DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62783#0116
48
FRESCO PAINTING.
have seen wonderful things by him, in that city; he paints with
both hands, holding a brush full of colour in each, and is so expert
and dexterous, that he does his work with great quickness; and I
have seen more pictures in fresco by him, than by any ten others
together. His figures are painted with wonderful force, besides which,
there is that freedom, that grace and skill, which the greatest
conceptions of men of genius rarely display, and which always
require the greatest skill and labour. Giacomo Tintoretto/ the
Venetian, paints in nearly the same manner, and there are some
persons who consider him the most rapid painter, but he is inferior
in design, and is less careful than Luca; and, as his colouring is
softer, his pictures have less relief and force. He has frequently
painted very important pictures, without any design, leaving the
sketches for finished pictures, and so roughly painted, that one may
see the very marks of the brush, from his too great haste and im-
petuosity. These pictures, therefore, will not bear very close
inspection. But it is enough, that they astonish many of our artists
at first sight; so that those men who used solid colour, by adopting
this manner, and finishing their labours quickly, cause their pictures
to remain very fresh, delicate, and gay; and it makes no difference
to them, although it does to doubtful or irresolute persons, or bad
painters, whether they put on the light colours before the dark, or
the reds before the flesh tints. But the tints, and all the other
colours, are laid on with the same paint brush which the artist
happens to have in his hand, because, by washing it in water and
squeezing it a little, it answers his purpose very well.
Having now brought your picture into this state, it is nearly
finished, because, when you begin to find that the lime is going to set,
and that it does not absorb the colour with the same force as before,
you must then finish it off with moist and dark shade tints, working
it up in this way quite to the extremities. But the muscles of naked
figures, as being of greater difficulty, are painted by hatching them
in different directions with very liquid shade tints, so that they appear
of a texture like granite; and there are very brilliant examples of this,
painted by the hand of Michael Angelo, of Daniello, and of Francesco
a Giacomo Robusto, called 11 Tintoretto, born at Venice in 1512, died in 1594.
Lanzi. Vol. III. p. 116. &c.—Ed.
FRESCO PAINTING.
have seen wonderful things by him, in that city; he paints with
both hands, holding a brush full of colour in each, and is so expert
and dexterous, that he does his work with great quickness; and I
have seen more pictures in fresco by him, than by any ten others
together. His figures are painted with wonderful force, besides which,
there is that freedom, that grace and skill, which the greatest
conceptions of men of genius rarely display, and which always
require the greatest skill and labour. Giacomo Tintoretto/ the
Venetian, paints in nearly the same manner, and there are some
persons who consider him the most rapid painter, but he is inferior
in design, and is less careful than Luca; and, as his colouring is
softer, his pictures have less relief and force. He has frequently
painted very important pictures, without any design, leaving the
sketches for finished pictures, and so roughly painted, that one may
see the very marks of the brush, from his too great haste and im-
petuosity. These pictures, therefore, will not bear very close
inspection. But it is enough, that they astonish many of our artists
at first sight; so that those men who used solid colour, by adopting
this manner, and finishing their labours quickly, cause their pictures
to remain very fresh, delicate, and gay; and it makes no difference
to them, although it does to doubtful or irresolute persons, or bad
painters, whether they put on the light colours before the dark, or
the reds before the flesh tints. But the tints, and all the other
colours, are laid on with the same paint brush which the artist
happens to have in his hand, because, by washing it in water and
squeezing it a little, it answers his purpose very well.
Having now brought your picture into this state, it is nearly
finished, because, when you begin to find that the lime is going to set,
and that it does not absorb the colour with the same force as before,
you must then finish it off with moist and dark shade tints, working
it up in this way quite to the extremities. But the muscles of naked
figures, as being of greater difficulty, are painted by hatching them
in different directions with very liquid shade tints, so that they appear
of a texture like granite; and there are very brilliant examples of this,
painted by the hand of Michael Angelo, of Daniello, and of Francesco
a Giacomo Robusto, called 11 Tintoretto, born at Venice in 1512, died in 1594.
Lanzi. Vol. III. p. 116. &c.—Ed.