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)

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FRESCO PAINTING.

bronze or other stones, as they think proper; they divide the front
of the house into many compartments, in this style of decoration,
which is very much in use for painting the fronts of houses and
palaces, as well in Rome as throughout all Italy. These pictures are
painted in two manners, either in fresco, which is the real method, or
on canvass, for the triumphal arches which are made for the entry of
princes into cities, and in triumphs, or in the decorations for fetes and
comedies, because they produce a beautiful effect. We will first
treat of the different kinds and methods of painting them in fresco.
For painting with this Terretta, the grounds are made of potter’s
clay; the darker shades are made by mixing the clay with pounded
charcoal, or any other black, and with calcined Travertine for the
light tints. The lights must be laid on with pure white, and the
extreme shades must be finished with pure black. Pictures of this
kind should be executed with design, force, vivacity and skill,
and should be expressed with boldness, which shews art and
freedom of hand, because they must be seen and looked at from a
distance. Bronze figures are also imitated in this way; they are
sketched on a ground of yellow ochre and red, the shades are made
of black, red, and yellow ; the half tints are made with pure yellow,
and the lights of yellow and white. Artists also paint house fronts
and pictures in this way, with certain statues interspersed between
them, which have a very graceful effect.