PAINTING OF FLESH AND DRAPERIES--PERMANENCE OF BUON-FRESCO
In beginning the painting of flesh and draperies on the wet plaster, or
indeed in any other kind of wall painting, it is important to commence
with a kind of modified outline. This, of course, applies also to any
other prominent objects in the design or composition. It is therefore
advisable that, before laying in the first masses of colours, the main
features of the drawing should be outlined firmly with a sable brush,
even if you modify or half-obliterate the outline when afterwards
painting within it. Having outlined the portion selected for painting on
the prepared light or cream-coloured ground, supposing it to be a head
or other part of the human figure, a very good way to begin is to lay in
the shadows first, using a soft or half-worn hog-hair brush, the shadow
colour to be of a warm greenish tint, of a mixture of emerald oxide of
chromium, raw sienna, and light red, used thinly to get transparency.
Immediately after the shading, or modelling of the shadows, is
accomplished a general flesh-coloured tint is made, of a medium tone,
and is swiftly brushed over the parts where the lights and half-tones
would be, taking care that it is worked very thinly or sparingly into
the shadows. This flesh-coloured tint ought to have a very little
quantity of lime-white to render it semi-opaque. As soon as this is done
the carnations of the cheeks and lips and colours of the eyes should be
painted in. Then on the top of the general flesh tint the colours of the
forehead, cheeks, and neck should be worked in, according to the colour
of the sketch, gradually brightening the lighter parts and strengthening
the shadows as required. For this second painting of the flesh the shade
colour, modified of course according to the complexion and position it
is to occupy, may be made of a mixture of raw sienna, light red, burnt
sienna, and a very little emerald oxide. The same colours, with
vermilion and lime-white added, may be used for lights and half-tones,
and the transition tones between lights and half-tones may be obtained
by lightly dragging the lighter tints over the half-tones, which
operation usually produces the natural greyness required in these parts.
For the darker markings of the nostrils, lips, eyes, and eyebrows, or
any dark accentuations of the flesh tints, burnt umber used alone or
mixed with a little vermilion, or burnt sienna, may be employed. Black
may also be used for the same purpose if mixed with burnt sienna or
vermilion. At this stage the flesh-coloured
[Illustration]
parts may be left to dry in a little and get firmer before finally
finishing these parts, when attention may now be directed to the
painting of the hair, head-dress, or any small accessory. These portions
of the work may be laid in at once with an almost flat tint of strong
local colour, and the lights and shades modelled into it. On coming back
to the flesh portions it may be found necessary to do a considerable
amount of retouching; this can still be done near the end of the day’s
work, as long as the touches are small and delicate, and provided there
is no serious repainting attempted. As regards the general question of
retouching a word of warning is necessary; and that is, it often happens
that some touches which are intended to dry out lighter than the colour
on which they are superimposed will appear actually darker than the
underneath colour when they are freshly laid on; this generally happens
when the colour which is being used contains some lime-white in its
mixture, and it is owing to this capricious behaviour of opaque or
semi-opaque tints that some artists have preferred to work almost
entirely in transparent washes on the lime-white ground. It stands to
reason, however, that the work will be more luminous and more permanent
if the colours are all mixed in some degree with lime, and also there
will be more complete incorporation or cohesion with the colours and the
plaster ground.
It may be mentioned that if a general tone of colour is to be given to
any large surface, or if the same colour is to appear in different parts
of the fresco, as in draperies, skies, buildings, etc., a few shades of
the colours required should be mixed and preserved in closed jars for
future use, as it is almost impossible to match shades of a colour with
any degree of accuracy where lime is one of the ingredients of the
mixture.
The simplest way to paint drapery in fresco is to first outline the
work, and also indicate the principal folds in outline, then prepare
three shades of the general colour so that the darkest or shadow tint
will not be so dark as the final darkest shade, nor the lightest so
light as the finished lights are intended to be. Paint in the shades and
shadows first, the middle tints or half-tones next, and always finish
with painting the lights; each tint, of course, in the operation must be
lightly or delicately modelled into its neighbouring tint. This will
constitute the first painting, and when finished it should be allowed to
remain for ten minutes, or more, to sink properly into the plaster. For
the second painting a darker shade than the darkest used in the first is
prepared, and the darkest accents and depths of the folds are delicately
expressed; and with a still lighter tint than the lights of the first
painting, used in a fairly thick consistency, and with a full brush, the
higher lights of the drapery are then painted in. The piece of work
ought now to present the appearance of a monochrome study in light and
shade, but it may be necessary to indicate reflected lights in some
portions of the shadows, and the lights may want a blush of some other
colour to make the study a more truthful representation of drapery
texture, or of the accidental lights, and also reflections from
surrounding objects. These extra tints should be put in their proper
places after the second painting is done; and care should be taken to
mix them of a purer or brighter colour than they appear in the coloured
sketch, so that, when they are glazed lightly over the work, the
underpainting, which is of a different colour, will slightly show
through and modify these bright glazings to the required tones. It may
be necessary to glaze over more than once in order to get the desired
effects, but that will not matter, provided that the glazing is done
with a light hand, so that the underpainting is not disturbed.
When painting foliage, flowers, fruit, ornament, or architecture, the
same method of working will also apply, but the treatment of such
objects would be simpler, and will be found less difficult, than the
painting of drapery.
We have gone somewhat into detail in giving this description as to the
methods of painting in buon-fresco, but we have done so because we
believe it to be the best and highest form of wall decoration, and we
are convinced that if a dry wall is obtained, properly prepared, and
none but the best and safest colours used, it is a perfectly possible
medium for wall decoration, even in this climate of ours.
As a proof of this we wish to mention that the fresco painted in this
method, and with colours similar to what have been described as suitable
for buon-fresco, by Sir Edward J. Poynter, P.R.A., in the chancel of St.
Stephen’s Church at Dulwich, about thirty-five years ago, is at the
present moment in a perfectly sound condition, and is almost as fresh
looking and bright as when first painted. It is exposed to the effects
of condensed vapour and moisture in the winter months, when the church
is heated, and it is subjected to the fumes of the gas that lights the
church, yet it shows no signs of deterioration; on the contrary, the
surface looks, and feels to the touch, more like terra-cotta, or of the
texture and firmness of biscuit porcelain, than anything else one can
think of.
When one hears of frescos perishing in this country, like some of those
in the Houses of Parliament, we may be sure that the causes are not
always due to the damp climate, nor altogether to sulphur gases, but
either to a badly prepared wall surface, or, what is more than likely,
the use of one or two doubtful colours, that in perishing will even
loosen or destroy other sounder colours when juxtaposed to or mixed with
them.
[Illustration: _Photo. Bolas._]
[_To face p. 30._
PLATE 3.--ST. STEPHEN BEFORE HIS ACCUSERS, AND THE STONING OF ST.
STEPHEN
_Sir E. J. Poynter, Bart., P.R.A., Fresco in St. Stephen’s Church,
Dulwich_]