DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0247
PORTRAIT.
233
scantiness of dress, by means of the back-ground, may be observed in a whole-length portrait by
Vandyck, formerly in the cabinet of the Duke of Montague. The dress of this figure would
have had an ungraceful effect; but the painter has, by means of a light back-ground opposed to
the light of the figure, and by the help of a curtain that catches the light near it, made the effect
of the whole together full and rich to the eye."
Vandyck in general made out the keeping of his back-grounds more by the opposition and the
harmony of the colours than by the practice of the chiar-oscuro. The difference between his
manner of treating light and shade, and that of Rembrandt, is very remarkable. Vandyck's
usual method was to be very stiff and mellow, and to break the colours of the ground with those
of the drapery. This will certainly produce harmony, the principles of which properly belong
to the art of colouring: but it is the knowledge of light and shade which gives the astonishing
force and strength so observable in the works of Rembrandt. There is a picture of this artist
representing a lady, where he has made the ground just light enough to shew her complexion
and hair, which is of a dark-brown, in the greatest perfection : the back-ground is a wall which,
near the face, is lighter than the shadows of the flesh : but this light diminishes so artfully in
the gradations, that though the part of the wall which surrounds the head is much darker, yet it
appears to be of the same colour with that near the flesh. Vandyck on the other hand has given
relief to the head, by making the ground almost of the same colour with the hair; and although
his skill was admirable in breaking the colours of the ground with those of the draperies, yet
there appears a sameness in the effect of some of his pictures, where this principle of relief seems
to be carried to the extreme.
The principal colours necessary for painting back-grounds in portraits are the following, viz.—
White, black, Indian red, light and brown ochres. Prussian blue, and burnt umbre; from which
the eight principal tints are formed, viz.
1. Pearl, made of black, white, and a little Indian red.
2. Lead, of black and white, mixed up to a dark lead colour.
3. Yellow, of brown ochre and white.
4. Olive, consisting of light ochre, Prussian blue, and white.
5. Flesh-colour, made of Indian red and white, mixed to a middle tint.
6. Murrey, consisting of Indian red, -white, and a little black, mixed to a kind of purple, of
a middle-tint.
7. Stone-colour, of white, umbre, black, and Indian red.
8. Dark-shade, made of black and Indian red only.
The lead-tint serves instead of blues ; the flesh-tint mixes agreeably with the lead; and the
murrey is a good blending colour, of great use where the olive would be too strong. The
umbre, white, and the dark-shade produce a great variety of stone colours, and the dark-shade
and umbre used with drying oil, form a fine warm shade colour. All these colours ought to be
laid with drying oil only, that they may mix and set the better with the softener.
It sometimes happens that, in the priming of the cloth, the marks of the trowel in preparing
it are left so strong, that one body of colour would not be sufficient to conceal them: in this
case some colour must be laid on purpose, which ought to be allowed to dry, before beginning
such parts of the work as it is intended to finish at one painting.
The painting of back-grounds is divided into two parts— the first lay, and the finishing tints to
follow on it.
3 © Of
233
scantiness of dress, by means of the back-ground, may be observed in a whole-length portrait by
Vandyck, formerly in the cabinet of the Duke of Montague. The dress of this figure would
have had an ungraceful effect; but the painter has, by means of a light back-ground opposed to
the light of the figure, and by the help of a curtain that catches the light near it, made the effect
of the whole together full and rich to the eye."
Vandyck in general made out the keeping of his back-grounds more by the opposition and the
harmony of the colours than by the practice of the chiar-oscuro. The difference between his
manner of treating light and shade, and that of Rembrandt, is very remarkable. Vandyck's
usual method was to be very stiff and mellow, and to break the colours of the ground with those
of the drapery. This will certainly produce harmony, the principles of which properly belong
to the art of colouring: but it is the knowledge of light and shade which gives the astonishing
force and strength so observable in the works of Rembrandt. There is a picture of this artist
representing a lady, where he has made the ground just light enough to shew her complexion
and hair, which is of a dark-brown, in the greatest perfection : the back-ground is a wall which,
near the face, is lighter than the shadows of the flesh : but this light diminishes so artfully in
the gradations, that though the part of the wall which surrounds the head is much darker, yet it
appears to be of the same colour with that near the flesh. Vandyck on the other hand has given
relief to the head, by making the ground almost of the same colour with the hair; and although
his skill was admirable in breaking the colours of the ground with those of the draperies, yet
there appears a sameness in the effect of some of his pictures, where this principle of relief seems
to be carried to the extreme.
The principal colours necessary for painting back-grounds in portraits are the following, viz.—
White, black, Indian red, light and brown ochres. Prussian blue, and burnt umbre; from which
the eight principal tints are formed, viz.
1. Pearl, made of black, white, and a little Indian red.
2. Lead, of black and white, mixed up to a dark lead colour.
3. Yellow, of brown ochre and white.
4. Olive, consisting of light ochre, Prussian blue, and white.
5. Flesh-colour, made of Indian red and white, mixed to a middle tint.
6. Murrey, consisting of Indian red, -white, and a little black, mixed to a kind of purple, of
a middle-tint.
7. Stone-colour, of white, umbre, black, and Indian red.
8. Dark-shade, made of black and Indian red only.
The lead-tint serves instead of blues ; the flesh-tint mixes agreeably with the lead; and the
murrey is a good blending colour, of great use where the olive would be too strong. The
umbre, white, and the dark-shade produce a great variety of stone colours, and the dark-shade
and umbre used with drying oil, form a fine warm shade colour. All these colours ought to be
laid with drying oil only, that they may mix and set the better with the softener.
It sometimes happens that, in the priming of the cloth, the marks of the trowel in preparing
it are left so strong, that one body of colour would not be sufficient to conceal them: in this
case some colour must be laid on purpose, which ought to be allowed to dry, before beginning
such parts of the work as it is intended to finish at one painting.
The painting of back-grounds is divided into two parts— the first lay, and the finishing tints to
follow on it.
3 © Of