DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0045
IN FRESCO PAINTING.
XXXV
want of durability and of their discordance with the other colours of
the picture.
The remarks of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Hart, in the II. Report of the
Commissioners on the Fine Arts, are a commentary on this passage.
“ The blue of the skies has either partially changed or entirely faded,
whilst that of the drapery is comparatively well preserved. In the
School of Athens he (Raphael) has painted the blues in fresco, and they
have perished or nearly so, as they have, in most instances, in every
part of Italy, where blue has been thus used; both in pictures of this
and previous times. In the great works which Raphael subsequently
painted in the Stanze, he returned to the old practice of painting the
blues above red, probably dissatisfied with the crudeness which was the
result of using them on the wet plaster. The blue that has thus been
generally used seems to have been of a vegetable nature, as in many
instances it has changed to a brilliant green. It may be urged that
the use of ultramarine or cobalt, may obviate all necessity for such
preparations, and secure the pictures against change; but whilst the
former is by far too expensive a colour, the latter is crude and harsh
in fresco. It seems to have been the blue which was used by the
Carracci, and in their pictures, as in those of Guido, it will be found
to be frequently out of harmony with the other colours; either these
have in some degree faded, the blue remaining the same, or the blue has
increased in intensity. Domenichino used distemper extensively in his
works; but in those of Guercino will be found a triumphant solution of
the difficulty ; his blues are put in in fresco, and yet are in fine harmony
with the other tones; they have generally a warm purple hue, and
may be either smalt, or cobalt tempered with red, such as colcothar
of vitriol. This is strongly exemplified in the Zampieri Palace at
Bologna, where the harmony apparent in a fresco of Guercino is an
agreeable relief, after the crudity which offends in those of his mas-
ters in other rooms of the same palace : a comparison between the
Aurora of Guido in the Rospigliosi at Rome (all the blues of which
are not retouched), and that by Guercino in the Ludovisi, further
corroborates the above observations,”—Rep. 27. Again, Mr. Wilson
observes, “The blue has come off entirely in some parts, and has
evidently been laid on when the figures were finished, and the lime
too dry, so that not being incorporated, it has come off in powder; in
XXXV
want of durability and of their discordance with the other colours of
the picture.
The remarks of Mr. Wilson and Mr. Hart, in the II. Report of the
Commissioners on the Fine Arts, are a commentary on this passage.
“ The blue of the skies has either partially changed or entirely faded,
whilst that of the drapery is comparatively well preserved. In the
School of Athens he (Raphael) has painted the blues in fresco, and they
have perished or nearly so, as they have, in most instances, in every
part of Italy, where blue has been thus used; both in pictures of this
and previous times. In the great works which Raphael subsequently
painted in the Stanze, he returned to the old practice of painting the
blues above red, probably dissatisfied with the crudeness which was the
result of using them on the wet plaster. The blue that has thus been
generally used seems to have been of a vegetable nature, as in many
instances it has changed to a brilliant green. It may be urged that
the use of ultramarine or cobalt, may obviate all necessity for such
preparations, and secure the pictures against change; but whilst the
former is by far too expensive a colour, the latter is crude and harsh
in fresco. It seems to have been the blue which was used by the
Carracci, and in their pictures, as in those of Guido, it will be found
to be frequently out of harmony with the other colours; either these
have in some degree faded, the blue remaining the same, or the blue has
increased in intensity. Domenichino used distemper extensively in his
works; but in those of Guercino will be found a triumphant solution of
the difficulty ; his blues are put in in fresco, and yet are in fine harmony
with the other tones; they have generally a warm purple hue, and
may be either smalt, or cobalt tempered with red, such as colcothar
of vitriol. This is strongly exemplified in the Zampieri Palace at
Bologna, where the harmony apparent in a fresco of Guercino is an
agreeable relief, after the crudity which offends in those of his mas-
ters in other rooms of the same palace : a comparison between the
Aurora of Guido in the Rospigliosi at Rome (all the blues of which
are not retouched), and that by Guercino in the Ludovisi, further
corroborates the above observations,”—Rep. 27. Again, Mr. Wilson
observes, “The blue has come off entirely in some parts, and has
evidently been laid on when the figures were finished, and the lime
too dry, so that not being incorporated, it has come off in powder; in