Studio: international art (29.1903)

A Painted Ceiling

countries. There is not room
here for a full account of the pro-
blems of colour, but the following
facts will be of interest to art
students. Mr. Draper had con-
stantly to bear in mind that his
decoration would be seen very
frequently by artificial light, during
the dinners given by the Company;
and hence it was necessary to choose
those colours which were least
affected by that light. Experiments
proved that cobalt in the yellow
light faded to a dull slate-tint,
\ whereas a green-blue or a purple-

| \ blue kept its value in the general

colour-scheme. Purple became
much redder but retained its tone.
Yellow responded well—sometimes
even too well—to the artificial light,
while touches of transparent colour
/ in the darker parts were useless as

shadows, the yellow light passing
through them to the canvas and
MR, I returning to the eye with very little

loss of luminosity. Tints of lilac
and of puce had to be discarded,
and cold blue-greens were found to
Jf: be more effective than yellow-greens,

m which were too receptive to the

f VLrf^l / | #Q influences of artificial light. But at

W i^at / 'ast' a^er many experiments, Mr.

m -': y Draper saw his way clear, and

decided that his scheme of colour
should be an arrangement of orange-
red, cold greys, and pale yellow.

The illustrations that accompany
these notes will enable everybody
to form a just opinion of the scope
of Mr. Draper's work, and we have

^HIII^^^^HIHIHHHHHHHHHHHHi no that be

widely appreciated. They are a

STUDY FOR FLYING FIGURE BY HERBERT J. DRAFER , , ■ , . ,

great advance on everything which
he has done in the same line.
A few words may now be said about the There was a lime when Mr. Draper's studies lacked
technique. The canvas was well grounded with that character which is soon acquired on the Con-
silver-white (blanc d'argent), and the medium used tinent in any good school of drawing. They had
for the painting was paraffin wax dissolved in spirits a certain prettiness of aspect, a certain want of
of turpentine and spike oil. The modelling was structural vigour, firmness and precision, proving
obtained not by light and shade, but by colour, that the artist had studied in the Royal Academy
a dual illumination being adopted ; and note, Schools and had acquired there the besetting vice
too, that Mr. Draper made skilful use of that of English figure draughtsmanship. It may be
process of cross-hatching which has been em- that Mr. Draper became conscious of this defect;
ployed by fresco-workers in all limes and it is certain, in any case, that his studies have

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