DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0037
IN FRESCO PAINTING.
xxvii
mineralized ore of mercury, fibrous or smooth, of a red colour and
shining.”
Vitruvius also remarks that minium (cinnabar) would not stand
30 days in places exposed to the light and weather, (Vitruvius Liv.
8. Chap. 9.), and was always covered with wax and oil. In this he
has done little more than repeat the words of Pliny (Book 33).
It is unnecessary to quote all the writers on painting who have
said that cinnabar is inimical to lime, or to revert to the method
adopted by Pozzo to render it permanent in fresco, since he does
not mention, whether he used the native or artificial. I cannot dis-
cover that any writer on painting, except Pozzo, recommends using
cinnabar on the wet lime in fresco.
From the foregoing extracts and observations, I trust I have
established the fact, that painters formerly possessed a natural red
pigment for painting in fresco; and that this pigment was not mine-
ral cinnabar.
Fourthly, that Pabonazo is the same as Matita Rossa,
and that the names of Sinopia, Majorica, Terra Rossa d’lnghilterra,
Bruno d’lnghilterra, Ferretta di Spagna, and Almagra, hereafter
mentioned, are only different names for the same mineral colour,
which I think will be found fully established in the subsequent part
of this work treating of Sinopia.
I shall now show that Amatito and Albin were not the “ vetri-
uolo cotto o abbrucciato” of the Italian writers.
Amatito and Albin were, as I have shown, natural pigments,
which required merely to be pulverized to constitute a fine pigment
for fresco painting. Vetriuolo cotto or abbrucciato is, on the con-
trary, an artificial pigment, prepared by calcining sulphate of iron,
by which process it acquires its red colour?
It was unknown to or at least not mentioned by Cennino, but is
mentioned by Lomazzo and Borghini whose works were published in
1584, and by succeeding writers. It is called vitriol calcine by De
Piles, (Elemens de Peinture, Jombert’s Edition), vitriolo Romano
a The sulphuric acid is expelled by heat, and a per-oxide of iron remains in
the vessels. It has been before observed that the Haematite contains in addition
to the iron, silica, &c., traces of manganese and lime.
c
xxvii
mineralized ore of mercury, fibrous or smooth, of a red colour and
shining.”
Vitruvius also remarks that minium (cinnabar) would not stand
30 days in places exposed to the light and weather, (Vitruvius Liv.
8. Chap. 9.), and was always covered with wax and oil. In this he
has done little more than repeat the words of Pliny (Book 33).
It is unnecessary to quote all the writers on painting who have
said that cinnabar is inimical to lime, or to revert to the method
adopted by Pozzo to render it permanent in fresco, since he does
not mention, whether he used the native or artificial. I cannot dis-
cover that any writer on painting, except Pozzo, recommends using
cinnabar on the wet lime in fresco.
From the foregoing extracts and observations, I trust I have
established the fact, that painters formerly possessed a natural red
pigment for painting in fresco; and that this pigment was not mine-
ral cinnabar.
Fourthly, that Pabonazo is the same as Matita Rossa,
and that the names of Sinopia, Majorica, Terra Rossa d’lnghilterra,
Bruno d’lnghilterra, Ferretta di Spagna, and Almagra, hereafter
mentioned, are only different names for the same mineral colour,
which I think will be found fully established in the subsequent part
of this work treating of Sinopia.
I shall now show that Amatito and Albin were not the “ vetri-
uolo cotto o abbrucciato” of the Italian writers.
Amatito and Albin were, as I have shown, natural pigments,
which required merely to be pulverized to constitute a fine pigment
for fresco painting. Vetriuolo cotto or abbrucciato is, on the con-
trary, an artificial pigment, prepared by calcining sulphate of iron,
by which process it acquires its red colour?
It was unknown to or at least not mentioned by Cennino, but is
mentioned by Lomazzo and Borghini whose works were published in
1584, and by succeeding writers. It is called vitriol calcine by De
Piles, (Elemens de Peinture, Jombert’s Edition), vitriolo Romano
a The sulphuric acid is expelled by heat, and a per-oxide of iron remains in
the vessels. It has been before observed that the Haematite contains in addition
to the iron, silica, &c., traces of manganese and lime.
c