PAIN 
pictures of this rank only were preferved for the infpec- 
tion of connoiffeurs two thoufand years hence, the gene¬ 
ral principles of compofition would be ftill difcoverable 
in thofe pictures: however feebly executed, there would be 
feen an attempt to an union of the figure with its ground, 
fome idea of difpofing. both the figures and the lights in 
groups. Now, as nothing of this appears in what we have 
of ancient painting, we may conclude that this part of 
the art was totally neglected, or, more probably, unknown. 
They might, however, have produced Jingle figures, 
which approached perfection both in drawing and colour¬ 
ing; they might excel in folo (in the language of mufi- 
cians), though they were probably incapable bfcompofing 
a full piece for a concert of different inftruments.” Rey¬ 
nolds’s Notes upon Frefnoy. > 
The paintings of the ancient artifts were either mov¬ 
able, or on the ceilings or compartments of buildings. 
According to Pliny, the moll eminent were thofe who 
painted movable pictures. The latter were either on fir- 
wood, larch,box-wood, orcanvas, and fometimes on mar¬ 
ble. When they employed wood, they laid on, in the firft 
inftance, a white ground. Among the antiquities of Her¬ 
culaneum are four paintings on white marble. 
Their immovable paintings on walls were either in 
frefco, or on the dry ftuccoin diflemper. Indeed, all their 
paintings may be reduced to, firft, frefco-painting; fecond- 
ly, water-colour, or diftemper-painting on a dry ground ; 
and, thirdly, encauftic painting. 
1. The ancient frefco-paintings appear to have been 
always on a white ftucco-ground, the colours inlaid very 
deep, and the drawings much more bold and free than 
any fimilar performance of modern art. The outlines of 
the ancient paintings on frefco were probably done at 
once, as appears from the depth of the incifion and the 
boldnefs and freedom of the defign, equal to the care and 
fpiri't of a pencilled outline. 
2. In general, the ancients painted on a dry ground, 
even in their buildings, as appears from the Herculaneum 
antiquities, rnofl of which are executed in this manner. 
At Rome and Naples, the firft (deepeft) coat is of true 
puzzolana, of the fame nature with the tarras now ufed 
in mortar, required to keep out wet, about one finger 
thick ; the next of ground marble or alabafter, and fome¬ 
times of pure lime or ftucco, in thicknefs about one third 
of the former. Upon this they appear to have laid a coat 
of black, and then another of red, paint; on which laft 
the fubjeCt itfelf was executed. Such feems to have been 
their method of painting on walls ; but, in their movable 
piftures, and in the performance of their firft artifts, and 
where effeCt of fliade and light were neceflary, they doubt- 
lefs ufed white. 
3. What the encauftic or wax painting of the ancients 
was, has been much difputed. From the works of Vitru¬ 
vius and Pliny, it appears evidently that it was of three 
kinds. Firft, Where a pifture, painted in the common 
way, was covered with a varnifh of wax melted, diluted 
with a little oil, and laid on warm with a brufli. Secondly, 
Where the colours themfelves were mixed up with melted 
wax, and the mixture ufed while warm. Thirdly, Where 
a painting was executed on ivory by means of the ce/trum 
or viriculum. 
This art of painting with burnt wax, as it is called, has 
long been loft to the world ; the ufe of it to painters, in 
the infancy of the art of painting, was of the utmoft con- 
fequence ; drying-oil being unknown, they had nothing 
to preferve their colours entire from the injury-of damps, 
and the heat of the fun ; a varnifh of fome l'ort was there¬ 
fore neceflary ; but, being unacquainted withdrftilled fpi- 
rits, they could not, as we now do, difl'ol ve gums, to make a 
tranfparent coat for their pidlures ; this invention, there¬ 
fore, of burnt wax, fupplied that defedl to them, and with 
this manner of painting the chambers and other rooms 
in their houfes were furnifhed ; this Pliny calls encaujlum, 
and we encauftic painting. 
Pliny has given the following brief account of the in- 
T I N G. 215 
vention and nature of this art: “ Ceris pingere aq piriu- 
ram inuere, quis primus excogitaverit non conftat; qui- 
dam Ariftidis inventum putant, poftea confummatum a 
Praxitele ; fed aliquanto vetuftiores encaufticae pifiurae 
extitere; ut Polygnoti, et Nicanoris, et Arcefilai. Pario- 
rum. Lyfippus quoque, Eginae, pifturte fuse infcripfit 
svey.cc'jcEV ; quod profedlo non feciffet, nifi encauftica in- 
venta. Pamphilus quoque Appellis praeceptor non pinx- 
ifle tantum encauftica, fed etiam docuilfe traditur Pau- 
fiam Sycicnium, primum in hoc genere nobilem.” Lib. 
xxxv. cap. 11. From this paragraph, we learn that the 
method of painting in wax, and burning-in the picture, 
was very ancient ; though fome imagine that by ccris is 
meant a compofition different from wax, and capable of 
bearing the fire; and that burning the pidhire denotes 
merely enamelling. Pliny, in the fame chapter, informs us, 
that there were anciently two methods of encauftic 
painting in ufe : “ Encaufto pingendi duo fuifl'e antiqua- 
tus genera conftat, cera et in ebore, ceftro, i. e. viriculo ; 
donee clafles pingi caeperb. Hoc tertium acceflit,. refolu- 
tis igni ceris, penicillo utendi; qua piblura in navibus 
nec foie, nec fale, ventifque corrumpitur.”' Dr. Parfons 
maintains, that the cejlium was a pointed tool ufed in mo¬ 
delling or carving upon ivory or wax; and he fuppofes 
that there is a contrail between {he ufe of the eejirum, 
and painting fliips with a brufli, and therefore that the 
term pingendi cannot be underftood to mean the laying- 
on of paint. 
However, there is a paflage in Vitruvius, lib. vii. cap. 9. 
which ferves to afeertain the nature of the ancient en¬ 
cauftic painting: At ft quis J’ubtilior ftier it, et voluerit 
expolitionem miniaceam Jxium colorern retinere, Sfc. that is, 
“ If any one is more wary, and would have the polifhing, 
or painting, with vermilion hold its colour; when the 
wall is painted and dry, let .him take Carthaginian wax, 
melted with a little oil, and rub it on the wall with a 
hair-pencil ; and afterwards let him put live coals into a 
chafing-difh, and hold it clofe to the wax ; when the 
wall, by being heated, begins to fweat, let it be made 
fmooth ; afterwards let him rub it with wax-tapers, and 
clean linen rags, in the fame manner as they do the naked 
marble ftatues. This the Greeks call aaven;. The coat 
of Carthaginian wax is fo ftrong, that it neither fuft’ers 
the moon by night, nor the fun-beams by day, to deftroy 
the colour.” From this paflage, we learn the ancient me¬ 
thod of painting in wax by inuftion, more obfcurely^ex- 
preffed by Pliny; though Pliny, in another paflage, ex- 
prefsly informs us that they ufed coloured wax; cerce 
tinguntur iijdeni his coloribus, qua; inuruntur: that they 
employed a pencil to lay-on the melted wax ; refelutis ig¬ 
ni ceris, penicillo utendi: that the picture was fixed by in¬ 
uftion; pifluram inurere. And we learn from Vitruvius, 
that the whole was cleaned and polifhed with linen rags. 
The Punic or Carthaginian wax, the ufe of which is af- 
cribed to the ancient painters by Varro, Vitruvius, and 
Pliny, was faid to be thebeft, as it exceeded in whitenefs 
the Sardinian and Corfican, probably becaufe it was bet¬ 
ter purified ; for the Africans, as we learn from Pliny, 
were accuftomed to ufe alkali, in order to render this fub- 
ftance whiter, and alfo to free it, as fome have fuppofed, 
from all greafy matter. Wax, however, feems to have 
formed the only ground ftf wax-painting. The abbe Re- 
queno, who contributed toprefent encauftic painting to 
the notice of modern painters, adds maftic; but Lorgna 
converts his wax into foap, as Bachelier does with the 
alkali of foda. Aftori adds gum and honey, affirming 
that thus the wax would be rendered much more yield¬ 
ing, and fofter for the brufli. Requeno feems to affign 
the exclufive poffeflion of this art to the Greeks and Ro¬ 
mans; but we have reafon for believing that the know¬ 
ledge and ufe of encauftic painting were older than their 
time, becaufe the Egyptians, who, with the Etrufcans, 
were the parents of the greater part of the inventions 
known among mankind, and from whom the Greeks de¬ 
rived much of their knowledge, were acquainted with. 
