Plate 5.—Trial Piece of Fresco Painting
G. F. Watts, R.A., Victoria and Albert Museum
CHAPTER IV
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
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.