Plate 4.—Trial Piece of Fresco Painting
G. F. Watts, R.A., Victoria and Albert Museum
colours, more particularly the lighter tints and half-tones, dry eventually ever so much lighter than they appear when first laid on. It is only the very darkest tones, or pigments used in their full strength, those that have no lime mixed with them, that dry anything near the full strength of their wet state, and then there are exceptions to this; so it follows that in buon-fresco painting the artist must paint in a much darker key than the work is intended to appear when it has dried out.
As regards the method of execution in painting it may be urged that the artist will work according to his own feeling or temperament: for example, some may decide to paint in thin transparent washes or glazings, as in water-colour painting; others may prefer to use the colours in a thick impasto method, as in oil painting. Either method may be adopted with success, but we should say that a judicious mixture of both methods, in the same work, will obtain the clearest and most luminous results, for, as a matter of technique, fresco lends itself admirably to either methods of painting. The general rule is to model the shades, half-tones and lights, broadly at first and in the order named, with brushes rather large than small, and then to finish off by strengthening the shadows with lesser touches, or by a series of delicately hatched lines, and brightening the lights in the same way, using for these purposes sable rigger brushes. The reason for this is that every touch tells, especially when using a sable brush; you cannot press or lean on your brush on the soft plaster without disturbing the underneath colours, and possibly destroying the surface of the plaster as well. It will be seen from this that the fresco painter must cultivate a light hand for his work; he cannot indulge, for instance, in that dexterity of handling that may be accomplished in oil or in, say, spirit-fresco painting, simply because of the danger of working up the soft and wet plaster ground: he must know what he has to do, and must do it frankly and at once; for, although to a certain extent the artist may be able to paint over parts and so correct occasional mistakes, it is not advisable to do so, as the corrections will more or less show when the work has dried out, by looking muddy, and consequently less luminous than they ought to be. The only alternative, when a correction is necessary, is to cut the piece out, and lay on a fresh plaster ground. All this shows how important it is to have a full-sized cartoon in light and shade, and also a colour scheme previously prepared, from which the fresco painting may be almost copied directly on to the wet plaster.
