DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52800#0363
APPENDIX.
343
chose to do so. The impression of the pictures which
Rubens painted was sometimes prepared with white,
sometimes with red; when the latter is the case, the
secret of commencement is hid; but in those where he
has painted on a white ground, and where Mr. Hacquin
could discover the first markings of crayon, as of pencil-
ing, he has as often used the one mode as the other,
sometimes tracing the drawing in crayon, sometimes
beginning at once with the pencil. The first glazings of
colour which the white impressions of his pictures show,
are generally of a warm tint, thrown in with a very light
hand, and great facility of penciling. These are seen
even on the surface of some of his landscapes, never
having thought it necessary to cover them a second time,
but leaving them to form the ground of his subject.
Mr. Hacquin observed that Velasquez and Murillo
have painted their pictures upon the red earthy prepara-
tions with which the Spanish canvas has almost uniformly
been charged, and which hides their first process. Ve-
lasquez, who was aware of these red grounds rendering
the shadows too opaque, has often introduced a light
colour over them before he began to paint, so as that
the ground which came in immediate contact with the
picture should not destroy the transparency of his
colours, which are always light and brilliant, especially
in the flesh and in his skies and landscapes.
Claude Lorrain and Nicholas Poussin painted their
pictures at a time when the use of wood was almost
entirely given up by the schools of Italy; the grounds
of their canvas were, however, various, sometimes red,
sometimes white. The ground of the pictures painted
343
chose to do so. The impression of the pictures which
Rubens painted was sometimes prepared with white,
sometimes with red; when the latter is the case, the
secret of commencement is hid; but in those where he
has painted on a white ground, and where Mr. Hacquin
could discover the first markings of crayon, as of pencil-
ing, he has as often used the one mode as the other,
sometimes tracing the drawing in crayon, sometimes
beginning at once with the pencil. The first glazings of
colour which the white impressions of his pictures show,
are generally of a warm tint, thrown in with a very light
hand, and great facility of penciling. These are seen
even on the surface of some of his landscapes, never
having thought it necessary to cover them a second time,
but leaving them to form the ground of his subject.
Mr. Hacquin observed that Velasquez and Murillo
have painted their pictures upon the red earthy prepara-
tions with which the Spanish canvas has almost uniformly
been charged, and which hides their first process. Ve-
lasquez, who was aware of these red grounds rendering
the shadows too opaque, has often introduced a light
colour over them before he began to paint, so as that
the ground which came in immediate contact with the
picture should not destroy the transparency of his
colours, which are always light and brilliant, especially
in the flesh and in his skies and landscapes.
Claude Lorrain and Nicholas Poussin painted their
pictures at a time when the use of wood was almost
entirely given up by the schools of Italy; the grounds
of their canvas were, however, various, sometimes red,
sometimes white. The ground of the pictures painted