DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0099
VASARI.
31
the older modern painters have also continued to employ it. The
picture must be painted on the lime while it is wet, and the work
must not be left until all that is intended to be done that day is
finished. Because if the painting be long in hand, a certain thin
crust forms on the lime as well from the heat as from the cold, the
wind and the frost, which tarnishes and spots all the picture. And
therefore the wall which is painted on must be continually wetted ;
and the colours employed upon it must be all earths, and not mine-
rals, and the white must be calcined Travertine. This kind of
painting also requires a firm and quick hand, but above all a good and
sound judgment; because, while the wall is soft, the colours appeal
quite different from what they do when the wall is dry. It is there-
fore necessary for the artist, while painting in fresco, to use his
judgment more than his skill, and to be guided by experience, it being
very difficult to paint in fresco well. Many of our artists are verv
expert in other branches of the art, namely, in oil and distemper paint
ing, but do not succeed in this, because it is indeed the most manlv,
the most certain, and the most durable of all methods, and by age
it continually acquires beauty and harmony in an infinitely greater
degree than any of the others. This kind of painting cleans itself in
the air, is proof against water, and always resists any blow. But it
is necessary to take care not to retouch the painting with parchment
glue, yolk of egg, gum, or gum tragacanth, as many painters do ;
because, while the painting fails to acquire its usual brightness, the
colours become tarnished by this, and, in a short space of time, turn
black. And therefore let all those who wish to paint upon walls,
paint in fresco, like men, without retouching in secco; which, besides
being a most vile practice, shortens the duration of the pictures, as
has been already observed elsewhere.
Of painting on walls in Chiaro-scuro with various kinds
OF CLAY ; AND HOW BRONZE IS IMITATED ; AND OF PICTURES IN
clay or in earth (Terretta).—Painters call Chiaro-scuro a kind
of painting which depends more on design than on colouring, because
it had its origin in the imitation of statues of marble, and of figures
of bronze and various other stones. This is usually employed in
painting historical pictures on the fronts of palaces or houses, so
as to imitate and appear like marble or stone, sculptured into
these shapes, or really imitating some sorts and kinds of marble an
porphyry, and of green stone, and of red and grey granite, or o
31
the older modern painters have also continued to employ it. The
picture must be painted on the lime while it is wet, and the work
must not be left until all that is intended to be done that day is
finished. Because if the painting be long in hand, a certain thin
crust forms on the lime as well from the heat as from the cold, the
wind and the frost, which tarnishes and spots all the picture. And
therefore the wall which is painted on must be continually wetted ;
and the colours employed upon it must be all earths, and not mine-
rals, and the white must be calcined Travertine. This kind of
painting also requires a firm and quick hand, but above all a good and
sound judgment; because, while the wall is soft, the colours appeal
quite different from what they do when the wall is dry. It is there-
fore necessary for the artist, while painting in fresco, to use his
judgment more than his skill, and to be guided by experience, it being
very difficult to paint in fresco well. Many of our artists are verv
expert in other branches of the art, namely, in oil and distemper paint
ing, but do not succeed in this, because it is indeed the most manlv,
the most certain, and the most durable of all methods, and by age
it continually acquires beauty and harmony in an infinitely greater
degree than any of the others. This kind of painting cleans itself in
the air, is proof against water, and always resists any blow. But it
is necessary to take care not to retouch the painting with parchment
glue, yolk of egg, gum, or gum tragacanth, as many painters do ;
because, while the painting fails to acquire its usual brightness, the
colours become tarnished by this, and, in a short space of time, turn
black. And therefore let all those who wish to paint upon walls,
paint in fresco, like men, without retouching in secco; which, besides
being a most vile practice, shortens the duration of the pictures, as
has been already observed elsewhere.
Of painting on walls in Chiaro-scuro with various kinds
OF CLAY ; AND HOW BRONZE IS IMITATED ; AND OF PICTURES IN
clay or in earth (Terretta).—Painters call Chiaro-scuro a kind
of painting which depends more on design than on colouring, because
it had its origin in the imitation of statues of marble, and of figures
of bronze and various other stones. This is usually employed in
painting historical pictures on the fronts of palaces or houses, so
as to imitate and appear like marble or stone, sculptured into
these shapes, or really imitating some sorts and kinds of marble an
porphyry, and of green stone, and of red and grey granite, or o