DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0065
in fresco painting.
Iv
arrangement, and the judicious opposition of the colours. Cennino
and others praise certain colours which they say are equal to lake in
fresco; they are right, because the colours to which they allude will
appear like lake when skilfully contrasted with the other colours used
in this kind of painting, but if compared with the colours we call
lake and carmine, I have no doubt they would be found very dissimi-
lar. The Amatito and burnt Roman vitriol will harmonize well with
the ochres and other earths, but if lake were used, (supposing it
could be used in fresco), it would, like the bright blue in the frescoes
of Romanelli in the Louvre, and those of the Carracci, be out of
harmony with the rest of the picture. If lakes and cobalt be used
in fresco, it will be necessary to procure yellows of equal brilliancy,
but I apprehend that pictures painted with such colours would
lose in harmony what they gained in brilliancy; such colours are too
glaring and intrusive for the decorations of buildings. To judge of
their effect it is only necessary to compare the ceilings of the Louvre
painted by the modern French school, which are as brilliant as the
finest lakes, yellows, and blues can make them, with the quiet beauty
and mellowness of the frescoes of Romanelli in the Salles des An-
tiques, (always, however, excepting the blue, which is too powerful
for the other colours). It will be remembered that Titian and Raf-
faello used chiefly earths and common colours even in painting in oil,
instead of the more expensive and brilliant colours. No one capable
of forming an opinion can suppose they would have preferred the
former to the latter, if they had not had the best and most convinc-
ing reasons for so doing. We are all too much inclined to seek the
perfection of colouring in the pigments themselves instead of in the
harmonious combination and opposition of the several colours, and to
attribute to the vehicle and colours the effect which the skill of the
artist alone can produce.
There is one point, however, on which particular care is required,
namely, that the colours used should be the very best of the kind,
the brightest, purest, and finest that can be obtained, and besides
that, it is necessary, as Armenino observes, to be very clean and
careful in using them in order to preserve them pure and distinct,
because, by every slight mixture that falls into them, they become
soiled and lose a great deal of their brightness.
Iv
arrangement, and the judicious opposition of the colours. Cennino
and others praise certain colours which they say are equal to lake in
fresco; they are right, because the colours to which they allude will
appear like lake when skilfully contrasted with the other colours used
in this kind of painting, but if compared with the colours we call
lake and carmine, I have no doubt they would be found very dissimi-
lar. The Amatito and burnt Roman vitriol will harmonize well with
the ochres and other earths, but if lake were used, (supposing it
could be used in fresco), it would, like the bright blue in the frescoes
of Romanelli in the Louvre, and those of the Carracci, be out of
harmony with the rest of the picture. If lakes and cobalt be used
in fresco, it will be necessary to procure yellows of equal brilliancy,
but I apprehend that pictures painted with such colours would
lose in harmony what they gained in brilliancy; such colours are too
glaring and intrusive for the decorations of buildings. To judge of
their effect it is only necessary to compare the ceilings of the Louvre
painted by the modern French school, which are as brilliant as the
finest lakes, yellows, and blues can make them, with the quiet beauty
and mellowness of the frescoes of Romanelli in the Salles des An-
tiques, (always, however, excepting the blue, which is too powerful
for the other colours). It will be remembered that Titian and Raf-
faello used chiefly earths and common colours even in painting in oil,
instead of the more expensive and brilliant colours. No one capable
of forming an opinion can suppose they would have preferred the
former to the latter, if they had not had the best and most convinc-
ing reasons for so doing. We are all too much inclined to seek the
perfection of colouring in the pigments themselves instead of in the
harmonious combination and opposition of the several colours, and to
attribute to the vehicle and colours the effect which the skill of the
artist alone can produce.
There is one point, however, on which particular care is required,
namely, that the colours used should be the very best of the kind,
the brightest, purest, and finest that can be obtained, and besides
that, it is necessary, as Armenino observes, to be very clean and
careful in using them in order to preserve them pure and distinct,
because, by every slight mixture that falls into them, they become
soiled and lose a great deal of their brightness.