DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0081
VITRUVIUS AND GUEVARA.
13
Having mentioned the inconveniences, let us now speak of the
remedy. For this purpose we must suppose that the ancient
painters were very diligent and prudent; I therefore consider it
certain that they did not plaster the wall in portions, but that, whe-
ther it was large or small, they finished plastering the whole at one
time, and then painted it with such expedition and diligence, that
the painting and the wall dried together ;a not taking into consider-
ation that they knew how to keep the wall damp for some days.
in the royal palace and other places. Perhaps if these pictures were buried and
then exposed to the sun, air, and water, they might not last so long as those of
the ancients referred to by Don Felipe de Guevara, and it is certain that the
preservation of the paintings found in the sepulchres, and those covered with the
burning lavas of Vesuvius in the excavations of Caserta and of Herculaneum, is
really wonderful. Ponz.
a Sig. Requeno (Saggio sul Ristabilimento, &c.) is of opinion that the ancients
did not really paint in buon-fresco as the Italians do, but that they coloured the walls
in fresco, with a single colour, and then painted the figures on them in secco.—
In the note to vol. 1, page 190, he says, “ In the work of Vitruvius there is
no mention made of painting, as is generally believed, but only of the preparation
of the intonaco for painting, in Chap. 3, ‘ De tectoriis operibus.’ The preparation of
the intonaco was formerly made, as Vitruvius says, firstly—with six coats of
intonaco; secondly—staining the intonaco, while still wet, with one colour, some-
times red, sometimes black, sometimes blue, &c. It was not every colour that
was used on this occasion, on the wet lime and marble dust. Pliny expressly tells
us, ‘udo illini recusant purpurinum, indacum,’ 8fc. (Purpurinum, indigo, &c.
cannot be used in fresco ;) and of another colour he tells us, that it is ‘ calcis
impatient,’ (that it cannot bear lime). The words of Vitruvius, ‘ colores udo
tectorio cum diligenter sunt inducti, 8fc.’ (when the colours are carefully laid
on the wet plaster,) must undoubtedly be understood of the various colours with
which the intonachi, while still wet, were stained. Then that the preparation
of the intonaco for painting on, of which alone Vitruvius speaks in this chapter,
formerly included the operation of colouring the intonaco, before it was dry, with
red or yellow, or with some other colour, which, besides what Vitruvius tells us
in this third chapter of his ‘ De tectoriis operibus,’ is proved by the ancient
pictures of Herculaneum. When, by any accident, the colours of these scale off,
the uniform colour of the ground beneath the elegant figures with which they
are painted is seen. As authorities, I cite Winckelmann, and the academicians
of Herculaneum, who, observing that when some of the pictures were cleaned
with water, all the colours of the figures washed off, and there remained a ground,
uniform in colour, smooth, fair, and polished, upon the ancient walls, concluded
that the pictures of Herculaneum were painted by the Romans, in secco, upon
an intonaco, stained in fresco. The authority of Vitruvius, chapter in., must
therefore be understood of the preparation of the coloured intonachi, intended to
be painted with figures, landscapes, or ornaments; and the text, ‘ Colores udo
13
Having mentioned the inconveniences, let us now speak of the
remedy. For this purpose we must suppose that the ancient
painters were very diligent and prudent; I therefore consider it
certain that they did not plaster the wall in portions, but that, whe-
ther it was large or small, they finished plastering the whole at one
time, and then painted it with such expedition and diligence, that
the painting and the wall dried together ;a not taking into consider-
ation that they knew how to keep the wall damp for some days.
in the royal palace and other places. Perhaps if these pictures were buried and
then exposed to the sun, air, and water, they might not last so long as those of
the ancients referred to by Don Felipe de Guevara, and it is certain that the
preservation of the paintings found in the sepulchres, and those covered with the
burning lavas of Vesuvius in the excavations of Caserta and of Herculaneum, is
really wonderful. Ponz.
a Sig. Requeno (Saggio sul Ristabilimento, &c.) is of opinion that the ancients
did not really paint in buon-fresco as the Italians do, but that they coloured the walls
in fresco, with a single colour, and then painted the figures on them in secco.—
In the note to vol. 1, page 190, he says, “ In the work of Vitruvius there is
no mention made of painting, as is generally believed, but only of the preparation
of the intonaco for painting, in Chap. 3, ‘ De tectoriis operibus.’ The preparation of
the intonaco was formerly made, as Vitruvius says, firstly—with six coats of
intonaco; secondly—staining the intonaco, while still wet, with one colour, some-
times red, sometimes black, sometimes blue, &c. It was not every colour that
was used on this occasion, on the wet lime and marble dust. Pliny expressly tells
us, ‘udo illini recusant purpurinum, indacum,’ 8fc. (Purpurinum, indigo, &c.
cannot be used in fresco ;) and of another colour he tells us, that it is ‘ calcis
impatient,’ (that it cannot bear lime). The words of Vitruvius, ‘ colores udo
tectorio cum diligenter sunt inducti, 8fc.’ (when the colours are carefully laid
on the wet plaster,) must undoubtedly be understood of the various colours with
which the intonachi, while still wet, were stained. Then that the preparation
of the intonaco for painting on, of which alone Vitruvius speaks in this chapter,
formerly included the operation of colouring the intonaco, before it was dry, with
red or yellow, or with some other colour, which, besides what Vitruvius tells us
in this third chapter of his ‘ De tectoriis operibus,’ is proved by the ancient
pictures of Herculaneum. When, by any accident, the colours of these scale off,
the uniform colour of the ground beneath the elegant figures with which they
are painted is seen. As authorities, I cite Winckelmann, and the academicians
of Herculaneum, who, observing that when some of the pictures were cleaned
with water, all the colours of the figures washed off, and there remained a ground,
uniform in colour, smooth, fair, and polished, upon the ancient walls, concluded
that the pictures of Herculaneum were painted by the Romans, in secco, upon
an intonaco, stained in fresco. The authority of Vitruvius, chapter in., must
therefore be understood of the preparation of the coloured intonachi, intended to
be painted with figures, landscapes, or ornaments; and the text, ‘ Colores udo