Studio: international art (46.1909)

Portraits in Enamel

painter. Their limitations were those due to an
undeveloped knowledge of their material, as well
as the controlling influence of the current art taste.
The simplicity and beauty of their work is, how-
ever, due partly to the limitations and modesty
of their aims. The faces in their portraits are
painted in white enamel on a dark ground, with
the smallest modulation of surface. The features
are delicately pencilled with a dark outline, and
the colour of the face and features scarcely hinted.

The method that I have found of late years to
suit the particular qualities that appeal to me,
differs greatly from all others ancient and modern,
so far as I know them. To me the colour property
of enamels and the translucent quality are all-
important. To give full expression to these has
been my chief aim. I had to abandon the older
method, which is in the nature of a grisaille enamel,
or a black-and-white study afterwards glazed with
transparent enamel, because certain passages were
never quite true, and therefore not completely in
harmony in the colour scheme. Especially was
this the case with the colour of the face; not that

PORTRAIT IN ENAMEL OF THE COMTESSE DE
SERANO BY ALEXANDER FISHER

I ever wished to make a realistic portrait, but
always strove rather to make the colour scheme
in true relation throughout.

The method I employ is as follows. After
making a careful water-colour drawing from life I
analyse the arrangement of tone and colour of every
part; the head, dress and background each into its
separate tones. For the first coat of enamel (and
I arrange to complete the whole work in a definite
number of firings) I select the middle tones, making
each successive coat of enamel only of the lighter
and brighter, and the darker parts. Each tone is
made by mixing enamels and testing each mixture
on a series of test plates to which I refer through-
out the whole operation—judging always by these
test pieces and not by the appearance of the enamel
as it is used, which of course is impossible.

There is at present a question in the minds of a
small section of the public and beginners in the
study of enamelling as to the suitability of enamels
for portrait painting. It is the old age adage over
again—“ A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.5’
It is apt to be disastrous, unfortunately to others
besides those who revel in this little knowledge.
Such questions arise from a misconception of the
nature of enamel. The prevalent idea with regard to
this is, that when it is subjected to heat it becomes
so fluid that unless each colour is imprisoned in
a little cell of its own, it will run amok and do
damage to its neighbours. Such is not the case
at all, neither is it a rigid, inflexible material incap-
able of any gradation. It is really, in the hands of an
expert, as flexible as any other medium and capable
of greater range of colour and tone. Nor is it more
difficult to paint well in enamel than in oil. There
is only one limitation and that is size. But it is not
desirable to paint as in oil. The medium has its
own qualities demanding an expression distinct
from that of any other material, the realisation of
which should be the aim of all enamel painters.

Another prevalent idea is that enamelling should
be reserved for the decoration of gold or silver
objects, or jewellery. That this is one very beau-
tiful application of it is true, and goes without
saying; but that this should be its sole application
is as absurd as to say that all painting, either in
water-colour or oil, should be composed of flat
tints, circumscribed with an outline. I have
deemed it most necessary to deal with this side of
the subject in order to refute much dangerous
unenlightened opinion, and especially so as it has
fallen somewhat to one’s lot to inculcate and foster
a growing taste for all that is beautiful in one of
the most beautiful of arts. Alexander Fisher.

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