IT seems a great pity that colors like Carmine, Scarlet Lake, Geranium Lake, and dozens of other brilliant lakes of that type, should be sold to painters. The three that I have mentioned will disappear when exposed to the summer sunlight for three or four months, and the painter who says he cannot get along without Carmine is simply painting for the present and losing sight of the future.
In closing this chapter I must express the thought that the time is not far off when every tube color will be labelled as to its composition and as to its permanency for without such a guide, the painter is liable to make serious failures.
PAINTING THE NEXT DAY
MANY painters find that in taking up partly painted canvases and attempting to continue their work, that fresh paint does not adhere to the paint recently applied. This defect is well recognized among house painters and piano and cabinet varnishers, and therefore it becomes necessary to roughen the surface, so that the new coat of paint will adhere. There are some mediums on the market for this purpose, but with a little care no medium is needed other than pure water; and I have heard the statement that by rubbing the surface of a painting with a stiff brush that has been dipped in water and allowing that surface to dry thoroughly, new paint will take over the old as if by magic. There is no magic in it whatever. All that happens is that there is so much dust and foreign matter in the air that it settles on every surface to a considerable extent within twenty-four hours. When this is mixed with water, the dust acts as an abrasive, and consequently the surface is scarified minutely and the pigment takes hold. The only care necessary to exercise is that when using plain water on any painting sufficient time must be given so that it dries out thoroughly, before new paint is applied.
TRUE NAPLES YELLOW
MANY Artists feel that they get results with True Naples Yellow that they cannot get with anything else. There are a variety of shades of Naples Yellow on the market, running from a pale straw color to rather a deep Ochre; but, the True Naples Yellow, such as Rembrandt used on the cloak in the painting of Homer, now hanging in the Mauritzhuis, has all the freshness to-day that it evidently had when it was painted. The dark outlines of this cloak are painted with Ochre, which, of course, is a permanent color.
I could cite many examples of prominent painters who felt that Naples Yellow was essential to their palette. There is a picture in the Frick Collection by Turner—a view of the harbor of Dieppe; a full sun is standing high in the skies. The upper half of the sun painted with light Naples Yellow has been smoothed out with a steel knife, and this particular part is Gray, whereas the lower half is a light yellowish White, where it evidently had not been touched by the knife.
Naples Yellow imitation, which is made by mixing Litharge, pale Cadmium and White, also shows a black or very dark streak when touched with a steel knife. It is, therefore, best to avoid any steel coming in contact with this pigment.
By itself, genuine Naples Yellow is exceedingly permanent to light, and when used alone and varnished, is not affected by gases of any kind. As evidence of this, it is practically unchanged in all old paintings, with the exception of, perhaps, the Seventeenth Century pictures, and older productions show a slight deepening, which may have been caused by the action of gases where the pigment was unprotected. In Constable’s pictures of his later periods, he evidently used Naples Yellow unmixed, and apparently put it on with the aid of a knife. These pictures of Constable’s only show a very slight deepening.