On the occasion of a second visit, Mr. Wilson remarked that the artist had cut away from his tracing or cartoon those parts which he had finished upon the ceiling: that the tracing was in fact cut into several portions, but always carefully divided by the outline of figures, clouds, or other objects. These pieces are nailed to the plaster, so as to fold inwards or outward for the convenience of tracing the outlines. The artist was now about to proceed with a group of figures. Having gone over the outline carefully with a steel point, he waited till the intonaco became a little harder, and in the mean time mixed up a few tints; he then commenced with a large brush, and went over the whole of the flesh; he next worked with a tint which served for the general mass of shadow, for the hair, and a slight marking out of the features. He now applied a little colour to the cheeks, mouth, nose, and hands, and all this time he touched as lightly as possible. He then paused for ten minutes, examined his oil study, and watched the absorption of the moisture.
The intonaco would now bear the gentle pressure of his fingers, and with the same large brush, but with water only, he began to soften and unite the colours already laid on. He had not as yet used any tint thicker than a wash of water-colour, and he continued to darken in the shadows without increasing the force or depths of colour. The artist now increased the number of his tints; he made them of a much thicker consistence, and he now began to paint in the lights with a greater body of colour, softening them into the shades with a dry brush, or with one a little wet, as was required. In drying, the water comes to the surface and actually falls off in drops, but this does no harm, although, as Mr. Wilson remarks, it sometimes looks alarming.
The effect of fresco painting is described as being exceedingly beautiful. It does not require for the production of its general effect those particular and concealed lights which the shining surface of an oil-painting renders necessary. Fresco is seen entire in any situation and by any light, even by artificial light, which perhaps shows it best. Mr. Severn was much struck by the increased beauty and power of the Caracci frescos at Rome by artificial light. Even a dim or diminished light does not destroy their effect.
“It must have been for this reason that Raphael adopted fresco in the Vatican, after he had made experiments in oil; for the rooms are so ill-lighted, that oil pictures could never have been seen at all; and it is surprising to find such fine works in such a place. Three sides of the rooms are illuminated merely by the reflected light from the great wall of the Sistine chapel, yet this beautiful and luminous material of fresco is so brilliant in itself, that the pictures are well seen. Nine of them were painted without a ray of real light, and have always been seen in the same way. I think this is a very important consideration; for as we have but a diminished light at any time, it is most necessary to adopt a manner of painting suited to it, which can be seen at all times.”
Fresco does not seem to be at all understood in this country; it is generally confounded with scene painting; it is a common mistake to suppose that the cartoons of Raphael are the same as his frescos. It is often confounded with distemper painting, which is done on a dry ground, and does not admit of richness of colour.
“This will be clearly understood (writes Mr. Severn) by those who have had the good fortune to see Raphael’s and Guido’s frescos at Rome, which for colour are exquisitely beautiful, and even powerful in all the fascinations of this part of the art, presenting to us still greater varieties than oil painting can pretend to; excelling in all the delicate effects of atmosphere, from the gorgeous daylight, the air of which you seem to breathe in a fresco picture, down to the silvery flitting charm of twilight. In these particulars, it reminds us of English water-colour effects. Then I should mention the magnificence of fresco landscape, and of landscape backgrounds, particularly by Domenichino, in which not only the characters, but the movements of trees, are always rendered in a way which I have rarely seen in oil colours.... Then I must remind you of the grandeur of colour and effect in Michael Angelo’s frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. What oil could ever have approached such things? When he said ‘that oil painting was only fit for women and children,’ he meant on account of the labour and difficulties of the material compared with fresco. We are assured he performed this gigantic labour in twenty months, without the usual assistance of colour-grinders or plasterers, but alone with his own hand. There are on this ceiling fourteen figures, of at least forty feet in stature, and nearly five hundred figures, the least of which are double the size of life. While we regard this as the most extraordinary example of individual human power, we must consider that it was only in the simplicity and ease of the fresco material that Michael Angelo could have accomplished such a stupendous work. The preparation of oil colours, varnishes, &c., would alone have occupied the twenty months.”
The small cost and great durability of frescos are not the least of their advantages. It was feared that the smoke of London would soon destroy our frescos, but Professor Hess stated that “if frescos were painted in the open air in London, the rain would be the best picture-cleaner.” Indeed, competent authorities agree that pure water and a soft sponge are the best means for cleaning frescos from the effects of smoke. That the change effected by time on the colours is to increase their effect. The great enemy to fresco is a wall constitutionally damp, in which lime in too new a state has been employed, or new timber or imperfectly burnt bricks. The nitre which sometimes accumulates on walls is also very destructive.
Nor are frescos such permanent fixtures as is generally imagined. Some ingenious Italians have succeeded perfectly in removing large frescos from one wall and applying them securely to another. The colours in fresco do not penetrate very deep, and the thin layer of pigment and lime of which the painting consists, may be removed by glueing several layers of calico to the wall: a slight force is then sufficient to detach the painting: it is removed to its new bed, and when firmly attached, the cloths and glue may be removed by warm water.
We must now leave the Reader in possession of the dwelling-house which we have endeavoured to build for him. If we have not furnished it, or described the modes in which the various articles of furniture are made, it was not because the subject is devoid of interest, far from it; but because we were anxious not to injure the completeness and interest of the preceding details by attempting too much within the limits of this little volume.