ART. V.
How to retouch or paint over any part after the colours are fixed.
Put upon your pallette such of your tints as will be fit for the place or parts you want to alter or paint over, temper and employ them with a little spirit of wine;10repaint, and bring the picture to the fire as often as required, and those retouched parts will becomefixed like any other part of the picture.
As linen cloth is the material most commonly and preferably used, as the fittest and most convenient to paint upon, I chose to give under Article the first, directions for that purpose only; for though the wax and colours may be applied to cloth and other materials in several different manners, I, not to bewilder the beginners in multiplicities on a first setting out, gave and recommend that, which besidesits being the likeliest to be most practised, is the best for solidity, and will prove to every practitioner the easiest, most agreeable, expeditious and convenient for execution.
But not to deprive the artists and curious of the several means and methods that may be practised for and towards the same end, I shall here give some of the principal ones, as well for painting upon canvas as upon wood, plaister, &c. but first of all I shall consider and treat CountCaylus’ssystem a little more at large, and shew why I have deviated from it in this particular, and leavethe artist at liberty to adopt and practise which suits him best.
The Count’s method for preparing the cloth consists, in stretching it upon a frame, and holding it horizontally over, or perpendicularly before a fire (at a distance convenient and proportionable to the degree of heat it casts) and rubbing it with a piece of wax; which, melting gradually as it is rubbed on, diffuses itself, penetrates the body, and fills the interstices of the texture of the cloth, which when cool, is fit to paint upon; but, as water colours will not adhere regularly flowing andconnectedly to the wax, He, to remedy this inconveniency, makes use of an intermediate body, viz. chalk or whitening, with which he rubs over that surface of the waxed canvas he intends to paint upon, and then the colours will easily flow over and adhere to it.
Now, though this way of proceeding is very simple and successfully practicable for small subjects;—for instance,—such as the head of Diana, mentioned in the Abbé’s letter, or any other that may be finished in a couple of hours, and while the colours upon the canvas retain moisture; yet, to executepictures of a larger size and composition, which will require many a day’s labour and application, and whereof no part can be finished positively at the first onset, this manner of managing it will not answer so well, as that given under Art. the first, for the following reasons.
First.In painting upon the wax by virtue of the whitening, you will not have that conveniency of retouching or altering of any part, and before the colours are fixed, so well, as painting upon the raw and bare canvas will afford you; because the texture and fibres ofthe cloth being thoroughly invaded by the wax, there remains nothing for water colours to fix or adhere to, capable to retain them; those colours once dry, the slightest touch of a moist pencil will, as it were, attract them, and frequently make and leave a bare spot; so that in attempting to retouch, instead of adding fresh colours, you will fetch off the old ones: for though the rough edged particles of the chalk facilitate to the first colours an adhesion upon the smooth body wax yet, water the vehicle of the colours, being the menstruum of chalk, by discomposing it destroys part of itspower and virtue, and renders it incapable to perform the first service a second time.
Secondly.Upon canvas fully imbibed with wax, you can neither use so great a body of colours, nor employ them with such freedom, boldness, or delicacy as you may upon cloth, whose texture is not pre-occupied with wax—the reason is obvious—the one has its pores and interstices filled up with wax; the other’s you must fill up with colours. Cloth, a firm spungy body or substance, in sucking in the water attracts the colours along with it into its pores, and thereby facilitates the firmand delicate strokes; and the colours mixing and adhering to its numberless fibres, will not come off on retouching, before the picture is fixed; you may cherish or leave your work at pleasure without detriment or inconveniency arising from that. Advantages that cloth pre-occupied with wax is incapable of.
Thirdly and lastly.By painting on canvas prepared according to the directions of Art. the first, your works will be more solid and lasting, because the colours will not simply lay upon the surface of the wax, but cloth, wax and colours willmake but one individual body.—Thus much on my deviation from CountCaylus’ssystem, in regard to the preparation of the cloth.
For painting upon walls or plaister where the wax cannot be applied on the back, the Count’s system must be practised; it will succeed well; the rough and gritty grain of the plaister will take and retain a sufficient quantity of colours to insure solidity; the only difference between painting upon cloth and plaister consists in this; painting upon canvas you can finish your picture entirelybefore you fix it; in painting upon plaister, you must proceed as you do in painting with oil-colours, viz. first, dead colour your subject and fix it, and then paint it over again and finish it, either by virtue of the chalk, or by tempering and employing the colours with some spirit, or oil of turpentine. You may too paint and retouch with crayons.
Upon wood, stone, and metals,—you must proceed as you do upon plaister; but as there is no grain you must procure an artificial one, after your board is waxed, by laying on aground of any colour mixed with half chalk and fix it11; upon this you may paint with water colours or crayons, as sweetly as upon canvas.
To paint upon paper;—you must have a smooth board, or copper-plate of a convenient size, and well waxed; upon this you fasten your paper by the corners and paint upon; the colours dry, present it to the fire, and the wax underneath the paper melting, will soak and penetrate through andfix the colours; this method may be successfully practised with cloth.
There are two more methods remaining to be practised on cloth and paper; but as they make part of the system for painting with crayons, and will be described under that head, I omit to mention them here.
In grinding the colours upon the stone, and managing them upon the pallette, care should be taken not to use an iron knife, the steel or iron that grinds off, in mixing with the colours spoils their brightness and vivacity; flake-white and white-lead, yellow-oker, lacque and light-red, suffer greatly by it, it gives them a dull and dirty cast; Naples-yellow suffers most of all from it; its vivacity is entirely destroyed by the iron’s touching it. Horn, ivory, or tortoise shell knives, orwooden spatulas are fitter for all manner of painting; they will affect no colours; iron knives have destroyed many a tender complexion in oil-colours; for, the oil once dry, the iron ground off from the knife and mixed in the colours will be converted into rust by the moisture of the air.—Tho’ this little hint is foreign to our present subject, it will perhaps not be unacceptable to my brethren.—It is an essential point in an architect to be acquainted with the qualities and properties of the materials he builds with, if his plan and stile, dispositions, proportions, &c. beever so good, noble, grand and graceful, yet if his fabric falls down as soon as built, we are but little beholden to his skill.—Vandyke, I believe, never used an iron knife, if he had he would not have painted a spatula of horn in one of his pictures, wherein all the utensils of a painter accompany his own figure.—
The expedient recommended under Art. the second, for establishing a standard for all the differing principal tints that may be required for any subject, will be of use to them who are not much acquainted with painting in water colours;and to ladies and gentlemen, who painting only now and then for their amusement, cannot have so thorough a knowledge of the value of each colour, and might therefore be at a loss how to retouch, after the colours are fixed.
To make the directions given for that purpose more intelligible, and to point out the use of such a standard—let us suppose—the annexed copper plate figure A. B. C. D. to be a piece of cloth, about a foot long and three or four inches wide, waxed on the back, as directed under Art. the first, and the divisions a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. &c. be the tints painted,according to their order and degradation, across the whole width of the cloth A. B. these tints dry, cut the piece of cloth across all the tints from top E. to bottom F. in two equal parts, bring the one half A C near the fire, and by melting the wax fix it, the other half B D you keep as it is unfixed.
Now, the half A C being fixed, will shew you at one glance what strength every tint will acquire; and if you moisten again the other half B D, or paint the same tints upon a fresh piece of cloth, you will see which are the colours that grow deeper still, fixed withwax than they appear when only moistened with water, and the references 1 2 3 4 5 &c. telling you what each tint is composed of, you will be enabled to amend any one that might be amiss. Farther, when your picture will be fixed and it should want retouching, and you should be at a loss for hitting of the tint or hue required for that purpose,—bring only the fixed half A C upon the picture and compare them, and you will easily find what you want; again, if you want to renew any tint that is spent, find that tint upon the picture, with the fixed half A C, when found compare it to, andmoisten its fellow upon the unfixed half B D, and that will give you again the original hue, and the references 1 2 3 4 &c. will tell you what that tint is principally composed of.
Tho’ professed artists (whose long experience enables them to judge of the value of each colour) will not have absolute occasion for the comparative use of such a standard, yet they will not do amiss to make an essay of their tints before they employ them.
The being able to work and retouch at pleasure, and at any time, without fatiguing the colours, or any other detriment arising from it, is an advantage peculiar to encaustic only; for, the new colours will unite with the old ones without making spots, as is the case in common size-painting; nor will there be that inconveniency of rubbing the places to be retouched over with oil, as is the case with oil pictures; the only seeming difficulty to a beginner, willconsist in the colours growing paler and weaker in drying, but as a picture is easily kept wet, by moistening it now and then as above directed, the difficulty vanishes. Pictures of any size may easily be kept wet for several days, by applying a double wet cloth on the back; but a little practice will render that precaution unnecessary.
Every body in the least acquainted with colours, knows that water colours, tempered or employed either with gum or size, grow paler and lighter in drying, and that they acquire their true tone only whendry;—in encaustic they grow paler and lighter too in drying, but they recede from and lose their true tone.—Encaustic is the reverse of size-painting as to effect, while you are at work and the colours wet;—of the latter you cannot judge positively until the colours are dry; of the former you can only judge while the colours are wet, or which is the same, when fixed with the wax.
The most essential point in encaustic—the fixing of the colours—is the simplest and easiest for paintings of any size, moveable or immoveable. A surface of forty feet may be fixed as conveniently as a picture of twelve inches; for if the painting be too large to be brought near the fire, or immoveable on a wall, bring that agent to the painting;——a square copper or iron chest, or box, such as commonly used for warming or airing of beds, with a red hot iron or lightedcharcoal in it, will do the business admirably well, by passing it in a direction parallel to and before the painted surface, at a distance proportionable to the degree of heat it casts,—abrasier ambulant, with a cover to prevent the ashes from flying about, with charcoal well lighted, will answer the end too, by inclining the picture over it,—an instrument of iron like a baker’s shovel, with a long handle and made red hot, will perform the same service, if waved in a parallel direction before the painted surface; and by heating it again, when grown cool, with such an instrument one may fix paintings of thelargest size; it matters not if the whole be fixed at once, or in parts at different times.
The directions for rectifying of any defects arising from too small a quantity of wax, are so clear, simple and sufficient, that they want but little explanation or addition; only, you may instead of wax simple use wax dissolved in such a quantity of oil of turpentine, as to make it when cool, fluent enough to be employed with a brush on the back of the picture, which, when brought to the fire, the wax will settle with the colours, and the turpentine will fly off.
My saying under the above article that the sudden action of the fire might disturb some of the colours, must not be understood in regard to the wax, but in regard to the nature of the colours, which, if the picture be brought too near the fire at once, will be scorched before the wax can melt and penetrate the texture to screen and secure them.
The facility and conveniency for retouching a picture after the colours are fixed, without the new colours differing from the hue of the old ones, is an advantage no other manner of painting is possessed of.
In oil painting you cannot do it so well except you paint over large parts, because the colours in drying acquire a yellower hue, than they have while fresh; there will alwaysbe a difference between the very same tints; besides, oil pictures are frequently greasy-like and refuse the new colours, so that you are obliged to rub those parts with oil, to make the new colours adhere to and flow over the old ones, which rubbing with oil very often makes a dull and yellow spot when the colours are dry; in size-painting it is worse, retouchings there in general appear hard, and in large masses of a uniform colour,—such as sky’s—produce spots.——Encaustic is free from all that; you may glaze with a body of colours as thin and as transparentas you please, without your colours changing of tone. By retouching with crayons upon the fixed colours, the sweetest effects may be produced in landscapes and figures; nay, for retouching only here and there, I should prefer crayons. For instance—to finish a head,—and give the decisive strokes about the eye, mouth, hair, and sharp folds of linen, &c. in landscapes—for the extremities of trees, &c. the smart touch of a crayon will be preferable to the pencil.
When your picture is entirely finished, and you should wantto give the canvas more solidity, you may paint it over on the back with any colour or tint, and bring it again and for the last time to the fire, to fix that colour; if you apprehend there is not wax enough, apply a little dissolved in spirit of turpentine, as mentioned in the foregoing observations on Art. iv. this fixed take your picture off from the frame, and stretch it upon that whereon it is to remain.
Having now done with the process for painting in encaustic with the pencil, which notwithstanding its simplicity mightappear to some beginners intricate, because I pointed out all the difficulties that possibly may occur in the execution,—to comfort and encourage those that might think the task hard, I shall recapitulate, and reduce the whole within this compass.—Stretch a piece of cloth upon a frame, rub the back of that cloth with wax, paint your subject on the other side, with colours prepared and tempered with water, and when dry bring the picture near the fire, and by melting the wax fix the colours.
N. B. I might have said much more, and dwelt longeron several particulars; but as the only aim of this treatise is to communicate the discovery to artists, and others already acquainted with the management of colours, and not to form pupils from beginning, I omitted saying any thing of composing the tints and disposing the colours on the pallette, &c. Every artist may go on in his accustomed method; the use of all the colours is in encaustic as in oil, as may be seen by the following list.
The direction for painting with crayons will illustrate some passages of the foregoing process, and what other advantagesencaustic painting will have over oil and size-painting will be shewn by conclusions drawn from the experiments.
The end of the first part.