DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20658#0250
236
PORTRAIT.
proper hue may be recovered by applying a little of the colour on which they are laid, either
immediately or after the colour is dry. It is to be observed, that the way to employ the reflects
is the same, whether they proceed from the same colour or from any other.
It frequently happens that the original colour of the cloth, on which the painting is done, is
very improper for the ground of the drapery : in this case it must be prepared with such funda-
mental colours as promise the best support to the afterwork. Such a sort of dead-colouring is
very useful, and may receive a faint tracing of the lights and shades, as well as of the shape of
the figure. In working from a design it will be proper to show all the large and chief parts in
their due situations, with some clean colour, lighter than the drapery is meant to be, but in
general of the same hue. The shadows need be no darker than a middle tint, mixed and delicately
broken, and then softened with a large tool, that no rough uneven parts may remain to injure
the effect of the finishing colours.
White Satin.
As whites sink more into the ground than any other colour, they ought to be laid in a good
body on a white ground.
The first lay for white satin contains four degrees of colour: the first is the fine white for the
lights, the second is the first tint composed of fine white with a very small mixture of ivory
black, mingled to the exact medium between the white and the middle tint. This colour
succeeds to the white, and is employed to shape the lights into their proper form, before any
other colour is laid. The difficulty of managing this colour consists in hitting exactly the proper
medium.
The middle tint consists of white, black, and a little Indian red, which mix well to a beautiful
clear pearly hue, closely resembling the brightness and warmth of the satin. At the same time
the artist must be aware that this red hue is apt to change a little to a lead colour. Should it be
necessary to make any part of the middle tint lighter, it ought to be done with the first tint alone.
This colour must belaid sparingly before the white, in such small lights as occur in the shadows
and middle tints, and on it the white is laid with one gentle touch, taking care not to cover the
whole of what was done with the first tint. Should this happen the effect will be lost, and the
part will appear like a coloured spot, for want of the edging or border softening the white into
the middle tint.
The shade-tint is to be of the same colour with the middle tint, but contains less white, so as
to be dark enough for all the shadows, and with it all the parts of the shadows are to be correctly
made out.
This is the first lay, and is followed by the reflects and finishing tints.
Brown ochre mixed with the colour of the lights is most generally used for all reflects in
drapery, produced "by their own colours. All accidental reflects are formed with the colours of
the parts producing them, compounded with the local colours of the parts receiving them. In
general two reflecting tints are sufficient for draperies, that is to say, for any one colour: one
ought to be darker, and another lighter than the middle tint. These colours may undergo a
slight change on the pallet, by mingling them with the first and middle tints, as may be requisite ;
or they may be lightly broken on the part to which they are applied: but this last method is
not so sure and free from danger as the other. In blending the dark shadows to a mellow tender
hue,
PORTRAIT.
proper hue may be recovered by applying a little of the colour on which they are laid, either
immediately or after the colour is dry. It is to be observed, that the way to employ the reflects
is the same, whether they proceed from the same colour or from any other.
It frequently happens that the original colour of the cloth, on which the painting is done, is
very improper for the ground of the drapery : in this case it must be prepared with such funda-
mental colours as promise the best support to the afterwork. Such a sort of dead-colouring is
very useful, and may receive a faint tracing of the lights and shades, as well as of the shape of
the figure. In working from a design it will be proper to show all the large and chief parts in
their due situations, with some clean colour, lighter than the drapery is meant to be, but in
general of the same hue. The shadows need be no darker than a middle tint, mixed and delicately
broken, and then softened with a large tool, that no rough uneven parts may remain to injure
the effect of the finishing colours.
White Satin.
As whites sink more into the ground than any other colour, they ought to be laid in a good
body on a white ground.
The first lay for white satin contains four degrees of colour: the first is the fine white for the
lights, the second is the first tint composed of fine white with a very small mixture of ivory
black, mingled to the exact medium between the white and the middle tint. This colour
succeeds to the white, and is employed to shape the lights into their proper form, before any
other colour is laid. The difficulty of managing this colour consists in hitting exactly the proper
medium.
The middle tint consists of white, black, and a little Indian red, which mix well to a beautiful
clear pearly hue, closely resembling the brightness and warmth of the satin. At the same time
the artist must be aware that this red hue is apt to change a little to a lead colour. Should it be
necessary to make any part of the middle tint lighter, it ought to be done with the first tint alone.
This colour must belaid sparingly before the white, in such small lights as occur in the shadows
and middle tints, and on it the white is laid with one gentle touch, taking care not to cover the
whole of what was done with the first tint. Should this happen the effect will be lost, and the
part will appear like a coloured spot, for want of the edging or border softening the white into
the middle tint.
The shade-tint is to be of the same colour with the middle tint, but contains less white, so as
to be dark enough for all the shadows, and with it all the parts of the shadows are to be correctly
made out.
This is the first lay, and is followed by the reflects and finishing tints.
Brown ochre mixed with the colour of the lights is most generally used for all reflects in
drapery, produced "by their own colours. All accidental reflects are formed with the colours of
the parts producing them, compounded with the local colours of the parts receiving them. In
general two reflecting tints are sufficient for draperies, that is to say, for any one colour: one
ought to be darker, and another lighter than the middle tint. These colours may undergo a
slight change on the pallet, by mingling them with the first and middle tints, as may be requisite ;
or they may be lightly broken on the part to which they are applied: but this last method is
not so sure and free from danger as the other. In blending the dark shadows to a mellow tender
hue,