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  ENCAUSTIC

  PAINTING.

  [Illustration]




  ENCAUSTIC:

  OR,

  Count CAYLUS’S

  METHOD of PAINTING

  In the MANNER of the ANCIENTS.

  To which is added

  A sure and easy METHOD for Fixing of
  CRAYONS.

  By J. H. MÜNTZ.

  [Illustration]

  LONDON: Printed for the AUTHOR; and
  A. WEBLEY, at the BIBLE and CROWN near
  CHANCERY LANE, HOLBORN, 1760.




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TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE

Richard Lord Edgcumbe,

Controller of his MAJESTY’S Household.


My LORD,

I Should be afraid to offer you the following Treatise if I could
not flatter myself with the hope that its intrinsic Merit, and the
Intention it was writ in, would in your noble and generous Mind
counterbalance the Defects and Improprieties of Language, of which, as
almost unavoidable to a Foreigner, it must of course be guilty of.

The subject I present you with is known to you long ago; you saw the
first Essays and Experiments in Encaustic; You was pleased to approve
of them, and to express some Satisfaction at the least Picture
executed in this manner. With what greater Advantage could I usher
this new Invention into the World, than dedicating it to You; to make
it known that the GREATEST PATRON of Arts, and the best Judge of the
Merits of Painting approved of it?--Count CAYLUS invented it; under the
Sanction of your Lordship’s Name I offer it to the Public, and with a
grateful Sense for all the Favours and Kindness You have at all Times
shewn towards me.

  I am, my Lord,

    your Lordship’s

      most obedient

        and most obliged

          humble Servant,

                J. H. MÜNTZ.




ENCAUSTIC:

OR,

METHOD of PAINTING

In the Manner of the ANCIENTS.


A relation of my proceedings, to reduce this singular invention into
a regular system agreeable to reason, and practical in itself, would
be tedious and superfluous: To enter upon the process without giving
the reader some little account of the matter, would be improper. As
something is required to introduce the reader, and as the books
I must refer to are not in every body’s possession, I shall in
_lieu of introduction_, insert the whole as laid before the Royal
Society,--which is as follows.


EXTRACT of a LETTER[1]

From the Abbé MAZEAS, F. R. S.

_Concerning an ancient Method of Painting. Revived by Count_ CAYLUS.

    Count CAYLUS, a member of the Academy of Inscriptions,
    had undertaken to explain an obscure passage in PLINY the
    naturalist. This author (whom I have not now before me) says in
    some place of his works, that “the ancients painted with burnt
    wax”[2] and we have it from tradition, that pictures of this
    kind were very durable.

    This was the passage, the count undertook to clear up, in
    trying all the different ways that are possible to paint in
    wax; and after many experiments, he hit upon a very simple
    method, of which he made a secret, in order to excite the
    curiosity of the public.

    The several artists who were desirous of knowing by what means
    the count came to make this discovery, made several attempts
    themselves; but in a great number of trials, only two are worth
    mentioning.

    The first was to melt wax and oil of turpentine together, and
    use it for mixing the colours. But this method does not at
    all explain PLINY’S meaning; because wax is not burnt in this
    way of managing it: and besides, this method has two defects;
    the oil of turpentine dries too fast, and does not allow the
    painter sufficient time to blend and unite his colours.

    The second method is very ingenious, and seems to come up
    to PLINY’S notion very well; it is as follows; the wax is
    melted with strong lixivium of salt of tartar, and with this
    the colours are ground. When the picture is finished, it
    is gradually put to the fire, which increases the heat by
    degrees; the wax melts, swells, and is bloated up upon the
    picture; then the picture is removed gradually from the fire,
    and the colours do not at all appear to have been disordered;
    the colours then become unalterable by the action of the fire,
    and even spirit of wine has been burnt upon them without doing
    them the least harm.

    However, the following is the Count de CAYLUS’S method, which
    is much more simple; according to which the head of Minerva was
    painted, which was so much admired by all the connoisseurs.

    _First._ The cloth or wood designed for the picture is waxed
    over, by only rubbing it simply with a piece of bees-wax.

    _Secondly._ The colours are mixed up with common water; but as
    these colours will not adhere to the wax, the whole picture is
    to be first rubbed over with Spanish chalk, or whitening, and
    then the colours are used.

    _Thirdly._ When the picture is dry, it is put near the fire,
    whereby the wax melts, and absorbs all the colours.

    It must be allowed, that nothing can be more simple than this
    method; and it is thought, that this kind of painting is
    capable of withstanding the injuries of the weather, and last
    longer than painting in oil; which I will not answer for.

    The effect produced by these colours upon wax is very singular;
    nor can one have any notion of it without seeing it. The
    colours have not that natural varnish or shining, that they
    acquire with oil; but you are capable of seeing the picture in
    any light, or in whatsoever situation you place it; in short
    there can be no false glare or light upon the picture for the
    spectators: the colours are secured, are firm, and will bear
    washing; and have a property, which I look upon as the most
    important of any, which is, that they have smoaked this picture
    in places subject to foul vapours, and to smoke in chimnies;
    and then by being exposed to the dew, it became as clean as if
    it had been but just painted.

These are all the contents of the letter, laid before the Royal
Society by a member of that learned body, who accompanied it with a
series of very acute and learned observations, which, with an extensive
knowledge, shew an inclination to prove that the count’s method could
not be the encaustic of the ancients, and that _encausto pingendi_
could be nothing else but enameling.----

       *       *       *       *       *

It is neither my business nor intention to enter into discussions; it
would be too difficult a task to prove that the count’s invention comes
up to PLINY’S meaning; no certain evidence can be brought neither for
nor against it. Any discovery that tends towards improvement of arts
and sciences is valuable; that the count’s invention is of this kind,
will appear to every unprejudiced mind.

Therefore it matters not if the ancients did so or not.

But, to give my opinion only----the numberless experiments I made to
bring the new encaustic into a regular system--the repeated trials to
explain PLINY’S meaning any other way that would answer the general
ends of painting, &c. induce me to believe that _encausto pingendi_
of the ancients could not be enameling, but must have been some
manner of painting very near of kin to that which is the subject of
this treatise. Besides the clear and expressive words of our ancient
author--_Ceris pingere ac picturam inurere_--and where he speaks of
their ship painting--_resolutis igni ceris penicilio utendi_--carry a
silent proof with them, that the Latin verb _urere_ ought not to be
understood in so fierce a degree as enameling requires.[3]

In both the above cited passages _cera_ is in the plural number; and
for this very reason I believe it can mean nothing else but bees-wax
simple, or compounded with other ingredients capable to sympathise
therewith.

It would be ridiculous to suppose the Latin tongue so defective in
PLINY’S time, as not to afford two distinct names for two things so
opposite as enameling and ship painting are.

I cannot conceive what good enamel would or could do to their ships,
without undergoing the operation of the fire after being painted. Nor
can I form any idea of a Roman enameled first-rate man of war.

The most probable reason, for PLINY’S not giving a better account of
particulars may be, that he knowing nothing at all of the matter, used
the term of art then in vogue; or was imposed upon by artists who did
not chuse to part with the secret of their art.

Instances of this kind we have every day.----Arts and trades abound
with jargon and mystical names, which, if taken or explained literally,
would often prove but little analogous to their subject. Writers that
pay no regard to that, and without farther scrutiny speak and relate
what they are told, must of course be unintelligible. Hence it comes
that most of our dictionaries on arts and sciences, and the greatest
number of books on painting, are so perplexing; and in many a point
rival PLINY in obscurity.

To write upon a subject and unfold its mystery, one ought to be
practically acquainted with it; a superficial drawing is not enough; to
teach others how to go to work, the section is wanted.

If all books upon arts and sciences, manufactures and mechanics, had
been or could be written by the respective professors thereof, things
would appear in another light; we should, perhaps, not have the finest
language in those performances; but we do not want that, plain truth
and common sense is all that is required; if a guide leads us the right
way, we need not mind his dress.

I shall make no apology for this performance of mine: if the contents
do not speak for themselves, my abilities as a writer would but weakly
support them, only as new inventions are frequently condemned for no
other reason but because they are new; it becomes me to acquaint the
public, that I should never have gone so far as to publish this system,
if I had not been convinced of its merit by experience and practice; I
made many and various experiments (as will be mentioned in the sequel)
to ascertain its stability; and having painted several pictures of
different sizes, I can answer for its practicability. In short, it
is a manner of painting susceptible of all the boldness, freedom and
delicacy of any other whatsoever; you may leave off and cherish your
work at pleasure, you cannot fatigue your colours, you are not subject
to that inconvenience attending oil painting, viz. of setting one’s
picture by to dry, &c.

You will have all the effects and sweetness of painting in oil, and
the colours will not be liable to fade and change; no damp can affect
it, no corrosive will hurt it; nor can the colours crack and fall in
shivers from off the canvas.

Let no-body think me too positive, or intoxicated with my own notions,
before they have gone through the whole treatise, and made a few
experiments. I advance facts, and not conjectures only.

It is not my intention to quarrel or depreciate oil painting, nor
will I attempt to deny its true merit; therefore hope it will not
be considered as a crime to propose a method that will equal its
perfections, and surpass it for duration and stability of colours. I
tell artists what I know, they may do what they judge proper. Though
I bestow encomiums upon my subject it is not with a design to impose;
I am not self-conceited, or foolish enough to think or believe that
Rynolds or Ransey, Scott or Lambert, &c. &c. will take up at once and
prefer my new system to that they practised for many years with success
and applause--they, and every body else, may try; a trifling expence,
and a few idle hours will afford experiments by which they will know
if what I advance will really be an advantage to their works and
themselves. And how far it will answer, either whole or in part, the
general ends of painting, one single sketch will be enough to judge by;
in arts, one experience is worth a thousand conjectures.

In the prosecution of my system, oil-colours came always in for a part
of the experiment, in opposition to those fixed with wax, in order to
judge better and with more precision of their variation. By this it
happened that I often painted oil-colours over a waxed ground; which
colours always appeared brighter and cleaner than the very same painted
over an oil-cloth; at least I fancied that dead colouring in water
colours and finishing in oil, was an experiment worth trying. For this
purpose (as portrait painting is not my province) I pitched upon a head
of Sir Godfrey Kneller, a gentleman and friend had sent me to copy
small in oil; accordingly I dead coloured it in water colours and fixed
them with wax, and afterwards finished it in oil-colours, not only to
my satisfaction and surprize, but every body’s else that saw it; the
brightness and transparency of its colours is not to be conceived. I
copied the same head again in oil-colours only, and with all imaginable
care and attention, but the colouring of the latter looked dull in
opposition to the other[4]; to give reasons for this incident is more
than I can do; I shall give a few conjectures, and conjectures only,
upon it, under the article of experiments.

If I should not gain the approbation and good will of the oil painting
faculty, for a few hints: I am sure those artists who profess painting
in crayons will be beholden to me for what I shall communicate to
them--a method to fix crayons or pastelle.

Every body knows the beauties and pleasing effects of those paintings
and their perishable qualities so well, that to enlarge upon is
needless to bestow great encomiums upon my secret, which is so closely
connected with encaustic for the pencil, and whose merit has already
been mentioned, would be superfluous; the process and experiments I
am now going to unfold will be of more weight than all my reasonings
previous thereto.

To make the whole familiar and easy to all capacities, I thought it
convenient to lay down the whole penciling system under five different
articles or periods, according as they succeed each other in the
execution; and to keep the thread of the proceeding uninterrupted, I
shall make a few observations upon every article in particular, and
there give and explain the different methods that may be practised for
the same end, together with my reason, and why I deviated in some parts
from Count CAYLUS’S system.

The operations for painting with crayons will be treated and explained
separately, and upon the same plan. Lastly, the experiments will come
in to illustrate both, and verify what I advance.




ART. I.

_Preparation of the cloth for painting in Encaustic._


Take any sort of clean linen cloth whose texture is pretty close,
soft and even, stretch it upon a straining frame, as you would do an
oil cloth, lay it upon a smooth table, the side your are to paint on
downwards, then with a piece of common bees- or virgin-wax rub it over
and over, till you perceive a good quantity of the wax adhere to the
cloth, in equal proportion over the whole.[5]

Your cloth thus waxed is ready to paint upon if it be fine; if it is
coarse, turn it, and with a pumice stone gently rub over the side which
is to receive the colours, to take off all the knots and unevenness
that might obstruct the free flowing of your pencil.

If you want to paint a picture of any determined size, provide a
straining frame, whose inner circumference is equal to the height and
width required; that is to say, you must have two frames, the one to
work and finish your picture upon, the other whereon the picture is
to go and remain when finished. The first must be of such height and
width, as to contain between its inner edges cloth enough to cover the
second. No part of the cloth you paint over ought to touch the wood of
the frame, if it did the wood would imbibe part of the wax, when the
picture is brought near the fire, and leave those parts imperfect.




ART. II.

_Of the colours and their preparation._


All colours used in oil painting are fit for this manner, and no
others. There are a few that ought to be omitted; for reason see the
list of colours.

Grind all your colours very fine with simple water, allot to every
particular colour a distinct vessel, such as gallipots, pans, &c. From
your colours so ground, compose all the different principal tints, as
the nature of your intended work shall require.

But, as most of the colours acquire a deeper hue when moistened, and
some deeper still when fixed with wax, it will be necessary, to prevent
perplexity in the execution, to have a guide for retouching, either
when the picture is finished and dry, before the operation of the fire,
or after it is fixed; for this purpose you may, before you go to work,
use the following expedient.

Take two slips of cloth about a foot long, and three or four inches
wide, wax them as before mentioned, then upon the one slip paint
of every one of your entire colours[6] about an inch high over the
whole width of the cloth, and with your tints already composed do
the same upon the other piece of cloth, according to their order and
degradation;[7] mark every tint with a number, such as 1, 2, 3, &c.
write down upon a paper every number, and what it is composed of. This
done and your colours so applied dry, cut your cloth across all the
tints from top to bottom in two equal parts; bring one half of each
near the fire, and by melting the wax fix them, the other two halves
you keep as they are unfixed.

By rejoining and comparing them together, you may judge what strength
every tint will acquire, and by their reciprocal references you will
be enabled to alter or imitate, deepen or heighten with certainty, any
tint, either before or after the colours are fixed.

In painting be not sparing; the greater body of colours you employ,
the better and brighter your work will appear; you may give greater
freedom to your pencil, blend and sweeten your colours better than in
any other way of painting.




ART. III.

_How to paint over or alter any part before the picture has been near
the fire._


If the parts of the picture you want to retouch are large and the
colouring dry, take a large soft hair pencil, and with water gently
moisten those places, or the whole picture if you please, and repaint
till your eye is satisfied. You might paint over, or alter any part
without moistening, but on a first trial you would not so well see
what you are about. While the picture is wet it appears very near
what it will be when fixed; when it is dry it looks like a weak dead
colouring in oil. You will see enough to judge of the general effect,
but none of the tenderer half tints will appear discernable enough to
judge of them with precision. In large pictures where the cloth will be
required stronger, a picture is kept wet with great ease and security,
by moistening it on the back with a large brush as often as there is
occasion, for the water will soon soak through the texture and take
hold of the colours; there is no danger of disturbing them on the other
side with the action of the brush, by reason of the substance of the
cloth.




ART. IV.

_To fix the colours by melting the wax._


When your picture is finished and dry, have a good clear fire of
sea-coals,[8] approach your picture with the painted side towards it,
at about two feet distance, let it grow warm by gentle degrees, always
approaching nearer, till within a foot distance from the grate, but
never closer, holding your picture perpendicularly or a little inclined
as you shall find necessary. If the picture is large do one half first,
then the other; there is not the least difficulty for any size.

When you perceive by the hue and shining of the painted surface that
all is perfectly absorbed; then remove it gradually from the fire as
you advanced it, and your picture will be done.

If you see any place defective for want of a sufficient quantity of
wax,[9] put a little finely scraped wax on the back of that place, then
bring only a red hot poker, or some such thing towards it, the wax will
immediately settle in its place. If there are many parts so defective,
put scrapings of wax there, and bring the whole picture before the fire
as above mentioned. There is no danger in bringing the picture to
the fire as often as required, provided you never give it too great
a degree of heat; if you do, the wax will raise in bubbles upon the
surface, and your picture will look rough and uneven.

Advance your picture never too hasty, nor retire it too quickly; if
you do the former, the sudden action of the fire might disturb some of
the colours; if the latter, the wax will not retire enough within the
texture of the cloth, consequently lye too much above the colours and
look glaring. If you perceive any such glaring spots or places upon
your picture, or (in other words) parts that appear varnished like,
and that appearance should proceed from too great a quantity of wax,
paint those places over on the back with whitening, or any one of your
other colours, and when dry bring the picture near the fire, as above
mentioned, and those colours or whitening will imbibe the overplus of
the wax. Repeat that if required.




ART. V.

_How to retouch or paint over any part after the colours are fixed._


Put upon your pallette such of your tints as will be fit for the place or
parts you want to alter or paint over, temper and employ them with a
little spirit of wine;[10] repaint, and bring the picture to the fire
as often as required, and those retouched parts will become fixed like
any other part of the picture.


_Observations on article the first._

As linen cloth is the material most commonly and preferably used, as
the fittest and most convenient to paint upon, I chose to give under
Article the first, directions for that purpose only; for though the
wax and colours may be applied to cloth and other materials in several
different manners, I, not to bewilder the beginners in multiplicities
on a first setting out, gave and recommend that, which besides its
being the likeliest to be most practised, is the best for solidity,
and will prove to every practitioner the easiest, most agreeable,
expeditious and convenient for execution.

But not to deprive the artists and curious of the several means and
methods that may be practised for and towards the same end, I shall
here give some of the principal ones, as well for painting upon canvas
as upon wood, plaister, &c. but first of all I shall consider and treat
Count CAYLUS’S system a little more at large, and shew why I have
deviated from it in this particular, and leave the artist at liberty
to adopt and practise which suits him best.

The Count’s method for preparing the cloth consists, in stretching it
upon a frame, and holding it horizontally over, or perpendicularly
before a fire (at a distance convenient and proportionable to the
degree of heat it casts) and rubbing it with a piece of wax; which,
melting gradually as it is rubbed on, diffuses itself, penetrates
the body, and fills the interstices of the texture of the cloth,
which when cool, is fit to paint upon; but, as water colours will not
adhere regularly flowing and connectedly to the wax, He, to remedy
this inconveniency, makes use of an intermediate body, viz. chalk or
whitening, with which he rubs over that surface of the waxed canvas he
intends to paint upon, and then the colours will easily flow over and
adhere to it.

Now, though this way of proceeding is very simple and successfully
practicable for small subjects;--for instance,--such as the head
of Diana, mentioned in the Abbé’s letter, or any other that may be
finished in a couple of hours, and while the colours upon the canvas
retain moisture; yet, to execute pictures of a larger size and
composition, which will require many a day’s labour and application,
and whereof no part can be finished positively at the first onset, this
manner of managing it will not answer so well, as that given under Art.
the first, for the following reasons.

_First._ In painting upon the wax by virtue of the whitening, you
will not have that conveniency of retouching or altering of any part,
and before the colours are fixed, so well, as painting upon the raw
and bare canvas will afford you; because the texture and fibres of
the cloth being thoroughly invaded by the wax, there remains nothing
for water colours to fix or adhere to, capable to retain them; those
colours once dry, the slightest touch of a moist pencil will, as it
were, attract them, and frequently make and leave a bare spot; so
that in attempting to retouch, instead of adding fresh colours, you
will fetch off the old ones: for though the rough edged particles of
the chalk facilitate to the first colours an adhesion upon the smooth
body wax yet, water the vehicle of the colours, being the menstruum of
chalk, by discomposing it destroys part of its power and virtue, and
renders it incapable to perform the first service a second time.

_Secondly._ Upon canvas fully imbibed with wax, you can neither use so
great a body of colours, nor employ them with such freedom, boldness,
or delicacy as you may upon cloth, whose texture is not pre-occupied
with wax--the reason is obvious--the one has its pores and interstices
filled up with wax; the other’s you must fill up with colours. Cloth,
a firm spungy body or substance, in sucking in the water attracts the
colours along with it into its pores, and thereby facilitates the
firm and delicate strokes; and the colours mixing and adhering to its
numberless fibres, will not come off on retouching, before the picture
is fixed; you may cherish or leave your work at pleasure without
detriment or inconveniency arising from that. Advantages that cloth
pre-occupied with wax is incapable of.

_Thirdly and lastly._ By painting on canvas prepared according to
the directions of Art. the first, your works will be more solid and
lasting, because the colours will not simply lay upon the surface of
the wax, but cloth, wax and colours will make but one individual
body.--Thus much on my deviation from Count CAYLUS’S system, in regard
to the preparation of the cloth.

For painting upon walls or plaister where the wax cannot be applied on
the back, the Count’s system must be practised; it will succeed well;
the rough and gritty grain of the plaister will take and retain a
sufficient quantity of colours to insure solidity; the only difference
between painting upon cloth and plaister consists in this; painting
upon canvas you can finish your picture entirely before you fix it;
in painting upon plaister, you must proceed as you do in painting with
oil-colours, viz. first, dead colour your subject and fix it, and then
paint it over again and finish it, either by virtue of the chalk, or
by tempering and employing the colours with some spirit, or oil of
turpentine. You may too paint and retouch with crayons.

Upon wood, stone, and metals,--you must proceed as you do upon
plaister; but as there is no grain you must procure an artificial one,
after your board is waxed, by laying on a ground of any colour mixed
with half chalk and fix it[11]; upon this you may paint with water
colours or crayons, as sweetly as upon canvas.

To paint upon paper;--you must have a smooth board, or copper-plate of
a convenient size, and well waxed; upon this you fasten your paper by
the corners and paint upon; the colours dry, present it to the fire,
and the wax underneath the paper melting, will soak and penetrate
through and fix the colours; this method may be successfully practised
with cloth.

There are two more methods remaining to be practised on cloth and
paper; but as they make part of the system for painting with crayons,
and will be described under that head, I omit to mention them here.


_Observations on Article the second._

In grinding the colours upon the stone, and managing them upon the
pallette, care should be taken not to use an iron knife, the steel
or iron that grinds off, in mixing with the colours spoils their
brightness and vivacity; flake-white and white-lead, yellow-oker,
lacque and light-red, suffer greatly by it, it gives them a dull and
dirty cast; Naples-yellow suffers most of all from it; its vivacity
is entirely destroyed by the iron’s touching it. Horn, ivory, or
tortoise shell knives, or wooden spatulas are fitter for all manner of
painting; they will affect no colours; iron knives have destroyed many
a tender complexion in oil-colours; for, the oil once dry, the iron
ground off from the knife and mixed in the colours will be converted
into rust by the moisture of the air.--Tho’ this little hint is foreign
to our present subject, it will perhaps not be unacceptable to my
brethren.--It is an essential point in an architect to be acquainted
with the qualities and properties of the materials he builds with, if
his plan and stile, dispositions, proportions, &c. be ever so good,
noble, grand and graceful, yet if his fabric falls down as soon as
built, we are but little beholden to his skill.--Vandyke, I believe,
never used an iron knife, if he had he would not have painted a spatula
of horn in one of his pictures, wherein all the utensils of a painter
accompany his own figure.--

       *       *       *       *       *

The expedient recommended under Art. the second, for establishing a
standard for all the differing principal tints that may be required for
any subject, will be of use to them who are not much acquainted with
painting in water colours; and to ladies and gentlemen, who painting
only now and then for their amusement, cannot have so thorough a
knowledge of the value of each colour, and might therefore be at a loss
how to retouch, after the colours are fixed.

To make the directions given for that purpose more intelligible, and
to point out the use of such a standard--let us suppose--the annexed
copper plate figure A. B. C. D. to be a piece of cloth, about a foot
long and three or four inches wide, waxed on the back, as directed
under Art. the first, and the divisions a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. &c. be
the tints painted, according to their order and degradation, across
the whole width of the cloth A. B. these tints dry, cut the piece of
cloth across all the tints from top E. to bottom F. in two equal parts,
bring the one half A C near the fire, and by melting the wax fix it,
the other half B D you keep as it is unfixed.

Now, the half A C being fixed, will shew you at one glance what
strength every tint will acquire; and if you moisten again the other
half B D, or paint the same tints upon a fresh piece of cloth, you will
see which are the colours that grow deeper still, fixed with wax than
they appear when only moistened with water, and the references 1 2 3 4
5 &c. telling you what each tint is composed of, you will be enabled to
amend any one that might be amiss. Farther, when your picture will be
fixed and it should want retouching, and you should be at a loss for
hitting of the tint or hue required for that purpose,--bring only the
fixed half A C upon the picture and compare them, and you will easily
find what you want; again, if you want to renew any tint that is spent,
find that tint upon the picture, with the fixed half A C, when found
compare it to, and moisten its fellow upon the unfixed half B D, and
that will give you again the original hue, and the references 1 2 3 4
&c. will tell you what that tint is principally composed of.

[Illustration]

Tho’ professed artists (whose long experience enables them to judge
of the value of each colour) will not have absolute occasion for the
comparative use of such a standard, yet they will not do amiss to make
an essay of their tints before they employ them.


_Observations on Article the third._

The being able to work and retouch at pleasure, and at any time,
without fatiguing the colours, or any other detriment arising from it,
is an advantage peculiar to encaustic only; for, the new colours will
unite with the old ones without making spots, as is the case in common
size-painting; nor will there be that inconveniency of rubbing the
places to be retouched over with oil, as is the case with oil pictures;
the only seeming difficulty to a beginner, will consist in the colours
growing paler and weaker in drying, but as a picture is easily kept
wet, by moistening it now and then as above directed, the difficulty
vanishes. Pictures of any size may easily be kept wet for several days,
by applying a double wet cloth on the back; but a little practice will
render that precaution unnecessary.

Every body in the least acquainted with colours, knows that water
colours, tempered or employed either with gum or size, grow paler and
lighter in drying, and that they acquire their true tone only when
dry;--in encaustic they grow paler and lighter too in drying, but
they recede from and lose their true tone.--Encaustic is the reverse
of size-painting as to effect, while you are at work and the colours
wet;--of the latter you cannot judge positively until the colours are
dry; of the former you can only judge while the colours are wet, or
which is the same, when fixed with the wax.


_Observations on Article the fourth._

The most essential point in encaustic--the fixing of the colours--is
the simplest and easiest for paintings of any size, moveable or
immoveable. A surface of forty feet may be fixed as conveniently as
a picture of twelve inches; for if the painting be too large to be
brought near the fire, or immoveable on a wall, bring that agent to the
painting;----a square copper or iron chest, or box, such as commonly
used for warming or airing of beds, with a red hot iron or lighted
charcoal in it, will do the business admirably well, by passing it in
a direction parallel to and before the painted surface, at a distance
proportionable to the degree of heat it casts,--a _brasier ambulant_,
with a cover to prevent the ashes from flying about, with charcoal
well lighted, will answer the end too, by inclining the picture over
it,--an instrument of iron like a baker’s shovel, with a long handle
and made red hot, will perform the same service, if waved in a parallel
direction before the painted surface; and by heating it again, when
grown cool, with such an instrument one may fix paintings of the
largest size; it matters not if the whole be fixed at once, or in parts
at different times.

The directions for rectifying of any defects arising from too small a
quantity of wax, are so clear, simple and sufficient, that they want
but little explanation or addition; only, you may instead of wax simple
use wax dissolved in such a quantity of oil of turpentine, as to make
it when cool, fluent enough to be employed with a brush on the back of
the picture, which, when brought to the fire, the wax will settle with
the colours, and the turpentine will fly off.

My saying under the above article that the sudden action of the fire
might disturb some of the colours, must not be understood in regard
to the wax, but in regard to the nature of the colours, which, if the
picture be brought too near the fire at once, will be scorched before
the wax can melt and penetrate the texture to screen and secure them.


_Observations on Art. the fifth and last._

The facility and conveniency for retouching a picture after the colours
are fixed, without the new colours differing from the hue of the old
ones, is an advantage no other manner of painting is possessed of.

In oil painting you cannot do it so well except you paint over large
parts, because the colours in drying acquire a yellower hue, than they
have while fresh; there will always be a difference between the very
same tints; besides, oil pictures are frequently greasy-like and refuse
the new colours, so that you are obliged to rub those parts with oil,
to make the new colours adhere to and flow over the old ones, which
rubbing with oil very often makes a dull and yellow spot when the
colours are dry; in size-painting it is worse, retouchings there in
general appear hard, and in large masses of a uniform colour,--such
as sky’s--produce spots.----Encaustic is free from all that; you may
glaze with a body of colours as thin and as transparent as you please,
without your colours changing of tone. By retouching with crayons upon
the fixed colours, the sweetest effects may be produced in landscapes
and figures; nay, for retouching only here and there, I should prefer
crayons. For instance--to finish a head,--and give the decisive
strokes about the eye, mouth, hair, and sharp folds of linen, &c. in
landscapes--for the extremities of trees, &c. the smart touch of a
crayon will be preferable to the pencil.

When your picture is entirely finished, and you should want to give
the canvas more solidity, you may paint it over on the back with any
colour or tint, and bring it again and for the last time to the fire,
to fix that colour; if you apprehend there is not wax enough, apply a
little dissolved in spirit of turpentine, as mentioned in the foregoing
observations on Art. iv. this fixed take your picture off from the
frame, and stretch it upon that whereon it is to remain.

Having now done with the process for painting in encaustic with the
pencil, which notwithstanding its simplicity might appear to some
beginners intricate, because I pointed out all the difficulties that
possibly may occur in the execution,--to comfort and encourage those
that might think the task hard, I shall recapitulate, and reduce the
whole within this compass.--_Stretch a piece of cloth upon a frame, rub
the back of that cloth with wax, paint your subject on the other side,
with colours prepared and tempered with water, and when dry bring the
picture near the fire, and by melting the wax fix the colours._

N. B. I might have said much more, and dwelt longer on several
particulars; but as the only aim of this treatise is to communicate the
discovery to artists, and others already acquainted with the management
of colours, and not to form pupils from beginning, I omitted saying any
thing of composing the tints and disposing the colours on the pallette,
&c. Every artist may go on in his accustomed method; the use of all the
colours is in encaustic as in oil, as may be seen by the following list.

The direction for painting with crayons will illustrate some passages
of the foregoing process, and what other advantages encaustic painting
will have over oil and size-painting will be shewn by conclusions drawn
from the experiments.

  _The end of the first part._




LIST of the COLOURS

To be USED for

Painting in Encaustic;

AS ALSO FOR THE

COMPOSING of the CRAYONS.


WHITE.

_Flake-white, and white-lead, or ceruss._

For painting in encaustic, I mix always both together half and half;
flake-white alone is subject to raise too much little bubbles in
employing it with water, which the admixture of the other prevents;
besides, both together make a better and more solid body; tho’
flake-white is the whitest of the two, to use either alone I should
prefer the second. The Venetian or Dalmatian white-lead is by far
the best for all manner of painting; being prepared with a purer and
subtler acid it is whiter and purer than any other whatsoever, and
preferable to flake-white; next to it is the German or Dutch; French
or English ceruss are in general but indifferent, in experiments I
frequently found the latter to have one third of marle or chalk in its
composition; which is the cause of its growing so soon yellow, dull
and dirty in oil.

In composing of the crayons it will be well to observe the above
mentioned proportion of half and half, as by the doing so, much pipe
clay will not be required to bind them.


YELLOWS.

  Naples-yellow,
  Light-oker,
  Brown-oker,
  Yellow-orpiment, or,
  King’s-yellow,
  Red-orpiment,

are all perfectly good and necessary for our purpose.

Naples-yellow is the only colour that ought to be used in composing
the tenderer flesh tints of women; it proves a very tender, bright
and beautiful lasting colour for all manner of painting, if properly
prepared and managed, if not, a dirty, weak and treacherous one, and
particularly in oil. It is a mineral compound of lead, antimony,
sulphur, and some arsenic, which latter is the cause of its changing,
and hurting other colours, and particularly the white, so much
complained of by the painters.

Though this yellow fixed with wax will not change; yet it will not be
amiss to insert a method to clean, and purify it, so as to render it
beautiful and lasting for oil and other uses. To clean it do as follows.

Take crude Naples-yellow, (the heaviest for bulk is the best) and break
it into small pieces with the mallet upon the grinding stone, put it
in a clean earthen vessel, and pour over it a quantity of new milk,
sufficient to cover it three or four inches over, stirring it well for
some time with a wooden spatula or stick; then let all together stand
undisturbed for five or six days, and the milk will become thick and
sour, and master by its acidity the noxious saline principles of the
colour; having stood the abovementioned time, take off the creamy part
from the top of the milk, and pour warm water upon it, and let the
vessel overflow till you perceive the water to come off as clear as
when poured on, and the colour will be purified and fit for use.

Light-oker, a precipitated, feruginous earth, answers in encaustic all
the purposes it does in oil.

Brown-oker, a precipitated feruginous earth too, only it partakes a
little of a vitrioline principle, which the light-oker does not. In
encaustic this colour answers all the purposes it does in oil.

Yellow orpiment, or king’s-yellow. The principal constituent particles
of this colour are, sulphur and arsenic, which latter prevails and
makes great havock among the other colours when used in oil; it cannot
play the same tricks fixed with wax; wax being a closer and unvariable
body, confines its arsenical principle. Oil once dry ceases to be oil,
and can confine them no longer.

Red-orpiment, so called to distinguish it from the other, is properly
not red, but of a rich orange colour, and is a compound of arsenic and
sulphur too; but here sulphur prevails, which is the reason of its
standing its ground better and doing less harm in oil than the other.

In encaustic it is of universal use, throughout a whole picture to give
warmth to lights and shades; in landscapes it may be used from the
horizon down to the fore ground, to good purpose; for shades in flesh
it is admirable, it gives a clear, soft and transparent strength; in
the verdure of landscapes it answers all the ends for brown-pink, when
mixed with a little bone black.

This colour is very conspicuous in all the warmer landscapes of Claude
Lorraine; Mr. Vernet a famous French painter uses it very much.


PINKS.

_Light-pink, and brown-pink._

These two colours ought rather not be used, as they both proceed
from the same vegetable principle, viz. the juice or extract got by
decoction from French berries by the help of acid salts; consequently
incapable to sympathise with or admit wax into their pores[12]; the
wax can take hold of them only superficially, which makes them appear
dry and gritty upon the picture, and will easily come off by rubbing
them with one’s finger. Those artists who cannot do without them,
will do well to grind them, the light-pink with a little light-oker,
and brown-pink with a little brown-oker, and they will keep a little
better; but red-orpiment and a little bone black, making as fine a pink
as that properly so called, it will be best to use the latter.


REDS.

  Lake,
  Vermilion, or
  Cinnabar,
  Minium, or
  Red-lead,
  Light-red, or
  Light-oker calcined
  Brown-red, or
  Brown-oker calcined
  Indian-red,

are all properly qualified for encaustic.

Care must be taken to have the lake good; that which is commonly sold
under the name of Florence lacque, and recommended as the best, is in
general the worst; it is usually in small hard grains, which hardness
is owing to gum arabic, or what is worse, to that glutinous substance
which oozes out from the cherry tree, put in by the fabricant (of the
lake) to bind and keep the grains together, and make it appear better
merchandise than it really is; such lake will scale off from the
canvas; the gum it is impregnated with hinders the wax from penetrating
its pores--every body knows that lacque is made of cochineal; there
is a bastard lake made of Brazil wood, but that is easily known by its
dullness. The best lake for our purpose is that which is of a fine,
clear, deep hue, easily to be broken and crumbled between the fingers.
The finest and best lacque I ever saw and used, is made here in England
by an ingenious artist in the seal engraving way.

Vermilion, or cinnabar, answers in encaustic all the purposes it does
in oil.

Minium, will be of infinite service for painting with the pencil and
crayons; it will not change fixed with wax, as it does in oil; it
may be used to advantage in some carnations or flesh tints; and in
landscapes to enliven the oker, for great lights.

Light-red, or light-oker calcined, is of the same universal use in this
manner of painting as it is in oil, or common water colours.

Brown-red, or brown-oker calcined, may be employed for the same use as
in oil, or distemper painting.

Indian-red, the French call this colour, _Terre d’Angleterre_, English
earth; this colour is particularly useful for distances, it makes the
degradation of objects light and airy.


TERRA DI SIENA, and TERRA VERTE,

Terra di Siena, a yellow hard and clayish substance, so called from the
city of Siena in Italy, from whence it comes.

This colour is very unfit to be used crude, either for painting in
encaustic or crayons, its pores are too close for the wax to penetrate;
or to say better, this colour or earth is very much impregnated with a
nitrous principle, with which wax cannot sympathise, and for this very
reason it is as unfit to be used crude in oil. Those painters that use
it freely have always but too much reason to repent. But,

Terra di Siena calcined, is a very beautiful and useful colour for
all manner of painting, and particularly encaustic. The fire having
dispelled in some measure the nitrous principle, the wax may freely
enter its pores. This colour gives a great, soft, and glowing strength
in flesh, drapery and landscape; some painters call this colour Roman
oker.

Terra verte; this colour too comes to us from Italy, and some from
Germany, they are both alike, and ought to be entirely banished the
pallette, as it grows so soon dirty and black when employed with oil.
Terra verte differs from terra di Siena in little else but colour,
it has a little vitriol. The too free use some of the older Italian
painters made of this colour in flesh tints, is the cause that numbers
of pictures of those masters are so black as we see them at this time.


BLUES.

  Ultramarine,
  Prussian blue,
  Smalt.

Ultramarine is perfectly good, and every body that likes to use it may
do so.

Prussian blue, equals ultramarine in encaustic, for all intents and
purposes; there is no other blue required for crayons neither.

Smalt may be used, but I think it rather too gritty; its particles are
too transparent for parts where a solid mass of colour is required.
For crayons it does very well mixed with Prussian blue to bind it, both
together make a beautiful colour, the grittiness of smalt will there be
of advantage. This colour will not grow black fixed with wax as it does
in oil.


BLACKS.

  Ivory Black,
  Bone Black,
  Blue Black,

have all the necessary qualifications to be employed.

Ivory black may be employed for all the uses made of it in oil.

Blue black is particularly necessary for landscapes; the blue black
generally sold at the colour shops is commonly made of wine stalks; but
blue black made of peach, apricot, or plum-stones calcined, is by far
the best; it is not so loose and spungy as the former, its colour too
is finer.

Bone black is the most valuable of the black tribe for sweetness, and
a transparent warmth for landscapes and figures; bone black and white
alone will make softer and more natural turning tints than any other
colours can produce; the Flemish painters use it very much for glazing.

This black mixed with a little terra di Siena calcined, makes the
strongest and sweetest shades that can be obtained with colours.

The best is made of the bones of mutton trotters calcined.


COLLENS EARTH.

A dark blackish brown and somewhat bituminous earth, inclining a little
towards purple, is a very good colour, and of singular use where
extraordinary strength is required in fore grounds.


UMBRA, Crude and calcined.

A useful colour enough for common purposes; some painters use it for
shades in flesh, but very improperly, for it is a very raw colour crude
or calcined, and only fit to be used in drapery or back grounds.

These are all the colours that ought to be used for painting in
encaustic, with the pencil; there are a few more that might be employed
in this manner, but as they are rather inferior in quality, or only
compounds of those already mentioned, I omit them; a few, not commonly
used in oil painting that notwithstanding might be used in encaustic, I
shall mention under the article of crayons, as they belong more to, and
are more useful in that way.




ENCAUSTIC;

OR,

_Method of painting with and fixing of the_ CRAYONS.


The method of painting with and fixing of the crayons comes not only
within the sense of encaustic, but is the very self-same thing. The
whole proceeding is founded upon the foregoing principle; the same
materials and agent are required.--The only difference between painting
in encaustic with the pencil, and painting in encaustic with crayons,
consists in employing the colours; in the former--you paint with
colours tempered with water; in the latter--you employ, and paint with
the same colours dry; the effect and solidity will be equal and the
same in both.--

       *       *       *       *       *

The encomiums I bestowed upon the penciling system, are applicable
to that of the crayons; I shall say nothing more; experience will
be the best panegyrist. I am afraid crayons, as seemingly the less
troublesome, will carry the golden apple; I will not anticipate the
decision of the public.--I shall give the hint, and my fellow artists
may make use of it as they please.--

       *       *       *       *       *

As the system of encaustic for the pencil is the parent of that for
the crayons, and as both may be happily blended and jointly practised
to good purpose, I shall, to avoid tiresomely repeating the same
thing over again, refer the reader to the former process whenever
similarities of proceeding occur; they, besides commenting each other,
will open to the more timorous artist a freer field of action. As I did
in the former, so shall I in this, give that method of proceeding,
which by experience I found to be the best.

Though this system did not enter in the original plan of publication
with the other, and I intended to withold it from the public a little
longer, to see what reception the former should meet with; yet as it
got vent by shewing it to few friends, and a gentleman offering me (in
his opinion) a considerable reward to dispose of the secret in his
favour only, I, to prevent some modern PLINY’s casting more direct
reflexions upon me, without my having the skill of Apelles to uphold my
reputation, at least thought proper to give them to the public both at
once. To make discoveries that may be of infinite advantage to arts,
subservient to private avarice, is the foible of a weak, jealous, and
ill-natured mind.--Here follows the process; and first the preparation
of the cloth.




ART. I.

_Preparation of the cloth, or paper, for painting with crayons._


First method to prepare the cloth without paper.

Take any sort of linen cloth whose texture is pretty close and even,
stretch it upon a straining frame and rub it on the back with a piece
of wax, as directed under Art. the first, page 26. your cloth waxed,
prepare any tint or colour you like, or judge best for a ground to
work upon, let enter into the composition of this tint or colour, one
half, or at least one third of chalk or whitening, mix and temper all
with pure water; your tint ready, paint over your cloth with it on
that side you are to paint upon, and lay the colour on pretty even and
substantially; this colour or ground dry, bring the canvas near the
fire, as under Art. the fourth, page 35. and the wax melting will fix
that colour or ground, which when cool will be a fit and firm body to
work upon with crayons. Note, if the quantity of wax should prove too
small for the quantity of colour, apply with a brush on the back some
wax dissolved in turpentine, as described in the next page, and bring
the canvas again to the fire. It is essential in painting with crayons
to have the first ground properly prepared.


_Second method, to prepare cloth with paper pasted thereon._

Take linen cloth and stretch it upon a frame as the foregoing; then
make a paste with fine wheat flour, or starch and water, and when
the paste is near boiled enough, put in and mix with it of common
horse-turpentine, about half an ounce to six ounces of paste, stir it
well together, and let it simmer five or six minutes longer; then take
it from the fire and set it by to cool a little, and while it is still
tolerably warm, paste your paper (grey, blue or white) to the cloth
in the usual manner, and set it by to dry.--In the mean time put wax,
broken in small pieces, to dissolve in oil of turpentine near a fire,
and in such proportion that, when dissolved and cold, it will be of
consistence like a thin paste, and fluent enough to be managed with a
brush.--When your cloth and paper is perfectly dry, hold it over or
before a fire, at a convenient distance, and with a brush apply the
dissolved wax on both sides to cloth and paper, and continue laying on
wax till you perceive both surfaces equally shining, and there be no
imbibed-like spot remaining; this done, let your cloth stand before the
fire about half an hour longer, (or in summer in the sun,) and, the oil
of turpentine evaporating, the wax will become firm again, and be fit
to receive any tint or colour for a ground to work upon, which you must
lay on and fix as the foregoing upon cloth without paper, and when cool
you may go to work.




ART. II.

_Of the crayons their preparation and use._


PREPARATION. There is no particular or uncommon preparation or
composition required for encaustic, all crayons hitherto commonly used
may be employed; some great lights only will be wanted for every set
of tints; for what has been said on colours, and their growing deeper
when fixed with wax, _penciling system Art. II. page 29, 30_. holds
equally here; therefore every artist, that may be inclined to make a
trial in this manner, will do well to make an essay of all his tints,
by preparing a piece of cloth as directed in the foregoing article,
and giving a few strokes of each crayon and fixing it, this will
immediately shew what new tints will be wanted.

In composing any new tint it will be well to leave out fullers-earth,
pipe-clay, chalk, and other calcarious matters[13] which are generally
used in the common way; the former--to bind the looser colours; the
latter--to keep up the flake-white and white-lead, which otherwise
would turn black; in encaustic those matters are wanted for none of
the above ends; flake-white and white-lead will not change, and both
together will make a body sufficiently connected to bind the lighter
tints.

All colours used in oil and mentioned in the foregoing list, are good
for crayons, and no others.

_Note._ What has been said at the end of the list of colours, that a
few more colours, not commonly employed in oil, might be used for
crayons, was a mistake of the author’s upon his experimental table;
there are but two more that may be used for crayons, viz. bice and
verditer.

_The use of the crayons_ in encaustic is the very same as commonly
practised, there is no difference; you must work and paint upon the
waxed ground as you do upon the bare paper. Encaustic has the advantage
over the common way as to expedition. The fine grittiness procured by
the particles of the chalk mixed with the ground you work upon, will
_file_ off more colour from the crayon than the grain of the unwaxed
paper; and the wax diffused through the ground will retain the colours
better; so that when you sweeten your tints with your finger there will
be no waste; for in working, the particles of the colour will intrude
themselves into the body of the wax, which yields to them; which paper,
bare or prepared with a ground tempered with gum or size, does not.




ART. III.

_How to fix the crayons._


For fixing the crayons you must act and proceed in every respect,
according to the directions given _penciling system Art. IV. page 35,
36_, &c. you may retouch, and apply the dissolved wax on the back, and
bring the picture to the fire as often as required.


_Observations on the system for painting with crayons._

For painting with crayons I should prefer cloth prepared according
to the first method, without paper, for the same reason I gave for
deviating from Count CAYLUS’S system, _page 48, 49_. however, artists
may decide for themselves.

Besides the two methods mentioned for preparing the cloth, one might
paint upon paper pasted upon cloth as directed, without first laying on
any wax or preparatory ground; but such paintings would not have that
lasting solidity they ought; besides, laying on a ground preparatory
and analogous in hue to the subject to be painted, is more expeditious,
as such a ground may be made to serve for a half tint, and answers the
purpose of dead colouring.

Turpentine enters in the paste for one great and principal end, viz.
to keep the particles of the paste a little asunder, and facilitate
to the wax a free passage through it; for the particles of turpentine
diffused through the paste, in melting, when the picture is brought
near the fire, open so many equi-distant channels for the wax, which,
by this means, can penetrate freely and uniformly, and diffuse itself
over the whole in equal proportion; without the turpentine it would
not succeed so well; the wax would only come through here and there;
the colours would in a manner be calcined before a sufficient quantity
could penetrate to secure them; for though there will be wax enough for
the first fixing, yet, to alter or retouch, or where an extraordinary
great body of colours might be employed, there might be a deficiency of
wax, which cannot be supplied otherwise than by laying it on, on the
back, and if it could not work its passage through the whole might
miscarry.[14]

As few artists compose the crayons themselves, and as inserting
directions for that purpose would have swelled this treatise too much;
the author, for the conveniency of all practitioners has given the
_recipe_ of proportion for composing every tint for what it is to be
when fixed, to Mr. Sandys, colour-merchant, in Dirty-lane Longacre, of
whom perfect sets may be had; and as the author has communicated the
_recipe_, for binding the most difficult colours,[15] for the benefit
of the art, without fee or reward whatsoever, those crayons will be
sold at the usual price. At the above place, may be had cloth or paper
ready prepared on short notice.

However, if any artist should chuse to prepare the crayons himself, he
will do well to leave out the pipe-clay, fullers-earth, chalk, &c. as
much as possible, and mix his tints as usual. The standard recommended
under _Art. II. page 29, 30_. and explained _page 55, 56_. will be of
service for ascertaining beforehand the value of each tint.

If any crayon prepared for the old way, should prove too hard for this,
as may be the case with vermilion, bice, verditer, and the other looser
colours, in whose composition enters a little paste to bind them,
sprinkle those crayons with a brush dipt in spirit of wine, and they
will become manageable.




GENERAL REMARKS

    _On the apparent characters of encaustic paintings, on wax and
    varnish._

The principal apparent characters of an encaustic painting are,

1. The colours have all the airiness of water colours, and all the
strength of paintings in oil, without partaking of the apparent
character, or defects of either.

2. You may look at and enjoy a picture in any light; the colours are
bright, fresh and lively without glaring. They require no varnish.

3. The colours are firm, without being brittle, and will bear
scratching without receiving any harm.

The effect of the colours is the same in both systems, each will have
and preserve its peculiar character, as to the manner of painting; if
you paint your subject in the light and airy stile of the Carlo Marat
school, when the colours will be fixed you will have the high colouring
of Rubens.


On WAX.

It is not material for me to decide which of the two ought to be
preferably employed, bees-wax simple, or virgin-wax.--For large works
that will be exposed to the air, I should prefer the former; artists
will see by a few trials which will suit their taste best.


On VARNISH.

Varnishes are not required, as has already been observed; but as our
eyes have been used so much to see colours, not in their natural hue,
but disguised by varnish, those that should like to please themselves
in this point may use the following method.

First lay on with a clean spunge a substantial lay of the white of
eggs, and work it well upon the picture. This dry, lay on any varnish
commonly used for oil painting, and your picture will look as if
painted with oil-colours.

This varnish may be taken off at pleasure, the uppermost by rubbing
the surface of the picture with a rag dipped in spirit of wine or
turpentine, the white of eggs by washing the picture with water. It is
not adviseable to lay a varnish of spirits or gums, without first using
the white of eggs, as spirit of turpentine is the menstruum of wax.




EXPERIMENTS.

To adopt and practise in earnest any new system without sufficient
trials and proofs of its merit, may be called going wilfully
astray.--To avoid deceiving myself in the new system before us, I,
after having been convinced of its advantageous practicability, set
about to ascertain the other great point, the stability of the colours;
for this end, and to know more exactly how much every colour would vary
from its original hue in a certain space of time, as well in regard
to the same system as in opposition to oil-colours, I proceeded as
follows.


_Experiment the first and principal, 1757._

I had all the colours used in oil painting, mentioned in the foregoing
list, carefully ground with water, at Mr. Sandys’s, colour-merchant,
and from those colours I composed ninety various and sensibly differing
tints, for flesh, drapery and landscape; of each tint I had a quantity
of a two ounce gallipot full, tempered with water; so I left them
well screened from dust till they were become dry again; then I
divided each mass of tint in four equal parts; two of each I set by
for the comparative use, the other two parts of each I employed in the
following manner.

One part of each I tempered again with water, and painted with it over
a space of cloth of six inches wide and two inches high, the tints
close to each other, in the manner of copper-plate, _page 58_, and the
cloth waxed as directed _Art. IV. page 26_. The same I did with the
entire and unmixed colours.

The other parts of each tint I tempered with the finest nut-oil
according to custom, and painted-over with them such another space of
six inches by two, as the former, upon oil-cloth. The same I did with
the entire colours, and set them by to dry; when dry, I brought the
encaustic tints near the fire, and by melting the wax fixed them.

My tints thus ready, I cut each piece of cloth, encaustic and
oil-tints, in five equal parts, and disposed of a piece of each in the
following manner.

1. One piece of each I exposed in the open air to all the injuries of
sun, dew, wind and rain.

2. One piece of each I nailed to a wall in a damp cellar-like room.

3. One piece of each I nailed to the ceiling of a kitchen and near the
chimney, where all the year round a fire was kept.

4. One piece of each I nailed to the side of a room I usually inhabited.

5. One piece of each I put between several quires of paper, and
confined them in a close drawer deprived of air.

Thus I left them, till the latter end of October, 1759, (the space of
twenty-seven months) when I gathered them. Then I took the two parts of
tints I had set by and preserved, and tempering the one with water, and
the other with oil, painted the first upon a fresh piece of waxed cloth
and fixed them, the other tempered with oil, I painted upon a fresh
piece of oil-cloth, and after having washed the old tints, on comparing
the new and old colours together found as follows.

The old encaustic entire colours and tints of number 1. seemed to have
suffered a considerable change in opposition to the new ones, but
compared to their old fellows in oil they looked bright.

I washed them both with common water, and a brush, the encaustic tints
recovered a little; oil-tints not.

I brought the encaustic to the fire, and most tints recovered
their original hue, and were equal to the new ones, _pinks_,
_yellow-orpiment_, _lake_, _terra di Siena_, and _verditer_ excepted;
the first was partly gone, what remained was dull; the second was grown
whiter; _lake_ grown lighter, but had not suffered in beauty of colour;
_terra di Siena_ crude, grown rough and dirty; _verditer_, a little
dull.

No. 3. seemed to have suffered by the smoke; but after washing it
with a stout brush, and soap and water, it recovered its original
hue, _pinks_, _yellow-orpiment_, _smalt_ and _verditer_ excepted; the
first was sensibly decayed; the second grown darker, inclining towards
red-orpiment; the third grown dull, but mixed with Prussian blue it
was as bright as the new; verditer grown dark and dull.

No. 2, 4, 5. were just as the new ones, there was no difference.

Oil colours did not stand the test so well; their general appearance in
opposition to old and new encaustic,--was:

No. 1. weak, dull and dim, some entirely gone.

No. 2. freckled, of all sorts of hues, not to be washed off.

No. 3. darker, some dull, others dirty, some entirely gone.

No. 4. considerably yellower, and less bright.

No. 5. yellow-spotted, as if varnished with gall.

The foregoing tints were all fixed with virgin-wax, which I thought the
best; but having at the same time and with the same colours painted
upon cloth waxed with common yellow bees-wax, I found that the latter
in the open air preserved the colours rather better.


_Experiment the second._

I washed the foregoing tints with _a strong lixivium of pot-ash,
vinegar, spirit of wine, a solution of sea salt, and aqua fortis_.

By this operation the oil-colours were entirely destroyed, the
encaustic suffered nothing, only _smalt_ grew darker; but after
scraping it and bringing it again to the fire, it recovered its tone.

I have still a little scrap of a picture, a landscape, by me, which
has undergone all the abovementioned trials and more, for I took it
from the frame and folded it in four, put it upon the frame again,
and brought to the fire and the folds disappeared,--the colours are
as fresh as if painted but yesterday. On examining it close one may
perceive it suffered violence, but at a yard’s distance no marks appear.


_Experiment on oil-colours._

Having perceived that oil-colours, painted upon a waxed ground always
appeared brighter upon an oil-cloth; I, to come at the knowledge of
the cause of this effect, contrived various experiments, but without
success; at last I made microscopical observations, and found that
oil-colours painted upon an oil-cloth undergo a great fermentation,
five or six hours after being laid on, and continue so till they are
dry. Then they begin to overcast, and by degrees cover the surface with
a yellowish, grey substance, not to be washed or rubbed off but with a
knife.

Among the very same colours painted upon an encaustic ground I could
perceive no such fermentation, or overcasting.--From this we may
conjecture that the priming, or ground we work upon is more the cause
of the colours changing than the colours themselves, very likely owing
to the desecated saline particles of the oil, which are dissolved by
and mix with the new oil and colours; or to the superabundant quantity
of salts contained in the ground or priming, which is generally
composed of the coarsest oil and colours, and frequently half chalk.

_Though this latter experiment has nothing to do with encaustic, it
will find its application and owner._

To prove the stability of encaustic colours, I have mentioned but two
experiments; they are sufficient; from them we may draw the following


CONCLUSIONS.

First, that encaustic colours, having resisted the injuries of the
weather better than oil-colours, for the space of twenty-seven months,
they will prove more lasting than oil-colours for a greater space of
time.

Secondly, that having resisted the effects of the corrosives, _alkali_
and _aqua fortis_, &c. the circumambient air, howsoever impregnated
with saline particles, cannot affect them.

Thirdly, that if pictures of this kind receive any hurt, fire will
restore them.

The most celebrated men of antiquity, celebrated the performances of
their painters; if their colours had not been as lasting as their skill
was great, some one might have left us regretful instances. They left
us none.

Was WAX the preserver of their colours?

FINIS.




ADVERTISEMENT.


As the foregoing Treatise is written and published with an intention
to communicate a discovery that will prove of infinite advantage to
the loveliest of arts, in all its branches; the author, conscious
of wanting the necessary qualifications of a writer in a language
not natural to him, hopes for indulgence, for all the inaccuracies
and improprieties of expression he may and must have fallen into: as
to facts, he begs leave to assure the public, that nothing has been
advanced but what is strictly true.

If any artist or others should in practising be at a loss or stand for
any thing, the author shall always be willing and ready to give them
farther light on any occasion.

The treatise on Practical Painting in general, which was to have been
published together with this, as has been intimated to the public in
an advertisement of the third of January, will be published as soon
as possible; the author being engaged in a work of a very extensive
nature, had not time to bring it in perfect order himself; a gentleman
and friend of his has been so kind as to undertake the finishing and
correcting of it; it will soon be ready for the press.




FOOTNOTES:

[1] Philosoph. Transact. vol. xlix. part 2.

[2] Though the Abbé does not quote the passage, one may guess it must
be the following the count undertook to explain. _Pliny_ lib. xxxv.
chap. 11.

“Ceris pingere ac picturam inurere quis primus excogitaverit non
constat: quidam Aristidis inventum putant, posteà consummatum à
Praxitele. Sed aliquanto vetustiores Encausticæ Picturæ exstitere, ut
Polignoti & Nicanoris, & Arcesilai Pariorum. Lysippus quoque Æginæ
Picturæ suæ inscripsit, ἐνεκαυσεν, quod profecto non fecisset nisi
encaustica inventa.”

_Which may be told in plain English thus_, “Who first invented to paint
with (or in) wax, and burn in (or fix) the picture with fire, is not
certainly known. Some think Aristides invented it, and that Praxiteles
brought it to perfection; but there were pictures by masters, of a much
older date; such as of Polignote, Nicanor and Arcesilaus, all artists
of Paros.

“Lysippus writ upon his pictures he burnt in, which he would not have
done if the encaustic had not been invented then.”

[3] PLINY is an evidence for this my opinion; for after having said,
lib. xxxv. ch. 4. _Nicias scripsit se inussisse_, he says, _tali enim
usus est verbo_. Which words seem clearly to indite that PLINY thought
it equivocal, or contrary to its proper signification.

[4] Both pictures were disposed of as soon as finished to a Dutch
gentleman, who sent them to Holland as a pattern, and were mightily
approved of.

[5] Any sort of old cloth, if whole, is as good as new; I prefer the
former to the latter for its softness. To ascertain a just proportion
of wax to every sort of cloth is unnecessary, if you should either put
too much or not enough, you may easily remedy it. See ART. iv. One
single trial will clear up the incertitude.

[6] Entire colours are the white, red, yellow, blue, &c.

[7] See the nature of this better explained in the copper-plate at the
end of observations of Art. 2.

[8] I prefer a fire of sea-coals because it is much more uniform, and
does not emit so many sparks as wood or charcoals, which might injure
the picture, though any fire with proper care will answer the end
proposed; a German stove is still better than any fire whatsoever.

[9] You will easily know those places that shall want wax; they will
appear like so many spots of a lighter hue.

[10] Any other spirit such as that commonly burnt in lamps, common
gin, rum, or genuine brandy, will do just as well; spirit or oil of
turpentine is very proper too; but as it smells so very strong, ladies
and gentlemen that paint for their amusement only would not like it.

[11] The same might be practiced upon cloth, it would do better than
only rubbing it with the chalk; but for painting with the pencil the
bare cloth is still better.

[12] I am aware that every body will not enter into this doctrine at
first, and some may think it very odd that a colour which is used in
oil, should not sympathise with wax; the question is easily solved, the
grinding stones unite oil and pinks, and bring them together by force,
but experience shews it is but for a little while; the oil once dry,
pinks soon fly off and fade away.

[13] Fullers-earth, pipe-clay, chalk, &c. ought to be left out, because
they sink so very low when fixed with wax, and impart a great dullness
to all those tints wherein they prevail; pipe-clay and fullers-earth a
dusky transparent gray; chalk, a yellowish-white no-colour.

[14] Old crayon pictures may be fixed very well; the paste becoming
old looses its cohesion; the wax may freely and uniformly penetrate
through; they will want retouching. If any artist has a mind to try, he
may do it with some insignificant subject for fear of miscarrying on a
first trial.

[15] If this treatise should meet with such approbation as to require
a second edition, the recipe for the composing of crayons will be
inserted at full length.




TABLE of CONTENTS.


  Introductory account of Encaustic
  Painting                                                        page 1

  Article the first, _preparation of the
  cloth for painting in encaustic_                                    26

  Art. the second, _of the colours, and
  their preparation and use_                                          29

  Art. the third, _how to paint over
  or alter any part before the picture
  has been near the fire_                                             33

  Art. the fourth, _how to fix the colours_                           35

  Art. the fifth, _how to retouch any part
  after the colours are fixed_                                        40

  Observations on Art. the first                                      41

  ---- _Count_ Caylus’s _method of preparing
  the cloth_                                                          43

  ---- _Reasons for deviating from the
  count’s method_                                                     45

  ---- _How to paint upon walls_                                      49

  ---- _How to paint upon wood, stone_,
  &c.                                                                 50

  ---- _How to paint upon paper_                                      51

  Observations on Art. the second; _on
  grinding the colours_                                               53

  ---- _How to ascertain the just value
  of each colour_                                                     55

  Observations on Art. the third, _advantages
  of Encaustic painting over
  oil and size-painting_                                              60

  Observations on Art. the fourth, _various
  methods for applying the fire to
  a picture_                                                          63

  Observations on Art. the fifth, _on retouching
  after the colours are fixed_                                        67

  List of the colours, _white_                                        74

  ---- _Yellows_                                                      76

  ---- _Pinks_                                                        82

  ---- _Reds_                                                         84

  ---- _Terra di Siena_ and _terra verte_                             88

  ---- _Blues_                                                        91

  ---- _Blacks_                                                       92

  ---- _Collens earth_                                                94

  ---- _Umbra_                                                        95

  Method of painting with and fixing
  of the crayons                                                      97

  Art. the first, _first method to prepare
  the cloth_                                                         102

  ---- _Second method_                                               104

  Art. the second, _of the crayons; their
  preparation_                                                       107

  ---- _And use_                                                     110

  Art. the third, _how to fix the crayons_                           112

  Observations _on the system for painting
  with crayons_                                                      113

  Remarks on the apparent character of
  encaustic paintings                                                119

  ---- _On wax_                                                      121

  ---- _On varnish_                                                ibid.

  Experiments                                                        124

  ---- _First_                                                       125

  ---- _Second_                                                      134

  Experiments on oil-colours                                         135

  Conclusions                                                        138




Transcriber’s Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Italics are represented thus _italic_.