records : painting, sculpture, and 
other monuments, having been employed in j 
the most antient times to preserve the me- 1 
mory of facts, and likewise to represent re- 
ligious and philosophical opinions. 
it is natural to imagine that a certain rude I 
way of delineating objects has in all countries ] 
preceded the more artificial communication 1 
of the thoughts by letters, and hence we hear ’ 
of the picture-writing of the Mexicans, and I 
the hieroglyphic symbols of Egypt. 
Pliny express!} says that the art of paint- 1 
ing was unknown in the times described by 
Homer, the most antient of authors, in the 
Iliad; but he acknowledges that sculpture was 
in use at the siege of Troy, from whence it is i 
evident that design, which is the basis and j 
essential part of painting, was even then well ] 
understood. Although the name of the art i 
is not to be found in the writings of Homer, j 
yet the art itself is there plainly described, as 
it consists in . design and colouring. We can, ! 
therefore, hadlv doubt that painting was I 
practised even at that early period ; at least, 1 
Homer himself must be allowed by everyone - 
who reads his lively descriptions of carvings, f 
statues, sculptures, tapestries, and picturesque j 
ornaments of all kinds, to have had very per- 
fect ideas of all the arts of design, not only of 
statuary and sculpture, but of painting. 
But the t arliest date of painting appears to 
have been in Persia, India, and China, if we ] 
give credit to the writers of those countries, j 
Neither the Persians, however, nor the j 
Chinese, appear to have at any time attained ; 
to excellence in painting. The former, as ] 
well as the Arabians, had, at one period, some 1 
knowledge of mosaic, and their carpets, worked 
with various figures, were in high estimation j 
in the time of Alexander the Great; but all j 
such productions are of an inferior class, as 
they must necessarily be copied from other j 
works. Painting, among the modem Per- 
sians, is still in the same low degree. 
The Chinese paintings have little other 
merit than the brightness of their colours. ] 
The pictures of the Chinese artists are totally 
deficient in drawing and perspective. 
In India, painting appears to have been 
confined in the earliest times to the represen- j 
tation of monstrous forms, connected with the ! 
superstition of the country. The paintings of 
Thibet are said to be remarkable for the fine- 1 
ness of the penciling, but to have no other 
merit. Some of the idols are painted in imi- 
tation of relievo, but are wholly destitute uf 
beauty. 
in Egypt, according to the accounts given 
by Plato, painting had been practised for se- 
veral thousand years before his time, but we 
