The pigments that are only permanent when used alone and remain permanent after having been varnished, are:

It is pertinent to say a word about Flake White, because practically all of the Whites used by the Flemish, Dutch, Italian and English Masters was Flake White, and there is no white pigment that is equal to it in what is known as hiding power. Two coats of Flake White thinly applied are equal to four coats of Zinc White in hiding power, so it is quite appropriate that where a painter wants a permanent White, which shall have a solid body and hiding power, there is absolutely no objection to using Flake White, provided it be coated over with Zinc White after it is perfectly dry. Or, if Flake White can be kept free from noxious gases, after it is applied, and then cleaned off with pure Spirits of Turpentine and varnished, with either Mastic or Damar, it is even permanent against noxious gases, because these varnishes prevent gases from attacking Flake White. The same may be said of Chrome Green, Prussian Blue and Chrome Yellow, which are all likely to be affected by sulphur gases, and should these turn Yellow or Brown, they can be cleaned and restored to their pristine condition, if washed with a weak solution of soap and water and afterwards lightly rubbed with ordinary Peroxide of Hydrogen. The effect of the use of Peroxide of Hydrogen and soap water is to oxidize the color which has been affected by sulphur gases. I am not giving any special formula for this work, because each case must be separately treated, and the painter must work out the case for himself. The Chrome Yellows and Chrome Greens are exceedingly permanent to light when used alone and properly varnished. Prussian Blue has so many beautiful characteristics as a pigment and is so permanent to light that if used alone, or even when used with Zinc White to produce a sky blue, it has considerable merit. Gainsborough was probably the first great painter to use Prussian Blue, and I have seen some of his paintings in which the drapery and dresses were a beautiful green, which was due to the yellowing of the varnish, which, when mingled with the Blue, produced Green; and I have also seen the varnish removed and then the Blue came back with all its original intensity.

BEESWAX AND OTHER WAXES

WAX of any kind, as a painting medium, should not be used under any circumstances. In order to produce Matte effects, there are on sale reliable varnishes which dry perfectly flat and which contain no wax of any kind, but which are made of Copal, Damar or Mastic, and to which about ten per cent. of a material known as Palmitate of Aluminum, or Stearate of Aluminum, has been added. These two materials are known as flatting materials and do not remelt after they are dissolved in Varnish.

I recall a very excellent Dutch painting in which beeswax had been used as a Medium and which was brought over to America and placed in the house of a collector. The following Summer was one of the hottest Summers which New York had ever experienced, and on re-opening the house in the Fall, the eyes in the portrait of this picture had melted and run down over the cheeks.

One often hears the remark that the Egyptian portraits painted in the First and Second Centuries and done with wax are still as perfect as the day they were painted. I have examined some of these paintings and find that they were not done with wax at all, but done with a hard resin of a high melting point.

So every painter who wants to paint permanent pictures should stick strictly to simple vehicles and pigments and not have anything to do with wax whatever.

SUMMARY

A FEW simple rules, together with the simple Palette would insure paintings that are absolutely permanent. Haste in finishing a picture often produces bad results. It is said of the great French artist Henner that he often had as many as forty or fifty pictures in his studio in the process of painting. He would lay in the foundation and then place the picture face to the wall to dry. It was weeks before he got back to the first picture again, when he would start outlining the figures. It was weeks again before he came back to the beginning and finished his pictures—in the meantime, of course, each succeeding coat having had time to dry through and through. And this, more than anything else, is the principal reason why his paintings are in such perfect condition to-day. I cite him as a man who had the instinct to paint with simple colors; and, although he was a prolific user of Madder Lake, he always used it as a glaze over the ordinary ground. Most of his smaller pictures were painted on Academy-Board or Composition-Board, and I have no doubt that his pictures will retain their pristine condition for centuries.