Merrifield, Mary P.: The art of fresco painting, as practised by the old Italian and Spanish masters, with a preliminary inquiry into the nature of the colours used in fresco painting: with observations and notes (London: Charles Gilpin, 1846)

IN FRESCO PAINTING.

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Guercino painted in Bologna in 1618, in the Zampieri Palace in
1631, in the Ludovisi at Rome in 1621, (See Malv. vol. it. p. 363,
365, 368). Mr. Wilson observes, that the blues in his pictures, at
these places, are put in in fresco, and are yet in fine harmony with
the other tones. Is it not possible he may have used the Azzurri di
Spagna ?
If, then, this Azzurro di Spagna is so good a colour, it may be
asked, why do not the Spanish writers mention it ? Palomino, it is
true, does not mention the colour, but he does mention a blue
stone called “ Ignoto” (unknown), which was sometimes used with
other blues in fresco, and which is very likely to have been the pig-
ment in question. To account for Palomino’s being unacquainted
with so valuable a pigment, a production of his native country, we
must remember that the Spaniards received the art of fresco painting
from the Italians, and adopted their method, and that Palomino died
in 1726, fifty-six years at least after we have ascertained the pig-
ment to have been lost. Pacheco’s Treatise was published in 1641;
he also does not mention the colour; it was therefore unknown or
disused in his time in Spain and Rome, for he resided some time at
Rome.
Borghini mentions (Riposo, p. 173, published 1585), that “ Azzurro
di Vena Naturale was useful in all three kinds of painting.” Baldi-
nucci observes of the same pigment, that “ it was used in painting in
fresco, in oil, and in distemper.” These extracts prove that the
pigment had been used in Italy in fresco painting, although it is not
mentioned by many writers on this subject.
I have proved from Agricola that the mineral which the vulgar
call “ Azzurro” was produced in Spain in copper and silver mines,
and I have shewn that the mineral could not be cobalt, because in
its natural state that mineral is not blue. We know the pigment
mentioned by Malvasia was not Ultramarine, because that substance
is not found in Spain, and because he says the Azzurri di Spagna
were lost, whereas Ultramarine was then in use in Italy. We can,
therefore, form no other conclusion but that these pigments are
native blue carbonates of copper, and of the same nature as Azzurro
della Magna, Ceruleo, Mountain Blue, Ongaro, &c.
With regard to the use of Ultramarine in fresco, it appears that