DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0063
IN FRESCO PAINTING.
liii
BLACK COLOURS.
Black colours are among those that have been found least durable
in fresco.—See II. Rep. p. 42. All writers are unanimous in saving,
that none but natural pigments should be used in fresco; therefore
carbonaceous blacks, prepared from animal and vegetable substances,
should be excluded from this kind of painting.
Native black colours are fortunately abundant. The Terra Nera
de Venezia, of which Pozzo speaks, is said by Palomino to be a most
beautiful colour in every respect. There is also Terra Nera di Roma,
Terra Nera di Piedemonte, the mineral called black chalk (schiste h
dessiner, ampelite graphique), which is met with in France, Spain,
Italy, Iceland, Wales, Ireland, and the Hebrides, and which is
used both in drawing and painting.
Nero di schiuma di ferro, mentioned by Borghini, is an artificial
pigment, prepared by mixing the scales from red hot iron with terra
verde, and then grinding the mixture to a very fine powder, (JBaldi-
nucci, Voc. Dis. Borghini). Neither this nor the next can be
recommended.
Nero di Terra di Campane, mentioned by Armenino, is prepared
from a sort of crust which forms on the moulds in which bells and
cannons are cast. It was used in fresco painting, but Baldinucci
says, that when exposed to the air, in a short time the colour flies,
and spoils the picture.
These black earths are especially useful in making true greys; the
extreme darks, every one knows, should be formed of browns, and
not of blacks. It is well observed, by the author of an article in the
Quarterly Review for December, 1844, entitled “Painting in the
14th Century,” that “pure black should never be admitted on walls
or canvass, for the simple reason that it hardly exists in any depart-
ment of nature which can come within the sphere of imitation.”
WHITE, YELLOW, AND BROWN COLOURS.
The only white pigment that it is necessary to mention here is
Bianco Sangiovanni; the others are all fully described by the several
liii
BLACK COLOURS.
Black colours are among those that have been found least durable
in fresco.—See II. Rep. p. 42. All writers are unanimous in saving,
that none but natural pigments should be used in fresco; therefore
carbonaceous blacks, prepared from animal and vegetable substances,
should be excluded from this kind of painting.
Native black colours are fortunately abundant. The Terra Nera
de Venezia, of which Pozzo speaks, is said by Palomino to be a most
beautiful colour in every respect. There is also Terra Nera di Roma,
Terra Nera di Piedemonte, the mineral called black chalk (schiste h
dessiner, ampelite graphique), which is met with in France, Spain,
Italy, Iceland, Wales, Ireland, and the Hebrides, and which is
used both in drawing and painting.
Nero di schiuma di ferro, mentioned by Borghini, is an artificial
pigment, prepared by mixing the scales from red hot iron with terra
verde, and then grinding the mixture to a very fine powder, (JBaldi-
nucci, Voc. Dis. Borghini). Neither this nor the next can be
recommended.
Nero di Terra di Campane, mentioned by Armenino, is prepared
from a sort of crust which forms on the moulds in which bells and
cannons are cast. It was used in fresco painting, but Baldinucci
says, that when exposed to the air, in a short time the colour flies,
and spoils the picture.
These black earths are especially useful in making true greys; the
extreme darks, every one knows, should be formed of browns, and
not of blacks. It is well observed, by the author of an article in the
Quarterly Review for December, 1844, entitled “Painting in the
14th Century,” that “pure black should never be admitted on walls
or canvass, for the simple reason that it hardly exists in any depart-
ment of nature which can come within the sphere of imitation.”
WHITE, YELLOW, AND BROWN COLOURS.
The only white pigment that it is necessary to mention here is
Bianco Sangiovanni; the others are all fully described by the several